Davis

My new FAVORITE book!

2011-10-31T09:40:00.000-07:00

My Name Is Memory by Ann Brashares

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

My brand new FAVORITE! I recommend it to all. I couldn't put it down. I finished it in less than 36 hours and am so delighted it was my pick for book club this month. Happy Reading!

View all my reviews

Woah!

2011-03-08T15:15:00.000-08:00

I can't believe how much time has gone by since my last post. It's been over a year and I don't even know what to say to justify the time gone by. Really, I cant' say it all so I'll say Nothing. I'll just start from now and begin afresh! (I just said afresh!)

Kaia's birthday is coming up and her and I had the opportunity to run down the street to Jensen Park to take some announcement photos. Kaia was, of course, my darling little angel model and I got to play photographer. I obviously have no idea what I'm doing, other than "look at the camera and say cheese" but I'm proud of my first attempt none-the-less. Here are some of the results:

The was so cute and darling - didn't mind changing her clothes 3 times. Didn't care about the "move this way" and "look this way" or "hold your head up this way" directions and instead told me "Mom! This is my funnest day ever!" Gosh I love this girl!

We decided on this one for her announcement:

I am so blessed and grateful to have such an incredible little girl to call my very own. I love my first-born with all my heart and can't imagine my life without her. I can't believe she's almost 8!

Please Pray for this Loving Haitian Family

2010-02-04T13:41:00.000-08:00

It's about 1:00 pm and I just got off the phone with Pam. She just called me from Haiti specifically regarding the situation with a member of the Church in Haiti that her and Mom have gotten to know and asked if I would please share his story and ask for your fasting and prayers. Please keep in mind that this is reality for this family in Haiti. While it seems "a sad story" and we can certainly offer our empathy for this man and what he's been asked to endure, it's easy (and I speak for myself) to read the story, possibly shed some tears, and carry on with the rest of my day. This is a real life crisis. This man is someone who my own Mom is standing next to in Haiti, holding hands with, trying to help cope with the hurt, loss, and aftermath of tragedy compounded with more tragedy.

Two months ago, Bishop Mardy learned that his youngest of 6 children, Gardy, only two years old, was kidnapped by a member of his congregation. Bishop Mardy owns and manages two orphanages in Haiti and so was assumed to have "lots of money". Shortly after the kidnapping a ransom was requested for the return of his son for $4,000. The ransom money was somehow collected (I can't even possibly imagine how as the Mardy family does not have resources of this kind) and the "drop and trade" was scheduled to take place the night of January 11th. Gardy at this point had been gone from his family for several weeks. For unknown reasons the drop did NOT happen. Then, as we all know, the following day, the 7.0 magnitude earthquake shook and devastated the entire country.

In the aftermath of the quake, and while dealing with the news that his 2 year old son was not recovered, Bishop Mardy was notified that 3 of his extended family members were killed in the quake and his wife, while still alive, had her legs crushed. Bishop Mardy also lost, in entirety, one of his two orphanages.

He then received the news that his kidnapped son, Gardy, was taken from the kidnappers by an entirely different group of kidnappers who are now demanding 1 Million Dollars for his return. Obviously coming up with such an exorbitant amount of money is impossible.

There is more to the story but because of the safety of Bishop Mardy, his 2 year old son, Gardy and those who have dropped all to come to his aid, it has been asked of me that it not be published yet.

What has been asked however is for you to copy and paste this story to your FaceBook Profile, MySpace Account, Website, Blog, or any other type of networking commodity you have available to you. For those of you who are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, this Sunday, February 7th is Fast Sunday. Please share this story with all you know and are associated with and ask for their participation in a fast for Bishop Mardy, his 2 year old son, and their family. Their names have been submitted to the Temple, but with the fasting, prayers and FAITH of as many people as we can reach, we can make a difference in helping Gardy return home to his family. He's been gone for 8 weeks now. He'll be 3 years old this month and I know he'll like nothing more than to share his birthday happily reunited with his family.

Summer Lovin' Had me a BLAST!

2009-08-13T08:22:00.001-07:00

Summer has come and is just about gone - especially at our house. The girls started year round school a few weeks ago so summer fun has wound down pretty much at our house. We have lots to share though.

Mid July Mylee had a softball tournament in Irvine, Ca so we took the whole crew and headed to Disneyland. The kids had a blast! Kaia and Kylin got new princess dresses to wear at the park and had compliments from everyone. They really are the most adorable little girls ever!

We got to spend tons of time at the local beaches: our favorite was Huntington Beach! All the kids did tons of boogie boarding and Pete is certain he's a Californian now!

Kaia, uh....I mean Tinkerbell, was kidnapped by Captain Hook, who for some reason thought it was hilarious that I had to run clear down the street to get her back, nearly losing her, and totally losing my place in the longest-ever Dumbo line. Kaia happily went along with Captain Hook, laughing the whole time!

We spent two perfect days at Disneyland and California Adventure Land. It was just the right amount of time for all 7 of us to get to do and see EVERYTHING and some things twice!

Kaia and Kylin got to have lunch with all their favorite Disney Princesses. They say Belle, Ariel, Snow White, Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) and Cinderella. We got autographs from all the pretty girls but also got them from Sully, Goofy, Mickey and Minnie, Captain Hook, Tinkerbell and her fairy friends and saw tons of other characters at the parades and fireworks shows! Such a party!

When we weren't at Disneyland, the ball park, or the beach we spent as much time as we possibly could at the pool!

Shanda's beach (across the street from her house) in Carlsbad! We're moving there for sure!

Venice Beach was one of our funnest stops. Aside from the creepy clown, scantily clad men (Muscle Beach) and Kaia getting lost for a minute, there was tons of fun shopping, lots to see and do, great waves for Boogie-ing on, and we all got tatted up! Mine was the only permanent one! This is the pre-ink drawing.

I'm so impressed with all 5 kids. Everyone got along great! We were all healthy the whole time and surprisingly I didn't have to strap anybody to the luggage rack. Even the long drive to and from Cali was fun! Thanks to "Jessie's Girl" we're all Kareoke'd out but had a blast!

Puppies....puppies....PUPPIES!!!!

2009-06-12T17:50:00.000-07:00

They're finally here and they're growing up so fast! Lulu had puppies just over a month ago now on May 13th. She has three darling little girly girls and one tough little man. All four of them are happy, healthy and hilarious to watch. Three of them have been sold to various friends, family and 1 adorable little 8 year old girl. But we still have one left waiting to find out who her new best friend is going to be.

This is Milly: She's my very favorite and gets to go live with Grandmachele. She loves to walk really fast backwards on the slippery tile and slide on her bum. She's the runt of the bunch and usually the one curled up in a corner by herself. I love her the most!!

This little girl is "Boss Lady". She's the first to eat and the last to be finished eating. She's the boss and gets to eat, sleep and play wherever she wants.....even if another pup was there first. She's the only light colored one of the four and most people's favorite! She gets to go to a little girl named Cambri's house who has been saving her money for her very own new puppy since she was three years old! This one doesn't have a name yet but she's going to love her new mamma!

And then there's Bentley. This is the only little man of the bunch. He's a stud and so very protective of his sisters. He's getting to be about as chubby as his chubby sister, but having to share a bed and bathroom with three girls and his mom, he's gotten to be pretty tough! He gets to live forever and ever with my cutest cousin Stacey. Kaia and Kylin are so excited that Bentley gets to be in High School Musical (Stacey was in 2 and 3).

And then there's the little princess! This one is the last to go. She doesn't have a new placce to call home yet but wants you to know that she loves to take long walks through the kitchen, curl up on the rug in front of the fire, and take snuggly naps on your chest. Her favorite food is puppy milk and her favorite color is pink. She loves to have her belly rubbed. Most of the time when she's sleeping she's on her back, just in case someone walking by wants to rub her belly during her naps. She's gorgeous with all her color on her face and tummy and definitely the most playful! She potty pad trained and wants to be your new best friend forever and ever!

If you want to be the one to give our little princess a name and take her home to call her your very own, just give me a call. You're welcome to come over and play with her first and see how much you'll fall in love with her immediately. But I gotta warn you - you'll fall fast...She's a snuggler!

All four pups were born at 3 oz's. Now, at 4 weeks old, they're all just under 1 pound. Mamma is a 5 lb Maltese/Pomerainian and the Big Bad Daddio is a whopping 3 lb pure-bred Yorkie. Most of the features of these pups are all Yorkie. They have the dad's coloring and face. He has a brown face with a black body and sitting next to Lulu, doesn't even look like he's half her size.
All of the babies will be ready to go by the end of the month. July 7th we're going on vacation and won't be home to puppy-sit so they'll all need to be gone by then. Our vet won't give puppy shots until 8 weeks so they'll have to have their shots done by their new owners. Call me anytime to come and see. 801*698*7844

Whirlwind of Emotions.....

2009-05-13T21:56:00.000-07:00

Thanks so much everyone for the most ever love! We've had so many phone calls, emails, balloons, rice krispie treats (you can continue with those), and tons, tons, TONS more from so many of our stinkin' awesome friends and family. More so than we know what to do with. The first post I put up took you through Kaia's Wednesday through Sunday. TONS has happened since then....both good and bad. I'll tell you in chronological order, as best as I can remember:

MONDAY....

...ended up being a "watch and wait" day. Kaia had two doctors that were assigned to her. Her normal pediatrician, Frank Kramer, doesn't have privileges at the hospital we took Kaia to because of stupid insurance crap so he couldn't be the one to see her. Instead she was assigned to a Resident Pediatrician, Kim Bluitt, who was awesome! And to a Dr. Gabrielson (also

equally amazing - he's actually the lead pediatrician for the district)....and between the two of them along with about a gazillion specialists, everybody was stumped. She had fever after fever all day Monday and most of the night. The only thing they could do for her with the fevers was give her Ibuprofin ever 6 hours (tylenol doesn't do a thing for her). Well, her fevers

spiked every 3-4 hours and the two time-frames didn't exactly work. The rest of the time was

spent with cold washcothes all over her face, neck and arms trying to cool her down. Popsicles would have been a big help too but

Kaia still wasn't eating. My wonderful-fabulous-never-ending-greatest in the whole wide world MOM volunteered to spend the night in the crappy hospital chair/bed that's not any wider than a small girl's shoulders so that I could go home and get some sleep. THE BEDS SUCKED! Thanks Mom!

TUESDAY:

Because there was no relief from the watch day on Monday they decided to try a new technique that I now call "TOTAL AND COMPLETE RANDOMNESS" and test for a whole wide range of weird things. Each morning both Dr. Bluitt and Dr. Gabrielson would come in and do a full exam on Kaia, separate from each other, and compare notes. Their Tuesday morning exams were common in the fact that Kaia had developed a heart murmur. It was something that was present in the ER on Saturday night but had left and was now back Tuesday morning. After her daily 5 am blood draw, they ordered another chest xray to see what the heart looked like and an ultrasound of her stomach, focusing on the appendix and her lower lungs. Appendicitis and Basal Pneumonia were new options. After the chest xray was done we were wheeled right across the hall to the ultrasound room and that, I gotta tell you, is one woman that should not be in the medical field. The ultrasound tech, whom I could punch in the eyeball, spent quite a bit of time on Kaia's lower right abdomen. She'd get to an area and ask Kaia if it hurt. Kaia said no and she'd say, "well, are you sure? Not even right there? Well, how about here? No? Hmmm....REALLY? Are you sure it's not hurting really, really bad?" Ok, so obviously there was SOMETHING that she was seeing that looked pretty much like a lot of nothingness to me. So I asked her about it. The dummy pats me on the shoulder, tilts her head and says, "Oh, honey.....it's just best if things like this come from the Doctor". You kinda want to punch her in the eye now too, don't ya? Yeah, I know. I might go back down there just to tell her how much I really don't like her.

So I'm panicking waiting for the results to come back and don't hear anything for hours. In the meantime there has now been an EKG and a heart ultrasound (whatever that's called) ordered by the doctors and the second we get back to our room they're there waiting for us to do both tests. Somethings going on, right? We have those two tests, which were both pretty cool to watch, Kaia got to see her heart pumping on the screen in all sorts of crazy colors and we even saw the heart murmur. Not like a normal heart that goes, "lub-dub"....Kaia's heart rate was more like "lub-dub-squat". It's also called a galloping heart rate, for obvious reasons......it sounds like a horse! Sea-biscuit, according to Kaia. Once those were done I asked the nurses about the ultrasound results and if they'd have one of the Dr's call me. Well the resident called me about 5 minutes later and said that there were inconsistencies in Kaia's heart and that it looked as though she had Myocarditis, or "inflammation of the heart muscle" - an extremely serious and rare disease for such a young child. Those were what brought on the other heart tests. As for the ultrasound tech and her pat on the shoulder response, there was no reason to believe that there was anything wrong with Kaia's appendix, liver, spleen, kidneys, bowels, or any other stomach organ, as well as her lower lungs. She was just the wrong person telling me the wrong thing. Again, a punch in the eye would make me feel oh-so-much better. This all happened about 1:00 Tuesday afternoon and it wasn't until 5:30 Tuesday night that the cardiologist, who happens to be the best pediatric cardiologist EVER, said there's no cause for concern with Kaia's heart. It's perfect! Woop...woop!!!

But really now all that we know is that we don't know any more than Day 1. The list of things that are NOT wrong with Kaia just keeps getting bigger and bigger. I'm so very grateful for many things on that list but still don't know why she's fevering. There are times that her fevers

get all the way up to 104 and at the temperature, severe damage can be caused to Kaia's brain and other vital organs. Luckily the rest of Tuesday went much better for Kaia....she only had a few minor fevers and the highest was 102. Still nasty, but comparatively better than they had been. Grandmachele (love that woman) came back again so that I could take a break and take Kylin to her very first T-Ball practice. (She was awful but she loved it!) Once I made it back to the hospital (in South Ogden - we live in Syracuse, about 35 minutes away) Kylin and I got back to find that Kaia had eaten her whole entire dinner and she only had a fever of 100. This was the first thing she had to eat since Friday - and it stayed in her stomach and came out the correct end later on! SWEET!

I put Kaia to bed and then one of Kaia's other grandmas, who happens to be in town this week, offered to sleep there for me Tuesday night. Nice! Two nights in a row in my own bed!

WEDNESDAY:

Early Wednesday morning I walked into Kaia's room to see her smiling and eating an enormous pancake and fruit and again, she only had a fever of 101 twice through the night. Still not what we'd like but better than what we'd been dealing with. After her Wednesday morning multiple doctor exams it was determined that Kaia was gradually getting better on her own, there was still absolutely no clue as to what was wrong with her, but that since she was happy and her fevers were minor, she could go home. We had to wait until noon when the morning blood draw and urinalysis came back (which, again, were both negative for anything), but once they were we were outta there!

Kaia is home now....she's still fevering but is so much happier in her own bed, with her own toys, and with people that don't wear masks, gloves, drapes and hats to come in and see her.

We still don't know what the problem is, and maybe we never will, but I'm so grateful for so many of you that have kept Kaia in your prayers and call to check in on her. I'm so glad you don't get mad at me for not calling ALL of you back. Move over Kris Allen and Adam

Lambert..... Kaia has a huge fan club! And thank you for all of you who let me cry to you. There was a lot!

Kaia came home today at about 1:00 and was greeted by our adorable dog Lulu who became a mother on Kaia's discharge day. She couldn't have asked for a better thing to come home to! We'll follow up with our own Pediatrician on Friday and let you know if there's anything different. Kaia is currently the "2009 McKay Dee Hospital Medical Mystery". We're so happy to not know what it is as long as it goes away and NEVER COMES BACK! Cross your fingers!

Plain ol' Miserable!...

2009-05-11T21:42:00.000-07:00

Hey guys.....I've had tons of phone calls so I thought I'd update everyone all at once. Hopefully everybody else checks blogs as often as I do and this information gets to you.

Most of you know that Kaia has been pretty sick. She complained of not feeling well last Wednesday night just before bed but didn't have a temperature or any other physical signs so I gave her some Motrin and sent her happily to bed. Thursday morning she woke up pumped happy and rested and feeling great so I took her to daycare.

I received a phone call from Daycare mid day Thursday that Kaia had a temperature of 102 and was complaining of a stomach ache so I went and picked her up. She threw up just in time for mom to get to leave that one at daycare. A little Motrin and Tylenol and a few hours later, again she was good as new. Or so I thought. She was back and forth the rest of Thursday (had to leave Eddie's play early), and the same thing Friday-day. Friday night was another story. We were up with her all night with fevers and throw up and Saturday morning again she woke up feeling great and wanting to play. Fortunately I didn't let her play her soccer game that day, instead she went and played at her dad's house for a couple of hours while I coached Kylin's soccer game. She came home happy and feeling great but disappointed that she didn't get to play in her game.

Late Saturday afternoon the mess started all over again and her temperature was so high and she was throwing up so much that I finally took her to the ER. McKay ER - we won't make the mistake of EVER going to the Davis ER again after they tried to kill me last year.

After a long, long, long, LONG night in the ER, they finally decided that they didn't know what to decide. After blood tests, IV's, X-RAYS, cultures, more blood tests, swabs, and a pretty nasty nose-sucking out thinger, they decided to admit her to the pediatric floor. The general consensus between the doctors is that she was being admitted based on a possible viral respiratory infection. We've found out since that that's the "typical" diagnosis when they don't know what else to tell you.

Kaia has been a trooper the last three days but desperately wants to come home. They're unable to control her fevers, having been as high as 104 a few times, but thankfully, because Kaia won't eat anything, the vomiting has stopped. She has several hours during each day, as she did at home, that she feels perfectly great and wants to go outside and play in the sunshine, but then it all turns south quickly. She gets chilled, shivers, achey, has wierd sores inside her mouth, bruises that randomly appear on her arms and legs, and is plain ol' miserable.

Grandad and Grandpa Norm came in Sunday morning to give her a blessing and we've had lots of fun visitors. Anybody is welcome to come visit, just leave your little ones at home - they still dont' know what is happening and don't want to risk spreading whatever to other kids. Adults seem to be fine.

Thank you everyone for the phone calls, I'm sorry if I didn't answer - she's up all night long and sometimes I'm just too pooped to talk. But we know you're there and appreciate your love and prayers and THANK YOU KIRA for the treat/activity bag. You're the best.

My fabulous Mom is there spending the miserable night with her tonight so that I could come home and get some uninterrupted sleep.

We love you so much and hope that you'll continue to keep Kaia in your prayers!

Helloooooo.........Lily!

2009-04-16T21:39:00.000-07:00

Since Mandee is not quite catching the drift that once you have kids the rule is

that you HAVE to have a blog.....I decided to post our new baby wonder for her.

The prettiest little princess of all is here! Manda-loo-who gave birth to Lily Jane LeBaron last Friday April 10th at 1:00 in the afternoon! She was 5 lbs 12 oz and 18 inches. She's a gorgeous little mini Milo and I LOVE HER THE MOST!

Lily was born over 4 weeks early and is so teenie tiny that even her new preemie clothes drowned her!

The first LeBaron family picture. Milo just doesn't know how tired he's gonna be!

What a cute little mamma!

Kira made Lily this adorable little hat and silly me thought it was going to be WAY too small. Hmmm....not so much! It'll probably fit her in a couple of months!

I love little Lily-J! I need more babies like this people....keep spitting them out!

Even though Lily was a month early she was born completely healthy with no complications. A few days later though she decided that she wanted her own little tanning bed (jaundice) so keep your fingers crossed that her scores will go down.

She kinda looks like she's getting ready for her first big swim meet.

I Love you Mandee, Milo and Lily!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAIA LEIGH!!

2009-03-30T20:21:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to you....happy birthday to you! Happy Birthday to Kaia Leigh.........HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

I can't even believe my sweet little Kaia is 6 years old. Oh my gosh, how time flies! Isn't it amazing how you can go from diapers, formula, exhaustion, worry, sleepless nights and piles and piles of laundry to........well exhaustion, worry, sleepless nights and piles and piles of laundry.....IN NO TIME?!! So really the only thing we've made it through to the end of is the diapers and formula. But still.....you know what I mean. She's six and I'm old! Bleeegh!!!

For a week and half both Kaia and Kylin got to have fun with the fact that they were both 5 years old AT THE SAME TIME! Kaia finally turned 6 and is so excited that she's a big girl now. There are so many things she's been wanting to do that she can now that she's a big 6 year old.

Here are some of Kaia's favorites:

Color: PINK

Food: Mac -N-Cheese

Movie: Barbie Mariposa

Thing to Wear: Anything but long pants (shorts, skirts, dresses, Capris, etc)

Friend: Kylin, of course

Person in the "whole wide world": GRANDMACHELE

Kaia also loves Dancing and Singing with little Kylin-poops. They are constantly putting on productions with our adorable neighbor Brandy. She loves crafts, coloring, drawing (she's a pretty good little artist - she must take after her awesome aunt Heather). Kaia loves to watch mom get ready in the morning and is always showing me how I should be putting on my make-up (she's way more girly that I ever will be and apparently, I do it wrong). Kaia just got glasses and is finally learning to read and write. Leave it to me to NOT realize that the reason she struggles so much with reading is because she can't see a darned thing. We've gotten that taken care of and she's becoming quite the Kindergartner.

Kaia is a great helper at dinner time, always wanting to help stir and mix, crack eggs and she's definately my best cookie dough taster! She also finally won the battle of the haircut. For years she's been asking me to let Kira chop all of her hair off....she's so sick of the tangles and knots, especially since Kylin has always had short hair. Now that she's "so grown up", I gave in. It's cute, and she's as adorable as always, but I really miss those long locks! Dont' worry - it's back in the process of being grown out! Here's a ever-so happy short-haired Kaia Leigh. Dumb me didn't think quickly enough about donating her hair to locks for love until after we had already cut some of it off and what was left wasn't long enough to donate). Add an extra 3 inches to this braid and that's how long her hair WAS!!!

I will always have a special place in my heart for both of my daughters because they're my little angels that Heavenly Father has entrusted to me, but Kaia, as my first-born, also

happens to look exactly like me and I couldn't be more proud. She is so loving, smart, cuddly, helpful, artistic, athletic, silly and

Thanks to our wonderful family the girls had an awesome birthday party with all their favorite cousins at Surf-N-Swim. Thanks, thanks, thanks to all the Grandmas and Grandpas that we don't get to see as often that always remember birthdays and send cards, gifts and money. We love you all!

Happy Birthday Baby Bean! I LOVE YOU!

2009-03-11T08:42:00.000-07:00

KYLIN IS 5!!!

So, you kNow how time goEs by you so fast and yoU don't really know wHere it wEnt? We're haviNg one of tHose moments iN our HOME today! Five years AGo this morning Kylin Avery Nielson qUietly maDe her presense known and HAS been soft and swEEt ever since!!! She was born 3/11/04 at 7:30 am at weighed 6 lbs 11 oz.

Last nIgHt we took aLL the kids oUT to celEbrAte Kylin's birthday at PiZZa FacTOry and she was reWarDed with a monSTrous birthday sucker! Then she got to go to the toy stOre and pick out one big toy jusT for her whILe all the other kids drOOled over her big day. This mORning we woke her up singing happy birthday and let her open up the rest of the surprise presents. NeeDless to say hEr favorite was tHE "High School Musical 3" dvd. She loves to wAtcH it and pick oUt our cuTest cousIn Stacey dAncing iN it.

Kylin is the hiGhligHt of the paRty alWays. SHe lovEs to play With eveRYone, but mOst especIAlly her beST friend cOUsins. PlaYing with aLL the cousins at GraNDma's hoUse is tHE first thiNg KyLIn asks to do aFTer scHOOl evEry sinGLe dAY!

Some of Kylin's other favorites are:

Color: PURPLE

Food: Treats

Movie: High School Musical / Hairspray

Activity: Dancing

Person: Grandmachele

Place: In Mom's bed right between Momma and Petey

She also loves playing soccer, swimming at Grandmachele's, snuggling with mom, coloring and making crafts: especially when scissors and glue are involved, and learning how to ride a bike without training wheels (she's almost got it).

Kylin is my soft-hearted princess and we are so blessed to have her in our family. Happy Birthday "lil' poops"! WE LOVE YOU!!!

2009-03-05T11:09:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Babe!

Yesterday we celebrated Petey's 39th Birthday. The kids and I surprised him with gifts and dinner at his favorite Italian Restaurant; Boccia's D'Italia in North Ogden.

If any of you have had an opportunity to know and love Pete you'll know how great and wonderful he is. He's always willing to help a friend in neighbor in need....especially when they need someone to go snowmobiling with, a buddy to watch the game with on the big screen, or someone to hang out with for lunch!!! Pete is totally your guy!

Pete works his fanny off for all of us and at times we take for granted how much he really does do. It's a good thing birthdays and holidays come around every so often to help us remember to be grateful for those we have in our lives that make our circles complete. Pete is absolutely the worker bee in our family and without him we'd be miserable.

Thanks Babe for all you do for us. WE LOVE YOU!

30 is the new 20....

2009-01-21T20:31:00.000-08:00

....At least I'm crossing my fingers that whoever told me that knows what they're talking about.

This month has marked a monumental milestone in this little life of mine. I'm celebrating the end of my second decade of existence. January 11th, 1979 at 7:11, I was born in University Hospital in Provo, Utah. Delivered by Dr. Ken McHenry, now my sister Shanda's husband's father. Weird, huh? Anyway, exactly 30 years, 20 days, and some odd number of hours and minutes ago, I made my presence known! I was the third daughter to my parents, Dick and Michele, and the apple of their eye! I'm just sure of it.

Well, as I've been anticipating this big birthday for the last year or two, I have to admit I've been feeling a bit of anxiety over it. It means I'm not 20 anymore. Ya know how much that stinks? Even when you're 27, 28 and 29 you're still in your 20's. The twenties were so much fun for me that I've been feeling like something great is ending. It's not that there aren't going to be great things still to come, it's just that I'm not going to enjoy them in my 20's anymore. And that is what was keeping me up at nights just sick with anxiety.

So, the big day came. And then it went. And ya know what....it's kinda not so bad. It actually was one of the best birthdays I've ever had. I thought to myself, if this is what 30 is like, bring on the rest of the decade. I think I can take it.

But - as not to diminish on my best years so far, which, in all fairness, could also be considered my worst years, I decided to make a list of my 20 most influential moments of my 20's. It actually took some work, but I came up with a few things and I hope you like 'em. (Keep in mind that these are not particularly in order of importance, other than the first few. Nor, as you will see, are they in chronological order).

NUMERO UNO y DOS: Kaia and Kylin - my absolute best, scariest, hardest, funnest (I'm even crying right now thinking about how much I love them), most amazing, farthest-from-perfect experience I've ever had. Being a mom is the best, most satisfying thing in the world. If I accomplish nothing else in my whole entire life beyond my girls knowing how much their mom loves them, that is enough for me.

Kaia was born March 20th, 2003 and Kylin came 356 days later (yes, I know there are 365 days in a year). Kylin was born March 11th, 2004. My darling little bugars are 9 days short of being 1 year apart. Who knows what I was thinking - now I couldn't be happier. (Now if only I could get another).

3 through 5. Marriage - Ok. So this one is a little tricky. See if you can follow along: First, I met and was engaged to Brad Clark. Remember him? Not such a good idea. That's ring #1. Then we broke it off, mostly because that was bad right from the start - other than I hear now-a-days I'd be quite rich. But who marries for money, right? That was 1999-ish.

Then there was Brandon Nielson. I'm not going to say much about that other than he gave me the cutest, best, funniest, most adorable kids in the world and Ring #2. Brandon was from August 2001 to Summer-ish 2005.

And now, currently, it's Peter B. Davis. Ahhhhhh, Petey. The love of my life and might I add, the biggest and most
favorite......RING #3. I think my mom's words to Petey when she saw the diamond was, "You Fool". I'll have you know that not a day goes by at work that I don't get compliments on my wedding ring. I love it and I love him. Pete is absolutely my big hunk. We were married on a beach in St. Thomas, US Virgin Island, by a crazy woman, wearing our shorts and flip-flops on July 11, 2006. Can you say wedded bliss! We remind ourselves every day. We immediately bought our B-E-A-Utiful home in Syracuse and I've loved it ever since!

6. Along with Petey came parenting teenagers, Mylee and Laiken and a boy, Zay! Who says I know anything about boys? Good thing I grew up totally tomboyish! We get by and we have a lot
of fun! I love my family and I love my life. I'm most grateful that all 5 off our kids love each other as much as though they've been family forever!

7. Eight months pregnant with Kaia Leigh, Brandon and I were Endowed and Sealed in the Salt Lake Temple January 4th, 2003.

8. In January of 2001 I nerved up and moved all by myself to New York City. After having my luggage stolen, 40 pounds of pot left in it's place on my first day there, the experience nearly turned out to be a total disaster. Luckily, I stuck it through and it turned out to be one of the greatest experiences in my life in terms of learning who I was and what I wanted my life to be about. It was when and where I learned the Gospel is true, celebrated my first Jewish Hannukkah, and learned that Pink is one of the greatest colors EVER! Yeah - I'm pretty glad I stuck it out. The friends I made in New York and the Madfes Family that I lived with and worked for, are life long relationships that nothing can compare to. I love my New York family and my Nanny friends to death!

9. 2005 - I had my first, second and third car accident. Yep, they were all my fault. Ok, one wasn't. My transmission went out in my Passat and I lost total power and crashed into the side of a vacuum repair-shop. According to the insurance company though, even that one was my fault. Lame!

10. From December 1999 t0 January 2008 I've been put to sleep for surgery 7 times. I blew out my ACL in my knee in High School, but finished off the damage in 1999 resulting in my first surgery and my 2nd pair of crutches, but my first wheelchair. Contracted an infection in one of the screws.....surgery #2, blew it out again in 2007 wakeboarding and had to have the new
one removed (surgery #3), cadaver bone packed into my shin and another repair in January of 2008 (that makes #4). Between all those eventful surgeries I've also torn the ligaments in my elbow playing softball, broken my foot playing soccer, had cysts explode in my ovaries doing well.....I won't tell you what we were doing, and had way too many bruises, bumps, scratches, swellings, ets to count. I bruise so easily that Pete thinks I'm part apple. I'm telling you, I'm tough though. I don't know how many injuries I've had that I don't even tell him about 'cuz I'm so tough! Riiiiight.

11. The other two surgeries were my (ugh - hmmmmmmm)....Upper body. One was on purpose, the other was because one of my implants ruptured and it really was depressing to look in the mirror. (Sorry, no pictures for this one. :)

12. I can honestly say I was a Hawaiian resident. Brandon and I lived there for two months while he worked on some buildings on Pearl Harbor. For some dumb reason, I found myself bored and anxious to come home. What an idiot I was. Maybe I'll be smarter in my 30's.

13. I received my first and more than likely my last $20,000 paycheck. I closed a major mortgage loan and got a fat ol' paycheck from it. HIGHLIGHT!!!!

14. Saw the New Year's ball drop in New York City's Time's Square in person!

15. My Mom remarried in August of 2003 to Norm Frost. I couldn't ask for a better step-dad. Along with Norm came 2 new sisters and a brother, their spouses, and a handful of new nieces and nephews! Talk about a rockin' family party!

16. Since I work in a dental office I've had many an opportunity for teethy stuff. Well I just found out I have something called Internal Root Resorption where the bone in my jaw is taking over one of my teeth. My tooth is literally turning into bone. Crazy, I know. So, as a result, and to be a guinea pig for my dentists who don't get to see this type of deformity very often, I had my very first, and hopefully my very last, Root Canal so that they can try to fix this crazy tooth of mine. Turns out, it has to be pulled anyway.

17. I survived two years of being a single mom, working full time with a 100 mile round trip commute and not even close to enough money to eat. I think divorce is the ultimate weight loss regimen. I don't recommend that any single mom's climb up on their roof and put up their own Christmas lights. I almost peed my pants!

18. I got totally and completely crazy drunk for the first and last time!

19. I went to school and graduated from the Utah College of Massage Therapy. Yes, I can give a killer massage. And no, just ask my family, I won't give you one. I don't like to do massage but I'm still really glad I learned. Petey is pretty much the only beneficiary of that trade. Sorry guys!

20. I'm having the hardest time coming up with #20. Let me know if you think of a good one!

Welp - here's to 30 more years of learning, sure to be injuries, hopefully children, and whatever else life has in store.

Happy Halloween!!!

2008-11-24T10:51:00.000-08:00

So here we are, an entire month has come and gone since Halloween and I'm just now getting around to posting our pictures. I have been waiting for pictures of Mylee, Laiken and Zay's costumes to post them with the rest, but have yet to see them so you get what you get.

We had tons of fun this year with all the Halloween events we got to be a part of. We started out with a carnival at Grandmachele's. Kaia and Kylin picked out their very favorite costumes at the costume store and had a blast. They had their nails and faces painted, got to be a part of the pumpkin painting contest, ate doughnuts from a string, pinned the scariness on the ghost, haunted hallways, cake walks and lots of other things.

Then we were off to Kira's house where the little goblins stayed at home and the big scary ghouls came out to play. Pete and I dressed up as a vampiress and a warewolf and nobody recognized us when we walked in the door. It was a lot of fun. My favorite costumes of the night were Dora and Diego (my brother Jake and his wife Shaleen) and Harry and Hermione (my other brother, Josh and his wife Heather). Those of you who know my family know how hilarious these costumes were for them. They were perfect.

Kira, Jake, Mom, Josh, Me

Kira (midnight fairy), Tucker (Indiana Jones), Lanae (Vampiress), Pete (Warewolf), Jake (Diego), Shaleen (Dora), Heather (Hermione) and Josh (Harry Potter)

Halloween day we all met at Grandmachele's for cousin pictures and a little trick-or-treating. The best thing about Grandma's house on Halloween is that all we have to do is run the kids around her culdesac. After just those 4 homes, Kaia tripped on her mermaid fins at least a dozen times, Kylin decided her princess hat didn't fit anymore and her wand was way too heavy AND WE WERE DONE! YAY!

From left to right here are the cousins that we trick-or-treated with: Darth-Cayder, Mermaid Kaia, Princess Kylin, Spider-Dax, Cutest Little Kaileigh Witch, River the Storm Trooper and the absolutely most adorable little Tinker-Kynlie you could imagine. Kale was there too (not in the picture) as a pumpkin.

Kylin and Makynlie

Me and my best girls!

Kaia, Kylin, Daxton and Makynlie

Notice Kaia's lipstick. She found it in Grandma's bathroom drawer! Fabulous!

As if all of that wasn't enough fun, my office every year enters into a huge Corporate-wide costume contest. The president of Bright Now Dental is a major Halloween fanatic and gives the winning office a huge bonus for the end of the year. We decided to enter our office as the Alice in Wonderland crew and since I'm the only one with long blonde hair, I was nominated as Alice. I really hope you like my costume because it took me until 2 o'clock in the morning on mine and Pete's "date night" to make it. Pete was less than happy - he doesn't even get to share in the bonus if we win. The hours and hours it took me to make the dumb costume was not worth the 10 minutes I wore it for the pictures. Unless of course we win the bonus, then it was totally worth it! I do have a brand new, worn for 10 minutes, Adult womens Alice in Wonderland costume if anybody needs an idea for next year! Call me!!!

Kylin's favorite part of Haloween is handing out the candy. She did not like Pete as a warewolf until she put the mask on herself and scared the other little kids while handing out candy. It was a blast and safe to say Halloween was a success this year!

Here Kitty, kitty, kitty......

2008-11-04T21:07:00.000-08:00

Ok, so you all know how much I am NOT a cat-lover. In fact, if you have a cat and it was outside when I drove to your house, I probably tried to run it over. I'm sorry. I really do feel bad and I'm glad to say I never did hurt one, but I have been known to try.

Well, we all know the old adage, "What goes around comes around." And so it goes....

It was a dark, cold, Halloween night. She lay on the couch alone, enthralled in the midnight thriller (pretend it's not really 8:30), her husband lay sleeping in the adjoining room (he works the night shift....remember), and suddenly there was a knock. Trick or Treaters? Or was it something else? She slowly cracked the door as the damp, stale air overpowered her senses. As the door creaked open the howl of the ghouls running rampant in the night screamed in her ears. Was it the wind, or something else that threw the door wide open? And there, on the other side of the doorway was........7 little goblins saying "our mom said to give these two kittens to you because she said a police man would know what to do with them."

WHAT? Are you kidding me? You want to give me CATS!!!???? Um……mmmm….yeah……. I don't think so! Not only do I not want them, but keep them off my road or someone's gonna get hurt. I was all about not only wanting to hurt them, but hurting these kids for tricking me into getting up off of the couch during Law and Order to give them candy (that cost me $45 in the first place), when really they want to give me these stinkin’ cats? JEAZE!!! …..And then I looked at them. Oh my gosh! There were the two cutest ever, cuddly, shivering, adorably huge blue eyed little furballs I'd ever seen. I, the biggest cat-hater in the world, fell in love. I still can't believe it, but I did.

Two little girls, one white with dark legs and a dark tail, the other almost all charcoal gray and both with the brightest blue eyes totally won my heart. Ok, so one more than the other. The white one was instantly my favorite.

But if you know Pete, you know he does NOT like animals in our house. Well, he was asleep. Of course I took the two kittens. I told the kids scurry on off and I'd find them a good happy, healthy home and give them oodles of love and attention in the meantime.

Well, Pete woke up. Not such a good part of the story coming up, right? Well, guess what? He loved the white one too. He took one look at the kittens, said "we are absolutely not having a cat..........but....if we did, it would be the white one". So this just happened to be a weekend that we were kid free. All of the kids were at the "others" for the weekend so we had lots of time to cuddle, play, pick up cat poop, and decide how much we really did or did not like kittens without the "oh, but I want a kitty so bad" influence.

Sunday night rolls around, we pick up the kids and here comes the "Ohhhh, but I love her so much" "I want to keep her so bad" "I promise I'll take good care of her" "I'll do all my chores every day if I can keep her". Well, as grumpy as Pete can be at times, you need to know that he is the world's biggest mush-pot! Long story short, we have a new family member. Her name is Lola. I know, I know....Lulu and Lola? Not my decision. She's officially Mylee's trial run at "responsibility" so we'll see how it goes. She's cute and fun and adorable, but we're only keeping the one. The other was given to a family who'll love her and squeeze her and call her their very own for many, many years to come.

Back in the swing....

2008-10-25T22:56:00.001-07:00

So first things first.....I'm absolutely just fine and thank you all for your letters, emails, dinners, prayers, love and concern. Kira really made it sound like I almost died. Ok, so maybe I almost did, but I didn't and I'm fine now.

I needed to get that ridiculously horrid picture off of the cover of my blog so here's our update.

Kaia and Kylin survived their fall soccer season that ended today. Pete and I ended our current season today as well, however ours just keeps rolling one season after another so it doesn't ever really seem like it stops. This year I had the pleasure of coaching Kylin's team, the "Lady Bugs"...AKA..."Lady Bug-Rockstar-Butterfly-Bunnies-Flowers-Froggies". Week after week my six 4 year olds choose another team name and add it onto the end of what we have already. Here's a few shots of us all. Yes, that's my daughter NOT participating.

Mmmm hmmm.....this was in the middle of a live game. Notice the mid-field line and the grass in her fingers.

And.....so was this........

Sometimes she wanted to kind of stand by us!

Kaia is just a bit more of a "Go-Getter" She started out just like Kylin has her first year though so we have our fingers crossed that it clicks with Kylin. Maybe in the Spring.

What a babe!

And....she's pooped!

Where's Lanae??

2008-10-09T17:59:00.000-07:00

So, this is Kira.
Two reasons I'm here.
One, weren't we all ready for a new Davis post?
And two, as you can see, Lanae had to have some nasty surgery to remove an even nastier, softball sized cyst off her overies. One week ago Pete took her to the ER because of really bad stomach pains that wouldn't go away. She thought it might be kidney stones, but the doctors there couldn't seem to find the problem. A cat scan showed no kidney stones, but they did put her on a pain killer for her discomfort, which made her really itchy. So they gave her some benadryl for the itch and a steroid for the nausea. Well, aparently, she is allergic to the mixture of that certain pain killer, the benadryl and the steroid because her heart rate dropped to nothing and she stopped breathing. Suddenly she was not conscious AND not waking back up. I think a few poeple might have freaked out right about then. Luckily, the doctors figured out the problem BEFORE she died and fixed it, I'm not sure how. And sent her home. Hmm. It took a visit to her OB, a few hideous days later, to find out she had the enormous cyst. So, scheduled a surgery for yesterday, took out the nasty softball, blew up her chest with air to do so, scraped out some endo....mee-tree-osis, hmm, anyway, and came home to rest. The rest is...yet to come. We'll see how the recovery goes. But I think, by the smile (albeit fake) we can tell she'll handle it and get back to life!
Just thought you might want to know where the @#$%#$# Lanae is!

"summer days, driftin' away"....

2008-09-06T19:03:00.001-07:00

Ok, ok....so now that the "wow Lanae, you really should update your blog" comments are outweighing the "cute blog" comments, I figure it's time for a re-cap. My only excuse is - Welcome to the world of the working mother. I know the world of stay-at-home-mom-dum is hectic, crazy, exhausting and all - but all you have to do is cut a day out at the pool - only once a month - in order to have the time needed to update your blog. But try adding a 45 hour work week into the mix and you'll understand why it's taken me so long. Excuses aside, it's 7:00 Saturday night, our co-ed soccer game isn't for another two and a half hours, Petey is snoring soundly in front of the Utes vs UNLV game and all the kids are at the "others". What better time for an update? With Summer sadly drawing to an end and Fall miserably speeding upon us, I thought I'd give you a little run down of what's been keeping this Davis-ness so occupied.

Petey has, as of August 1st, returned to graveyards. So far, so good. I think the "No, you can't work graves because no-one likes an Ornery Ogre" conversations semi hit it's mark. We compromised: Pete's been transferred to graves and while the rest of us are at work and school he sleeps soundly in our pitch black bedroom for as long as his body can possibly stand to keep him lying down. He's slowed down on all the middle-of-the-day activities that used to only allow him 2-3 hours of sleep. Now he averages 5 or 6. Pretty darned good for him, actually. He's been loving graves though. This is when he gets the DUI's, the really good "get to beat up the bad guy" fights, break-ins, Domestics, etc. One day he called me to tell me how great his day at work was when it entailed flying down the stairs wrestling with a suicidal man on crack, multiple taser shots to the guy's chest, and a choke hold until the dude past out. Then he called me back maybe two hours later to let me know not to worry, he got the robbery suspect after a hefty foot chase and that he "loved his job!". I did however notice the other day one of our lawn chairs in the back seat of his Patrol car. When I asked him about it he hesitantly admitted it's his "4 am, sit in the back of 7-11, sipping on the newest flavored slurpee, break with the guys" chair. Except for Mondays of course. Mondays apparently are "bring your own meat for the parking lot barbeque" nights. Gotta love 'em!

I'm on the verge of a week 1 win in our Fantasy Football league. Ya know, all these cops Pete works with talk a whole lotta trash on the little blondie they "let" play in their fantasy league. I don't know why it doesn't phase 'em that this little "blondie" took 3rd last year and I'm already spankin' them all in week 1. I guess they think if they talk enough trash I'll back down! Ohhhhhhh.....THEY JUST DON'T KNOW ME AT ALL! This summer we had a nanny reunion at our home and had a great time with the girls and their husbands and kids. We had a good laugh about how funny it was that one of the last times we were all together with that many kids, none of the kids were ours and we were all getting paid for it. It was a blast and great to see some of the out-of-towners that we don't get to see often. During this past summer our family has been able to spend lots and lots and lots of time swimming at Grandma Great's, playing with cousins, boating with friends and family and chalked up numerous hours doing yard-work. It's just as busy as ever for me at work and getting ever busier after work, but it's nice to feel the blessings of success after a hard week. Saturdays and Sundays are usually overflowing with college and NFL football, but we know how lucky we are to be together and get to have some great family fun. Mylee, Laiken and I have made oodles of money and fans bringing down the house playing Rockband, Kaia and Kylin and I are working on our handstands and Petey and Zay will challenge anybody to a football game out back. Pete has the field all chalked out for you and everything. He's pretty sure his next project will be fabricating goal posts for the PAT's.

Myee has cruised through her first two weeks of High School and is absolutely in love! Cute little My has made it her goal this year to be friends with everybody in all of her classes! While juggling homework, boys, sports and Friday night football games we see her even less than we did when she lived with her mom. Nostalgic Pete keeps saying he'd give just about anything to go back and do High School all over again. While I wouldn't dare say the same, I am quite proud of the fact that I've been capable of helping her with her Calculus homework. Funny though, that I never even took calculus. I just chalk it up to the fact that once you're a mom, you automatically know everything, calculus or otherwise. Myles just started on her new competition softball team, The Utah Sting. She plays 16 and under softball and is coached by the same coaches she plays for at the High School. She's loving life and is fun to have around.....aside from the multiple trips I've had to make to her closet to retrieve my clothes! Now I know how annoying it was to my mom and sisters... hmmmm, sorry guys!

Laiken has gone blonde-ish! Cute little bubbly, skinny as a rail, bruinette Laiker is no longer. After much deliberation with her mom, Laiken finally won the battle of the bottle. She's adorable with blonde highlights and they suit her well. Cheer is starting up again with summer dying down and will be in full swing in the next few weeks. She's also a brand new Junior High-er. Unfortunately for Laik she's now having to survive the experience of a locker partner that she didn't get to pick, running clear across campus between every single class to try to make it to the next one on time, and for the first time ever, riding the bus to school. It's not all bad though......she's changing from the little girl, ribbons in her hair Laikey to the cute, preppy, Jr. High, "what am I going to wear to school tomorrow?" Laikey. We love her and she's handled the changes she's had in the last several months like a champ.

The coolest kid ever, AKA: Zay, is officially an all-day at school kid. He's now in first grade, even though he reads like a 4th grader, and has a 6 hour school day instead of 2 1/2. He loves it though, and the extra time reading and learning has been good for his little mind. He's still going strong with the video games but has recently taken up Larping. If any of you don't know what that is, that's actually a good thing. It's the Dungeon and Dragon type fights the guys in Layton Park "get into character for" and battle their buddies in full costume. Pete has made it perfectly clear to Zay that he's only allowed to play that game until he's 8, and never again after that. Like ever. Today was his first day of the soccer season and, as Davis' do, he tore up the field with his stellar moves, quick feet, and brute strength.

Kaia, also a first day soccer champ, shocked the heck out of us all today at her first game of the season. If any of you remember her soccer experience last year you'll remember that she spent the first half of the game holding coach's hand (that would be mine) battling back tears, and the second half sitting on Grandma's lap because her "neck was sweaty". Wouldn't you know that in the first two minutes of her first game this season she made a fast break, tore all the way down the field and scored a goal --- totally on her own. You would have thought she won us the lottery the way we were all cheering for her. Once we calmed down a bit with celebrating this absolute breakthrough of the century, I explained to her that she needs to do the exact same thing only in her own goal next time! Hey - we can't have it all, right? Kaia is madly in love with Kindergarten and can't wait to get home to “write her homework” as she says. She never can quite remember what she learned each day other than she "did fun things and played lots", but each night as we get ready for bed, she's the first to pick out her clothes for the next day. She has a little ritual with her outfits that goes a little something like this: she lies her shorts/skirt/pants on the edge of the bed so that the legs hang down the side, she then places the shirt she'll wear with it on top so that it's just right, sometimes tucking it into the shorts, sometimes leaving it out; that all depends on the belt. To finish it off she very, very carefully, as this is excruciatingly important, lines her shoes up just right as they fall in line on the floor with the bottom of her pant legs. She then stands back to determine if her outfit is to her liking and if so she'll admire how "so adorable" she'll be the next day at school. It's typically a 5 minute event and hilarious to watch. And she does the same thing every single night! It usually entails a lot of moving and smoothing down of the sheets under the clothes so she can get the full effect and make sure everything is just perfect. Come over at bed time sometime - you'll get a kick out of her.

Kylin's first day of soccer was much like Kaia's first day last year. She's been practicing all summer, just itching to get her very own soccer uniform and the second she did that jersey was like a woobie; she knew where it was at all times and when it was time to go into the wash she was waiting at the dryer for the buzzer to ring. It's a race when we get home from school at the end of the day to see if Kaia can get her dancing dress on before Kylin puts on her soccer clothes. Well, game one finally arrives and Kylin came down with a huge case of cold feet. Once we pried her off of Grandmachele's lap she ran around the field, actually I dragged her around the field, holding her hand, crying. Trying to get her to kick the ball instead of hide behind me was quite difficult. Hopefully her coming out time will be in this season instead of next year. With the new school year Kylin started a new preschool/daycare and has surprised me but made me proud making new friends (she really is quite shy with people she doesn't know if Mom, Dad or Kaia aren't around). On Kylin's first day of school there was a little boy named Micah in her class crying quietly by himself in the corner because he was new and didn't know anybody and was scared. Kylin, all on her own, knelt down beside him and asked him if he would like to play legos with her because she was new and was scared too. Of course, I cried.

Lots more has happened with our family lately. Jake and Shaleen gave Grandmachele and Grampa Norm their 23rd Grandchild and Grandad's #16: Kale Macuen S. Freeman was born Sunday July 27 and was perfect, happy and healthy. He now is experiencing a bit of muscle problems in his throat causing some airway issues but we're all praying for him and know he'll pull through like Freeman's do. We love him to death and are absolutely blessed to have yet another angel added to our family tree.

As if that wasn't a blessing enough, Josh and Heather chimed in with Grandchild #24 for Grandmachele and Grampa Norm and #17 for Grandad. Dash Bradley Freeman was born on August 13th. He gave a little scare, fitting for a Freeman boy at birth and had to be put into the NICU for a bit, but since has proven himself a Freeman and pulled through. He is exactly a little Diesel and I just can't tell you enough that FREEMANS SURE KNOW HOW TO MAKE PERFECT BABIES! I'm happy to say there's one more bundle coming our way, I wish I could say it was MINE (hmm, huh, huh, huh,....hummmmm PETE!), but it's not. I can't tell you whose though until I get the all clear but I can tell you that I have the best, most beautiful, funnest, most hilarious, spritual and loving family EVER! We get together at one of my siblings homes once a month with Mom and Norm, and once with Pops, for dinner and a little FHE and I can't tell you how much I look forward to it. Of course we're together on Saturdays for game days, Wednesday nights to watch the big boys play in the most competetive flag football league I've ever seen, Wednesday afternoon for bowling, and any excuse we can come up with in between - but I gotta tell you.....it's just not enough. Pete thinks we're abnormal that we spend so much time together. I say we're blessed. Shanda and her kids moved this year from their 7 year visit to Florida while Kory cruised through Dental and then Ortho school, and settled in SoCal. We got to play with Shanda for a few weeks while Kory drove the U-Haul and as always, have a blast when she comes. You might not know it but I have the best sisters there could ever be.

In case you don't know....this is how great my family is: Tucker volunteered for, left, and then safely returned from a 6, turned 8 week, Reserves tour in Iraq. Josh and Jake are both now back in school, Heather is the most amazing artist and interior decorator, Brad keeps us all laughing, Jen keeps us all from killing Brad, Shanda is a marathon runner, Mandee is absolutely perfect in every way, also known as "favorite aunt-Mandee", Milo gets bigger muscles every time we see him, Eddie was crowned Prom King at Layton High, Norm keeps us all well-fed, Kira is my inspiration/spiritual motivator, Shaleen is super mom because Daxton knows what a Caribou is, Kory is the world's smartest man - who else do you know gets paid to go to school?, Mitzi is who you'll want to go shopping with, Pops is the kindest, most genuine, fun-loving, always there if you need a babysitter, blessing, pot roast, or a swift kick in the fanny, Kim rivals Kory with the brains, Josh R. can and will build you anything you could possibly ever design with wood and Chad - well, what do you want to know about the Utes football?, and then there's mom. Oh.........my mom. What do you say about the person who keeps us all sane? You know the person in your life that you wish you had? The person who is able to perfectly balance and make sense of all the craziness, bad choices, good choices, disasters, sickness, hilariousness, etc? Well, that's my mom. You wish she was your mom, but I drew that lucky straw and I gotta tell ya - I'd be a lost soul without her. If you didn't count up all those names there are 10 children. 9 of us are married. 6 of us have kids. Give Eddie a mission and a few more years and we'll add 1 more plus a whole slug of kids. That means there are 45 of us total(soon to be 46 or more) and every one of us is happy, healthy, successful, and loved and it's all because of her. If you know my mom you love her, if you don't know her, her name is Michele. She lives in Kaysville. Stop by and visit and you'll not be able to not love her too. She is absolutely the rock in our enormous family and the reason our family can be together forever. She's the best and I'm glad she's mine.

For some reason I have this inability to write short blogs, but hopefully this makes up for the long wait. I just can't tell you enough how much I love life, family, good friends and the Gospel. I'll just keep on smilin' as life just keeps on rollin'. Until the next great adventure......

Discovering Davis-Ness

2008-07-28T18:10:00.000-07:00

Well.....where to begin? Now that I"m officially a blogger I'm not quite sure how to start. Pete and I haven't gone on any cool trips lately, we don't have any new babies (can you see my fingers crossed behind my back?), no updates, great experiences, nearly lost limbs, no new toys....pretty much we're just us doing what we always do. Who would want to read about that, right? Well, as the mother of 2 and 3 halfs, I'll tell you that plain ol' boring life just ain't so boring after all.

Let me first start by telling you all about how the Davis' were discovered. Pete and I were married on July 11th (no Petey-pie, not the 12th), 2006. We went on a cruise for our wedding/honeymoon and were married by a woman, yes a woman, wearing our flip flops and shorts - white shorts, I'll have you know, on a beach in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. We instantly turned from madly in love to "What do you mean I have 5 kids"? We bought a home in Syracuse, Utah and have been happily surviving ever since. We just celebrated our 2nd anniversary this month at a men's softball tournament in St. George. I need not say "wedded bliss" do I? Hey, I was just happy to get beyond Davis County.

Softball is a way of life in this home. If Pete is not playing in some tournament somewhere across Utah, or the Western United States, he's coaching Mylee's competition team or playing in a Co-Ed with his pretty, pretty Princess (me, people). We spend oodles of hours at the softball parks and while my 3rd anniversary goal is to at-least be in a tournament in say, some tropical paradise with tiki torches, palm trees and a non US zip code, I really don't mind it....kind of. Sort.....of.. Well, Ok,... So here's the deal: My biggest challenge lately is convincing Pete that there is life beyond softball. If you have any ideas on how to overcome my challenge, I'm all ears.

In Pete's spare, "non-softball" time, he's busy keeping the streets of Layton crime free. Sergeant Davis is going on 14 years with Layton Police Department (yes... 14 years ago, I was approaching High School), but after all this time, he's the man in charge and a great cop. He's also famous for his snow-mobile hill climbs, wakeboarding back-flips, quarterbacking moves, and the best tuber in Utah. Try throwing him off a tube and he'll laugh at ya. Try it and you'll see what I mean. Pete is 100% athlete extroidinaire. Keep an eye out for us one day American Gladiators. One day, babe....one day! All of Mylee's guy friends are afraid of the "Incredible Hulk". Pete likes it that way. When he drives Mylee to a boy's house to hang out, he drives the police car... they get the point.

I, also known as Mom, Nae, Pretty Princess, and "Wicked Step-Mother" some days, am working as the Assistant Manager for Monarch Dental. While we've put thousands of dollars into the Davis herd's mouths the last few months that we haven't had to pay for, it's not the most exciting job and I'm looking forward to expanding my horizons. Lately I stay busy working, cheuffering, coaching 4 year old girl's soccer, playing adult co-ed soccer, co-ed softball, wakeboarding, bike-riding (this is a new one for me), kicking my husband's fanny at fantasy football, reading in my absolutely fabulous book club, gardening and yes, even swinging a hammer (more explanation later). Even after 4 knee surgeries from all this playing I still just can't seem to give up the dream!

Our dear, precious, princess Mylee has just turned 15. While I'm still in my 20's, it's actually been pretty ok parenting a 15 year old. I still know all the tricks and am not so easily swindled as say... a man approaching 40. Ya know.....if someone were to be approaching 40 or something (love ya babe). Myles earned her Varsity Letter this year as the starting catcher for the Syracuse Titans. She's a very reliable clean-up batter and is all around AWESOME at the game. In order to be able to go to Syracuse again next year, she's moving in with us as of August 1st since the High School is across the street and it has a super rockin' softball program. To make room and give the all the kids their own space, and thanks to much prompting from Mylee, we finished a pretty good chunk of the basement. Our meager 3 bedroom home suddenly became 6 (it took some convicing to let me help Pete with the construction, but he finally conceded and voila': I'm a carpenter). Mylee is oh so very much into boys, sports, boys, softball, boys, mmmmmm........boys. What else?.....let's see.....yeah, that's pretty much it. Oh, and she loves to read a great book (it's a better book if it's about cute boys)!

Laiken at age 12 is getting an early start in campaigning for Prom Queen. She's on the competition cheer squad at Cheer Zone in Layton and is as girlie girl as they come. If ever you need the best baby-sitter in the world, Laiken is your girl (just check with me first to make sure she's not babysitting ours). You can call her on her cell phone. Trust me, she'll call you and text you right back!...a bunch of times. When she's not a cheer she's on the lake with her Dad ripping it up on the wakeboard! It's one of the funnest things Laiken and Pete get to do together and they take full advantage of it.

ZAY-man is the coolest kid in town. Just ask his dad. If there might be a chance you don't know something, just ask Zay. We just found out he had an argument with his 6 year old bud, Mack, down the street abouth whether or not the sun was a fiery ball of gas or a star. Come on, he's 6? But I guess in a house of 5 girls with only his Dad on his side, the kid's got to know a few things to get by. We have to pry him from the computer and gaming stations most of the time to let his body catch up with his brain, but when football season comes around, the kid's got Davis blood in him ... WATCH OUT! Pete's pretty stoked about being able to coach Zay's flag football team this year with some of his buddies. Zay has just mastered riding his bike WITHOUT training wheels.....just make sure if he's showing you his moves, you stand to the side. Otherwise you might end up being his brakes!!!! I mentioned he's mastered riding, not so much a master of the brakes yet.

Kaia is 5 this year and just starting Kindergarten. Leave it to Mom to cry on "parent's day". I was there the whole day and still had issues with seperation anxiety. Kaia of course, asked me when it was time for me to leave. The tears, apparently, were not helping her be popular. She has woken up smiling every day this week anxious to get out the door to go learn in her class. She suprised me at the lake the other day by telling me she wanted to ski. She nearly drowned and forgot that she was remembering to let go of the rope when she fell, but she tried. I was so proud. She hated it and never wants to do it again; which is fine....until next time. Kaia and her little sister could not be more opposites. While the worst possible punishment you could possibly throw at Kaia would be to take away her dresses, Kylin would rather be outside playing ball. Kaia's best friend in the whole world is her cousin Cayden. They're getting married when they grow up they said.....just so you know. Kaia loves changing her clothes a million times a day, dancing in front of the mirror, swimming at Grandmachele's or Grandma Great's, and singing made up songs really, really loud. It's fantastic!

Kylin, also a brand new water skiier, like her sister, had not such a great experience with her first day on the skiis. She did great, recited to me what she was supposed to do, "lean back, hold on, then stand up". Bless her little heart she skiied about 60 yards crouched down because she forgot the "stand up" part. She was fine until she turned around and realized Mom had let go and was waving while bobbing 60 yards back. That was the 24th of July.....she's still crying. Don't you worry though, Kylin is going to be one of the world's great athletes. At 4 years old she's got an arm! She loves to dance with Kaia, but is happiest playing catch with mom, riding her bike - she's working on getting rid of the training wheels - or swimming. These kids would swim every-day if I let them. Green hair and all! Pete says we'd make a small fortune by selling Kylin - she's just that adorable.

Welp....that's all about us, how we came to be and what's been going on. I think that's plenty for our first go at blogging. More to come as the excitement rolls on!