For your reading pleasure:)

Here's an update with pics. This first picture is of Brianna playing in the backyard. Grandpa Faulconer showed Brianna how to ride a pretend horse and now she uses any size stick that she can find. It's hilarious to watch.

Brianna loves to imitate. So she got the broom and swept off the dirt in front of the gate to Grandma and Grandpa's house. She's so silly. I'm not sure why she is looking up though.

More Sweeping:)

Brianna admiring her beautiful sweeping job.

We carved our pumpkins the Monday before Halloween. The kids loved it. Dylan got a smile on his face when I held the lid to the pumpkin by his face so her could smell it.

Of course Brianna had to smell and touch everything. She is so curious.

She loves helping. She is such a good little helper. She was fascinated with the pumpkins.

One of her favorite parts was scooping out the insides of the pumpkin.

She loved watching Kalen cut out the eyes, nose, and mouth. She kept telling Kalen to be careful because he could get hurt.

Who knew that pumpkin tasted good. Well according to Brianna it was yummy. GROSS!!! That's a 2 year old for you I guess.

Our finished pumpkins. Brianna called them pumpkin cakes because of the candles inside the pumpkins. It was really funny. She got so excited when she saw them.

Grandma and Grandpa came over for a visit and we played with Dylan fiber optic light wands. He really enjoys them. It's hard to find items that Dylan likes to use or touch.

Believe it or not the following pic was in the dark but looks light due to the flash on the camera.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Brianna was a pumpkin fairy and Dylan was an ER doctor in an ambulance. Stephanie and I made an ambulance for Dylan's wheelchair. It was so cool. Kalen and I wanted to decorate Dylan's wheelchair since that is a part of Dylan in a way. We got lots of compliments about it.

I wonder what Dylan is thinking about? Maybe, why are my parents having me wear this crazy git up.

Our way out the door for trick or treating:)

Front view of Dylan and his costume.

A proud Kalen and Brianna:) Say Cheese.

We went trick or treating with my brother and his family. MaryEllen was a Sac State cheerleader and Henry was a baby chicken. We had lots of fun. Hopefully we can do it again next year:)

This is what the wall looked like on November 1st. It's way different now. I'll try to get pics of there for those of you that are interested. This is the wall behind where my stove was. we should be back in our house soon hopefully. Think good thoughts for us.

I had to take a few pics of Brianna in this dress that Vicki (Kalen's mom) got her before she out grew it. For those of you that didn't know, Brianna loves ELMO. So this dress is perfect.

I have a ton more to update everyone on but just don't have a lot of time. Check back soon for more updates:)

Update

For those of you that haven't heard we are living with my parents. We are so grateful, but stressed at the same time. It's hard here because they have stairs and it isn't too fun having to carry Dylan or worry about Brianna falling down them.

We just got the results this morning and OSHA has to come in because we have "hot walls". Meaning that they tested positive for asbestos due to the year our home was built. Now we are trying to decide what we should do. For sure the house will be started being torn apart on Monday but it will still take awhile to get the house back up and running.

I told me dad that we might be in his house still at Christmas and the look on his face was priceless. It's not that they don't want us here or that we don't want to be here, it's just difficult. There is little privacy and quiet.

So that's our update. I've had a few emotional days since last week but for the most part we are hanging in there.

I had to deal with the DMV yesterday. They are so stupid and lazy there. I know not everyone there is but at least the lady I had to deal with was. Many of you know that Dylan has a placard because he is disabled. We had some friends tell us about how they got disabled plates for their non-converted van for their daughter. So I thought I would look into it. I applied and we got plates back in September or August. I can't remember which. Anyhow this past Friday I got my application back saying that they can't issue plates. Which is dumb because I've had them on my car for 2 months. So I call the 1-800 number and they lady wasn't helpful and told me I had to go to my local DMV office and would I like to make an appointment. Heck Yeah! Why would I want to waste my whole day there. Duh! So I went yesterday afternoon. Keep in mind I am extremely stressed at the moment and it isn't even the holidays. Anyhow, I got there waited for my number to come up and then talked to the lady behind the counter, who obviously didn't want to help me. She told me that since Dylan isn't a registered owner on the vehicle that we can't have the disabled plates. So I asked her, "So when we get a converted van, we still won't get disabled plates?" she looked at me and said, "What's a converted van?" ---Hello you work at the DMV. I explained about Dylan having a wheelchair and she kept looking at me like I was crazy. Maybe I am who knows. Anyhow I left in tears. Of course I've heard from everyone that I needed to talk to a supervisor. I would have probably had a melt down at the DMV and they for sure would have thought I was crazy. to make a long story short, Kalen is calling to talk to a supervisor and see what we can do to get our disabled plates legit. Hopefully we get somewhere.

Amongst all the craziest, we meet with the school district on Thursday to talk about Dylan's IEP. It's an important meeting that states the frequency of therapy and a bunch of other stuff but anyhow most parents don't enjoy these meetings. Ever since Dylan transitioned to the school district, his therapy was cut back and he as regressed in the amount of things that he was able to do. So I have to fight to get what I think is best for him. The school district has to provide an "appropriate" education for him. anyhow, I'll get off my soap box. For those of you that don't have special needs kids I know you have a lot of stuff to worry about also, but just remember it can always be worse. Anyhow that's all for now.

Water Leaking

Just when life seems to be tough I guess more gets thrown at you. We now have a leak somewhere in our pipes that is causing a major hassle and leak. We are trying to find a place that we can move into while this problem is getting fixed. Our house totally stinks since they opened a wall yesterday. If anyone knows of anything that in the area please let me know. We have to stay in Sac City Unified School District for Dylan so he can continue to get all of his current services. Thanks ahead of time. Also think good thoughts for us. This is a major inconvenience.

Internet is up and running:)

A few of you know that our Internet has been a pain for the past 10 months. AT&T finally figured out what the problem was and it seems to be fixed. We were having to use our cell phones to make the DSL connect again. I guess there was something wrong at the box where all the lines run to. The technician explained it to me with tons of technical terms. Phone lines fascinate me. Have you ever thought about how they work? It's kinda crazy when you think about it. I am so grateful for inventions. Too bad I can't think of something great that I can pass onto to benefit others.........

Therapy Session........

Dylan's stander aka torture device, just kidding, it's a piece of therapy equipment that helps Dylan "weight bear" and stand up, broke. Since it is broken I have to do all his weight bearing activities by holding him upright. He is a wiggly worm so it is always interesting when we do this. Dylan didn't complain too much. He actually tolerated the "session" really well. Just a few minor stressors happened.

Dylan standing up with support. I know you guys are probably asking yourself, " Does Dylan ever wear pants?". The answer is yes, it's just easier to put his leg braces on without pants. They get a tighter fit. Dylan is getting such a big boy. He is half my size in height. He is going to be a big kid.

A few laughs...........Dylan has come a long ways although he has had regression in the past year. Kalen and I truly believe it's due to the lack of therapy sessions. Some might say that Dylan is not going to progress much farther, but we believe that he will. He just has to be given the chance. I wonder how many other kids are categorized into the "we can't help them much more" pile.

It's a lot of work holding Dylan in an upright position. Dylan and I enjoy the time together working on his exercises.

An afternoon at the Park

Most days after work Kalen take Brianna to one of the parks around our house. We are lucky to have 2 by us. Dylan and I decided to join Kalen and Brianna. We have lots of fun. Here are some pics from our trip last Monday afternoon. Brianna loves to go on the swing and the slides. Dylan loved "4-wheeling" in the grass. We did put him in the swing but there wasn't a lot of support for him to sit in the seat. We do have a special needs park somewhat close to us so hopefully one of these days we can make it down there. I don't think people realize how much having a special needs child can affect everyday things like going to the park.


Brianna loves to swing high.


Dylan loved being outside. He is such a happy boy. I wish people would treat him like any other child, by interacting with him. He may be nonverbal but he still likes attention. It was a fun family trip to the park!

"More high", Brianna says.

Once of Kalen and Brianna's rituals when they go to the park is to run to the fence that is near by. We made it a race. I pushed Dylan and daddy carried Brianna. They won. Everyone had a good laugh.

Our big girl Brianna. Her shirt says, "Daddy's Little Angel". She was an angel until it was time to go home. She wasn't to pleased that it was time to pack up.


Me and Dylan! I love him so much.

Daddy and Brianna. She wouldn't stop wiggling or smile for the camera. She was having one of her two year old fits.

Although she threw a fit, we had a really fun family activity. We hope to have more trips to the park as a family.

Lake Tahoe Marathon

As many of you know, I spent this past summer training for the Lake Tahoe Marathon. I started training back in June. I felt so much more confident and knowledgeable this year than last year. I guess it was because I knew what to expect. Well have three months of training it was off to Tahoe. My parents and Brianna and I went up on Thursday afternoon so we could check in for the house we rented. It was such a cool house. I can't believe that we didn't take any pictures except of the one of me below marathon morning. The house was on a golf course. It was beautiful. Brianna loved watching the geese. Kalen, Dylan and Stephanie made it up on Friday. Both Kalen and Dylan were sick so they came up later than expected. I'm glad that they made it up though. I wasn't too nervous but as Friday went by I was getting more excited and nervous for the marathon. When I'm nervous I can't eat because my tummy has so many butterfiles that I think I'll get sick. It's hard when I know I was going to be running a marathon and should be loading up on calories. Anyhow....we ate at this great Italian resturant that was close to the house we were at. It was so good and yummy. Brianna even ate all of the food. She doesn't do too well out in public when it comes to eating. After dinner we headed back and waited for the rest of our group to arrive. I had to run, not literally, to the store. As I was leaving it started to hail. Not a good sign when I have to run in the morning. Little did I know I would have a surprise when I woke up Saturday morning.
After a pretty good nights sleep, I couldn't believe that I slept so well, I got up at 5:30am. I was in pretty good spirits.


Getting ready to get in the car. It was so cold up in Tahoe. Little did we know that it snowed Friday night. As Kalen and I open the front door we see snow. I thought this race is going to be crazy. I had never run in snow before or weather that cold. It was in the 30's when we left the house for Kalen to drop me off at the shuttle bus pickup. I thought I was going to freeze to death while I waited to get on the heated shuttle bus to take me to the start line in Tahoe City. We were in South Lake Tahoe. After a nice bus ride........nothing to hold on to and there was back ice on the road, plus snow, we made it to the starting area. The course at the beginning had to change a little because of the snow. I couldn't wait for the race to begin. I knew that my fmaily would be soon following me along the marathon route. At 8:30am the race began........it was so hard to run. There was ice and snow all over the road. We run south along HWY 89 and it was an aboslute nightmare. I really had to pay attention to my footing so I wouldn't slip. I was pretty close to my targeted pace. I was pretty happy since it was so cold and slippery.


The family found me. It was so nice to cheering a squad. Running a marathon is a lot more mental than physical. There were times that I was getting teary eyed but when I saw my family it gave me the strength to go on. I'm not sure what mile these pics were taken at, but they are along the race between mile 7 and mile 16. I'm feeling pretty good in the pic above or at least able to smile:)

My dad and my sister-in-law's brother, Michael Fry. He was up supporting some of his friends who were also running in the race.

There are some awful hills during the course of the Lake Tahoe Marathon. Runners have to climb 520' in about 1.5 miles. The altitude is really hard to deal with on that hill for me. I felt like I was going to pass out if I stopped so I just kept going. Kalen took this pic of one of the signs that are along the monsterous hill. At the top of the hill it is considered heaven, because you don't have to climb anymore insane hills for awhile.

Brianna loved to say,"Go Mommy. Mommy fast." She's still saying it and it's been two weeks since the marathon. She's so funny. I love have my own cheerleader:) We loved having Stephanie come up with us. She was a great help with the kids.

Yes that is snow on the ground. I told you I wasn't lying. There was still snow on the ground when I finished. It was a pretty chilly day.

After 5 hours and 44 minutes of running. I finished the marathon. I was so happy. My knee went out around mile 20 so I had to walk a lot of the last 6 miles. I did knock off a 1/2 hour off my time from last year. Yeah! but for me just finishing the race is what I wanted to do and I did it. Here's the link for my results of the race http://www.milliseconds.com/ResultsIndividual.php?varParticipantRecID=183&varRaceID=999

Kalen wanted me to smile and all I wanted to do was eat orange slices, take off my shoes, enjoy my accomplishment, eat, eat, and eat and of course take a nap.

Dylan goes boom

Okay so we know this isn't the best position that Dylan is sitting in but he was sitting how he knows how to for a few minutes. Dylan is making lots of progress. Besides sitting in this pic, he ate a chicken nugget finely chopped for the first time in years. He had minimal gagging at first but then enjoyed eating the nugget. Kalen and I are so excited because it is opening a whole new world for Dylan. Dylan typically eats "soft-mechanical" foods. For those of you who don't know what that term means, it is in regards to food that are soft in texture that are fairly easy to eat without a lot of chewing required. Such foods are applesauce, mac & cheese, oatmeal, etc. I'm pretty sure you guys got the idea.

Yeah Dylan is sitting! If we can now get him to use his arms to "weight bear". But we are really pleased at the progress he is making.

Dylan looking at mommy. Some of you might not know that Dylan's visual impairment causes him to hold his back head sometimes. His vision is the strongest at the sides or up. So if you happen to talk to him or want to show him something those are the best places to present something to him.

And Dylan went boom. After he was done eating, Dylan fell to the side. He always thinks it's funny. By the way....I don't know what happened to his pants.

Go SEAHAWKS

Grandma Vicki Bjurstrom bought our family Seattle Seahawks football attire. Dylan and Daddy were wearing their jerseys. Brianna and I haven't "sported" ours yet. Kalen is a true Seahawks fan. For those of you that don't know, Kalen was born in Washington. He's been pleased that the Seahawks have played pretty well the past couple of seasons. So if the Seahawks are playing you can guess what we are doing at our house.

SEAHAWKS are #1!

Dylan and Daddy

My two favorite guys. They sure put a smile on my face. Dylan is such a sweet little boy. I wish more people would take the time and effort to get to know him. He is so special! Kalen's a pretty good guy too. He's up there on my list of favorite people:)

Dylan loves his flowers. I'm glad that we found a toy that he turly enjoys.

Dylan was trying to figure out what was going on with the flash from the camera. We sure do enjoy the time that we get to spend with Dylan.

I know I know.....

At the request of many people I will start posting again. Life has just been super busy. Hopefully within the next couple of days I'll have more posts on our blog.

My Fall......

Well yesterday (Saturday) when I was doing my 18 mile training run for the Lake Tahoe Marathon, I fell. 1 person stopped to see if I was okay and that was about it. I still had 7 miles to run and yes crazy me finished my run with a bleeding elbow and a gash out of my left hand. I can't remember if I hit my head or not. My water bottle broke. Good thing I run with 2. It was just crazy. It was such a good run. I felt strong and good. 18 miles is a long way to go falling yesterday put a slight damper on my excitement of completing my run. Although I fell I still beat the time I wanted to do my run in. YEAH!

After my run I drove home... I know another crazy thing to do. I didn't feel light headed until I sat down at home. Luckily Kalen was home and kept a good eye on me. I almost passed out in the shower. I pretty much just sat on the couch the rest of Saturday watching Court TV. I must say that they have some pretty interesting shows on forensics. I am feeling a little better today. My right elbow is bruised, swollen and gross and my left hand is bandaged up. I see the doctor on Tuesday because of course the only time they had available on Monday was when I have to take Dylan to therapy. Kids come first sometimes. So wish me luck. No more 18 mile runs until the marathon. yeah! Only three more weeks of training then I'm off to the gym to finish my weight loss program. Hopefully I won't fall there!

Whee........

Mommy and Daddy gave Brianna a slide for her birthday. After Kalen put it together he put it in the playroom and Brianna had at it. She loves it! She has spent the majority of this evening playing on the slide. Now she has something to play with outside. Yeah!!!!!!!!

What goes up, must go down..........