Happy Father's Day!!!

Good morning sunshine:)!!!! Brianna insisted on waking daddy up to give him his Father's Day gifts! Then she kept wanting to take his cards. She's silly! We love Daddy (Kalen). He does lots of our family. Some days he works really long hours. He protects us and takes care of our family. He takes Brianna to the park, helps a ton with Dylan, and is just fun to be around. I really appreciate all you do for us Kalen!!!(in case he ever reads our blog)





Father's Day evening we gathered at Brian & Lori's for dinner. Aren't fathers great! I just wanted to post how great my dad is. He is always there to help us, has advice for everything (sometimes I didn't event know he knew I was thinking about something), is fun, and plays with the kids. We love him lots. Thanks for all you do Dad!

I've been tagged again.....

Rules...
1. List these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

FACTS:
1. I'm having a hard time figuring out what I want for my b-day. I keep getting asked that question and I really don't have an answer except...SLEEP. I was up with Dylan 4 times last night.

2. I want my house to be a hip, cute place, like when you look in the Pottery Barn catalogs, but I just can't seem to do it. Maybe it's because I have kids and they have so much stuff!!

3. I LOVE sunflowers. My sweet husband just yesterday brought me some wild ones. They are so pretty!!

4. I totally read other people's blogs I don't know. They are blogging buddies of the people I DO know. I KNOW I'm not the only one that does that so I must not be that weird.

5. I've thought about possibly becoming a PT or an OT, but I really don't want to go back to school as an undergraduate. I don't think my BA in Child Development would meet all of the undergrad requirements.

6. I've been thinking about wanting to have a business of some sorts. I'm not sure of what, but an actual business that has a building, employees, etc......

7. I guess the last thing is that (according to Kalen) when my head hits the pillow I'm out! Which is really true, because I'll wake up in the morning and try to finish the conversation Kalen and I were having 8 hours before.

Now it's your turn.... I tag:

1. Beth
2. Jennifer H.
3. Jennifer P.
4. Michelle R.
5. Sarah
6. Stacy J.
7. Grace

Can't wait to read the answers!!!

Crown upside down

This is the sweet face I wake up to in the morning. She has been really into princess stuff lately. It always cracks me up that she puts her crown on upside down. I would have to give her thumbs up for trying to put it on.

This is her camera posing face. What mischief is she planning???????

Husbands

Dear Tech support,

Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed a distinct slow down in overall system performance, particularly in the flower and jewelry applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0.In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5 and then installed undesirable programs such as NBA 5.0, NFL 3.0 and Golf Clubs 4.1. Conversation 8.0 no longer runs, and Housecleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system. I've tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail.

What can I do?

Signed,Desperate.

**************
DEAR DESPERATE,

First keep in mind, Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, while Husband 1.0 is an operating system. Please enter command: ithoughtyoulovedme.html and try to download Tears 6.2 and don't forget to install the Guilt 3.0 update. If that application works as designed, Husband 1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewelry 2.0 and Flowers 3.5.But remember, overuse of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Grumpy Silence 2.5, Happy Hour 7.0 or Beer 6.1. Please note that Beer 6.1 is a very bad program that will download the Snoring Loudly Beta.

Whatever you do, DO NOT install Mother-In-Law 1.0 (it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources.) Also do not attempt to reinstall Boyfriend 5.0 program. These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband 1.0.In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly. You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance. We recommend Cooking 3.0 and Hot Lingerie 7.7.

Good Luck,Tech Support

I got this from a friend's blog and thought it was too funny not to share. Thanks Jennifer!

An evening at the park

Kalen and my dad took Brianna to play at the park and fly a kite. They had lots of fun. It wasn't too windy so the only way to make the kite somewhat fly was for Kalen to run with it. Just picture it.... Brianna on Kalen's shoulders and him running while holding the kite. I'm sad that I missed it. What a great pic that would have been. Brianna is such a busy body.

She loves to swing. Can you tell????????????

What a precious face. I love her smile and laugh. She is such a cutie pie. We are so blessed to have her be a part of our lives. Even her "rare form moments". I don't know what life would be without her.

Brianna loves dogs, cats, frogs, fish, birds, worms, snails, you get the picture. Kalen told me this is a dog that is always at the park when they go. Brianna loves to get in it's face and show it the balls. She's funny!

Goofy Brianna

Our silly Brianna, loves to play outside. A few of her favorite things to play with outside are chalk, bubbles, and riding her bike down the side of the house. She LOVES to be outside, way more than I do. It's fun to watch her play. She definitely shows off when the camera comes into her view.

An unexpected loss.......

This past week, some of our very dear friends's daughter, who was 8 weeks old passed away. It was completely unexpected. You can see what a beautiful girl she is on the Rogers Blog or to send condolences. My heart aches for them. I can only imagine the pain and anguish they feel. I have held my children just a little tighter the past few days.

I am so grateful that I know that if anything were to happen to my children, that I would be able to be with them again someday. I am so grateful for that knowledge. Life can be very hard at times, sometimes too strenuous, but we have to remember to hold tight to what we believe. Remember to hug your children, parents & other family members, because we never know when it's their time to return to our loving Heavenly Father.

These past few days have been really emotional for me. I can only try to imagine what my friends are feeling right now. I can't even comprehend the pain they must be feeling. I hope they know that they are loved by many and that their little girl is happy and surrounded by loved ones.

New Adventure

I am so excited!!!! I just signed up as an Uppercase Living Consultant. My sister-in-law, Lori found this company and has been a demonstrator for a few months. I LOVE the products!!!! It's a super fun and easy way to add decoration to your home

Check out the website @ http://www.uppercaseliving.com You can create an account so you can view the catalog. My info is Demonstrator ID# 738547 and token is fbjurstrom

Let me know if you have questions or need help with something. I can't wait to share all the cool products and ideas. And of course, if any one wants to take advantage of the awesome Host Benefits, I'll be more than happy to do an Open House for you:)

And don't worry for you Pampered Chef customers. I am still going to be able to help you with that also. I just wanted to add something else to my life:)

Dreamnight at the Zoo

Last night (Friday), the Sacramento Zoo closed their doors to the general public and opened them for children that live with chronic illnesses or disabilities, and their families for free. It was such an awesome event. It was so nice to be able to walk around the zoo not feeling out of place. Their were kids on oxygen, with feeding tubes going, wheelchairs, walkers, and a ton of other things. It was such a nice change.

We've wanted to go the past few years, but something has always come up. It was great to see so many mom's from the mom's group I go to. I actually got to meet their child(ren) that we talk about.

There was a nice breeze last night and Dylan was really enjoying it. It's hard to see the animals due to his visual impairment, but since his hearing is so good, he really likes to listen to all the sounds. Brianna had a blast too.

We are definitely going next year. It was such a pleasant change to feel like we actually fit in somewhere.

There was a lot of activities going on last night at the zoo. We got 2 tote bags to carry all the stuff we got. Both the kids got "zoo keys" that we got to keep and use on future visits. Brianna really kept an eye out for the stands that her key could go in. She wasn't too interested in listening to what the machine was saying, but really liked the fact she was able to put her key somewhere.

It was a wonderful event. We are so thankful that The Sacramento Zoo donates 1 night a year so children of all ages can participate at the Zoo despite whatever challenge(s) they are fighting. I'm so glad the Zoo web keeper, Lauren, found our blog and invited us to the event. I would have completely forgotten about the event if I hadn't been reminded:) Thanks Lauren!

Videos of Dylan....

Scroll down and pause the music before hitting the play button for the videos.
Here's some video of Dylan. He is such a smart kid. Who would have thought of using communication switches with feet!!!

So the next video is of Dylan with his teacher. Dylan loves "raspberry" and "kiss" noises. So that's what you hear in the background. He normally laughs when we do it. He loves making an "ahhhhhhhhhhhhh", sound and loves it when we imitate him. We love Dylan's teacher. She is so awesome and is a great motivator for Dylan.

Happy 26th Birthday Lori!!!!

We gathered at my mom and dad's for a BBQ to celebrate my sister-in-law, Lori's birthday this past Sunday. We had a good time. It's always fun to watch the kids play with each other. MaryEllen loves to take the lead for her and Brianna playing. Brianna is her eager follower. Sometimes Brianna likes to get MaryEllen going and will test the limits. Henry is getting so big. He loves to crawl. He got really upset with his daddy, Brian and grandpa because they wouldn't give him soda. It was quite funny to watch how upset he got. Here's a few pics from out get together.

MaryEllen being her goofy self.

Our sweet Henry. Love that smile!!!
Brianna loves her uncle Brian. She likes it when he throws her in the air.

The birthday girl getting ready to open presents. We wanted to give her a "Shamwow", but couldn't find one anywhere. There were tons of other "As seen on TV" products. So we gave her a gift card to Old Navy and then Might Putty. Kalen remembered her saying she wanted to try it. It was kind of her gag gift. She did call and said it worked. I'll have to get some for us.

Grandpa and Henry play the drum~~

Brian decorated the cake for Lori's party. Good job! Very creative.

The baker!!! Well really he just was the decorator of the cake.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LORI!!!

On a Saturday Evening..........

We had the missionaries from church over for dinner this past Saturday night. After they left we Brianna wanted to play outside for a little bit. I couldn't resist taking these pics of her in her hat, water sunglasses, socks and sandals. She "created" this outfit all by herself. I don't know if a fashion designer will be in her future:)

We can't believe how grown up she is getting. She will be starting preschool in the fall. She is so excited. She tells everyone that she will be 3 in August. She also lets everyone know that she will be going to school with her packpack (translation backpack), her children, the bus and numbers. I think she thinks that she gets to go on a bus because she use to see Dylan do it every morning when he went to school. Man does she have a good memory!!!

Daddy and Brianna. They are great play buddies. Kalen is more apt than I am to play outside. I am more of an inside person. I will occasionally play bubbles. Kalen and Brianna love to play with sidewalk chalk. I always have some sort of designs with chalk on my back patio. Most recently is was an underwater ocean scene. Pretty creative. I can't stand the feel of chalk, so I'll pass on that.

Who could resist this cutie!!!!

And we can't forget about happy Dylan. Look at that adorable face. His smile warms our hearts and can make the grumpiest person smile or laugh. We love him.

A walking advertisment

The company Kalen works for, changed their logo so he got a bunch of new shirts, hats, stationary, etc... Well Brianna loves hats so Kalen adjusted it to the smallest setting so she could wear the hat. We know how much she loves hats!!! And no she isn't picking her nose.