San Diego, 26.2

We took a little family trip to San Diego this last weekend! Dave ran in the Rock 'n Roll Marathon, we went to Sea World, we saw the movie "UP" (which I loved, by the way), we ate at the Hard Rock Cafe, we got to hang out with our friend Sam (we missed you though Stephanie!)and we went to bed early the entire trip - it was great!

Dave did a great job in the marathon - which is 26.2 miles, in case you didn't know. (I hate running, I can't even run 1 mile.) This was his 2nd marathon and he beat his previous time by like 15 minutes, and he beat Oprah's marathon time by a few mintues as well...that was his main goal, to beat Oprah.

Our only disappointment was that it was cloudy, rainy, and chilly the whole time we were there, so we didn't make it to the beach =(. We kept saying, "let's go tomorrow, maybe the weather will be better." And it never was. Guess we'll have to take another trip to the beach somewhere this summer.

Being the fool that I am, I didn't get a picture of Dave in the marathon, or even in his marathon attire. Sorry. I suck ok? I know this. I sure did get a lot of pictures at Sea World though - so here they come!

Shamu show

My cute boys with the same hairdo.

Spencer and moon face. Spence was too cute in this pic not to post it.

Sharks.

Killer!

Spencer waving to the whales. He loved the shows. We saw the whales, dolphins, and sea lions shows...and one "cirque de soleil" - esque show. They were all pretty awesome, and funny.

Elmo ride. Dave was pretty excited, but Spencer wasn't so sure at first.

Oh Dave. Yes, Spence is still in there with him =).

Dave and Sam. So silly. Sam ran the marathon too!

Cousins are awesome

A couple of weeks ago, my sister Mary and her two little ones came to visit us for a few days! It was awesome! Spencer and Sam had a BLAST together. They also had a few arguments...either about sharing toys, or when they would be dancing to Choo Choo Soul, and Sam would want to sit one out and Spencer wouldn't want him to sit one out. They were pretty hilarious. They were so fun to watch, and it was so fun to see my newest niece Jane, who is just adorable. Not to mention my sister Mary...she's pretty adorable too, and also lots of fun to be around =).

Sammy!

He is seriously one of the smartest and FUNNIEST kids I have ever known!

Oh, kids and their computers these days...

Uncle Dave is pretty fun too. He was their sprinkler man...the only one who would play in the sprinklers with them =).

We had lots of fun at the Thanksgiving Point farm. The pony rides are always a highlight!

Have I ever mentioned what a horrible photographer I am? Not only are the pictures I take not that great...but I am horrible at remembering to actually take pictures! Hence, no pics of me and Mary, and no pics of just Jane. Somebody knock me upside the head...

This is just a small taste of all the dancing fun.

I wish I got a video of the singing fun we also had.

Both Mary and another sister, Laura, have just moved to Oregon. They'll be living like 30 minutes apart from each other. I'm so happy that they'll get to be close to each other and closer to me (and to my mom in northern California - she's happy too!). Mary has been in Iowa for the last 4 years, and Laura has been in South Carolina for the last 2 - so yes, Oregon is much closer! But I must admit, I'm a little sad that they'll be there together without me! I keep trying to come up with a good reason we need to move Dave's business to Portland...no such luck yet though. I'll keep thinking...In the meantime, I do already have plans to visit them at the end of this month - woo-hoo!

Prednisone...rant...

So remember how I'm on Predisone (a kind of steriods) for Crohn's Disease? Yeah, it sucks. Predisone can have a lot of pretty nasty side effects if you are on it for a long period of time, or on a high dose. The Dr. kept telling me I shouldn't worry about most of the side effects because I won't be on it for long enough. I have been on predisone once before and had a good experience, and the side effects weren't horrible. I had some trouble sleeping, and gained a little weight, but just felt so great and had so much energy that I did not care. Well, this time has been different. I have had such a HORRIBLE time sleeping...up until this last week I have been lucky to get 4-5 hours of sleep a night. So I feel like crap all day, and have no energy most days. My heart just races, which is just kinda scary, and I've been pretty moody (sorry Dave). Plus, my face is all swollen and puffy...which I guess is a common side effect...they call it "moon face." Moon Face?! I have chubby cheeks anyway...so yes, I look like a freak! (It doesn't help that I'm also extremely white!)

Here's the kicker...I found out last Friday that the Dr. accidentally doubled my dose. DOUBLED MY DOSE! I realized this when I was reading the prescription bottle and noticed I have 20mg pills instead of 10mg pills, which is what the Dr. said I would have. (I started out taking 4 pills a day...so that's 80mg when it should've been 40!) I realize that maybe I should've been a responsible adult and read my prescription bottle more carefully long ago...but still...So I kind of freaked out, because I know that predisone really can be bad for you, so I called the Dr's office right away. The nurse says, "yeah, you should be taking the 10mg pills." And I'm like "Am I going to die?!" and she says "oh no, it's not a big deal, you just got an extra kick of prednisone...you should be feeling great!" and I'm like "are you freaking kidding me? I haven't slept in a month!!" Ok yes, all of my crohn's symptoms are MUCH better, so I am grateful for that...and that's the point of the meds...but holy crap, I cannot believe they would just double the dose and tell me it's no big deal. Does "moon face" sound like no big deal?? But I talked to the pharmacist too, to get a second opinion, and they agreed that there shouldn't be any lasting side effects or damage.

Anyway, I should be off of it in a couple of weeks. They start you at a certain dose, and then taper, or wean, you off of it so your body doesn't react badly to the "withdrawl." So I'm down to 10mg, and I am sleeping much better, so that's good. I've been reading online and hear that "moon face" goes away after a few weeks of being off the drug. So I guess that's good too. In the meantime, I will just stop looking in the mirror...I know, I'm so vain...

My mom wanted to see pictures of my chubbs...this is seriously the least embarassing picture I could get...the other 20 I took of myself were disgusting.



Please don't tell me you can't tell a difference like Dave keeps saying...=(

Thank you for letting me rant about predisone. And stupid Dr.'s.

Chuck

A conversation we've had more than once, recently...

Spencer - "Mommy, what's your name?"
Me - "Amanda"
Spencer - "Daddy, what's your name?"
Dave - "Dave"
Me (to spencer) - "What's your name?"
Spencer - "Chuck E. Cheese"

He's also told a few strangers in the last week that his name is Chuck E. Cheese. It's pretty funny. I guess it has a nice ring to it =).

Happy 31st Birthday Dave!

My man is 31, as of yesterday. I LOVE this CRAZY guy!

(Yes, emphasis on both "love" and "crazy.")

This pic is from his big 30th birthday bash last year, but I thought it was appropriate.

Tulip Festival

At the beginning of the month Spence and I took a fun little trip to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point with two of our FAVORITE people - Aunt Mandy and Bailey! It was SO beautiful, and lots of fun, and the kids did really well leaving the flowers alone. Tulips are my very favorite flower =).

Pictures, of course...

Kissing cousins! The cutest little kissing cousins I ever did see. They are such good friends, and I love it!

My cute little tulip. Cheesey forced smile =).

He looks so old in this picture!

Miss Bailey and Aunt Mandy...how cute are they?!

The gardens at Thanksgiving point are just so beautiful. I heard they even have the biggest man-made waterfall in North America, or something. Pretty cool.

BUSY!

I have a lot going on in May...and we're already 11 days in!

• Mother's day weekend extravaganza (that was just this last weekend...more about that to come later...)
• Enrichment (that I'm in charge of)
• Dave is putting together a little reunion for anyone in Utah from Billings MT (where he went to high school his senior year)
• I'm throwing one of my best friend's a baby shower
• Dave's 31st birthday
• My sister Mary and her 2 kids are coming to stay with us for a few days on their way to move from Iowa to Portland (woo-hoo!!!)
• My sister-in-law Deb is coming out from New York
• I'm going to a No Doubt concert with my sister, Alaina (there's lots of sisters involved this month...how lucky am I?)
• We are taking a little family trip to San Deigo as Dave is running in a marathon there. We are very excited for Sea World and the beach...especially Spencer!

My life is usually much less exciting! I'm going to be exhausted - but happy =).