2010 in Review

In just a few hours, we will say goodbye to 2010. It has been a great year for us and we have been so blessed! Here is a little recap of our 2010 year!

January

Both of my babies celebrated their birthdays!

Grandpa Simmons passed away. He is missed dearly.

I was struggling to find relief for Owen's excessive puking.

February

We sold our home when the economy took a downturn.

We found the perfect rental home and it is such a blessing financially.

I started Owen on a blended diet of real foods and said goodbye to Formula forever.

His puking ceased and his energy increased!

We had the pleasure of meeting many of our dear heart friends at Ethan's Run.

Owen finally pulled himself to a Stand!

I was diagnosed, once again, with PCOS.

March

We took our first swim of the year!!

Carson visited Seattle to visit his brother Rustyn.

Kamryn visited the Orthodontist for the first time.

We attended our first Hope Kids event at Bumble Bee Ranch.

April

We attended Disney on Ice with Hope Kids!

I got my new Vitamix blender and have been blending food 4 times a day since.

Owen continued to cruise furniture, but his oxygen sats started dropping more.

I finally broke down and picked up a Hanciapped placard at the DMV.. lifesaver!

May

We took a road trip to Stanford to meet with Owen's cardiology team.

We visited with Janesa in San Fransisco, played on Pier 39 and drove down Lombard Street.

Went to Pacific Beach with Grandma, Grandpa and Gigi.

Owen rode on his first carousel ride

Kamryn wrapped up her 4th grade year with perfect A's and got a Golden Scholar award!

Owen discovered YouTube videos and ended up the month feeling pretty icky cardiac wise.

June

We spent a lot of time swimming.

Kamryn had her first dance recital in a couple of years... and did great!

Owen stood without hands for the first time ever.

Kamryn got her first bee sting.

Owen learned how to give "thumbs up".

Owen felt crummier and crummier and his sats dropped more.

He went from 1/4 liter to 1 1/2 liters of oxygen... and is still there.

We celebrated Grandma Simmons' 90th Birthday in Tucson

We celebrated our 11 year wedding Anniversary.

I turned 31!!

July

Owen spent most of the month wiped out and laying around the house.

We took lots of early morning, or late night swims.

We spent a lot of time indoors, out of the desert heat, building forts and playing board games.

It was a quiet month at home.

August

I slipped and fell on water while grocery shopping.. tore up my knee something awful.

Owen walked for the first time!!!

Kamryn started 5th Grade.

We attended two super fun parties at local water parks.

I attempted to go back to college... attempted.

September

We traveled back to Stanford for Owen's cardiac cath

Owen got to take his first plane ride!!

We were given HOPE that Owen may actually be a candidate for more surgeries...

that could potentially put transplant off for a while.

Owen feels better than ever!

Owen had his first real dentist appointment.

October

We took our last swim of the year.

We went to Kamri and Tony's wedding.

Owen and I started taking daily walks at the park every morning.

Owen continued to feel great!

Owen finally caught up on his immunizations... no more shots!!

Kamryn continued to rock it in school and had a great fall break!

November

We spent a few days at Mormon Lake at the Cabin with my family.

Owen discovered his love of all things football!

Owen had his preschool evaluation.

We had Thanksgiving at home with my entire family around us.

December

Carson celebrated his 34th Birthday.

Kamryn performed in her first orchestra concert ever.

Owen learned how to ride his quad and hasn't stopped asking to ride each day.

We flew to Stanford and met Dr. Hanley, Owen's new surgeon.

Owen had his first cardiac MRI.

We went to Disneyland on a five day vacation.. it was magical!

We had an amazing Christmas at home this year.. together.

Goodbye 2010. We can't wait to see what 2011 has in store for our little family!

Christmas 2010

We are still recovering from the best Christmas ever! Owen finally "got it" this year and Kamryn has not stopped believing in the magic of Christmas. It was perfect. We kept it simple this year with only a couple gifts for each kid from Santa. Less is more.

We left Santa some Monster cookies, some fudge, and a couple Pirouette cookies. You'd better believe that he cleaned his plate. It must be a tough job to stay up late and assemble toys. Especially toys like Owen's new kitchen... or "chichen" as he calls it. He totally loves it!!
Kamryn has outgrown the toys that require assembly and Santa thanks her. She got a couple Wii games and an Ipod touch. All of which she thinks are the greatest presents ever!!
Owen's other gift was the Little People raceway. He loves to race the "tars" and fill up their "das". He was in heaven.

We spent the morning at home, enjoying time together and playing with our new toys. We decided to do my family Christmas at Nana's house this year. All of the kids were exhausted by the time we got around to opening presents. Owen got an ipod nano, money, ironman, and tons of toys to use in therapy! Awesome stuff. Kamryn got a sewing machine, money, clothes and lots of itunes giftcards. These are two loved kiddos!!

I love this picture of Kamryn talking to Owen. This is what I get to see on a daily basis and I am so lucky!! These two love each other so much!

We stayed at Nana's pretty late before the kids couldn't keep their eyes open. We had so much fun with my family and I have hardly any pictures to show for it.

We were so exhausted, we slept in late the next morning.

Kamryn has spent the rest of our weekend playing her Ipod. She can't put it down.

We decided last minute to trade in Owen's Ipod nano and use his Christmas money to purchase him an Ipad. I'm so glad we did! He loves it so much and it will be a lifesaver at the hospital this year when he's recovering from his surgeries.

I'm sad that Christmas is over. The tree is put away, the toys are organized and the house is cleaned. We're ready for the new year! We are so blessed to be home, healthy (as can be) and together with our families.

We wish you a Merry Christmas!

We wish you a safe and wonderful Christmas!! We have had yet another blessed year and have so much to be Thankful for this holiday season. Merry Christmas!!! With lots of love.

Naptime Antics

Nap time is getting more and more less frequent around here. Owen has always been a great sleeper. From the first time we brought him home from the hospital, he went straight to his crib and slept through the night. As if twelve hours at night wasn't enough, he always took a long afternoon nap. There were even days where I couldn't get him out of bed, but those were bad cardiac days.

Things they are a changing. He still enjoys a couple hour "rest" in the afternoon and he watches a movie in my bed. Other days, he will sleep for 30 minutes. This afternoon he was a silent as can be, so I thought for sure that he was sound asleep. When I went to check on him, this is what I found...
He grabbed his Minion hat, put snorty underneath it, and was watching "Despicable Me". On a side note, we have watched that movie at least 50 times in the past week... he totally loves it! I know that naps eventually phase out, and I guess it's time. I'm grateful that he's feeling so great that he doesn't feel the need to sleep. It also gives me more to do in the afternoon. I don't know about you, but I get so bored when Kamryn's at school and Owen is napping.

I wanted to let you all know that you have til' tomorrow (December 23rd) at 5pm PST to enter for the $200 Visa Giftcard from Blogher. If you haven't already done so... go here... and comment for your chance to win! I am loving the great parenting tips from everyone!

Only THREE days til Christmas!! I'm going to try to make it out to the Mesa Temple tomorrow night to check out the amazing light display and remind our kids what the season is really about.

4 1/2 Days Til' Christmas

I am finished with the Disney posts! Whew. That didn't take long.

I would be lying if I said that I wasn't totally curious about the results of Owen's cardiac MRI and an exact plan of action. When I just couldn't wait any more, I called Stanford yesterday. It turns out Dr Hanley and his office are out until the first of the year, which I'm sure is a much needed vacation for them all. This means, no answers until 2011. I'm hoping he'll come back well rested with a clear mind and make the best decision for Owen!

It's actually a blessing that we don't have a surgery date looming in our future, I would be stressing. I need to have a couple more weeks of simply enjoying the holidays with my family.

Speaking of Holidays... Christmas is in 4 1/2 days!!! Are you ready? I just finished my shopping but haven't wrapped a thing. We are getting back to basics and are having a small Christmas around here, so hopefully, there won't be much to wrap. That, and I just got the credit card bill from our Disney trip and Merry Christmas to us!

I'll have a post every day from now until Christmas, I have so much to catch up on! Crafts, baking, pictures...

Our last day of Disney

We woke up bright an early for our fifth, and final day at Disneyland. It was another 'Magic Morning' in the park, so we rode as many rides as possible before the crowds started.

I have a tradition to get our picture in front of the Sleeping Beauty Castle. Along with everyone else that visits Disneyland. Here is Owen.. not cooperating with pictures. He found it humorous.
Here it is... our family picture in front of the castle. Sort of.

I tried to get both kids, but Owen was more interested in "walting, walting" out of the picture.

After a yummy breakfast at Riverbelle Terrace, and a few more rides, we stopped at the Tiki Room.

Kamryn LOVES the Dole pineapple whip that they sell in front of the Tiki Room and we have to get at least one each time we visit. The rest of the kids had them too... Daddy just got in the fast line and got ours faster than the other girls.

Owen was excited to be out of the stroller again so he could "walting, walting" all around.

While everyone went on Thunder Mountain. or the "BIG choo choo" as Owen continued to call it, we went on Casey Juniors train. Owen was happy and of course said "more peas" after this, and every other ride.

Here is another self shot of the two of us. It's the only way that I get in front of the camera.

Kamryn went on splash mountain with everyone, while Daddy took a spin with us on Teacups and Dumbo.

We ate lunch at Carnation Cafe on Main Street in the park (so yummy) and Owen crashed. He hadn't crashed this hard the whole trip.
We decided to take the walk through Downtown Disney, instead of the Monorail, as this was our last walk of the trip.

Carson was done with rides, parks and everything that goes along with it. He was happy to chill in the hotel the rest of the night. I am the opposite and can't stand to sit for more than 10 minutes, so the kids and I headed back into California Adventure for the evening.

We grabbed some popcorn and watched the Pixar play parade again, and it was just as fun as the first time. We rode a few rides and grabbed some salad for dinner (Whitewater again!). On the way back through Downtown Disney we smelled the kettle corn, listened to the bands play, and enjoyed the Christmas lights.

We had the best five days ever! I didn't think about doctors, therapies, and I forgot about chores. We didn't turn on the laptop, connect to the Internet or watch much TV. We spent time together, we laughed, we played Sudoku in bed, and watched "Mitey Mouse". We walked around the hotel and downtown Disney finding cast members to trade pins with. We ate overpriced cupcakes and chocolate fudge each night.

Our kids will probably not remember the gifts they receive this holiday season, but they will always remember our awesome vacation to Disneyland!