Chewbacca Smiles!!!!!

My cousin got this cute picture of my dog chewy actually smiling. That's actually his middle name "Smiles". If you smile right in his face he'll smile back at you. He's such a cute dog. Now what dog smiles I ask you?

Our Special Visitor!!!!

Wow! I'm almost caught up on all the postings. This past week November 7th to the 16th my cousin Dana came to visit from Utah. She was cold and needed to defrost in our gorgeous weather. Ha! Ha! Dana and I are only 3 months apart and we have been best friends our whole life. She's someone I can talk to for hours and she always listens and gives good advice. I hate that she lives in Utah so far away. I swear God meant to make us sisters but somewhere it got messed up. I'm sure for a good reason. We did a lot of fun stuff this week. We went to the Veteran's Day Parade in Mesa on Tuesday, Sedona on Thursday, and the Zoo on Saturday. The kids really enjoyed having her here. Sophie connected with her the most. She would call her "Deeea" instead of Dana. Her and I took her to the airport and after she left she walked around the house calling her name and looking for her. It broke my heart. I really enjoy every minute I get to spend with her and I'm so thankful she wanted to spend her vacation with us. We know next time that we'll have to give her a double bed to sleep on instead of the twin. What? I didn't say anything. We don't know if she has a serious boyfriend or not. Or do we? I'm not telling. Love you Deeea and miss you already.

Have A Wonderful Life Together!!!!

On November 8, 2008 my sweet cousin Terra married her soul mate Nick. She looked absolutely gorgeous! Nick you were pretty handsome yourself too. They got married at the Regency Gardens. It was beautiful. I loved it that she had a lot of little touches throughout the wedding to make it unique and their own. As favors they gave caramel apples. Anyone who knows Terra knows she LOVES caramel apples. They used sand instead of a unity candle, they had little pumpkins on the table that were holding peoples place cards. Their colors were gold, chocolate brown and green. I loved this wedding. Plus I got my hubby on the dance floor more than once for a slow dance. I think it was like 4 times. I only danced with him once on my wedding day. Ha! Ha! I just want to tell you Terra and Nick that I love you both. I have missed our Tuesday night dinners (due to all the wedding planning) and hope we can start that up again soon. You two make a cute couple and it's very clear that you're totally in love with each other. Have A Wonderful and Blessed Life Together Mr. and Mrs. Gailfus. We Love Ya!

Happy Birthday Luke and Brayden!

As most of you know Luke and Brayden's birthday's are only 3 days apart. Brayden's is on October 31st and Luke's is November 3rd. It's nice for our family and friends because they only have to come to 1 birthday party but it's tough on mom and dad. So this year I opt for something a little easier. We decided to hold their birthday at Bounce U. The kids big and small get 75 minutes of bounce time and then 45 minutes in a party room where I don't really have to do anything they do it for you. NICE!!! HP and I love going to Bounce U. I think we enjoy the bouncing more than the kids.

Now the hard part. I can't believe I have an 8 year old. My baby that I carried for 9 months is now 8. Luke is such a bright boy and keeps his dad and I on our toes. I love it when he tells me jokes and stories. He always writes me sweet notes to tell me how much he loves me. He's so sensitive. I love that most about him. These days HP and Luke are bonding over the pool table. I think HP is trying to mold some possible competition someday. I think he has a good shot. Well Luke you've been a joy to our lives. I'm so blessed that I have you everyday. Happy Birthday Buddy!

Here's something cute and funny. Brayden for an entire month, asked for race car cupcakes. So for his birthday that's what he got. He doesn't look so excited eating them but maybe he was tired from all the bouncing he was doing. Love the face buddy!

Happy Halloween and Birthday Brayden!!!!!

As you all can tell I'm running way behind on my blogging so bare with me and I'll get it all up. On Halloween it was Brayden's 4th birthday. I can't believe he's 4. He has made so many strides with his speech and everyday life. HP and I are so proud of him. He's a very sweet boy who besides the fact he runs EVERYWHERE doesn't get into too much trouble. If you know me you know I HATE running in the house.

So Halloween was crazy busy. I wanted to be at both boys Halloween party so I went to Brayden's in the morning and Luke's in the afternoon. In Brayden's classroom Ms. Debbie and her wonderful staff took the little kids around the school for a parade to show off their costumes and then they came back and ate eyeball cupcakes. Yummy!!!! For Luke's classroom, I was the party organizer and we made graham cracker haunted houses and decorated them. I think the kids had a good time. They are all so cute. Here's a funny story. I was in Luke's classroom helping out and I had tons of frosting on my fingers from trying to "glue" the haunted houses together. I didn't want to lick them of course because it wasn't sanitary. Well apparently it looked tasty enough for this little boy to ask me if he could lick my fingers. I'm sure the look on my face gave him my answer.
Later that day we gave Brayden his presents. He got a new Cars bike and helmet. A big boy bike now. I was worried he would be too scared to ride it and resort back to his trusty scooter but as you can see he got on I reminded him he had to peddle peddle peddle and away he went. He was soooooooooo cute. I didn't think he would get it the first day. Never underestimate the power and determination of a 4 year old. Isn't he cute?



So the rest of the day was to trick-or-treat. We went to my sisters neighborhood for a potluck dinner and then we all walked around trick-or-treating. It was a lot of fun. I hope we can do that again next year. I love seeing my kids with their cousins. They were all so cute. Luke was Darth Vader, Brayden was Anakin Skywalker, and Sophia was a ballerina. Or as she calls it a "reena". Lauren was Cinderella and Nicholas was a handyman. They all did really well and was ready for bed when they got home.

Our 10 Year Anniversay!!!!!!!!

We finally made it to 10 years! On October 10th 1998 HP and I decided to spend the rest of our lives together. Wow!!! It's been a long time. The last 10 years have had a lot of bumps and tons of happiness. As HP and I faced more and more challenges in our lives we grew to love each other even more. I will say that I love him more today than I did on the day I married him.

Soooooooooooooo...... to mark the last 10 years we decided to splurge and eat at The Melting Pot. I was so worried that I wouldn't be feeling better by our anniversary night and wouldn't be able to enjoy the yummy food but I was much better and enjoyed every minute of it. I also got the opportunity to finally surprise HP with a gift since he always does the surprising on me. I got him a new wedding band that doesn't scratch, bend, or break. It's the tungsten and one. I had the restaurant bring it out and surprise him with our chocolate fondue dessert. He was completely shocked. I think he thought I couldn't pull something like that off. Fooled him didn't I? I'm so blessed to have him in my life. He makes me laugh, he's a great husband, and a wonderful father to our kids. What more do I need? I can't wait to spend the next 10 years with him.

TAKE YOUR VITAMINS!!!!!!!!!

I totally thought that I would keep up better on the blog but I never thought that I would feel this bad/sick in my life. After a few weeks of feeling nauseated, exhausted, lethargic, very irritable, having horrible headaches, and so on I found it it is because my iron, B12, folic acid, and hemoglobin (red blood cells) are all really low. Hopefully the hematologist (blood doctor) Dr. Basha has me on the mend. I'm to go everyday this week to get fluids and iron through an IV. Quite fun. NOT!! Of course it did humble me. Like I said, I really don't think I have felt worse in my entire life. I've had several surgeries in my lifetime but there was always pain pills. Pain pills won't help this problem. On Friday, as I was getting my IV iron I was sitting in a room full of recliners, IV poles, pillows and most importantly cancer patients. I "just" have extremely low iron these people are sick with cancer getting these toxins pumped through their bodies and are smiling and telling me everything is going to be OK. How amazing and quite humbling at the same time. It basically shut me up. Yes, I still feel like heck but then I think how they feel and I quickly become very thankful low iron is my only problem. So I'll leave you with a few things I've learned. 1)If you think your life and situation are bad someone always has it worse. 2) Care more for others. Just picking up the phone can make a world of difference and it doesn't take that much time. 3) TAKE YOUR VITAMINS!!! My problem is not from lack of vitamins mine is that I don't absorb what I need. I never really realized how essential vitamins are to our bodies. I do now! Also, I need to thank everyone that helped me out during all of this. I couldn't have functioned each day without you. I need to especially thank my wonderful mother-in-law Eileen for helping me with the kids and my husband. HP you have been amazing. I'm sure if I never spoke of sickness again you would be set for life. I know and appreciate everything you have done for me. You work a full day and then take care of me. Thanks for loving me so much!

I haven't had the energy to take any pictures so as soon as I do I'll post some of the kids and the puppies. The puppies mostly will be leaving us this weekend. We are going to be sad to see them go. Especially Luke. What a nice litter Chewy and Sara cooked up. We love you all and will catch up soon.

Gone from our home but not our hearts!

Well last night we had to say goodbye to our foster kiddos Jayden and Gracie that we've had since the beginning of May. They are the cutest kids. The case managers decided that it would be better for the kiddos to go to a more long term foster care home since it looks like they will be in the "system" for quite a long time. Of course we were asked if we wanted to keep them long term but since me going to school is our family's number one focus we thought it wouldn't be fair to me, the other kids and Jayden and Gracie. So we had to let them go. I thought I was mentally prepared well for it but I turned to a big ball of mush when I had to say the final goodbyes. They are going to WONDERFUL new foster parents and that made the transition a little easier for us to take. As long as they are in their home they will be loved, well cared for, and very lucky. Jayden will get to swim everyday if he wants because they have a pool. Good Luck Sweet Angels! May God watch over you and continue to keep you safe and happy in this crazy world. Know that The Bauer family really loved you lots.
We also decided that we would no longer continue doing foster care. We think our kids are still so young and they need to be the primary focus right now. Hopefully when they get older we can do it again. We enjoy helping kids that need the help and the "system" needs good foster homes. Of course we are forever indebted to the "system" without it we would not have been able to grow our family and get our amazing little boy Brayden and sweet princess Sophia. Our life is very blessed with our children and wouldn't have changed anything. We also want to extend a huge Thank You to everyone that helped and supported us while doing foster care. Eileen thanks for dropping what you were doing on a dime to come and help me with all these kids. You NEVER once complained. You are an amazing woman and I love you dearly. Terra, thanks for keeping me sane. You had a way with your words that made my crazy life seem not so crazy. You are my best friend and I love you so much. Karen, thanks for listening to me rant and rave about this crazy "system" and how we would love to see things different to make the innocent children's lives better. Last but not least, Thanks Howie for helping out so well with all the kids and understanding me when the only thing that came out of my frustrated mouth was not nice things. If you know what I mean. I Love You and I'm so blessed to have you by my side. Again, thank you to everyone for your love and support. We love you all.

They are getting bigger!

Well these little guys and gals are getting bigger and a little more active. On Monday they will be 4 weeks. They are so cute and fun to watch. I think Sara is tired of nursing because she's not around as much. She's still a great mom. Very attentive to them. I'm going shopping this weekend to get them an enclosure to play in so they can move around more. Hopefully I'll find something.

1st Day of School!!

It's hard to believe that we have a 2nd grader in our house now, but we do. Luke really likes his teacher Mrs. Ellsworth. He has a fair amount of homework but that's ok with Luke. He actually likes homework. I hope we can keep that attitude going through high school. He still loves reading his "Magic Tree House" books. After he finishes 3 then we buy him 3 more at the bookstore. I wish I enjoyed school as much as he does. Good Luck this year Luke!

Look who else got to start school this week. Brayden has been asking all summer to go back to school and he finally gets to. He LOVES going to school. Brayden goes to Brinton Elementary (Luke's school) for the special education preschool program. There is a speech therapist that comes in a works with him during the week. He is doing so awesome! And guess what! Brayden is now completely potty trained. We had a party and everything for him. I know he's really happy but I'm especially happy. I'm so proud of him. He's doing so good with everything. Good Luck this year Brayden! We love you!

We're Grandparents!!!!!

As most of you know our dog Sara was pregnant. On Monday she had her puppies. So we think she made us grandparents. Ha! Ha! All FIVE are doing fine and she's a wonderful mommy. She had 3 boys and 2 girls. They all look pretty much the same. Some are bigger or smaller than others but for the most part they all look alike. They are very cute and the kids are enjoying them. I took them yesterday to get their tails docked. The new vet is wonderful and we'll never go back to our old uncaring vet again. That's a nice story in itself. Anyways we'll keep you posted on their progress and hopefully having a house full of kids and dogs won't put me in the looney bin. It just might though.

Luke gets his Green Belt!

We are all so proud of Luke for working very hard to get his "Green Belt" in karate. He has been doing it for over a year now and is really enjoying it. We want to Thank our family from the bottom of our hearts for taking time out of your busy lives and coming to support Luke. He had the largest cheering section there and it meant a lot to him and to us. We also gave Luke a "Green Party" that day after his belt exam. We enjoyed pizza, salad, green cupcakes and cake, and green punch. It was a nice idea. Thanks Aunt Jenn! Luke, mommy and daddy are so proud of you. We're proud that you are enjoying karate and that you never want to give up. We love you Lukey keep up the great work!!!

The 4th of July!!!!!

We had the pleasure of going over to my Aunt Teresa house for some awesome food and a swim. It was wonderful getting together with my Aunt and cousins. I have become very close with the oldest daughter Terra who is 24. She is such a wonderful person and I enjoy every minute I get to spend with her. Although she just came into my life it's like she never left. She is getting married to Nick in November. He's a great guy and treats her very well. We like em! Then there is Brooke who is 20, Brianna who I believe is 17 and Trina who is 13. My other cousin Tatum was at a softball tournament with my Uncle Bart in Colorado. We missed them. They have some good genes because all of them are so beautiful. I hope my uncle is able to keep those nasty boys away. Anyways I was very nervous taking 5 small kids over there thinking that we would never be allowed back but they did pretty good. Thank you so much girls for helping with the little kids. We couldn't have done it without you. Also, thank you Teresa for opening your home up to us and letting us spend the holiday with you. I really miss being around my dads side of the family. I feel closer to him when I'm around his family. I hope we can get together more often. Again thanks for such a special day!

Ahhhhh!!!! Vacation

We got the privilege to go on vacation at the end of June to California. HP was able to get a little bit of time off work so we all took advantage of it. His mom Eileen, Grammy, Luke, Brayden, Sophie, and I decided to take on San Diego and that we did. We left very late (against my father-in-laws wishes) on Tues. June 24 and arrived in San Diego about 5:00 AM Wednesday morning. My mother-in-law drove the whole way. What a sweetie! We checked into our hotel room and unloaded the car. We had this pipe dream that the kids would think it's a good idea to go back to sleep and rest up but that was not the case. So HP and I took them out to breakfast while Grammy and Eileen got some rest. So this is how our vacation went.

Wednesday June 25th- Bounceland and Seaport Village

When we went to Target to get a few things we needed we stumbled upon this Bounceland. The kids went crazy seeing it so we thought what the heck lets give it a try. I'm not sure who had more fun. Mom and dad or Luke, Brayden, and Sophie. I think if we didn't work up such an appetite we might have stayed all night. So we all piled into the car and drove over to Seaport Village for dinner. We ate dinner at The Fish Market on the water. Saw the beginning of the sunset and watch several sailboats pass by.

Thursday June 26th- Birch Aquarium and "The Beach"

On this day we went to Birch Aquarium. We weren't quite sure what to expect but we were all pleasantly surprised. There was tons of neat fish we've never seen before and the kids really loved it. The 1st picture above is Luke and Brayden sitting in front of the kelp tank. Divers go in there once a day, feed the fish and give a big demonstration. The 2nd picture is Sophie and Memaw looking at the fishes. The 3rd picture is Luke deciding if he wanted to touch a real starfish or not.

We had fun at the beach. We thought that we wouldn't be able to get Luke in the water or keep Brayden out of it but it was the other way around. Luke loved being in there. He wouldn't come out and just kept body surfing. Brayden on the other hand doesn't like to be cold. He's like his mommy. We stayed out of the water together and just played in the sand. Sophie enjoyed it all.

Friday June 27th- Legoland

We all had a lot of fun here. Luke has decided he wants to make a career out of building Lego's. Brayden didn't know what to do first and Sophie liked the little rides and playing with the Lego's.

1st picture is all of us at the beginning of Legoland. 2nd picture is Luke and Sophie with "Buddy" Brayden wasn't very fond of "Buddy". Pictures 3 and 4 are were Luke and Brayden go their "drivers license". Picture 5 is me being tired and finding a seat in the stroller. I sat down in it and Brayden's made a nice observation. He immediately said "mom too big". Yes Brayden I am and Thank you for that my sweet child. The 6th picture is Sophie just plain pooped out. Legoland got the best of her.

Saturday June 28th-The beach again

We went back to the beach again for the day but none of us took our camera on that day. I figured you all would enjoy the ones above. 1st picture is dad sleeping with Sophie deciding if she wants to wake him up. 2nd picture is a man that was para sailing over our heads at Birch Aquarium. 3rd picture is the view from outside Birch Aquarium. How nice is that?

Sunday June 29th, All good things must come to an end

I (Jen) drove home and it all turned out great. We were all very sad to be going home. It was such a nice time and we are especially thankful that Grammy and Eileen came along. Those are the memories we want our children to cherish when they get older. Thank you Grammy and Eileen.