The Williams Family

Cabo Cruise & Andrea's Birthday Bash...

2011-03-14T19:15:00.000-07:00

For my parents' 40th wedding anniversary, we went on a 5 day cruise from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas. Everyone made arrangements to leave the 11 grandkids home and off we went!

It was an amazing trip and surpassed my expectations for fun.....

Travis and I had t-shirts made with my parents' wedding picture on the back:

My parents, Juanita and Rollin, with my sisters, Emily and Jamie, me and brother, Josh:

We swam with the dolphins in Cabo.......Everyone LOVED the wetsuits....hahaha

Travis and I swam with an 18 year old dolphin named Nacho......he was awesome

He kissed me on the cheek over and over.....it was hilarious!
My parents with Travis and me:

I got to cuddle and hold a lion cub......his name was Randy and his brother Tomas is in Jodi's arms....they are 3 months old

Travis and I on the cruise ship one evening waiting for a comedy show to begin:
This was the "elegant" evening attire....it was also lobster night. Travis was so happy about that.

Travis and I went on a 2 tank dive in Cabo. The water was so cold to me and the visibility was okay, I've been spoiled in the Caribbean.

Here is Travis saying "Hi."

Nice close-up, huh?
Posing with Pablo, the iguana (I love the sombrero)

Olivia started cheer this Spring.....how cute is she in that uniform??

Ryan doing some damage on the soccer field:
Ethan leading the pack on his team, the Suns:
Ella played a mean defender:

My 38th Birthday.......March 12th. Few things bring me as much joy in life as my birthday and good food. I love my birthday and plan for weeks all the fun I will have. I began the festivities with a red velvet cupcake from "The Coffee Shop" at Agritopia. I put it on a pretty plate and ate it in happy delight:

I also enjoyed a free car wash at Danny's Car Wash and then picked up a free dozen at Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. (for the kids, of course. I don't want to look like a complete PIG)

Then it was off the Liberty Market with my mom and sisters for brunch (also free on your birthday)

My family showered me with wonderful gifts and cards. Even Max the cat was included in a card.

I also saw 2 movies (free popcorn at Harkins on your birthday) and went to dinner at Joe's Farmgrill (also free on your birthday) I had an ahi tuna burger and sweet potato fries. It was all delicious. I'd have to say the theme of my day was "See how much free stuff you can get on your birthday"......not too bad.

We celebrated the next day with the rest of my family, including my brother-in-law, Christian's, birthday, which was on the 10th. He is holding Paisley, my niece and we are sharing a not so attractive, but delicious cake that I made.

Of Things That Matter Most...

2011-01-02T14:51:00.000-08:00

A couple months ago I was called to serve as 2nd counselor in Relief Society. This means I teach the lesson every 3 months and today was my day....

I got to choose the topic (which makes it all the harder in many ways) so I picked a conference talk that stood out to me in October by President Uchtdorf, "Of Things That Matter Most."

This is a time of resolutions and fresh starts and deciding what is working or not working in my life. It was such a great lesson for me to evaluate my life and the past year. In some ways, I've allowed myself to get distracted by many things. President Uchtdorf stressed the importance of getting back to the basics in the Gospel. There are 4 key relationships that matter most in our lives: our relationship with God, our families, our fellowman, and ourselves.

I'm so thankful for living prophets to give guidance that is relevant to my life. It helps keep me on track or get back when I wander off a little.

Here is what our family has been up to lately:

Olivia is 12 years old and in 7th grade at Highland Junior High School.

She plays violin in Orchestra and recently made the Cheer Squad that will cheer for girls' basketball in the Spring. She continues to take piano lessons and started a cheer class to learn tumbling and jumps. She is so into make up, hair, clothes, jewelry and shopping.......it is a scary thing! She earns her own money babysitting and is very good at it. She is a loving, kind, talented, beautiful girl and I can't believe she is my daughter!

Ethan is 8 years old and in the second grade at Challenger Basic School. He continues to astonish everyone with his intelligence and quick wit. His teachers have all discovered how helpful he is to other students in need so he continues with the unofficial role of student helper. He plays soccer, rides his bike, plays with friends and recently started rollerblading. He also excels at piano, which he started this past summer. His greatest passion in life is the Wii. He would play it 24 hours a day if we let him.

Ella is 8 and also in the second grade at Challenger Basic School. She keeps Travis and I entertained with the most interesting and hilarious comments about life. She is a prankster and loves to watch for "slug bugs" while driving around. It's a game Travis started with the kids whenever they see a VW Bug they call out "Slug Bug" first and they get to slug someone. If the Bug has a convertible top it's worth 2 slugs. So the other day Ella shouted out "Slug Bug with a hoodie!" So now we call all convertibles "hoodies."

Ella takes tumbling and piano lessons, usually begrudgingly......she is our resident home body and loves to just hang out. She is social, creative, loves to cook and bake, and play with cousins and friends. I just love this girl and find joy in her sweet personality!

Ryan is now 6 and in kindergarten all day at Challenger Basic School. He is our "Little Man." He has looked like one since birth but sure loves his role as the youngest in our family. Everyone who knows Ryan, school and church teachers, other parents, love and appreciate Ryan and his sense of humor. He keeps everyone entertained with his candid comments about EVERYTHING. He wears his feelings on his sleeve and leaves nothing unsaid. We repeatedly have to talk to him about what is appropriate to share. We never know what to expect next. Those big brown eyes and mischievous smile make my heart melt.

I surprised Travis on Thanksgiving Eve with a new truck he was drooling over. I made all the arrangements with Brian Jones Ford Dealership in Wickenburg.....it was the most fun I've had in a while. I had it parked in my sister's garage and made up a story to stop by. I opened the garage and he was completely shocked! He couldn't believe, a. I knew how to contact the dealership, and b. I would by a vehicle without his knowledge.

I loved doing it and think I might win "Wife of the Year" for this stunt.......

Thankgiving Day at my parents:

The Phoenix Zoo with our friends Morgan and Hayden:

Our family at the Mesa Arizona Temple Lights:
My mom with her grandgirls.....she made them cute necklaces:

Our annual cookie decorating party:

Ella and me in our kitchen:

Christmas Eve, Olivia plays for Uncle Morgan:

Grandpa Williams took us all for a hay ride around the neighborhood while we sang Christmas carols:

Travis and the kids with Uncle Morgan and Grandpa:

The kids in their new jammies right before climbing into bed......they were panicked Santa would pass our house if they didn't get to bed quick!

Ryan got his wish and Santa delivered him a fish....oh what fun!

Our family with Grandma and Grandpa Adams:

Ella got a karaoke for Christmas.......she sang non stop ALL day........Taylor Swift, no less.
Olivia got a pair of "Glitter Toms" and was thrilled:
Even Ruby got a couple new toys and treats:
Olivia bought me a darling shirt and necklace with her own money:
Ethan gets suited up to try out his rollerblades:
Olivia got Travis a shirt from American Eagle:
My dad gave my mom a beach cruiser bike......she was so adorable and excited! She rode it up and down the street several times:
Ella got rollerskates and a pillow pet.....she was in heaven:

Travis and me, both sleep-deprived, but happy to see our family have such a joyful experience.

Happy New Year!

I am Thankful

2010-11-21T18:40:00.001-08:00

With Thanksgiving only days away, I have been thinking a lot about what I am thankful for. There has been lots of talk of gratitude lately......church lessons, general conference talks, stake conference addresses.

Someone once told me that saying "thank you" is one of the most important words spoken.

I agree. I heard a quote by Pres. Monson that said, "Often we feel grateful and intend to express our thanks but forget to do so or just don’t get around to it. Someone has said that “feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.

I want to express some of the things I am most grateful for:

My husband, Travis.......

I am so blessed to be married to this man. He is my best friend and the one person in the world I always want to be with. I love him and love spending time with him, I never tire of it. After almost 20 years together, that says A LOT.

Here we are in Vegas in September...

We also went to Disneyland to make use of our soon to expire annual passports. Just the 2 of us. What a blast!

My family means everything to me. Here we are at the temple grounds of the Gilbert Temple:

My kids bring me so much joy....(and frustration, insanity and humility)

We attended the groundbreaking ceremony last weekend...
I am thankful for my talents....

This may sound odd to express but I truly feel blessed for the talents and abilities that I've been given.

My sister hosted a baby shower for her sister-in-law and the theme was "Sock Monkey."

I volunteered to make sugar cookies......I didn't realize I would have to attempt to make them look like the themed monkey!

Jamie was sweet to point out that this is a talent I have. I love to cook and bake and I guess it can be considered a talent. Might I mention that my husband didn't have so much faith in my "decorating" ability. He told me I'm a good baker, just not so experienced with the decorating. He recanted after I proved him wrong.
My crazy crew on Halloween...
I am thankful for my wonderful church ward.

We had such a fabulous ward Halloween party. It's an annual family favorite!
I am thankful to be able to have FUN with my family.....

We took the kids to Disneyland for Fall Break. I am so thankful that we can do this each year with our kids. They love it and look forward to it all year. It brings us closer together.....

I love this picture of my boys in an embrace.
Ethan in full Disney gear....Goofy hat, pin lanyard and of course, an ice cream bar. I complain to him, but I love how messy he gets when he eats ANYTHING. Such a sweet boy.

I am thankful for my tween, Olivia. She is such an amazing young woman. Despite my flawed parenting, she is turning into a little lady any mom would be proud of. I am thankful for her kindness, goodness and all the unique qualities that make her my Livi Lou.

I just adore my sweet Ella. She is such a girlie girl. She loves music, dancing, singing and all things girlie. I am especially thankful for her life. She is a miracle. I am thankful for the great annual checkup she just had. The specialists at Phoenix Children's Hospital are amazed with her resilience and good health. She is my reminder that Heavenly Father performs miracles.

We stayed at the Grand Californian Villas......2 bedroom, 3 bathroom condo right next to California Adventure Park. It was so luxurious! Sadly, I may be spoiled for life.
I love the absolute joy and excitement in my kids' faces. They were watching a parade and loving it.

I am thankful for how much my family loves each other. This is priceless.
My silly boy with all his artifacts following his flu shot appointment. Yes, I bribe with ice cream and treats.

I am thankful for our little dog Ruby. She is such a delight in our family. I just love her!

I am thankful for the Gospel, my Heavenly Father and Savior, Jesus Christ.

I am thankful for opportunities to work in the Church and serve such amazing people in my ward. After 9 years in the ward, they are honestly my extended family.

I am thankful for the Young Women of my ward. I was blessed to serve them the past year and a half, mainly the Beehives. (12-13 year olds) I was recently released and miss them terribly.

They love so unconditionally and taught me more about kindness, friendship and integrity than I think I was able to teach them.

A beautiful scan......and a chance celebrity siting

2010-09-22T16:48:00.000-07:00

Travis has his semi-annual MRI and check up yesterday. Boy, that comes faster than it should. So we headed down to St. Joseph's Hospital in the morning first for his scan and then for a visit with his doctor, Dr. Brachman. We know the drill all too well since we've been doing it for a couple years now.

Travis is always a little stressed and apprehensive about the MRI. He had a bad experience with nausea early on and it left a bad association. Fortunately, with all the practice, he has gotten really good at it! The scan went smoothly and quickly. We then met with Dr. Brachman. He was in a meeting so we had to wait a while, but when he finally entered the room he said, "The scan looks beautiful!"

We were so relieved!

The tumor is even more difficult to see since the last scan and the contrast between the tumor and brain stem is difficult to differentiate. We were just so happy to get great news.

The doctor also said that we can start coming just once a year for check ups. Wow! We like that.

The only "symptom" or problem Travis is having is from the surgery. He has tightness in the muscles and tendons that were cut during the surgery. He will begin some physical therapy to help that out.

We got a last minute call from our friends at Make a Wish with box tickets to the D-Backs game last night. The seats were right behind home plate........amazing seats.

The kids were so excited and we settled into our seats to watch the game. A few minutes later, a group came from the field tunnel and sat down a couple rows in front of us. I noticed one of the girls looked vaguely familiar. In fact, I thought she looked like Kristen Stewart who plays Bella in the Twilight movies. She has bleached out frizzy hair and no makeup on. She was wearing a sleeveless, thin white t-shirt with a black bra under it. She has on slouchy skinny jeans and dirty white vans on. Very casual, almost grungy. So I took a picture of her with my I-phone. But I wasn't completely sure. Then a dad with his daughter approached her and took a picture with her. It was Kristen Stewart!!!

So I grabbed my camera and Olivia and walked up to her. She was sweet to let me get her picture with Olivia. She didn't stay long so I'm glad I took advantage of the opportunity when I did.

Kind of cool, huh?

It was a great day. I am very thankful for the amazing restoration of health Travis has experienced. As always, I am reminded of a loving Heavenly Father who continues to bless me and my family.

lots of birthdays and lost teeth...

2010-09-13T22:41:00.000-07:00

Today is my sweet baby boy, Ryan's, 6th birthday.

This is me ready to leave for the hospital exactly 6 years ago today to deliver Ryan.

Travis with Ryan at the hospital. Ryan was born almost 9 1/2 pounds so he looked like a 3 month old at birth! He was the cutest baby ever.......

Now he goes to school all day, he just lost his first 2 teeth and he is growing up fast. It's a thrill to watch him have these experiences but a part of me is sad. I know all moms go through this......but it's one thing to hear about it and entirely different to live it. He still lets me kiss and hug him, read him stories and tuck him in at night; but things are changing and it's the beginning of a new era for me. (and him)

Ryan, I love you so much. You were the best surprise of my life. Thanks for your silly humor, your energy, your funny faces and mannerisms and your sweet, cuddly ways. You light up a room and everyone loves to be around you. You have many gifts and talents and I can't wait to see what you do with them.

Happy Birthday!!!

We celebrated with homemade pizza. We have a tradition on birthdays....I make the birthday honoree whatever dinner they desire. Ryan is a picky eater. That's no secret. When I asked him what I could make him, he said, "Chick Fil-A." I stated that this was NOT a homemade meal. He then said, "Orange Chicken from Panda Express." I told him again, that this was NOT a homemade meal. Finally, he said that I could make pizza, since this can be made at home. He sure knows how to make me feel good.

Travis and Ryan working on a new Legos Star Wars set.
Ryan making his wish and blowing out his candle at his party this afternoon.
The "Party Bus"........Ryan with his buddies from last years' preschool. He loves those boys!

I need to recap the past several weeks........we have been partying non-stop and I am offically partied OUT!

Ethan and Ella turned 8 on August 7th.

We started the day with a trip to Krispy Kreme for their free dozen doughnuts.

They were so excited to get a dozen ALL to themselves. Thankfully, they shared.

We did double duty with the birthday parties.

Ella got the first party in the AM:

Ella chose vanilla cupcakes. By the way, her dinner choice was crepes. We had them for brunch on Sunday.....

Ella has a swim party with LOTS of girls. They were adorable and such great guests.

Ethan has his party in the PM and it was pretty much a "do over" of the morning party, except with LOTS of boys. They too, were adorable, but I was worn out by then.

Ethan making a wish with his chocolate cupcake. His dinner choice was rotisserie chicken with garlic mashed potatoes and french bread. (I picked the chicken up at Bashas...is that cheating?)

Ella has been wanting a DS like the boys, so we finally got her one:

Travis wanted to get Ethan his first pocket knife...a Swiss Army Knife. Very dangerous and very trusting of us parents to give to an 8 year old.

FYI...Travis confiscated it shortly after when he over heard Ethan and Ella arguing and Ethan stating, while holding the knife, "I will defend myself." YIKES!!! I'm not sure when he will get it back......
Since the kids turned 8, our family tradition is giving them a set of scriptures with their names engraved on them.

Fast forward 8 days to August 15th.......

Travis and Olivia share a birthday. Poor Travis continues to get the short end of the stick.

But I did make him his favorite cake...his mom's German Chocolate Cake.

Olivia turned 12 and received her long awaited cell phone. Again, YIKES! I'm not sure we are ready for this. She is growing up so fast. What a beautiful, mature and sweet girl she is. I am so thankful to be her mom. She makes me so proud. She is creative, imaginative, is great with the kids, (when she chooses to be) is so helpful around the house when I ask her. She is a fiercely loyal friend and loves to laugh. What a lucky mom I am! I'm also so proud of her for hanging in there with the piano. (it's a family rule that she takes lessons and practices everyday even though it's not her choice) I love you, Livs!

Travis received some golf shoes, balls and a new glove. (we are still paying for his

Father's Day gift, the I-Pad!)
Olivia became a Beehive in church! The Beehive class decorated our front door with lots of sweet messages and Beehive paraphernalia and cookies. I love this picture because Ruby is peeking out the window. So cute!

Olivia had a party with lots of friends and played, "Minute to Win it." It was such a blast!

Olivia makes a wish and enjoys her cupcake. (I have made approximately 96 cupcakes in the past 5 weeks)

Now onto the next BIG event in our family........

Ethan and Ella get baptized.

What a special day. I love to see Ethan in his first suit and Ella all in white. They are such beautiful and special kids. I'm truly grateful to have a wonderful husband who holds the Priesthood and is able to baptize our kids.

We have such a supportive family. Here is the Adams side:

Here is the Williams side:

We also had lots of friends and loved ones come and support our family. We love all our amazing friends and family!

Following the baptism and confirmation, we had a "dessert bar" at our home. It was scrumptious and everyone ate themselves silly with desserts.

And of course, here we have the "First Day of School".

Ethan and Ella became 2nd graders while Ryan started kindergarten....ALL day!

And here we have our big junior high girl.....ooooh! Olivia begins 7th grade.

How cute is she? For the first time in her life, she is riding the bus too! She gets up at the crack of dawn to get beautified and get ready. She is kind of a slow mover in the morning. She is doing remarkably well and I'm so proud of her. Sadly, she told me that she does miss 6th grade. It's hard to change classes every hour and have so many teachers. She is still adjusting but doing an amazing job in all her classes so far!

Lastly, I must report that we have a record number of lost teeth in the Williams home.

On July 26th, Ella lost her first top front tooth. I yanked it with the pliers, and unfortunately it took a couple tries. She was a great sport but it got her a little nervous for the next go round.

Almost a month and a half later, on September 10th, we got the second one out. I worked on it for a week and it was not a fun experience. I finally got it out with the pliers after 2 hours of wiggling it last Friday night. Her permanent teeth were almost completely grown in behind the baby teeth. Did I mention I have sharks for kids when it comes to teeth?

On August 24th, Ryan lost his first bottom baby tooth. He too, had his permanent teeth growing in behind them and it was overdue to get those babies out of there. I had to hold him down and coerce him into letting me pull it out. He was hysterical. Can you tell how much he'd been crying in this picture?

2 weeks later we got the other one out with about the same amount of drama. This time I yanked it out using a washcloth. Not bad. I didn't even go to dental school. He recovered more quickly on this one. The tooth fairy has been very busy in our home and overly generous. OUCH!

The Last 2 Months

2010-06-28T16:13:00.000-07:00

I've been in a blog slump........overwhelmed with life, I guess. A few friends have commented that I need to update. I couldn't agree more. Our family has had many experiences over the past couple months that are quite note-worthy, in my opinion. So here goes.......

Father's Day

What a happy bunch. Ruby the dog, was sitting at the end of the bed all propped up in a funny pose. It made everyone laugh SO hard.

The traditional breakfast in bed. It was actually about 11:45. We had early church so crepes had to wait until after.
Kori, Kelee and me at Kelee's cabin in Pinetop.
3 women and 12 kids........what were we thinking? Kidding, it was such a blast! Everyone had the best time.
We ate, played, ate and played some more. The only thing that we didn't do a lot of was sleep. At night, kids were strewn all over the house. By the last night, everyone crashed hard!
Ethan lost his front tooth......

A few weeks later he lost his other one. No more "Snaggle-Tooth." He won't miss that nickname.

Ella did a summer theatre camp called "That's Entertainment." She loved it. Travis and I were so impressed with how well she did on stage. She loved being up there! She was so animated and cute. She knew all the words and choreography. I loved watching her practice the songs at home with the CD they gave her. Ella is the last one on the top right.

Ella with Miss Jenee. I have known Jenee since junior high. She is a very talented lady!

Ella's cheering section: Ryan, cousin Parris, cousin Miah and Ethan.

Proud parents:
Ella's co-star, Miah.
Olivia with her friend, Peighten at a swim meet. They get up very early 4 mornings a week and do swim team.

3rd Annual Memorial Day Campout

Grandpa Adams cooking breakfast in his "kitchen." He always makes a hearty breakfast with pancakes, eggs, sausage, bacon, hot chocolate. He is literally Grizzly Adams and makes the trip so nice.

Everyone sitting around the campfire. My favorite part is sipping hot chocolate in the cold morning in front of the campfire. OOH, and the smores.
Ella and Olivia found an unfinished fort. They added some "homey" touches that took them all day!
Grandma Adams plays with the kids so well. They love it. She played a clothespin game that didn't go over well though. Everyone gets 5 clothespins attached to their shirt. The object is to get as many clothespins from the others playing.....the one with the most wins. My kids are bad losers and cried more than anything else.

My gang at the top of our hike. Ruby got so dirty. She knew it and seemed embarrassed by how dirty she was.
Our hiking group on top of the mountain.
We brought rope to make a swing for the kids.

My dad and Travis took the kids fishing to Tonto Creek one day. Olivia loves to fish!

Every kid caught a fish. They all wanted to keep them so we had lots of fish to eat that day.
Travis helping the twins practice hitting a target with the BB gun.

Ethan and Ella at their school program. They sang patriotic songs and poems. My favorite was "50 Nifty United States." They know all 50 states and in alphabetical order!

Ethan and Ella with their teacher, Ms. Matthew.

Ethan was awarded top Spelling and Math student in his 1st grade class.

Ryan graduates from Preschool:

Ryan has the best year with his buddies: Lincoln, Ryan M. and Sam. Miss Christi called them the "Party Bus" because we carpooled them all together each day. They had so much fun together!

Ryan with Miss Christi

Grandpa and Grandma Adams

Summer is HERE!

Travis took a fly-fishing trip with a few friends down the Lower Sacramento River. The fishing was just okay but the trip was a great one for Travis.

Travis with Josh, Shaun and Dennis
No, this isn't Travis' new girlfriend.......it's River Guide Brooke.
Travis with his brothers, grandma and dad at a BBQ get-together in our front yard.
Travis graduated from ASU Law School 10 years ago. To celebrate this anniversary, we meet his buddies from school in Vegas and rented a house for a few days. It was fun to catch up, reminisce, joke around and find out about each others' families.

On the second day, the girls went shopping and left the guys at the house. After an hour, they called and said Greg needed Jen. We knew something bad happened. Apparently, Mark decided it would be fun to jump off the roof into the "play" pool. He did so successfully, so Greg followed after him. He wasn't so lucky.

After over 3 hours in the ER, he found out he had broken both heels, had soft tissue damage, couldn't walk for at least 6 weeks and might need surgery. Mark felt terrible so he bought a used wheelchair at a thrift store. Greg and Jen have 6 kids and 1 foster kid back at home. Everyone was freaked out. Greg and Jen have great attitudes about it and took it all in stride.

What happens in Vegas does NOT always stay in Vegas!!!!

An update on our "Little Piggy." (not so little anymore) We are seeing how fat we can get him.
Ethan playing his first season of coach pitch baseball. He loved it!
Mother's Day.....

Next to my birthday, this is my favorite day of the year. Breakfast in bed, long nap, gifts. Travis and the kids take such great care of me. I received homemade gifts, cards and presents from Anthropologie. Way to go, babe! This is not Travis' favorite day. It's hard work but I appreciate and love every second of it. Love you, honey!
Olivia entered a local Cinderella Pageant. She did so well! She was beautiful and poised on stage. She played a piano piece, "Clare de Lune" by Debussy. She won runner up to top talent.

She was so confident on stage. I was so proud of her!
Her best friends came to support her: Kylie, Emily, Megan and Hannah.

BYU Women's Conference

I was lucky enough to get to go to Utah for Women's Conference on BYU campus. I love being in Utah. I grew up there and it is a very nostalgic place for me. It was unseasonably cold and snowed on us. This is the last day and the only day I remember seeing blue skies. Isn't Mount Timpanogas amazing? I miss those mountains.

I got to go with the greatest ladies: Tiffany, Kelee and Susan. We had such a blast shopping, eating, going to classes, movies, and talking.......boy! Did we talk. It was so much fun!

I met up with my mom near the end and went to a couple classes with her and her old BYU college roommate from over 40 years ago, Rose. They have kept in touch all these years!

Whew! There it is. A lot happens in our family over a couple months. I have learned my lesson.

I am so grateful for the experiences I get to have with my family and friends. I am so blessed.

I can't wait for the rest of the summer. We have lots more fun planned!

Much Ado About Nothing

2010-04-13T15:34:00.000-07:00

Yes, that is me and Travis with Tom Hanks. This was one of the craziest, most surreal experiences I've ever had! Let me explain how we ended up here:

On Monday, Travis and I drove over to LA to attend the 20th anniversary of "Simply Shakespeare," a celebrity reading of a Shakespeare comedy that raises money for The Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles. Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson are the chairs of this event each year. We got tickets from Cameron and Peggi, Travis' brother and sister-in-law, because they couldn't make it. They got the tickets because they bid on them at an auction and fundraiser.

The reading was at The Broad Stage in Santa Monica. We found a hotel on Priceline as we were driving into LA and stopped there to change and freshen up. The theatre was full of well-to-do, LA-based, upper-crust patrons. I felt a little out of place.......but was thrilled to be there.

We found our seats, we had great seats on the Orchestra level, and listened to the music of Jackson Browne while we waited for the show to begin. Then, Rita Wilson, Julia Roberts, Helen Hunt and Nikki Reed came out on the stage. They danced around then came down into the audience and then exited. They came back with the rest of the celebrity cast, including Tom Hanks, Ewan McGregor, Keanu Reeves, Dana Carvey, Martin Sheen and other faces I recognized from TV and movies. They proceeded to do a script reading of "Much Ado About Nothing."

After a little while, some of the actors started making jokes and ad libbing a bit. Tom Hanks and Dana Carvey were the funniest. Dana Carvey did all his voice impressions of Pres. Bush and W. He did stuff from SNL and Forrest Gump. It was hilarious. One of the cast members pulled out a picture of Woody from Toy Story 3 and asked for an autograph. Tom Hanks did a small plug for the upcoming movie.

When the show was over, a dessert reception in the lobby followed. We hung out a while, hoping to see a few of the celebrity cast. I had just fixed a plate of treats, when Travis grabbed me and told me to put my food down. A group of kids and their leaders were being ushered back into the theatre. We joined them as if we were with them. They sat down on the second row and Tom Hanks came over to talk to them. We waited until he was done, then I said, "Mr. Hanks, my sister-in-law gave me her ticket and all she asked me was to get your autograph and a picture with you. Would you mind?" Tom Hanks was so kind and friendly, and invited us up on the stage. He talked to us for a couple minutes and was extremely engaging. It was amazing!

This is me with Rita Wilson and Jackson Browne (musician). Rita is such a sweet lady: (do I look a little giddy?)

Travis with Ewan McGregor (Travis wished he had a light saber for him to autograph):
Me with Keanu Reeves:

The whole cast on stage: (check out Julia Roberts on the far left)

Nikki Reed is in the center (in a dress) and Dana Carvey is far right:
Is that unbelievable, or what? Man, it's so much fun hobnobbing with the rich and famous.

Sign me up to do it again next year.......

a great update

2010-03-10T19:20:00.001-08:00

It's that time again..........I know lots of people wonder and don't want to ask, but Travis had his semi-annual MRI and check-up this afternoon.

The past week both of us have felt a bit anxious. I didn't expect anything but good news, but the not knowing can get to me a little.

Thankfully, the news is FANTASTIC........the tumor looks to be about 40% of the original size!!! It's behaving very well.

Travis feels SO good. Life is great, work is busy, our family is happy and everyone is healthy and well. In fact, when concerned friends and family ask, "How do you feel?" honestly, that puts Travis off a bit. Only because he feels completely normal. That tumor doesn't affect how he "feels" at all. We just happen to know it's there.....that's all. Unfortunately, it's hard for others to not let a "brain tumor" define someone they know. "Oh, you know he has a brain tumor, right?"........that kind of definition.

Sorry, I just had to mention that. We LOVE, LOVE, LOVE all our friends and family. We are so grateful for the concern and love sent our way. We still appreciate your continued prayers and welcome lemon raspberry bundt cakes. But for the record, Travis is the same Travis and except for our knowledge of the tumor, life is business as usual.

We are truly full of gratitude for this blessed news! Thank you to our wonderful network of supporters......we love you all so much! Most of all, we are thankful to our Heavenly Father....He continues to bless us. We know he loves us and watches over our family.

when life gives you lemons.....

2010-02-09T08:31:00.001-08:00

we have a lemon tree in our backyard.

it has been a good little lemon tree since we planted it 7 years ago.

the first season it gave us about 2 lemons. the next season it gave us a few more.

Then, a couple seasons later all the blossoms blew off during a terrible storm and we had no lemons that year.

but this year was different.

I wish i had a picture of all the lemons we picked......typical of me to think of these things after the fact.

we picked literally hundreds of lemons over the weekend.

it was amazing........aren't they beautiful?

travis bribed the kids to finish the job....2 dollars each. our youngest was the most motivated

so if you are one of the lucky ones to receive a bag of these lemons, enjoy!

if I haven't made it to your house.......i still have lots left! Just let me know how many you want!

by the way, I think my kids will be doing a lemonade stand later this week.

is it too cold for lemonade?

It's been 15 years!

2009-12-27T18:37:00.000-08:00

Happy Anniversary to my sweetie pie husband!

15 years ago today Travis and I were married in the Mesa Arizona Temple.

We were both college students in between semesters and Tuesday, December 27th was the only day the temple was open. In retrospect, I realize how crazy a time of year this was for our families, but I wouldn't change a single thing.

Here's a glimpse of us on that glorious day back in 1994:

So Travis, I just want you to know what an amazing, wonderful and eventful 15 years it has been for me. You have been everything I dreamed of in a husband and more than I could ever have imagined. You are a loving, fun and patient dad. For that, I am so grateful.

You always strive for excellence in everything you do and your example motivates me to be a better person. I am grateful for your testimony of the gospel, the way you honor your priesthood and preside over our family. You are my best friend, my partner in parenting, my eternal companion, the person I want to be with more than anyone else in the world. I love you more and more each year.

Happy anniversary!

Christmas Greetings

2009-12-22T11:14:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!

It's hard to believe Christmas is here again and 2009 is nearly over. We have had such an eventful year......full of good health, happy family memories and lots of travel; we have truly been blessed. Here is an update on our little family:

Travis surprised me with a trip to New York City in early December. I went with my dear friend, Kaley and had the time of my life. I was completely enamored with that city and loved every minute I got to spend there. I saw a couple of shows, walked a ton and did lots of shopping. We visited the Today Show and even made a sign for our husbands. (incidentally, the sign did make it on the show!) The city at Christmas time was breathtaking and such a spectacular sight. We shopped on 5th Avenue, had frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity, went to the top of the Empire State Building. I can't wait to go back with Travis someday.......hopefully soon!

Travis is keeping busy with work and is taking such good care of us. His law practice is doing very well and for that we are enormously grateful. He continues to love fly-fishing. He took a fishing trip to Southern Utah with a few good friends and had an amazing time.

Our family enjoyed spending Thanksgiving weekend in Greer with Travis' family. It was a perfect weekend for family time. We even got to play in the snow. The kids loved fishing at the ponds at the resort and exploring the grounds. It is such a beautiful place!

Olivia (11) is in 6th grade and having a great year. She continues to play piano and the violin. She is such a creative girl. She loves to draw and read. I often find her late at night in bed reading. She loves drama and got a part in the school play of "Alice in Wonderland." She has even started babysitting for a couple of darling families we know. She loves growing up and getting more responsibilities. It is so rewarding to be her parents and watch her grow into such a lovely, sweet young woman!

Ethan (7) is in the 1st grade and continues to baffle and entertain us. School comes so easy to him and his teacher is delighted to have him in her class. She calls him a "dream student." She puts him to work helping other students. He also enjoys to read and has been reading chapter books all year. He his quite a soccer player and enjoyed having Travis coach his team this year. He is a little obsessed with playing the Wii and would play it all day if we let him.

Ella (7) is in the 1st grade and is doing fabulously in school. She is such a little mother in our home. She is my helper and loves to work in the kitchen with me. She is very social and enjoys playing with her cousins and friends whenever possible. She loves to dance and sing. It makes me smile when I hear her making up words to songs because she doesn't know the song. But she just sings out! She always makes music requests while riding in the car. She also played soccer and loved having Travis be her coach. In May, we celebrated Ella's 5 year mark since she was diagnosed with Leukemia. She continues to have excellent health. We are so grateful!

Ryan (5) is in his 3rd and last year of preschool. He is my little buddy during the day and I am going to miss him like crazy when he goes off the kindergarten next August. He is extremely social and wants to know each day who he gets to play with. His favorite friends are his schoolmates; Ryan, Sam and Lincoln. A perfect day for Ryan is hanging out with one of these boys. Ryan is a sweet, funny boy who has the role of family clown. We all love that he looks like a little man with a huge head. He still plays the game at dinner.......how many bites do I need to eat. Any suggestions on how to end this?

This has been a year of celebration. We enjoyed a family trip to Florida for a Disney Cruise in January; we had a wonderful trip to Utah and Lake Powell this summer; Travis and I went on a Caribbean cruise in October and we took the kids to Disneyland in November. It's been quite amazing and unforgettable!

We have every reason to be grateful for the many blessings we have received from our Heavenly Father. Travis continues to get check ups twice a year and his health is excellent. We have witnessed miracles in our family more than once and have such gratitude for how loving our Heavenly Father is. He has answered many of our prayers by sending such wonderful friends and family to serve and love us.

We love this time of year because we get to celebrate and honor our Savior, Jesus Christ. We are most grateful for his life, his example and his atonement. We wish you every happiness in the upcoming year. We send our love to all of you!

Our Annual Trip to the Happiest Place on Earth

2009-11-22T18:56:00.000-08:00

We have a special Williams Family tradition. It is SERIOUS and UNCOMPROMISING.

We take the kids to Disneyland every fall. It's just something we always do. It started when the twins were about 12 weeks old and we don't consider missing it. Travis described it best when he said that going to Disneyland in November is the best because it combines two of his favorite things- Christmas and Disneyland.

The Christmas decorations are all up and Christmas music plays throughout the park. It snows on Main Street during the parades and the characters are all dressed in their Christmas best. It's hard not to get swept up in the spirit of the season.........it is such pure bliss of our whole family.

We stayed 3 days this time........ barely enough time to get our fill. But we enjoyed every moment and love the memories it creates for our little family.

Our first morning on Main Street. So festive! We were so excited!

Travis' favorite ride is the Matterhorn. It's taken some coercing but we can get all the kids on it now without crying involved. The compromise is that we cover Ella and Ryan's eyes during the snow monster part. It really scares them.

Ryan is not too jazzed but we bribed him with a "special" treat if he went on the ride.

Olivia is a pro.

Ella was completely enchanted by the characters, especially the fairies. There is a new exhibit called Pixie Hollow where you can visit the fairies. We waited almost an hour for this. (the longest we waited for anything that week) Ella loved Tinkerbell and Terrance from the latest movie "Lost Treasure."

She also met Rosetta, another fairy.

Of course, she was thrilled to get a moment with Minnie Mouse.

Ella and Ryan both were happy to see Pluto.

Ryan is on a "Cars" kick. He has a Cars racing jacket and was only too happy to hang out by "Lightning McQueen."

Olivia is a pin collector. She wears them and trades with Disney employees in the park. She always get a new one on each visit.Travis and the kids on Grizzly River Run. Notice that I'm NOT on the ride. I rode it once and that was good for me. I usually get soaked.

Mickey's Fun Wheel is a family favorite. We always sit in the ones that swing around. It's fun but a little bit scary. (I get scared) It's a combination of the height and swinging........UUUUGH

We all love the treats.....the cotton candy, churros, ice cream, pizza, Coke. We eat so junky when we are at Disneyland. It's crazy!

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Another family favorite......
The biggest shocker for me was Ethan and Ella fell in LOVE with California Screamin'. It was the first time they were tall enough to ride and this ride was their absolute FAVORITE! It's all they wanted to ride. They asked over and over to go ride it. Finally on the last day we let them ride it about 5 times each. They got in the single rider line and just rode it over and over. It cracked us up. No fear. None.
What a great time we all had. It's something we do with our kids that we all love and will always enjoy doing together. We LOVE our Disneyland tradition. Travis and I are the biggest kids of all and plan to go alone in a couple of months. (Yes, without the kids) We can't wait!

Our Western Caribbean Cruise

2009-11-08T20:54:00.000-08:00

Travis and I recently spent a week in the Caribbean. We've always wanted to take a cruise there and finally actually did it. We had an amazing time full of lots of adventures. We flew into Miami on a red eye flight on a Friday night. We got on the "Liberty of the Seas" on Saturday.

The ship was incredible. It was a resort on water............it even had an ice skating rink on board. There were almost 4000 guests on our cruise. Most of them were from Europe, I think. We heard many different languages spoken. We were surprised when we heard people speak English. We had the most fun people watching. Seriously, I would plan to read a book by the pool then find myself checking people out for an hour. It was unbelievable to see how many men wore speedos. I am talking about men who can't see their feet and have NO business in a speedo, much less a swimsuit. If that wasn't interesting enough, the majority of women wore bikinis. These were not "bikini worthy" bodies, either. Thus, the people watching. It was pure entertainment. You've got to love it!

Our dinner table was by the window. We got to watch the sun set each night as we ate a delicious dinner. Yes, I did gain 5 pounds and am still paying for it. The food was way better than I expected. I thoroughly looked forward to dinner each evening. Travis and I usually ended up ordering more than one appetizer, entree and dessert each. The food was "inclusive" so why not?

There was an area on deck 5 called the "Promenade" with shops and restaurants. It felt like a mall. It was so much fun to walk around there in the evenings. There was a pizza place called "Serrento's" that was open 24 hours. Sadly, we did hit it around 11:30 pm one night. We got used to eating about every 2 hours and couldn't resist all the free food. There was also a Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream Parlor. I am not proud to say that we hit that place a couple of times as well. Travis entered a drawing for an amber and silver necklace at a jewelry event and he won it!

Our first stop on Monday was Haiti. We had lots planned here in Labadee. One of which was parasailing.....something I have been dying to do forever.

It didn't disappoint. It was spectacular! We went up at least 300 feet into the air. The view was gorgeous. Haiti is lush and green and the water is so clear and blue.

After parasailing, we hung out on the beach for a while and even played in the area with all kinds of inflatable toys. Travis and I were like kids in there. We played hard! We did this tetter totter thing, jumped on a tramp, went down a slide and climbed a floating rock wall. (I fell off this while trying to jump off and got a nice welt on my thigh.)

We then got to go jet skiing for a while before getting back on the ship. On our way back to the beach on the jet skis, I noticed some men in canoes paddling out to us. We stopped to wait for the rest of our group and these men approached us with all kinds of handmade souvenirs they were selling. I started looking at these cool wood carved masks and picked out a couple things. The guy was missing all kinds of teeth and didn't speak English. We somehow negotiated a price and he gave me a receipt so I could pay when I got back to the dock. It was kind of cool. When we got back to the ship we were wiped out. I haven't played that hard in a long time.

The ship was full of things to do. We tried out the rock-climbing wall. It was HIGH! It was on the 14th floor and as I climbed I realized how freaked out I was getting. I didn't want to chicken out even though I really wanted to so I just kept climbing until I could reach the bell and ring it. I couldn't even look around or I knew I would loose it!

Travis did much better. He claims he wasn't afraid of the height.

There was also something called the "Flowrider." It was a wave pool where you could boogie board. Travis LOVED it. I even tried it a couple of times. It was lots of fun. It was even fun hanging out just watching other people. By the end of the week, people were getting really good at it. Travis got good at a few tricks, including ditching the board and just body surfing. So cool.

Our second stop was in Jamaica. We figured we would go check out the shops. Within 30 minutes we were offered "Bob Marley" or "some special stuff" at least 3 times and I was a little in fear of my safety. We were warned about this and quickly realized that lots of people must come to Jamaica for this reason. I decided that I was done with Jamaica and we went back to the ship. I was still exhausted from our fun day in Labadee the day before.

Our 3rd day was spent in Grand Cayman. This was something Travis and I had anticipated for a long time because we planned to scuba dive here. We got up early and met our group by the dive shop on board. Sadly, it was cloudy and raining. Not good for visibility when diving. It still happened and we went ahead with our plans.

On the first dive, I was having problems with my mask filling with water. I kept messing with it and lost track of Travis. Before I knew what happened, I realized I was lost and no one from my group was around. I had a moment of panic..........then saw another diving group. I started hanging out with them. I figured it was better than being alone at sea. The dive master realized I wasn't one of his and gestured if I was okay. I gestured back that I was. After a while, we surfaced and I explained that I got separated from my group. He told me he would take me to my boat, but was angry with my dive master for loosing track of me. Apparently, there was a very strong current in our area, and it moved us a couple hundred yards away from our drop area. I knew I was okay, but I was concerned with what Travis must be going through when he realized I was missing.

On his end, he figured I was with other people in the group and continued his dive. When everyone surfaced and got back in the boat, they started taking up the ladder and he informed them that I was NOT on the boat. They dive guys just looked at each other and didn't seem to know what to do.

Thankfully within a couple minutes of this, I showed up in the other boat. I was a little embarrassed, but happy to be safe. It kind of shook me up. I asked our dive master if this had ever happened to him before, fully expecting him to say "yes" and he told me, "No." That didn't make me feel any better.

The next dive proved to be much better and I stayed close to Travis. (Oh, and I got a new mask.)

Our second dive included a ship wreck of a banana boat. It was very cool.

There were a couple of bikes belonging to dive instructors on the bottom of the ocean. These guys like to play practical jokes on each other and dumped bikes by the wreck site.

Our last stop was in Cozumel. This was the highlight of the whole week and my favorite spot. We planned to swim with the dolphins......something else I have dreamed of doing for a LONG time. It was an indescribable experience.........so exhilarating and unforgettable.

Travis, my friend, Kelee, and I were in a small group with 2 sixty-something year old Irish women (who didn't swim and were terrified of the water.) Travis became their best friend and held their hands and helped them the whole time. It was priceless to watch this. The DVD we bought is hilarious! These two women are clutching Travis like he's their only hope to survival.

We each got to have 2 dolphins push us up in the water by pushing their noses on the bottom of our feet. We went skimming through the water. It was something I'll never forget.

We also got to hold onto their dorsal fins and get pulled through the water. I felt like a Sea World dolphin trainer. I could totally do that for a living. I'm serious.
We each got to hug a dolphin. It was so sweet......they swam right into our arms. We got to hug and kiss these dolphins. I loved it!

Afterwards, Travis and I went to pick up my new wedding ring at the jewelry store. (How cool is that? It's our 15 anniversary next month!) This is worthy of it's own post. It's the most gorgeous ring I've ever seen and it's MINE. I'll share more about that another time.

We stopped at this restaurant for some lunch called the Tiki Tok. The view of the ocean was breathtaking and the Mexican food was the best I've ever had. We ate nachos, fish tacos and drank Mexican Cokes. It was heavenly.

My new favorite

2009-09-29T14:05:00.000-07:00

I've started running again. It's a fall ritual I have when it starts to cool off.

I struggle each year to get back to where I was the previous season. I am in need of inspiration and distraction while I'm running since I don't run for fun. I thought some new, fresh music would help me. I came across this album by Amy Kuney. I've never heard her music. Never. I fell in love with it immediately. The first time I ran to it, I shaved off lots of time and had more endurance to run longer. I actually enjoyed my run.....I have this charming music to thank.

Click here to listen to the album. ENJOY!

Updates

2009-09-18T09:08:00.000-07:00

Travis had his semi-annual MRI yesterday.

We immediately met with his doctor for an exam and results of the MRI. He told us that everything looks great and it's actually difficult to see the tumor. Because of it's low grade status, it doesn't pick up the contrast solution very well. There is no new growth. The doctors are very happy with what they see.

We have felt so positive lately and were expecting good news so this wasn't a surprise. But, of course, we are thrilled, relieved, happy, content, etc. etc. Life, for the most part, has returned to normal for us. Our kids are doing well, work is going great. Life is GOOD. We continue to feel enormous gratitude for all our blessings.

I just wanted to share our good news..........

A Week of Firsts

2009-09-09T21:26:00.000-07:00

Ella is a Wish Kid.

A while after she was diagnosed with Leukemia, we found out about Make a Wish Foundation. She obviously qualified for this with a life-threatening illness. In January of 2006 our family took a wish trip to Orlando to spend a week at Disney World. It was an incredible experience, not just being at Disney World with all expenses paid but The Wish Foundation made it completely unforgettable and magical for all of us, especially Ella. It was a first rate trip with perks you can't get any other way and we love having that memory.

We still have opportunities to enjoy some of the perks of Ella being a Wish Kid. We've been to Disney on Ice and had several offers to free events through Make a Wish because of generous donors. So Tuesday I get a call from Mark down at Make a Wish and he offers me Diamondback tickets for the night. I thanked him but told him no thanks. (we get tickets fairly frequently so it's not the biggest novelty to see a game) He told me these tickets were special and he'd only just gotten them. They were in the owners section on the field and included all the food, drinks, treats, etc. that we wanted for free. We had a parking pass in the garage and came in through the bridge and entered a "special ticket holder" only section.

This changed everything. Of course we were thrilled to have this once in a lifetime chance to see the game in that way. The kids loved every bit of it, especially the food! They each were given a foul ball by one of the employees. He was so kind! I am probably ruined to ever sit anywhere else. It was AMAZING!!! We sat right behind the home plate. We could see everything going on up close and personal! It was seriously such a thrill and I don't even really like baseball........

Ella was in heaven and knew we were there because of her. She said, "This is my lucky day!" Thanks Make a Wish, for continuing to wow us with magical experiences.

Ryan's first day of Preschool with Miss Christi

He's waited all this time.....the other kids have been going to school for the past month. Now it's his turn to go back to school. He was so excited. He started with a new teacher for his last year of preschool. He gets to be with 5 friends from our ward. He loves everything about it. He loves that he gets to bring his foul ball to show and tell and treats for his 5th birthday on Friday. He loves that he's with his best buddy, also Ryan. He's my baby and I can't believe what a sap I am for saying this, but I don't want him to get past this stage too quickly. He is such a delight to hang out with during our days when the other 3 kids are in school. It's our special time and I truly enjoy it.

6 Reasons Why I LOVE August

2009-08-30T21:16:00.000-07:00

Reason #1 and #2:

On August 7th we celebrated Ethan and Ella's 7th birthday. Our tradition is cake and presents for breakfast and then we continue to party all day long. Ethan got a DS....he is completely hooked on playing video games so we thought, "Let's get him another video game playing device!" He was excited about the Pokemon game and loved eating cake for breakfast.

Grandma came over with presents and gave Ethan Star Wars legos. She gave Ella a cupcake maker, a Peek-a-boo Barbie, and a Hello Kitty necklace. (which she made, by the way)

Ella is our dancing diva so we got her an I-pod and an I-home to play it on. Travis put a bunch of fun music on it. Ella's favorite pastime is dancing. She loves that thing!!

My sister, Jamie, made the cakes and they were fabulous! She did Tinker bell for Ella and a Bakugan ball for Ethan. She did such an amazing job......

Ethan and Ella celebrated at Bounce U with friends and family. It was such a great time!

Reason #3

Back to School!

Am I terrible? I love summer time but I love getting those kids back to school. There is something about having a schedule....it works for me.

Ethan and Ella started 1st grade. Ella was nervous and kept saying, "1st grade is going to be so hard!" She is doing incredibly well so far. She is a great student. Her writing is immaculate. Her teacher, Ms. Matthew, told me what wonderful kids Ethan and Ella are to have in her classroom. They listen and obey and do their work. I have to brag just a little bit.

Olivia is a big 6th grader now! She is happy about this and has been so much fun lately. She loves life and is enjoying school and her friends. She is really growing up and I'm so proud of her.
The one thing I don't love doing each morning is packing 3 lunches. It kind of stresses me out. I like them to be healthy yet fun and have variety. I also have 3 different taste buds to consider. I usually pack them a sandwich; either turkey or pb & j on homemade bread. (it's just my thing) It also includes a fruit or veggie (or both, sometimes). Then I add pretzels, baked chips or Goldfish. And of course, some kind of treat. ( I start out with homemade cookies, but by the 3rd week I resort to store bought a lot of the time!) I even made chocolate pudding last week and they loved that! They also get a 100% juice box. Sometimes they buy, about once a week. This gives me a break. Last night I had a nightmare that I forgot to make their lunches. This is how much I stress about those darn lunches!

Reason #4

My pup, Ruby is potty-trained!!!!!!

She is such a sweetheart and having her house trained makes her that much sweeter.

Max, the cat is her best bud and even likes her crate......of course I just washed the blankets.

Reason #5

Olivia's 11th birthday was on August 15th. Her Aunt Jamie made her a "Treasure Chest" coconut cream cake that went with her Hawaiian Luau party theme. She planned the whole bash on her own. She is quite the party planner.

Olivia wants to learn to sew and got her first sewing machine.

Olivia had 12 girls over to swim, eat, party and sip on tropical drinks. They were such a crazy, fun bunch!!!

Grandma is always so thoughtful and gave Olivia several homemade pieces of custom jewelry. Olivia loves them!

Reason #6

Travis celebrates his birthday on August 15th. (Yes, Olivia and Travis have the same birthday)

Poor Travis. As usual, we spent Travis' special day making preparations for Olivia's party. He is always such a great sport about it. I made his favorite cake......chocolate cake with raspberry filling and buttercream frosting.

We had family over to celebrate on Sunday night. Travis and his dad and brother are hilarious. I can never get a good picture of them together. They are way too goofy to be adults sometimes.

Olivia with Grandpa Williams.

My sister-in-law, Jodi, with my darling niece, Ivy.

Travis with his kids......Olivia gave him a plant for his office and he got a fishing rod for his next fishing trip in September.

Travis and I went up to Flagstaff over the weekend and hiked to Humphrey's Peak. It was a 9 mile hike round trip with a 5000 foot ascent. We had a great time but it was a super grueling day. Even though it was tough, I'm glad we did it.......what fun to be with Travis and the mountains were beautiful!

A few shots of my nieces from a recent photo shoot I did......

Miah and Maizy

Maizy

Jamie with her girls
Miah

This is my sweetie niece, Paisley. (10 months old)

Our Utah Trip

2009-08-12T16:04:00.000-07:00

It finally happened. I have actually made it to a point where "going on vacation" can include my children. Travis and I had the most amazing trip to Utah and Lake Powell in July with our kids. Even the 11 hour drive was pleasant. We stayed 5 days in Utah with some dear friends, then met my parents and sister at Lake Powell for a few days on the lake. We packed a lot into our 10 day trip and yet everyone had a relaxing and enjoyable time. We can't wait to do it again next year!

My dad has a time-share houseboat that everyone enjoyed staying on. My Uncle Delos camped next to us and we got to overlap our trip with theirs for a day.

The kids loved taking exploring boat rides......
Surprisingly, one of the highlights for my older 3 kids was cliff-jumping, a family favorite at Lake Powell for decades. We found a perfect spot with a 25 foot cliff. Olivia was looking over with some reservations. Ethan walked right up to the edge and said "This is how you do it" and jumped off without a second thought. It was completely unexpected and hilarious to me. Earlier that day he had been saying how scared of heights he is. I don't think he had a problem with heights.

The absolute favorite activity at Lake Powell was the tube. All the kids went crazy for rides on the tube. They couldn't get enough of it. This is Ella and my niece Miah.
Another cliff jumping stop. Travis is always a good sport to go with the kids.
This is my absolute favorite picture of me. My dad took us on craziest tube ride. He had us flying across the water and waves for a long time. My arms hurt for a week after this one.

Ryan is one of my favorite people. He is 4 but loved the tube rides more than anyone. He kept giving my dad the "thumbs up" to go faster. He is such a thrill seeker.
I think I know where he gets it. Travis did all kinds of stunts on the tube.
My dad is 63 and had open heart surgery in November. Look at him ski!!! He's amazing......
Me and Ella on a boat ride........
Travis took my dad and Jamie on a wild ride. He actually rolled my dad out of the tube in a backwards somersault.
My mom did water balloons with all the kids on the beach.
We explored Face Canyon one day. It was such an adventure. It reminded me of when I was a kid and we took trips each year to Lake Powell. I loved to explore remote and beautiful places. We always go to jump into the cool, clean water and take a swim.
Travis got up on a ski his first try and skied amazingly well. It's been a couple years but you'd never know it!
While staying with the Quist Family, we took the kids on a hike up Timpanogos Mountain to the caves. It was tough for our younger kids but they all made it!

The kids loved the inside of the caves. It far exceeded their expectations. How often does that happen? It was brilliant and beautiful in there! It was also a cool 45 degrees. Nice!

We took the kids to the new Oquirrh Mountain Temple in West Jordan. We were able to go through it since it was during the open house. It was stunning on the outside and inside. It was such a treat to get to take our kids there. I remember going through the Jordan River Temple during the open house in 1981. I think I was about 8 years old. I still remember how beautiful and special that was for me as a young child.
We also spent some time at Temple Square in SLC. We saw the Joseph Smith movie and walked around the gardens and the Salt Lake Temple. There is such a peaceful feeling on those grounds.

Another huge trip highlight was the 39th Annual Demolition Derby in Heber. My white trash roots came out as I enjoyed watching cars and trucks smash and annihilate each other. It was fabulous fun! It went until midnight and ended with a spectacular fireworks show. I definitely want to see that again.
We were in the line of fire as mud flew over the sides and sprayed us a few times.

We stopped at the Williams' Homestead in Wanship, where Travis' family lives. The kids enjoyed feeding the horses and cows and riding the tree swing.
Travis taught the boys how to suck the nectar out of honeysuckles.
The kids loved the huge dandelions by the roadside.

We went up to Salt Lake on the 24th for the Days of 47 Parade. We got to see Pres. Eyring and his wife.

What a great trip! We loved every bit of it and truly can't wait to do it all again next summer.

Hello July

2009-07-01T21:42:00.000-07:00

Where did June go? Seriously, I can't believe it's over. Aren't summers supposed to be lazy and carefree? I always romanticize how wonderfully laid back the summer is going be and it never happens. REALLY, NEVER.

It has been non-stop fun. The kids have been a blast. We are finally in a great routine of chores, play time and outings. I am finding that my kids are great cleaners. The first week of summer I was frustrated with how messy the house was getting. I started posting chores for each kid every morning and the problem was solved. So before playing, swimming, watching TV, playing video games, etc., their chores must be completed. They have been so compliant and hardly ever complain, because if they do, they get another chore. It's beautiful!

Father's Day was a great day in our home. The kids served him his favorite breakfast of french toast in bed at 9:30. Olivia made a paper mache "T" in art class for him. All the kids gave him a digital photo frame for his office. I got the kids ready for church while getting dinner and dessert ready for after church. At Travis' request, we had his favorite dinner, chicken cordon bleu with his mom's german chocolate cake. I love to cook and bake, but after this day, I was ready to get out of the kitchen. I felt like I was doing dishes all day long, but it was worth every minute of it. I also made my dad some chocolate chip cookies. We visited my parents after dinner and then got the kids to bed. I was ready to crash when Travis said, "I'd love a massage." Well it is Father's Day, it's all about spoiling the dad, right?

Travis is such a loving, kind, patient, fun dad. I am completely blessed to have him as my husband. He deserves to be spoiled and waited on much more than one day a year.

a self portrait after my new haircut. I love it! I'm not sure if I'll ever go long again.

Our Greer getaway............we stayed in the coolest cabin with 3 other families. I was leery about bunking with 8 adults and 18 kids in one cabin, but it turned out amazingly fun. The guys took care of all the food and the girls just went along with it. They did a great job. We had such a great time and can't wait to do it again.

Olivia immediately ran around the woods and collected wildflowers with Ella.
I found it hilarious to find Ethan arranging flowers on the table.
Our friends, Kathryn and Ashley hanging out on the front porch.
We saw some elk grazing off the highway.
We went to Hawely Lake to do some fishin' with all the kids. This is the complete brood. What a bunch of cutie pies. They sure did love the lake. It was really beautiful.
Kath with her four kids. They lasted about 30 minutes on the lake with the rental boat. They were such great sports.
Hayden and Olivia on the dock. The weather was gorgeous and the scenery doesn't get much better.
Shaun with his kids. He is a true fisherman and stayed on the lake the longest. Ashley came back with us. She, too, was a great sport.
The Porter family win the "Most People in One Boat" award. They took all 6 of their kids out on the lake and did fabulously for a long time. Dan and the boys dropped off the girls and stayed with Shaun a couple hours longer.
Ryan was so excited. What an adventure!

I was very impressed by Travis' fly tying skills. He looks like such a mountain man.
Ella made the first catch of the day (and her first fish ever!) on her Barbie fishing pole. She was thrilled! She stated that it was her fish and she was going to eat the whole thing by herself!

Olivia loves to fish but had a couple tricky fish get away before successfully catching one.
Ethan was just happy to be there.
In the end, each kid had a fish and everyone was proud and happy.

Swimming

Swimming has saved me this summer. All 4 of my kids are fabulous swimmers and love to go out and swim. It was burned off tons of energy and kept them happy and occupied for many hours so far. They love nothing more than to have me sit on the sidelines and photograph them doing crazy stunts into the water.

I am amazed at how much each of my kids has matured and grown up lately. They make me smile when I hear the sweet and funny things they say. My girls are such little versions of me. I hear them correcting the boys and being little mothers to each other. Surprisingly, especially Ella. She sounds just like me when I hear her say, "Ryan, pick those toys up before you do something else." She brings her purse with her when we run errands in case she wants to buy something with her own money and I catch her taking out her lipgloss and applying it several times on a single trip. She makes her own breakfast and does her own hair and loves to take care of everybody. She adores her baby cousins and wants to carry them around. I have to remind myself that she is only 6 1/2 years old.

Olivia is almost 11 and has become the greatest babysitter. Other than being a little bossy and coercive at times, she is wonderful with the kids and has become an enormous help to me. She is capable of so much. I am excited to be teaching her to cook dinners, do laundry and give her more responsibilities. I showed her how to make my famous (in our family)chocolate chip cookies one Sunday afternoon and we took some over to my parents for dessert. My dad commented on how great my cookies always are, when Travis told him that Olivia had made them. It sure made Olivia feel great. I can see the pride in her eyes as she learns to do new things and gain more independence.

Ethan is nothing short of astounding. He is mature beyond his years in many ways. Travis took him on a trip to Sportsman's to get some flies for the fishing trip. Ethan noticed that the flies were 99 cents and they got 6 of them. He said to Travis, "Those flies will cost $5.94." Travis couldn't believe how Ethan had deducted that so quickly on his own. He is 6 years old and reads chapter books daily. We went to the library and got several books on Monday. By last night he had read all 6 of his books. His comprehension is amazing and I take absolutely NO credit. He just has it.

Ryan will always be my baby but he also is our little comedian and clown. He is 4 1/2 now. He says the funniest things every day. I should take note of them better because they are too cute to be forgotten. But it's late and I'm drawing a blank. But he does love to snuggle with me and I can still get him to take naps a few times a week. He is definitely going to give us a run for our money. He's mischievous and loves to wrestle his siblings and dad. He has serious issues with eating at dinner. Last night he sat at the table for 1 hour until his chicken alfredo was all gone. It's agony for me, because the whole deal is a constant negotiation......"how many bites of this," and "how many more bites." It's been going on for a couple years now and I keep telling myself to stay strong and it will get better. It hasn't gotten better by much yet. He is so stubborn and apparently a slow learner. But he is darling and I couldn't love him more.

School's out!

2009-05-26T14:52:00.000-07:00

What a week! Preschool graduation, kindergarten graduation, a school musical, a huge water party and camping in the rain.........we packed in a lot over 8 days.

May 20th marked the 5 year anniversary of our Ella's diagnosis of Leukemia. It was May 20, 2004 when we got the news that Ella, then 21 months old, had ALL. (Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia) She spent 6 weeks in the hospital, had multiple surgeries, countless hours in the clinic for blood transfusions, chemo treatments and spinal taps. After a long and difficult 2 1/2 years, she completed treatment and was officially in remission. She continues to see the doctors at Phoenix Children's Hospital every 6 months for check ups. Actually, beginning this summer, she goes into the late effects program, which means she gets a check up once each year.

Travis always planned on doing a huge party to honor Ella on her 5 year anniversary. We had a bounce house, a water slide, and her favorite treat, a snow cone machine. On the last day of school, we had the party in our front yard and invited all our family and a couple of close friends. It was a bit blustery, but turned out to be a wonderful afternoon.

This is Ella 5 years ago just weeks before we found out she had Leukemia.

This is Ella now on her last day of kindergarten.

We are so grateful for the perfectly healthy girl she is today. She is a spunky, fun, smart and happy girl. She is strong and healthy and never seems to get sick. We often forget how much she has gone through in her young life. She is our sweetheart and adds so much to our family.

Some of our cute party girls.

Travis grilled hot dogs and hamburgers and made snow cones the entire afternoon.

The weather didn't keep the kids off the water slide. Ethan was lovin' life.

Our daredevil, Ryan.

See where he gets it?

Travis' brother, Morgan and his cousin, Kacie.

Our great friends, Dan and Geri with Paige.
Camille and her kids on their way home. Camille was like a second mother to Olivia and Ethan 5 years ago while I spent weeks at the hospital with Ella. She had them over at her house day after day. I couldn't have made it through that time without her.

This is Ella's 5th snow cone. Her mouth turned purple and red....I was afraid it would be permanent.

Our Preschool Grad, Ryan:

Ryan with his cousin, Miah:
Ryan was lucky enough to be with his two cousins, Presley and Miah in preschool this year.

Our Kindergarten Grads, Ethan and Ella:

The grads with their amazing teacher, Mrs. Whall:

Olivia performed in her school musical, "Aladdin." She played a townsperson and was in lots of the numbers. She sent invitations to all the family to be sure they could see her performance. This is Grandma Adams with Olivia:

Olivia with some of her friends from "Aladdin."

Our 2nd Annual Memorial Day Weekend Campout

A few weeks ago, my mom asked us if we wanted to go camping over Memorial Day weekend. Just to give some history.....6 years ago we went camping in the White Mountains with our three young kids, the twins were only 8 months old and my entire family. It was freezing, dirty, bugs everywhere......miserable. I swore I'd never do that again.

Fast forward 5 years, the kids were older and my family talked us into giving it another try. We found a camp site just north of Payson and even rented a pop up trailer. Well, it was freezing and rained the entire weekend. I swore again, that I would never do that again.

So when my mom asked if we were interested in camping again, I was quite hesitant. She said, "What are the chances that it will rain again?" Well, for most people that is true, but our family is the exception to that theory. We have already proved that, right? But, being the optimist that I naturally am, I decided to go for it. We checked the weather forecast and of course, it called for rain. We went anyway because the kids were so excited and we would crush their dreams if we cancelled.

Ryan fell in love with the bugs and set out to find and "save" as many as possible. My brother and his two girls humored him.
The kids learned to shoot BB guns with Grandpa Adams and Travis.

The kids found an existing swing and swinging from it was the camping highlight. (until it broke while Ella was swinging!)

We went fishing at Tonto Creek with Barbie and Cars fishing poles.
Amazingly, Travis and Olivia caught 4 fish and Olivia found her new passion. She LOVED fishing!
Travis caught his fish on a homemade stick fishing pole. What a mountain man!
It turned out to be a great weekend! We may even try it again next year. What are the chances that it will rain 3 years in a row?

All right, now Summer Vacation has officially begun. Moms, brace yourselves. I'm only one day into it and really nervous. All day the kids have wanted to party and be entertained and swim and make snow cones and other treats and have play dates and go to a movie. Honestly, that was just today. I hope they chill out and don't completely drive me crazy.

Women's Conference

2009-05-04T16:46:00.000-07:00

Last week I went up to Women's Conference at BYU with a couple of friends. I haven't been in probably 8 years and have been really wanting to go for a long time. I was lucky enough to get to go this year. As expected, I had the most fabulous and wonderful time.....a perfect mix of inspiration and fun, just what I needed.

This was the closing session with Elder L. Tom Perry speaking. Elder Russell M. Nielson was also there. Elder Perry talked about how the world perceives us Mormons. They had a video clip and it was very interesting to hear some of the crazy, far-fetched things people think about us. He encouraged us to share the Gospel with the world, be bold but not overbearing, use technology such as blogs, facebook, etc., and bring the Gospel out of obscurity. I haven't really thought about how just sharing what we believe with others, without trying to "convert" them, can be a huge missionary tool. We can be so misunderstood. I have renewed courage to just talk to people about the Gospel......to not be shy or fearful about what they will think. Because the truth is, I love the Gospel and know that everyone should hear about it.

I love the flowers here. The tulips are gorgeous. I miss the grass, the trees, but especially the flowers!

Shawni was signing her books on Friday afternoon. I got my own copy of "A Mother's Book of Secrets." I am loving it! Shawni, you are simply amazing and wonderful. I'm so lucky to have you as my friend.
This was our rental car, supposedly a "mid-size." Ha! We affectionately named it "Little Zippy" because we zipped all over town in it. Jenny was car sick most of the time. Sorry, Jenny!

Check out the "Y." I love it!

Kelee's cousin let us crash her darling condo. She was the sweetest hostess and we were so comfortable. She gave up her bed for us. I spent my nights slippin' and sliddin' all over her bed with satin sheets. Again, sorry, Jenny!

Jenny, the group nature-lover, couldn't get enough of the blossoms.

So after a couple days of inspiring talks and music, I am ready to be a better wife, mother....... a better version of myself. I am incredibly blessed to have been able to go. Thanks, Travis. I know this was a particularly hairy weekend. You were such a great sport. I really had a stupendous time. Hopefully, with my new-found patience, love and skills; it will all be worth it! I can only cross my fingers that it lasts longer than a few days. I'm sure it will....at least 2 weeks.

Easter weekend

2009-04-13T12:21:00.000-07:00

I LOVE Easter. It's such a nostalgic holiday for me. The easter egg hunts, the chocolate, the egg decorating, the easter baskets. I love it all. I remember as a child always loving the anticipation of finding my easter basket. The Easter Bunny would always hide our baskets filled with all kinds of yummy goodies. My kids were so excited for Easter this year. Ryan began asking about it almost 2 months ago.

"How much longer until Easter, Mom?"

"7 weeks, Ryan." I'd tell him.

"7 days?!"

"No, 49 days. There are 7 days in 1 week." He's four and still trying to understand time relationships.

We did this every few days until finally I could tell him that it was finally time to celebrate.

All the cousins on my side of the family at our annual Easter Egg Hunt.

This was the first year since I became a mom that I didn't buy Easter outfits for all my kids. I just kept putting it off until every thing was picked over and there was no time left to go shopping. I have to admit, I didn't mind the savings, but had a little anxiety on Sunday when they wore Church clothes they already had. I know that sounds a little silly, but I always take their picture in our front yard on Easter morning in their new outfits.

Here is this year's picture taken by my sweet and helpful husband. I was the last to get ready and was frantically doing my hair and getting dressed 5 minutes before we were supposed to be at Church. Sadly, I am also sick and had to pull it together to sing in the Easter program choir.

Olivia and Ella got a hula hoop. The kids and Travis had a competition to see who could hula the longest. Travis hulaed for over 4 minutes straight and won. I was completely impressed.

On Saturday morning we had a Williams Family Easter breakfast at the park. What do ya know, it was a soggy, wet mess of a morning. Grampa Williams improvised extremely well and brought toys for the kids to play with under the ramada. Everyone had a great time.

The cousins playing with magnetic toys, building all kinds of fun stuff.

Uncle Morgan getting breakfast set up while a freezing cold Ella waits anxiously.

Ryan looking oh, so happy, waiting for a hot breakfast. Look at those puppy dog brown eyes. No wonder he gets nearly everything he wants!

Uncle Cameron frying up some bacon with a little theatrical affect!

Olivia having a moment with Grampa Williams. I love to see this.

Later that day.............The Adams Family Easter party.

My mom with baby Ivy and my brother-in-law, Christian, with his little pumpkin, Paisley. My mom had foot surgery on Thursday and has a pin sticking out of her toe for the next 5 weeks. It's gruesome! She is such a great sport.

Dad made a jacket run. Everyone was freezing and unprepared.

Josh and Presley swingin'.

Olivia and her favorite, cousin, Sam.

Baby Ivy is 3 months old and an absolute doll, always full of smiles.

Christian and my cousin's husband, Eric.

My cousin, April with her cute little Savannah.

Emily and Paisley, gansta-style.

Ryan on the Easter egg hunt. He loved every minute of this!

Ethan and Ella having the best time ever.......why does candy make everyone so deliriously happy? Oh, I know, because it's so delicious!

It was a fun-filled weekend and even bad weather didn't keep us from having a great time.

We played games, ate yummy food and enjoyed the company of all those special people we love so much.

Travis and I took all the kids to the Easter Pageant for the first time this year. It was a spectacular show and I loved every minute of it. I love how it so succinctly and powerfully, portrayed the life of Jesus Christ. I don't know how anyone watching could deny the truthfulness of his role as Savior of the world. I felt that witness as I watched the pageant. My kids were fascinated by the show and continually asked questions. Travis patiently answered them while holding our 3 youngest kids on his lap. I have attended the Pageant for the past 20 something years and it continues to touch my heart and strengthen my testimony of Jesus Christ.

health update

2009-03-28T22:44:00.000-07:00

Friends and family are continually wondering how Travis is doing. How's he feeling? What's the latest on the tumor and treatment?.....etc. We met with our radiation oncologist last week for him to go over the MRI results from the previous week.

According to him and the entire tumor board, the tumor, as I've stated before, appears stable. That's great and exactly what they want to see. For some reason, I thought that perhaps it would have shrunk or miraculously disappeared. That didn't happen, but hopefully the tumor has been stunned into submission and will no longer grow. The doctor explained that it took a long time to grow. This means it could actually shrink over time but we may not see anything for 9-12 months. Because it is low grade, it divides and grows very slowly. The growth cycle is very slow so as cells go to divide, they will not be able to because of the radiation damage. That's what we hope for and expect.

Travis feels great. He looks great. He's still got the same symptoms on the right side of his face. They don't really bother him or affect him in any way. If the tumor were to shrink, there's a chance that his facial nerves could return to normal. But, honestly, that's not my biggest concern. He will be monitored with MRIs every 6 months. That's it for treatment. Life has basically returned to a new normal.

I really don't dwell on the fact that Travis has a brain tumor. Many friends ask me how I function normally. Trust me, you adapt. I don't think about it constantly. We live our life, take care of the kids and our home, work, play, you know, live our life. I can't say that I don't worry. Wonder what the future holds. Don't we all worry and wonder? None of us can know for certainty. The only thing I'm certain about is that life is uncertain. In a way, it keeps me grateful, humble, and keeps me in the moment. I can only control me, the way I deal with the circumstances. My faith is strong and I have a testimony that our Heavenly Father has a plan for each one of us. This is part of the plan. I'm sure I agreed to this a very long time ago. How am I learning from it and what will I do with it? These are some of the things I think about.

My Birthday Week

2009-03-18T23:08:00.000-07:00

Well, lots to update.........

First of all, last Thursday I celebrated my 36th birthday. (that number scares me a bit) I guess there's really no way around it. It's just weird that I don't feel like what I used to think a 36 year old would be like. Does that make sense?

I got to spend the day at the Arizona Dental Convention with my dear friend, Cara. We both need the continuing education credits for dental hygiene. Being with her made it such a fun day. For lunch we met up with two other great friends, Lisa and Jill at Claimjumper in Tempe. (a meeting point between Phoenix and Gilbert) It was really sweet of them and I enjoyed myself immensely!

Later that evening, my family celebrated with me. The kids and Travis are always so thoughtful on my special days. I asked for a guitar and Travis delivered. I think I'll learn to play. He also got me some beautiful custom jewelry made by my friend, Noelle. Olivia bought me some cute silver earrings and fancy pens with her own money. Darling!I baked my own cake......totally my choice! If I was going to indulge, I didn't want a store bought one and Travis doesn't bake. I don't hold this against him in any way. Really.

My cute parents, Rollin and Juanita:
My darling sister, Emily and her babe, Paisley:

The next day we were off to Pinetop for the weekend. Our friends, Teresa and Delbert, let us stay in their charming cabin. We hung out with the kids and enjoyed the cold weather for one last time. It was a quick trip, but a fun getaway.

My next adventure took me to the Marquee theatre where I saw David Archuleta (from American Idol) perform. He was absolutely adorable and amazing. It was worth standing for 3 straight hours. (standing room only) My mom and I had a good time together. We were supposed to meet up with my aunt and cousin but couldn't get to them in the front. We would have gotten beat up by some serious fans if we'd tried. I do think I'm a fan now. He's so talented and such a nice boy! I really sound like a mom, huh? My mom pointed out that technically I could be his mom. Scary.

My last and most recent adventure took me to the Sun's game against the 76ers. It was a fun and fast-moving game. Suns won! It was a blast to see Nash and Shaq play. They are all just awesome to see in person. My brother and sister-in-law joined us and it was oh, so much fun!

Travis had his MRI last week and results show a stable tumor that remains unchanged. Nothing unexpected. He's doing fabulous and we will continue to monitor it.

Life is good, what more can I say?

Ragnar Relay

2009-03-04T19:44:00.000-08:00

My latest adventure happened last weekend when I participated in the Del Sol Ragnar Relay, a 202 mile race from Prescott to Mesa. I was on a team of 12 fun people organized by my friend, Kori. I ran over 15 miles from Friday to Saturday afternoon. It was a crazy, sleep-deprived, adrenaline-pumping experience and I loved every minute of it. I can't wait until next year to do it again.

This was my final leg in Fountain Hills. It was a short but brutal run. I spent the middle mile running straight up an insane hill. I should say I ran/walked. I am not that tough.

This is our team. We called ourselves the "Yoggers" , I think, from Anchorman. I don't get it. There were 5 girls and 7 guys. (Our first runner is already running and his wife is standing in.)

We had 2 suburbans with 6 people in each one. I was in the second car and was runner #7. Tessie and Garrett brought "Bettie," their motor home. It was great to have a place to rest and hang out when our group of 6 wasn't running. We watched movies, ate and slept. Kori and I even managed a couple of quick showers between runs. We had a new running outfit for each of our 3 runs. I don't think the guys changed once. Big surprise.

One of the most interesting and freaky parts of the whole experience was my 8 mile midnight run on a dark highway outside of Wickenburg. I ran with a reflector vest and a flashlight. I could hear coyotes in the desert that I was running next to. It was a little strange and scary. My team shadowed me so I was never completely alone. They had a blow horn and would yell encouragement to me. It was great.

Here I am with Kori at exchange 7 where I was waiting for Julie (Runner #6) to pass the baton to me. It was a little nerve-wracking and I was anxious to get started.

This is 10 of us at the finish line. We ended at Riverview Park in Mesa around 3:30 pm on Saturday.

This was one of the coolest, most unique experiences I've had. I loved the whole thing. The people on my team were a riot! They kept the weekend super exciting and fun. I seriously want to do it again and can't wait until next year. Kaley, I should come up in June and join your team!

Our newest addition

2009-02-16T11:29:00.001-08:00

Introducing Ruby, our 12 week old little white fluff ball.

She came to us all the way from Georgia just last week. I gave in after endless begging and pleading from my husband and 4 kids. I feel like I've been thrown back into new motherhood with an infant. She wakes me in the morning, she pees and poops on my floor and she puts everything in her mouth. But I do admit, she is as adorable as dogs come and I think this time will stick. (we have a bad track record with keeping dogs....our longest stretch is 2 months) My four year old, Ryan, says we'll keep her until she dies. Hopefully that means about 14 years.

She loves to play! She can run faster than anyone in the family. She can't even keep up with her own speedy little legs. She usually ends up doing a somersault. She's so little and light, only about 4 pounds. She nibbles toes, she chews shoes, and she drags everything from dish towels to bras around the house. She is a Havanese, which are very social, affectionate dogs. That also means she wants to be with us ALL the time. She cries in her kennel but hasn't ended up in our bed at night. YEAH! My friend, Kath, has a new pup and warned us about that. She loves to be wrapped in a blanket and snuggled on the couch. It has forced me to stay home and slow down just a bit.

My kids are completely in LOVE!

Skiing Sunrise, Chillin' in Greer

2009-02-03T21:51:00.000-08:00

Travis and I spent the weekend at Greer Lodge Resort with some great friends, Kelee and Robert. We had a gift card to use at this charming resort from Travis' dad and decided after one year, it was time to redeem it. We stayed in our own little cabin amidst snow and icicles. It was literally freezing and I loved it!

My darling husband on top on Sunrise Mountain...he was a bit nervous about how the skiing would be since the surgery. He struggled a little with his balance and coordination. It took a little while, but it came back to him quickly. At first I was out skiing him, but an hour into our day, I was having a hard time keeping up!

Whoa! Action shot:

Me zipping down the mountain:

Kelee and Robert in the lodge at breakfast:

Our cabin was right next to the Red Setter Lodge where we were served breakfast each morning. It was delicious!

It was a quick weekend, but so enjoyable. I loved curling up in sweats, wrapped in a blanket, drinking hot chocolate, watching movies, and visiting with some of my favorite people. I loved skiing again after an 8 year break. It wasn't too bad...kind of like riding a bicycle. Although, 3 days later, my legs are still feeling it! I definitely need to get back on the mountain sooner next time.

A couple funny moments on the mountain.......I took a wrong turn and ended up at the top of a black diamond run (for experts) about an hour into my day. I made the decision to remove my skis and hike down the hill until I could handle the slopes. I did NOT want to go home in a cast!

It was humbling and a bit humiliating, but I know my limits. I wasn't about to push it. From that point, I paid close attention to the signs.

Towards the end of the day, while on the lifts, Travis' feet went to sleep. When it was time to get off the lift, Travis went spread eagle and landed on his face. His skis fell off and he laid there for a minute. The operator asked if he was okay. Travis said, "My feet are asleep!" We all started laughing and he got up and put his skis back on and away we went.

Fabulous weekend. We need to do more of that.

Travis update: We continue to have friends and loved ones wondering what the latest is concerning Travis' health and the tumor. Travis has an MRI at the end of the month to see how the tumor looks since radiation ended in November. Life has moved forward for our family and we don't dwell on or think too much about all of this. We love life and enjoy spending each day with one another and our kids. We continue to feel strong and positive about the outcome. Travis is doing great and feels wonderful.

Our Disney Cruise

2009-01-22T21:55:00.001-08:00

Aboard the Disney Wonder Cruise ship, we discovered the best family vacation destination!

We flew to Orlando on Saturday and boarded the cruise ship on Sunday morning. The kids were dying to swim so we hit the pools first. The Mickey pool had a water slide that all four kids enjoyed. Next it was time to eat......something we did more times than I thought possible. The kids loved the idea of sleeping on the ship. We had 2 adjoining rooms and it worked perfectly. One night was Pirate Night. We all dressed up like pirates and hung out with Captain Jack. The kids wouldn't stop dueling with their plastic swords.

Travis and I spent the last night in the best restaurant we've ever eaten at, Palo. It requires reservations and is the only restaurant that isn't free. They served the most delicious Northern Italian cuisine. I had halibut and Travis had a shrimp pasta and lobster ravioli. We shared 3 (yes, 3!) desserts, including chocolate souffle. Amazing!

A huge highlight included a dolphin excursion on a private island off the coast of Nassau, Bahamas. We got to pet, hug, kiss, and dance with "Goombay" the dolphin. Ryan was terrified and Ethan was hesitant. The girls were so into it!

Olivia waiting for a kiss.

Ella going in for a hug.

They original pirate ship from "Pirates of the Caribbean" is beached in the water.

The girls really wanted their hair braided with corn rows. It was a bit painful and they didn't know what they were getting into.

But what a cute result. It was quite expensive, though. The braids can last 3-4 weeks so I'm going to get my money's worth. The girls still have their cute braids today...a week and a half later!

We absolutely loved every minute of our trip. Travis is all ready to plan another one. (we'll try to wait a year or two) We thought Disneyland was great, but this was phenomenal! And the ship didn't even have rides. We highly recommend it to any Disney fans. You won't regret it. It was wonderful to be together as a family and have everyone enjoy it so much.

Christmas Morning

2009-01-04T21:35:00.000-08:00

Our kids woke us up early...we told them not to get out of bed before 7 am but by 6:45 they couldn't wait any longer. Apparently they had all been in Olivia's room playing a game waiting for 7 am to come. How funny is that? We ceremoniously walked downstairs to see what Santa left everyone. The kids immediately ran to each of their piles by their stockings and opened presents from Santa. The excitement level was so high! Travis and I love to hear the screams and shouts of delight as each of our kids see what they got.

My silly boy, Ethan. Such a sweetheart. He can't contain his excitement.

Ella in her new skates and eating a treat from her stocking.

Remember the Big Wheel? We couldn't resist.

All the kids in their new jammies on Christmas Eve.

Ryan kept asking for a Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Happily he found one in his stocking.

Another classic...remember the 2 car race track with the toggle handles? Keeping your car on the track around the curves is a challenge.

We gave Olivia a mystic topaz ring to match one I got in Cozumel. She loved it and wears it constantly.

Ella kept asking for the Dora that turns into a mermaid. Santa didn't disappoint.

I do love to see my kids showing the love to each other!

We followed the present opening with our traditional breakfast burritos with the rest of my family later that morning. We do the whole spread....huge flour tortillas from a taco shop, scrambled eggs, honey-baked ham, cheese, my dad's homemade salsa, guacamole and homemade cinnamon rolls. YUM! It's a family favorite that we all look forward to. The kids ran around playing with their new things and hanging with the cousins. It's blissful mayhem! We love it all and Christmas wouldn't be the same with out it.

The Williams Family Top 10

2008-12-22T19:04:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas to all our friends and family!

Ryan is 4 years old, in preschool, and the official family clown. He loves to make everyone laugh. People always tell us how entertaining he is. (I think that's code for "naughty") We love him and our family wouldn't be complete without Ryan.

Ella is 6 and in all day kindergarten. She is the family sweetheart. She is 100% girl from head to toe. She loves makeup and nail polish and prefers skirts to anything else. She is also our feistiest kid. Don't cross this girl!

Olivia is 10, in the 5th grade and is turning into a beautiful young lady. She is an extraordinary help to me and we are grooming her to take over as our babysitter for date nights. She loves writing, drama and hanging out with her friends.

Ethan is 6 and is leading the class in all day kindergarten. He keeps everyone in check at home as well. Nothing gets past Ethan. He is alarmingly bright and insightful, but continually seeks validation by asking "Right?" to everything. It cracks us up.

Travis and I are celebrating our 14th anniversary this month. We've been together for 18 years. Wow! That means we've been together longer than we haven't. (does that make sense?)

This year takes the cake for our most eventful one to date. It started out pretty ordinary but ended in the most extraordinary way. I can honestly say that our faith has been tested, our patience pushed to the limit, but here we are, a little worse for the wear, having learned so much from our year's journey.

10. Our family grew by one this year...a guinea pig conveniently named, "Little Piggy."

9. Speaking of pets, we hold the family record for shortest dog ownership. Rusty, a 130 pound 7 year old golden lab lived with us for 8 weeks before we found him a new home. He kept trying to eat our cat and dragged me around the neighborhood on walks. Our next dog will be much smaller.

8. May marked the 4 year anniversary of Ella's fight with Leukemia. She is wonderfully healthy and continues to receive clean bills of health on her check-ups.

7. Travis and Andrea mourned the cancellation of the season of "24." We're jazzed it returns in January.

6. Andrea left Travis and the kids behind for a 5 day trip to the Caribbean with her dental office. She got to scuba dive in Cozomel and eat nothing but dessert for 5 days straight.

5. With the troubled economy, Travis started doing bankruptcy law. It's new and different, but it's not brain surgery. He would know about that since he had it in July and just completed radiation for a brain stem tumor.

4. This the first year in too many to count that no one is in diapers. Now if we could just get our boys to stop the bed-wetting!

3. Andrea ran her second marathon and shaved 30 minutes off her time. She is considering long-distance running retirement.

2. Record-breaking (for us) 3 trips to Disneyland. We had annual passports and got our money's worth.

1. Three kids in school all day!

We wish you every happiness and joy this beautiful Christmas season. We are learning the power of love and contentment in our lives. Our faith in our Savior, Jesus Christ, is deeper and stronger than ever. We are living each day with gratitude for the gifts we have. The gifts of love and friendship are the ones we treasure most.

We send our love to all of you this splendid Christmas!

The Most Wonderful (and crazy) Time of the Year

2008-12-08T21:23:00.001-08:00

That special time of year has finally arrived.........time to completely stress myself out with ridiculous "to do lists" and endless shopping trips and spending every night at kids' concerts, events, parties. Don't get me wrong. I love December. It just seems like a whirlwind that is out of control sometimes. Every year I commit to start preparing earlier. Keep it simple. I am a very slow learner and apparently very forgetful. Oh, but I love it! So here's a little update on the past 2 weeks since that wonderful cruise I went on.

Thanksgiving at my parents. Great day, great company, great food. Do you like the staged pic of me serving Travis pie? He always asks for a "sliver" of all 3 types: apple, pumpkin and chocolate. I helped him eat it. Those slivers are never quite small enough. And you know that if you share, the calories don't count.

Turkey carver extrordinaire:

Olivia was in charge of a kids' craft table outside before dinner. It was a great way to keep the kids out of the kitchen and occupy their energetic little bodies.

Cute Ella with Grandpa Adams (recovering beautifully from open heart surgery):

Pilgrim Ryan with his school crafts:

Ethan and Ella at their Christmas music concert......adorable! Can you see them in the middle row 2nd and 3rd from the left?

Wrestle time with dad. All four of our kids plus a cousin (Miah). They couldn't get enough of jumping on Travis. He had enormous patience. They loved it.

Happy kids. Tired dad.

It has been several weeks since radiation ended for Travis. He is doing fabulous. His ears are still plugged, which is very annoying. (for both of us...I feel like I'm living with an old man, "Huh?") The hearing should return soon as it is a temporary side affect. His body is tired and weak so we are both getting back to regular exercise. That has been on the back burner lately for both of us. Travis is done with all treatments. He will get a post-radiation MRI in early February to see the results. We were told that radiation continues to work for several months after the completion of treatments. Right now we are enjoying a more normal life with no doctors or treatments. We are excited about the Christmas season and can't wait to celebrate all month long.

My Caribbean Cruise...how lucky am I?

2008-11-26T20:48:00.000-08:00

Last week my dental office went on a Caribbean cruise for 4 days. I am only working very part-time but they took me anyway. Isn't that nice? Travis and I decided it would be much more cost efficient for him to stay home and play Mr. Mom, so off I went not quite knowing what to do with myself and all MY OWN free time. Travis does such a tremendous job with the kids and the house, but I must say I was a little concerned with how prepared he was just 2 weeks after completing radiation. Thankfully, he was brilliant and everyone had a good time at home. Of course, I had the best time ever. I really needed a break. It was amazing.

This is at the second port in Cozemel. My ship was called "Grandeur of the Sea."

My roommate, Ally and I along with 3 others from my office went on a 2 tank dive in Cozemel, Mexico. This dive spot is among the top few diving areas in the world. The water was incredible...it was a comfortable 78-80 degrees. We went over 80 feet down and the visibility was over 90 feet. We saw vibrant fish and coral as well as lobster and crab. We swam through a couple of tunnels. Happily we saw nothing scary. Who isn't terrified at the thought of a shark encounter?

I am standing on the southernmost point of Key West on a pier. The water was the most gorgeous color and SUPER clear. Ally and I got a Pina Colada (virgin, of course) and walked around the pier and soaked up the scenery.

For almost the same price as a bus tour, we were able to rent scooters and cruise around the 2 by 4 mile island at our leisure. I felt a little dangerous, but cannot deny what a blast it was to see the whole island from a scooter. I loved every minute of it. I topped out at 26 mph. It was hilarious!

We had a great time on the ship and did a lot of eating and laughing. We went to shows every night and I even ended up singing a little Britney Spears at Karaoke Night. Talk about moving outside my comfort zone. My friend, Heather, sang Madonna and ended up winning 3rd place in the finals on our last night. What makes it so unbelievable is that she is usually very quite and conservative at the office. Did I mention she is a dentist and mother of 4? She blew us all away. She pulled out moves I haven't seen since the 80's like the Roger Rabbit and the Running Man. She definitely tapped into a hidden talent.

I also did well in the negotiating department in Mexico on a shopping adventure. I got some lovely pieces of silver and haggled my way down to a fair price. I enjoyed that quite a lot. Oh, did I mention that I got bitten on the face by a macaw while being photographed with 3 of them on my shoulders and head? That was interesting.

I loved the chance to get away and recharge my "Andrea" battery. It felt great to laugh and do nothing but entertain myself for 4 straight days. But I have to admit, I got a little antsy towards the end and my instinct to get home and take care of my family really kicked in. My love and appreciation for Travis only grew while I was away. I came home Monday night to happy kids and a clean house. Travis is quite the guy, huh? It's so cliche but true, "absence makes the heart grow fonder." I have a truly blessed life.

Utah Trip

2008-11-12T19:52:00.001-08:00

Travis and I spent the weekend in Utah as an "end of radiation celebration trip." We went with our friends, Kathryn and Randy, and had the absolute best time. We met up with some other great friends who recently moved to Draper, Mike and Angie. We went to the BYU game on Saturday and watched San Diego get beat badly. The weather was perfect...cool and sunny. I got to wrap up in a coat, scarf and gloves- my favorite things. There was even snow on the ground and the mountains were completely covered. We slept in, ate lots of yummy food, and enjoyed every minute of freedom from the kids.

We stayed at the Marriott Residence Inn in Provo. We spent both nights hanging out playing games, watching movies, and eating treats. The boys enjoyed the game, "Settlers" (thanks, Mike) while the girls preferred visiting in the other room. But is was all a fabulous time and a much needed vacation.

Highlights:

Cheese frys and hickory sauce from Training Table, Brick Oven Pizza, Downeast Outfitter Outlet (outlets are always a must since everything's so cheap, right?), Tai Pan Trading (Kathryn and I wanted a U-Haul to take home all the stuff we fell in love with), and of course the BYU Bookstore for cool souvenirs, brunch at The Homestead (did you know you can scuba dive in the hot springs crater there? We are definitely bringing swimsuits next time), the view....Timpanogos Mountain is breathtaking! Spending time with friends.......

Hot chicks

We love our wonderful friends. We are so blessed to have such amazing people in our lives.

My honey and me

A Fun-Filled Halloween

2008-11-04T19:44:00.000-08:00

Olivia and her friend, Megan with balloon versions of themselves. Amazing and so cute!

Bumble Bee Maizy after face paint.

Me with Lil' Pumpkin Paisley. (4 weeks old)

A 6 year old me as a princess with my brother, 4 year old Josh (scary pirate) and 2 year old Emily as a bunny rabbit. (my mom worked the pink coat into the costume.....clever.) Those were the days when everyone wore homemade costumes. I'd like to get back to that. How about starting next Halloween?

2008-11-04T17:43:00.000-08:00

We have been lucky enough to attend a huge Halloween party at my brother-in-law's Aunt Sandy's home the past several years. It the party of the year and my kids never want to miss it. There is an incredible balloon guy, a face painter, inflatable jumps and (BIG) slides as well as decked out food tables with Halloween named items and treats from Sweet Cakes. She has a complete Halloween village from Department 56 that my kids love to stare at and her home is decorated in every nook and cranny. Most everyone is dressed up and everyone has a great time.

Ryan is waiting patiently for his turn with the balloon guy. He requested a RED pumpkin. He was very specific about the color. Now this balloon guy can do amazing creations, anything the kids ask for. Ryan is a boy of simple taste, apparently.

Our little Queen Amidala (from Star Wars) wasn't complete without her crown.

My mom, Juanita, with my niece, Maizy the Bumble Bee.

My niece, Miah (aka Sleeping Beauty) and Ryan or Jango Fett. (bounty hunter from Star Wars)

My whole Star Wars clad gang. I just love how Ethan (Jedi Obi Wan) poses. He knows how to work it out with the camera.

I remember the excitement of Halloween evening when I was a kid. Getting my costume on and feeling that thrill of what the night would hold. (of course that being to get as much candy as possible.) My mom always made all of us kids eat a good dinner before we went trick or treating. I could hardly stand the waiting!

Living in Utah meant that half the time we had to wear coats over our costumes. Now what would that be like? My Arizona kids will never know.

I'm still alive

2008-10-29T21:22:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post to say that I'm still alive and kickin'. I have been feeling a lot like Michael Keaton from Multiplicity. You know, the movie where he clones himself to get more done. Wouldn't that be nice. So I survived my Friday Girls' Night Out craft night. I think it was a success. At least everyone said they had fun. I was a crazy woman running around all night. Thank goodness for my helpers. I got a little obsessed about the advent calendar kits. I spent insane hours preparing ahead of time. Actually, I'm still recovering from sleep deprivation. I was an idiot and would stay up until 2-3 am working on those kits. That was a once in a lifetime project to mass produce. I've learned my lesson. I hope......

So Travis is only 7 days away from the end of radiation. Yeah! Unfortunately, the radiation accumulates and he has been sicker the past several days. Incredibly, he's still managing to work and make it to bankruptcy appointments and hearings. His worst symptom lately is nausea. He actually got sick while driving into Phoenix for a bankruptcy hearing today. He was on the freeway talking on the phone to me when he said, "I think I'm going to be sick." Then I hear some horrible noises that went on for a while. I kept asking him if he was safe and okay. He just kept throwing up. Then I heard a guy ask Travis if he was okay. We got disconnected and I immediately called back. He had thrown off his blue tooth when he got sick and pulled off on the shoulder of the freeway. Thankfully, he had a barf bag handy. It was a highway patrol car that stopped to see if Travis needed help. When I called him back he said he felt much better and went on to his hearing. Oh yea, he carried the barf bag (full) all the way to Phoenix and found a garbage when he got there! Is that a story or what?

He announced to me today, "I'm sick of being sick." Amen. So am I. I'm ready to move on.

Honestly, I am floored by the faith and optimism of everyone I talk to. Everyone seems to know just the thing I need to hear at the moment. It keeps me going and helps my faith remain intact. I thank God for sending angels to help me through this. Travis and I are not going through this alone. We have literally hundreds of dear friends and family carrying us through this challenge.

I've said it before but have to say again how blessed I am.

Half Way There

2008-10-19T21:08:00.000-07:00

Travis completed the first 3 weeks of radiation on Friday. He is half way done! It's been hard on him but he is amazingly strong. From the symptoms he describes, it sounds a lot how the early stages of morning sickness feel. He is nauseous, tired and just feels bad overall. He is still managing to work at least 1/2 days or longer. Travis continues to do some bankruptcy work for Clint Smith part-time. He is also receiving a lot of referral work and is keeping pretty darn busy. The next few months will be a transitionary time and a lot will be happening. I have complete confidence that everything will work out very well for us.

The chaos in my life is definitely subsiding a bit. My dad is recovering well from his heart surgery. He is home from the hospital and getting stronger each day. My mom is still scootering around because of her foot surgery, but also doing well. I have my huge Enrichment Night coming up this Friday. When that is over, I will do a very happy, celebratory dance. It's been an enormous amount of work. Isn't it always more work than you every think? That's what I get for optimistically thinking I could pace myself by starting early. Big thanks to Jamie for her countless hours of help. I couldn't do it without my sister. I can't wait for Friday and know it's going to be lots of fun!

Last weekend I took Olivia and Ella to see "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" at East Valley Theatre in Mesa. My friend, Becki's daughter, Elli played the lead role of Lucy. She was so darling and did an incredible job. We had a great time together.

Ryan fell in love with our little Paisley and couldn't get enough holding time. He sure looked sweet with that baby in his arms.

I enjoyed taking a few pictures of her this week. She slept through the whole thing! This is her at 12 days old.

Travis update

2008-10-09T16:16:00.000-07:00

So many are asking about how Travis is doing these days. He has completed almost 2 weeks of the 6 weeks of radiation. He goes in 5 days a week to St. Joseph Hospital and the appointments last less than 30 minutes. The drive to and from is what makes it so time consuming. I go with Travis to keep him company a couple of times a week. Travis goes with his dad a couple days a week and then Travis goes with a great friend, Shaun Jeffs, once a week. He was doing morning appointments, but we found that he felt pretty cruddy the rest of the day. So now he goes in the afternoon so at least he can work the first 1/2 of the day. His main symptoms are nausea, fatigue and basically just the yuckies. (Is that a word?) He is managing the nausea with Zofran and it seems to be helping. He is very sensitive to the radiation and has come to actually feel it enter his body. He feels kind of weird for a while after it is done. He wears a custom mesh face mask that is bolted to the table and he must hold perfectly still for 15 minutes. He has gotten very good at meditating and finding his "happy place" so as to make it bearable. His sense of smell is very heightened. He cannot even tolerate sitting in the waiting room so he checks in and waits outside the building. It doesn't smell bad to me but has a very distinct smell that Travis is adverse to. Very interesting. All in all, he is doing very well with it. We are making a graduation trip (from radiation) to Utah as soon as the 6 weeks are up. That gives us something fun to look forward to. Go Cougars!!!

On top of that, there has been a tremendous amount of drama in my family. Besides my sister having her first baby, my mom had foot surgery 12 days ago and cannot walk on it for 6 weeks. At this very moment my dad is having open heart surgery to correct a regurgitating valve in his heart. He had a horrible experience on a hunt in Colorado a few weeks ago and nearly died of pulmonary edema. (fluid in the lungs from high altitude) The doctors recommended a cardiology consult. That's when they found the problem with his heart. He has been having difficulty recovering from the pulmonary edema, but on top of that a regurgitating valve causes difficulty breathing. Double whammy.

I am beginning to feel like a rubber band being stretched as far as it can go. I am trying to hold it together so I don't snap. Thank goodness for support of friends, family and church.

Introducing Paisley

2008-10-07T16:01:00.000-07:00

My sister Emily and her husband Christian became parents on Thursday night. My sweet little niece had a hard time getting here and after 36 hours of labor then an emergency cesarean she finally arrived. She was having a difficult time at first so she was taken to NICU (neonatal intensive care unit). But soon she was breathing easy and eating well on her own. She weighed in at 6 pounds 14 ounces, not bad for 3 weeks early. They named her Paisley. I love the name. I really love this little baby. She has such a calm and content disposition and has been such a joy to get to know this past few days. It almost makes me want another one. (almost)

Paisley and me on Sunday in the NICU.

The night they brought Paisley home I took Ella and Olivia over to meet her and brought them dinner. The girls were smitten with Paisley and couldn't get enough of her.

Olivia was especially taken with this new little member of the family. She made Paisley a quilt, she even sewed it by hand. She is trying to convince me to have another baby. Those instincts to take care of a baby are so strong with girls. Olivia even said that she can't wait until she can be a mom. (maybe in about 15 years, or so!)

I love to see my girls so in love with our new little baby. I'm sure we will have an open door to Emily and the baby so we can see as much of her as possible. She is absolutely adorable!

Disneyland

2008-09-28T20:47:00.000-07:00

We can finally all ride together! Ryan made the cut this year when he grew to 40 inches. Way to go, big guy. The funny thing is, Ryan looks the most relaxed out of the whole family. Ella wins for the most terrified.

The happiest place on earth has a magical affect on my children.....they actually get along.

Much to Travis and my dismay, the kids love to climb Tarzan's treehouse. That is just way too much exercise to do at Disneyland. They love the play area at the end.

Olivia took full advantage of all photo ops. She loved the waterfall here.

We've never taken the kids before November so it was lots of fun to see all the festive Fall decor. Everything was pumpkins, orange banners, orange and yellow mums. It made me so excited for cooler temps, Halloween and all the fun Fall activities. But none of us were prepared for the warm September weather. UGH! But the crowds were great and the kids got lots of action on countless rides. It was one of my best trips with the kids because we were able to ride nearly everything together. No more stroller swapping! We are officially out of the baby phase. We have really arrived.

We planned on spending our third day there until after lunch then heading home. We did everything we could think of and more. It was fabulous. But of course after the last ride, Ella said, "Can we go on just one more ride?" That sums it up.

It's always a sad moment to say good-bye to our favorite place.

Ryan's Reptile Adventures

2008-09-17T21:33:00.000-07:00

Ryan turned 4 over the weekend and today we had the Reptile Guy, Rich, come with all his amazing reptile friends to entertain 15 kids. It was the best, most entertaining party I've ever thrown! He wowed the kids with his collection of lizards, iguanas and snakes. He has raised all of them from babies and they were so much fun to see. He had a bearded dragon, Junior, a legless lizard, Goldie, a friendly snake, Billy (all the kids got to hold him!), and a 7 year old albino python named Lilly. She is over 16 feet long and weighs over 100 pounds! Check out all the kids kneeling beside her in the above picture. Surprisingly, no one was scared and they all wanted to pet her.

Ryan took some convincing, but finally got cozy with Billy. It freaked him out just a bit.

Travis was super comfortable with a snake wrapped around his neck.

One of the coolest friends was T-bow, the rhinoceros iguana. Rich has raised him for the past 19 years. T-bow is only middle-aged so he has a lot a life still in him. Rich educated all of us about these unusual reptiles. Each kid from 3 years old and up were fascinated and mesmerized by the presentation. Rich is hilarious with the animals. He has a funny relationship with each animal and you could tell how much he loves them.

Ethan was excited to hold Billy. I'm sure it was a little scary but everyone was doing it, so how bad could it be?

My sister in law, Jodi, recommended Reptile adventures and Rich didn't disappoint! It was such a treat and all the kids (and grown ups) had a great time. If you want to check out Reptile Adventures click here.

Travis begins radiation on the 29th. We plan to take the kids to Disneyland for a few days before he begins. The kids got a little gyped this summer when we cancelled all our vacation plans. We need an escape and as many of you know, we are Disneyland freaks!

What's a mom to do

2008-09-09T21:49:00.000-07:00

So I spent one crazy night working myself into a frenzy of crafts. I was determined to complete a bunch of projects to display on Sunday morning for an upcoming "Girl's Night" in my ward. Did I mention I am Enrichment Leader? Anyway, I thought I had a "few loose ends" to complete and I would be ready to go. That was before I got called into work of Saturday then invited to an ASU football game that night. By the time I started the "loose ends" in was 11:00 pm. Travis came downstairs around 3:30 am to a kitchen full of corn husks, paper, glue, ribbon, etc. stewed all over. I told him he was dreaming and to go back up to bed. I called it quits about 4:45. Ryan woke me around 6:30 so that was all the sleep I was going to get. I made it through 3 hours of Church and was so excited by the response to the projects I set up. I ended up crashing for several hours after church and was good for nothing the rest of the day. I am really getting too old for all nighters. When did that happen?

By Monday, I wasn't feeling well and by the evening I was down right sick. I guess that's what they call burning the candle at both ends. It didn't serve me very well. Travis had to feed the kids (leftovers from Sunday) and get them to bed. This morning was no better. He had to get 4 kids up and ready for school then drive 4 kids to 3 different locations. Yeah, it's tough for me so you can imagine how he felt. Later in the day he told me he wishes he was sick instead of me. How selfless is that? Ha! Moms really never take time off to be sick. I came downstairs at 7 am to throw together 3 lunches and back to bed I went. When I finally staggered out of bed a while later, I managed to load the dishwasher and fold and put away clean laundry (the kids were having a fit this morning because all their favorites weren't in their drawers) before taking a shower and heading to another doctor appointment with Travis. Honestly, isn't there some way a mom can just take a time out and hang a "do not disturb" sign on their bedroom door? Sadly, I haven't found anyone who can tell me how that works.

Lucky for me I am feeling much better tonight!

My cornhusk Harvest Wreath

The crackled monogram

The very fun magnetic advent Christmas calendar

The mod podge scrapbook paper frame- my favorite!

Travis graduates from PT

2008-09-03T20:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Travis had his last physical therapy appointment with Dr. Robert Whipple. Last week Doc told Travis that he thought Travis was ready to be done with PT. He told Travis how much fun it has been to watch Travis progress so quickly the past several weeks. It has been 6 weeks since his surgery. Travis has diligently followed all instructions to speed his recovery along. He has improved amazingly quickly. I thought it was neat to hear that a physical therapist was so impressed with that diligence. It really is miraculous when you think about what Travis has gone through....major brain surgery and he's back to nearly 100%. Someone made a comment that they don't bounce back that quickly from a cold! Kind of funny.

The next step is an appointment with the radiation doc to get another MRI and be fitted with a "mask" to wear during radiation treatments. We'll do that next week then be ready to begin radiation. So we are probably looking at radiation in about 2-3 weeks. That will last a long 6 1/2 weeks of daily treatments at St. Joe's in Phoenix. We are planning on working with our naturopathic oncologist, Dr. Rubin, to keep Travis as strong and energetic as possible. I have no doubt that he be a superstar through all this!

I have officially entered the working force once again! It's been a full decade since I worked a full day of dental hygiene. But today Dr. Mike Greding was kind enough to invite me to fill in for his regular hygienist while she was out of town. I actually enjoyed it. Now I'm not saying I would prefer to work outside the home full-time, but what a huge blessing to be able to contribute financially when we need it. I have been working a half day each week for several years now but welcome the opportunity to pick up more hours. Luckily, I have all kinds of great dental connections and friends. Travis played Mr. Mom this morning dropping kids off at school then back home from work at 2:45 to drive carpool after school. How great is that? Travis continues to work for Cornerstone Homes part time but they continue to need him less and less. He has time to practice law on his own as well as some bankruptcy law with Clint Smith. This still provides a flexible schedule for doctor's appointments and carpooling!

I am thankful for how the Lord provides a way for us to make things work in our family. We are doing great, we are happy, optimistic, and taking care of one another and our children. I am not living in fear. I don't know what the future holds for us (who does?!) but I view life as a gift to treasure. How many of us live our lives thinking about tomorrow and not living in the moment. I am definitely guilty of that. I don't want to waste a single day or take anything for granted. I think that this human experience is for us to learn to be happy and make the most of each day. Maybe that is something I need to learn from all this. I am so task-oriented. I busy myself and forget to stop and enjoy the simple everyday moments that make life special. Stop and play with the kids, sit on the couch and chat with my husband, bake something with Ella, let Olivia talk to me without walking around the house working, maybe even play Indiana Jones on the Wii with Ethan and Ryan......that will challenge me a bit. I don't want to have any regrets. Relationships, not tasks. That's what it's all about.

Emily's baby shower

2008-09-01T17:01:00.000-07:00

Jamie, my mom, Emily, me and Jodi

We had a great spread of food! I made chocolate/chocolate chip with a marshmallow buttercream frosting and coconut cupcakes from the Picky Palate blog. We had yummy sandwiches, salads, chocolate strawberries, pound cake, you know- all the good shower food.

Emily scored on lots of great baby items and I think she is officially "ready" for Paisley to make her October arrival.

Special thanks to Kathy for all the darling baby antiques that added so much to the shower. Those Winn ladies sure know how to make everything so beautiful and charming.

2008-08-28T20:47:00.001-07:00

I am such a goof and deleted my entire friends and family list. If you are one of those special people I like to visit, please give me your blog name so I don't have to stress about tracking you down. I am a danger to myself and any computer I touch!

Doctors, Doctors

2008-08-27T22:08:00.000-07:00

I'm usually behind the camera so today I thought I'd take my own picture with my sweetie.

Besides needing a haircut, look how amazingly great this looks! Really unbelievable.

It's been 5 weeks since surgery.

Yesterday we had a post-op with Dr. Spetzler. Everything is going great with recovery. He basically told us that if everything goes well we should never have to see him again. He told us that the surgery went exactly how they hoped and the recovery is going just as well. He said they can never predict how someone will do with a low-grade glioma (specifically, astrocytoma grade II) but Dr. Spetzler sees the most difficult cases in the world and he thinks Travis will do very well.

Today we consulted with Dr. Daniel Rubin, a Naturopathic Oncologist. We really liked him and felt like he was on the exact same page as us. He answered all kinds of questions we have been gathering from our extensive research over the past few months. He was very good at putting everything together for us in a concrete treatment plan. He started Travis out on a variety of immune-boosting supplements and ordered some tests. He is in favor of radiation and will help Travis keep up his energy and health during the course of radiation treatments. We now have to decide when to begin.

Dr. Rubin also gave us some interesting "food for thought" about environmental products that have a toxic and carcinogenic affect on us. By the end of the appointment, my head was swimming with all the info he gave us, but he assured us that we can make small changes over time and eventually get to where we want to be. Wondering what I'm talking about? I'll talk about it later when I have a chance to read some things over a bit more. Let me just say, I'll have to get rid of my favorite (very pliable) purple tumblers that I drink my water in every day. Apparently, the ingredient that makes plastic really pliable is toxic and over time can be bad for you. I know that sounds strange, but have you heard about water bottles and not freezing them or heating them up because it releases a toxic chemical into the water from the bottle? The chemical is called phthalates. (the ph is silent) If you want to know exactly what it does go to ewg.org. Like I said, it is overwhelming. There is so much to learn. I'll share the good stuff as I can.

By the way, we welcome visitors and treats! I think we have scared away friends, neighbors and church members who don't want to "intrude." PLEASE feel welcome to drop in and see us. We love the company! We are doing great.

More birthdays

2008-08-20T14:57:00.000-07:00

Travis and Olivia share August 15th for their birthdays. Poor Travis...10 years ago I ruined his Saturday birthday plans to golf with his brother when I went into labor and he's never had the spotlight on his birthday ever since.

To celebrate her birthday, Olivia had a girls' night with some of her closest friends. She chose a mermaid theme so they swam, made shell necklaces and had sorbet out of coconut and pineapple skins. They also watched Nim's Island. I taped them in the pool acting like mermaids and acting out a skit in the pool.....all Olivia's idea. I think the evening was a success and everyone had a great time.

Travis and I celebrated on Saturday night with our friends, Jim and Tiffany. We ate at Kona Grill and then got a treat at Paradise Bakery. The bowling alley had about a 1 1/2 hour wait so we decided to try a movie. While waiting for "Swing Vote" to start, Travis decided he was not up for seeing a 9:30 movie so we got our money back and went home! Kind of funny, but a good call. We weren't sure about that movie anyway. I haven't heard anything about it either way.

On Monday we met with Dr. Kresl, a radiation specialist. He told us all about radiation and what it would do and what it would involve. He explained that it's not a cure but a way to slow down and shrink the tumor. Apparently, gamma knife isn't indicated in the brain stem without great risk of damage to vital nerves. If we do radiation, Travis will go in every week day for about 6 1/2 weeks and get a small dose (31-33 times total). Over time, the tumor cells die and the regular cells in the area regenerate. When done slowly, it allows the good cells to recover and the tumor cells to die and break up. It doesn't get rid of the tumor but definitely slows things down. The side effects are nausea and general fatigue. People also experience pain in the area because as the tumor cells die, scar tissue is created and inflammation in the area occurs. We are meeting with a naturopathic oncologist, Dr. Rubin in a couple of weeks. We are researching as much as we can before we make more decisions concerning further treatment. Travis continues to get stronger and better. He is still doing physical therapy twice a week. He has more energy and much less pain as time goes on.

Meet Little Piggy

2008-08-16T08:50:00.000-07:00

Introducing the newest member of the Williams clan!......Meet Little Piggy!

Olivia turned 10 on Friday and since she has been begging for a dog we figured she would be satisfied with just about any mammal. We went to Petsmart for a hamster and came home with a guinea pig.

The kids are in love and Little Piggy is adjusting well. A funny story about how I came to pick this particular little guy....I was looking at the selection of guinea pigs and an employee told me they had one up for adoption. His previous owners brought him back with a respiratory infection the first time and then back to the store with a broken leg. I told her I would see him but was skeptical about a "damaged" pet. She took me to the "Employees Only" area and into a little back room where they had him a a small cage. I took one look at him and had to have him! He is the prettiest color and has a sweet temperament. He kind of drags his back foot a bit because it healed a little crooked. The lady made me promise to love him and take good care of him and then I took him home for free! What a deal. I saved myself $35. Travis says we should get Little Piggy a buddy!

Actually, our cat Max thinks Little Piggy is his new toy. He has been camped out by the cage in Olivia's room since we brought him home. Piggy is still a baby of about 4-6 months old. I'm not sure if he is safe from Max yet. We'll have to see later.

I'm excited about this new addition. Guinea pigs are apparently intelligent, social and gentle pets. They bond with their owners and even whistle when you come into the room. That sold me because everyone told us that hamsters bite and always try to get away from you and their cage. Little Piggy doesn't bite but he kind of licks and nibbles at our fingers. He's so cute.

Breaking Dawn....loved it!

2008-08-13T22:03:00.001-07:00

Calling all Twilight Series fans! I spent the last several days with the 4th and last book of the series in my hand whenever possible. I took my time, read slowly, savoring each moment of my favorite guilty pleasure. I put off everything else I could....it was all I could think about for 5 days. Anyway, it may be silly but what a fun escape! I'm actually in a bit of a slump because I'm done and wish I wasn't. I won't give anything away if by chance, another fan hasn't already finished it, but it definitely didn't disappoint. I loved the direction she took the story and think she wrapped up the series well. Two thumbs up.

Okay, so I'm back to reality again!

ALL day school and BIRTHDAYS GALORE

2008-08-10T21:03:00.000-07:00

Olivia's first day of 5th grade. So cute! We even took time to straighten her natural curly hair. I can't even believe how grown up she looks. She is such a darling, sweet and fun girl. I'm sure she will have an awesome and fun school year.

Ethan and Ella's first day of ALL day kindergarten...my best leverage to convince them of how much fun ALL day will be is that they get to take a lunch to school. After 3 days, the novelty has worn off and it's kind of tough going ALL day! Notice all the ALL day...it's a big deal. I'm adjusting better than they are. But they have an adorable teacher and lots of fun adventures ahead of them this year.

Here they are on the second day of school...their 6th birthday! They were thrilled to take cupcakes to their class. I also delivered Happy Meals from McDonald's to school for lunch. They thought that was cool and it hopefully made the day more special for them.

As if the week was not crazy enough, we had a birthday party with lots of cousins and a few friends on Friday evening. We kept it simple with the slip-n-slide and water balloons, pinatas, hot dogs and cupcakes. Sadly for me it was an hour and a half of pure torture. I made sure the kids had fun but made a huge discovery..... it is time to have separate boy and girl birthday parties!! I'm not doing anyone any favors by trying to get away with combining the two. 20 kids running around they backyard while I'm trying to teach 3 year olds how to toss a water balloon to a partner is complete madness. My head has finally stopped spinning. Am I being a little melodramatic? Absolutely not!

But I have to say, I will continue to torture myself endlessly because I just love to see my kids happy. They look forward to their birthdays all year long. I want them to look back and have special memories and know how much I love them. I may grumble and complain but I will voluntarily do it again and again. Part of motherhood is a little self-sacrifice, right? Did I mention 3 of my kids have birthdays in an 8 day span with my 4th child a month later? Then I can gear up for 11 months to do it again......stay tuned for another party this weekend.

Just an update for those interested in how Travis is doing:

What else can I say but he is doing so remarkable! He is doing rigorous physical therapy twice a week and he is also hitting the gym on the other days. He worked a couple of times this past week. He is also able to get some work done from home. Each day gets a little better. His head looks unbelievably healed up. His hair has grown back and his scar is hardly noticeable. It hasn't even been 3 weeks since surgery! Sometimes he still has some instability and dizziness when he walks. He also has some pressure and pain in his head from time to time. It's all about pacing himself and taking time for plenty of rest. I continue to chauffeur him around but think he will be back behind the wheel soon. He feels great and even made it to Church for the first time today. We meet with the radiation doctor next week for a consult. But our focus right now is getting him completely healed from surgery.

the end of summer

2008-08-05T22:56:00.000-07:00

I just spent the entire day getting ready for my 3 older kids to start school tomorrow. I can't believe three of my kids are going to be in school all day......from now on! That seems completely weird to me. I had to pack supplies in backpacks (lots & lots of supplies!), lay out lunch fixings (I now have to pack 3 lunches each day...that seems a bit overwhelming), have the kids lay out their new school clothes, and fill out tons of paper work from the teachers. It seemed like a lot more than usual. Anyway, today was their last day of summer and part of me is a little sad. But the bigger part of me is so excited for the new school year and all the adventures to come. I do like schedules and structure so this is good. I'm thinking of all the time I will have now. I'm sure I'll get caught up on everything I've been meaning to do. Yah, sure! I can always hope. Well, a very big morning awaits me and it will be here in no time.

By the way, Travis went into work for a few hours today. Isn't that awesome? It did wipe him out and he took a 3 hour nap when he got home. His body is working so hard to mend itself. But he is getting back to his normal self a little more each day.