January- The Cruise!!!!

In January we got to go on the vacation of a lifetime. We went to the Western Caribbean. It was so much fun. We went with our friends Genelle and Shawn and Josh and Diana. We met a couple who sat at our table George and Selina and became instant friends with them. Good times were ready to be had.

We left Miami, Florida on Sunday and our first stop was in Jamaica. Jen and Shawn wanted to do the Shark Encounter but the other 4 chickens didn't. So while we were swimming with 6ft. nurse sharks, Genelle, HP, Josh, and Diana were horseback riding and kayaking through Jamaica. This was the day that Genelle and I decided we would have "rent-a-husbands". Shawn and I were more daring and adventurous and Genelle and HP were more low key. Thank goodness I had Shawn to do the "CRAZY" stuff with. Thanks Genelle! After we swam with the sharks we hiked a 600ft. waterfall called Dunn's River Falls. It was awesome! Our picture taker guy and our tour guide thought Shawn and I were married to each other so I have 100 pictures of us together. When we made it to the top, the locals wanted me to get my hair braided. The lady said "let me braid your hair lady" I said "no thanks" she said with a nasty look on her face "lady have you seen your hair" I was like "yes and I'm fine". I still can't get the look on her face out of my mind. So funny! Jamaica was a neat place but not one I would want to spend long periods of time there. The locals are really pushy about the pot. I was uncomfortable.

So our next stop was the Cayman Islands. We went snorkeling with the stingrays and snorkeling in the coral reef. It was amazing. A few of us actually got a massage from the stingrays. One actually kissed me. I have a new found respect for them.

Our last and favorite stop was on Friday of our trip and that was in Cozumel Mexico. We went on a Jeep tour and our new friends George and Selina got to join us. We started out on this 45 minute ferry ride from Cozumel to Playa del Carmen. I was so green around the gills from being sea sick. You know it's gonna be bad when they hand out barf bags before you leave. So we made it to Playa del Carmen where we met our tour guides. Ruben and Carlos were great! We started out driving these jeeps to a private beach where we got to eat some great Mexican food and ride the jet ski's it was a blast. Then we loaded back up in our jeeps and went to the Mayan ruins. They actually let you swim in the sacred waters there. It was very cold but amazing to see. After that we loaded up and went to get back on the "puke" ferry. We all survived. Of course the lady in front of us was not so lucky. Poor thing!

The rest of the days on the boat were about great friends, great fun, and great food. We were all like infants we ate about every 2 hours because the food was unlimited. Shawn made sure we climb the stairs all the time to work off the food though. The staff was so kind to us. It was by far the best time of our lives.

Of course we wouldn't have been able to go had it not been for Mama and Papa Bauer. They watched our kids for 9 days. Got Luke and Brayden to school and somehow kept Sophie busy. We love them and thank them for taking such great care of our angels.

December Happenings!

Well since I'm such a slacker and I have sooooooooooooooooooooo much to post about I decided to group it by months so here I go. December was hectic as usual. I tried so hard to get all of the Christmas shopping done by the first of December but there was always one or two or three gifts I had to get. So I was still finishing up things on the 24th as usual. Anyone who says they are done by Thanksgiving or the first of December are flat out liars. Ha!

So our Christmas was good. Every year on Christmas Eve we go to my sisters' house for yummy soup and so my kids can spend time with their Grandma Judy, Aunt Jen, Uncle Jamey, Aunt Lindsey, Uncle Daylan, McKenna, Lauren, and Nicholas. We had a ball watching them open all of their nice presents. Here are some pictures from Christmas Eve.

Christmas Day Santa came to our house so I guess our kiddos were good or daddy must have bribed him. He never tells his secrets. We had all of the Bauer's' over with all of the puppies, Grandma Judy, Mary Ellen, and Grammy's high school Friend/best friend Vivian. We ate breakfast with lots of sticky buns and opened tons of presents. It was fun to see all of Sara's puppies minus Bella get together. So here are some pictures from that day.

So that's our December in a nutshell. Can't wait to get to January. I get to blog about our awesome cruise so be looking for that soon.

Ok, Where Have We Been!

I'm a slacker! I've been soooooooooooo busy with life I hadn't had time to post so here is a little teaser until I can post everything. I need to post about Our Wonderful Christmas, our cruise, Sophie's 2nd Birthday, Luke getting his solid yellow belt, Brayden's new passion, and Valentines Day. So you'll have to stay tune until I can get a minute to post. So for now I'll make you smile with a super funny thing Sophie did recently. This child is a spit fire! Things the boys never dreamed of touching Sophie has conquered. So here is a picture of her getting into my concealer giving herself a touch up and her dolly needed one too! I love these pictures.

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!