Calling all kidneys!

We are currently looking for some people who would be willing to donate a kidney for Daniel. If you would like to be tested, or know of someone who would like to be tested, please contact me. Below are what it entails:
1You need to be 18 - 55 (although they said nothing magical happens at 55, so a few years over would be considered)
2. Body Mass Index of 30 or less
3. No history of diabetes
4. No history of medicated hypertension/high blood pressure
5. No history of kidney stones within the last 5 years.
6. If you have been pregnant, you must be at least 6 months post-partum
7. Access to a primary care physician.
If you 'pass' the above list, here are some things that would happen after that. You will have your blood and tissue tested to make sure it's compatible with Daniel's. You have to be O+, we do know that. If you 'pass' that and it is determined that you would be a good candidate as a donor you will then have chest x-ray, EKG and kidney ultrasound to make sure you are healthy enough for the surgery. You'd meet with an Andult Nephrologist and then have a CT scan and meet with a social worker. I don't know what those last 3 things do!
After the surgery: You will be in the hospital for up to 5 days at Stanford University Hosptial. After you are discharged you can't lift anything heavy or exercise for up to 8 weeks. It is suggested to talk to you HR department and arrange for disability during this time if you don't want to 'waste' vacation time. Stanford will write help in this process in any way they can.
You will be checked every 3,6,9 months after surgery to make sure your incisions and healing is going well.
So there it is! I am going to be starting some fund raising to help pay for costs for not only our family, but hopefully get enough for the donor, if they need help, too. We know this is a lot to ask of someone, but let us know if you are interested and we'd understand if you back out at any time. If you'd like to talk to the transplant coordinator to answer some questions, her name is Kim Miller and her number is: 650-498-4905.

Christmas at Disneyland

I don't know how many pictures I can fit into one blog....so it may be more than one....

Anyhow, we had an AMAZING time at Disneyland. We surprised the kids on Christmas Eve. First of all, we celebrated the twin's 2nd birthday down there....thanks to those of you who remembered their birthdays and sents cards. That was very thoughtful! The present the kids got to open that night was the tickets. They all thought we were in California for a doctor's appointment for Daniel. Anyhow, here is but a small bit of our fun, fun vacation!

Here is a pictures of the sweatshirts Santa made for us all! They said Disney 2007 and each of us had a different character. Kevin (of course!) was Prince Charming, Amy was Cinderella, Ryan - Bashful, Comptyn - Happy, Bryce - Dopey, Nathan - Sleepy, Daniel - Sneezy, Sammy - Grumpy. Their cousins Jonathan and Nicole were Doc and Snow White. It was fun!

Everything at Disneyland was transformed for Christmas! From the lamp posts to the rides, even! they changed Haunted Mansion and Small World entirely to be Christmas things. This 75+ foot Christmas tree was in the center of Main Street. The ornaments on it were the size of our heads! And some of us have pretty big heads! :-)

After gazing around at all the Christmas things, we noticed Mickey was out and we jumped in line to get a pictures with him!

We also got pictures with Goofey (mommy's favorite), Minnie and Pluto. We saw, but didn't want to stand in line, Tigger, Buzz Lightyear (that made Bryce's whole trip!), Captain Hook, Cruella DeVille, Chip -n- Dale and Ariel.

The trip would not been complete for Ryan without a picture in front of Cinderella's Castle. In fact, whenever possible, we HAD to walk thru it!

California Adventure was a lot of fun! We wish we could have spent more than 1 day there. We were at Disneyland for 2 days. We let the kids stay up late for Fantasmic....one of mom's favorite shows. We hit a TON of rides! Nathan was able to go on most of the rides except Space Mountain and Indiana Jones. Bryce got to the point of if he saw a seat belt he started to panic a little. He loved the ride once he did it but didn't want to do it again! It was funny! There were a lot of rides the twins could go on, which was nice for the whole family. Splash Mountain was one we got 'the' picture of...check out poor little Nathan's face. But if you ask him now, he loved it! Bryce didn't panic....no seat belt!

I had to make this picture huge.....hopefully you can see everyone's faces!

All in all, the kids want to do this every year! We said maybe every 4-5 years! One night we were walking out of the park and we said that we were having so much fun it hurt....our legs, our feet.....

To watch the kid's faces and all the fun they had was worth the drive (10 hours....UGH!) and the vomit (Comptyn and Nathan) on the way back home! We hope you have a Happy New Year! We are going to have a Happy "Noon" Year party tomorrow starting about 10 am.

Santa at the Lords' House

Sunday we had a visit from one of Santa's helpers. Bryce knew right away it wasn't the real Santa and kept saying it over and over and over! Anyhow, Daniel just stared and eventually ran to dad, Nathan was jumping up and down with excitement, about to pee his pants and Sammy warmed up pretty quick....as soon as Santa brought out the goodies he brought! This is our last entry before Christmas....so Merry Christmas! We will be in warm and sunny Anaheim, CA! We areh pretty excited! The kids have never been to Disneyland before. They won't know and won't find out until Christmas Eve. They think Daniel has another doctor's appt. So Merry Christmas and a VERY happy New Year!

Oh, I also put on here the gingerbread house we made this year and the boys in their suits in front of the Christmas tree ( I think I already uploaded this one, so it might be on here twice!) I also put the pictures of Daniel figuring out how to REACH the gingerbread house and breaking pieces off to eat! :-)

Comptyn's "Limited" Reading

This morning as we were getting ready for school, Comptyn came up to me and said, "Miss Golden said we can bring in a book to read from home." I told him that he could pick any book and take it in because he can read anything. He was quiet for a minute and then said, "I can't read Chinese. It's disappointing." I guess I need to get some Chinese books so he can learn to read those! Made me laugh!

Giddy-Up Lords' Boyz

Daniel, Nathan & Sammy

Comptyn & Bryce

Ryan

Some friends of our in our ward invited the boyz out to go horse back riding. It was SO much fun! and the boyz had a BLAST! Daniel and Sammy both started backing up when they led the horse over to them! VERY big creature for such small boyz!

Parent Teacher Conferences

This last week were the BIG meetings! We are very proud of how well the boys are doing!

Bryce: Mrs. Malnack wrote, "Overall Bryce is pretty quiet in class but always has a ready answer when called on. He puts forth his best effort and is a great model for other students." We were AMAZED to read that, but very pleased. She did say, however, that she is starting to see the 'sparkle' in his eyes that we have warned her about. We thought that was a nice way of describing his mischievousness you see in his eyes. She said he is doing well developmentally and knows his letters and numbers. He has started reading groups today and was excited to come home and read to us.

Comptyn: Miss Golden said, "Comptyn is smart. In fact, it's scary smart." She said he probably acts like he isn't paying attention and focusing on things because he knows it already and is bored. She said she is amazed at how well he reads. His reading test that he took (called STAR Early Literacy for those of you familiar with that) and scored 816. It ranges from 300-900. He does love to read! That and the computer! We are trying to work on his writing with a program called Handwriting Without Tears. It is really an amazing program and is helping Comptyn! He scored a 2 (graded on 1-4) when he got a 1 before. So he is getting better!

Ryan: Miss Woods wrote, "Ryan is a hard worker and aa good student. He's a joy to have in class." Ryan's tests are called MAPS scores. In reading he scored 211 - benchmark is 178. In Math he scored 192 and benchmark is 179 and Language he scored 206 and benchmark was 180. He was the only one to his benchmark in language. She was very amazed at that score. Miss Woods kept referring to Ryan as the smart group and how competative they are. They see who can pick out and finish their book first from the library, who can be the fastest in the timed math tests, etc. They have fun, she said, and are good students.

We are very happy they are all doing well!

Salt Lake City Temple

We made a quick and LONG trip over the SLC last weekend. (Our DVD player was broken....so that, plus the 8 hours in a van with 6 young kids made it long!) But it was SO worth the trip! Our nephew Brian got married to Rebekah. They are a great couple and we are so grateful to have been there when they got married!