Fundraiser Carnival style..... Please please please go!!!!

   This is for my uncle Jim, so if there is anyone who reads this in the Salt Lake or northern Utah area or if you would like to go or happen to be in the area please please go and have some fun. It is definitely for a good cause!!!! Below will tell a little about what his children, my cousins are trying to do for him. There is also a website at the bottom if you would like to donate but cannot make it.
   This man is beyond amazing! Of everything he has gone through he has kept his position as stake president in his area for the lds church. He has always put others before himself. He cares the most about his family as they are the world to him. He and his wife and family took care of my mom when she went through her cancer. And I know they have been there and helped so many other families who have gone through cancer as well as going through it with their own son. They have seen enough of this disease to be experts. And I wish with all my heart that they may be able to be rid of it for good. I pray for a good outcome for him, though I know its in the Lords hands. But there are just not enough words to describe the goodness of my uncle, how deserving he is to receive such help!!
So please please go!!
    Sat August 25 in Riverton. If you'd like more info on the location here is the link.

The world's leading CLL physicians are at MD Anderson in Texas. Please help us raise the funds for a second opinion for our dad.

Silent Auction

Family Carnival Activities
Fun Carnival Foods
BBQ
Balloon tying clown
Bake Sale
Unique Second Hand Sale
Glitter Toes
Family Pictures
Pony Rides For Small Children

Jim Mickelsen was diagnosed with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia about 12 years ago. He was treated very successfully for 6 years. Jim has what is called a P17 deletion; often called the "dreaded P17" in the medical field, which causes the disease to progressively become unstable. Jim has been through six lines of therapy and a bone marrow transplant. He has survived two bouts of bacterial pneumonia, fungal pneumonia, a brain bleed and West Nile Virus over the past 3 years. Jim is married to Analee, together they are the parents of 12 children and 10 grandchildren. Please help us as we raise funds for our dad to see the world's leading experts in CLL.

The Zoo and a Birthday

For McKenna's birthday this year we decided a trip to celebrate it with a zoo trip. So Mike was able to get Friday off, luckily, and we took our lovely time all morning before heading up. (For me it was very nice) We were going to go look at a dog when we first reached A.F. area, but due to a delay on the other party we looked around and visited one of Mike and the girls' favorite stores, Petsmart! When we finally met with the dog people, it didn't turn out very well, the dog really did not like the girls and even bit Kenna a few times, not hard enough to break the surface luckily. So it turned out to be a no go. The people seemed irritated when we parted, but it just was not going to work.
We did a little shopping and ate dinner at Chuck-o-rama then headed to Shilo's house. The girls love playing at her house, all the new and different toys than at home and their cute little puppy. We got up and ready early, though with a change to plans we headed off to Hogle Zoo. It was a beautiful day, still quite warm but beautiful.
My mom and brothers and sisters ended up coming up, half of which had not ever been to the zoo and the others too young to remember, though we took Sena two years ago with us. The kids loved it for the most part. They really liked the new section with the polar bear and seals. Though people crowded around the polar bear area and never left, so we barely squished the kids in and took a couple pictures up close enough to really see.
We had changed our plans to a picnic at a park, but it didn't work out quite like we hoped and ended up back at Shilo and Ryans celebrating Kenna's bday there. We ate really yummy sandwiches and cake. Then we headed to the mall to do a little more shopping and gave my siblings back to my parents. Though Kenna was extremely happy to have Shilo and Ryan's foster baby back, a little too happy for a tired and ornery girl.
We ate a late dinner when we got back to the house and went to bed. The girls weren't up quite as early as the day before, luckily, but still woke the baby up. We enjoyed lunch with them before heading off to Cabelas. Kenna luckily fell asleep along the short drive so we laid a blanket down in the cart so she'd hopefully sleep a little longer. It worked. Yeah! for a little while, still good for her. We actually didn't stay as long as normal due to Kenna's head injury while running around (see earlier 'accidents' post). We stopped by  my aunts in S. to drop something off to my mom and headed for home. We did stop in Nephi for some oh so yummy chinese food!! Our favorite Chinese place!! We made it home all together and to our house still there. It was a good weekend! Kenna and Brooke loved it, though neither of them wanted to leave. Thank you again to Shilo and Ryan for feeding us and letting us stay with you. And for my siblings who helped us celebrate making it more special for her. And an apology to my other two siblings who I never told. Sorry I have had a lot of stress the past month, that's my excuse.

Since we celebrated McKenna's bday Saturday we didn't really celebrate it on Monday. Though we took her to finish shopping for her bday, since there wasn't enough time up north.
I'm glad we have such an easy goin' child, yet on the other hand she is so full of energy and wild almost all the time that it wears us out. And yet she loves to go anywhere, help with anything we're doing, loves to play with her sister and friends, isn't afraid of much (hence climbing up a ladder and onto the roof by herself), loves to share (most of the time), loves to cuddle in the mornings and always happy to see mom or dad. We love you baby girl!!! You're growing up too fast.

 These monkeys always look so sad when we see them. hmmm....

Suri getting her treat after doing her trick.

 We told her to tell the elephants bye so she started waving to them as she told them bye bye.

She thought it was awesome she could ride with no hands!

 Brooke is really into cheesing the camera now!

She tried to pull the lit candles out and I had told her no, so she wasn't sure what to do when I wanted her to come closer to blow out the candles. lol. It took some coaxing.











She started putting the frosting on like shaving cream. Even put some on her dad.

Accident x 3

#1- A little over a week ago Kenna, not watching where she was going, tripped over a brick while also carrying a brick, fell and smashed her finger between the two bricks. Her sister was stacking them in a different spot and had tried to get her to pick up those instead of going to the mess of bricks. No such luck. The result, a split open finger with guts hanging out and two other scraped up spots around the finger and an emergency room visit on a Friday evening for 3 stitches.
I could not get her to stop screaming or wanting to shake her finger. Mike was supposed to be coming home not long after we left him at his shop. Well he didn't show up and the lawn mower was making a funny noise, so I decided to work on the design for the brick pathway. The girls were bringing me bricks when Kenna fell. When I picked her up it was just gushing blood. (Sorry not for the faint reader). Due to her shaking her finger there was blood everywhere including all over the sink, wall, cupboards, and counter when I tried to clean it up. It just kept bleeding so I tried to apply pressure at the bottom of the finger to make it stop bleeding and boy was that a hard task. I got Kenna to calm down a couple times but it didn't last more than a few seconds.
She's already known for being a screamer in our neighborhood, so that just made it worse. I finally called Mike and semi-told him what happened and to hurry home. Luckily it wasn't too much longer and he was there and was able to help calm her down. Thankfully after looking at it, he said hospital. Now he absolutely hates hospitals, doctors, anything of the sort, so I was surprised that he actually didn't just want to superglue it or something similar.
So we spent the evening at the hospital. I didn't even think about what I was wearing until we got there. My shirt was dirty and bloody from Kenna and I was wearing my holey knees pants because of my leisure homework and maybe mow the lawn and clean day. Needless to say I felt like a scrounge. Apparently Mike did to in his greasy work clothes. Which obviously wasn't the priority, but after she was fine we noticed our lovely appearances. Anyway Kenna was such a big girl. She did not like the numbing shot, at all. We did have to hold her down for that and we think he gave her a little more than probably necessary, but it definitely helped. The whole time he stitched her up she just sat and watched. If something happened to her view she would move her head or move her finger so she could see again. It was so nice that way. When Brooke had to have stitches in her lip we had to hold her down the whole time. The Dr. was so impressed with McKenna. Both girls received a little thing from the hospital for drawing and coloring and Kenna also got a little stuffed dog. It was quite the experience for us (especially with her so active, even being hurt), but we were thankful the finger wasn't broke and it wasn't any more serious.
I forgot to take a before picture, but I made sure to take a pic after the stitches, though it wasn't easy either, due to all the cool toys and crayons she just got.

 Mike took the stitches out Friday before we left, which she did not like at all. She apparently thought it was going to hurt. Which it did, after she moved and Mike got her skin instead of the stitch. Nothing bad though.

#2- Last Saturday as we were getting ready at my sisters house, Kenna who loves wearing her big sisters shoes decided to turn around on Shilo's steep stairs in big sisters flip flops and fell causing this (below), under her bottom lip. (It just looks like a slight carpet burn in the pic, but it created a really good scab. It didn't hurt her much, she was more tired... but it created something other than a bruise)

#3- And to complete it all off a fall in Cabelas resulting in a split open forehead. Mike just finished telling her not to run or she was going to hurt herself (yes this is a daily sometimes by the minute saying for her) then bam! Shes down and head smacks a shelf near the floor. Mike picks her up and he says (once again not for the faint reader) the blood was squirting out of her head at him. We already knew we had left the wipes in the car but luckily we had a blanket from her sleeping on it in the cart when we first arrived. I grab it and he tries to hold it to her head the best he is able to. (Yes once again a chore). Luckily we were near the front so after trying to get her to calm down he walks over to a couple workers who had the first aid kit under their little counter thing. Due to her freaking out, they just put a piece of gauze or whatever that thing is called and wrapped her head. We saw Mike's "aunt" when they walked through the front doors and I was wishing her husband was more than a respitory therapist. Luckily we got Kenna calmed down, we saw the fish then left. That injury cut our plans short and we just headed for home. Even more luckily though, she stayed awake (for a very long time) and it stopped bleeding. We decided not to stop in B on our way home to see about stitches. We just put a butterfly on Monday morning and she has been her normal self.

Yes we have one clumsy? Accident prone? Doesn't watch where she's going? I think a bit of all three, girl. All in all, we are so grateful and so blessed to not have had more er trips or dr visits than we have with her. Most of the time she only has bruises and scrapes. (If you ever see her legs you'll see what I'm talking about). But she is extremely active and ALWAYS in a hurry. But we love her and she definitely makes us laugh.

Summer

Well it has been a busy and fast summer. It seems like school just got out and its already back. To try and catch up we did a little bit of camping and sight seeing. We haven't done any search for deer because I forgot to put in for the draw on my hunt and Mike is mad at all the divisions that were made. But we are thinking of getting an elk tag or something.
The girls have loved the outdoors, running, climbing, swinging, and all around playing. We have had a lot of rain in the past month, which is greatly needed and I have loved. Brooke, however is against the rain and McKenna, well she is now afraid of the thunder thanks to her sister. Brooke would hear the thunder and scream (just because that is her, it took years to get her to understand that thunder was just noise). Well after a few of those screams Kenna thought it was something to be afraid of and would either come running to me screaming or hide under a blanket. We are working on her though. It is cute when we do get the rain, the girls will open the front door, get blankets and sit to watch the lightening and rain!
We took the girls miniature golfing one Saturday. Sadly we chose the wrong time of day to do that when we should have looked around and done whatever before the golfing. It was extremely hot and Mike had three girls who were practically dripping with sweat. McKenna liked it the idea of hitting the ball, but would take everybody's balls when she was supposed to be hitting hers in the hole. lol. Brooke did good and was two holes ahead of us most of the time. The only thing Kenna was interested in about half way through was the water flowing through the course. She was literally looking at the water as the best way to get in it!
Brooke had two sets of swimming lessons, once in June and once in July which both the girls loved, well Kenna when I would stay and let her play in the kiddie pool, which half the time was not good enough when other kids and sister were in the big pool and going off the diving board. There were many times I barely caught her at the edge. She is one fast little monkey. Brooke now REALLY loves the water. I'm glad we finally found something she likes to do and is willing.
We've been trying to do more work on our house. And literally it is work, of course there is nothing less with an old house. When we sell it it will all be worth it. We now have our chimney out of the bathroom. Yes, we had a plaster covered chimney in our bathroom. It was a to do since we first saw the house, but never did it until now. We will have a path to the front porch done by the end of summer hopefully as well as the rest of the bathroom finished. But still a list to go.

Playing dress up

The 3rd of July enjoying the fireworks

The fourth at Aunt Linda's enjoying some food and swimming.

Everybody at the parade

Kenna sharing her cheescake









All in all we've had a good summer. Bring on Autumn!!

Pictures

So these are not in order anymore. But here they are!!