Yes, I am Blonde!

OK......when I was posting Ryan's baptism, I posted a blank one, too! So, since Grandma Stewart commented on Ryan's baptism, I can't delete it.....so I've decided to put a picture on it of Ryan and I. We didn't get a picture of us at the baptism...plum forgot! So daddy went and picked up a jumper and Ryan and I did pictures at home! My big boy!

Ryan's Special Day

Yesterday Ryan was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He was so excited! It was fun to watch him and see that. He got his new set of scriptures, a hymnal, a Baptism book, some scripture stories, his own subscription to The Friend, and some nice cards congratulating him. He had many friends and family there to support him. Thank you for coming and remembering him one this day!

The water was a little cold, Ryan said. And when daddy went to go fill the baptismal font, it leaked a little, so the water wasn't very deep. Only about middle of Ryan's thigh. Ryan's foot slipped up when he was immersed, so they got to do it again! We are very proud of Ryan and his decision to be baptized. There was a great spirit at the baptism which many people commented on. Comptyn is already counting down his baptism for next year!

Wal-Mart Scare

Ryan, Comptyn, Nathan and I (Amy) had an interesting night the other night at Wal-Mart. We were leaving the store when we heard a lot of sirens. We decided to stop and wait to watch them go by. One police car drove by. Then 5 police cars turned down the road next to Wal-Mart. We still thought is was something behind the store in the housing section or something. We walked out to our van and as the kids were climbing in, another police car came by and actually pulled into the parking lot and drove to the other side of the parking lot. So, OF COURSE, we all hurried and loaded up so we could drive over and see what was going on! Sure enough, there were 7 police cars over there!
Come to find out we were in the store with a gun man! UGH! OK, so we found out it was a pellet gun, but we are still very grateful to have been protected and watched over. The thought of maybe passing him and him hurting one of the kids or something.....
When we had Family Home Evening Monday night and were talking about the Holy Ghost and how He protects and warns and comforts (Ryan is getting baptized on the 23rd of this month) I talked about the Wal-Mart experience. I pointed out that the Holy Ghost could have told us to get out of the store, but instead he protected us. That the police closed the store, got everyone out and caught the man without anyone getting hurt. At this point, our Bryce, ever so observant, said, "But they never close Super Wal-Mart." We are hoping he got the 'bigger' picture of that story!

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!