Ok so it's official, I am 30 yrs old!!! I still can't believe it, or maybe I refuse to believe it. I try to comfort myself by saying it's the circle of life, everyone has to experience 30 sometime...right?!

I have had several people ask me how it feels, and all you young bucks out there, or who think you are young bucks, but 30 is sneaking up around the corner for you too, you will soon see that 30 feels an awful lot like the last 10 birthdays! I feel no different what-so-ever!! I guess that's cause my body ages, but my spirit doesn't.

It was a great birthday! It started out with Dave and the girls waking up early on a Friday morning to make me breakfast. You all realize how especially sweet this is knowing that my dear hubby is recovering from surgery, so it took ALOT of effort on his part to do this. Breakfast was delicious and consisted of sausage, eggs, english muffins, and a box of those white powdered rasberry filled hostess doughnuts, which I guiltlessly ate nearly the whole box, and why shouldn't I? I am 30 and pregnant, it's not like anyone will notice where those doughnuts decide to make their final resting place!

As for gifts, I had to laugh at how individual, and thoughtful they were. Dave said that despite his urging them to get this or that, the moment they saw what they wanted there was no turning back. From Rachel I got a miniature frying pan that is pink. Dave said she carried it around and wouldn't be persuaded otherwise. From Michelle I got two ceramic fish salt and pepper shakers, she was beaming with pride when I opened them! From Madison, I got a pink Brita water filter pitcher, which is awesome! It makes our water drinkable rather than edible! From Dave, I got the wheat grinder I have been begging for for quite some time. Now I can make homemade wheat bread!!Yum!

That evening Dave's sister Kristen and hubby Brandon watched the girls while we went out on a date. He took me to Lone Star and to a play at desert star. The play was called Scary Poppins, a spoof off of Mary Poppins, it was really funny, I think Dave enjoyed himself even though he was technically going for me!

So, for those of you inquiring about my feelings turning 30, how could it have been anything but great with such thoughtful people in my life making it a great day?!

The power of example!!

Their Messy Room is Driving Me Crazy!!!!

This is Rachel(2 yrs old) and Michelle's (4 yrs old) room. It always looks like this. I know I need to be practical in my expectations, but come on! Everything has it's place and they know right where that is, so what's up with throwing everything they own on the floor? Does anyone have some magical advice for me, not only on messy rooms, but daily jobs and responsibilities? What is working for you and your little ones?

How Great is this??!!

How many kids get to go to the Utah State Fair with their Great Grandparents? Dave's Grandpa Dave, and Grandma Ruthie asked us if it would be alright if they took the girls to the fair, how cute is that?! I said sure, as long as I get to go along! I didn't want to miss out on the fun, and I thought they could use an extra hand keeping an eye on three little girls! They loved it!!

First thing they wanted to do was go for a pony ride...of course!



















After the pony rides, they got to pet goats, sheep, and cows.
















We got to see a really cool reptile show with lots of snakes, lizards, alligators and turtles. Madison's hand practically stayed in the air the whole time in hopes of being called on. She is fearless, as you can see in this picture of her with a ball python wrapped around her neck!





















The farm was the cutest thing ever. It was totally free, and we initially thought it was a petting zoo, but it was more of a life in the day of a farmer. You start out by putting on an apron and getting a basket, next you are given some corn to feed the cow, then you milk the cow, then you pick some apples, then you pick out some seeds and plant those seeds in a garden, and then you pick your potatoe or pepper or whatever you planted and put it in your basket and then you haul all your harvest in a "tractor" and then you collect wool from a sheep, and collect eggs from chickens and then after all of that you are paid $1, and you get to go into a little store and buy a real snack! It was soooo fun, and the girls loved it!


























And of course, if you go to the fair you HAVE to have cotton candy!! It was the biggest cotton candy I have ever seen! Michelle was way into it, if you couldn't tell. They also went on a couple of rides, this yellow slide was very steep, but Maddie and Michelle wanted to go down it anyway. You can hardly see Michelle holding onto Maddie for dear life, and Madison's facial expression was priceless, she was speechless when they got to the bottom. I think it took her breath away!
















Here is Michelle hand in hand with Grandma Ruthie, she is enjoying her chocolate milk she worked so hard on the farm to earn. I love this picture of Grandpa Dave helping Rachel get a drink, it's priceless! You just don't see enough Great Grandparents willing to invest in relationships with their great grandchildren! These two are fabulous!!






















Thanks for a Great Time!!

Dave's Knee Update:

So, here is a picture of Dave's knee 5 days after surgery! I couldn't believe they took off all his bandages! I have to admit, it made me a little queasy to see the damage up close, there was so much bruising and swelling, it hardly looked like his knee. If you look close you can see "yes" written in blue just above his knee. Dave and the Doctor both had to write it on the left knee to make sure there was no confusion to which knee needed to be operated on.

After surgery Dave was so good to follow the doctors orders and stayed on his crutches for two whole weeks. This will be his second week of physical therapy which he says makes his knee feel a lot better. We are sooooo grateful to be on the mend! This was an intense surgery, and we are happy to leave these last three weeks behind us!

WHAT was she thinking???

So, I am getting the girls ready for bed, when I hear Madison frantically yelling EMERGENCY, EMERGENCY!! I went into the bathroom full on expecting something minimal from the drama mama, but this time she was right!

Before my eyes was an open drawer with a thick layer of toothpaste intentionally spread across the entire drawer! I couldn't believe it, WHY???

All fingers pointed to Michelle. She sheepishly looked at me with a daring smile...(what is up with the smile I thought) I was not happy to say the least, but I am really trying to control my tongue in these kinds of situations, so I sternly asked her why she did it. She looked at me thoughtfully said, " I wanted to get in trouble because I like to clean." Hmmmmmm I am not sure what to think about that one. Maybe my plan to punish my kids by giving them more jobs is having the opposite effect! Any advice?......

Surgery update...

On Friday the 29th Dave and I went into the hospital for his knee surgery. He had to have complete ACL reconstruction surgery as well as meniscus damage repair and they were concerned about a fracture as well.

We got to the hospital around 10:00, checked him in, got him set up with an IV and waited. By 12:15 he was in the hands of Dr. Cooley, a highly recommended and specialized doctor in knee reconstructive surgery. We felt really lucky to have found him, and knew Dave was in good hands.

The surgery was scheduled for one hour, so you can imagine how nervous I became when 2.5 hours passed and still there was no word on Dave. I went to ask someone on his status and they said he was still in surgery. About 15 minutes later Dr. Cooley came out into the waiting room and apologized for the delay. He said that once they got inside his knee they could see there was a lot more work to be done than expected, and some of the repairs were very rare, (in fact Dave's nurse said in 18 yrs she had never seen anything like it) which he was very excited for the opportunity to work on them and excitedly reported that all was well and Dave's knee should feel better than it had in a very long time.

Dave is home now and is doing as well as is to be expected. He is a big fan of percocet and finds that as long as we stay ahead of the pain all is well. He has been bed ridden all weekend, and we anticipate more of the same for this week. He is getting anxious to be out and about. He will meet with Dr. Cooley again on Wednesday to go over his progress and what we can expect for the next couple of weeks.