WHAT I HAVE DONE

I have seen this on a couple of blogs recently and loved it. So if you want to do it, copy and paste and bold the things that apply to your life.

*I also italicized the things that are on my to do list.

1. Started your own blog 2. Slept under the stars 3. Played in a band 4. Visited Hawaii 5. Watched a meteor shower 6. Given more than you can afford to charity 7. Been to Disneyland 8. Climbed a mountain 9. Held a praying mantis 10. Sang a solo 11. Bungee jumped 12. Visited Paris 13. Watched a lightning storm at sea 14. Taught yourself an art from scratch. 15. Adopted a child 16. Had food poisoning 17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty 18. Grown your own vegetables 19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France 20. Slept on an overnight train 21. Had a pillow fight 22. Hitch hiked 23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill 24. Built a snow fort 25. Held a lamb 26. Gone skinny dipping 27. Run a Marathon 28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice 29. Seen a total eclipse 30. Watched a sunrise or sunset 31. Hit a home run . 32. Been on a cruise 33. Seen Niagara Falls in person 34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors 35. Seen an Amish community 36. Taught yourself a new language 37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied 38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person 39. Gone rock climbing 40.Sung karaoke 41. Seen Michelangelo’s David. 42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt 43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant 44. Visited Africa 45. Walked on a beach by moonlight 46. Been transported in an ambulance 47. Had your portrait painted 48. Gone deep sea fishing 49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person 50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris 51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling 52. Kissed in the rain 53. Played in the mud 54. Gone to a drive-in theater 55. Been in a movie 56. Visited the Great Wall of China 57. Started a business . 58. Taken a martial arts class 59. Visited Russia 60. Served at a soup kitchen 61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies 62. Gone whale watching 63. Got flowers for no reason 64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma 65. Gone sky diving 66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp 67. Bounced a check 68. Flown in a helicopter 69. Saved a favorite childhood toy 70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial 71. Eaten Caviar 72. Pieced a quilt. 73. Stood in Times Square 74. Toured the Everglades 75. Been fired from a job 76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London 77. Broken a bone 78. Been on a speeding motorcycle 79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person 80. Published a book 81. Visited the Vatican 82. Bought a brand new car 83. Walked in Jerusalem 84. Had your picture in the newspaper 85. Read the entire Bible 86. Visited the White House 87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating 88. Had chickenpox 89. Saved someone’s life 90. Sat on a jury 91. Met someone famous 92. Joined a book club 93. Lost a loved one 94. Had a baby 95. Seen the Alamo in person 96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake 97. Been involved in a law suit 98. Owned a cell phone 99. Been stung by a bee

Come on just eat something.

So last week was Kade's one year checkup. I figured it would be a simple Dr. appointment with a few shots. When we got there they did the normal measuring of length and head, and getting his weight. He weighted in at 20.1 lbs. which I thought was great but when they compared that to what he weighed at 6 months he had only gained a 1-1/2 lbs.. Kade is still not eating any solid foods. He has no desire what so ever at all. In fact he is still just breastfeeding and the only person he will even take a bottle from is my mom. He is so stuborn I wonder where he gets that from... So the doctor decided to send us to an eating therapist at Primary Children's. They told us that they couldn't get us in for a couple weeks until the doctor and him started to compare numbers. As soon as they heard he had only gained a pound and a half they got him in the very next day. I was very hopeful going into the therapist but it turned out to be a complete waste of time. That morning they told me to stop feeding him 3 hours before his appointment. When I got there they observed me trying to feed Kade solid food, that lasted for about 2 hours. Then, they told me they were all going to go to lunch and they would see me back in an hour. By this time Kade has still not taken any food and he hadn't eaten in over 5 hours. They told me not to feed him while they were at lunch and that they would try when they returned. So now 6 hours after he had last ate, they tried to feed him. But of course just like I suspected he would not eat for them. They told me he must not like the food they were trying (baby food, rice cereal, pretzels, and gold fish) so they went and grabbed a couple different food items (oreo's, graham crackers, and biter biscuit). They gave him the oreo and he threw it across the room and did the same with the next two items. They told me that if he was truly hungry he would eat the solid food. To which I said that there have been days that I have dropped Kade off at my mom's house at 8:00am and at 6:00 pm when I pick him up he hasn't eaten anything all day long. The therapist looked at me and told me that she doesn't believe that. I am sure if looks could kill she would of dropped dead with the look I shot at her after that remark. They then went on to say that not eating or food aversion as they call it is a form of Autism. I just about lost it. First of all if my child is Autistic make sure he absolutely has it before telling me. Second of all they did nothing to figure out what was wrong with him besides trying to feed him solid food which I already knew he wouldn't eat. So now I am just frustrated with this whole process. The next step is that he meets with a food therapist on the 12 of Nov. and they will test him in three areas which are taste, texture, and color. Hopefully they can figure out something. So if anyone has any great idea's on how to get Kade to eat solid foods, please let me know. Also if your Doctor ever suggests taking your child to a eating therapist at Primary Children's, don't waste the time or the money.

KADE IS ONE!!!

I cannot believe that my little man is one today. This year has flown by. It seems like we just brought him home from the hospital. I remember feeling so unsure about adding a member to our family right before he was born but now I could not imagine life with out him. I am so grateful that Kade joined our family. He brings so much joy to our home with his cute little personality. He is such a happy baby and when he smiles you can't help but smile with him. We decided to have a combined birthday party for him and his cousin Tyson, they are only two days apart. Kade wasn't quite sure about the smash cake. As soon as we put it in front of him he tried to slap the cake which made frosting go every where. Some of the frosting landed in his eye and he started to cry and wanted nothing else to do with the cake. I tried to get him to taste the frosting but he didn't want it at all, although after tasting the non-dairy frosting I wouldn't of wanted it either. He had a lot of fun tearing the wrapping paper off his gifts, but wasn't so interested with playing with what was inside. HAPPY BIRTHDAY BK!!!

It's an ear thing.

So I was looking through my pictures of our trip to Cali and came across one and decided I had to share the story. You know how when you are driving and the elevation changes and your ears get plugged? Well Ali apparently had never experienced this before. She started to whine a little and so I asked her what was wrong. She told me that she could not hear herself. I replied, What are you talking about? She again said I can't hear myself why can't I hear myself? Right then my ears plugged up and I knew exactly what she was talking about. So Alan and I tried every way possible to get her ears to pop but none of them worked. She kept saying she couldn't hear herself and was getting pretty frustrated. She asked me why it happened and I tried to explain to her about the elevation changing. She apparently didn't grasp the concept and was sick of listening to my explanation because she cut me off mid sentence and said "Mom all you had to say was that it was an ear thing." So when we were driving home and we were about in the same spot this conversation took place on the way there, it of course happened again. She once again said I can't hear myself and this time she started to cry. Trying to console her as much as I could from the front seat of the car, I again started talking about the elevation changing and that it would be over soon. A few minutes later I looked back and she had stuffed tissue in her ears. I asked her if it was helping and she said yes, well no, but she said it made it harder for her to hear me talking about the elevation. Apparently she was annoyed enough by my explanation to try and make it so she couldn't hear me. You gotta love the truthfulness of a child.

Papa and Princess pajama party

Okay so I'm a little behind on posting but on Friday September 26th we as a primary presidency decided to host a daddy/daughter party. We had so much fun planning and putting on this fun activity for the girls in our ward. We decided that we wanted as many girls there as possible so we included every girl 11 years old and under. The first thing the girls and their dad's did when they got there was sign their names on the castle wall. The girls of course signed Princess (insert name) and the dads signed King (insert name). After signing the wall it was on to dinner. We served little Caesars pizza and had Capri suns for the drinks. It was fun to see the girls interacting with their fathers, and was also cute to hear the fun little conversations they all were having with each other. After dinner we had all the girls make themselves crowns. The dad's got really into this. For the most part they were right next to their daughters helping them design their crowns. A few of the girls thought it would be fun to make their mom's crowns and give them to her when they got home. Once all their crowns were made it was time for the girls and their fathers to show off their PJ's and crowns on the red carpet. A few of the dad's really knew how to strut their stuff on the cat walk. We decided to play a little music for the red carpet, we couldn't help ourselves, we had to play "I'm to sexy." One father picked up his daughter and swung her around and around as he walked down the catwalk. Others did the classic model walk with a fun pose at the end. For the red carpet we got some red butcher paper taped it to the floor and outlined it with rope lighting. We took picture of all the girls with their dad's and are planning on printing them out and giving the girls the picture to remember this special night. After picture we moved on to our entertainment. We had the dad's sign up to do either a lip sync or a talent with their girls. We had so many dad's get up and have fun with their daughters. We had singing, dancing, cartwheels, sign language, piano playing, lip syncing, and much more. The talent show was a lot of fun and a huge success. We ended the night by giving out trophies to all the girls and having dessert. We made cakes for the girls that looked like their were girls sleeping in a bed. The cakes turned out so dang cute. We hope everyone who came had a wonderful night and made a lot of fun memories. I want to thank my presidency for all the time and effort they put into this activity. If it weren't for my presidency this night would definitely not have been possible. Thank you for all you gals do, you guys rock!!!

KADE IS WALKING!!!

Kade started to walk on September 23rd. I was so glad he waited until we were home from our trip. I can't imagine how our trip would of been if he wanted to walk around everywhere. I love the unstable walking stage. He is so sure of himself when he takes off. He doesn't hesitate at all. Although if he doesn't want to walk you can't make him. Alan's parents came to our house last Wednesday and were surprised that he was walking. They had just seen him a couple days earlier and he wasn't trying to walk at all. I haven't been able to snap a picture of him walking yet, every time he sees the camera he sits down as fast as he can.

Learning to swim

We took Ali swimming for the first time when she was about 6 weeks old, she loved it, she wasn't scared of the water at all. But when we went camping earlier this summer she wouldn't go swimming in the swimming pool unless she was holding on to either Alan or myself. So when we went to California we decided we were going to work on her swimming skills. The first day we decided to go swimming she, once again didn't want to let go of us, even though she had her life jacket on. We finally convinced her that the life jacket would help her float. We spent about three hours at the swimming pool and by the end she was a little fish. I think it also helped that we had the swimming pool all to ourselves. The next time we went swimming we had to drag her out of the pool. I am so glad she has finally decided that swimming is fun again.