HAPPY EASTER...

We had a wonderful Easter filled with lots of food, fun, family and friends. First of all over spring break I was busy with making a heck of a lot of chocolates. (I was blessed to have help.) Saturday was a full day with a fun Easter picnic with my brother and his wife. For 6 years we have been going to the Easter picnic and we look forward to it each year. On Easter Sunday I decided to bring the party to our house. We had tons of great food, Easter egg hunt and lots of games. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family. I love my family so much and I hope that they all know how much I love them.

Alyssa

Gabe

Andelynn and Gabe playing catch

Alyssa playing ladder golf

my crazy parents

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Irish Dancers

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Let's play dolls

So I was going back looking at old pictures. I came across this picture and really liked it so I thought i would share with you.

Last Christmas (2007) both my brother and I were living out of state. We didn't see my brother often. We both came back to Utah for Christmas and spent a little time together. Corey the great uncle that he is got on the floor and played dolls with Alyssa. I thought it was sweet, so I am sharing with you.

Flying

This is a group of crazy guys in Norway seeing what it would be like to fly. Do not try this yourself. It does look like fun, But I am not that crazy. Just click the link below and see what it would be like to fly. ENJOY!

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=1778399&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1

Just Turned 4

On December 19th Alyssa turned 4 years old. Andelynn is getting so tired of Alyssa hanging on to everything that she does. We decided it's about time that Alyssa gets her own friends. So we did a birthday party with her friends from school. Alyssa wanted an all girl party except her friend Jace. All girls and one boy. Some day he will realize how lucky he is.

Birthday Girl

party at chuck E cheese

This is the cake Alyssa asked for and of course it had to be blue, her favorite color.

It is not my best or worst cake. I made it during the middle of the night so I was dead tired while making it. So I was trying to get it over with so I could get some sleep. I ended up with 2 hours of sleep.

Notice all the blue and white flowers, Andy even helped me make all those. What a good guy to help me make sugar flowers.

Making Pretzels

We had Tammy and her two kids come over and help make pretzels. And boy did we make pretzels. We made so many of those things and it still seemed like it wasn't enough. We let her kids make some to send over to their dad. We were up making these things until 1am. But boy did we have a blast.

Cody and Aly

my kids even jumped in on the fun

The Gang Is Back

It has been a long time since we have all been together and we are still not all here. We still missed Emilie, Ryan and Heidi. It is so hard to keep in touch with everyone when you get older and have your own lives. But it was so nice to get back together and see everyone again.

This is the group that I hung out with through High School and after. It was those in this picture and Emilie and Ryan. They are all the ones who knew me the best. And boy did we have fun together, So many memories...

In this picture
Chris, Stacie, Brad, Dave and Kelly

Thank you Kelly for putting this together so quick. It was fun. And good luck to Brad who just moved to North Carolina. I hope things will go well for you there, we will miss you.

Dave wants to plan a Moab trip for this spring with everyone. Lets see if we can make that happen.

Birthdays

Andy and I had pretty good birthdays. I love to make chocolates and other goodies so I got this book for my birthday. And my chocolates have improved a ton since then. However it does take a lot more time now to make my chocolates. And less time to have them gone.


Poor poor Andy had to spend his birthday by himself in hotel in Texas. He had to fly out the morning of his birthday. When Andy is traveling he always stays at the same hotel (Marriott of course). So they get to know ya pretty well. When Andy checked in the day of his birthday they asked if it was his birthday today and Andy said yes. They wished Andy a happy birthday and they gave him this plate of cookies and a card that every employee at the hotel signed.

Thanksgiving

Ok, So I know I am far behind on my blog. I know that this is old but I thought I would put it up anyways.

My brother Corey flew in from Denver, CO for Thanksgiving. Since we were all together for Thanksgiving we decided it would be a nice time to get some family pictures. I am not a fan of the pictures of me, but it is nice to be all together. Oh and Thanksgiving dinner was at our house. That was fun...

The Gerlach Gang

Me and my siblings

BYE BYE CAR

Saturday we sold our lovely Accord. What a car. I did love to drive it around and just blast my music. Yeah I was one of those that people hated when I was next to them at the stop light. I loved having the beat. No wonder why I am going deaf. I will miss that wee little car.

Christmas Poem

TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS,
HE LIVED ALL ALONE,
IN A ONE BEDROOM HOUSE MADE OF
PLASTER AND STONE.

I HAD COME DOWN THE CHIMNEY
WITH PRESENTS TO GIVE,
AND TO SEE JUST WHO
IN THIS HOME DID LIVE.

I LOOKED ALL ABOUT,
A STRANGE SIGHT I DID SEE,
NO TINSEL, NO PRESENTS,
NOT EVEN A TREE.

NO STOCKING BY MANTLE,
JUST BOOTS FILLED WITH SAND,
ON THE WALL HUNG PICTURES
OF FAR DISTANT LANDS.

WITH MEDALS AND BADGES,
AWARDS OF ALL KINDS,
A SOBER THOUGHT
CAME THROUGH MY MIND.

FOR THIS HOUSE WAS DIFFERENT,
IT WAS DARK AND DREARY,
I FOUND THE HOME OF A SOLDIER,
ONCE I COULD SEE CLEARLY.

THE SOLDIER LAY SLEEPING,
SILENT, ALONE,
CURLED UP ON THE FLOOR
IN THIS ONE BEDROOM HOME.

THE FACE WAS SO GENTLE,
THE ROOM IN SUCH DISORDER,
NOT HOW I PICTURED
A UNITED STATES SOLDIER.

WAS THIS THE HERO
OF WHOM I'D JUST READ?
CURLED UP ON A PONCHO,
THE FLOOR FOR A BED?

I REALIZED THE FAMILIES
THAT I SAW THIS NIGHT,
OWED THEIR LIVES TO THESE SOLDIERS
WHO WERE WILLING TO FIGHT.

SOON ROUND THE WORLD,
THE CHILDREN WOULD PLAY,
AND GROWNUPS WOULD CELEBRATE
A BRIGHT CHRISTMAS DAY.

THEY ALL ENJOYED FREEDOM
EACH MONTH OF THE YEAR,
BECAUSE OF THE SOLDIERS,
LIKE THE ONE LYING HERE.

I COULDN'T HELP WONDER
HOW MANY LAY ALONE,
ON A COLD CHRISTMAS EVE
IN A LAND FAR FROM HOME.

THE VERY THOUGHT
BROUGHT A TEAR TO MY EYE,
I DROPPED TO MY KNEES
AND STARTED TO CRY.

THE SOLDIER AWAKENED
AND I HEARD A ROUGH VOICE,
'SANTA DON'T CRY,
THIS LIFE IS MY CHOICE;

I FIGHT FOR FREEDOM,
I DON'T ASK FOR MORE,
MY LOVE IS FOR GOD,
MY COUNTRY, MY CORPS.'

THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER
AND DRIFTED TO SLEEP,
I COULDN'T CONTROL IT,
I CONTINUED TO WEEP.

I KEPT WATCH FOR HOURS,
SO SILENT AND STILL
AND WE BOTH SHIVERED FROM THE COLD NIGHT'S CHILL.

I DIDN'T WANT TO LEAVE
ON THAT COLD, DARK, NIGHT,
THIS GUARDIAN OF HONOR
SO WILLING TO FIGHT.

THEN THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER,
WITH A VOICE SOFT AND PURE,
WHISPERED, 'CARRY ON SANTA,
IT'S CHRISTMAS DAY, ALL IS SECURE.'

ONE LOOK AT MY WATCH,
AND I KNEW HE WAS RIGHT.
'MERRY CHRISTMAS MY FRIEND,!
AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT.'

9 and 9

It's about time that I share some good news about my surgery. It is now 9 days after surgery and I have lost 9 pounds. I am now able of eating normal food. I ate a slice of pizza for dinner tonight. It feels so good to eat again, something besides all this mushy food. Overall I am feeling pretty good.

Normal or Not?....

Any of you that have had your tonsils out or know someone who has please let me know if this is normal or not. I have had so many other symptoms since I have had my tonsils out and I have guessed that this is all part of the process but now I don't know.

Some symptoms: tight jaw, I can not open my mouth very much and when I try it hurts. migraines, I get the worse headaches that are migraines, even having lights on affect my headache. neck pains, I can not turn my head too much. If I need to look to the side then I need to turn all of me I can not just turn my head over. I can not check my blind spot if I were to drive. Very dizzy and tired all the time, I can not drive because I am always getting dizzy and cant even hold myself up. And I will just fall asleep in the middle of doing things. (I feel asleep while eating). I guess that this one is due to the medicine. And this is why I won't drive. Raw cheeks, ever since my surgery inside of mouth my cheeks are pure raw. I scream when I have to brush my teeth. that is pure pain and then of course I can't open my mouth very wide to brush. numb tongue, every since my surgery my tongue has been numb and I have no taste buds. every time I eat I don't feel it or taste it, but I know i am eating because of the severe pain when I swallow. and now the worst for last. My tongue is all cut up. I have 3 deep cuts in my tongue. these cuts go half way through my tongue. This one scares me the most. Will this heal? I have tried to call the doctor and he is in surgery. So I have to wait until next week before I can get in. From what I understand is that they had problems with the clamp that holds my tongue down and my mouth open.

Any of you that know any of the symptoms please let me know if any of these are normal. and how long did it take you to heal? Please give me any advice that you might have for me. Thanks for your help and prayers.

The Hardest Part

Oh what fun this healing process is. Friday was my surgery and I have been doing pretty good. Yeah Friday was a bad day, but other than that I have been doing great. I have been trying to eat new things. I did really well with mashed potatoes, rice with a cream sauce, vegetables and just about anything that is mushy. I even got out of the house for a little bit yesterday. And then today hit. Today is the hardest day so far. I don't know if I over did it and now I am paying the price or if this is just how it is. I was told that it does get worse before it gets better. I am feeling the worse. I hurt so bad, I can't even get down applesauce or yogurt. I really hope that the better stage will come back and come back soon.

Tonsils

So yesterday I went and finally got my tonsils taken out. I only had to reschedule 3 times due to Andy always being sent out of town. This time I finally did it. Honestly I was so scared and I would have backed out if I could have. But knowing how bad I swell up, I knew that I had to get this done.

Everything went well. Due to my throat being so small I guess they had a hard time getting the tube down my throat. And then they couldn't get my mouth to open wide enough. And of course my tonsils were a lot bigger than they thought. So I gave them a challenge. But everything went well in the end.

I am now home trying to get better. Yesterday after getting home things weren't too good. I could not stop from throwing up. We discovered it was due to the pain medicine. Today I am on new medicine and I am doing great. I even ate mashed potatoes today. So I am happy!

HALLOWEEN...

I know I am late getting these pictures posted. There is no excuse, I am just lazy I guess. Well here are a few pictures from Halloween.

Andelynn = Vampire

Alyssa = Princess

Vampire + Princess = TROUBLE

Fighting the Bull

So I was looking back at my pictures and noticed that I didn't add all the pictures that I was going to from when I went to Thanksgiving Point over UEA weekend. I am not planning on adding them all however I thought you would like this.
They had Bull riding and I thought I would give it a try, not a good idea when just a month ago I injured my back. Yeah I am still feeling the pain. I did have to ask him to stop because I could feel the pain in the back. But it was still fun.

TRICK OR TREAT

What is going on with the weather these days? I am not complaining, I like how it is. But not too long ago we woke up to snow. This last week it has been warm enough to wear shorts. Here we are almost November and wearing shorts. And it looks like not much is going to change for Halloween. That will be nice for all those ghost and goblins knocking at your door.

one lucky guy

A prince with three beautiful princess...