Happy Birthday Tom AKA Frank!

Wow, Tom is getting so old! He will turn 28 years old tomorrow. (no offense to anyone who is older than 28) And what better to do on your husband's birthday than embarrass him! I pulled out some of his old photos and thought it would be fun to see him growing up through the years. What a great husband, father, and person Tom is. I am so lucky to be married to him! Love ya Tom and Happy Birthday!

The day he was born. Very cute baby!

Such a cute little blonde boy. (I hope the Tom's family
doesn't mind me posting this photo!)

Your probably wondering what he is doing in this photo.... your guess is as good as mine!
Wow, ok, Tom will have some explaining to do about this photo.
When I found this I couldn't resist posting it! I think this
was in highschool. (I will be expecting retaliation on my B-day)

On his mission in SLC. So handsome!

The Top Ten Worst Valentine Gifts for Her

(by Paul Peavy)

10. Anything that looks like you won it at the fair. There has never been an article in Better Homes and Garden on how to establish mood in a room decorated around the five-foot tall pink Tweety Bird motif.
9. Anything that you accidentally left the receipt from The Dollar Store in. Also destroy all receipts if the gift is from Napa, The Snap-On Tool Truck, or Ace Hardware. Remember the answer to the question of , “Where did you get this?” should always be, “The mall”
8. Singing Big Mouth Billy Bass. (Even the love song edition)
7. Monster Truck Rally Tickets. If you even thought this... If you even thought this…If… Never mind.
6. A football. If she says she loves football she means she likes watching over-sized steroid induced millionaire hunks running around in tight pants.
5. Anything too small. Your sweetheart is not the same size as the teen-age sales clerk. So quit saying, “Oh she’s about your size,” to every anorexic bee-bop salesperson that smiles at you.
4. Cooking a romantic dinner made with Spam or Vienna Sausage. Trust me when your huntin’ buddies say, “Hey man, you’re a pretty good cook!” They mean, “Hey man, it’s food and I didn’t have to fix it!”
3. The Best of The Three Stooges video series. The words, “Best of” and “Three Stooges” are an oxymoron in female language.
2. Pots, pans, vacuum cleaner, or anything that involves manual labor. This is Valentine’s Day, not MAID’S DAY!
1. Nothing. Even if she says, “Oh don’t get me anything,” get her something. If you arrive home and realize you have forgotten to get her anything, tear your shirt and bang your head on the car several times. Tell her you had the prettiest diamond bracelet for her but you were mugged by a teen suburban scooter gang in the driveway.* Just a reminder, Valentine’s Day falls on February 14th this year.

A few things going on in our lives recently:

• We have been trying to find a solution for Jordyn's on-going irritability. The doc. suggested we change her seizure meds. He put her on a new medication and now we are trying to slowly ween her off of her old meds. But this past week, when we finally got her on the full dose of her new meds, she became REALLY grumpy and would not sleep at night! Talk about frustrating! She would wake up 3-4 times a night, crying, and sometimes wouldn't go back to sleep for 2 hours! This had been going on for about a week or so (we tried many things to fix the problem and nothing worked) and I finally called the doc. They suggested that instead of giving her new meds. to her in the morning AND at night that we give it all to her in the morning. Some of the side effects can be insomnia and indigestion. So Friday morning we gave her all the medicine in the morning and lo and behold... last night she slept ALL night and didn't wake up AT ALL! Hallelujah! I don't think Tom and I have ever been so happy! Now let's see if she does it tonight too...

• Friday night Tom and I celebrated Valentine's day early. We were trying to think of something fun to do. We got online and looked up a few local events in the area. My idea: The "Chocolate Walk" in downtown Couer D'Alene. You walk through the downtown shops and sample free chocolate! It doesn't get any better than that... Am I right Ladies? Tom's idea: The Spokane Auto Show Or Monster Truck rally! Can we say... NO WAY! So, we compromised and went to Black Angus and had a steak dinner (very manly) with a nice chocolate dessert (very girly). It was great food!

• At the end of March my friend and I are running a 15k race near Seattle. I am really excited to take a short weekend trip and run in some great scenery right along the beach shore. So, I have a "training schedule" that I have been following. Susan and I run together 3 days a week and the other days I do strength training or yoga. This morning we finally got to run on the Centennial Trail (the snow finally melted!) and it was fun. It was great weather... foggy and cool. We ran 7.5 miles... the farthest both of us have ever ran before! I am already way ahead of my running schedule and feel like I will have no problem running 9 miles! I think I will run a half marathon this year, too! Sometimes I can't believe that I like running so much. I think back to when I first started and how hard it was. And now I am addicted and absolutely love the feeling of running. I think the key is to get past running around 4 miles... then it just changes and you feel like you could run forever. Whenever I am in a bad mood, stressed, or just feeling "bla", the first thing I think of is to go running or get some sort of exercise. It just makes you feel so much better!

• Ok, so I've been posting a lot of pics. of the kids lately, but I couldn't resist posting these photos. And after this, I will stop embarrasing my kids so much! I like to call it CELEBRITY LOOK-A-LIKES!
  
  

"Jordyn the Gymnast"

Look-a-like: Mary Lou Retton

Wow, that's a long tongue.

Look- a-like: Gene Simmons from KISS

( I have to say, Evan is much cuter and not so evil looking!)

Happy Groundhog Day from Jordyn

Jordyn just wanting to wish everyone a Happy Groundhog's Day tomorrow. She made this hat at school today... it says "The Groundhog WILL see it's shadow." We'll see if she guessed right! Jordyn also got her first ride on a tricycle at school today! Her teachers said she really liked it. It's too bad I couldn't get a photo of her riding on it... maybe next time. I also had to show off how well Jordyn's face rash is healing. If you saw her at Christmas time, you might remember how red and chapped it was. After trying every cream and ointment we could think of, we got a prescription cream and it is finally starting to clear up well.

The Many Faces of Evan

Evan has such an expressive face. We are always laughing at the funny faces he makes! So, I caught a few of them on camera. The only one I haven't ever been able to capture on film is his "pouty lip" face. When he's sad, he curls his bottom lip and pouts like you wouldn't believe. It just melts your heart!

Left Photo: It looks like Evan is thinking,"Hmm, what should I get into next?" And he is also raising one eyebrow, which he does often.
Right Photo: Just another "wide eyed" look. And he was also trying to clap his hands!

Many times Evan will curl his top lip over his bottom lip and smile. We think it's so funny and cute!

Right Photo: Very happy.
Left Photo: Very mad.

Just your basic cute photo of Evan being very happy.

Evan Cont...

My favorite face expression is when Evan sticks his tongue out! He does it when he is trying so hard to get somewhere or something. It's so cute!

Here is another pic. of Evan working really hard at something and sticking out his tongue. And most importantly, this is the first time Evan pulled to standing all by my himself! As you can see, he is very proud of himself!

I have been trying to think of something to post about for a few days now. I finally started searching random websites trying to find SOMETHING to write about. And I came across Mad Libs! Ever since I can remember, I have always loved Mad Libs! If you don't know what those are... you have missed out on life! I remember filling them out when I was little and laughing so hard I would cry. Or I remember laughing so hard that you couldn't even finish reading the rest of the story! So, here is a Mad Lib that Tom and I filled out. And here is the link to the website I used... (www.brainofbrian.com/madlibs) it has some pretty good Mad Libs. Or just do a search for Mad Libs. Fill one out and if it's funny, post it in the comments! Enjoy!

Infomercial

Hello, all you silly ladies and gentlemen! Are you tired of having brick red teeth? Are you tired of watching around hiding your righteous, strong Midnight purple teeth? Do you wish you could have creamy teeth like Napolean Dynomite? Wish no longer! For only 758 dollars and 1,212 cents you can have vicious teeth today! Simply, before you go to home each night, apply this convient substance to your appendix. It has the wonderful taste of hamster! You will feel it working right away by the fluffy tooting sensation. By the next morning, this stanky substance will have dissolved away your shiny old teeth! Finally, coat your gums with syrup and hold your new teeth (included in this crusty kit at no extra charge!) firmly in place for 2 minutes. It's as easy as that! Don't delay! Buy today! (Side effects may include burping, runny eyes, and HIV.)

Love To Organize

For the past week and a half, I have been going through our apartment, room by room, and organizing! I do one room every day (if I have time) and I spend about an hour or two on each room cleaning, organizing, and throwing old stuff away. Luckily, we live in an apartment, so we don't have THAT much stuff. It feels really good to have a pile of stuff we haven't used in forever and take it out to the trash or to Goodwill.
I have been saving our bedroom and the kid's bedroom for last, because they are the WORST! Does anyone else hate having to go through your children's clothes over and over again, weeding out the stuff they have outgrown?? It seeems like I just did it yesterday! and I am sure I will be doing it again very soon. And speaking of their room, I still haven't got to it yet. (It seems like one of them is always sleeping in there!) Once I clean their room, the whole apartment will be done!
So, yesterday I did our bedroom and I was dreading having to organize the desk area. So here is a look at the before and after! And there is a lot of papers and junk that I cleaned that you can't see in the picture. Now I love walking into the room and seeing such a clean and organized desk! I hope it stays clean for a little while...

Before

After

Billings Trip

On Christmas day, we left Tom's family and drove to Billings. We got there just in time to talk to my little bro. Todd on the phone. He's been on his mission in NYC for four months now. All of us had a ton of questions for him and I think we got a better picture of what his mission is like. It sounds like he is starting to adjust and doing very well!
All of my brothers and sisters, except Joel and his wife Maria (we missed you guys!), were able to come. Everyone is spread out... from Kansas, to Utah, to Washington, so it's always great when most of us can get to Billings. We are trying to talk everyone into moving closer together. It will be interesting to see where everyone ends up in the future... hopefully a little closer! After being together for a few days, you really miss your family when it's time to leave! When I got home, I realized that I would have to start cooking our meals again! I think we get very spoiled on vacation.
We also did a nativity play with the kids. Eli wrote and directed the play... it was so cute. I took video of it, but not any photos. Evan was baby Jesus and Jordyn was an angel.

"The Cousins" - Left to right: Jordyn, Evan, Nathan, Katherine, Liam, Eli, and Elizabeth.

Jordyn opening a Christmas present. She got so many cute clothes. I think she is the most stylin' little girl ever!

Evan and Rex. Evan was quite fascinated with Rex and I think Rex was starting to warm up to Evan too.

This picture goes along with the post below. See what happens when you let your kids hang around with those cowboy folk? Ha, just kidding... it's plastic if ya didn't know.

 

Wyoming Trip

We spent the week before Christmas in Buffalo, WY with Tom's family. Actually, I should say "Frank's" family. Growing up, Tom's family and friends called him Frank (his middle name), because his dad's name is Tom. When Tom, I mean Frank, moved to Billings to go to school, he decided to make a change and have everyone call him Tom. So when we are in Buffalo, I make an attempt to call him Frank, to avoid confusion. (and during this Wyoming "post" I will call him Frank!) It seems like it would be wierd, but for some reason it's not too strange! Then when we go to Billings I have to go back to calling him Tom!
I feel like I am so lucky to have such opposite in-laws from my side of the family. I know, sounds wierd, but I love that they have such different lifestyles. In Wyoming, my in-laws live on a ranch 30 min. from town. Ranch work has been a big part of all of their lives, even in Frank's siblings lives. The guys always go hunting or fishing most of the time we are there. And if it's nice enough, the kids can go fishing or 4-wheeling too. This year they even cut down a Christmas tree with all of the little kids. When we go to Wyoming I feel like it's my time to be outdoorsy and enjoy the beautiful scenery and animals. And one of the things I love the most is going outside and night and being able to see the stars so well! And if you stop and listen, you hear nothing! No cars, or police sirens, no neighbors, or ... anything. Pure silence!
Then we go to Billings and I feel like I get to be a "city girl". (even though Billings isn't THAT big of a city) We do a lot of shopping and always go to at least one movie (it used to always be the newest Lord of the Rings, but this year it was The Pursuit of Happiness). We always sit and visit with my siblings or my parents and play a lot of board games too. If it's nice outside, we'll take the kids to the zoo or go to the park. And everytime we are there we go on a drive to look at all the huge new houses that are being built around town.
Doesn't it sound so perfect? I really do have the best of both worlds! I love it that way. I think it fits me so well because I love being a combination of outdoorsy/sporty and then sometimes being a real "girly girl" and getting all primped up. It can't get any better than that!

Our 3rd annual Live Nativity Scene. Left to Right: Clay, Evan, Jordyn, Cole, Caleb, Joseph, and Ryan. Oh, and two dad's hiding in the background.

Ninny (Frank's mom, Glenda) with the six boy grandkids. Jordyn is the only girl grandchild on the Bybee side of the family!

Cole, dressed up in Pa's (Franks's dad) cowboy boots.

Clay, dressed in his cowboy gear and ready to rope calves (their favorite pretend game). I loved that Clay decided several times to inform us of what Jordyn was saying to him.
"Jordyn said that I am her daddy!"
"Jordyn said that she wants to play hide and seek with me, but that no one can cheat."
"Jordyn smiles at me everytime I come by her.. she likes me."

Sooo cute!

 

Well, we are now home from our 2 week Christmas vacation! We had a great time visiting our families and we already miss them. I will post photos of our trip very soon.

At the very last minute, we decided to take a "family photo" to include with our Christmas letter. Sometimes it can be very hard to take a good photo of Jordyn with someone else or with a group, so we had taken photos of the kids seperately and together to see what we could come up with. And surprisingly, we got some good ones of the kids. But, then we decided to take a family photo and use that instead. I thought the pictures of Evan and Jordyn were so cute that I needed to show them off!



 

cookie time

Tom and I decided to make some holiday treats for the families that we Home Teach and Visit Teach for church. I have no idea how, but we came up with the idea to make "missionary gingerbread men" and then have a little quote about sharing the gospel with others at Christmas time or something like that. So here is our finished product. They are actually very tasty too. I baked the cookies and frosted them. Tom did the decorating detail. Piping decorations onto cookies is harder than it looks! Oh, we are also giving some of the cookies to the missionaries in our ward... we couldn't leave them out. These cookies are also in honor of my brother Todd, who is on his mission in NYC right now. We hope he is having a great Christmas season! 

Cute GENES Jordyn!

Here is a picture of Jordyn's actual chromosomes. I thought it was pretty interesting to see. We have received all the results of Jordyn's recent testing... including the final two tests for Rett Syndrome. All of the tests were normal!

I was not really surprised at all since that is the only results we have ever heard. The doctors keep telling us that she probably has a syndrome or genetic disease that they just don't know how to test for yet. I was thinking the other day that it would be pretty interesting if Jordyn was one of the first kids to ever have a "certain" disease or syndrome. And then I thought, they usually name the disease after the first person to have it, or the person who discovers it. So maybe Jordyn could have a sydrome/disease named after her. Tom and I were thinking of possible names and we came up with: Cute-itis, Cutest girl in the world Syndrome, or Cutie Pie Syndrome.

We also went to the neurologist on Friday for a check-up and to hopefully find a cause for Jordyn's recent irritability. It worked out well because Jordyn got very angry while we were there... so at least the doc. could see what we were talking about! I had to laugh because he said,"She is definately on the "high" end of irritibility!" I never thought I would be HAPPY that my child threw a fit at the doctor's office. Anyways, he wants to try an acid reflux medication first. And if that doesn't work then he said we could change her dose of medication or even try a new kind. We are anxious to see if any of these solutions will work.

We were at the mall the other day and we saw another young girl in a wheelchair. It's funny how excited we can get when we see other kids in wheelchairs... it really doesn't happen that often. I always want to run over and talk to them and ask them all sorts of questions. But, I usually never do! They are probably wanting to do the same to us. I actually like it when people stop and ask us questions. While we were at the mall, a lady stopped and talked to us for while... she said her neice or nephew had Cerebral Palsy. And the other day a lady stopped me in Walmart and said her 11 yr. old. daughter had the same wheelchair and asked me a few other questions. It's always good to hear that there are other people with disabled kids out there... even if you don't see them very often.

Last night we went to our ward Christmas dinner. It was a pretty good meal... ham, green beans, funeral potatoes, rolls, and pie for dessert. I made a tasty looking pie: graham cracker crust, a layer of cream cheese mixed with cool whip, and a layer of pumpkin on top. But, they had so many pies that they never got to serve mine! All that hard work for nothin'! Well, we ended taking one home with us (I made 2) so we could actually try it. It tasted great!
I was looking forward to getting the kids' picture with Santa, but Jordyn wasn't cooperating very well. We knew she would probably start screaming the second we put her on Santa's lap, so we decided not to stay for the whole party. It could have been a funny picture if Jordyn was sitting with Santa and crying, but when Jordyn gets mad...she doesn't just sit there, she kicks and bucks and will slide right off your lap! I also have a cold and wasn't feeling well either so went home.
This morning Tom had a "Youth Training Leadership Meeting" or whatever they call it. They have a breakfast and then the adult leaders train the youth on how to be good leaders, etc. It starts at 7:30 and he got home at noon! He had to give a talk at the meeting also. Then he came home, changed his clothes and went to work putting up Christmas lights. I have to say, Tom is such a hard worker and NEVER complains! For the past few weeks, he is at school all day during the week. Then on the weekends he works all of Friday and Saturday. Sunday is really his only day off and with church callings, he still stays pretty busy! I am probably not the most "supportive" wife either. Last Sunday in church our bishop was giving a talk and at the end of it he was thanking his wife for being so supportive. He said he is really busy all of the time and his wife never complains. She just lets him do whatever he has to do without whining or complaining. It was kind of a lightbulb moment for me because I ALWAYS complain when Tom has to leave! And I am such a whiner too. So, starting now, I am going to try really hard to not complain when Tom has to leave or be gone all the time. So thanks Tom, for working so hard for me and the kids! (I know, I'm so corny!)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, Thanksgiving is already over, but I finally found a few minutes to post. We had a great turkey day! My parents came up from Billings on Wednesday (they will stay until Sunday morning) and we were so glad to see them. Thursday morning, Susan and I ran the 5 mile Turkey Trot here in Spokane. We thought we might be running in the snow, but the weather was great for running... just cool enough. We think around 700 people showed up for the run. The course was through and around Manito Park, a very popular floral garden. We had a fun time! At the same time, Tom was playing flag football with a bunch of guys from our ward. They have access to an indoor playing field every year. Tom came home with a ton of carpet burns on his knees and legs. But, he acted like it was worth it because he had a lot of fun!

Around noon, we headed over to Susan and Kurt's to eat some appetizers to hold us until the big feast. Then, we ate dinner around 6:00. Everything was so good! We made green jello salad and brought the drink. We had pies from White Box Pies.... apple pear and pecan. The whole day couldn't have been any tastier!

Poor little Jordyn was still sick. She did have a spoonful of mashed potatoes, so I guess that has to count as her Thanksgiving dinner. She is finally keeping down her food. She was extremely grumpy the past two days. I took her to the doc. this morning and they said she has an ear infection. We got her some meds., so we'll see if that helps.

All of the family is having a great time... it's always sad when they have to leave and you go back to your regular routine. I guess we still have Christmas to look forward to!

Feeling under the weather - see post below!

 

Poor little Jordyn.

Jordyn has been having some very bad luck lately. Early last week we took her to get a blood draw so they can finally do the test for Rett Syndrome. It took FIVE phlebotomists to hold her down and get her blood. So sad! Needless to say, they finally got enough blood and Jordyn was extremely angry!
Jordyn has also been really irritable the past month (maybe from being poked by needles so much haha!) so I called her neurologist, at the end of the week, to see if her medication could be the problem (one of the side affects is irritability). They decided they wanted to have her blood taken to check her medication levels! Why, oh why, didn't I call them a few days earlier!? So, I got up early this morning and took her to get her blood taken again. This time, at a different lab, they couldn't EVER get her blood taken. They had two different phlebotomists try and they just could not find a good vein. This always happens when Jordyn gets her blood taken so we are getting used to it. So, Jordyn was really ticked and they couldn't poke her anymore, so we left. We are supposed to go back tomorrow or the next day so someone else can try again, but I am debating wether we should even go through with it. Her irritability seems to be slowly getting better.
THEN, after going to the lab, I took Jordyn to school. About halfway through her school day they called and said she had thrown up everywhere... including on one of the teacher's aides! I rushed over and picked her up from school. I felt so bad for everyone there who had to clean her up... not fun! I apoligized a million times to the lady who had the luxury of being barfed on! Hopefully Jordyn doesn't have the flu. I got Jordyn all cleaned up and she has been sleeping ever since. As you can see in the picture, Jordyn also has a strange rash below her mouth and on her cheek. We think it may be caused by saliva since she tends to have her fingers in her mouth and drools, etc. We keep putting creams on it, but nothing is helping. Poor little girl! She has had a rough time!

Question of the Week - Ode to Rex

(My childhood dog, Rex, eating a snack.)

If you and your dog (or any pet you've had) could understand each other for one minute, what would you say to it? What might it tell you?

Kids Galore!

Friday night was our turn to watch all of the kids in our babysitting co-op! We had all 7 kids (+ our 2) and it went great! They were pretty interested in playing with toys they don't usually have, so that kept them busy. Then we watched a video called "Let's Move". It is 30 min. of all kinds of games, dancing, and "moves" that the kids are supposed to copy. They do "head, shoulders, knees, and toes", lots of jumping (fast, slow, big, little), stretching and counting, and even yoga at the end. The kids REALLY liked it! We even helped Jordyn do it and she was smiling and laughing.
I just love how good the kids are with Jordyn. They like to ask a lot of questions about her, but also like to include her. We were having crackers and one of the girls said,"She didn't get one!" (pointing to Jordyn). I thought it was so cute. The kids (esp. the older girls) all love holding Evan too. One of the girls was having fun taking care of Evan, holding him, getting him toys, giving him a blanket, and even asking me over and over if she could feed him some food!
We are just loving this babysitting deal! And now that last night went so well, with all of the kids, we are even loving it more! (in the photo, we had all of the kids saying "Cheeeeese"!) 

Happy Halloween Continued (and Hijacked)

This is Tom I've hijacked Emily's blog for the moment...not really actually Emily says she is too ill at the moment to finish part two of her halloween blog, so she has given me the oppurtunity to put a new blog on my page so check out my blog to see pics of the kids halloween...Enjoy!