Ryan and his neck

So for the past 3-4 months (back around Thanksgiving) Ryan started telling us he was having pains in his neck. We thought it was more of a muscle and tried a few things, new pillow, new mattress (he needed one anyhow), heat with a rice pillow, Ibuprofen, etc. I'd rub his neck often. Nothing seemed to help. So, he started having his twitch. He tips his head to the right. That is the side that bothers him. So I started rubbing it again and this time really paying attention to what it felt like, asking questions, etc. It doesn't hurt when I push on the 'knots', it does let up, it just feels good to have it rubbed he said. There is no 'release' when I press on it like some knots I have worked on. Well, then I started noticing that the 'knot' didn't really feel like muscle. More like a couple harder balls in his neck, down near his collar bone. Of course....lymph nodes are there. Where does my mind wander and what do I google? Hodgkin's Lymphoma! So I decided to take him in today. His pediatrician is out of town until Thursday, but her husband saw us (general practice) and he wants to treat it as muscle for a week. He said he had a hard time telling what it is. Definately something there, but not sure what. He is on a muscle relaxant and Ibuprofen round the clock for a week. If we don't have any improvements, then we'll go back in for labs. So anyhow, we are now praying that Ryan will be 100% in one week so we don't have to continue with other tests! So I will be posting next week, if not sooner! :-)

Gotta share this!

Click right here! .....you will get a good laugh out of it! I got it from a friend's blog.

There are a few other ones that are pretty funny, too! Marriage tips is worth the visit, toO!

My Grandma!

So this is a picture, taken in November 2000, of my maternal grandparents with Ryan. It was taken just a few months before my grandpa (James Sofoulis, Jr.) died. He had esophageal cancer. My grandma, Maxine, has been a widow ever since. Today is her 85th birthday! Happy Birthday Grandma! My grandma's life has deteriorated over the years, as it often does with the years being added on to your life. She currently lives in a nursing home and has dementia. I have great memories of her! She was an amazingly active person! She worked at Sears and for a long time we always got to pick out some school clothes from the catalog (with grandma's 20% off!) and that was always fun! Growing up in a little town, that was HUGE to me! Pretty exciting!
Grandma was always on the board or chair of something. For as long as her mind let her (and as long as I can remember) she was the President of the Mecosta County Historical Society. (This is in Michigan.) Her father was the Sheriff in Mecosta County so they lived in the "Old Jail" for part of her life. So to be in charge of it's restoration and upkeep was very personal to her. Along with this position, she was also in charge of the Mecosta County Museum. I LOVED going to the museum! she would often let us try on the shoes or hats or sometimes even a dress or two. I loved looking at the old pictures and letters and books she would pour over, trying to figure out if they were relevent to Mecosta County. She would give tours to school groups or other organizations and I loved listening to her excitement in retelling these stories over and over and over! I can visualize her mannerisms, the way she moved her hands, tilt her head or wipe the saliva out of the corners of her mouth when she got talking so fast!
My grandparents are not memebers of the Church, but one night they came and participated in our Family Home Evening talent show. She came over in one of her long moo-moos, which I thought was odd. She then, when it was her turn, sat on the ground, put on a hair net thing (like the lunch ladies wear) and did a meditation pose (crossed legs, hands on knees). I remember waiting to see what she was going to do! Then, all of the sudden, she starts wiggling her ears! It was AWESOME! I had never seen anyone wiggle their ears before! I laughed and laughed and laughed! It still makes me smile to think about it!
Another thing I remember about grandma is that she ALWAYS had a project going at home! Her and grandpa had their side by side recliners and next to grandma's recliner was a couch usually filled with magazines, newspapers, something she was working on. She'd clear a spot off for us when we'd come over. We lived next door to them for a majority of my life. I loved walking across the yard to see them. Grandpa would offer a candy (usually a pink mint) and nuts (ALWAYS cashews!) and grandma would get us a pop or something she had baked. She was always trying new recipes.
Whenever I wanted to make some money, she would always have something for me to do. Usually cleaning out a pantry or cupboards or something. Grandma wasn't the neatest person, pretty much becuase she was always out doing other things!
Grandpa and Grandma had a motor home when I was in Jr High and High School. They would let me and my girl friends have sleep overs in it many times. We LOVED that! It was always so fun to have our 'own place'. She always had chips, pop and candies in there for us, too!
She'd take a few of us kids camping with her and grandpa often. Grandpa was in a band (called the Scotville Clown Band) and so they camped a lot to march in parades aroudn Michigan. On these trips she taught me cribbage.
When I moved to Utah, grandma was always SO amazing about sending a card on each holiday stuffed with a book of stamps and a $5 or $10 bill. She'd fill me in on everything she was doing to keep busy! I still have those cards!
We haven't been able to go out and see her in many years. Her dementia was just starting to show. I was pregnant with Nathan at the time, so it has been almost 7 years. So am I grateful for memories I do have of her! I know her quality of life isn't good. Sometimes I wish she was reunited with Grandpa and her family! But as for today....HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I love you, grandma!

A FUNNY FUNNY JOKE!

My sister-in-law sent this to me! I laughed SO hard! Enjoyed it very much and chuckled periodically throughout the day when I'd think about it! ENJOY!


The Dept of Defense briefed the president this morning.

They told President Obama that 2 Brazilian soldiers were killed in Iraq .

To everyone's surprise, all the color drained from Obama's face.

Then he collapsed onto his desk, head in his hands, visibly shaken, almost in tears.

Finally, he composed himself and asked, 'Just how many is a brazilian?'

This is not surprising, since he obviously has no understanding of billion or trillion either.

Our Las Vegas Trip

So we took off and made it almost all the way to Vegas before Ryan threw up! But that was the last of the vomit! We haven't seen it since, knock on wood! The ride would have only taken 5 1/2 hours had it not been for the MULTIPLE potty stops! Luckily they can pee on the side of the road! But still, takes about 10 minutes each stop and we stopped 6 times! But we finally did arrive! We stayed at a friend of ours we knew in Elko. We appreciate them letting us crash their home and are glad they had a big home for us to crash!
So, if any of you have seen "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" (WAY funny movie!) the mayor orders up a "Las Vegas style buffet". So that is what the kids wanted! They are use to "Reno style" one. So we went to the Excalibar's buffet. Kids thougth it was GREAT to be at a Las Vegas style buffet. Me, I just noticed the price difference! But it was still yummy! Lacey and her 2 boys came with us, so we had quite the table full!

Here we are in our seats before the play began. Daniel, Comptyn and I are WAY at the top of the picture. Not great lighting in there! Probably should have changed the setting.

Here the kids are afterwards! They were SO good during it! Some of them were literally on the edge of their seat. 1 1/2 hours first act, 1 hour second act. They were great! It was such an AMAZING show! The cosumes alone were unbelieveable! Scar and Mufasa have a lion mask above their head. They have a button in their palm that allows for the mask to drop down in front of their face putting them into their character more during certain times in teh plays. It was cool! (I had to look up how they did the mask thing) Pumbaa had actual hair on his body! (We had good seats so we saw details!) AMAZING! The music! The costumes! The props....floor opening and closing to allow Pride rock to come out of the floor. Anyhow, I would HIGHLY recommend taking kids to it! Twins just turned 4 and they were glued the whole time!


On our way thru the casino, followign the signs to the theatre, we could hear this really loud song of "Push It" by Salt 'n Pepper. Interesting song to be playing so loud in a casino! Well, we turned the corner, following the sign to the theatre, we could see it in the distance, but then our eyes focused on the source of the music.....A POLE DANCER!!!! So instead of going point A to B we went point A to G to M to B! HOLY COW! Thank goodness our boys were short and watching the slot machines!

When we were waiting for hte play to start, we got here about 20 minutes before it started, Kevin said, 'I think that is Andrei Kirilenko!' (Plays for the Utah Jazz) Anyhow, this tall man, kindof his features, longer hair, woman and a couple of kids, walked up to about row C or D. Kevin looked up the Jazz schedule and they were off this weekend. Anyhow, I googled what his wife looks like and I think Kevin was right! The lady sure looks like his wife. They didn't come back for Act 2, however, so maybe they got our sick bug! YAY! We passed it on!


This is a replica of Scar's costume that was in the souvenir shop. If you click on it you can probably see a little better picture. I held the camera above my head to get a shot! there were LOTS of people there!

The whole family after the play!

Sunday we went to church. Monday we got up and drove over to the Las Vegas Temple. Such a pretty temple!

Andrew, Lacey and Brandon.....the brave souls who took us in for the weekend! Her husband is in South Carolina working right now. They are moving there next month. Thanks for the fun time, Lacey! Hope your boys don't need too much therapy after we visited! :-)

Our family. The boyz loved the palm trees.

There were flowers all over the grounds and they smelled SO GOOD! The temperature was in the high 60s and it was gorgeous!

All the boyz hanging out together!

There are these places around the temple that are brick layed in circles. When you stand in teh center of htem, they echo. It was cool!

Andrew and Daniel holding hands in teh van! They were cute!

We then went to a park and played! It was a really neat park!







It was a great weekend! I am glad the boyz liked the play so much! The Little Mermaid comes out this fall.....might have to get another christmas present like this one again! Mary Poppins is playing right now, but I don't know how engaged they would be in that one. Thanks, again, Lacey for putting up with us! Great to see you and visit. We'll miss you when you move out east. We'll see you in 5 years, maybe!

SICK & TIRED update

Today is the end of week 4! Kevin got it over the weekend. Ryan has had it since Monday. I have yet to get it.....lone surivor! Leaving for Vegas tomorrow after school for Broadway's "The Lion King" with barf buckets in tote!

SICK OF SICK! TIRED OF BEING TIRED!

So today is day 21 of our boyz being sick! Ryan (knock on wood) has avoided it so far. And so had Daniel & Sammy until last night! I was so tired I heard nothing of it, so daddy took care of them during the night. Why do they always get sick during the night? We did have a couple day reprieve over the weekend to at least get to church this weekend. But it started up again that night! They don't share toys, they don't share bikes, but they happily share germs!
On an up note, I now know EXACTLY where ginger ale, chicken and rice soup, chicken and noodle soup, popsicles, pepto and mints are located at Wally World! And it costs me $27.27 EVERYTIME! So tomorrow we are heading into week 4 of this.....I hope 21 days is enough! Off to put in a movie and take a nap. (The kids....I need to switch laundry and make their beds!)
Hope you are all healthy!