NYC and Shayne's EPIC 40th birthday

Shayne is a New Year's baby and he mentioned many times that it would be the coolest to be in NYC and watch the ball drop for his 40th.  Well - we didn't really plan on it but a couple weeks before the big event - he looked into making that dream a reality and everything came together!  So, off we went to NYC.  Shayne was the most excited - I was excited and nervous!  I did get our will done before we left town though.  LOL!  We got into town Thursday, the 29th.  We spent the day just roaming the town on the 30th.  

On the 31st, we left our bags at the hotel and went in for the LONG HAUL.

We got to an access point to enter Times Square around 2:30pm.  It quickly got crowded.  (They had announced that the access points wouldn't open till 3pm)  Look at the crowd.  We were sandwhiched and moving forward inch by inch.

I was trying to get a pic to show how close we were together - you can see the guy that is spooning Shayne here.  I could have lifted my feet and stayed standing.  yah - fun times.

After three checkpoints (including dogs, metal detectors, and pat downs), we were into the square.  We tried to move closer to the big screen but quickly realized that we were basically in a pen, in the center of the street.  The sidewalks were accessed by the policemen patrolling the "pens" and also a few food vendors who sold pizzas and drinks such as soda, coffee, and hot chocolate.  There were NO bathrooms.  You could leave and go find one, but you couldn't come back.  We knew we were there for a long time.  But we were pleasantly surprised that we could sit and there was room around us - we thought we'd be standing for 10 hours.  Thank goodness we weren't!!

We had a nice view of the ball and there was a large screen - every hour they would do a countdown to the hour - it was a really long time to be sitting outside.  I was a little miserable - simply because we couldn't go anywhere!  I prefer to be busy!

We have been to Vegas for New Year's and I thought this would be similar - it was very different.  No drinking was allowed on the streets in NYC.  So, everyone was sober.  Plus - people were there from all over the world - just to be a part of this.  We had a couple from Uruguay next to us and others from Texas, and others from Ohio - it was really neat.  Also - I felt very safe.  All the man-hole covers were locked down.  All mailboxes and trashcans were locked up a few days before the event as well.  The scenery changed when midnight struck - but it was all part of the fun of being in this place surrounded by so many people!    

At midnight - the confetti RAINED down and we celebrated and cheered and Shayne was SUPER miserable because he needed to pee soooooo badly!  lol.  We immediately started walking to our hotel.  I can't even describe the amount of mass of people.  It was incredible.  

Happy birthday sweetie!  I love you more than yesterday and not as much as tomorrow.  You are my rock and the joy in my life - I'm so grateful for you as my sweetheart, best friend, and partner in parenthood.  You are my sunshine - still!

December Highlights

December highlights

Just documenting my boys growing taller than me...

Cole is close, but not taller than me yet.

Danny played basketball - and loved it!

Taylor lived with us for a few months - he is the boys 2nd cousin (son of Shayne's cousin, Delsa).  He lived with us while he worked in Utah while he was on break from BYU-I.  The boys LOVED Taylor, not only is he a lego-fanatic, he played tickle-monster with the little boys, and quickly became Skyler's favorite brother.  We miss him!

Christmas with Nana & Papa

Devri made a cake that was half chocolate and half not-chocolate - because she loves my mom and I and wanted to make sure we both had what we love.  (I'm the weirdo who doesn't like chocolate!)

Playing in these huge balls was a blast with all the cousins - the pic doesn't do it justice, but I wanted to remember it.  You SWEAT inside these things!  Don't dress warm!

We went to see the lights at Thanksgiving point with everyone together.  

It was BEEEAUTIFUL!

I'm glad my boys have their cousins as best friends - this pic just proves that Carson won't ever let a camera take a pic of him being normal. ;-)

Here's our family with Great Grandma.  She turned 95 this year!

TMJ, Treatment, and BRACES!

The long story: 

I remember when my jaw pain became unbearable - Cole was 1 year old and we were in Hawaii.  My mouth hurt so much and I figured it was a botched cavity I just had filled.  When I returned home - they redid the cavity.  In fact, that was the start of a lot of dental drama.  I tried new dentists then too - and I ended up having a root canal YEARS later - thinking that was finally going to be the end of the pain.  After a total of 7+ years of pain, I had my skiing accident and we had met our medical deductible so I figured that it was time to get help for my jaw.  I met with a jaw expert and immediately started hypnotherapy (to help with clenching), physical therapy, a new mouth guard (which was awesome!) and I started down the road to feeling normal.  I had gotten to the point that it hurt to open my mouth to bite into banana.  I had lost over 60% of my bone in my left joint and I can't recall how much I lost on the right - but it was not as significant as the left side.  After the muscles has been relaxed and a million exercises done to strengthen my tongue (yes, I did tongue push-ups), and I was finally pain-free.  I still get pain - but it's manageable and I can recognize triggers and eliminate them when things get to be too much - whether it's stress, popcorn, or just too much clarinet playing.  At the end of all my therapies - it was apparent that my jaw had changed a lot and I no longer had a correct bite.  I would bite and only 4 teeth would touch - my whole jaw would have to adjust forward to chew food.  When I would bite into a sandwhich - I couldn't put my front teeth together to bite off food.  Food was falling out of my mouth when I'd bite down!  I was shocked with the jaw specialist said it was time to go to an orthodontist - I thought I was done - but at the same time, I knew something was not right.

My options were jaw surgery (not really an option with the TMJ issues and monetarily) or orthodontic work.  I went to the Orthodontist recommended by my jaw specialist and at the first consult, it was apparent he knew his stuff.  I went to another ortho - just to have a second opinion.  He was a nice guy - but he missed the boat completely.  He said, Why would I want to get braces?  My teeth were already straight.  He was right - my teeth weren't crooked - but he didn't recognize the whole bite issue.  I knew it was a big deal in the long run.  So, ortho treatment began.

Step one - a custom made bracket that was anchored to a screw in the roof of my mouth.  You could almost see the brackets on the sides - but inside was a different story.  My mouth ached and it chewed up my tongue.  Eating was terrible!  Everything got stuck in the bracket!!  Slowly - the bracket would move higher and higher in my mouth - which essentially lifted my whole upper jaw and brought my front teeth in closer to the lower jaw.

At first the process was SLOOOOOOW.  The ortho even said, "if this doesn't work, I'll give you your money back.  Sometimes older people just can't get their teeth to move as fast as they want - but if you have patience, I think we'll get there."  I thought I would have that bracket for a year or two!  I got it out before 6 months!  Woo-hoo!

The screw:

The hole at the roof of my mouth:

And now for the braces, to line everything up.

I had rubber-bands and here's a little look at this crazy mouth.  I wore my bands religiously, I wanted this to be DONE!!   

I got braces in March and on Dec 7th I got them OFF!

There's a huge difference in my bite and I'm so grateful for the expertise of my Orthodontist.  When I yawn, I'm still surprised it doesn't hurt.  When I eat food - I can tell all my teeth are touching - it's crazy to feel so different!  

I am especially grateful to Shayne for being understanding and supportive of this huge process.  It was a LOT of pennies, but worth it.  My advice to everyone is DON'T TOLERATE JAW PAIN.  Fix it - so you don't have to do everything I did! 

Look who's 5!

My baby is now 5! 

Nana made him is very own quilt to go on his bed.  What she didn't know is that Skyler has a song - "Sky full of Stars" by Coldplay.  He sings this song and loves when we put it on in the car or in the house.  Little did she know that when she made a star-pattern quilt for this little guy - how happy it would make him!  

And the quilt does not stay on the bed - every morning he drags it out to the front room to snuggle as we get the day started.

All about Skyler:

He's a reader - he reads with me every night and he WANTS to read.  (this hasn't been the case with all my kids).  He reads signs everywhere and he cracks me up - ie:

"Cup BOP? What is that?  That sounds like a BOP in a cup!!" ensuing giggles

His favorite letters: "B, U, Y - cause they spell BYU!!"

He still has his favorite blankies - and his favorite stuffed animal is a little monkey right now.

His favorite TV show: Teen Titans Go! and he claims Paw Patrol - but he never watches it anymore.

Favorite Food: "pretty much Pie"

He loves to be with friends and he is a friend magnet.  He constantly has friends over and he's always conspiring, I mean planning, parties so he can invite ALL his friends over.  He can't leave preschool without asking someone to come home with us.  

He is a backseat driver.  Always asking how many turns, and "are you sure this is the way mommy?" - when he sees me go a new way to get somewhere.

He talks a mile a minute - always something to say and talk about.  And he makes up songs when he runs out of things to talk about.   

He brings joy and laughter into our house and I can't imagine my little side-kick being in Kindergarten next year.  I can't imagine him NOT going, but I'm sad to see this special time end.  It's been a blessing in my life to be a stay-at-home mom with this little Skyler-man.  He's our little super-hero everyday!