Easter Weekend

We had such a busy Easter Weekend, it got it's own post!

Friday night Sienna came to stay the night with us.  We had a great time coloring eggs, we did a little over 3 dozen.  

Saturday my sweet little brother, who isn't so little anymore turned 16!  My Dad and Michelle had a party for him at their house.  It was great to see my family and hang out!  The weather was great, so we spent most of the time in the backyard talking and visiting.

My step mom is an amazing cook and created the most adorable M&M/Kit Kat cake.  This cake was so colorful and awesome!  I didn't get a picture of it, but her cooking blog is here: www.michellestastycreations.blogspot.com and that cake will be up there shortly, I'm sure!

She also made these ridiculously good little hot dogs wrapped in bacon and drizzled with brown sugar...those things were gone within minutes!  My Grandma described them to Ryland as "little wieners" and quickly had to change her wording to hot dogs after his initial reaction of shock and disgust that we cooked wieners!

Sunday was Easter! We woke up and opened Easter baskets, did an egg hunt in our front yard and then got ready for Church. The service at Church was wonderful, I really love our Church!

We left directly from there and headed to Lodi, where my Grandma was hosting Easter Dinner. The kids got to do another egg hunt when we arrived! They have such a wonderful yard, the kids had an amazing time hunting all over her gardens!

Dinner and visiting followed! We had a wonderful time with yet another day of amazing weather! I couldn't have asked for more!

We hope you all had a great Easter Weekend too!

One of the gifts the boys' received for Easter were these awesome crazy straws!  It comes with 80 pieces that your build from.  They have been building little pipe straw masterpieces all morning!

Spring Break!

Spring Break was great! This is the first Spring Break that we have had where both boys are in school, so therefor...they both got a break! I didn't really know how awesome this was going to be for me. The boys getting a break meant, I got a break too!

I'm used to working and going to school at the same time, I have been doing that since Ryland was 8 months old. Being at home with the kids now has been such an amazing blessing! I'm not working and I am taking one class at school in the evening and I am starting a class online next week. So I have been able to be at home with the kids, which I absolutely love!

However, until this recent break, I didn't realize how much I needed one!

It was great to not have to get up to the alarm everyday. It was so great to not have to fight with grumpy kids in the morning about getting up, eating breakfast or wearing something in addition to underwear.

We didn't do any traveling or out-of-this-world trips, but we did spend a lot of time together outside making lots of memories! This past week we had really great spring weather, so we were outside every day!

The boys and I went to the Zoo! There is this cute little steam engine train there, so of course, we rode it!

This Zoo is a wild life rescue facility. They have four black bears there that are oh so cute! They also have two tigers, lots of birds, wolves, coyotes, monkeys and more! The Zoo is small, but very well done and they have areas to sit and watch the animals in front of each enclosure. We spent a good deal of time sitting and watching them.

Matt spent a day with us hiking and playing at the park. The park we went to had great hiking trails that led to the river. We had a nice little hike and found this waterfall!

We did crafts and lots of them!

Matt brought dry ice home for Austin to play with! He had never done that before, so he had a great time pretending to be a wizard! We added food coloring and dish soap, that was quite the adventure, I'm glad we did that one outside!

In addition to these fun things; we went to two other parks in our town, made something for breakfast other than cereal each day, made friends with the neighbors and decorated our driveway with chalk daily!

I'm looking so forward to summer!

T-Ball, Snow and Family Visits!

We have been really busy recently. I realize I should try to post here more often, especially with so many things going on. Jim and Lori (Matt's mom and step-dad) just left after visiting us for the past 4 days. We had a great visit with them. They stayed at a hotel is time, so we enjoyed their hot tub! We also had fun taking a walk on our favorite trail, going to Austin's first Tee ball practice and pictures and just hanging out.

Here are pics of Austin in his uniform for Tee ball! He is on the Rays. He had his first practice last week and his pictures done on Saturday. He was supposed to have his first game, but it was cancelled due to the rain. The mascot from the Sacramento River Cats was there when he got his pictures done, so both of the boys were very excited!



I can't wait to see his pictures he had done. His coach is great too. Austin did a great job at his first practice. I am so glad we got him on a team and I know he is too! All he wants to do now is go out and play catch!

We also got snow! Well, it came about a week ago, but we got some! Jim was here visiting us over St. Patrick's Day weekend (he has been working up in this area) and we woke up to snow on Sunday! It was absolutely beautiful on all the pine trees. The kids were so excited to be able to use their sleds. And we just happen to have a great hill on the greenbelt at the end of our cul-de-sac. So we walked over there and let the kids play! It lasted about 20 minutes until their were freezing but they had a great time.




For St. Patrick's Day we went to a Brewery here in town that had really amazing BBQ'd corned beef and cabbage. They also had a cool Celtic band and green beer. The kids had fun playing with all of the toys they have and we had a great time hanging out with Jim.



We are looking forward to more baseball practices and his first game in a couple of weeks! Ryland is still loving school and has done some really cute spring projects! I recently became addicted to Pinterest and finally set up part of the playroom as a craft/sewing area. I have really enjoyed doing some of the crafts and ideas I came across on Pinterest!

Matt is doing really well and enjoying work. He can't wait for the weather to turn so we can get back out on our bikes and go riding! (We can't wait either, feeling a bit cooped up recently.)

We are also looking so forward to Easter! I love Easter!

No Big News Here!

Seriously, we don't really have anything new going on! I know the title seemed like I was leading into something, but I'm not! So I will default to talking about the weather.

I must have spoken too soon on my last post when I said we didn't get a winter. It's been raining straight for the past 2 days and is supposed to go on for the next 5. I know I grew up with this, but living in the desert for the past 4 years, I'm definitely not used to it. I looked at the weather forecast today and I still find it crazy!

The main reason I'm a bit bummed about the rain is because I miss our trail! I have been walking on that trail a few times a week and we bike ride every weekend. So I miss the sunshine and fresh air and getting out there.

Austin is doing really well. Still off of playground play, but he will be rechecked by his doctor next week and I think she will release him! He is feeling great now, and is doing his homework without difficulty.

Ryland loves preschool! He brings the cutest little projects home and loves going everyday. He's such a big boy now...it's kind of sad! He talks about his teacher and friends from school all the time, so cute!

Matt and I pulled a parental fail and neglected to get Austin in baseball on time this season. Not like we didn't have a ton of things going on, but still. When I realized how soon baseball was starting and that Austin wasn't on a team, I made some calls. Well, lots of calls and emails. Our area association didn't want to take him because they were "full". Well, after more calls to our little league district supervisor, it turns out their "full" and the leagues "full" were different.

So I nicely called our area association and told them they were wrong and they had to let Austin on a team. (The district supervisor made some calls and emails to back me up!) And so, Austin is on a team! I of course had to listen to why they only want 12 kids on a team and I had to agree to help out the coach, but who cares....He gets to play! And Matt and I really don't mind helping out at all. I will volunteer to be team mom and see if they need me. We are just so excited he gets to play. He really wants to and I was so worried that he was going to miss this year.

We are all doing well and hope you are too!

Preschool and Riding Bikes

The weather is beautiful here! We really didn't get much of a Winter. Which we love, but I know it's not a good thing. The boys and I have been loving being outside! I always look forward to when I don't have to go on daily sock hunts for the boys! Those things always do a disappearing act.

Austin is doing well. He had another check up today. He did well last week in school, but was having some headaches with more cognitive work and found it very difficult to do any homework. (Matt and I thought he was just trying to get out of it, but that wasn't the case. He was really struggling.) His Dr. and I emailed back and forth about this last week, and after seeing him today she wants him to do half days at school for the next 2 weeks and work on homework with me throughout the day. So we will try that! She is consulting a Pediatric Neurologist and will see Austin again in 2 weeks.

Ryland started Preschool on Friday. I know, why start on a Friday...but he did. And he did great! He is now going every Tuesday and Thursday. He loves it so much. The teachers said he did a great job and was very friendly, smart and funny! When I came to pick him up he was playing outside, (they have amazing playgrounds~yes, multiple playgrounds)and was having a blast! He is looking forward to going again tomorrow.


Now that I have Tuesday and Thursday mornings to myself...which is slightly insane to me... I haven't had "time to myself" for well, six and a half years, I decided to start going to the gym. It's the perfect time for me to jump on the treadmill for awhile. This past weekend we found a great 5 mile trail right near the gym though. I'm on a trial membership at the gym, so maybe I won't join and just hit that trail. It's a money saver...and you get fresh air and sun! The trail is really great too, it crosses an old train bridge and is away from any roads! This trail goes throughout the town and we have been checking different pieces of it out over the past few weekends. This one stretch with the bridge is by far the best bike ride-walking area.


Two week ends ago we went on a bike ride and Matt towed the kids in the bike trailer. This past weekend we thought since it had been two weeks since Austins accident that he could ride this time...(come to find out today, we shouldn't have done that...Thank God he didn't fall!) so he rode his own bide and I pulled Ryland in the trailer. Pulling a trailer with a 40 pound kid in it changes the whole aspect of a bike ride. It's more like a bike tug-o-war! Unfortunately, there were times when the trailer was winning. I have to give Matt major credit for towing both of the kids! However, our ride yesterday was 2 miles downhill and then the obvious, two miles back up! I totally kicked butt on the downhill, it's the uphill where the trailer nearly won!


It looks like Austin is going to ride in the trailer for the next two weeks, so the trailer is definately going back on Matt's bike! We are really loving it up in these hills!

We are THAT family!!

I have a 6 page paper, an edit on a 3 page and two classmates papers I need to workshop all due in two days, so needless to say...I chose to write in my blog!

I recently came across a blog that I love. It has amazing stories, advice and neat links and is found here, www.wearethatfamily.com I love the title of their blog, "We are THAT family". She goes on to describe THAT family as the ones with the black cloud following them around! Hey...I'm pretty sure WE are THAT family too!

So I shall now give you yet ANOTHER example of why we are THAT family!

This past Sunday was a beautiful day here. Sunny, a little cool but comfortable and an excellent day for a picnic at the lake! After church we stopped back at home and loaded the car up with chairs, blankets, books, a cooler and the kids bikes and headed off to Pollock Pines and Jenkinson Lake!

We had driven by this awesome lake before but never had been there for the day. I was SOOO excited to sit by the water, read a book and watch the boys fish. We found a great spot, parked and unloaded the car. Our "spot" was down a good sized hill but had trails all the way down. So we loaded up our hands, told the boys to get their bikes but stay on the trails and we headed off! The below picture is from where we were parked! Our destination was the water way down below. Isn't it beautiful!


We were there all of 20 minutes when Austin came back up the hill like this...


Staying on the trails proved too difficult (if not impossible) for Austin. The last words yelled excitedly out of his mouth as he took off on his bike were, "I'm going to BOMB this hill!".

The next words from both Matt's and my mouth were, "BRAKES...BRAKES.....HIT YOUR BRAKES....TURN BUDDY, TUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRNNNN!" And there he went, flying down the hill, crashing through plants and never getting the brakes to slow him down. At the end of this hill is a 5 foot tall break-water with large rocks that separates the beach area from the trail. Austin hit the large rocks at the break-water and he and his bike flew about 20 feet to where he landed on the rocky beach.

After witnessing our son flying through the air at a high rate of speed we both dropped our stuff and ran...leaving Ryland to catch up. (That little boy is a champ, along the way down the hill he grabbed a bag of potato chips and found his way to us, where he sat on a rock eating chips!)

The scariest thing was not hearing Austin, he was silent. Matt beat me there, but when I was just about there he began screaming. He had lost consciousness and had no idea who Matt was, he was slurring his speech and outright screaming. Matt held his head still while I tried to look him over.

He kept screaming that he needed help and that he hurt everywhere. He continued to ask what happened, where he was and how he got so hurt. His face was hit on the right side and he was complaining of wrist pain. Matt and I continued to look him over and knew we were going to need some help. Some very nice people had come to help and we had them contact the Ranger, who then called for Medics.


It was so nice to have the Fire Dept. and Medics arrive, I knew that he was getting appropriate help. They were very concerned by his severe mechanism of injury and the fact that he was still very confused, he didn't know where he was, what the day or year was or how he got in this situation. The Medic decided he was going to skip our local hospital and they were going to take Austin to UC Davis Children's Hospital in Sacramento, due to his trauma. They briefly considered to airlift him, but he was completely stable, so they decided to go by ground.

The very nice people who came to help continued to help us and loaded everything we had (which was strewn all over the hillside) back up to our car. The Fire Dept. loaded Austin in the ambulance and Matt rode with him. Initially they said they were going to go at normal speeds and that I may follow them down, but once they got all set up to go they changed their minds. I could no longer follow them and they went with lights and sirens all the way down to Sacramento. Ryland and I went straight to Sacramento. I called my family, told them what had happened and asked for them to meet me there.

Family is awesome...they all dropped what they were doing and showed up to the E.R. before the ambulance got there and obviously before I got there. It was so nice to pull into the E.R. and have my sister take my car and Ryland and everyone else there to help!


Austin had a CT scan of his head done and X-rays of his arms, shoulders, neck and head; he had urine analysis and 2 separate blood screenings done. Everything came back clear, (Thank God!) They wanted to observe Austin for awhile and encouraged him to eat. (All of these tests and reports took about 6 hours or so) He was able to eat a few crackers and drink some juice, but then he became very nauseous and they had to give him some medication for the nausea. At that point they decided to take a CT scan of his abdomen, which also came back clear! This entire time Austin had a roaring headache that he rated a 10 out of 10 on their pain scale. After all of the tests came back clear they were able to give him Tylenol which helped his pain.


Austin escaped any serious injuries or broken bones and was diagnosed with a concussion. A severe concussion, but it could have been so much worse! The Medics said more than once that his helmet really saved him! And I'm grateful his favorite drink is milk!

Today, 2 days later he is still suffering some serious side-effects of his concussion (which the Dr's. say is normal and could last weeks). He is very nauseous most of the time, has a headache that comes and goes, is sleepy, groggy and confused a bit and is having very restless sleep. He is having a challenging time right now.

He saw his Dr. again today for a check-up and she said as long as things don't get any worse he should be fine, and that he should start to get better over time. The Dr. has him out of school until his headaches are completely gone and he is able to eat without getting nauseous. He can't participate in anything recreational or mentally stimulating until a week after all of his symptoms are gone.

He gets a new helmet though! Although right now he doesn't even want to talk about riding his bike!

We are busy thanking God for allowing Austin to make it through this trial with very little injury! And we are praying that he recovers quickly, starts feeling better and is able to return to normal 6 year old things soon!

I want to thank everyone who has sent well wishes, phone calls and to my family who dropped everything to help us on Sunday!

Duct tape and the Derby!

Happy Valentines Day!

This past weekend Jim and Lori came to visit for the first time and we had a great time with them! We ate at some really good restaurants and enjoyed hanging out and visiting.

Saturday they came with us to Austin's Pine Car Derby for his Cub Scouts! This is the first time we have done Cub Scouts, and the first event Austin has taken place in.


Matt and Austin worked hard on his car. We signed him up about a week before the derby, so they had limited time to perfect the car.

And well...lets just say they could have used some more time...not with the looks of the car, Heavens No! The car looked amazing, so I guess that makes up for the fact that the car didn't run down the track!


The car was made with weights on the bottom, that Matt had routed out to fit flush and it was looking really good. Until he went to put the wheels on...the little slots for the wheels broke out when he nailed them in. So he had to drill new wheel holes higher than the original ones. We thought that it would leave enough room to not drag on the track..but we were wrong!

Before the race Matt looked nervous about the car. I was joking with him and said, "Wouldn't it be funny if when they get to Austin's car; it breaks apart and they stop the race and pick the car up and say over the mic, "Who's car is this" and everyone looks around and you have to go up there and get it....hahahahaha!" We laughed and he agreed that that would suck so much.

Well...20 minutes later...it really did suck so much! I was laughing hysterically as Matt slowly went up to the stage in front of about 100 people as they held his car high for all to see! The "race officials" gave him 1 minute to fix it; they (Matt and about 10 other Dad's who went off to watch) went over to the "pit" to try to fix it. He ended up taking the bottom weight off of the car and duct taping it onto the top!

And back to the track it went.. This time it ran down the track, just really slowly! Thankfully Austin didn't care and was having fun anyways!


They had given the time for the Derby to be from 3pm-7pm. But I thought, yeah right...we will race and go, there's no way we will be there for 4 hours! Little did I know, they trapped us! They did all the preliminary races, served dinner (spaghetti and A-mazing garlic bread) and then did the finals and the awards.

Ohh, and they did a duct tape wallet station! (that tape really comes in handy!) They didn't have pink duct tape (pshh..boys like pink!) so I didn't make a wallet. I have Hello Kitty duct tape, so I'll have to make one ! But both our boys made yellow wallets!

All of the boys were awarded a certificate for participating. They called each boy up and presented it to him. There were only about 4-6 boys left and Austin hadn't been called yet. I thought they had skipped him when they announced they were now going to give the awards for Best of Show.

YES!!!!! The car doesn't need to roll down the track to win... It just needs to have a Rockin' paint job, that makes it look fast sitting still!!!

Thank goodness the voting for Best of Show for each den happened before the race and subsequent duct taping!

Austin won Best of Show for his car! I was laughing so much...the new kid with the broken, duct taped car, won anyway!!!


It turned out to be a really fun evening, albeit long!

Throughout the night Matt never ceased to amaze me...he managed to spill an entire cup of lemonade at the entrance to the gym, get called out on loud speaker for eating dessert before dinner(seriously, he was standing at the table loading up on mini cupcakes when someone got on the mic and said "there will be no surprise desserts after dinner, if you choose to eat them now, they will be gone!) And then he fell off of the picnic-style seating...all before he graciously claimed his broken car and fixed it with duct tape!!!

But our Boy won Best of Show!! (And I'm still madly in love with his silly Daddy!)