The day I thought would never come..........

Cayden is finally POTTY TRAINED!!!! After months of trying on and off and then the last 3 weeks of working continuously he finally has figured it out (Lance decided the day I came home from the hospital of all times, to start potty training and then left me to finish the job after he worked with him for about a week)!!! Nothing we tried seemed to work until we told him that he couldn't go to preschool until he learned to go on the potty. That was the trick! It has been a week now and he is completely potty trained day and night!! I was a little nervous at first to not put a pull up on him during the night but he would get very upset and refuse to let us put one on him. I guess it ended up better not putting it off and just learning it all at the same time. It was torture getting to this point but well worth all the stress now that it is over! He couldn't wait to go pick out a "big race car" now that he is a "big boy"!!!

One Year Ago..........

We were on our way to Lake Powell

This is what we were doing...................

We wish that is what we were doing this weekend!!!

2 Little Boys Giggling.........

Every inch of her carpet looked like this!!!

My friend Britni and I just thought our boys were having a great time up in Cayden's room playing! They were getting along so well, giggling and having so much fun...... DESTROYING CARLIE'S BEDROOM!!! Carlie did not think it was funny at all (and I wasn't thinking it was very funny either when I had to pick up a million beads)!! Cayden was still thinking about it today when he made the comment to us that he messed up Carlie's bedroom and "Carlie cried like a baby"!! Is he really only 3 years old???? I am in soooo much trouble!!

Cayden loves his "big boy" bike!

Back in May for Cayden's birthday he really wanted this Thomas the Train bike!! He was so excited when he got it but when he found out it was a little hard to pedal, and he couldn't seem to make the pedals turn, he didn't want to have anything to do with it! A couple of weeks ago he decided he wanted to ride it and without having to try more than a couple times he figured it out!! I think it is funny how one day they just decide they are going to do something and they do it!! Now I can't even keep up with him going down the street:)

Not what anyone expected!!

I went in last Tuesday morning to have surgery to fix my 2 hernias.  I was very stressed about being put to sleep.  Before I went into the operating room my Dr. said that it was going to be very painful being cut on both sides so she was going to keep me overnight at the hospital.  I was a mess at this point with the anxiety of being put to sleep.  Luckily,  a neighbor I grew up around the corner from most of my life, happened to be the head over surgery and was there when they brought me in.  It was nice to have someone I knew there to try and calm me down since they had already made Lance go to the waiting room!  I remember being in the operating room and then waking up crying in severe pain!!  I don't remember much after that.  I was told that I was in recovery for 3 hours instead of 1 because they were having a hard time controlling my pain and I was having a hard time waking up.  I went into surgery at 10:30 and the first time I was awake enough to know what was going on it was 4:00 and I had been taken to my room.  I still had a hard time staying awake at that point so most of Tuesday I do not remember.   They said that when they got in there instead of the 2 hernias they thought I had, there was 5!!!  No wonder I was in so much pain, I was basically cut from 1 side to the other and then once they fixed the hernias they packed mesh all along the top layer to try and prevent this from happening again!!  I can actually fill the mesh inside me, it feels like I have gauze all on the outside of me but it is on the inside, so weird!  How does someone get 5 hernias!?!?  My Dr. doesn't even know!  She is still shocked about the whole thing!  She said one was the size of a plum, one the size of a walnut and then there was 3 more!! She hasn't even seen one as large as I had!!  I ended up having to stay in the hospital for 3 days and 2 nights (sounds like a mini vacation but trust me it wasn't)!!  I was in so much pain that I wasn't breathing good and so I had to be on oxygen and to think this was supposed to be an outpatient surgery!!  It is very rare to have 2 hernias let alone 5!  The really weird thing is that only one hernia had poked out, that is when I found the lump but other than that I had no signs of any others and no pain.  I would have never known I had 5 hernias if I wouldn't have found that lump!!   Since I have come home all I have been able to do is lay down, basically just getting up to go to the bathroom.  This is to prevent swelling and it is too painful to be on my feet for very long.  Lance has had to do basically everything, which at times is hard to watch and makes me feel like I am being lazy.  Lance has been wonderful and hasn't even complained once!!  I was a little worried about how things were going to work out with me being laid up.  He has even been potty training Cayden (since I wasn't able to make it work the first time around)!!  I think Lance is trying to earn the Dad of the Year Award!!!:)  Thanks for everyones thoughts and prayers, emails, meals brought in and visits (a big thanks to my mom for taking care of our kids for 3 days)!!  We have greatly appreciated everything and are so blessed to have such wonderful family, friends and neighbors!!:) 

2 for the Price of 1??

When I went to the doctor yesterday who is going to do my surgery, she found out that I not only have one hernia but two!! It is called a Bilateral Hernia, definition: simultaneous right and left inguinal hernia, common in children and elderly men, if a left inguinal hernia is present, there is a 25% risk of an occult right inguinal hernia, both hernias may be repaired with one surgical procedure. The interesting thing is that I had no lump on the left side but had one on the right so I didn't even know I had one on the opposite side. What are the odds!?!? I am having surgery today to fix both of them which I have been told will be worse since there is 2 instead of 1.

The worst timing ever!!!!

I have been working so hard training for this 1/2 marathon coming up (getting up at 5 in the morning when you are not a morning person is definitely a sacrifice), only to find out 3 weeks away from the marathon that I have a HERNIA! I have no idea how I got it, the doctor can't say either but it isn't something I can wait to take care of and the only way to take care of it is by having surgery!! The surgeon has told me that there is no way I can run the 1/2 marathon at this point!!! Could it have happened at any worse time!! DEVASTATING is the only way to describe how it feels to work so hard for something and then be told you can't do it! Hopefully I can get back to running as soon as possible so I can at least run a 1/2 marathon somewhere before fall is over. If this could have just waited 3 more weeks I would be very happy right now:)

Summer Fun!

Cayden loved the water so much he couldn't even take a break to eat his popsicle!!

The kids got to have a ride in this cool car (FOR SALE btw, so if you are interested let me know and I will get you the info!!:)

We got to play today with my good friend Katie and her kids!! The kids all had so much fun, especially playing on the waterslide! Guess what Carlie wants now:) Thanks Katie for such a fun day, we need to do this more often!!:)

Tour de Donut Newspaper Article

The following was posted in the Daily Herald newspaper:

Bicyclists take on the Tour de Donut challenge

"Jeff Perri, Lance Gillis and Brad Rowberry [from left to right], all of Riverton, eat donuts as part of the Tour de Donut on Saturday. The Tour de Donut takes place in American Fork and kick offs the city's Steel Days celebration. Cyclists ride 21 miles total, with stops for donut-eating every seven miles. Each donut eaten takes three minutes off each rider's final time. Money raised by the event will be donated to a variety of charities including Kona workers, which help with AIDS in Africa. The money raised will buy bikes to allow workers to travel farther, according to the Tour de Donut events coordinator, Debby Lauret. Around 320 people signed up for the event, Lauret said. "We have the serious riders and coach potatoes," she said. "The idea is to have fun and raise money for good causes." LANCE BOOTH/Daily Herald

info gotten off of http://www.heraldextra.com/

Tour de Donut......

Lance took 5th place in his catagory of Male between the age of 14-34 (there were 44 racers in his catagory)!!!

Everyone lining up for the race

The start of the race, Lance is #225

Cayden had to bring his bike too!!

Lance ate 2 donuts the first time around and 5 the second!!

The kids were excited to get a donut too!!

FINISH LINE

Infinite Cycle friends

Lance raced in the Tour de Donut this morning in American Fork, Utah. The concept of the race is to eat as many donuts as you can, each time you stop at the pit stop!! You then get to to deduct 3 minutes for each donut you eat off of your time at the end!! Lance ate 7 donuts and thought he was going to be sick!!! The winner (the last 2 yrs. in a row btw) ate 28 DONUTS!!!! I told Lance he is going to have to work on that for next year!!:) Who can eat that many donuts??!! Lance watched him and he would smash 3 donuts together at a time, I guess that is the key but then you still have to finish the race and not get sick!! It was amazing how many people show up to these races! Lance did really good though and had a fun time. He finished the 21 mile race in 1:01:00 (that included the 2 times he stopped to eat donuts) so that is really good!! Great job Lance and we can't wait to go watch the next race!!

Some of My Favorite Things.......

I love Recipe Books! I don't know what it is about them but I would rather sit and look at a recipe book (with pictures of course) than read a book!! I counted the other day and I have over 40 cookbooks! I really do have a problem, if I am grocery shopping or just at the store and I see a cookbook with a picture on the front that looks good I want to buy the cookbook!!! It doesn't matter that there may only be a few recipes in the book that I like! I am not a great cook nor do I love to cook (I just like to look at the recipes and think about how good something looks and how good it would probably be if I made it:) I tend to pick the desserts when I do want to try something new which I really need to stop doing because I do not need to eat anymore desserts right now!!:) I guess I should start making all of these great looking recipes, if only my family was not soooooooooo picky and was more willing to try new things!!:)
I love Purses! I don't know why but I get bored of my purse so quickly and tend to always find a new cute one that I want when I am at the store:) Lance says I need to stop buying purses because I have too many!! How many is too many though???? I do have quite a few (I think I counted about 15), but I don't have as many purses as I have cookbooks!:)
I love anything Red! It doesn't really matter what it is, if it is Red there is a 99% chance that I am going to love it, and want to get it!!:)

Finally, I love shakes! Not just any shakes though. I love the really thick ones! My favorite are the M&M blizzards from Dairy Queen or the Cherry Cordial shakes at Dairy Keen in Heber!! I won't turn down ice cream though even if it isn't one of the above, those are just my favorite:) I really need to stop liking things with sugar in them:)

4th of July Weekend

We went to the carnival and the kids loved riding a few of the "little" kid rides:)

Cayden loved riding the dragon rollercoaster

We went to our favorite place for breakfast on the 4th, Kneaders (the French Toast is the best)!!

We had to make red, white and blue cupcakes

Waiting for the fireworks to start

The kids loved the sparklers

Happy 4th of July!!