Lumps and Chili

I'll admit, I'm not a huge fan of church activities. I always stress about getting there on time and parking and even seating. I guess you could say I'm a little claustrophobic in a crowd. Usually Patrick is the same way...except for sometimes...like the annual ward Chili Cook-off/Birthday party.

I've recently acquired a new found talent for chili making. I'm seriously not a cook...I hate it so much, but when I cook, I can make some mean (slang for awesome), meals. So Patrick thought he'd share with the ward my super awesome chili making skills by signing me up to bring some to the cook-off. I entered it into the contest. We ate chili, chatted, looked at old scrapbooks of the ward from way back in the day (Saw some not so flattering pic's of myself as a teenager...nice!)It was, well, kind of enjoyable...AND THEN...

We rushed off to the Emergency Room with our little Ethan because after running around with a few of his friends he came over and looked a little strange to me. After looking Ethan up and down, I noticed a big lump on his neck:



And the master of freak outs (Patrick) decided an ER trip was in the immediate future. I will admit, I was super concerned about it too. Ethan had been complaining about his neck hurting for a good six months off and on. He would say it hurt and would ask me to rub it. The week prior to the chili cook off, he had been complaining about it and I decided that I should probably make an appointment as I didn't understand why a young child would have such aches and pains, but of course, he stopped complaining about it and so I didn't make an appointment.

Patrick took Ethan to the ER and I called my mom to see if she could come and sit with the kids so I could meet them at the hospital. While I was waiting, I got a text message from a friend of mine (Heidi Wright) telling me that I won the SWEETEST chili in the cook-off and was wondering where I was:



I let her know what happened and in less than a half an hour, Heidi was at my door telling me to go to the hospital and she would wait for my mom. I love my friends...I didn't even have to ask and she was there ready to help out!

The ER doctor said it was an infected lymphnoid and prescribed antibiotics. Usually I wouldn't question the diagnosis, but the doctor felt to see if any other lymphnoids were swollen, looked in his ears and in his mouth and then sent us on our way. I felt like I needed a second opinion because of the history of neck pain so I made an appointment with our doctor.

Our doctor was a little baffled as to why the ER doctor didn't order any blood tests and she found a second swollen lymphnoid in his head. Blood tests were ordered and all came back normal. I felt a little relieved, but I don't feel totally at ease.

When your husband had cancer as a child, it's hard not to jump to conclusions when out of the normal things happen with our kids. It's actually one of the first things I think of when "things" happen.

I've been cleaning up my computer and emails and found this picture:



it's Raya getting a bone scan about a year ago. She was having bad pains that weren't going away. After numerous visits to the doctor and her dad's history of bone cancer, doc thought it would be best to do a bone scan...which came back normal.

We like normal...

Guess Who's Nine?

Malia is another year older. Where does the time go? It seems like only yesterday I looked like this:



About a month later a beautiful little girl was placed in my arms:





We celebrated with ice cream at school:







Dinner with family and friends from Panda Express:





Cupcakes picked out from Cupcake Craving:





Wishing for...well, not sure because we all know if you say out loud what you wished for it won't come true:



And of course, blowing out the candles.



Happy 9th Birthday to my Malia. Now on to planning that birthday party!

Month to Month

I used to not have to write things down on a calender...now if I don't, I totally forget. Here's what my May looked like:



and June is filling up rather quick too:



I guess I should be grateful for the health and strength to keep up with what my calender says I need to do. One day, I am probably going to wish I had things to put on my calender.

Mother's Day

I want to make sure I blog about Mother's Day before the photos and memories fall by the way side.

I really enjoyed my Mother's Day this year. We didn't do anything crazy fun or really out of the ordinary. I enjoyed spending time with my family and my mom.

It was a perfect day to take some photos, so after church, Patrick and I took the kids to the Folsom Powerhouse (a location I frequent often for photos). I was able to take photos of the kids to update my wall (photos will be blogged at a later date). To my surprise, doors were opened and we were able to see inside the different "Mechanic" and "Superintendant" rooms. It was pretty cool.













Then we headed over to my moms house where we had a BBQ and I was able to see all my sibling's and both my parents. My aunt was even there. I ate and watched the kids play catch, climb trees, and eat dirt.













I was adorned with many lavish gifts from the kids and decadent chocolate from my husband. I love that the kids make cards and gifts at school and church to give to me.







Raya gave me a hand knitted scarf, a card with notes about me, and chocolates with a note that said "You are Sweet"

The above note reads:

(Raya's answers are capitalized and/or in red)

"My mom's name is RACHAEL DAWN DURLING

She is 20 years old

My mom likes to BE ON HER COMPUTER

My mom has 1 eyes

My mom weighs this much: 100 POUNDS

My mom's birthday is on JANUARY 13TH

My mom was born in: CALIFORNIA

My mom's favorite food is: HOMEMADE CHILI

My mom likes to: DO MY HAIR

My mom is best at: COOKING MY FAVORITE FOODS"

Malia gave me hand knitted scarf, a homemade bookmark, a card with a poem about me in it, chocolates with a note that said "You always know if something's on my mind.", and a cute note with answers to questions about me.

Malia's Mom Poem Reads:

"Mom,

Whenever I smell your food, I always think of you.

Whenever I taste strawberries, I always think of you.

Whenever I hear the wind, I always think of you.

Whenever I touch my bed, I always think of you.

Whenever I feel roses, I always think of you.

Mom,

You are so sweet, you will always touch my heart.

Love, Malia"

The above note reads:
(Malia's answers are capitalized and/or in red)

My mom's name is RACHAEL

She is 32 years old

My mom likes to PHOTOGRAPHY

My mom has BROWN eyes

My mom weighs this much: ?

My mom's birthday is on JANUARY 13, 1929

My mom was born: IN A HOSPITTLE

My mom's favorite food is: SPAGETTIE

My mom likes to help me CLEAN MY ROOM

My mom is the best at SINGING, PHOTOGRAPHY, SETTING UP BIRTHDAYS AND MAKING PICTURES LOOK BETTER."

Ethan gave my numerous drawings, letters, a very pretty paper mache pot with yellow flowers and a cute card that talked all about me.

Ethan's paper above reads:

(Ethan's answers are captilalized and/or in red)

My mom is special because:

SHE HELPS ME CLEAN UP MY ROOM. SHE HELPS ME FIND STUFF.

I like it when my mom : HUGS ME

My mom can do many things, I think she's best at: COOKING PANCAKES AND TUCKS ME IN BED.

My mom has a pretty smile, I like to make her smile by: SEEING ME COME HOME FROM SCHOOL.

My mom is as pretty as a FLUFFY BLACK AND WHITE KITTY

My mom is smart! She even knows I LOVE HER. SHE WORKS ON THE COMPUTER TOO

Carly gave me a cute smile and some chocolates too.

I love being a mom. It's all I ever wanted to be when I grew up. It's challenging at times, but by golly, it's the best job in the world!

Weekend Getaway

The weekend went by too fast for me, but I enjoyed almost every part of it! I planned a little weekend getaway for Patrick and I down in Occidental. It was very relaxing and fun...at least for the most part.

Our anniversary is coming up at the end of the month and Patrick's birthday was on Saturday, so we took this trip to celebrate both occasions.

The drive down was beautiful. Acres and Acres of green hills with grapes growing. Beautiful scenery. I kept thinking "now that would be an awesome location to do a photography session"...Lots of old barns, old cars, etc. It was pure country!

We drove through what seemed like a forest for many miles and then out of no where, Occidental was there. A very small town without a gas station. There were a few bars, some Italian restaurants, an organic market, another regular market and HOWARDS STATION CAFE. The best breakfast place in the world! The view from our hotel was this:



I felt like I was camping...well, without a tent which is they way I like to camp!

We only had one thing planned for our trip so most of the time we just explored the little cities around Occidental. That area was really hippyish. I can't really think of any other words to describe it. Very natural and maybe somewhat yuppy...



We even found this thing that resembled an ancient telephone. I think it was ancient because it didn't accept credit cards:



Patrick locked the keys in the car the first night we were there so we were grateful that our AAA membership had automatically renewed itself. Of course I didn't have my keys with me so that kind of sucked, but all worked out fine.

We went to Safari West. The closest to an African Safari that we will probably ever get to. Totally loved it! The animals were amazing, the weather was great, but a little on the chilly side, and the company for our 2 hour safari was very interesting!














We ate dinner at the lodge afterwards.





There were these birds. They were insane. Patrick got up to get a drink and I swear within seconds of him getting up, these birds helped themselves to his food with me sitting right there!





The drive home was lame. I don't know for sure but I think Patrick tricked me into driving up Highway 1. I get super carsick and this highway is nothing but a windy road. I was sick the whole ride. Totally sucked. I was able to get out of the car and take some pictures of the ocean, but that was basically it. We stopped at Fort Ross for what Patrick claims was for about an hour. I slept in the car the whole time. We stopped at another place where I took some Dramamine (motion sickness medicine) that really didn't help. The men at the general store there told Patrick a quicker way to get to the main rode, but we had to drive for 47 miles through a mostly one lane rode that reminded me of some horror movies that I've seen in my life. It rained too...but for the most part, I can't really remember much of that drive home. I was too sick to do much but sleep.

I had fun though. It was a much needed break for both Patrick and I. If I learned anything from this trip, I would have to say that according to this giraffe:



The grass really is greener on the other side...