Utah Trip part 1-Salt Lake

We have a lot of pictures here, so I am breaking up our trip to Utah into 3 different parts based on the places we went. Be forewarned that they can get a little long. I couldnt leave out anything, because it was all so great!
Our first stop was in the Salt Lake area, and mostly dedicated to friend time. We arrived on a Saturday night and decided to visit our old ward on Sunday. Mom and Dad Taylor live close to there, so we stopped over to their house afterwards. As always, they were oober excited to see their grand kids.
Grandma gave Katelin a big birthday hug along with a little gift, and also cards for the other kids as well. We spent a few hours visiting and had lunch.
Next up was a visit to my brothers house for dinner. The kids finally got to meet their new horse...uhh, I mean Great Dane, along with the turtle, fish and....

snake! Zack worked up the courage to hold him for a minute.

After the petting zoo, and dinner, Zack started a water fight. We all ended up pretty soaked, but I would like to think my team...the girls, won! Oh yeah.

The next day was the 4th of July, and officially Katelins birthday. We started the morning off with Red, white, and blue pancakes. Katelin looks older to me in this picture. Must be because she is 9 now!

After breakfast we headed to the park with our good friends the Wilsons.

We played a friendly game of kick ball...

played on the swings...

and climbed up the goal posts...? Yeah, I dont get that one.

After lunch we had a little birthday celebration. Barb made a patriotic tower of cupcakes for Katelin.

Yummy!

Then it was off to the park for a Independence Day celebration. They had blow up water slides...

a dunk tank...

a giant blow up wrestling ring...

(with gloves bigger than Zack!)

face painting...

and Brylee's personal favorite...games and prizes.

Oh, and of course there was food! We all had a blast. Here is the party crew- the Taylor and Wilson clan.

Best friends!

Alissa, Courtney, Katelin, Sydney

Madi and McKenzie, AKA: M&M

(they are about the same age. McKenzie is just REALLY tall, and Madi, well...nuff said.)

And the big kids-

Scott, Barb, Me, and Ryan

One more thing was missing-fireworks of course!

We met with my brothers family again and headed to another park for the show. It was all good except for Katelins emergency potty run at the beginning, Brylee screaming in fear, and the perfect timing of the sprinklers going off after the finale and soaking us! Oh what memories!

A few nights later, after we all dried off, we did our own little show; almost as equally impressive. Almost.

The next day, we set up some time to visit some friends. I dropped Ryan off at the house of an old work buddy, and I went to lunch with a few high school friends. We spent the rest of the day catching up on old times.

The last day in Salt Lake, we decided to beat the heat at a splash park.

Zack and Brandon being silly, as always.

Brylee doesnt like water unless its in bath form, so she kept herself entertained by stealing my chair! Oh yeah, real funny.

Madi and McKenzie were too awesome to splash around in some kids park, so they spent their time sun bathing...

and squeezing in a few massages from the help.

The others decided to join in when they got too cold. "Excuse me? Masseuse?"

So that about sums up our visit in the Salt Lake area. Next up: family fun!

And then she was 9

This year, Katelin decided that what she wanted most for her birthday was a trip to Utah. Well, since we are just possibly the nicest parents ever, we agreed to it. Actually, we had already planned to go, but she didnt need to know that! Her presents were covered! See how nice we are! All sarcasm aside, we did plan on getting her gifts all along, we just wanted to surprise her with them. We wanted to celebrate her birthday as a family before we left, so Katelin decided to have one of our good ol backyard family camp-outs. Of course, all the kids were on board with that idea.

This year, we added a new fire pit, so we could roast hot dogs and marshmallows better than over our camp stove like last year. If the fire would start, that would be helpful. So far, just smoke! Makes my eyes hurt again, just looking at it!
After the fire co-operated, we munched on our yummy hot dogs. The kids commented on how they were the best hot dogs they ever had. Maybe it was the smoked flavor.

Thumbs up for fire roasted hot dogs from Zack.

And 2 thumbs up from Madi.

The always present inside the tent goofiness.

The next morning, it was present and cake time. I think Katelin got everything on her wish list this year, including: Ramona and Beezus...

DS babysitting game...

a Ken doll...

and her favorite...

a beanbag chair.

All the kids love the beanbag chair, and tried to fit as many bums on it as they could. FYI, it fits 4. Yay for small tooshies.

One of Katelins favorite things to eat is strawberries, and we actually had our own to pick this year. We froze some strawberries for a few days, so we would have enough to make her a strawberry birthday cake. Of course we had to leave the strawberries off one side for our anti fruit loving girl. Who doesnt love fruit!? Madi, thats who. Crazy.

So a camp-out, a trip to Utah, presents and a birthday cake with fresh home grown strawberries. We really are the nicest parents ever.

Oh, and Katelin aint half bad either! (0;

HAPPY 9TH BIRTHDAY KATELIN!

All smiles!

I think by now, pretty much everyone has been informed about Ryans teeth woes over the course of the last year...or actually his life. Well, just in case you dont know how this all started, heres his short little back story:

Ryan was 10 years old. He was at a water park with his brother, and was getting ready to go down a water slide, when some random bully came up behind him and pushed him. He landed on his stomach going feet first and slid into his brother who was standing up in the slide. As Ryan's feet hit his brothers legs it forced his brother to fall down and sit on the back of Ryan's head smashing his face first into the slide, knocking out his 2 front teeth, and shattering the bones in his gums. Where was the lifeguard you ask? Well, there wasnt one. Yeah. So begins the long story of toothless Ryan.

He made it through a lot of school without any 2 front teeth. While some people made comments and teased, it didnt bother him and he said it wasnt bad and he always had good friends that didnt seem to care much. When your little (and I mean in stature), you can get away with it because everyone looks like this:
But as he got older, he started smiling like this, so people couldnt see his missing teeth. Poor kid.
Are you crying yet? It gets better. He did get some temporaries, he called "flippers", because they could flip up and down and fell out all the time. Pretty much like a pair of dentures with only 2 teeth. They didnt look great either. So he just didnt wear them. Before his senior year of high school, he was fitted with his first bridge. They had to drill down his remaining 4 front teeth to attach the bridge to, so his front 6 were fake. It lasted right up until almost our wedding day, when he had to get it replaced. He went through our wedding, pictures and all, with temporaries, until they got him another bridge made. That bridge was pretty good. Most people couldnt tell they were fakes, unless we told them, but his bridges always seemed to slant a little too far forward. Around June 2010 though, they became loose and needed to be replaced also.

Heres the second bridge, right before they expired. This time back at the dentist, they informed him that these trusty old bridges he had been wearing werent going to cut it anymore. The teeth/screws that were drilled up into his gums to hold them in, just werent going to hold anymore and the whole bridge process was becoming outdated and there were some complications with his teeth. They wanted to do something more permanent-implants. One major problem though, remember how his bones got shattered on the water slide? Well, there wasnt enough bone there to hold the implants in. Probably why his bridges never looked right too. The dentist met with an oral surgeon and they decided the best solution that would work, would be to do bone grafts up into his gums. Sounds fun right? They would also have to extract one of his existing teeth and do three implants and three crowns. And it all started with only 2 missing teeth!

So anyway, out came the trusty bridge, and in went the knife. They did surgery to take his bone from his jaw and move it to his gums, enough to build it up to where it should be. And just on a side note: he stayed awake! If you know Ryan, and you know anything about the cost of implants, then you know why he didnt opt for the extra expense of being put to sleep. The kids were very concerned when he walked in the door with his mouth 3 times its normal size and filled with bloody gauze! He was swollen for over a week. I thought he looked adorable that way though.

My own little chipmunk! Just what I always wanted!
Especially cute when he smiled, but that hurt a little! (:
And a side shot. He spent most of the week like this: 4 months they told him. That was August 2010. 4 months for it to be all healed and ready for the implants! In the meantime, back to another version of stay in all the time dentures, which didnt stay in all the time. Since August, he has had to tear up his food and eat it like a baby. He couldnt bite with those babies in, or they would fall out. And we thought the bridge was bad! These temporaries were awful. They didnt even look close to real teeth. They did fall out on multiple occasions, making him a frequent visitor to the dentist to re-cement them.
4 months passed. In February, he went back in for his follow up. Everything was healed great. The bones looked strong. But they still had more work to do. Guess we mis-understood. He had more appointments with more experts to get everything molded, measured and ready to be made to fit perfectly into his mouth. Heres a molding of what he looked like at that point without his teeth. The 3 silver rods in the middle are where they screwed up into his gums for the implants. The blue teeth are sharpened and ready for crowns. I saw the real deal. He made a pretty good hillbilly without his teeth. The spikes scared the kids though. Haha!
A total of 11 months and they were ready to finish up his new smile. Oh, but then the dentist called before his appointment, and said they werent done yet, so another few weeks to go. Make that 12 months. Finally...the big day arrived. Bye Bye ugly dentures! They got pulled in and out so much, you could see the cement on the surface. Also, you could see the silver dental work behind them.

Hello new permanent teeth!

Before................................................................... After



They actually upgraded his teeth to the highest quality, containing gold, for having to wait that last extra few weeks. Wait?! I thought thats what we were paying for all along! PURE GOLD! It cost that much anyway. But maybe I shouldnt say that...we dont want anyone knocking them out again! (: His gums were pretty banged up from having those looses dentures in all the time, so that will take some healing, but other than that, he's all smiles!

The side view looks like the most obvious difference. No more gaps, and all straight!

The first night with his new teeth, we went out to get a sub sandwich that he could sink those new babies into! He has gotten pretty used to ripping up his food by hand, so it will take some time psycologically to really be able to bite normally. He was pretty cautious about biting into his sandwich! When he can take on a whole apple, we'll know his inner scars are healed completely!

Look, he's so happy, he's glowing!
Actually, thats just light reflecting off my camera. Think I need a new one, but Im not going to mention spending any more money for a while! This one will take a couple years to pay off! Totally worth it though! Yay!

COTM - Dad Life

Its the Dad Life

Saw this link on a friends Face Book page. Thought it was so funny, had to share for Fathers Day! (0;

ConGRADulations!

Well, we did it. We successfully put a child through elementary school. Okay, most the credit does go to Madison who has remained a perfect student through all 6 years! The real challenge is just beginning I think...Jr. High, and High School. Heaven help me! But really, we couldnt ask for a better kid.

The elementary school puts on a big 5th grade graduation ceremony/party every year. The theme this year was Hawaiian. Madi got a cute new Hawaiian dress to wear, along with 2 lei's. Upon arrival, they handed out leis to all the students, making Madi's total 3. The whole front entry and hallway were decorated like a Luau and they had this little area for pictures. Here is Madi before the ceremony with a few of her best friends. She has a great group of friends as well and we hope she can stick with them in the coming school years. Arent they cute!?

Madi with another friend from church. (Yes, she is tall!)

Waiting for the ceremony to start. FYI, the boy in front of her with the blue shirt is her "crush". Ryan spent some time with him when he chaperoned her Dells trip, and gave his seal of approval. Thats huge, I think. We are proud of her for switching her crush over to him, since the last boy she liked started to use bad language. See how good she is! Anyway, hes a cute kid.

In line for her "diploma".

A handshake from the principal.

Getting her diploma from her teacher.

Class picture time!

After all the diplomas were handed out, they showed a little slide show with pictures of the kids throughout the year, including a little guessing game with all their baby pictures. All the kids loved trying to guess who that baby was on the screen. We got a copy of it as we left. Very cool.

After the slide show was over, the principal got up for some closing remarks. During that time the Dean came up and told him something...the tornado sirens were going off. What a great ending to a Hawaiian Luau...a tornado! He calmly announced that they were going off, "but we are very safe in here, there are no windows, so lets just proceed." We were in the gym, so it really was the safest place to be at the time. Several parents, including Ryan did leave the gym on their cell phones to check up on the kids at home. We had left ours with some friends who just moved here from Utah and didnt even know what the sirens sounded like or had experienced the fun of Wisconsin tornado season, so we felt it best to check up. Of course Zack was upset, but they did great at calming him down with some arm wrestling in the basement. (:

The sirens turned off, so we proceeded into the cafeteria for some cake. We ate really quickly and were just about to head home, when they went off again! They herded everyone back into the gym, along with the cake. Cant leave without that! Ryan decided to be crazy and drive home to be with the kids. It looked pretty calm outside, and we only live 5 minutes away. Madi and I stayed back in the safety of the brick enclosed gymnasium. A friend called someone to find out what was really going on, and found out the sirens werent going off for an actual tornado sighting, just as a precaution for high winds. Hmmm, didnt know they did that. There was a bad thunder storm heading our direction, but as for the moment, it was still calm, so she gave us a ride home before the real storm arrived. And boy did it! The kids were too scared to sleep upstairs, so we all camped out in the living room and kept watch at the news together. There was crazy thunder and lightning, and yes...very strong winds, but everything was fine.

Heres a picture of Madi with her teacher right before we got rushed back into the gym. We loved this teacher. She is so kind and loving to all the students. All the kids in her class go around quoting some of her favorite sayings, two of which are "Be a positive thinker, not a negative stinker", and "There are no bad kids, just bad choices." We will miss her, and hope that the other kids can get lucky enough to get her when they enter 5th grade.

And I guess I should post this picture of us too, just before Ryan left for home. I think we were only a couple of the parents who came wearing lei's as well. Thats because we're the cool ones...right? Sure.

So thats it. We did feel kind of bad for Madi this year. All her biggest moments sort of got dampered on. She was sick for group picture day, so shes not in any of the year book group photos. Her camp which in normally 3 days was only 2 this year-1 of which they got poured on, so they werent able to do some things. The annual 5th grade against teachers kick ball game got rained out. And then the tornado scare on graduation night. What else can go wrong!? But she has been happy through it all...beside being sick on picture day. She wasnt happy at all about that! She even wrote on her page for the 5th grade memory book...where it asked about her happiest memory at school...she wrote "everyday here." We're so proud of her. She's getting all big. Shes going to start shaving and wearing makeup and texting and all those big things that come with a middle schooler. Ready or not, here we come!