The Week in Review

Yesterday was the last day of school. Brandon has completed 4th grade and will be a big, bad 5th grader in the fall. Steven finished kindergarten and his class had a commencement to celebrate. Both boys did very well with their grades.



Steven threw his hat way off to the side. I gotta work with him if he's ever going to be a big league pitcher.


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After one summer of growth, our strawberry plants are now producing. They look a little small, but we have to pick them off before any critters get them. I'm looking forward to making strawberry milkshakes and having strawberry shortcake. Jamie will probably want to use them for something healthier. Whatever. :)
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Here are some pictures of our beautiful girls. They are growing up so fast. It's hard to believe Kylie will be starting school in the fall.

Brandon is a believer!

If you have any bigfoot stories, Brandon would love to talk to you. Lately, he's really been into cryptozoology - Bigfoot, Nessie, chupacabras, and the like. I can't say I blame him. I like reading about that stuff too. I'm trying to get him started on UFO conspiracy theories by watching UFO Hunters with me, but Steven likes that more than Brandon. I digress. So Brandon drew a picture of the Sasquatch he saw. Just kidding, he didn't see one. But he did draw a picture that he wanted to share with everyone. For the record, he believes that Bigfoot exists, but he thinks Nessie would have died by now. As of this posting, he hasn't told me if he believes in chupacabras. Personally, I think chupacabras are alien/wolf hybrids that scientists created at Area 51. Okay, not really.

UPDATE! - Brandon does NOT believe in chupacabras.

Notice anything different?

Here's some pics of Tyler we took today. If you didn't guess by looking at them, he has his oxygen tube off. His saturations didn't change whether or not he had it on, so the Doc said to just keep it off. We still have all the equipment just in case he starts tanking, but hopefully he won't have to have it on again except when he's recovering from his surgery.

Here he is when I told him that the Cavs blew a big halftime lead and lost Game 1 to the Magic.

This is when I told him the Angels lost 1-0 to the Mariners.

Asleep during the American Idol finale (I'm not kidding about this one)

Bridal Veil Falls

We went to Bridal Veil Falls today. We brought lunch and had a family picnic. Unfortunately, it was pretty crowded and all the tables were being used. We sat on a large cement access box and it worked out pretty well. The kids loved playing in the water below the water fall. Tyler was a very good baby. He loves being outside. He's doing very well, all things considered. His blood pressure is a little elevated and his saturations are down, but the cardio is keeping a close eye on him. These things are to be expected with his condition, especially as he gets closer to his next surgery. Here are some pics for your viewing enjoyment.

A 'Suite' Lakers Victory!

Game 4 - Lakers v. Jazz. In all my years of living in Utah, I had been to a few Jazz games, but never when they played the Lakers. So when my Aunt Sherrie texted me and said Uncle Dave got a suite for game 4 and there were two seats for me, I was ecstatic. Jamie, Tyler, and I made the inter-county trip to the Energy Solutions Arena and were treated to first class food and accommodations. More importantly, we saw the Lakers emphatically pound the Jazz into submission and take a commanding 3-1 series lead. I couldn't outwardly enjoy the victory too much, though. I was the only Lakers fan in the suite (well, the only cheering one. Sorry, Jamie :) ) and I tried my hardest not to gloat. Uncle Dave kept giving me a hard time about cheering for them, though.

Tyler did not like the loud noises of the pre-game introductions or the cheering crowd (to be fair, I ddin't like the cheering Jazz fans either, j/k) Jamie had to take him out of the suite for a while. During half time, I got some earplugs and we used some bandages to keep them in his ears. It actually worked and he slept through most of the second half. I know in the corner recesses of his brain, he'll always remember his first Lakers game. If you look closely, you can see the bandages over his ear in the picture below.



Here's Uncle Dave and Aunt Sherrie. A big THANK YOU to them.

Tomorrow night is game 5 and there will be two 24's on TV. The only question is who will be more lethal - Jack Bauer or Kobe Bryant. I wouldn't bet against either of them.

Another big even yesterday - Kaylin got her first real haircut. Jamie did the honors. Doesn't she look beautiful?! All the nursery boys are going to go nuts :)

Steven, master of the hoop.

While Steven is away in California, he's picking up a new skill. Here is the link to the video. It's kind of long, so I didn't want to put it directly on the blog, but you will definitely want to check it out. Thanks to Grandpa Jones for editing and posting it.

Birthday Party at the Hospital!

There's no better way to celebrate a birthday than at the hospital. Just ask Brandon. Instead of regular ice cream, we bought some Dibs (a registered trademark of the Nestle Corporation). Brandon was creative enough to use the Dibs as a substitute for the candles. It was a little disappointing that the other kids weren't here (they are in California with Granny Jones), but we had a good time.

Brandon was so excited to get his Nintendo DS, he started shaking when he was unwrapping it.