Ahhh, Reno and friends...

Yay for my friends. I love spending time with them, especially when it involves Reno! I heart Reno! This past week I drove Max up to spend the week with his best friend Taylor in Wellington, then continued on to Reno to spend the week with Erin, Shonse, and Melaroo.

It was so nice to get away and soooo much fun to spend the week with three other crazies. I haven't seen Mel in almost 2 years and it was so great to get some chocolatey goodness hugs from her! The only thing that would have made it even better was if Jessie and Jo were there at the same time! We'll all get to be together in a couple months when us Vegas chicks fly up for Women's Retreat at Shontell's church...sooo can't wait!

We spent relaxing time at the river watching the kids play, got yelled at by a window washer dude, and even visited the Cupcakery...yummmmm!

There was great girl time catching up on movies at home and we even went to see Julie and Julia with Erin's family. OH.SO.GREAT! Have to see it again! (ErinHarrison your family is so great!)

After a GREAT week with my girlies, it was time to pick up Max. We spent Sunday at Lake Tahoe with his buddy Taylor and headed home Monday. This was such a great trip for both of us (despite my 2 unrelated bouts of food poisoning). It's sad that his buddy and most of my Bowlies have moved to northern Nevada, but it's SO FUN visiting often and making up for lost time!

I even got a great barn pic. A trip for me isn't complete without an old barn picture! :::Sigh:::

YAY FOR MY KNEE!!!

I had knee surgery this past Tuesday. Totally expected an ACL replacement and a long recovery and woke up to my husband telling me the doctor didn't have to replace my ACL, he cleaned out tons of arthritis and I had a piece of cartilage missing (that had to have been removed by the sucky doctor last year). He drilled into my bone to "create" a replacement for the missing cartilage and said that in the next 2 months we'll know if the surgery worked. If not, then we're looking at knee replacement in the future.

I have to say that I was expecting pain, pain, pain because after last year's surgery, I woke up and, after throwing up from the anesthesia, had PAAAAAIN so bad that no prescription helped. My knee was also swollen almost double the size. This time the most perfectest and bestest anesthesiologist gave me a nerve block, which numbed the pain in my knee for about 24 hours. I was able to walk as soon as I got up in the recovery room, and the rest of the night at home. The next day, when I felt it wearing off, I expected pain beyond compair, but it didn't come. Friday I was able to take off my big bandages and, to my surprise, absolutely NO swelling. My knee looks like the other one, except it has 2 little incisions for the arthriscopy. Yesterday and today, 4 days after surgery, I'm taking a little Aleve...no Percocet! Woohoo! It's a little tight, but that will be fixed with therapy starting next week. I'm walking around with SOOO much pain relief. The past year has been so miserable, and the last month has been the worst. This is so great! I can't express how excited I am!

Thanks friends for all the prayer and love, visits with food, and Facebook posts!

Oh, the things I'll do for a little blue box...

Is this SOOO cool?

Meggie's twin wants her new laundry room to look like a Tiffany & Co. box, so she painted it blue and I added the bow the other night. SOOO COOL! It'll be finished in a couple weeks with a quote on one wall (my post title) and custom logo (Tadmor & Co., which will be her new last name) using the Tiffany font under the ribbon to the right of the bow, and some crown moulding. Will post more pics as soon as it's completed. Seriously, in person it looks SO GREAT!

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Bat...

Ooo ooo ooo, I can't wait 'til March!

Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland...here's a pic of Mr. Depp as the Mad Hatter! I must say, he looks MUCH better as Carrot Top than Carrot Top does, eh? (snicker)

I Want An Adventure...

I heart the Disney/Pixar movie UP. I took the kids to see it last night so Jon could have a Father's Day night alone to relax, and it changed me. This simple movie had me crying the first few minutes and I never stopped, even through the credits! It caused me to think about so many special things and created a new vision in my heart for my marriage. I came out of the theater with plans for my own adventure with my husband. I want to have our own special pop cap badge, create a "Paradise Falls" fund, make our adventure scrap book, and love my husband as much as Carl and Ellie loved each other. I've got a great start with the love thing, cuz you've gotta have that in order to want all the other stuff, right? Next I'm going to start on the scrap book...complete with the line "Thanks for the adventure. Now go have one of your own." :::tearysigh:::

The Best Dad Ever!

Happy Father's Day to my sweetie. You've stuck it out through thick and thin with my miserable pregnancies to gain the "dad" status over and over. We love you! Thanks for being such a great daddy!

Ahhh, Summer At Last...

The babies are gone, for now...

The kids are home for the summer...

We're not traveling this year, but plan on having LOTS of fun together until...
Remember Jon's brush with death last summer? Well, he has to have one final surgery to correct some pain issues. Hopefully it won't be too bad for him. Also, I'm having another knee surgery on July 24th. Ick.

Usually we're camping on the beach right now, then getting ready to head up to Idaho to spend the 4th of July with my brother and his family in Rigby and a few side stops in Montana and Yellowstone. Not this year. I get to have surgery AGAIN on my right knee the end of July to replace a damaged ACL. Grrr. My last doctor should have caught it. Apparently it's RIGHT THERE on the MRI films. Guess I should have been a doctor OR a lawyer, like my mom wanted. If I were the doctor, I could have read my OWN MRI films and found the problem. If I were the lawyer, I could persue this last doctor for missing the problem and making me have to go through another painful surgery with a much longer recovery time. YAY.

We're working on projects around the house, trying to get it ready for me to comfortably lay around for a couple weeks before I start therapy after the surgery. We've started with the kid's bathroom, removing EVERYTHING down to the wallpaper. Walls have been painted, New vanity installed, new light fisxtures and fan, floor tile next, and a new toilet. Bathtub tile will be replaced later because.......next will be our bedroom. THIS.WILL.BE.COMPLETED.BEFORE.MY.SURGERY. If I'm going to lay around on the bed most of the day, it's not going to be while starting up at a repaired ceiling that needs to be repainted, or looking across the carpet that needs to be replaced at spilled paint stains compliments of a mad dash to the toilet during my 4th pregnancy, OR starting at the walls that need to be repainted and trim that needs to be replaced along with crown moulding. I want! I want! I want! Oh, and did I mention our masterbath? Umm Humm. :)

In the midst of all this, Jon and I will try to squeeze in a weekend trip to Lake Tahoe for OUR vacation that we never get to take when the kids go on THEIR vacation each summer and bring us along as their personal slaves. I'm not sure why we didn't figure this out sooner.

I'll keep you posted. I'm sure it's going to get very interesting in the next few weeks!