Disney Land

Bradley has a few perks working where he does.  We get free dental work.  Braces cost next to nothing.  We have a 401K, retirement and he gets a few free trips out of the deal.  This year, his meetings just happened to be in Disney Land.  Yes, you read that right.  The place of dreams.  We decided we would take the whole family and visit this place since 2 nights would be paid for at the DisneyLand Hotel and Resort.  So, we packed up our belongings, loaded into the truck and headed for the place only the rich and famous visit.  California.  Home to the stars.  We found our happy hotel and got ready for a day full of adventure and fun.

Now, Brad had to attend meetings, so as much as we wanted him there, I could look like Super Mom and take the kids myself to the theme park and when they say that DisneyLand is the happiest place on earth...They JUST WEREN'T KIDDING!  This place is unlike any place I've really ever been.  The help is happy, the people are happy and the rides are some of the most fun.  The atmosphere is just a joyful place to be and when you combine that with the souls you love most, it is truly the happiest place.  Well, we started off our journey in California Adventure.  This place is like you have stepped in the Disney movie Cars.  It's so life like that you almost feel as if you are a character in the film itself.  We snapped a picture by mator and in front of the scene "highway 63" but it was the rides that really started our adventure.  We tried to keep up and act like we knew what we were doing getting our "fast passes" and riding in between.  We started off on a mator ride that spun around and was quite fun.  Not a "throw up" ride, so that was good.  We managed to hit all of the rides in the park but I have to highlight our most favorite.  The Haunted Mansion is a ride that we didn't know.  We entered this room that had the old school "twilight zone."  It showed a short clip in this tight area that was decorated in a creepy study setting you'd picture while playing the game "clue."  Once the film stopped they shuffled you into this room that was equipped with seats and seat belts.  An older gentleman with a scary demeanor enters and tells you to be sure to order the bloody steak at the top.  This freaked us all out but then the ride started and it showed another film of the twilight zone segment of a family in an elevator shaft.  Once the picture fades, we are immediately dropped stories into the air and shot back up just as fast as we'd fallen to see the top of the building open up and shut again as we plummet to what seemed our death.  It did this again several times before ending where we had started.  The pictures say it all.  Ry grasping my arm looking for safety.  Ginger and I with our mouths wide open obviously screaming in panic.  Ayva yelling at a much lower volume and Dallin & Ethan making similar "Bradley" faces.  It was scary but fun and we did it twice.  We rode the race cars, umbrella rides, swinging and spinning.  We rode till dark and headed back to the hotel to share our adventures with Brad.

Well, his work provided him with a day pass for that evening but we were so tired from all of our fun, that we cashed it in and paid a little extra for a full day pass for the following day.  Brad met us at noon and we rode the rest of the day enjoying each other's company and rides.  We rode the Buzz Lightyear ride, the Star Wars ride, Space Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, Indiana Jones and others but our favorite was Splash Mountain.  We rode it at least a dozen times but probably closer to 20 times by nightfall.  We rode and rode and rode until we could no longer or had any desire to jump one more seat and headed to the hotel for a change of clothes and dinner.  We hit up this little home slice joint that served pretty authentic Mexican food.

The trip was full of adventure, thrills and memories which we will always cherish.  It is these memories that I will long for when my little ones are gone and moved on with their individual lives.  I find it interesting when mothers say, "Oh, no... not summer again!" because in all reality, it is these short years that we will miss the most and look back to think, "did I do enough?  Did I make enough memories?  Could I have done more?"  I don't want to...no, I will NOT look back and feel guilty that I wished my kids time away when I know all too well, it is so very precious.  A wise man once said, "Every cliche about kids is true; they grow up so quickly, you blink and they're gone, and you have to spend the time with them now.  But that's a joy."  It is a joy to have these little people in my home.  I will have plenty of time to do "me" but for now it's about them and about "us."  I hope that these sweet memories will be seared into my long term noggin.

I thank my Father in Heaven for blessing my life with these spirits.  They are what brings happiness and joy into my life.  It is through Him that I find the meaning in life.  I am truly grateful for my children, for my honey; Bradley Redge and for this adventure we call life.

Cancun Stay-cation

Bradley surprised me one day and said that we were going on a special date.  Now, a special date with Brad is always the BEST!  I love going out with him especially when it's "special!"  We jumped in the truck and he headed downtown towards the strip.  I was excited and questioned where exactly we were going.  He told me to be patient and that I would love it.  Before long, he pulled into a hotel titled "Cancun."  I looked at him and laughed.  We're going to CANCUN!  He smiled that sly little smirk and we got out of the truck and registered.  We were having a staycation for the night and it would be romantically perfect.  Brad pulled out the suitcase he had packed for the two of us and we marched to our room.  It was an apartment of sorts.  It had a kitchen, family room, bedroom and huge jacuzzi tub.  I was thrilled at the idea of being all night with just him.  Dallin had been hired as the babysitter and at age 13, I wasn't sure he could handle it, but things went fine and in the morning, we got up and headed back to pick up the kids.  We brought them back to the hotel and everyone jumped in the hot tubs, swimming pools and hit the water slides they had.  It was a jam packed fun filled day of family morning fun.  We lounged in the hammocks, drank ice water in the sun and soaked up some good old fashioned Peterson Pack fun.

Bradley has managed to make all of my dreams come true.  He is truly my Knight in shining armor.  He has made me a mother, taken care of my every need and never ceases to surprise me and love me unconditionally.  I hope and pray that my children will be as lucky as I have been and find their soul mate as I found mine.  I thank my Heavenly Father for blessing me with the most amazing best friend, husband and eternal companion in this life and the life to come.  I love him more everyday.

Tumor Trouble

Many years ago, I found a small lump on the side of my right rib.  As I am quite a cysty person, I chalked it up to bad luck and another cyst I would have to eventually take care of.  That brings us to present and a noticeably larger and much more painful cyst that resides in my side.  I decided to call upon my go to doctor, Dr Earl.  I went to his office and had it evaluated.  He told me that it was a tumor and that I should really have it removed but being the end of the year, I would need to get in the beginning of 2014.  Now, knowing that the cost of this could be circumstantial, I called his office in January and implored at the cost of this procedure.  The front desk didn't want to be bothered with me and quite disgruntled told me they would have to "look into it but that a response would be no earlier than at least a week."  Those of you that know anything about me, doesn't take this kind of news lightly and I got right to work trying to find a new doctor.  I mean, give me a bloody break!  Can't even give me a rough estimate of how much a surgical procedure would cost!?!  Ridiculous and unacceptable.  So, I set to doing a bit of research when Bradley suggested I just go to Nebraska and have my dad remove it.  "You could see your folks and your dad would be much more gentle than anyone else."  True, true.  My pain tolerance is near nothing and that alone besides going for a visit was enough to book a ticket immediately.  I tried to call my dad to see if that would be all right but he was on a cruise, so I thought it best to grab the deal I had found and just text him.  "Dad, I need you to remove a tumor.  Got a ticket.  I'll be there Friday.  Love you."  I got a call from him the following day..."Umm...HELLO!?  You have a WHAT?"  We talked about it and after some pictures and measurements, I was headed to the Midwest to have my "situation" taken care of.  Mom picked me up at the airport and I was a nervous wreck.  I was so scared. We drove to Beatrice and met him at his office where he was ready to perform surgery.  I felt so peaceful and scared at the same time.  I knew that dad would do a fantastic job and that he would be more than sympathetic and gentle, yet the idea of having a tumor and having any sort of pain put me into a mess of emotions.  Dad performed the surgery with such ease.  I laid awake as he finished the last stitch and sat up to get hugs from both my parents.  It was a relatively easy recovery.  Not much pain and I got to vege with my parents without kids for an entire TWO days!  We watched movies, talked and ate out.  It was such a lovely visit.  The tumor looked normal and the biopsy showed the same results.  I have a beautiful 2 inch scar on my left that I cherish.  I think of my dad every time I see it.  When I returned home, I informed Brad that he would need to remove the stitches.  Dad instructed me that he put them in tightly so Bradley would need to use a blade to cut them open and remove.  Brad reminded me kindly, that he was a doctor too, and was quite capable of removing them.  We set up the bedroom with light and I laid on my side, much to my chagrin, to have the stitches taken out.  I was terrified.  Brad had brought home a scalpel and after my five minutes of telling him to wait and that I wasn't ready in a panicked state, he started removing them, only the scalpel he was using was not the sharpest in the bunch. We moved to the bathroom for more light and still, it wouldn't cut through the vycril and with me wincing and getting teary eyed, Brad proclaimed, "I NEED MY LOOPS!"  Besides the fact Ry kept coming in and out of the room crying because I was in pain forced us to jump in the truck and head to his office.  We got there and within minutes he had removed them all in seconds flat.  I convinced him to smooch me in the abandoned office and we headed home with a tumor less and stitch less body.

A funny aftermath comment was made while my visiting teachers were seeing me.  One of the sisters has a husband who is an ER doc.  When she told him I was flying to Nebraska to have a tumor removed, he asked why I was going there.  She told him I was having my dad remove it.  Then when she heard that Brad was removing the stitches, he replied, "So let me get this straight.  She flying to NEBRASKA to have her Podiatrist father remove the tumor and her Dentist husband take out the stitches?"  Yes, it sounds cooky but it works.

How fortunate but completely blessed I feel to have such loving hands to help me.  I have always felt that my Father in Heaven has had a special place for me in his heart.  I felt it again as I brush the side of my scar.  I have a father who would do anything at any time for me and a husband who adores me regardless of my many flaws.  I am truly blessed and I am so grateful.