2011 Interview

I did this a couple of years ago but didn't get around to doing it last year. My friend Becky just did this for her girls and it reminded me to do it for 2010! Sorry Becky I hope you don't mind me stealing your questions! Kennadee even had some of the same answers as Gabby.
Cereal - Lucky Charms
Vegetable - Peas
Fruit - Peaches
Drink - Apple Juice
Toy - Jessie Doll (from Toy Story)
TV Show - Word Girl
Movie- Toy Story 3
Game - Candy Land
Book - Jessie Rootin' Tootin' Cowgirl
Restaurant - McDonalds
Holiday - Christmas
Animal - Horses
If you could change your name, what would you choose? Jessie
Where would you like to go on vacation this year? Utah, to go see Nannies
What are some of your wishes for this year? for my doll Jessie to come to life!

Our Year In Review

This has probably been the worst year of our lives to date. It was filled with some huge huge trials but thankfully with each trial Heavenly Father provided many many blessings to help us make it through physically, emotionally, spiritually, & financially. Here are a few of the highlights for the year:

February 2010: We found out that we were finally expecting our second baby after 5 years of trying we were finally pregnant. We were hesitant to really get our hopes up because it had been so long trying that we felt it was too good to be true.

March 2010: It turned out that the pregnancy was too good to be true and I miscarried at the beginning of the month. It was horrible, painful, sad, and depressing. I didn't think I would make it through emotionally but through the power of the Priesthood I received a blessing that really brought comfort to me.

June 2010: Russell went in to the doctor for the first time in 10 years for a physical and ended up finding out that he had Graves Disease (hyperthyroidism) which led to finding out that he had Thyroid Cancer. It was shocking and scary but we were blessed that he went in when he did because they caught it early and gave him a really good prognosis.
  I painted our entire main floor and we put up chair rail. It was a big project but I really like the results.

July 2010: We went to Utah/Idaho for our first trip back since we moved to Texas 2+ years ago. We had a blast visiting with family, camping, shopping, 4th of July, Crandall family reunion, and much much more.

August 2010: Russell had his first surgery of his life. They removed the Thyroid and the tumor and several of his Lymph Nodes. The surgery was a success and he recovered really quickly. We were so relived that it was over.
    Kennadee started school and has been doing great ever since. I was really nervous but she seems to like it. I am really lonely at home though.

October 2010: My Grandma Crandall had a massive stroke at the end of September and passed away the beginning of October. It was so hard. We made an emergency trip to Utah/Idaho to be with my Dad and visit her grave. It was really really hard.
Kennadee was Rapunzel for her school party and a Witch for Halloween.

November 2010: I started my New Year's Resolution early and started a no sugar no carb diet and by Thanksgiving I had lost 20 pounds. for more details click here
Russell had radiation over Thanksgiving break to get rid of any remaining cancer cells. He also had a full body scan afterward and we found out that he is cancer free!!
Kennadee and I stayed with my sister while he was radioactive and had Thanksgiving with them.

December 2010: What a whirlwind month! Kennadee had her first school performance. They did an adaptation of the Nutcracker. It was so cute! My parents came to visit, we went to SeaWorld, Six Flags, out to eat lots & lots, played games, had Christmas Eve at my house, My brother cut & colored my hair, he also cut Kennadee's hair, It was just packed with fun!! And I stuck to my diet (for the most part) the entire month!!

Here is hoping that 2011 will be a little less stressful. I am thankful for the many many prayers that went out in our behalf this year they really helped. I am so grateful for the blessings that accompanied us in these tough times I know that my Testimony has been strengthened and I feel even closer to my Savior!
Happy New Year Everyone!!

Big Helper

Kennadee has been going through yet another growth spurt and I am sure that she has grown at least two inches in the last little bit. She discovered that if she stands on our bathroom stool she can reach the kitchen sink with ease. She asked me the other day if she could do the dishes so of course I couldn't tell her no. Here are some cute pics of my big helper. She is growing up to fast!!

                                                      

           

            

Kennadee's New Haircut

For Christmas my brother Johnathan gave us all certificates for him to cut or color (or both) our hair. Kennadee decided that she wanted it really short. We really love it!!

Six Flags

The Monday after Christmas my parents took us to Six Flags. Since the Mildensteins have season passes they had discount tickets so my parents decided that since they ditched us and my brother Johnathan when took everyone to SeaWorld and Disneyland days after Kennadee was born for my brother David's boot camp graduation, that they would take us to Six Flags to make up for it! It was really fun.
    I went on lots of big rides with my sister and nieces and brother and parents and since Russell couldn't do the big rides for fear of losing another contact he took Kennadee and went to the kids section. They rode on rides and played at the playground and had a blast.
    Since we divided up a lot we didn't get many pictures but here are some that Russell took when he was taking Kennadee around.
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Kennadee not too thrilled to ride this one

                                          

  Kennadee loved the Carousel she went on it like 5 times in a row.

The Tea Cups were really fun Patience and Diana went together, Me and Nate went together, Kennadee, Gabe, and Hannah went together. Kennadee didn't like going with Gabe because he spun the cup to fast and she got scared.

Six Flags had an "ice skating rink" made of this special plastic that you can skate on but since they didn't have a plastic Zamboni it was really hard to skate with all the scratches from the skates so I went around a couple times and called it good. Kennadee put on the skates and made it to the edge of the rink and then decided it would be too hard so she went and watched from the sidelines.

       After we were done at Six Flags we went out to Chuy's for a late dinner. It was delicious!! If you ever go there try their chips that they bring to the table and ask for Ranch to dip it in. So good!! And if you like spicy everyone else really liked the Jalepeno Ranch.

Christmas Day 2010

     Russell wanted to have Christmas morning be just the three of us this year. We woke up at 8:30 and went down to open presents. Kennadee had a blast opening her stocking. She love love loves her Jessie Doll that Santa brought her. He also brought her Toy Story 3 on DVD and some other fun things.

                       

 

      After we did stockings I made breakfast. It wasn't our traditional breakfast casserole or even cinnamon rolls since I have been on my no sugar/no carbs diet so we had sausage and eggs and Kennadee had cereal. It was good though.

   After breakfast we opened our presents. Kennadee got way too spoiled this year even though I tried not to. She even ended up throwing a fit about helping me with something so we made her wait until later in the day to open her big present. Russell got me an MP3 player to use when I go walking. I am really excited about it. I got Russell a computer chair and (Santa) brought him Inception on Blu-ray (Awesome movie) & a yo-yo which he really really wanted and has played with non stop ever since.

                    

  

    After lunch we finally let Kennadee open her big present. It was a new bike. She was so excited! We discovered that the reason she couldn't ride her other bike is that she is way to tall for it. When we put her on this one she was actually able to pedal correctly. Whew! I felt so bad that her old bike was too small.

                      

 

   The rest of the day was spent lounging around doing nothing. It was actually pretty nice. At around 6:30 we decided that we were too lazy to cook so Russell called around and found a Chinese restaurant that was open so we headed out there. When we walked in the place smelled like rotten cabbage and most everything on the menu said it was spicy (I'm allergic) so we decided to see if we could find somewhere else to eat. We looked and looked and decided that if we made it to IHOP before we found anything we would just eat there. So when IHOP came into view we knew that would be our destination. It was pretty crowded but since there were only three of us we got seated pretty quickly. We had an awesome waitress and the food wasn't too bad either. Then we went home and watched Muppet Christmas Carol and then we went to bed. It was a pretty good day.

Christmas Eve 2010

     We got to host Christmas Eve at our house this year. Since Russell had his radiation over Thanksgiving he didn't get to have his Turkey Dinner so we decided to do it for Christmas Eve instead. We had 17 people at our house for dinner. It was crowded but it was fun. I didn't take pictures of the dinner, which I should have because it was beautiful if I do say so myself!!

      After dinner we had our traditional program, Luke 2, Night before Christmas, The Presidency Messages from the Friend, New Era, & Ensign. They were really great, we sang a Christmas song (we should have sang more) and then we opened our traditional gift of Pajamas.
      Diana's kids didn't think they were going to get pajamas so it was a fun surprise for them when Aaron opened a big box addressed to him that was full of individually wrapped presents for them. Kennadee & Hannah got matching Gingerbread nightgowns and they were super excited about that.