I hate insurance!!!!! (Well, kinda)

So this is what a sick child looks like. Poor little Brayden is so sick right now. A couple of days ago I babysat my cousin's kids so that he and his wife could go to the Reno-Tahoe Open because my uncle Ron was playing in the amature round. Brayden , Leighton and Scarlett played all day and had a good time, but after they left Brayden started to not feel so well. I felt his head and he was on fire. He then told me that his head and throte hurt. The poor kid was just in pain.

Yesterday I took him in to our family doctor. I found out that what he had was a virus and that there was nothing that they could really do and that he would just have to wait it out. To top it all off, our doctor heard a heart murmur on Brayden. He has had it since he was a baby, but it hasn't gone away yet. So now he has to go in for an ecocardiogram to make sure that it is still a functioning heart murmur. Isn't that just dandy?!?!

When I got home, I got right on the phone making appointments for Brayden's heart. Later I got a call back form the cardiologist saying that they called to confirm our insurance and that they had told them that Brayden was not on our plan. I then called the insurance company and they said that they had no record of our son. Mind you, we have had our insurance since we have been married and all of Brayden's appointments have been paid in full everywhere. After that lovely phone call I called Mike and I was balling my eyes out. I was so upset because all I wanted to do was make an appointment for my son. Anyway, to make a long story short, my insurance company is making me fill out an enrolment form for Brayden and also send in his birth certificate. So as of right now I still have no idea how all of Brayden's appointments have been paid for the last five years. It's a mystery! Don't you all just love insurance companies!?!?!

Loon Lake

This last week, Brayden and I went to Washington with my family to go and visit some friends of ours. We did leave Mike behind (poor guy) because he had to work. So, Brayden and I packed up our bathing suits and drove 14 hours, in one day mind you, to a lake just outside Spokane. The lake is called Loon Lake and it is beautiful. The were trees everywhere and the water was warm and calm. We stayed in a cute cabin with our friends, the Pratts. Our families have been close for about twenty years now. Our friendship started when I was five years old. Brandon,who is my age, walked me home from kindergarten. Not to long after that did Brandon's mom become me and my sisters babysitter. It seems like everytime our families get together that we have to hear the story about Brandon and Meagan and how everything got started. But anyway, we stayed for about a week and a half. I can honestly say that we did pretty much did nothing but relax on the beach and play with all of the water toys. We stayed up late playing different games (my favorite being spoons) and we slept in late every morning. It was really nice to not have to do or worry about anything for an entire week. I do have to say that we missed our daddy and husband very much. Its just not the same without him! Here are a few pictures of our trip.

Brayden loved the jet skiis! It was really hard to get him to do anything else. He also loved to tube!My dad, Mitchell and BrittersGrandpa Gary and Brayden - Best Buds! Vogue! Vouge! Vogue!
Brandon and Brayden on the jet ski.
Brayden being burried - say that ten times really fast.
Jack, Brayden and Holly having fun in the sun. You can see the Hobie Cat Sail Boat in the background. It was awesome. At one point on the trip Mitchell and Brandon go it up on one plantoon and then tipped it over.
Here is Brayden and Will. They became good friends on the trip and got to play together almost every day.
Bucket Head! Here is our totally sweet sand castle.
Brayden loved to swim out to the dock and then just run and jump off of it.
Here we all are on our last day there, sad to go, but ready to get back home to our daddy!

Happy Birthday Dad!!!

It was my dad's 50Th birthday a couple of weeks ago, so my mom, sister and I decided to throw him a surprise birthday party. We had it on Saturday night and it was a total blast. Here is a picture of me and my sister, Brittney. We posed like this on every single one of my mom's disposable camera's. I hope she gets a kick out of it.
We invited around 75 people to this bash, all consisting of my dad's family and closest friends.
Here we all are waiting for his arrival. I felt like I had butterflies in my stomach while I was waiting for him.
After he arrived, my mom, my sister and I all got up and said a few things about my father. My mom told everyone how my dad has gone to the blood bank every Sunday for the past two years where he donates platelets in my name. He does this because when I was going through treatment I needed a lot of transfusions and I was always in need of platelets. The blood bank has said that my dad has donated 88 bag of platelets which is equivalent to 150 blood donations, which in turn has saved 150 live and/or allowed 150 people to continue their chemo treatment. That brought tears to my eyes and many others when we heard that.
We also had a live bandi called The Recliners. The lead singer is my dad's best friend, Brad, who is actually the one with the guitar. The guy singing is a random person who sang like crap!. The band however was absolutely amazing!

Here are some family and friends cutting loose on the dance floor!
Here is my favorite cousin David! He got up a few times with the band and sang for us. In this picture I think that he is singing Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire. Rock On Dave!!!!
Me, Mom and Britt! Hey Mom - Love the wide open mouth!!!
This has to be my most favorite picture of all! This is my uncle Kenny wearing his wife's sweater and sunglasses!
Here is my awesome dad at the end of the night opening his gifts. I just want to say how much I love my dad and how grateful I am to have him as my father. He has been there for me in my darkest hours and I couldn't ask for a greater father, friend, and grandpa "Gary"! We love you Dad! Happy 50Th Birthday!

Happy 31st Birthday!!!

This last week was Mike's 31st birthday. We didn't really celebrate to much because the poor guy had to put in a long, hard day at work. Because my dear, sweet husband works so hard for our little family, I am able to stay home with Brayden. So by the time Mike got home Brayden and I had a nice dinner made for him and a little cake (Brayden really did help me with the dinner and the cake. He is quite the little Chef!). I know it wasn't much, but it was a nice evening with just our little family. The rest of the night consisted of relaxation and watching our favorite TV show Scrubs.
The next day we continued our birthday celebration with a day of baseball. We left early in the morning so that we could see the A's play the Mariner's. I love this picture of Brayden. Look at those cute ears!!!
Before the game we were able to watch the Mariner's batting practice and the A's team do their stretches. But the best part of the whole day was Brayden. We were really close to one of the coaches of the Mariner's who was actually fielding balls from batting practice. Brayden yells, "Hey, Coach! Throw me a ball!" The coach heard him and waived his arms at him and told him that he could have the next ball. Well, the ball came and the coach then threw it up to Mike to give to Brayden. Now, for all of those who don't know Brayden really well, let me tell you a little bit about him. He is one active kid who has the energy of about 5 children in 1. He is very fun, loving and gets excited for almost about anything. So at that moment that Brayden gets the ball, he gets super excited and then decides play a game of catch and throw the ball back to the Coach. All of the fans in the stands and the players in the outfield got a kick out of it and were cracking up and cheering. The coach then got another ball and told Brayden not to throw this one back, that it was his to keep. After that the ball stayed in my purse so that there was no way of him throwing it out again. And that is our little boy for ya!!!
Brayden and his Major League Baseball!
Let's Go A's!!!

Awesome Art

A couple of months ago Mike, Brayden and I went to Sacramento and San Francisco for just a fun little weekend away. I decided that I wanted to post these photos because I thought that they were pretty cute and funny of Brayden. I do have to say that any picture of my little man is adorable! During this trip we went to Golden Gate Park where they have this really cool art exhibit. I could have spent the whole day there, but of course when you have a very active 4 year old, your plans change fast. Brayden got bored of course and all he wanted to do is climb on everything. But I did get some really cute pictures out of it. My favorite is the safety pin with my little Bray-Bug inside of it. He is such a ham!!!!!!!!!!!!

I Kick Cancer's A@$!!!

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6 Flags and the A's

Our awesome kid!
Isn't he cute?!?!
Peter, Britt, Jaxson, Mom and Dad
Shouka the Whale
Two tired tots!
AT&T Park
The greatest Oakland fans ever!!!
We won of course!
The most beautiful city in the world!
The best bread bowl in the world!

A couple of weeks ago we decided to get out town and go to 6 Flags. It was a great weekend for us to relax and have some fun with the boys. We started our day at 6 Flags where we went on a lot of little kid rides. They boys loved it. I was surprised by Brayden because he didn't want to go on the kiddie rides, he wanted to go on the huge roller coasters. He just has no fear in him at all. Luckly he was to short for the adult rides, so we stuck with rides like Thomas the Train and all of the Looney Toon ones. We also went and saw most of the animal shows, absolutely loving the whale show. As you can see by the pictures, the boys were tuckered out by the end of the day.

Mike and I were able to leave Brayden with my family and we snuck away early to catch a Giants and A's game in the city. It was great to watch our favorite team crush the Giants and sweep the series. I do have to say though, I love AT&T Park way better than the Coliseum. That won't be for long because the A's are going to start building a new park soon and I am waiting in anticipation. It is going to be beautiful.

We were able to finish the night off with a world famous bread bowl at Fisherman's Wharf. I have to say that I love the city of San Francisco. It has truly become our home away from home. We have met the most amazing people that and hopefully one day, if I can talk Mike into it, we will live there. It may only be in my dreams though!

The Best Cake Ever!!!!!!!!

So it was my birthday a couple of weeks back and a friend of mine made me the best birthday cake ever. If you don't already know, our family is major Oakland A's fans. You might even call me obsessed. I live for baseball and baseball season. Every October I get a little depressed because baseball season is ending and then football season starts and I am not a huge fan of football. Baseball is the greatest sport ever made and the A's are the best team ever made. I know, I know, they aren't that good, but give them a little time and they are going to win the series (not this year of course). But I can love under the best and worst conditions so that makes me an A's superfan! Thanks Amanda for the awesome cake. (If you want to see some beautiful cakes go to http://www.smandacakes.blogspot.com/)

We Love the 4th of July!

My Cute Boys!!!
Mommy and her baby!
Kurt, Mallory and Carson Grover
Brayden covering his ears from the loud noises!

4th of July is one of my favorite holidays. I really don't know why I love it so much, but I really do. Mike and I have had this tradition of going down to the Nugget every year for the fireworks. We have done it every year since we have been married with the exception of one, which was when I was in one of my big surgeries to remove my cancer. I love that we live in a land where we can be free and have the right to chose whatever we want. I love that I can practice my religion and also to be able to share the gospel with others without any consequences. We live in a great nation.

This year was a fun one for us. We some of our family and friends over at our house for a barbecue. Of course, I forget to take any pictures of that. We had good old fashioned hot dogs, potato salad and a beautiful red velvet cake which was made by my friend Mallory. I wish I would have taken a picture of the cake because it was beautiful. It had a cream cheese frosting with blueberries and strawberries on it in a shape of a flag. Thanks again Mallory for the awesome cake.

After we stuffed ourselves with food, we went to downtown Sparks where we able to watch the fire works from a fairly close range. Brayden made me giggle. He hates loud noises, so he held his hand over his ears for the first half of the show and then realized that it wasn't really all that loud. Last year he covered his ears for the whole entire show. Maybe by next year we can go without the hands over the ears, or I may just have to buy him some earmuffs!

The food was great, the fireworks were great, the whole day was just great. We are truly blessed to live in this land. I am thankful for all of our service men and women who fight for our rights every single day. (That goes especially for my two military heroes, Dave and Joe - Thank you for all that you have done and continue to do.) We hope that your 4th was just as great!