My Birthday Weekend

I turned 26 on Tuesday, March 10, 2009. So to celebrate, a decent size group of friends got together to chill. The night started and the new hot spot: Second Street Grill. It is an awesome atmosphere and a ton of great people. After the dinner and drinks there, some of us headed to Sports Center. While at the Sport Center, we bumped into and met up with a bunch more people. From there we tried to go to Hoops. Not a wise decision. A little too rowdy for my taste. So we decided to head to Jackson's where we danced the night away. It was an amazing time with amazing friends. Below are some pics taken at Second Street Grill.

Update on Kenzie's Ears

Just wanted to give ya an update on the happenings with Kenzie's ears. As most of you know, he ended up having to take Kenzie to the ER last Friday because her normal office was unable to get her in for an appointment. The ER doctors sent us home with a rx for a pain med for her because they didn't think that the fluid that was in her ear was infected, just causing pressure and a great deal of pain. Luckily Mackenzie had a standing appointment with her ENT on Monday. At this appointment, Dr. Gross (her ENT) noticed that she did in fact have a double ear infection. Dr. Gross also noted that both tubes had worked themselves out, to which Justin replied with a question as to how long before we consider replacing the tubes. Dr. Gross thought that it would be best if the tubes were replaced right away after the current infection cleared up. So "what does that time line look like?", you might ask. Well, Mackenzie will have her pre-op appointment this Tuesday and will have the procedure done this Thursday, the 5th. Of course we are nervous, just like last time. Surgery is always a risk, but it will be so worth it. Mackenzie already has a lot of scar tissue from all of her previous infection that she had before the first set of tubes, no need to wait for more before we have new tubes placed. We have also noticed that when she has her tubes, she is hardly ever sick. Just in case you were wondering, we don't like it when she's sick. So here we go. Once again to the hospital to have something else done. Wish us luck!!!

My Weekend With Miss Rowan

I was so happy to finally meet my niece Rowan for the first time!!!!!! I love her so much. Her face is so happy and sweet. I was totally ready to take her home with me. What can I say, I think she looks a lil like me, how could I not love her. Actually she looks like my brother, so I guess that's what I should say. I guess that I just wanted to be able to say that one kid somewhere looks like me since you would never guess that my own even belongs to me.

We had a wonder first encounter. We got to take a walk and hang out. I loved it!!!

Her she is getting ready for her walk with her amazing mommy, Laurel.

Here's Rowan again with her wonderful daddy, Pat. It's so amazing to see these new parents with their baby. It was meant to be!

Both Pat and Laurel make wonderful aunt and uncle for Mackenzie. Before I was even able to set my things down after I returned home from my trip, Mackenzie had spotted and grabbed her presents. She waisted no time in opening and indulging in her gifts. She loved the presents.

And as you can tell from the picture, Kenzie loves this toy, it just gives her hair a little static charge.

She also rushed to put on one of her new dresses. So cute!

And if you happen to be wondering about what is on her leg and foot, they are her Kung Fu Panda tattoos.

Mackenzie Turned 3!!!!!!

A week ago yesterday, Mackenzie turned 3. I can't believe how the time has flown. One minute she's an infant in diaper and the next she's playing dress up in princess dresses. We had a fairlly quiet evening on her actuall birthday with us and Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Miles. She was able to open her presents from us and one from Grandma and Grandpa.

Mackenzie was also lucky enough to have a party with friends and family. We decided to host the pary at Selah Gym Kids as we did last year. It was as much of a hit this year as it was last year. We had a nice list of people who attended and also those who we wish could have been there. The kids had fun playing and going crazy while the rest of us (adults) looked on wishing that we had as much energy as the crazy lil kids.

After playing in the gym, it was off to cake and presents. This part of the party was themed after Mackenzie's favorite movie (for the moment). Kung Fu Panda! The kids had fun, which was what was important. Mackenzie got lots of great presents too! She's one lucky kid!

Tis The Season

The first thing that we did this year to get ready for Christmas was get our tree.

Next we added a little sparkle with a little help from Kenz, I mean Santa's reindeer.

Once the tree was trimmed, we took a little winter stroll to view some neighborhood lights. Wow.















After checking out the lights of the neighborhood, we decided that it was okay to decorate some cookies. So we headed over to Grandma's house to get a little messy and have a little fun.




The finished product may not have looked very pretty, but they were super yummy.



After the cookies where checked off our list, we could really get ready for Santa!











When we were done with presents at our house, we headed over to Grandma's for more.













When we were all done, we went back home to eat some eggs Benedict, visit with Grandpa Cecil while putting together Kenzie's new kitchen and sleep! Ahhhhh...... Christmas was good.

One More Thing to be Grateful for

I can't help but be grateful right now. I'm so excited to be starting a new chapter in my life. It's scary, but I know it will be wonderful! I'm starting my new job next week. I'll be in orientation on Monday and the first half of Tuesday. After orientation on Tuesday, I will officially be at my new job! I'm working for Pacific Crest Family Medicine. It's an office of three doctors and two PA's. As a bonus to the new job, I get to work with an old coworker who I love. Amy Treat was my first boss at Starbucks. In fact she hired me, so it wasn't a supprise that she wanted to work with me again. It's been fun getting to know and grow with Amy. In fact, she was pregnant at the same time I was with her daughter Eva. We were due only ten days apart so it was nice to go though the weirdness of being pregnant with someone else. But she has some exciting news of her own. She is having another little girl at the end of next month. She is scheduled to have a c-section on the 30th. We are so excited for their family! And I'm happy that everyone is well and happy. I can't wait to tell you all about the new mission.

Thanksgiving!!!!!

Giving thanks for yet another wonderful day(s) of eating and fun shared with family and friends. As always Justin had to work, so Kenzie and I did a little sleeping in, (if you call 6:30 sleeping in) and then we got ready for our day. We had to run into town to pick up the extremely important dinner rolls after botching homemade versions the night before. I'm not sure what exactly what went wrong, but I'm sure it was a combination of the lack of sleep I had that day and the hour in which I was baking. So after the roll rescue I returned to my mother's house to drop them off just in case Kenz and I where late to dinner #2. After this we returned to town, this time stopping off at Starbucks for a little pick me up and some holiday cheer from friends. Then we were off to the fire station to have dinner and desert #1. We brought yummy homemade pumpkin and a mixed berry & apple pies. We ate and ate and ate till it was time to go onto the next feast. #2 was much better than #1, partly because things are just better at Mom's house and also because I helped a lil more with this one. And again, we ate and ate and ate. It was so good! So good in fact, that we just happened to enjoy a second round of food Friday night!