How long has it been?

Man, seriously, time flies. I really don't know where it goes. Right this minute everyone is asleep for the night except me. I'm staying up late to catch up on computer stuff. You know, emails, blogging, saving digital pictures, ordering things online. I can only do it late at night. The little ones (Andi and Spencer) just HAVE to sit on my lap when they see me turn the computer on. I can't usually see the screen when I've got two heads in my way! So now I'm catchin' up! We've had great weather here the past couple of weeks. We can't stay away from the park. Luckily for me Spencer can do all the of the jungle gym things by himself now. Well, he could last year but all the moms would run over to him and "rescue" the "little boy" who looked like he was "going to fall." Back off! I've got it under control! But so far he's not enticed anyone over to rescue him so that's good for me. My mom actually came into town for a few days. We weren't sure when we'd be able to see her so we flew her out. We always have these grandios ideas for projects around the house. And then we never get them done! That's our style and it's great. She's so fun to be around. I'm glad she could visit the kids. In fact, my brother Steve, wife Deb, and son Magnus came from San Fran to visit for a day, too. It's so fun the few times we do get together. And to think we only live 2 1/2 hours away- wish we could do it more often. I'll just post some random pictures now.


Happy St. Patricks Day! Ainslee made a Leprechaun trap, but surprisingly, she didn't catch the little guy. She said that if she caught him she's ask for 3 wishes: 1) infinity dollars 2) a limo 3) to be a supermodel. Oh man, I've got my work cut out for me.




Last weekend was so nice, we BBQ'd ribs and had smores.




Yes, I'm the heavy-set man on the left side. What the heck! I hate pictures of myself. My mom's on her knees and Steve and Deb are on the side.



Miss Andi is now in Sunbeams. I've heard she's really good (really?? Are you sure??). She loves singing out "I am a builder working so hard to build my family." It's a new primary song written for this year.








Mr. Spencer has now decided he can't go anywhere without a hat on. That's fine with me. It's better than a headband.





Ainslee loves to make Avery laugh. It was Avery's first time on a swing. She LOVED it! Already a daredevil at 6 months old.







Ashley is still trying to get into the habit of practicing piano. I'm teaching her, Ainslee, and Cory. The girls have got really good rythim so it's going along pretty good. Cory's doing amazing. He's learning to read all the notes and going along pretty fast. Impressive.

You never know how much you swallow until. . .

So I got super sick about 10 days ago (Sat). Fever of 102, really bad sore throat, and nausea. It didn't go away by Monday morning so I went in to the doctor because obviously I had strep throat. Lovely Dr. Neft said, nope, it's just viral, here's some vicotin for the pain. The (often false-negative) quick strep test came back negative. What the heck? Someone put razor blades in my food and tore my throat to shreds! So on goes Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Still dying and it's getting worse!!!! So Cory makes me go in again (to a different on-call doctor) to get checked out again. Seriously, I couldn't eat, drink, or swallow. Swallowing is such a big deal! I've had to spit into a blasted cup for over a week now. So gross. So this new doctor says to me, "It looks viral but we'll do a strep test just in case." I bawled right there on the table. It can't be viral- I need it to go away! Then an angelic voice (it was the nurse) from the hallway said, "The throat strep is positive." I bawled again because I can finally get help! It turns out that the strep that I've had for over a week caused little open sores to form in the back of my throat. So that's what was making the pain worse. What in the world?!?! Still can't eat or drink- I'm starving!!!!! I did start the antibiotics yesterday so hopefully by this time tomorrow I'll be feeling a lot less pain. It hurts so bad! So now that I'm done complaining, let me do a little a praising- CORY!!! Poor guy has had to deal with a really sick wife for over a week. He's really stepped up and I appreciate it so much.