Presidents Day at Hollywood Connection

I have never had such a fabulous President's Day Holiday as we did this year.  My parents, Grandma and Grandpa Kunz, and Aunt Annie and her family were in Park City for the weekend so we were able to meet them in Salt Lake on Monday for playing.  We decided to go to Hollywood Connection, a first for all of us, and we were not disappointed.  It was a blast!

 

They were giving hot dogs and drinks for free when you bought a wristband, so we all got one and were able to eat lunch there.  Then there was lots of playing to be had.

 

Trevor and Levi on their first ride, The Carousel.



I love this face on Trevor!

Bumper cars were our favorite!

Trevor

Levi- the sun reflecting off the shiny floor made getting picture hard at the beginning of the afternoon.  By night time the pictures get better.

 

Landon had just as much fun as the kids.

 

 

 

 

Kat really wanted to ride the bumper cars but wasn't big enough. She had to settle for watching from the side with Mama.

Kat's favorite was the Carousel.

Aunt Annie riding with Eve.  Papa is in the background as well.

 What sweet cousins.  One day I am sure they will be great friends.  For now they kind of ignore each other's presence.  But they are both stinking cute!

Evie Bunkins



Baby Kat

We played a little mini golf.  All the kids did a good job hitting their balls and Kat loved trying to pick every one's balls up.

Kat riding the Bus ride with Aunt Annie.  Horrible picture I know, but it was the best I could do.

 Grandma and Papa and Aunt Annie and her family had to leave earlier than us, so we did more riding and got ice cream.  Our kids, and us, had a blast.  Something we will have to do again very soon!

Baby Kat is 18 months!

Baby Kat turned 18 months!  I can hardly believe what a big girl she is becoming.  Since joining our family she has been the center of all of our lives and has definitely taken on the role of the Baby of the family.

 

 

Kat started nursery about a month before she turned 18 months, but has loved it from the start.  She struggled at first with the sitting down and not climbing on the table, but really it didn't take too long.  She plays well with the other kids and especially loves singing time.

 

Happy 18 month-a-birth-ary my baby girl!  Here are some fun things about our baby girl.

• At the doctor you weighed 30 lbs and
• You LOVE to climb.  More than any of our other kids.  I can't keep you off of the table or bar stools.
• You are learning to talk and we love getting to hear your little voice.  Some of the words you know are:  Mama, Dada, Yes (which was your first word), Ella, Kat, this, "All done", Bye-Bye, "See ya", Uh-oh (especially when you know you pushed a button on the phone that you weren't supposed to)
• You love to ask "What's that?"
• You have special words for Trevor and Sippy, but they are not real words.  They are more the same sounds that you make every time you are talking about them
• You are a Dancing Queen!  Anytime music is on you are busting a groove and you have some seriously awesome moves.
• You give fantastic kisses that make Mommy and Daddy's heart melt.
• You love to see friends and play with them.
• You are sassy and know how to communicate your needs and wants.  No need to worry that you won't get what you want.
• You hold a pencil correctly.  I think maybe even better than Levi, and it just came naturally.  Coloring and drawing are some of your favorite things to do.
• Your run is more like a prance.
• You love stuffed animals and blankies.  Your favorite toys are Kitty & Uni.  You also love phones, or anything resembling a phone.
• You are happiest in Mama's lap with a blanket wrapped around you.
• You love bananas and mandarin oranges, chips with ranch dressing, rice chex, and of course your sippy.
• You have started clapping for yourself and others.  So cute!
• You love to play with Ripley.  You will chase him, pet him, and try to sit on him.  You have even tried to give him kisses several times.
• You shake your finger and tell us "Don't Touch."  You also like to "Ssshhh" people.

Oh Baby Kat!  You make my heart so super happy.  I'm so glad that you are mine.

2 Crazy Weeks- Ellen's play

We signed Ellen up to be a part of a drama workshop at Stansbury High School.  It was 2 weeks long and they put on the play "Winnie the Pooh."

Every day for the two weeks she had rehearsal from 4-6:30 p.m.  She had to do her homework in the car in order to get it all done and struggled a little at school to stay focused and on top of her work, but she had the time of her life.

Ellen was cast as Rabbit, which is the perfect role for her.  We have always said she was our own little Rabbit because she believes everything she reads in books and will argue with you if she read something different in a book.  She ended up memorizing everyone's lines and had to work hard to not tell people when they had messed up their lines, but really she did fantastic!

They had two performances on Saturday night. We made it to the last one. She made her drama loving parents very, very proud at how well she did. And more importantly she loved doing it! They will be doing another workshop this summer and she already has big plans for that one.

Ellen dictated to me what the captions on the pictures should say.

Ellen got that pose from Piglet's Big Movie.

Ellen coming out of her house for Pooh & Piglet.

Reading the terrifying note!

"What are you talking about Pooh?  This note is horrible!  This note is simply terrifying!"

Backson Song

Ellen in the pit.

Backson Song Reprise.  Different from the Backson Song.  It is the REPRISE.

Christopher Robin talking about school.

"Don't blame me!  It was Owl who told us about the Backsons."

I love this picture because it is the only one we got of her pulling up her pants.  She did it through the whole play.  She even had one part where she was running around on stage by herself trying to find a place to hide and in the middle of it she was hiking up her pants.  So funny!

Picnic

 This is about the time she found us in the audience.

Bows.  Ellen's hat came off so she did a grand swooping gesture with it.

After the play doing her typical Rabbit pose.

2 Crazy Weeks- Valentines Day

Last year after Valentines Day I was able to get a bunch of decorations for 50-75% off.  I have never had Valentine's Day decorations so we were really excited to decorate this year.  Just a few of my favorite items.

I made this one myself! Inspired from a Christmas wreath that my sister, Shelly, made for my mom years ago.

My SIL, Lindsay, made this for me.  I have one for every holiday, plus some!

I got enough garland to make both the wreath and wrap it all the way up my banisters.  How could I refuse at $1 a pop.

As for Valentines Day itself it was a crazy day!  For the kids presents I made them each their very own cake size chocolate chip cookies.  They were very excited and enjoyed eating them.  I woke up early to get them all decorated and ready to present, so I was up and going at 6 a.m.

Turned out pretty cute if I might say so myself.  And they were yummy!

The rest of this is pretty much a step-by-step of my day.  If you don't want to read it all I won't be offended.  I just want to remember what a busy day it was and all that I got accomplished.

At 7 a.m. I went to wake up Ellen & Trevor to get them ready for school.  Levi & Morgan & Kat all decided they wanted to wake up as well, so we all got ready in the craziness of a the morning.  I made Heart shaped pancakes for them and we dyed the milk pink for fun.  Ellen & Trevor headed off for school with a friend and I had about an hour to get myself dressed and ready and clean up breakfast before taking Levi & Morgan to preschool. 

After dropping the boys off at preschool Kat and I headed down to her well-baby check-up at with the doctor.  I didn't get the doctor to write down all her stats so I only know estimates, but she was about 30 lbs.  She was in the ninetieth percentile for weight and the 99% for height.  (She's a tall girl!)  All things looked great for her and we have a healthy, smart baby doll.

After Kat's appointment we rushed over to the school so that I could help out with Trevor's Valentine's party.  Valentine's in Kindergarten is a little crazy!  Trying to get all of the Valentine's in the bags with only 4 adults was a little bit of a task, but we got it done.  It didn't help that we were all constantly taking things out of Kat's hands, markers, valentines, frosting, etc.  Trevor loved that we were there and he loved bragging that his Mom had made the cookies they got to decorate.

After Trevor's party it was a quick stop at the store for Kat and I, to get dog food, and then rushing home to be here in time for all the Boys to come home from school.  All three came home glowing and excited to show me all their Valentine's.  I automatically let them start sucking in the candy while I made lunch.  I was able to get Kat to eat quickly and then put her down for a quick nap so that I got to sit down for the first time all day and eat my lunch.  All I got was an hour.

Then it was folding laundry and loading up all the kids to take them to the church where a friend of mine agreed to watch them so that I could volunteer in Ellen's class for her party.  While Valentine's Day in the 2nd grade is not as frantic, it is still pretty busy.  Her teacher ended up showing them Charlie Brown's Valentine special so I was able to help clean up and then sit and snuggle my girl for about 10 minutes while we finished watching the movie.  Then, it was off and moving again.

We left the school and took Ellen to her play rehearsal, making her do homework the whole way.  Then straight from there to pick up the rest of the kids and get the boys ready for their swim lessons.  Landon took Levi and Trevor to swim and I put a movie on for Morgan and Kat while I did the dishes and cleaned up the kitchen so that we could actually eat dinner.  Then it was off to pick up Ellen from rehearsal and more homework in the car.

Thursday nights are our date nights with the kids and this week it was Ellen and my date night.  She wanted to get Coldstone Ice cream and then hide away having girl time in my room.  So, we stopped and got the ice cream on the way home.  When we got home we were able to grab a quick bite of dinner before heading up to my room to watch the Lorax and eat our ice cream all snuggled together in bed.

By the time we got to the movie I was about ready to fall over dead.  It had been a crazy, busy day!  It could not have ended better though.  After the movie I went in to kiss my boys goodnight and had them both telling me about a surprise downstairs that they couldn't tell me about, but according to Trevor, "It sometimes smells sweet."  My sweetie had gotten me flowers and left them on the counter for me.


We ended the night by snuggling up with each other and watching X-files.  I think this may have been one of the busiest, craziest Valentines Days I have ever had.  While I may not have gotten time to dwell on the lovey dovey part of the day, I was given the time to spend loving on each one of my special people one at a time.  You can't ask for a better Valentine's Day then that.

2 Crazy Weeks- Swim Lessons

Holy Wow!  The last two weeks have been totally crazy at our house.  Lots of running around, but also lots of fun.

First off, the boys got to do a round of swim lessons.  They LOVE swim lessons and I love having them do them.  I wish that our pool did lessons once a week for a few months.  It sure would make things less crazy, but instead they do them every night for 2 weeks.  Makes for crazy evenings but a very exciting 2 weeks for the kiddos.

Trevor did Level 1 and Levi did Preschool Level 2.  At the end they graduated Trevor to Level 2 and said that Levi needed to do Preschool Level 2 again.  (Sorry, this is more for my own memory than for anything else.  Just so I know where to start them at when we sign them up again.)

Levi kicking his feet while on his back.

My Diddle man is soooooo cute!

Trevor wouldn't look at the camera.  He was having too much fun.

The prize at the end of the lessons is a sucker and a paper telling them how great they had done.

 

Yeah for swim lessons!

 



When The Truth Makes Living This Life Hard

Cancer has become an everyday part of our lives over the last few years.  Since Connor was diagnosed 6 years ago we haven't really had much of a break from it.  Really it is something that is discussed almost on a daily basis at my house with the knowledge that it is "right around the corner" and could rear its ugly head at any time.  But, because of this, it has become something that we are almost desensitized to.  Dark humor creeps in to make it bearable and, heck, it is our reality so we deal with it.  But every now and then Cancer reminds us that it is real, and it truly can make you feel powerless and heart sick.

My mom was diagnosed with her cancer, Neuroendocrine Carcinoma, about a year and a half ago now.  The average life expectancy for this type of cancer is 8 years.  We hold to that strongly and hope for even more time.  So far she really has handled most of her treatments well.  The cancer makes her feel sick and icky most of the time, but she is also able to handle it fairly well (she's a seriously tough cookie) and has continued to live a mostly normal life.  It has kind of lulled us into a false sense of security.

In January Grandma Kitty had a scan done to assess the growth of the cancer.  It was not as positive as we would have liked, but not too bad either.  It showed that there was new growth (the bad part) but that all of her tumors were still fairly small.  Because of the new growth the doctors and my parents decided to try to do embolization again.  Embolization is where they go in through a vein in her leg, straight to her liver (where most of the tumors are) and administer chemo directly on the tumors.  She had done this once before and it worked well, shrinking the tumors that they treated.

The procedure actually went well and my mom came out only wanting Ibuprofen for the pain.  But, after two days at home she began to be in a lot of pain.  Her bowels were not functioning and she ended up having to be taken to the ER.  They admitted her and she had to stay for two days.  No real blockage was found so treatment was given to just try to get things working right again and moving.  They also found that her gallbladder was enlarged and that was probably aiding to the pain she felt.

This really isn't anything that is normally really life threatening, but for someone who already has a tumor in her bowels it was scary for us.  It also reminded us that just because she seems fine a lot of the time doesn't mean that the cancer has gone away.  It happened over the weekend of Landon's birthday and I spent the whole weekend a big mess and on an emotional eating binge (which I still haven't been able to reign in all the way).

The hardest part for me was feeling like I was so far away and helpless.  I couldn't be there to give her a hug (even though I know she was drugged up for much of it) or to hold my daddy's hand.  To make sure that he was taking care of himself and to just pull together with my family.  I have learned that at times like this I really like to be with my family.  When Shelly died I didn't want to be alone, I practically camped out at Annie's house.  My dad did a great job of keeping me informed and that helped.  But, I still felt helpless.

I know that even if I were in Boise and close to her I would feel that way.  That is what Cancer does.  It takes power and control away.  It tries to overwhelm.  I am grateful that most of the time I get to put it on the back burner and forget that it is inevitably there.

This was the first time since my mom's diagnosis that it seemed really real to me again.  Cancer will steal another family member away from me far before I am ready.  And, I guess, in some ways we needed that reminder.  The reminder to not get so complacent.  To make sure that we are remembering the lessons we learned from the deaths of Connor and Shelly.  To make sure that we are giving the very most of our time and love to one another and taking nothing for granted.

I am grateful for the power of the priesthood.  For the healing I know it helped provide in my mom's body.  I am grateful for the knowledge of an eternal family and the comfort that brings.  I know that we have guardian angels from the other side administering to us and that they are linked to us more closely than for others.  But most of all, I am grateful for the family I have here.  For the love and support that we can give to each other when the truth makes living this life hard.

Our very own Groundhog

Groundhog's Day is super special at our house.  We don't really celebrate Punxsutawney Phil the same as everyone else.  We of course acknowledge him, but we have some celebrating to do with our very own groundhog.  32 years ago our Daddy decided to pop out and see if he saw his shadow.  I don't know if he did or not, but I sure am glad that he decided to make an appearance.

Landon isn't very big into celebrating his birthday.  I have gone all out and thrown big parties for him before, but really he would rather just live his day like it was any other, with the exception of watching the movie "Groundhog's Day."  It has been fairly sad to our little "planner," Ellen.  She would love to throw a big surprise party for her Daddy with a huge theme and lots of preparation and, well, BIGNESS.  I had to break her little heart last year and finally explain to her that Daddy doesn't really like surprises.  So, instead, she and her Daddy have compromised.  Ellen usually gets to pick what Landon's cake will be.  What kind, how it is decorated, everything about it.  That way she gets to surprise her Dad and plan something fun and he gets to keep his day more low key.

This year our Groundhog went to work and worked all day and when he came home we had dinner and cake.  Ellen chose Red Velvet with Cream Cheese frosting (we kept it really simple this year because Mom was not feeling up to anything big....post to come on that).  We did, however, put all 32 candles on his cake.

The kids were so excited to get to help Daddy blow out that many candles.  Ellen got to be the photographer so I could light them all, twice.  (Tradition, candles must be blown out twice.  Thank you Connor!)



 













After blowing everything out he opened his present.  Two more seasons of "Will & Grace."  He has been enjoying them greatly since.

For my kids birthdays I usually like to give a list of all the special things about them.  I haven't ever done it before for Landon because, frankly, I didn't want him to get embarrassed and mad at me.  But, since he doesn't really check the blog unless I tell him to I am going to do it and we'll just see if he ever notices.

Landon:

Totally Fun Daddy!  Your babies love to wrestle and play.  "Daddy's are for playing."

Very supportive husband.  Anyone who would wrestle four children down a canyon and then to a finish line to watch a mama finish her marathon deserves a medal of his own.

Amazing EQ President.  4th time baby!

Hard working.  The things you have been able to accomplish at FedEx amaze me.

Handy-man.  You complete my honey-do list and more.  One of the first things that attracted me to you was your willingness to at least try to fix anything.  It has come in so handy over the years.

Seriously Sexy.  We'll just leave that one at that.

Daddy Bear.  You have been willing to put up the fights necessary to help our kids succeed.  Thanks for facing your own ADD demon in order to try to help me and the kids face theirs.

All in all, you are the love of my life!  Cliche, I know, but I truly don't know where I would be today without you.  You have made me into the strong and independent woman I am and have made me the happiest Mama, wife, and woman to ever live.  Thanks for all you do!  We notice you and are truly grateful.

I LOVE YOU!