Disney Land

R2H took their employees to Disney Land for the Christmas party this year. It was a lot of fun! Our kids are at such perfect ages to really enjoy it. (Except Claire, she was teething and I ended up in the hotel with her much of the time). It was still a ton of fun though.

We went to an early morning character breakfast with Minnie before the park opened. It was so much fun! All of the characters came to us for pictures, the food was great, and we got into the park at 7am.! We'll definitely be doing that again.

Confession- I wasn't looking forward to this trip too much, being that the last time we went to Disney Land, I got pneumonia, went into premature labor with Claire, and ended up in the hospital for a week! But this time was different. I guess it was like getting back up on the horse after being bucked off, and this last ride was better than the first.






Mitch and McKenna sleeping in the same position. Too funny!

My expectations were low, and I was pleasantly surprised. Even though I spent the better part of 2 days in the hotel with Claire, it wasn't all bad. I ordered room service, read a good book and relaxed while Claire slept. That's what I call a vacation! One night Grandma and Grandpa Hendershot stayed with the kids at the hotel while Hans & I went to the park alone. THAT was FUN! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa! The park wasn't croweded at all, and we went on a few thrill rides over and over. I must say it is hard to argue with the statment, "Disney is the happiest place on earth."

The Polar Express

The Heber Valley Railroad (the old Heber Creeper) has a Polar Express ride it offers during the holiday season. We've wanted to take the kids ever since we moved to UT and this was the year we finally made it. Boy, were the kids excited! Grandma Sherri was there with us, which made it even more special.


The kids all wore their pajamas, and brought their new stuffed animals from Meggie's Build-a-Bear birthday party. The train is old fashioned and looks an awful lot like the Polar Express in the book (or movie). We were all issued tickets which we were told we needed to hang onto to present to the conductor when he came by.








Once the train got going, the elves on board served us hot chocolate and chocolate chip cookies, which was the perfect treat. When we got to the end of our route "The North Pole", we saw Santa outside in the snow, waving at the train and saw a little village of tiny houses all lit up. I guess that was Santa and Mrs. Clause's workshop village where the Elves live. The kids were looking out the windows with anticipation for quite sometime, before they finally spotted Santa.

Once we turned around to head home, Santa came on board! He stopped and talked to each of the children, and they got to tell him what they wanted for Christmas.

Kenna wanted a doll house.






Meghan wanted a Cinderella doll with a crown that lights up.


Mitchell wanted the Wii games Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Mario Kart, and a Nintendo D.S. Yoshi game. Santa seemed a little confused as Mitchell rattled off his wish list at mach speed. It did sound a lot like Greek.

Then a narrator passed out books of the Polar Express and read by lantern light on the way home. The kids were spellbound! Us adults, just marveled at their animation and sheer joy. What a magical evening it was! And an experience we will never forget; one that made this Christmas season come to life!

Meghan's 7th Birthday!

For Meghan's birthday she took two friends and we all went to Build-a-Bear. Pictured here is Meg, Daisy, Mitch, Taylor (Meg's boyfriend:) and McKenna.

Giving the animals baths.

Dad helping print birth certificate for Mitch's dino.


Kenna and Meg coordinating wardrobes--very important.

Meghan saw a picture of a pink and green birthday cake in a magazine last summer and has been bugging me to get her one ever since, so I made one and just tried to copy what I remembered from the picture. It didn't turn out so great, but surprisingly Meghan loved it! You would've thought I'd given her a million bucks! Aren't children, great? We should all be so easily impressed!






Meghan's necklace from McKenna

Meg opening present from Mitch

Ohhhhh thanks Mitch!

Friends and Fun!

We had our dear friends, the Schaefers from Colorado visit us in November. It was so good to see them. They were our next door neighbors in Highlands Ranch for several years, and we really miss them now that we're in Utah. We went to BYU campus and to Temple Square while they were here. It was a beautiful, crisp fall afternoon the day these outdoor pictures were taken. We had such a great time. The kids really had a ball. When the Schaefers left, Mitchell asked me if Olivia, Jack and Lucy were our cousins. He didn't believe me at first when I told him they weren't. He didn't like that too much. Eventually he was appeased with the thought that they are our REALLY good friends. :)

Olivia, McKenna, Jack, Lucy, Meggie, and Mitch

at a fountain outside of the Smith Family Living Center


Catherine and Melissa at fountain

Jack, Lucy, Meghan running around campus



Hans and Jeff just chillin'

Grandpa Funeral

My Grandpa Moss died a few weeks ago and I was able to go to Chicago to his funeral. All of my siblings were there. We flew in from all over the country, really. Altough I wish it was under different circimstances, it was so nice to see everyone. I saw cousins, aunts, uncles who I haven't seen in years. Here are some pictures from that weekend.


Me and my cousin, Nicole at the funeral home downstairs where all of the grub was. Good thing they had food. We were there almost all day and were starting to get really hungry.




My cousins, Becky, her husband, Jesse, Amber & Luke, Jenna, Nicole, Goosie and me at the funeral home 10/16/08.


Melissa, Kelly with Amber's baby, Luke, Amber, Ian, and Brandon at Goosie's house.


My cousin, Jenna West, Goosie, and Me at the funeral home. Goose was so gracious and strong the entire weekend. I was so proud of her.



Mom and all the Furness kids. Shawn, Melissa, Kelly, Amber, Brandon and Ian. Man we're a tall bunch! I had my 3" high boots on, making me almost 6 ft. and I was still the shortest! Okay, so maybe I was tied with Amber.




Amber, Shawn and Melissa

I'm so glad we were all able to be there as a family and support our sweet Grandma. We love you Goosie.

Halloween

The kids had such a great time this year for Halloween! McKenna was a Fairy Princess, Meghan, a ballerina mouse, Mitchell, Dash from Incredibles and Claire a pea in the pod. It was actually pretty warm here. The first above freezing Halloween I can recall since we've had kids! So...no arguements about wearing turtle necks under costumes, or coats on top that "ruin the way it looks!" It was wonderful. It did rain off and on, but it was so nice to NOT be freezing that I didn't even mind the rain. I took the kids trick or treating and Hans held down the fort at home with Claire. A great time was had by all!

The kids right before trick or treating. Mitch and Meggie didn't have their "Dash" and mouse gloves on, but oh well, at least I got a picture of all of them. That was a Herculean act in and of itself!



My little Sweet Pea. Doesn't Claire make a great pea in the pod?

So.. I had this most clever idea of Hans and I dressing up like Farmers and Claire would be our crop. McKenna thought I should tape smarties all over my jeans and go as a "smarty pants." But, in the craziness of all that's been going on in our lives lately, we didin't have time to put it all together. We ended up being party-pooper parents and didn't dress up at all.




McKenna looking rather Fairy princessish.

No Tumors!

I have the absolute best news to report. I don’t have any brain tumors! That’s right, not a one! So after two months of thinking the worst & trying to deal with my grim diagnosis, the doctors change their minds, and we get this amazing news!

I saw my neuro-otologist, Dr. Shelton, on Thursday. Basically, he said since the diagnosis of my kind of tumors was extremely rare, he has been consulting with other specialists and radiologists about my case. He recently consulted with a radiologist, who he said is the best there is for interpreting brain scans. Apparently, this guy goes all over the world with an electronic device recording all the rare scans. He checked his database, and no one has ever had bilateral tumors on the cranial nerves they thought mine were on.

This caused the docs to revisit my case. Upon further discussion and investigation, they, the radiologists along with the doctors determined that my “tumors” aren’t actually tumors at all, but large blood vessels going through the top holes of my spine. These vessels aren’t part of the regular anatomy of the brain. The doctors think because my first surgery was so long (13 + hours) several vessels on the right side of my head were compressed all during the surgery and as a result they permanently sealed off. In order to compensate, my body developed alternate pathways to route blood to and from my brain resulting in these massive vessels right at the base of my brain. Dr. Shelton thought it was pretty amazing how my body did that, and I couldn’t agree more. Wow! That would explain my frequent migraines. I’ve got some funky blood vessel anatomy going on upstairs. Who’s to say what nerves they’re hitting, etc. And migraines ARE vascular in nature. Wow! I can’t stop thinking that—wow!

Dr. Shelton did call me a few days prior to our visit and said he suspected the tumors weren’t tumors after all, but just altered brain anatomy due to my surgery. He didn’t have time to discuss the details on the phone but said we’d discuss it more in person during my appointment. When I got off of the phone with him I literally fell on my knees in our loft upstairs and balled like a baby. I had no idea I had that much emotion pent-up inside of me! I had the herky-jerkies and everything. What a relief. Poor Mitchell had to witness the whole thing. He kept patting my back and saying, “Are you okay, Mommy?” I kept saying, “Yes, gasp, gasp, I’m just so—happy.” He said, “You don’t look happy,” with worry plastered all over his concerned little face.

After the initial relief I felt with the good news, somehow doubt crept back in. I started wondering how all of a sudden the doctors were sure I didn’t have tumors. For two months they were so certain they were tumors. What if they were wrong THIS time? I was afraid to let myself get excited for very long. I just told myself we’d wait until we saw Dr. Shelton on Thursday. Well, as I mentioned above, Thursday’s news was incredible! We are so relieved and feel so blessed.