Danielle and Daddy

Okay Grandma, read my shirt! What happens at Grandma's, STAYS at Grandma's! Now I know my Daddy is ignoring me and watching the TV, soooooo....
I'll just take this opportunity to play with his cap while he's not watching. Off, on, off, on.
Don't tell!

C.Mon...

..put me out of my misery. Please tell me I only have to put up with Clois Leachman for one more week!

Christopher's Vital Stats

Christopher went for his shots today and he got the usual check up by his doctor. He weighs 17lb 1oz and is 25" tall. He'll be 5 months old in exactly one weeks time,
Tomorrow he goes to the hospital for a CT scan so they can decide whether he needs to have an operation for his kidney problems. My feeling is that he'll probably have to, so I'm praying everything will go well.

C'Mon Folks

Why is Cloris Leachman still in the contest. I realise that she is 82 years old and is doing fantastically for a woman of that age, but she just can't dance and she is irritating to boot. At first her antics were funny, hilarious even, but she just doesn't know when to stop. C'Mon America, vote her off, lets be serious!!!

I'm in control..well almost!

Those people who know me really well, know that I hardly ever sit down and watch the TV. I find it mindlessly boring unless it's something I really want to watch, like a historical movie, a chick flick type of movie or DANCING WITH THE STARS!!!! Yay!!!!
Sooooo, tonight was the 2 hour season premiere and I have had this on my calendar a while, not only because I get to watch it, but because I get to control the remote for the whole time that it's on...or so I thought.
Despite having numerous TV's in the house, we only have one BIG TV, that's the 52" one in the family room, so I got myself comfy on the sofa with the remote and started to watch. After an hour, along came birthday boy who wanted to watch The Man In The Iron Mask which is on one of the digital channels that we only get on the BIG TV.
You have to understand. We have a tradition in our house that for 7 whole days after someone's birthday, they get to do pretty much any thing they want. All they have to say is Birthday Boy (or Girl) and that's it. Doesn't matter what it is (within reason, of course), they have special priveledges for the whole week. It's a tradition. It's a rule. I got relegated to the little TV upstairs, but next week, Momma rules again!
Anyway, back to DWTS. My two favorites from the show tonight were Brooke Burke (glamor model, actress) and Lance Bass (former NSynch member). I wish I could find some photos to post of them, but the ones I found online of Brooke were pretty much X rated and some of Lance's were almost as bad. Anyway, there's two more nights this week so lets see if I change my mind.

Happy 21st Birthday Michael

Here he is just a few months old

Aged about 18 months, with his brothers and sister

Aged 5 and just started school

Aged about 9, wearing his Manchester United shirt

Aged 10, at an amusement park with Jordan

Aged 11, school picture, his last school in England

Aged 16, taken on Temple Square, Salt Lake City

Aged 18 in his Gilbert Police Explorer Uniform. He has just retired after 7 years of service

Aged 19, riding his motorbike
Aged 20

Michael was my 3rd child and his delivery was just beautiful. He was a calm and placid child and my only one who would just lie in his crib and go to sleep all by himself. I was especially grateful for that when his brother Jordan came along only 13 months later. Together they were known as "The Little Ones", as opposed to Daniel and Olivia who were "The Big Ones".

He continued to be quiet as a child and didn't like loud noises of any kind and so much preferred to be with me in the house rather than his dad in the garage. He was always easy to love.

I am so proud of him in many ways, but the one thing that stands out to me is the 7 years of service that he has put in as a Gilbert Police Explorer. He retired just last month as a sergeant and has done hundreds of hours of community service in that role, quite a feat for a young man.

Michael, me and Dad love you so much. Happy Birthday.

Baptism Anniversary

Oh my word, take a look at this ancient photo. I was baptised 32 years ago today and these were the two guys who were involved in the big event.

It's a bit blurry but that's Kim Russell Willis on the left who was from Show Low, AZ and Robert Alan Shumway on the right who was from California.

I have never been able to find out what happened to Elder Willis although have met a few Willises from Show Low through the course of my work, but Elder Shumway turned into Doctor Shumway, plastic surgeon from La Jolla, San Diego. http://www.shumwaycosmeticsurgery.com/content/view/19/69/ This is how he looks now. I did e-mail him once at his office just to let him know I was still alive and well, but he never responded if he got the message at all.

I stayed ME! I got older, fatter, greyer but definitely wiser and for that, I'm grateful.

Anyway, what a blast from the past that photo was.

Vital Statistics

Danielle went for her shots today. She is one year and 15 days old, weighs 26 lbs and is 32.5 inches tall. She is almost on the 100% on the growth charts!!!

Girls Night Out

Last night, a few of us from work went to Cantina Laredo at the San Tan Mall near my house to attend a lecture hosted by the folks from Abbot Nutrition. Lisa, Jen, Holly, Laurel, Claudette, Patti and Kristi and myself all showed up in our glam togs and had a good time eating the free food.
There were other nurses from all of the East Valley hospitals and we took over a banquet room at the back of the restaurant. The noise was incredible! I think it echoed off the ceiling, but I could barely hear the conversation at our table, it was that bad. The service wasn't very good, but Laurel, who had eaten at the restaurant a couple of times before, said it wasn't usually like that. The food was pretty good; a very good guacamole with chips, a very nice spring salad with dressing (I had raspberry viniagrette), fillet Mignon on a huge portabello mushroom, creamed scalloped potatoes and fresh mixed vegetables. I had a couple of non alcoholic pina coladas which were yummy. My two main gripes were that my water was luke warm with no ice when everyone else's was ice cold, and my fudge brownie appeared to be a burnt end piece whilst everyone else's looked yummy and they said it tasted delicious.
I have no clue what the lecture was about, but it was a great way to spend a couple of hours even though I did forget to take my camera.

In Remembrance

Desperate Housewives

Even though I don't watch the show, I've just always thought this was cute.

Birthday Barbeque

Today was Danielle's official first birthday party. We were originally going to hold it at the community pool, but there were way too many people there so we just decided to barbeque at our house instead. Some of her mommy's family were ill and couldn't attend, but we still had about a dozen people over and had a really nice time.

Here's the birthday girl herself.

This is one of her toys that she got, a pull along pelican. She loved taking out the balls from it's beak and then putting them back again.

Here's a collage of some of the pictures I took during the afternoon. If you click on the collage, it'll make it bigger, then you can scroll up, down and sideways to look at the pictures in more detail.

Danielle's mommy made a birthday cake for her but accidentally dropped it before she came over, so instead Danielle had a birthday cupcake, chocolate with chocolate frosting. Yum.

Happy Birthday Danielle!

Birthday Girl

Happy Birthday Danielle

I can hardly believe a year has gone by already. She's gone from this little baby, to this: a happy smiling girl.

We didn't do presents today, we're waiting until the official party on Sunday. I can't wait to try out the presents I bought her myself, they're too cute!

Bathtime

Here's Katelynn and Christopher at bathtime. The photos were taken with a cell phone so the quality isn't that great, but they both look like they're having a great time.

I received a complaint

Yes...following a complaint from my mother who says I haven't been blogging enough recently (love ya mom!), here's an update on Danielle over the last week or so.

Here she is sitting on Grandad's lap doing one of her favorite things...eating Fish! If you look closely, you can see that her face and body is covered with spots as she had roseola!
Yep, she's like her Daddy was, wants to be into everything.
Up to mischief playing with Grandma's candles. No, No!!
Every gal needs a naked shot!
Danielle has taken to making this funny face when she sees the light turn on on the camera. She looks so cute with it.

Here she is with her Daddy.
And her Uncle Michael.