This Mom's CinnFull Blog

Children growing bigger every day

2012-01-26T16:10:00.000-08:00

Looking through old photos can be very sad some times for a mom who realizes her kids are zooming through and getting so much older than I am quite ready for.

As I went through and sorted out all we cared about etc it really hit me how fast my cuties have grown since some of the photos had been taken.

They were so cute and loved to be together when this photo was taken at Ages 3 & 5

Now my boys are much bigger at 11 and 9 years old. Now they never want each other near and are stll cute but way more mouthy. (yes Steve I am getting what I deserve), They have opinions and thoughts so unlike my own yet my print is there I hope they excel and do so much more than I ever allowed myself to so.

Hope the holidays were kind to all we love and even those we dont ( though that list is quite tiny)

Love ME

Courage to follow your path..

2012-01-12T23:47:00.000-08:00

As many know and others may find out these last 2 almost 3 years have been hard in many ways.

2 babies dying in my arms and 1 miscarriage has brought in the last couple years a life path much different than the path I had foreseen. The last child our son Dragen came close to me going with him, I hemmoraged near to death 2 days after he was born. He was born still on 12/23/2010 due to stress and my body not being able to handle it all . The doctors said we could try for another but that with this being my 20th pregnancy with 5 making it to at least 2nd trimester chances were not great that the child would survive or that I would be there to care for it even if it did.

Derrick was sweet and took care of his side of it so that as he put it he gets to have me a lot longer. He is such a trooper and really appreciate the help his dad gave in this.

The strange part is 4 years ago I would have been devastated to know that my 2 sweet boys would be my only kids I get to raise. Now though it seems these trials have allowed me to start living for myself . Still be a mom and a loving wife but to really and truly start allowing myself to follow my dream path.

3 years ago after dharma died we went through some counseling that helped us mend the damage done by the loss. One thing she pointed out though was that its fine and nobel to live only for your kids but that living for you is just as important. She said that maybe we should focus on moving out of utah where we had moved to solely for dax's benefit.
I was shocked at first by the suggestion I have in general put every one elses needs before mine just out of habit and hating to hurt or disappoint them.Being a good mom to dax and dallon have been until recently all I ever thought about.Now though I know to be that good mom I need happiness also.
We decided at that time to start moving forward with the moving some where else. Where had been the biggest debate. Of course we had planned to move 19 months ago and just felt so unready so we cancelled our plans and waited. I mean we knew west coast and all 3 states had reasons why it would be awesome to live there. family, friends,etc.
The we got pregnant with dragen and figured that was our sign to stay. Life happened after all that and were still in utah.What finally freed us from waiting was changes in dax's school situation and therapy. With his speech therapist gone on a mission to singapore and the school making decisions I neither support or am willing to live with moving now makes logical sense for us.
I recently took stock and listed what lessons I have learned in the last while.
1. Time and place is everything
2.There is always another path dust your self off and go on with your life. ( easier said than done but trust me it is always doable.
3.Paths some times lead you to life styles and experiences you may never had seen your self doing or though you had to wait until you were old and grey.
4.Trust your gut.
5. you are not guilty ( my own issues are very imbedded in this one lol.) this has been my mantra since heck I can make myself feel guilty for a death a million miles away.

Derrick and I are finally ready to follow the path we had wanted to follow years ago when we were young and first in love. To work for our selves and live in an rv together and travel where the path leads us. Now some friends already know this and think we are insane,irresponsible ETC....

Maybe we are but I have only one life and I do not want to sit on the side lines while others enjoy my dreams. Doing what we have been doing is not getting us any where. I would rather take a risk now than wait till I am 50 and wish I had done it sooner. Or worse something happens and I never took the chance to follow my path.
So we are moving and buying a motor home and a travel trailer. The Rv is planned to be a Class C likely older model but livable. The travel trailer to most will seem wierd but hey as a wire artist and jewelry maven I need a good bead studio/ room so we will gut most of the trailer we get and make it into our mobile bead studio. No money if my supplies I have squirrled away over the last few years were not there.
I am good at my work and know that by making it full time for both derk and I can live simply with that income. The kids are excited to move and a little scared as can be expected for kids who have only gone to one school there whole lives lol.

The next step has been where. Well with my favorite aunty ( always has been :) ) and awesome God mother and Father are there in California with its lovely farmers markets and love of truly hand made artisian work has turned out to be the place we both can agree on. So end of febuary we will be packed and ready to go to morro bay or pisomo beach or such. Hitch up our traveling band and head for california land of my birth and a place where our path has lead us. Packing up and moving forward has seemed to take on a life of it's own. Funny how that happens when you are on your path again.

Sarah...

2011-09-07T11:30:00.000-07:00

So I know I have not been blogging, summer came and kicked my rear. lot's of fun and laughter instead of blogging. we went camping,fishing,rock hounding and in general enjoyed each other :) We even sat on a lake for labor day.

Unfortunately our labor day lake vacation came to a screeching halt when I received a call that my sister sarah was being rushed in was not likely to survive based on vitals and her blood sugar numbers.She made it through so far but just barely. Her kidney's are failing more every day so far, her blood sugar is dipping into the 20's and she does not seem to be in the right frame of mind. I unfortunately agreed years ago that if something happened I would take care of stuff and make hard decision's. She and I have for years been more like mother and daughter than sisters. That is not always an easy path to follow but that is what she has needed from me. I am so sad to know that at this point sarah is terminal in most senses. Due to her inability to seem to maintain or care for her diabetes her body is now giving up on her. She will not be eligible for a transplant due to her lack of self care . I wish it were different but that's the path we are on.

Some how with our lack of money in the next week I will fly to Seattle to be with her, make sure her wish's will get taken care of so that in the future, whether it is tomorrow or in 5 yrs everything will be taken care of for her in the way she would want. On wing and a prayer this will be and I come see my lil girl probably for one of the last times due to finances. I hope things turn around for her but at this point it may just be to late.

good thought's for sarah would be appreciated.

Joy

Flu....

2011-06-06T14:21:00.000-07:00

One thing I can never understand is why so many germs have to affect me. I know my immune system is not running at full steam. I get that I know some germs hit me and smash me harder than others. I just wish my body fought a tiny bit more. 3 flu type bugs in 2 months seems just a bit much. oh well tis is my plight I guess.
Hope my friends and family out there is doing better :)

So a change...

2011-06-04T11:11:00.000-07:00

I think I approach this blogging thing wrong in my head. I stopped blogging awhile back since I figured I didn't have much to share.I think day to day things are what I actually love about blogs so I am going to make a goal to blog at least 4 days a week for the entire summer. So some of these posts may not be super interesting but in the end I think the over all quality will be sweet.

I have recently been looking at our budget and realized just how much money I am pouring into food every week. Most of this in an attempt to eat in a healthier way. all this adds up and that does not help pay off medical debt or get derk and I back into college.

Daxs health problems in the last 6 months has made us more aware of all our food choices.

Since one of his health issues is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malabsorption and failure to thrive we are looking at ways to cut out some things that are hard on his body while maintaining his ability to eat.

Unlike most kids dax can and has starved himself to the point where he needed a feeding tube. If it looks remotely yucky to him no amount of coaxing or force can get him to eat it. Food for him can be a real power grab by not making it a center of focus this power source is depleted.

We currently do this by

1st) having an open kitchen. night or day your hungry GO FOR IT!! We teach moderation and keep certain thing like junk food for special occasion.

2nd) I make one dinner not 4!!you do not like what I have for you fine you have 2 options peanut butter and jelly or cereal.

3rd) I try to provide food we all can agree on!

The hardest thing I find about number 3 is that dax is so picky most things a kid likes dax just will not eat!!

Dax likes cereal no granola but cereal, Noodles with no sauce, meats with no sauce,cheese, milk, fruits and veggies. Heaven forbid we mix things or try things a lil different.

I love variety and want to mix and match food in fun maniacal ways. I am a person who has to be on a high high protein diet and loves most foods in moderation.

Moderation and center is a mantra I seek to live by. All food can be great in moderation.

Dax due to being dax loves sameness!!

So long story short after research we found out milk and gluten can contribute to his health issuues.

We have tried the gluten diet and well lets just say that is not an option for our family.ROFL

Milk to drink and for cereal is an area we have found in general works for us to change.

After some trial we found goat milk is yucky,Soy milk has to much estrogen for boys, Hemp milk at 4.25 a pint is way to expensive an option, coconut and almond milk were over all a huge winner for our family.

A disclaimer is I am VERY allergic to almond milk.

So we will be buying soy for me and almond or coconut milk for the boys.

Now Almond milk is expensive much more so then moo milk as we call it. So we are needing to cut costs in other areas. Our veggie and fruit costs have also been crazy like 60-70 a week. Did I mention we love our fruits and veggies lol.

Add just those 2 things up and boy do I know why we are broke :)

Lucky for us and thanks to a friend letting us in on a great co op we have a great less expensive way to cut costs and still eat in a healthy way!! bountifulbaskets.org is awesome they are currently in 14 states and growing all the time!! This week we finally bit the bullet and bought in for our first basket at 15 a basket plus a 3 dollar first time basket fee ( pays for the baskets that hold your food till you show up with your boxs or bags. keeping it green baby :) ) the results speak for them selves :)

I know when I go to the store I spend more than 15-18 for this much fruits and veggies.Now I am told amounts vary and each basket is unique either way I feel like I got a great deal!! Now to help with costs 1x every 2 months every family needs to volunteer 1 hour to help with loading or unloading the trucks and handing out baskets. Pretty cool I think.

Now being me and not realizing how much food their is I also bought 2 additional Items that you can buy ala cart. This was my total bill ROFL

Conventional 1 $15.00 Utah Basket pickup

First Time Basket 1 $3.00

Valencia Oranges - Approx 88 count 36 Lb from Mexico 1 $14.50

Strawberries - 8 Lb box of 2 large clamshells - California 1 $12.00

Handling Fee:

$1.50

Total Price:

$46.00

This does not show the orange box full of yummy fresh valencia oranges :) Next time I think the basic basket will do just fine. yet I love how yummy and tasty this will all be.

Over all pretty nice changes and our grocery budget is much much smaller :) Lil changes help our world get better I hope.

Dax..

2010-10-05T11:06:00.000-07:00

My dear and much loved oldest son has never been given the easy road of life. I am not sure what life has in store for him in the future I can only hope it is an easier road than he has traveled thus far.
Many things happened this week to him and for him
.As most if not all of you know dax is a pretty high functioning child on the spectrum of autism. For the last few years his major issues have come down to being socially acceptable and the ability to communicate verbally in a way other children and adults can understand. His Developmental Speech Apraxia is the root cause of this. His speech understand ability is around 3 and this is so hard on a child who is roughly cognitively a typical 8-9 year old high energy boy who wants to be liked by his peers. He tries hard to fit in wearing the coolest shades, the coolest vest, and working hard on his hair. Unfortunately he does try too hard and seems to focus on the being friends with the one kid in class who has not been fond of him since kindergarten. This hurts him much more than most can see. This weekend he cried tears of such sorrow not only from this child just not liking him , yet also from the feeling that he is unheard and not understood by friend and teachers alike. Even I his mother fail 30% of the time in the ability to understand what he trying to say. His desperation to be heard and understood is growing with speed his speech is just not able to keep up with, his disorder is hard to treat and his unfortunately considered a severe case. This disorder is neurologically based and past speech treatment which he has received since 13 months there is not any solid ways to treat him.

We have now found a way to help him be understood Its is not perfect, It seems like a miracle that something like this is available.Its called a dynavox

This device is will in so many ways can and I am hopeful will change his life as he knows it now.He was seen this week by a group that advocates and writes the paper work so that kids like dax who cognitively are where they need to be but due to various reasons including apraxia or even cerebral palsy can not communicate in a way others can understand.

Dax played with this device a few days ago and immediately had such a reaction that I wish we had a camera in the room. His face lit up with wonder and delight as he started using this device he immediately looked at all of us sitting in the room and said people will understand me with this. I could not help it all I could do was cry. He knew so immediately what this was for and what he wanted it for. No explanation no resistance just pure happiness that he can be heard and understood.

It will take a couple months for him to receive his own device. we know we have bumps in the road ahead. Getting insurance companies to pay for this can and tend to be difficult.His wait is hard for him right now but once he has that device I see it taking him places he never knew he could go.

My new (used)Van.

2010-02-03T10:12:00.000-08:00

We are finally car owners again. In September our engine died on our car,we had no money so we could not fix it or even replace it.
Thank heavens I have a friend like K. who had an extra car they were not really using and said we could use it until we could get another one.
Thank heavens we have such great friends. To not have a car would have meant taking dax and dallon out of thier school they both need to be in. Dax for his autism and Dallon For his severe Dyslexia most schools offer little to no services for Autism and even less for dyslexics with the attitude that you can just pay the experts out side of school the 50-100 an hour they charge.
My heart sank when our car died thinking of everything my kids would loose if they could not continue there.
When my friend K. called and said we could use her car I was over joyed and was on my knees thankfull.

Well this last saturday we were finally able to buy us a vehicle. I have looked and hunted.We knew our budget was not everything we were hoping it could be , yet it was what we had so we needed to make it work.
I am in love with my van
here is Rodrigo :)

Decked to the 9 and ready for what every my kids add to it. we paid 2800, put 900 in repairs and it is in excellent condition.!!

I know this was god's hands in us finding this vehicle. It was well below value and was a blessing for us.

Cinn

How Life has changed....

2010-01-21T14:25:00.000-08:00

Life in the beginning of 2009 seemed perfect. We did not have every thing but we had our family and we had our wished for hope of a Little girl to love.

Things changed and although it did not turn out how we expected we made it through together.

Life for us changed in a way that will affect us with every step we take from now on.

At 26 weeks after a near perfect pregnancy ( at least for me) Dharma Eileen Neds was born. She was born early due to a rare form Ecoli like Amniotic Infection that hits acutely and kills often. She was born breathing and kicking, fully prepared to show us what a fighter she was . By all signs everyone even the doctors felt she could make it. With in minutes we were proven so very wrong. After about 40 minutes the doctors came and got derrick and I. They felt she could fight no more. Her body had put up a more than valiant effort and just could not win this battle.

At first they were unwilling to allow me to go with derrick to turn off the vents. They were still afraid this infection would kill me. At that moment NOTHING would have kept me from her side. I think they knew I would be quiet hysterical if they did not allow me to go so they relented. They wheeled me in accompanied by derrick.

This was my first image I saw of her.

I think those moments were almost fog like.The pain is something I can not describe to anyone. The pain stayed with us but as the saying goes Time helps heal any wound.

A few seconds after this they brought her to us and set her in my arms.

( I need to note that derrick in this moment really made a sacrifice I can not even explain to you how hard it had to of been for him. He never took her from me until well after she had passed allowing me that special gift of holding our Daughter for those last fleeting moments of her little life) Those moment with her are something I treasure, Every moment of my day. Feeling her breath and lay on my bare chest made every part of me want to go with her, yet I knew and Know it was not time for me. She had lived as long of a life as she needed and then returned home with honor. I spent the next 2 hours holding her. I honestly don't know why I held her so long knowing she had passed so fast. Yet I just could not let her go. When I finally did I had an empty feeling.

Awhile later my sister and close friend Joan brought the boy's. They saw her for a moment to say goodbye. I wish we had had more time in life for them to see her while she still lived but that just wasn't to be. Dax cried heart wrenching tears, and wanted to help the baby. Dallon asked why and I explained it was just this way for her.

We had a lovely Funeral at Garner Mortuary . We had originally planned to not allow the boys to attend. In the end they needed the good bye and closure that it brought our family.

The months passed and we healed some every day. We are not over it I doubt you can really heal this kind of deep wound.

We found Old friends Like My Sister in Law from my first Marriage ( yes I was married long ago to some one else amazing I know LOL).I got to see my ex-Nephews and nieces. ( though I never divorced them in my view.) Found Out My ex- SIL son had attended my sons school and I had no clue who he was despite having seen him in the library alot!! I even talked to my ex over facebook and myspace ( no I am NOT telling people who he is for his privacy and mine!!) Us talking is proof time heals every wound if you let it.

Basicly we tried to move forward with our lives.

Unfortunately 2009 was not finished with us. In Oct our Nephew Zach Fell Down Topaz mountain in southern Utah and sustained A lot of damage. He fell 70-75 feet Tumbling head over heel. He was Life Flighted to Primary Children's. He sustained Severe Bruising,Dislocated hip, Spine Fractures, And was partially Scalped. Despite all those injuries Zach is mostly back to normal. There is Scarring but for all his injuries it is a true miracle he lived and is living a normal life again.

Now course 2009 yet again did not seem to be finished with us. In Late November my sister Joan came down sick with that Infamous Swine Flu. Ended up In ICU with Pneumonia. She came terrible close to death and scared us all half to death!!! I have given her strict orders to NEVER DO THAT AGAIN!!!! She finally pulled through after a few weeks in the hospital. We are all glad to have her home.

2009 closed quietly and with out much HOWRAH.

What I learned from it will stay with me forever. Love can get you through everything and that family means EVERYTHING to me.

2010 Is going. it has not been easy but who said life was easy.

On January 6Th We had to have a D&C due to another miscarriage.

It was hard but no worse than what we have seen before and Yes we are okay.

We are survivors and we are a family that Plays and Stays together.

Life continues even when you wish it wouldn't. I love my life and have great hopes and plans for our future. I am loved. I am blessed. More than people can see I am happy with all life has given to me. Even if I didn't get to keep it all.

Cinn/Joy

2 boys cute as can be
1 hubby still in love with me
1 little angel gone to soon

a Love fast

2008-10-27T08:21:00.000-07:00

I was reading an article this weekend that intrigued and inspired me to try to explore my loving side.
The basis and theory of this article is to do a love fast..now before going nuts and thinking i mean not getting lovin.
This is more of a giving love diet than anything else.
In life I have found as you give love so shall you receive. Well this diet takes it one step farther.
As people we tend to want reassurances of love and will be unsatisfied when we feel people fail to meet our expectations of how one should show love. We then take that as a sign that we are unloved and that the person in our life that we love so much, loves us not. We as people will tend to get needier and push the ones in our life to make declarations; pushing them even further from us. This is a cycle that can makes us moody and petulant and in the end really push the one we want closest, further and further away until one day we really only end up much further from our goal.

My challenge to myself and even my friends out there is for the next week to abstain from emotional neediness. To show love with no expectations of returned behavior. To give the ones you love a boost of your love.

For those willing to participate by writing about what doing this love fast taught you, I will send a gift to one lucky blogger responder. :)

Sometimes ya feel like a nut

2008-10-27T08:11:00.001-07:00

So i have obviousely been quiet lately. I have been fully flying into the face of life.

Since the start of school I have really started investing my time into helping Dax and Dallon's school, Being a v.p of the pto has really been alot of fun and I found i have a passion for libraries and a talent for getting things done.My time is well used and I can tell I am making a difference everyday.

I am also doing a spiritual diet exploring and discovering who i am at my center. it can be scary and at times i fall short yet I can only hope with exploration's of my very being I can be a better mom and learn to love me for all my flaws..

Injuries that make you feel old

2008-09-25T05:42:00.000-07:00

This post is my Whining post. I hate to whining as a rule. We all know we do it at times but most like me try to avoid it

For the last year or so my back has been bugging me not enough to disable me but enough that even i knew i needed to be more careful than in years past.

Yesterday as we were getting ready to leave the house i asked Dax and Dallon to put the dog in her kennel so we could leave. I got to the car only to discover that instead they put her in the car. I was very irritated since i was running late anyways. I hate to be late so this will always irritate me.
I picked up the dog and ran her inside and put her into the kennel. as i was putting her in i felt a pull and a little bit of pain, well at 31 little pains are becoming a bit more common so i got into my car and drove to my destinations.

When I got to the school it was a different pain all together. I was having sharper pains and my left leg was very painful. yet again I figured this to shall pass. With book fair next week and really needing to get stuff done for the school, I pushed on. As time went on during the day the pain got worse and worse. at 11:30 I couldn't walk almost at all and finally called derrick to come take me to the doctor.

Derrick of course was pretty irritated but he at least came and got me. When he saw me he was a bit repentant for giving me crap about getting hurt again as he put it.

So we went to the urgent care doctor's office. I was by this point a pile of barely walking crippled poop.

Well to my shock after all the tests were done I did not just pull a muscle I have compressed vertebrae and a pinched nerve, I now need to go see a back specialist and need to do physical therapy to help out with the pain.

Now here's the whiny part until this morning I was fine with all this, until this morning, now I just feel weepy and feel like having a pity party all day long.

I just do not understand why or even how this could have happened. Rolling up into a ball and mooping around the house for the next year sounds like a plan at this moment.

The pain is worse than i had hoped to be this morning and I hate to depend on others to do simple tasks that any body should be able to do. I could not even bend enough this morning to put my pants on. I feel so humiliated to have to ask my husband to help me put my pants on.

If god was aiming for humility I am there right about now.

ahh well maybe tomorrow i will have a grip lol.

Dax's day

2008-09-18T16:26:00.000-07:00

I know as a parent I am doing all I can to teach them the rules of life. For each of my children this means different things. Day's like this make me wonder.

Yet as a mom of an autistic child I find that only after there is an issue can we really address the issues. Alot of life's lesson's have to be taught as they come up. normally through a bad behavior that comes years later than most kids.

Dax made some real developmental changes this year that helps me to have hope for his future, yet are making the here and now not so easy.

He came home today from school with a incident report stating that dax open handed slapped another child who was teasing him.

He is also drawing pictures of another child he is very un-fond of & punching him in the picture.

He is also teasing and acting out in alot of social areas.

Now to most parents these are red flags and even to me in some ways they are, yet I am also seeing that dax is finally after years of only crying when picked on and hiding in a corner, Reacting as one would when we are young and inexperienced in how to handle anger and emotions. Even us adults do not always handle these things well.

All Dax has done when hit,punched or teased at school or almost anywhere is cry. everything was tears and nothing more. He had no concept of self to defend. this year he has developed that sense of self and of most social concepts that coexist with it. This is good and bad.

So learning to stand up for himself is actually a wonderful development. handled badly on his part but that I can work on .

I as a mom feel bad for the other child but as dax's mom I think wow he is really developing isn't he!!!

Now for our part we have a no violence policy. We do not use corporeal punishment nor allow violent shows in our house. So due to the violence and general bad behavior, he is being sent to bed early, with only Peanut butter and jelly sand which with milk for dinner. He has also lost all WII time tonight and tomorrow morning ( that punishes me more than him ughh he thinks 4-5 am is wake up time, the WII has improved my sleep hours tremendously) and the T.V's are off for the night.

Joy

Fat Squirrel's and The Elephant Seals

2008-09-15T06:07:00.000-07:00

After Hearst Castle We went on up the road about 2-3 miles and Stopped to see the Elephant seals.

These Squirrels got their picture taken based on the fact that In my life i have never seen fatter squirrels,
Squirrels tend to have very lil fat in summer but this big boy is very tubby I am going to assume everyone feeds them. ALOT, ROFL I wish I coulda taken them home and kept them and all there fluffy goodness hehehe
To be an elephant seal. laying on the beach resting for days and days
Sleeping in the surf no worries of drowning.
Well until another elephant seal got all up in your business

This video is just a small amount of all i saw when we were amongst the elephant seals.

First day of school

2008-09-09T12:58:00.000-07:00

I Have been ultra busy the last few weeks with family and responsibilities of being the new PTO vice president of my son's school. ( THANKS JENN ROFLROFL) Yes they made me vp what were they thinking ROFL. Ohh and we want to announce our President is Jenn. yet again what was she thinking ROFLROFL

I wanted to stop and say THANK YOU to all those who helped with Dax's Tutoring. though it wasn't perfect the funds seemed to have paid off and Dax is now in upper first grade math he ended the 07-08 school year at a lower kindergarten level and now has jumped a grad and a half. I think it was money well spent. his reading at least maintained and thats all we really were hoping to do. So i just want to thank everyone that helped out. you will never know how much we appreciated the love you guys showed for Dax.

Dallon also benefited and raised himself up one full grade level in both subjects not bad for one summer.

I will let you all know how you can help dax's & dallon's school in the coming week's

Hearst Castle visitor center

2008-09-06T09:30:00.000-07:00

We next went to Hearst castle
They have a wonderful visitors center which is FREE my favorite word. We enjoyed ourselves and were able to show our kids apart of California's history. Dallon loved the lions he thought it was cool how there were the same material but one had not had alot of handling by human hands.
They asked so many questions and seemed to love experience.
Obviously this Castle was built by a man since there were statues of nearly naked woman there also. I have to say it was tasteful though
My ever studious husband is seen here reading all he can on the history and lives of those involved in the Hearst legacy.
This was the end of the Visitors center so we took group photo's and went to look around some more.

More photo's to come.

Elfin forest and day 2

2008-09-03T18:18:00.001-07:00

The Elfin Forest is a state park in California.This is a a few of the photo's I took of the area. I love how nature can offer such contrasting images for the eye to behold.
This is the view to the Estuary( salt march).
I have no idea what this flower is called but i just loved how the single flower is blossoming amongst the bramble of a briar patch.
Now what are those wild animals doing in there. shoo go on now. lol
My aunt Louise in her youth worked for the forestry department. She even did campfire tours for awhile. So she really seemed to enjoy showing my kids all about why they have it there and what it is all about. I of course got lost but well I have the ability to think 50 things at once and get lost in thought at a moments notice.

This was the end of day one. after all this we went home and went to bed. exhausted from all the day had brought us.

Now day 2 was spent doing alot of resting and a little bit of birthday shopping with just my grandpa,Louise and myself. We got Dallon star wars Lego's for the WII. since that was the only thing my sweetie wanted.

After that it was home to conversations and rest.

Part 2 of the Neds vacation the Avacado stand and Montana del Oro

2008-08-25T09:03:00.000-07:00

After being at Louise's for a an hour or so and freshening up a little. Louise took every one but gram pa ( who was very tired ) To go see some of her favorite spots in the area

Montana Del Oro
Our first stop was at an Avocado farm that is along the highway to the beach.

Yes avocado's are a fruit.

I am a huge fan of avocado's so I was very very happy with this stop. I just love fresh off the farm fruit and vegetables so we picked up a few avocado's for our lunch. We made sure to get a few pictures of the farm and the cute cart they had on site. This cart appeared to be painted in a Slavic style all hand painted very nice and beautiful

The boys look so handsome together and they are so hammy they will do anything to get a photo taken of them even stand in front of a beautiful hand cart.

Dallon and Louise are standing below an Avocado's tree which actually had a few baby avocado's on it. Louise is holding the horde of lovely lunch time avocado's.

She was so generous and provided food for us on most of the day we were there.

It was very nice not having to worry what and where were we gonna eat. plus a home cook meal not cooked by me now that's a treat. I miss it already.

After all our picture fun at the avocado stand. We went on down the highway to our first destination. Montana Del Oro, In California along the coast you will find that along the coast many different types of Beach's are around. They range from cliff to sandy with variations and degrees within 20 miles of each other. This is a small reason why people so love the California coast .I doubt any where in the world will you find so many varying degrees of beach in such a small area.

Montana Del Oro is a rocky beach with a thick sand that is almost like walking in thick quick sand . Never ever wear flip flops to this kind of beach. Of course I did not think of this prior to leaving for the beach so of course I wore my sandals. There are 2 very good reasons not to wear flip flops.

1. They will not stay on your feet half your energy will be used to keep these sandals on.

2. There open toed so the rocks and the sand continually get under your toes. Very annoying and time consuming having to stop every few feet. just to remove the cup of rocks that has migrated under your toes.

These pictures are a prime example of the rocky sand you have to walk in. The plant life seems to love it. My feet ? not so much.

This is a lovely example of the beauty you will find there. I think i spent 50 % of my time collecting rocks and the other 50% taking picture. There was just so much to take in I am sure I could never do it justice. I just loved how the seaweed and rocks just interwove between each other creating an almost picture perfect image.

One thing I love about Rocky beach's is watching the waves. splash, crash and roll across the rocks. I find this so soothing and relaxing. It just amazes me how much beauty there is in this world. and California got more than there fair share for sure.

Dallon and Derrick seemed to really enjoy walking the beach together. They were very inseparable and at times alternating from walking silently to trying to find that hidden treasure that all little boys crave. Grown boy's are obviously no exception.

Even Dax joined in the hunt for buried treasure's.

Never before had they seen seaweed or ocean for that matter, so exploration was definitely in order. Hours of fun was had by all. This beach had all a boy could hope for.

1. Treasure's of the sea

2.Something to pretend was attacking you.

3.Mountains to conquer

3.Water to explore

4.Islands to claim as your own.

After we finished exploring we ate a nice lunch of cold cuts and avocado sandwich's. It was the yummiest sand which I have had in a long time.

We then packed up the bag and off to the Elfin forest we went, but that and much more of are trip is for another time.

Part 3 coming soon...

What I have done

2008-08-13T10:05:00.000-07:00

Here goes...I read this on Cynthia's blog and liked it. All you have to do is put an * by the item you did.

1. Touched an iceberg
2. Slept under the stars*
3. Been a part of a hockey fight
4. Changed a baby's diaper*
5. Watched a meteor shower*
6. Given more than you can afford to charity* I have to watch myself on this I am sometimes too generouse so i have to limit what I do.
7. Swam with wild dolphins
8. Climbed a mountain*
9. Held a tarantula* EWWWWWW
10. Said "I love you" and meant it*
11. Bungee jumped*
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Stayed up all night long and watched the sun rise*
15. Seen the Northern Lights*
16. Gone to a huge sports game *
17. Walked the stairs to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown and eaten your own vegetables*Sooo Yummy
19. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope*
20. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment* i am notouriouse at bad timing laughter.
21. Had a pillow fight*
22. Bet on a winning horse *
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill*
24. Built a snow fort*
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping*
27. Taken an ice cold bath*
28. Had a meaningful conversation with a beggar*
29. Seen a total eclipse*
30. Ridden a roller coaster*
31. Hit a home run
32. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking*
33. Adopted an accent for fun*
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors*
35. Felt very happy about your life, even for just a moment*
36. Loved your job 90% of the time*
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Watched wild whales
39. Gone rock climbing*
40. Gone on a midnight walk on the beach
41. Gone sky diving
42. Visited Ireland
43. Ever bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant*
44. Visited India
45. Bench-pressed your own weight
46. Milked a cow*
47. Alphabetized your personal files
48. Ever worn a superhero costume*
49. Sung karaoke*
50. Lounged around in bed all day*
51. Gone scuba diving
52. Kissed in the rain*
53. Played in the mud*
54. Gone to a drive-in theater*
55. Done something you should regret, but don't*
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business*
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Been in a movie*
60. Gone without food for 3 days*
61. Made cookies from scratch*
62. Won first prize in a costume contest* I was a mime while pregnant with dax and won 100.00 for first prize
63. Got flowers for no reason*
64. Been in a combat zone
65. Spoken more than one language fluently
66. Gotten into a fight while attempting to defend someone*
67. Bounced a check*
68. Read - and understood - your credit report*
69. Recently bought and played with a favorite childhood toy*
70. Found out something significant that your ancestors did*
71. Called or written your Congress person
72. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over*
73. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
74. Helped an animal give birth*
75. Been fired or laid off from a job*
76. Won money*
77. Broken a bone
78. Ridden a motorcycle*
79. Driven any land vehicle at a speed of greater than 100 mph*
80. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
81. Slept through an entire flight: takeoff, flight, and landing
82. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
83. Eaten sushi*
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read The Bible cover to cover
86. Changed someone's mind about something you care deeply about*
87. Gotten someone fired for their actions*
88. Gone back to school *
89. Changed your name*
90. Caught a fly in the air with your bare hands*
91. Eaten fried green tomatoes
92. Read The Iliad*
93. Taught yourself an art from scratch*
94. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
95. Apologized to someone years after inflicting the hurt*
96. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language*
97. Been elected to public office
98. Thought to yourself that you're living your dream*
99. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
100. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn't know you*
101. Had a booth at a street fair*
102. Dyed your hair*
103. Been a DJ
104. Rocked a baby to sleep*
105. Dropped a cat from a high place to see if it really lands on all fours*
106. Raked your carpet
107. Brought out the best in people
108. Brought out the worst in people*
109. Worn a mood ring*
110. Ridden a horse*
11. Carved an animal from a piece of wood or bar of soap*
112. Cooked a dish where four people asked for the recipe*
113. Buried a child (I pray I never do)
114. Gone to a Broadway Play
115. Been inside the pyramids
116. Shot a basketball into a basket*
117. Danced at a disco*
118. Played in a band
119. Shot a bird
120. Gone to an arboretum*
121. Tutored someone*
122. Ridden a train*
123. Brought an old fad back into style
124. Eaten caviar
125. Let a salesman talk you into something you didn’t need*
126. Ridden a giraffe or elephant
127. Published a book
128. Pieced a quilt*
129.Lived in an historic place
130. Acted in a play or performed on a stage*
131. Asked for a raise*
132. Made a hole-in-one*
133. Gone deep sea fishing
134. Gone roller skating*
135. Run a marathon
136. Learned to surf
137. Invented something
138. Flown first class
139. Spent the night in a 5-star luxury suite*( SO NICE!!)
140. Flown in a helicopter
141. Visited Africa
142. Sang a solo*
143. Gone spelunking
144. Learned how to take a compliment
145. Written a love-story
146. Seen Michelangelo’s David
147. Had your portrait painted*
148. Written a fan letter
149. Spent the night in something haunted
150. Owned a St. Bernard or Great Dane
151. Ran away*
152. Learned to juggle*
153. Been a boss *
154. Sat on a jury
155. Lied about your weight*
156. Gone on a diet*
157. Found an arrowhead or a gold nugget
158. Written a poem*
159. Carried your lunch in a lunchbox*
160. Gotten food poisoning*
161. Gone on a service, humanitarian or religious mission
162. Hiked the Grand Canyon
163. Sat on a park bench and fed the ducks*
164. Gone to the opera*
165. Gotten a letter from someone famous*
166. Worn knickers
167. Ridden in a limousine*
168. Attended the Olympics
169. Can hula or waltz*
170. Read a half dozen Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys books
171. Been stuck in an elevator*
172. Had a revelatory dream*
173. Thought you might crash in an airplane*
174. Had a song dedicated to you on the radio or at a concert*
175. Saved someone’s life*
176. Eaten raw whale
177. Know how to tat, smock or do needlepoint*
178. Laughed till your side hurt*
79. Straddled the equator
180. Taken a photograph of something other than people that is worth framing*
181. Gone to a Shakespeare Festival
.182. Sent a message in a bottle*
183. Spent the night in a hostel
184. Been a cashier*
185. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
186. Joined a union
187. Donated blood or plasma*
188. Built a campfire*
189. Kept a blog*
190. Had hives*
191. Worn custom made shoes or boots
192. Made a PowerPoint presentation
193. Taken a Hunter’s Safety Course
194. Served at a soup kitchen*
195. Conquered the Rubik’s cube
196. Know CPR*
197. Ridden in or owned a convertible*
198. Found a long lost friend*
199. Helped solve a crime

Our Vacation day one pt 1

2008-08-13T08:36:00.000-07:00

Our vacation got off to a decent start we were packed and ready by noon but despite derrick's boss forcing overtime all week and derrick and I has been hoping it would mean he could skip Friday all together, no such luck he worked till 2pm then hurried home. We then hurried so we could drop rent off at the landlords office. We were lucky and got on the road at about 3:30.

We planned ahead and had some snack food and the DVD player hooked up so the kids would take the trip well. for short trips we never us the DVD player but 16 hrs is along time for a 5 and 7 yr old.

around 5 pm we were in Wendover where we stopped for gas and dinner to go.

We choose Burger King since it was next to the gas station. BIG mistake that is the worst BK i have ever been to slow service and oh my i was so ready to beat some people. Only my husband kept me from beating deaf and dumb people!!!

After 15 minutes of waiting we got our food and were off again. we stopped 3 more times along the road for gas and bathroom breaks. Mostly just quick and easy stops for bathroom's etc

Taking turns between the 3 of us we traveled all night until about 3 am when all 3 of us were so exhausted we could not see, so we decided a couple hours of sleep might be a good idea. We found a place to park and slept in the car until about 5 am. We were some place past Lodi, California. Not sure where I was too tired to care lol.

Then continued on our way until Kettling a small town about 2 hrs from my aunts house. it was 8 minutes to 6 which is when the only restaurant opened its doors. The food was wonderful and the break from the car even better. we spent about an hour there just relaxing and enjoying the break. They had the most wonderful trikes, anything you can imagine they had it as a trike, very awesome. The kids wanted everything they saw there, until I pointed out they were a bit big for those trikes lol.

Then we piled back into the car and off we went again to Aunties house !!

This last part to me is the worst its a 2 way highway up steep windey roads. I am a car sick person and this part always makes me a bit queasy. I lived but I am not fond of that road at all.

Finally we arrived only to find that not only was Auntie waiting so was her son David. I was quite pleased with this since David is one of my favorites. They immediately had us out of the house, well everyone but grandpa who has age as an excuse lol. Off to the beach and yummy Avocado stands.

Isn't he Adorable he is one of the youngest of our generation and so adorable 25 single and sweet. He is in college, works hard and is a good boy to his mama, He stayed until monday when he had to go back to work. We loved visiting with him and found some one we would love to know better.

That story and many others are for another time though. The story shall continue some day soon. Yes and alot more photo's too.

Vacation prep and Springing summer cleaning

2008-07-27T15:45:00.000-07:00

So I know my dear friends and family probably think I have vanished off the earth lately.

I have really just been doing much needed deep cleaning and editing of possession's.

We are doing this in part so when we come back from California ( for those who do not know we leave Friday the 1st and we will be back Sunday the 10th. at some point lol) we can unpack and really just enjoy the unhurried life for a few days.

the other reason is because the 22nd of august we are expecting to have a family get together with derricks siblings and father.

This is Derricks dad Dale obviously getting in a quick well deserved nap lol.

This Danny he tends to be the kids favorite person and always seems to be there best friend.

This is Dia a bit more serious but sweet and wonderful to hang out with.

Now a personal favorite of mine is Ed. Adopted as a sibling and some one I can not imagine not being a part of our family.

We have not seen them since Dec. 2006 so we are very excited ( a few longer than that). I love my in-laws Derrick is very lucky in his family. I am just grateful that although I was not blessed into such a great home I married into a wonderful family instead.

They are loving,loyal people who would give there shirt off there back to anyone.

When they get here I am hoping we can just enjoy family time and have fun together like we used to before moved to Utah. Not being near them was on of the bigger sacrifice's we made.

So to make that possible with school starting that next week I am doing deep cleaning so that I can feel comfortable with there visit and really relax.( I suck at relaxing and i get people anxiety which is why I ramble a lot on phones and in groups silly I know but it is very compulsive behavior lol)

Derrick next week will be working ghastly hours Mon-Thur. so that we can leave on Friday instead of Saturday with out sacrificing a vacation day or loosing pay. So this whole weekend is all about prep.

I hope every ones summer is just as nice as ours has turned out to be.

Joy

young love.. cinnfull ramblings

2008-07-21T10:37:00.001-07:00

Then 2000

Now 2008

Derk and I have recently celebrated 8 years of marriage. in recent conversations the subject of relationships etc and as we spoke on that subject it got me thinking.

Have you ever stopped to evaluate the loves of your youth? Took stock of mistakes, failures and close calls? If not I truly suggest it. For me this process reminded me of why experiencing that pain was now well worth it because I was forced through that pain to truly assess what I was doing because of the pain I was causing myself.

The things I learned from looking back.

1.Men that are not so nice can sense a woman who are vulnerable or hurting. They know your pain and will given the chance use the pain your in to further inflict pain on you in various ways. or at least try to get a little nookie.

2.Read the book and the cover, I say this because a mans appearance does matter to us women yet in future years the inside of that book will matter a whole lot more.

My husband is a prime example of getting past the cover to see the wonderful person inside. Now though not hideous derrick looked like everything I was trying not to date. He had long hair, he was transient and seemed to be listlessly passing through this world. He seemed to care not for daily things and only wanted to play in the sun and have fun.

How far from the truth this turned out to be. yes, he is still fun loving and youthful. yet the man I know now is hard working almost workaholic who takes his responsibilities to heart. Though we have yet to hit easy street we have always made it through mostly unscathed. he has been a wonderful provider and friend these last 8 yrs. my only regret with him was not waking up sooner to how great of a guy he really is.

3. Never settle for the guy because you have history or even for love. Love is work but work does not include loosing your self worth or your physical safety.

If he is abusive or neglectful leave. Now there are signs of this behavior long before it goes terribly wrong. things like love taps because you did something he didn't like, controlling behavior etc.

Trust me the pain of leaving him will fade long before the abuse would ever get better. I know the pain that keeps you there. Yet staying there only makes it worse.

If you have kids that should double your resolve to get out as fast as you can, they have the right to grow up in a house in which there mother is not hurt emotionally or physically. Love yourself and them enough not to stay.

4.Live for today but have hope for tomorrow. I find one thing that keeps me so happy in my marriage is that I like to focus on all the wonderful things being with him gives me now . In the past with other men I had relationships with. I was never satisfied with what they had to give even when with at least a few of them it was actually a pretty good life that were offering.

Threes my ramble of the week lol. I have found the last while a very soul searching time so I am sure there Will be more posts like this.

A vacation at last

2008-07-11T08:07:00.001-07:00

It's official we will be going on vacation. after 8 years of marriage and 2 kids. I will actually get a vacation!!! I mean i have never even gotten a honeymoon. I am so excited to actually get a chance to get away from things and enjoy ourselves some.

Now this will not be elaborate. The one reason we can afford to go is because we are traveling in my grandfathers mini-van and sharing the costs with him. We won't be staying in hotels and I am sure we will not be trying to afford a major resort, yet there is ton's to do and see with out spending a million dollars.

The best part is we will get to see the family. My aunt Louise is like a mother to me so getting together with her is wonderful!!
Plus Craig's mom Virginia or grandma, who recognises me as her sons only child is 85 still active and vibrant.Visiting her will be exciting!! She has never met my husband and kids. When things were horrible she would always try to help me feel better.
We will also be visiting my god mother Electra.

these are all people who for the last few years i have been unable to see very much. I wish we lived closer to them because i know my time with them is ticking away.I am just so happy to be able to do this i have prayed for it all year knowing the chances are pretty slim that we could find a way.

So have you guys figured out where were going??

Creston california near pisom beach is our main stop but we will also be in LA for a day's stay.

This means beach's and wine country for 10 days!!!

The son who makes me laugh

2008-06-30T11:12:00.000-07:00

This is Dallon asleep on our toilet. isn't he sweet.

This is Dallon smiling away. He has over the years done many things to make me laugh at almost every occasion.

This was no exception. Now for the last year Dallon has been unhappy with us for not providing the sister he thinks he is entitled too. For my part I have told him to talk to god about this and I am waiting for him to get back to me on this ROFL.

Well i guess he has now decided that he will have his own baby in pretend world as he calls it.

We watch way to many science shows so he has a pretty good understanding about where babies come from etc..

Well he decided to pretend to give birth to twins a boy and a girl darina and dallon.

Now when i say give birth i mean he laid down in a bean bag but his legs in the air and grunted telling dax to catch his babies. I was DIEING!!!!! then proceeded to breast feed his babies.

when i asked him about this he said that it was just pretend world mom boys cant give have babies for real. ROFLROFLROFL

Thanks for reading i hope you laughed as hard i as i did.

My Dr. Phil Letter

2008-06-21T13:55:00.000-07:00

Okay so I have gotten tired lately of all the sad stories written about our autistic children. and really want to share hope with other moms and dads out there with autistic children.

so here's my letter I wrote to Dr. Phil.

Dear Dr. Phil

My name is Joy Neds I am a loving mother too 2 boys Dax 7 and Dallon 6 and I am married to a wonderful husband Derrick. I write today because I am a mother of a 7 year old Autistic child who we luckily got the help for at an earlier than average age. His diagnosis's are ASD, oral evasive, Developmental Speech Apraxia, Hypotonia, and FTT ( seems to be doing better on this one :) ). Our road is still long but instead of fearing it I try too look at as an adventure like no other,I would love to share my message of hope and a light at the end of that dark tunnel mom's who have children with autism face. My sons proof that yes although the path is steep and sometimes with out seeming hope. If we as parents are proactive and do all we can that our children can and do succeed.

As a mom of autistic child I do not have all the answers but maybe some ideas that can help other mothers out there who like me can not afford the 26,000 a year schools or insane therapies that seem to show little results. These are just little things that I feel can help other moms like myself walk this maze called Autism.

Some suggestions for other parents are

1. Children on the spectrum that I have interacted with have done better with parents that are "" lovingly strict"". This means setting clear and strong expectations and guide line for these kids. I find quite a few moms of these kids want to baby them and protect them for the realities of this world. I understand this desire and fight myself with it all the time,yet we have to remember when were gone they need to know how to handle everyday life and responsibilities. We are not just there parents we are there life line into the real world. They need strong structure from us who spend the very most time with.Love your autisic kids enough to believe they to can learn the rules of life.
2. Never allow anyone to tell you as a mom you do not know what's going on with your child.
You are your child's Advocate. If your instinct says over and over too you that something is wrong it likely is.
A.When my son was 6 months old I went to my sons doctor because he had stopped eating almost completely. I felt in my heart that this was not good. The doctor looked at my husband saw he was a small guy and said oh don't worry he is small for size but so is your husband no worries. Hell eat when he is hungry. I then asked but why would a 6 month old stop eating and stop growing. His response is its normal he will be just fine.

I went home feeling stupid and that I was silly to worry so much.

I went back again a few months later and got the same results.

I then decided to go to any other doctor I could find. I was lucky I found Dr. Kuo. To this day although we moved a few years later and no longer use her services that she saved my sons life and mine.

When I went in to her I let her know that he was 13 months and that from 6 month to now he had not grown in any way and that he would only eat a bite of food a day, he had also by then started to speak and then quit.She was immediately proactive. She got us to a wonderful speech and food therapist Dr. Gaylord Pinder at the children's therapy center of Kent Washington. We did 2-3 days a week therapy for both issues, we discovered a wonderful drink that helped him maintain his weight while we worked on his food issues. Dr. Kuo and Gaylord pinder also helped us when my sons early intervention preschool teacher refused to test him for autism citing his age as a major factor against testing ( he was 3 not too young in my view).

They found us wonderful Specialist in the field who evaluated him and helped us decide to move to Utah for better resources for our son.

What I learned from this is that not every doctor is right and that we as parents have the right and responsibility to find out what is really going on.

3. Is we as parents forget to ask for help and give ourselves or others a break.

Now not only do I mean finding things that help you to be happy but also that although ideally a perfectly clean house and such is great so is a house that is clean enough. Find time just to be the fun person even if it is only by rolling around on the floor with your kids.

The other part of this is not always passing judgment on others on how they do things. Every parent has a bad day and all kids are strewn with issues. Do not assume that because my son vocalizes in a store or an elevator or does crazy stunts with condiments. That I am a bad / inattentive parent.Parents of autistic deal with behaviors that would drive a saint insane. My son needs a 5 minute window to do major damage to my house. He is smart and sneaky, combine that with the crazy autistic behaviors and the disasters are too numerous to count!! I am considered over protective and a strict mom by most accounts, I do not believe in corporeal punishment but I believe my job is clearly to teach them right from wrong. Even my son who has done a ton of therapy over the years does crazy things.

The final word of advice is...

Learn to laugh at those major messes and things your children will do.

My sons messes have left me and my husband in stitch's more times than not.

One in particular is a living legend in our house. about 5 months ago my son decided to start hoarding items. I unfortunately am not a supper observant person and did not notice my food storage jars of Curry and taco seasoning and chili powder were gone. nor did i notice that the fire extinguishers we had had disappeared. I have since noticed he like to hide things over months at a time for future use. He used these items he had hoarded at the time to decorate the basement where his room is with both fire extinguishers and all the BULK spices. when i discovered this he was covered like a curry and white covered ghost.Now i had two reactions one was desperation over the disaster i was going to have to clean up.The other was pure laughter. Now i know not to laugh at this kind of behavior around my child but I had to find a quick place to die laughing over this picture i had of my son covered in that stuff.

Now i am not saying don't get mad they need the limits set and to know that they are responsible for there behaviors but take time to also enjoy the funny thing these kids do,

Thanks
Joy Neds

Sweet little boy's

2008-06-16T07:04:00.001-07:00

Photo session June 11Th 2007

So on Friday while waiting for our play date to start I decided

to do some

quick photo's of the boys.Dax is seen her relaxing against a tree limb. He is quite afraid of heights

so this was as high as he was willing to go.Here is Dallon being a monkey. He loved posing and took many more shots than his brother did. I love this photo, this really shows dax's personality. His smile is not a

cheesy grin but it always makes me smile. lol.

This photo captures the more serious side of Dallon. He can be so serious when you least expect it from him. this photo makes me want to hug him tight lol, for it tells me he will not be a little boy forever.Here's my dashing young man being coy and giving his i am up to something sly smile. If i see this smile I know!! He has done something he was not supposed to .
I hope these photo's inspire you to go climb a tree and remember what it was like when playing ruled your world.

CINN

Summer Break is here again....

2008-06-10T14:39:00.000-07:00

We recently used some of our summer funds to buy a pool for the kids to play in this summer.

This has made our house very popular. Both boys seem to really love having friends over and i get to keep a very close eye out for my cuties. MUHAHAH my master plan is working MUHAHAHHA

Dallon of course Love's Girls and will go out of his way to spend time with them. He is seen here with the only girl in the pool. Gotta love a boy with priorities.

Dallon can be seen here learning how to breath under water. Or at least he thinks he is breathing under water I call it holding my breath. I just hope he doesn't actually try to suck air under there.

Obviousely he survived for this shot. Taken yet again with the Cutie patootie.
Dax just had to ham it up with his cherry face.

Dallon can be seen here retreating from the depths of cold.

Have a CinnFull Day!!

Days of School

2008-06-09T22:33:00.000-07:00

Day's Of School Gone by....

As will happen school has ended for my little men.
I am amazed at how fast this time has passed.

Seems only yesterday I was in tears after

leaving them at school for the first time.

Hoovering close by just to make sure they were okay.

Now they are ending this year and my worries have

dissipated in the winds of time.

I have found a new more

confident boys who have learned friendship and

much more in there 2007/2008 school year.

Our Photo Journal

Dax's School experience 2007/2008

This Year Dax Was in 1st Grade. Mrs. Call was his Teacher.

She was a dedicated teacher for 2 years at Spectrum.

2008/2009 will find her absent from our hall's.

I know she will be missed dearly

One of Dax's Favorite people this year was Mrs. Sue.

She always had a great smile and seemed to

really love being with the kids at Spectrum.

Things Dax learned this year

1.Playing with friends relieves stress

2.Too Boogie takes your whole body

4.Keep trying you just might succeed.

5.Swinging a ball is more fun than it looks

Dallon's Kindergarten Year

This year Dallon was in Mrs. Booth's Class.

She was a wonderful teacher for him to get his first years.

She was patient and loving always telling us how wonderful Dallon was to have around.

Dallon really seemed to thrive in her class. I am thankful he had such a positive experience and i am sure next years teacher will have big shoes to fill.

Dallon's Accomplishment's

This year Dallon Was awarded Student of the month for his class.

He was very proud of this achievement.

As you can tell he felt the need to Ham

it up for the camera, showing that wonderful personality that is Dallon

Graduation

On June 2ND Dallon officially Graduated Kindergarten.
He had a winning smile the whole time. I think he could have floated through the air during the graduation ceremony

Here he is our little 1st grader... Sniff Sniff.

Things Dallon learned this year.

1.6:30 is ungodly.

2.Making friends is fun

3. saying you dont have homework

when you do get's you in trouble.

4. Always smiling makes you a lot of friends

Coconut.....

2008-05-12T17:47:00.000-07:00

Why is it that the things i love the most hate me!!!

I love coconut a love coconut milk fresh from, the fresh coconut.
So of course i have to develop breathing and hives from this wonder full fruit at age 30 after years of an addiction to this wonder of nature.

The little girl in me can not seem to resist i know its bad but some how i think well maybe this time, i can finally have a reprieve from this horrible reaction. i will eat this and nothing will happen. Stupid, absolutely. Silly, yup.

Yet i find myself doing this over and over again. maybe some day i will be able to resist this forbidden fruit until then I will keep my Benadryl close by.

Time with my husband.

2008-05-12T17:15:00.001-07:00

Tuesday was my 8th anniversary of marrying the man I love.

Yes he is generally like having a 3rd son laying around but all those quirks are part of what i like about him . I am still truly grateful I was able to see this diamond of a man who was in front of me even if i did not always see him.

For me this anniversary was so different than any of the others we spent together. Normally we would argue over where to go or spend so much time trying to arrange babysitting and at the end of the day I would leave the day feeling disappointed.

I guess I am a romantic since really what I am generally disappointed in is that no flowers were given and he doesn't plan ahead well enough that we could do anything fabulous. Of course ending the night in each others arms saying sweet nothing the whole time. I should just face facts he is just not a romantic guy, he hold no jealousy and yet I know he loves me in everything he doesn't say. Still I can not seem but to help feeling disappointed most of the time when he does no gestures of love like flowers. I am working on this since I know that's who he is and I married him so I need to get over it!!!

So this time i went in trying to not expect anything.

This time we planned nothing!! We did nothing extraordinary spent very Lil money on the anniversary itself and we had a fabulous time!!! Strange how that works lol. I asked for very little and did not expect him to read my mind lol.

So here's what we did,

So the night before derrick asks me what I would like for our anniversary( my procrastinator last minute every time lol), so instead of gifts( saving for dax means I am being quite cheap on wants, needs fine, wants not so much) I asked him him to sluff work and just spend the day with me. I knew there was a chance he couldn't but that's all I really wanted!!

So the next morning he calls his boss and says I'm skipping work today I will just use a vacation day :) his boss was fabulous and said do what you need to do. ( he can be a pain but he can also be awesome!!!)

So we finished getting the kids ready for school. And drove dax off to school together ( Jenn carpools with us and takes Dallon to school daily such a good thing for us ) We spent about a half hour there delivering Avon orders and such. We went to Dee's ( in Bountiful) for breakfast and while there decided to talk about the garden we are planning this summer and what supplies we really need. Like wood,gating,lawn mower so were not always borrowing some one Else's . So we decided to got to the DI in bountiful since there the best for lawn care and we may be able to find pot's for flowers etc... Luckily we found a push mower ( we have to mow as part of our lease but had no mower or any supplies for that matter) Now I am sure if my husband had his way completely we would have a gas mower but the cost to run and maintaining a gas mower is a lot higher than a push mower. This mower was in excellent condition and will sever us nicely. So looked around some more and we found 3 pot's for plants. I also found some great educational books for dax and Dallon for the summer.

On the way home we remembered that spring clean up has started in the valley. Once a year you can throw out big things even washing machines, tree's construction items etc.. and the city will pick them up on your designated day. I swear most people plan there project's around this date, Well as they say some people's trash everyone Else's treasure. For us this hold very true, wood is very expensive as is a lot of things right now so for us this can be a savings bonanza!!

So we looked all over the valley trying hard to find wood, etc. BOY did we get lucky. By the time we were done. We found nice garden gates, lattice, a perfect frame for our garden, round wood steaks to help keep our dog from digging. We also found to our surprise connect able flooring it is dirty but can easily be cleaned off and our garage is a dirt floor do this will be very nice for us this should complete at least a good portion of the garage floor.We found enough wood that derrick can make the skate board ramps he has been wanting to make.

On the way home we stopped at 2 more DI's finding more educational books ( so the tutor has things to work on with him with out the extreme expense!! We also found a pair of work boots for DH.)

We then stopped for pizza for the kids since we had home made honey baby back ribs in the slow cooker waiting at home, I made Garlic Parmesan mashed potatoes when i got home and walla a nice meal with my spouse .

We finished unloading his work van and then showered and fell asleep in each others arms. Now to some this doesn't sound romantic but to be honest it was wonderful!!! I can not say I have enjoyed a day more in many years and I was alone all day with my husband. :) ( and despite what others thought no intimate time just a good cuddle and really good well earned sleep!!)

All told we spent $60.00 and we got a lot of needs taken care of and now have a wonderful memory to go with it.

Summer break is ......

2008-05-12T16:34:00.000-07:00

So close you can almost smell it. I am both excited about this and a little bit in fear of this event. Where did this come from where has the year gone??

This year was different than previous years. With both my children in school all day I have had freedoms I have not experienced since my single days. I have liked having them gone but missed the sounds of a house full of children and all that entailed.

Now with this week Dallon's school is out for testing, which means Dallon will not have any school this week and will be out till Tuesday.

With these days off he has exactly 5 full days of school left with 2 half days thrown in for good measure.

I find with him being home, the noises not as endearing as i once did and the million questions asked a a bit over whelming. I love him yet those super whys are on my very last nerve already.

I hope i can survive this thing we call summer break with out breaking my sanity.