A trip to the hospital, take 2...

Sorry, this is a novel... I didn't intend it to be.

2 1/2 weeks after our fabulous stay at North Central Baptist Hospital, we took a trip to their Pediatric ER. It seems that there were quite a few sick kids in San Antonio yesterday. There was a waiting list at the ask a nurse line, the after hours clinic was busy, and the waiting room at the ER was full. Of course, Alex had to get sick again.

He started with a runny nose Sunday with a little bit of a cough. Monday he added a fever and started breathing fast. Monday night when we counted respirations he was taking more than 90 breaths in one minute. For those of you that don't know, that is REALLY FAST!!! We have been told before that if they are breathing at 60 breaths/minute the doctor needs to see him. Because of the fever he was pretty mellow, but other than that looked and sounded fine. No wheezing; no retraction (when their chest sucks in, right below their rib cage, with each breath; and his coloring was all normal.

My dilema: First: I know the fast breathing is bad, but without the other signs I wasn't sure if he really needed to be seen. Second: We have a stash of medicines for breathing treatments at home, thanks to our last episode and hospital stay. They will just do one of those at the hospital, should I do one at home and see what happens? Third: Our insurance is changing Jan. 1st and will be 100% coverage for in hospital... why did all this happen (both times) weeks and days before the better coverage starts.

I called the doctors office which now has later hours, but they must have been closed yesterday. I called the nurses line, and was put on the waiting list. I called the after hours clinic, but the doctors and nurses are too busy to talk to me on the phone... they are jam packed! We called our friend Mark (who is a family practice doctor at Luke AFB in Phoenix) at home, on his cell phone, and on his wife's cell phone... with no answer on any of them. I'm thinking about who else I might call... my brother-in-law Ken, not quite a doctor (3rd yr med student); my brother Kerry, not yet a PA (1st yr student); Kerry's wife Michelle, not yet a pharmacist (1 semester in)... Oh, well they will all be helpful when I have questions in a little while.

The nurse calls back and tells me that we have to take Alex to the ER. They will want to check his oxygen level to make sure he is getting enough, and will want to do a chest x-ray and see if anything is going on there. Great, here goes again! I call my VT and good friend and see if Aaron and Aimee can come over (it's about 6:30 pm) and talk to her husband. He says bring them over and they can spend the night. It's so nice to have great friends! Dinner was just about ready, so we set the crockpot to "keep warm" and stopped at Mickey D's for a couple of Happy Meals on the way.

Once at the hospital we had a wait to see the triage nurse, but thanks to the rate of Alex's breathing we got to go straight back to a room. His oxygen level, which the nurse said was a worry, was 99%. No problem there. Lungs mostly clear, a tiny bit of crackling on one side, not much to indicate anything. Chest x-rays, exactly the same as 2 1/2 weeks ago with a little bit of pneumonia on the right side (the 2nd dr. said that it take 4-6 weeks to clear up, so that is normal...). Nothing to really indicate why he is breathing so fast. They did a breathing treatment, not much immediate change in his breathing rate. They ordered blood tests... the nurse came in to do an IV, in case of later IV meds, fluids, etc. She was able to get the blood she needed, but the IV wasn't able to stay in thanks to Alex's fighting. There is a reason his nickname is "Squirmy."

The blood tests came back indicating that he was dehydrated. After many, many attempts to get him to drink anything, and even eat a popsicle failed, the nurse came in to try another IV. It took 4 adults holding him down and 3 more trys to finally get an IV in. The nurse felt SO bad, and so did all the other nurses and techs that had try to help hold him. He did score a stuffed dog though!

After hours of sitting in the room and getting his fluids, Alex's 2nd dr came in (shift change.) Alex was still breathing too fast, but everything else looked ok, so he gave us the choice. Did we want to have him admitted, or did we feel comfortable enough to take him home and continue with the breathing treatments there. Having just done this (and doing it before with Alex and Aimee) we wanted to go home. So, at 2 am we were finally discharged. After getting home we had a treatment to do before going to bed. Finally at 3 am we got to go to bed.

Alex was doing well all day. He was CRANKY this morning due to lack of sleep, but after a couple of much needed naps was full of energy and happy. His breathing is still a little fast, but we will be following up with his dr. later this week. Now, we are back to breathing treatments every 4 hours, which means interupted sleep and planning our days around treatments. Hopefully we won't have to keep doing this.

Luckily for us, Alex does the treatments very well. We will hook it all up, turn on the TV, hand it to him and he will sit there until we turn it off. I'm so glad we don't have to fight him!

I'm hoping for some of this drama to go away. Boring would be good right now.

Hope everyone else is healthy and stays that way!!!

Christmas 2005: The Spoils

I'll let Min fill in the festivities... but here are some pics:

Looks like Santa came some time last night!


Please forgive the hair.


Looks like Alex got a few things...


... as did Aimee...


... and Aaron.


Sometimes its the small things that we love the best.


Merry Christmas!

Fun in the leaves...

Mike finally got around to raking leaves today. I let him do all the work. I just went out when it was time to take pictures. He got Aaron and Aimee to help him by promising to take them to see Chronicles of Narnia after it was finished. We ended up with 7 bags of leaves from just the front yard. If we went back and raked again I'm sure we could come up with a couple more. Gotta love those BIG trees!



Aaron and Aimee were loving the leaves. Alex didn't like being thrown into them. He did like to throw them though!







Aaron didn't mind being thrown into the leaves.



Isn't he cute! He is getting to be such a big boy... where did my baby go?



Alex wanted to help.

Round ?...

I forget what number we are on.

So, yep we got sick AGAIN. This is really getting old and winter has just started... sigh!

So, it started last Tuesday when Alex's nose started to run. Here we go with another cold. Not a big deal, we just go through a lot of tissue. Thursday, he wakes up from his nap and i notice that his breathing is a little labored (rapid breathing, retraction, and wheezing.) Having gone through this before (once with Aaron, Once with Aimee, and already once with Alex) I know it's time to call the doctor. So, off we go... completely expecting to have a breathing treatment in the office and be sent home with prescriptions to continue the treatments at home (as we have done before.)

That's what the doctor was going to do... but then she listened again after the treatment. He sounded much clearer, but his breathing was still fast. The doctor decided that she would feel better if we headed over to the hospital. So, we did and were checked in. They did a chest x-ray which showed that he had a little bit of Pneumonia, which put him on yet another prescription. He was put on a little bit of oxygen overnight and given breathing treatments. They also gave him an IV with the antibiotic and a steroid.

Even though he was sick... he didn't act sick. Which was a trial for me. Try keeping a 19 month old calm and sitting still for 2 days so that he doesn't pull out his IV and constantly make the pulse/ox alarm go off every couple of minutes. By Friday night they had put in a second IV (after the first became clogged) and the he got the second one clogged. Thankfully the Dr. took pitty and decided that he didn't need it anymore, he could take some different meds by mouth instead. And yes, the alarm on the pulse/ox machine was going off all night due to him moving around. Also by this time he was doing the Respiratory Therapist's job for him. Alex would hold the mask and at the same time hold the stethescope to his chest and point so that the RT knew he was supposed to listen. It was quite funny, and had both me and the RT laughing during the treatment. The comment was made that "I think he's well enough to go home."

So, Saturday morning we came home... with 4 different prescriptions (which filled a plastic grocery sack.) Alex is fine. This hasn't slowed him down at all, other than when he has to sit and do his breathing treatments, which thankfully he does really well.

Unfortunately, about the time that Alex and I were sitting around the hospital, Mike and Aimee decided to come down with colds of their own. Each with a lot of coughing. So, Sunday, Mike, Aimee and Alex stayed home from church... again. Like I said, this is getting really old!!!

My dad suggested that we spray the whole house down with Lysol... and we may have to do that. Hopefully all will be well soon and stay that way.

Baby, it's cold outside!

Remember how I said it was unseasonably warm... not any more! It was COLD today! A strong cold front came through today and by the time the kids came home from school it was in the 40's with wind chill in the 20's. That's really cold for SA. Right now it is 28, but with the wind chill feels like 16. It rained just enough earlier to get things wet and now there is ice on everything. Over passes are being closed and road are being salted and gravelled. Some schools are delaying start times, but so far Aaron and Aimee will go to school on time.

Mike is trying to get grading and other work done in the office, but it is cold in that room. It is right over the garage, so the room temperature likes to fluctuate more with the weather.

Tomorrow is supposed to stay cold and windy (35 at noon.) I think I need to find some more warm clothes for the kids. They don't have very many any more... I think we will be working with layers... lots of layers.

Is it really December?

Here in South Central Texas that is the question that seems to be going around. It has been really warm... hot for this time of year. We have had highs in the 80's-90's with near record and record heat. We have had a couple of cool downs, that last a couple of days before the temperature starts rising again. This week we are supposed to have a couple of cold fronts come through and really cool things down for a while. Now, if only we could get some desperately needed rain.

Thanksgiving 2005

I quite like the holiday that is Thanksgiving.

Betsy and Nate and co. came down Wednesday afternoon and on the way picked up our Thanksgiving Dinner on the way (more on that later). The kids ran off and played while we sat around, talked, cooked some spaghetti and just relaxed. We let the kids stay up for quite awhile and then tucked them in and spent the rest of the evening making cookies and talking and played a round of Cinq-O.

Thursday rolled around and we rolled out of bed (the kids were making a little too much noise). I made a big old breakfast consisting of breakfast tacos (sausage, egg and cheese) with a side of refried beans (for those who wanted them). We had a big breakfast so that we could have dinner a little later in the afternoon.

It was Nate's idea this year to get a turkey from Rudy's (dubbed "The Worst BBQ in Texas"). I've asked Mindy if we could one for the alst three years and she's always said no... but whne Betsy called and asked us if it would be okay, she jumped on it.

Nate ordered a 12 lb bird that was rubbed with their spices, smoked and precooked. He ordered some stuffing, corn in cream and gravy. Betsy brought a banana creme pie and made a pumkin pie (and I think I saw a key lime pie in there too).

Min made some mashed potatoes, some banana/apple salad and baked some rolls.

We invited Denny to come over for dinner (she teaches with me at the university) and she kept Alex occupied while we finished the meal preparations.

Dinner was good. Everyone was stuffed. Desert would have to wait for awhile.

We sat around while the kids played and we started to download funny videos on the laptops and watched them for a bit (christmas lights, white boy cadet, a twist on BSB).

Later that night Nate, Betsy, Toby and Aspen and I went to the IMAX to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. It was a pretty good movie, but it would be hard to take a 700+ page book and make a 2.5 hour movie out of it. If you've seen the others and have read the books, you'll like it, but I thought the book was better.

Yesterday we woke up, picked at leftovers, watched some TV and a movie (Sahara), and chatted some more.

Normally I get up and partake in the American tradition of 'Black Friday' and shop til I can't shop no more... but not this year. Around 8:30 AM, Betsy and I went to Wal*Mart to grab some of the $6 pants for Aaron and the 6-CD Garth Brooks Collection ($25) for Mindy. It looks like we're taking the pants back. We got 7 Regular and it looks like Aaron needs 7 Slim. Oh well. It was worth a shot.

Besty and her clan headed home around 5 PM (after I whipped up a pot of my chili) and we spent the evening with the kids playing Mario Party 7 (It's been awhile since we've done that) and then it was time for bed and I got the Christmas totes out for Min and she started putting up the decorations and wrapping the lights on the tree.

Now it feels like the holidays are in full swing and in two weeks (when the semester is over) I can relax a bit and prep for Spring... and believe me when I say that its going to be a busy year next year.

4 down... 1 to go

Well... how can I delicately put this: Aaron barfed this morning.

So that's 4 of us in a little over a weeks time. Min's the only 'survivor' so far. At first I thought it was just a bad cough that brought up some phlem, but that thought was corrected about a half hour later.

Another one bites the dust...

What is it with 11:30 pm? Two days after Mike gets sick at this time of night, Aimee is sick. She was the one in the family that I was REALLY hoping didn't get this lovely bug that is roaming through our family. She is awful at making it into the bathroom or even a bucket, and hers stinks like nothing else. I couldn't even go in the room to clean it up because I was going to lose it. Thankfully Mike was able and willing to clean her floor up. I'm not sure if or when her room will lose the funk though.

We are just hoping that everyone will be through with this before Thanksgiving, since we have plans with Betsy's family. Bets, this is your warning! Aaron and I are the only ones left... here's praying.

We're sick... AGAIN

We have finally all gotten over the nasty colds that hit our family. We were all able to go to church on Sunday (which hasn't happened in a couple of weeks) and Alex got to go to the nursery for the first time.

Then, on Tuesday.... Alex is throwing up. Fun for us. He wanted to eat and drink so badly, but anything he ate came right back up. I felt like an awful mom telling him that hw couldn't eat anything and then watching the tears stream down his face.

Wednesday, Alex is doing better, but we are still taking it easy with the food, just to make sure. Mike comes home from teaching about 9:30 and goes straight to bed (he got about 2 hours of sleep the night before due to planning his lecture.) Two hours later he wakes up and he is sick. He was supposed to be on campus all day advising students so they can register for next semester, but ended up in bed all day instead.

We have a busy weekend... work, ward and birthday parties. I'm just wondering... who is going to be next, and will we all be better before Thanksgiving?

Alex's new word

Just lately Alex has started saying more and more. It's about time. He tries to say A LOT, but usually it is unintelligible.

Tonight he took us by surprise... Mike had given him a bowl of ice cream after dinner. After Alex took a bite he said "nummy." Mike and I just looked at each other and said "that's a new one." Of course after every bite after that he had to say it. Very cute!

His vocabulary is slowly starting to expand... mommy, daddy. diaper, milk, more, thank you (sometimes even along with the sign), sit down, get down, hot, no, and others that pop out after hearing us say them but are not a regular part of the vocabulary.

He's getting so big. It's really fun, he does such fun things... of course he is also getting more independent and getting into more things! There always has to be some challenge.

"You're so vain..."

"... I bet you think this post is about you."

And he's right.



Alex like's looking in the iSight and seeing himself. So I snapped a screenshot and thought we'd share.

He's 9 days from turning 18 months old and that means he'll be in the nursery soon! Yeehaw! What a milestone.

"We Be Illin'"

This past week can be summed up in that line from a Run-DMC song from back in the 80s.

I cancelled classes on Monday due to a massive head cold that had me down and out all weekend. I missed church last week and stayed home with Alex (who had a fever). I was getting better on Tuesday and made it to school on Wednesday, back to a some-what normal state of body/mind.

Then on Wednesday, Min got a call from the school that Aaron had a fever and he came home but was fine enough to go the next day.

On Friday, Aimee came home from school and disappeared. We found her asleep in her room with a fever.

Then this weekend, Mindy gets a head cold and is all congested and Aaron's fever return and Alex's nose continues to run... and then Aimee starts coughing.

But, I'm fine.

Looks like the cycle is almost complete and here in a few days we should all be back to normal.

... and then two days ago, my jaw on the right side has started to ache. Can't win for losing.

Oh well.

Fall Festival

Aaron and Aimee had their Fall Festival at school tonight. It's a combination of Fall, Halloween, Safety and Drug Free Week. Aaron and Aimee wanted to go on the pony ride. We were in line for the petting zoo- which consisted of chickens, a couple of baby potbellied pigs, and more chickens- but the line was not moving, so we went to let the kids do a couple of games. We got hot dogs and chips before they ran out, but had to have water (my preference anyway) because the McDonalds' orange punch was gone. The kids had fun. Mike used a couple of sprinkles as an excuse to leave... thank heavens.

Tomorrow... the ward party.

It's here...

My brother Greg got his mission call today! What an exciting week for our family.

He is going to the Belgium Brussels mission and will be speaking Dutch. He goes into the MTC on Feb. 1st. That means I won't be able to be there when he does, but we'll see if we can work something out so I/we can see him once more before he leaves.

He is very excited and a little nervous. That is not one of the places he even thought about as a possibility. His mission includes the Netherlands, Belgium and a little bit of Northern France. I think they are going to watch THe Best Two Years now to get an idea about what part of the area is like.

Our ultrasound was today...

We have been anticipating this day for quite a while. Finally it's here. We each had our own predictions... Mike thought we were having a girl, I thought we were having a boy, Aaron wanted a girl (he didn't want to share his bedroom with ANOTHER baby brother,) and Aimee wanted a boy (she didn't want to share her room at all!) Alex still has no clue what is happening, so therefore doesn't have an opinion that he is sharing... oh yeah, that and he doesn't say much yet. :)

The baby wasn't cooperating at first, but the doctor was able to do the measurements that he needed to do and look at everything that he needed to. the baby was moving around much of the time, so eventually the doctor was able to find the GIRL parts. Yep that's right, we're having another girl!

Aaron was excited when we told him. Aimee wasn't upset, but didn't seem too excited. Later in the afternoon she brought me two baby blankets and asked which one was hers, and then asked if the other one could be for her baby sister. It was really quite sweet, especially the look on her face when she was asking. I think that by the time the baby comes she will be really excited.

Mike and I are really excited to even out the family. Of course we would have been just as happy with a boy, but I think we both wanted a girl a little bit more. We are just excited to know who we are waiting for.

We are planning on naming her Andrea, and will probably call her Andee most of the time. She will probably be born sometime around the 6-7 of March due to a scheduled c-section. It seems a long way away, but I know it will go quickly.

I've been slacking

Allright, so I've been slacking in the blogging dept. so here goes nothing...

We got home from our trip Wed (Aug 10) only to have to call the AC guys the next day, luckily we had it fixed by Friday afternoon, and by Sat morning we were once again cool. Our big question, is AC a want or a need.... we decided it is a NEED!!!!

Sunday (Aug 14) I was released from my calling as the ward choir director, so for now am calling free. I don't expect that to last very long though.

Monday (Aug 15) Aaron and Aimee started school. YEA!!!! Aaron started 2nd grade and Aimee was very excited to start kindergarten. When Aimee was asked how her first day of school was her reply was, "it was fun and boring."

Friday (Aug 19) I had my first dr. appt. Everything is going well. They did an ultrasound and I got to see our little big-headed lima bean, and his/her heart beating. My official due date is March 16th, but since I will be having a c-section the baby will probably be here during the first week of March.

Wednesday (Aug 24) Mike started school. He's gone Monday and Wednesday 7am-9pm and most Fridays 7-noonish. He is teaching 1 class 3 times, and overseeing about 4 others that are being taught by adjuncts.

Thursday (Aug25) Mike had to go in to make sure that the adjunct classes went okay. He never wants to go in on Tue or Thur again. Mondays and Wednesdays wear him out!

Our life is now into some kind of schedule... Kids to school, kids home, homework, dinner, bedtime. Pretty exciting I know!

Sorry for the lack of pictures... they will come... eventually. :)

We made it home...

... and found our last koi floating belly up in the pond.

After traveling over 1500 miles home this week, we come home and find our only surviving fish, Stanley, dead. Dennis, the other koi, died earlier this year from some ick disease.

I wonder if it was because of those **** toads?

By the way, there seems to be another batch of them wandering around in the pond water.

Oh great, not again!

(More tomorrow.)

Made it to Los Angeles (An Update)

Hey everyone... its been a crazy couple of weeks, but I've got a little time to catch up on this blogging thing.

First off I'll apologize for the lack of posting and the lack of pictures, but we've been quite busy with everything that is going on.

1. I finished the Harry Potter book after waiting in line for an hour at midnight at the B&N is Sandy. Great read. Can't wait for the 7th book.

2. Aaron finished "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" so Mom and I took him and Aimee to go see the movie. I give it four stars and say it's better than the Gene Wilder version (1971). Aaron liked the movie better than the book.

3. We went to Lagoon with the whole fam damily. Quite a time. Pics to come.

4. Kerry's married... finally. He and Michelle make a wonderful couple and they've spent the last week in Pocatello at their apartment "scrubbing the cupboards*."

5. Jamie is married too... at least that what Mindy reports.

6. I gave up my seat for my Thursday flight to LAX for dinner, a hotel stay and $400 in Delta tickets. I caught an 8:30 AM flight the next day. Pretty good deal. Now we can fly the Grandmas out for the baby in March.

7. Oh yeah, we found out two weeks ago that Mindy is due with #4 in March 2006. The baby is referred as "Bean" and in "We have three kids and a bean."

8. I hung out with James for awhile here in Los Angeles. We went to Venicec Beach, The Arclight Dome to see "The Island" [**1/2], went to Gloria's Mexican/El Salvadoran Restaurant, the Santa Monica Pier and Johnny Rockets.

9. Spent all day yesterday in the Professional Chapters Meeting for the SIGGRAPH 2005 Conference. Met a few cool people and learned how to better serve the local San Antonio chapter. The conference started today, but I'm not going to the Conference until Tuesday night.

10. Went to church with Joan, Donna and Grandma. Saw David and his family, Camille (Paul's wife), Mary and Eric (Mary's son). Had 'sloppy joes' for dinner (yum), and chatted the day away.

Well, that's it for now.

Hope that wasn't too quick.

* no really, their apartment was a mess so the removed all the contact paper and scrubbed the cabinets. Sheesh, what were you people thinking! ;)

It's Getting Hot in Herrrrre!...

... so take off all your clothes. (I am getting so hot, I wanna take my clothes off.)

Let me tell you something, not having AC in the middle of summer is not something I would recommend.

We came back from dinner on Saturday only to find that our A/C died... and that's no fun. And the best part is that we are leaving for our vacation this Wednesday and there is no time to get it fixed before we leave.

So we toughed it out Saturday night. We had the ceiling fans going and the kids were still hot upstairs, but they slept well (I guess). Min and I moved the bed back under the ceiling fan and were fine.

Betsy had invited us to Hazel's blessing and we skipped out of our church and headed north to attend with them. We stayed until 7 PM and then came back to a somewhat "cool" house (88° inside).

It was a little warmer that night for the kids, so we opened their windows but the humidity crept in and it was quite the sauna.

We got up this morning for a 4th of July activity at the church, and while were in the breakfast line, Alex got sick. Must have been the heat. But with a little water he was back to normal in no time flat.

While we were there we shared our plight with some members of the ward and found out that we are the third family in our neighborhood (from the ward) to have their AC die on them. We explained to them that we have the second AC unit in the office for the computers and we were going to put all the "stuff we don't want to melt" up there and keep it on 78°s the whole time.

We received alot of offers to go over to peoples home and cool off, but Min and I decided that we are going to stay in tonight, let the kids sleep and we'll pack, then head out tomorrow, stay over in a hotel with a pool and finish the trip to Phoenix on Wednesday (since our friends are returning from their trip Tuesday, we don't want to show up on their doorstep early).

Then when we get back from our trip we'll under go the task of getting it fixed.

It'll be a few miserable days until it does get fixed, but we can tough it out then.

Anyways, that's it.

And no, I'm not sitting here typing this naked in front of a fan.

Testing the RSS Feed

Ha! This is great stuff. I'll explain it later.

UPDATE: Okay, it worked.

There are several applications out there that will notify you of an update to someone blog using XML and RSS (Real Simple Syndication).

On my new iMac I'm running Mozilla's Thunderbird which is an eMail application that can handle multiple accounts (I have about 10 different eMail addresses believe it or not) and it also has an RSS Content Manager.

The RSS Feed address for this blog is:

http://minsroom.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Add that to the manager and it will check for updates and show them in you email with a link out to the actual page so that you can read the comments.

Anyways, if you are a tech geek like me, you'll think its cool.

Later...

Aaron's 7th Birthday

Well it is Aaron's 7th birthday today, and he woke me up with a "guess what today is mom?" I mumbled "Happy Birthday" and rolled over and went back to sleep. I did get up a little bit later and make him breakfast. He was so excited for his birthday, he had to keep reminding us.

He got to have navajo tacos for dinner... his favorite, and he wanted applesauce cupcakes for his cake.




He was excited about his presents. He got Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (when he gets done reading it, he can see the movie,) Star Wars legos, a Pokemon game, more Pokemon cards (like he needs any more), and a Gamecube Game (Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door).

The San Antonio Temple

Mike and I were able to go do a session at the temple today. It took us a little while to get in gear, but we finally made it. Aunt Joan has furnished us with names so that we (and the rest of our ward, along with Nate and Betsy) can go as often as we like.

It is so nice to have a temple close by again! It is only 15-20 minutes away from our house. Much more convenient. Before this we had only been to the temple once since Alex was born (that was in Utah) due to the fact that my kids refuse to even think about taking a bottle, and therefore a temple trip to Houston was out of the question.

Our temple is beautiful, you should all come and visit so you can see for yourselves (that was a hint!!!!)

A new ward...sort of

We just had our ward boundaries changed today. Luckily for us, we didn't lose anyone. The other ward is made up of a lot of area and many, many new subdivisions, so it is the fastest growing ward in the stake (it is only 2 1/2 years old). Our ward is mostly all built up, so our numbers shouldn't change too drastically. They gave us about 100 people from the other ward and took our total to about 500, while the other ward has about 400. Their numbers should be right back up where they were in the near future.

I'm looking forward for the chance to meet some new people, and make new friends. Adam and Kirsten (that Mike works with and went to grad school with at USU) are now in our ward. It will be nice to see them more often, for me at least. Mike sees Adam at school.

1999, 2003 and 2005: GO SPURS GO!!!!

Wow!

What a game.

Glad the Spurs won it though. They really deserve it and I'm glad they pulled it out. I would have rather seen (H)Orry get the MVP, but Tim Duncan is the team leader and they followed him to the victory.

The party downtown started after the game got over and hasn't stopped yet. People started heading to the Riverwalk and SBC Center Area after the game and crowded the streets. Min and I finally went to bed around 1:30 AM and they were still showing coverage up until then.

People went to work today a little hung over.

People waited in line for hours to wait for that next shipment of t-shirts and hats.

The Western Conference 2005 Shirts are now $5 each.

The parade is tomorrow on the River at the Riverwalk at 6 PM with the party starting at 9 PM in the Alamo Dome.

As much as we'd like to... we're not dumb enough to go.

CONGRATS to Pop, Tim, Manu, Bruce, Nazr, Tony P., "Big Shot" Rob, Brent, Devon, Beno, Tony M., Radoslav, and Glenn.

Super Nachos

We had a party here last night for the students that went with me to NYC in May. We had a ton of food and looked at their design projects. All in all they were pretty good and we had a fantasic time in Manhattan (sorry Donna).

But when we have parties like this I like to try to make something new and use the guests as guinea pigs.

I'm a big Food Network fan (Min swears I've seen every episode of Iron Chef... Japan and America) and some of my favorite shows to watch are $40-A-Day and 30-Minute Meals. Both shows are hosted by Rachel Ray.

Anyways, a few weeks ago she did a show where she made these really great nachos and being the Tex-Mex junky I am, I had to try it.

To accomplish it I had to make a Beef and Black Bean topping, Japeleno Jack Cheese Sauce and Pico de Gallo... and I must say that it turned out pretty good.

Below is a link to the recipe from the Food Network site and here's a pic of what it looks like when it's done.

Rachel Ray's "Super Nachos"



I'll let Min have her blog back now...

WE WON GAME 5!!!!!

I really hate nail-biters, but I am glad that we walked away victorious from Game 5 of the NBA Finals.

The Spurs won in overtime by a score of 96-95 after a dismal Game 3 and Game 4.

They bring it back here for Game 6 on Tuesday night.

And here's a special shout-out to Robert Horry (his 21 points helped quite a bit)!

You'll never believe this...

Last night (actually early this morning) about 2am, I woke up to a rustling above my head. We have our bed in the bay window, and it sounded like there was something between the shade and the window. There was a little bit of light shining in from outside, so I could see a dark spot where something was. I was deciding whether or not to wake up Mike to take care of it (he likes to make fun of my squeamishness). As I was trying to decide it moved, and I saw that it was....



a frog. I woke up Mike and told him there was a frog in our window. That woke him up quickly, especially when he saw that I wasn't joking. He went to the kitchen and grabbed a large plastic cup and then told me to open the blinds. The frog fell down and Mike scooped it into the cup and kept it against the window. Once we slid a piece of cardboard between the cup and the window Mike threw it outside by the pond. Then we got the camera to take pictures of it. It was about the size of the palm of a hand. Originally I was afraid it was a cockroach... I think a frog is worse.

We have no idea how it got into our bedroom, or how long it has been in there. I think we will be moving our bed back to its original position soon!!!

Look what I did!!!!!

On a whim I shaved my head today.

I've always wanted to see the shape of my head, and I figured now was as good as time as any.

Min's a little upset 'cause my hair might not be grown out by Kerry's wedding and she thinks I'll ruin the pictures. But I won't.

Bald is beautiful!

Sea World San Antonio

We took the kids to Sea World on Monday. Aaron and Aimee have been many times, but this was Alex's first time. We weren't sure how much he would like it, but he really seemed to watch all the shows and liked to see the animals. It was fun to watch him getting so excited. We have so many pictures from Sea World, but we had to take more... especially of Alex, so here are a handful (believe me there are many, many more!)


The kids wanted a picture with the penguins, and the penguins stole Aaron's hat.


Alex was very intently watching the shows. He did really well, especially considering he had little or no nap.


Ain't he adorable!


All of the kids had fun playing in the water. They ended up pretty wet, but it probably felt good!



I love this picture!

Aaron's new hole in his face...

Aaron just lost his second tooth today. He is very excited. Aimee is already asking when she is going to start losing her teeth.



We have finally been able to slow down. May was a busy month. Mike had finals, grading and a trip to NY with a group of students. Aaron was wrapping up school. Aimee was finishing preschool. I was helping with costumes for the youth Jubilee that was held to celebrate the San Antonio Temple dedication.

The biggest thing we have going on this summer is a trip to Utah. Originally we had planned on staying home this summer, but my brother Kerry changed our plans for us by getting engaged. He will be getting married on July 27, so we will be spending about a month in UT... enough time to visit with everyone (hopefully) and be able to be involved with the wedding. I also have 2 cousins getting married this summer... busy summer. We won't be able to go to the first one (sorry Scott), but since Jami is getting married 3 days after Kerry we will still be around for that one. It will be great to see all the family that we haven't seen in quite a while!

My little corner of the web...

I've got a couple of friends with Blogs so I decided to try it out as a means of commenting on their posts (since you have to be a member anyways).

I'm not sure how often I will post, but at least I can.

Bye.