JEN JEN IS 22!!

Oh my goodness...my beautiful daughter Jen, my first born, is 22!

I cannot believe the time has gone by so fast...memories of the little girl with the big grin and the cute voice...always singing and dancing and so artistic.

She really has not changed...she still has the big grin, is so good at entertaining and making people laugh and feel good. She has a beautiful voice, and is still a great dancer...artistic? INCREDIBLY SO!!

We celebrated her birthday with one of our favorite family past times...a BBQ with the best flank steak EVER.

Riley made a beautiful and very delicious cake for his sister...

I love you Jenica Nicole...may this year bring hope, love, peace and fresh new and incredible things in life for you honey...you deserve it ALL

Jacey and Brady...Jr. Prom

Jacey and Brady Pulver have been dating for about nine months now. He is part of our family and a fun kid to have around. They were so cute going to Jr. Prom...I only have a few pictures, and hopefully can get some more from Brady's parents.

My little Jacey is all grown up, looking beautiful! Brady did not look so bad himself...

Jordan's surgery

Jordan gave us a pretty bad scare. This is a child who has never even had stitches. Ok,she did fracture a skull a few times when she was a tike as she started walking at the young age of 7 months. She really had not stopped since, and has been very active and healthy.

They discovered two humongous tumors, one in each ovary. They filled her whole abdomen and had pushed all of her other organs aside...her lungs. She had an incredible surgeon, Dr. Rinda Ellis, and an Oncologist, Dr. Andrew Soissens, who both did an amazing job with the surgery. They could not do this laparoscopically due to the sheer mass of the tumors, but she has a very low, neat scar, albeit large.

It was a hard recovery in the sense that Jordan loves to be active, she climbs, swims, hikes, and rides her bike everywhere, works at Sundance and Outback, and is going to school to become a nurse. It was hard for her to stay down and feel so sick, but her boyfriend Nate was an incredible help, and I loved being able to be in her home and share with her as she is SO independent.

I think she healed so well because her body is in such excellent condition, she had SO many of you praying and sending her great thoughts...co workers helping out, as well as her sheer will. They told her 8 week recovery, but she was walking and trying before that.

The results are good, and we are So grateful...Love you Jordi bug!

Mom's Birthday!

OHHHHH What a fun day! My wonderful family cleaned the house, made an incredible dinner of Pasta Alfredo with Grilled chicken, a wonderful salad with spinach and grapes and the cake Jenica and Jordan made was INCREDIBLE! It was three layers of chocolate and vanilla goodness with creem cheese frosting, and a beautiful fudge piping with fresh flowers...
I got the Pink Floyd movie...YES! and had an incredible time laughing and playing...

I forgot to mention that my friends at work got me a tierra and a pink boa with a birthday wand! They know how much I love to drees up...YES, I WORE THEM!

Another incredibly special part of the night was the flower pots we each painted...each person had a pot that they specialized just for themselves, with personalities. We had SO much fun and it was such a great time. Each person had a "magic bean to plant. Jeff's said Success, Mine was Dream, Jenica's was Namaste, Jordan's was Health, Jacey's was harmony, Riley's says Peace and Jocelyn's was bravery. what an incredible night:) I love this crazy family so much...

Happy Birthday to ME! I am 44 years old and proud of every year...

Thursday March 11th

Today is a big day for us...a day of ending, a day for beginnings...I choose to think this is going to be the start of a sharp turn UP!!

I am happy...

kids...awesome husband...awesome
strength in this family unit...INCREDIBLE!

Christmas!!

Christmas at our house is usually a crazy, fun, and very unpredictable time of year. We started with a crazy McDonald Christmas party. We always have lots of delicious food (thank you Marcy) and fun, presents, then the famous "White board Pictionary game". This is a guys against girls game, and for those of you who dont know that McDonald family, it is an INCREDIBLY COMPETITIVE GAME. We usually get laughing pretty hard, and Sheila is highly entertaining during this game...oh, for the record...the GIRLS won this year:P

Christmas eve was special this year...we opened Pajamas, played games and had some wonderful food and fun. Jacey and Jocelyn got some fleece pajamas that werent their style, so the fashion shows with those were pretty entertaining. Jacey's boyfriend Brady could not quit laughing. We had a "Sing Fest" and broke out in some pretty serious harmony and actions with some Back Street Boys tunes...oh how I love my family and their fun personalities. We have had a hard year, but every one of us has grown, and figured out what was truly important in life, and most of all, we have STUCK TOGETHER. This is what strong people are made of...

I love my kids, my husband and our STRENGTH!

Merry Christmas!

HALLOWWWEEEEENNNNN

Boy Oh boy, I need to catch up on my blogging..time FLIES when you are busy. I couldn't skip halloween because it is my favorite holiday. (until the next one comes around, then It's my favorite:)

Here are some pictures around our house...the kids did the decorating, and I think they did a great job! Jocelyn and I had fun with our monster scarecrow this year. I have to admit, the middle of the night trips to the kitchen for water brought many a scream from a few of us, because it looked like a big dark figure sitting there...AAAHHHHH.

We had fun dressing up this year! Jocelyn was a cute little Emo thug, and went trick or treating with her friends.

Riley was pretty funny in his wheel chair dressed as a banana, and his friend jacob was the gorilla. Jacob's baby sister Julia was a little monkey that sad on Riley's lap for a few houses. For those of you who know Riley well, the wheelchair did NOT stop him from schouring the neighborhoods and coming home with quite the stash.

Then came Jacey...I have to admit she scared me to death dressed like a boy...she grows a better beard than most men I know! She had to work at Texas Roadhouse, and would laugh when she had to go clean up the girls bathroom and ladies would freak seeing her in there...HA HA! Her poor boy friend Brady was pretty mortified and would not let her go near him.

Jordan and her friend Katie dressed as a Dr and a patient but she was slow to give me pictures. I did hear that Jenica and Jordan and Jacey were at the same party and Jordan and Jacey busted out a great NSync number, then Jenica and Jordan had quite the dance off! Im sorry I missed all of that.

Jenica, oh Jenica...my little neandrathal this year! Her and her friend Angie are beautiful girls, but man, do they make great cave women. They rolled around in the dirt and leaves getting ready, and had fake hairy patches and arm pits...NASTY! We laughed pretty hard watching them grunt and shuffle around Texas Roadhouse as they are both servers...it was GREAT.

Jeff was a bum this year and did not dress up. He did pose for one picture as a Computer buff for me though:)

I ended up being the Tooth Fairy, and one the costume contest again at the hospital...FUN STUFF!! I am already planning next year...