More of Berk's Birthday

Berkeley's First Cake

Berkeley is ONE!

Stupid Camera - Stupid Computer

Now that I am done crying about it, I guess I can talk about it. I went to upload (finally) all the pics from my camera and the stupid thing permanently erased most of my Easter pictures. I had taken a bunch of the Easter egg hunt at grandmas, family pictures outside, and some super cute ones of ALL the cousins outside - now they are ALL gone!!!!!!!!!

So here is what I have. I am not sure what Carlie is doing in the family pic, but it is the best I got. My kids looked so cute - oh well....poor me..... I am going to go have a pity party for myself.

Gina is 38 and She is Great!

March 19th I turned 38! Can you believe it???? I went to Wicked with my mother -in-law Diane and sister-in-law Anne-Marie. It was amazing. The Wizard of Oz was always my favorite movie as a child. During recess at school I would make my friends act out scenes and I was always the wicked witch. I have a seriously wicked cackle/laugh. Now that I have seen Wicked I know I didn't want to play that part because I was an evil little girl, I was just misunderstood!!!! Thanks for the Wicked tickets Annie! After the show we went shopping at Nordstrom Rack and then to a restaurant in downtown Portland I had wanted to go to for a while. It was called Mamma Mia Trattatoria. It was delicious Italian food and I had the most amazing birthday dessert. My sisters-in-law Kim and Kelsey joined us for dinner. The next day Corey and I left our kids with Kim (oh thank you - Kimmy is the best) and went to Seattle for a three day getaway. The main purpose was to go the Tall Girl Shop. I have a 37 inch inseam and there are not many places in the world that sell that long of a pant. The only places are either online or at this store. We splurged (not a cheap store) and bought me some new pants and oh how I love them. People who can buy pants in normal stores do not know my pain. We spent the rest of the weekend relaxing and sleeping in at our super nice hotel (priceline rocks - we named a super cheap price and got it!) and cruising around Seatlle. It was great to spend some time with my super husband. Also for you Twilight fans - I could see Edward's mountains and could feel him near me!!!!!

My Cute Kids!

March was quite the crazy month for Berkeley. He has been sick off and on and was on his fourth antibiotic treatment this year. Between ear infections and respiratory infections we have been having a great time! We even had to get him a nebulizer he was so wheezy. He is now eating some solid foods like chocolate chip pancakes. As you can see from the picture below he LOVES them. He bites and chews on everything, including my favorite recliner. He likes to bang his hands on any surface and can clap his hands. He also is getting really close to walking and is a CRAZY fast crawler. I can not keep up with him. He has no fear and gets into everything and climbs up and over anything in his way. Berk also likes to wake up in the middle of the night and scream bloody murder for about an hour. No matter how difficult he can be, his crystal blue eyes just melt your soul and you can't stay mad at him for more than a second. Not to mention he says "mama" now.

Carlie is growing up so fast. She is four, but tells me all the time she wants to be five. She is wearing size 7 and is taller than every five and six year old we know. She loves going to school and learning. She knows her alphabet and can spell her name and several others. She loves to draw pictures and talk about her friend Jesus. One of her favorite things to do is makeup songs and get her fingernails and toenails painted. Carlie is very excited that she now takes showers like a big girl does. She loves to look at herself in the mirror (that is such a Jolley trait). Carlie loves to play outside and ride her bike and thank goodness it is starting to get a little warmer.

Randomness From the Past Month

Carlie loves to play dress up.

Carlie and Berkeley are becoming such amazing friends. They love to play together and Carlie really looks out for her baby brother.

Anyone that has recieved a cell phone call from Gina knows that Fanny Vasquez and Gina Aldridge are one and the same. Corey will not let me call the cell phone company to tell them that they have the wrong name on the caller ID so therefore I am Fanny Vasquez.

Here is Carlie doing a puppet show with the help of her daddy. The awesome puppet theatre was made by my incredible mom a few years ago. Though, Carlie didn't quite understand that she was supposed to stay hidden and that we should only see the puppets! As you can see Berkeley thought it was pretty fun too!

Carlie with sponge rollers has become the Saturday night routine in our home.

She loves it and always reminds me that she needs her curlers in her hair so she can
look beautiful for church. The next two pictures are examples of how wonderful

her hair looks after a night of these magic rollers.

Three Things

Here is what is on my mind:
1. We were driving home late last night from a fun weekend in Portland with Berkeley asleep and Carlie eating her McDonalds. All of a sudden Carlie started yelling, "My pee is coming out!" I wasn't sure what she had said so I asked her if she was peeing her pants and she screamed, "No mommy, my pee is coming out!" So I yell for Corey to pull over. We were on I-84 traveling through the Columbia Gorge. He pulls over and grabs Carlie. As I look out the window there is Corey holding Carlie's outstretched arms (Carlie was facing Corey) as her bare bum was leaning back for all to see (it was starting to sleet outside too). I can not describe how funny it looked. After she proceeded to pee all over her pants, we took her pants and boots off outside before she got back in the car. As soon as they were back in the car it started sleeting super hard!! Oh how lucky it waited for our poor girl to let her pee out!

2. Today on the way home from church
Carlie said, "I don't like that guy!"
I said, "What guy?"
Carlie: "Daddy"
Me: Oh Carlie why?
Carlie: He is old
Me: Mommy is older than daddy, do you not like me?
Carlie: You are not old
Me: How old am I?
Carlie: 5
Me: How old is daddy?
Carlie: zero

3. I had a great weekend. I have not been to Portland since September for a doctor's appointment. That is a long time when you live in a town were the best shopping you have is a Fred Meyer. Aunt Kimmy watched our kids Friday night and all day Saturday. We went out to eat with Corey's brother and sister and their spouses to a Thai restuarant and then Papa Hyden's for dessert. Corey and I stayed in a hotel that had a beautiful view of a river. We slept in and went out to breakfast with beautiful views. We went shopping and then to the temple. It was so nice to slow down and not do my homework, grade papers, or worry about cleaning my filthy house. Granted I was not too happy last night to come home to that filthy house and wonder when I was going to get my homework done, but it was nice....

Berkeley's Hospital Visit

Berkeley has been wheezing and having coughing fits for awhile. We were concerned so we took him to the doctor on Thursday. After 2 breathing treatments and a chest x-ray they decided to admit him to the hospital. They said he had bronchilitis caused by a virus (RSV maybe) and he was in moderate respiratory distress. So Berkeley spent Thursday night in the hospital with daddy (mommy went home to get sleep since she has NO sick days!) and got lots of breathing treatments, steroids, and a ton of attention while hooked up to the monitor with cords he LOVED to pull off of himself and chew on. Poor Corey had to sleep on a not so comfortable recliner. He is much better and home now. The final diagnosis was a lower respiratory tract infection. As you can see from the pictures he was still a happy kid even though he was pretty sick! What a good little guy!

Cancer News

Hooray!

It is fantastic news. I went to my oncologist today and he said the scans came back free and clear. He said it so matter of fact, like it was so expected. I told him I had been super nervous and he said he would have been shocked if I had another tumor. He said the reoccurance rate of GIST on Gleevec is about 10%. I told him I figured knowing my luck lately I would have

been in that 10% group.

So everyone can breathe a sigh of relief for now. He only wants to see me every other month now since I am doing so well and we will do another scan in 6 months.

So here's to SIX MONTHS CANCER FREE!!!!!!

Now it is time to concentrate on losing all the extra post surgery & baby belly weight

(after I finish my celebratory Chocolate Heath Bar Blizzard)!!!

Nervous

Tomorrow morning at 8 AM I am going to the hospital for a CT scan, chest x-ray, and blood work. It has been a little over 6 months since they found my watermelon sized GIST tumor in my abdomen and my life changed. My oncologist said he would be surprised if I had any tumors, but I am still nervous. I feel absolutely blessed that I have had this "cancer" experience. It has taught me to appreciate every single day I am on this earth, to enjoy every minute I have with my beautiful children and hubby, and to rely more fully on the power of my Heavenly Father and my Savior, Jesus Christ to help me through my struggles.
So here is to a week that is either going to be FANTASTIC or EXTREMELY CRAPPY - let's pray it is fantastic.....

Snow Fun

Carlie LOVES the snow (and so do I!) with ALL her heart! Here she is playing on the snow pile in front of the house from the Artic Blast we had back in December.

She is playing with her cousins Jordan and Andres in these pics.

Here is Jordan and Carlie with their grandma.

Just Stuff

Here are some random pictures of my kids being the super cute kids that they are.

I love them so much!

New Do

I know am a big cheese ball, but here are some pics of my not so new hair do (I got my hair done back in January, but as usual I am behind in my blogging!) The cheesy part is that I took pictures of myself while looking in the mirror. I was pretty excited because it had been a super long time since I had done something to take care of myself.

Carlie's Favorite Toy

Much to the delight of Corey, Carlie has discovered the wonderful world of the I-Phone! She has learned how to use it all by herself. The good news for Corey is she got a Leapster for Christmas and has become obsessed with her new Princess game. Now Corey doesn't have to share his precious friend with Carlie as much.

Facial Hair & the Man

What is it with facial hair and my man Corey?? Here are two of his latest creations.