Happy Days!

Tom and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary this weekend! What a great way to celebrate...in Las Vegas! We did a little shopping (yeah for H&M), ate out (California Pizza Kitchen, Olive Garden, and In & Out...yes, I think we both gained 5 pounds!), and hung out with family. It was a great weekend away from the kids (well, Jane's still attached). My brother, Christian, was married on Saturday (in Vegas...thus the trip) to a wonderful girl and my new sister-in-law, Amy. The wedding and open house was awesome. It was great to see Chris so happy!My parents were not able to be there (they just left on their mission to South Africa one month ago). Here are the kids in age order...We all kindof match, not even meaning to! Don't I have a cute family? It was tons of fun being together!

It was great to spend the weekend with my sweetheart. After ten years, I love him more than ever!

"Twilight" Fans Only...

OK so I HAD to post this link. For all you "Twilighters", take a few minutes to watch these clips from the upcoming movie!!! Can't wait!

http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/?id=1585900&vid=222543

New Post?

Lots is happening and nothing is happening. Does that make sense? First of all, Jane turns 6 months this week. I'm without a camera this week so I can't post any pictures but I will soon. She's sitting up all by herself and is just as cute as can be these days!

The boys are doing great. We're working on being really big and having them do things all by themselves. Tom's travelling to Utah a lot and I am going a little nuts. I feel sorry for any wife who has a husband who travels. School is hard, but at least they are home at night. Thank goodness we just had some neighbors move in next door who are great. They have 3 kids, one of which is a boy Bradens age who goes to his primary class with him and preschool class. It's great. I feel safer and also my boys have a tramp right next door to get rid of a little extra energy.

We are going to Vegas this weekend for my brothers wedding. I'm SO excited. Not only to see my family, but to get away with just Tom (and jane) for the weekend. Pictures to follow! (Plus, it's our 10 year wedding anniversary weekend!!!)

Lastly, we've made a decision. Yup. We are really excited. Not only about the outcome, but also that we don't have to decide anymore. So I'm not going to say what it is yet, because until papers are signed, I don't dare. More to come though!!!

The Basement

So Tom has spent his spare time the last few months (well, 9 now) doing the basement. He framed it, sheetrocked it (thanks to his family for helping), tiled, did the trim work (thanks to Zack, my brother-in-law who is a creative genius...look for the railing...and basically the playhouse and deck was a copy of his idea from his home), and now we are just finishing painting the trim so the carpet can be installed when it comes in next week! I'm posting this b/c Tom's in Utah right now working for the week and wanted to show some of his friends who are finishing their basement right now, what he's done. Good job, hunny! He can use a dental drill and work in tiny kids mouths and now he can use a big drill, saw, hammer to do about whatever puts his mind to!

Question

So why is it that I am constantly dressing my daughter in PINK and I am constantly getting asked the question, "Is it a boy or a girl?" Today in TCBY I got asked. She was in Salmon pink PJ's with flowers on them!!! And her carseat is half PINK half brown and green with flowers!

The other day I was at the grocery store and Jane had on a purple velour sweatsuit and a white bow in her hair. A lady comes up to me and says, "Your baby is so cute." I thank her and smile. Then she looks at her socks and NO JOKE says, "Good thing she has these ruffly socks on or you wouldn't know if she's a boy or a girl."

I am seriously contemplating piercing her ears!

"Mom, take our picture with Jane"

Jane is growing up so fast! She's already in her 6-9 month clothes!

One more thing...

Oh, and what's going on (job)?? Well, right now we are still undecided. Tom is working part time for a doctor in Spokane Valley (just when he is out of town). He averages 2 days/week there (although it is a week here, a few days there, none the next week) and he is flying to Utah once/month (but twice this month...lucky me). So he is getting enough work in to get us by. We just don't want to do anything until we feel really good about something. There are some great opportunities in Spokane, but we don't really want to move, and don't want Tom to commute. There is options in Hayden (which is right by our home), but none of the building/lease options are quite falling into place how we'd like them to. There just continues to be bumps along this road and I feel strongly that when the right thing comes along, it won't necessarily be easy, but it will feel good and we'll go for it. We are pretty sure we've narrowed the field to this area though. We aren't going to move. We love it here and after all our travels the last few weeks, it was reconfirmed to us just why we love it so much and why we moved here in the first place!

Spring Break...whew!

We enjoyed quite a spring break last week! Ready for a novel? Here goes!
It all started with a wedding in Seattle! JeVonne and Paul were married in the Seattle temple Saturday, March 22nd. It was SO great! JeVonne is always a babe, but I've never seen her this gorgeous! She was glowing...as most brides do!
Easter morning, I rushed off to the airport to fly to SLC to surprise my parents who were leaving for their mission Monday morning. I just had to see them one last time and get some pictures with Jane, since she'll be 2 years old when they return! It was a great trip! We saw my parents, then I was able to visit a few others.

We stayed with my sister, Emily, and Jane just LOVED her cousin Adam. He is 3 and was making her laugh any chance he could.

We were able to visit Great-G&G Hawkes in Spanish Fork, Utah.

Then I got to see Tiffany and her 4 kids (go Tiff!). It was fun to see little Camilla who is just a few weeks younger than Jane (although you wouldn't know by those cute cheeks!!!). With the exception of Roxy, Tiffany and I have had all three of our kids within a month of each other!

I finally made it up to Salt Lake to have lunch with friends Mandee and Heather (and see their darling girls), and then I just HAD to see the newest addition to the Cannon family (our old neighbors in sugarhouse), little redheaded Lily Cate. Lily is 2 weeks old! So cute!

Our Utah trip went by so fast and I only saw a fraction of the people I wanted to, but I guess that's what happens when I only have 2 days! We did pretty good though, huh?

I flew back to Seattle where Cameron was so excited to see me and Jane again (Tom flew back to work here in CDA and Braden drove with Aunt Chan and Uncle Dave to Portland). We had lunch with old friends, Catherine, Eryn, and Traci and our...let's count...10 kids (2 not there) and 2 on the way (holy cow...we multiplied fast)! It was so fun to catch up with them!

We attended Jakes soccer game that night with umbrellas and blankets (and at the end of the game the pouring rain turned into snow) and cameron FREAKED when we left 5 minutes before the game was over! He wanted to see it till the end!

We THEN went to Portland the next morning where we spent 2 1/2 FUN FILLED days with Aunt Chan, Uncle Dave, Cousin Dallin and Anne Marie. They all had an absolute blast together! THey just LOVE Dallin and Annie was right by Jane any chance she could get! I could go on for paragraphs about our fun times in Portland but this is already a novel! It was a great time and a great vacation. Now we are home and it's taken me about 3 days to unwind from it all! Whew!

Congratulations!!!

It's wedding season!!! This weekend Tom's cousin (and my dear friend) JeVonne is getting married!!! Yippee! WE are so happy for her and can't wait!

Last night my little brother, Chris, called me and guess what???? Yup...getting married!!! Yeah Christian! I'm so excited for him! Amy is SUCH a great girl and I know she'll be a great sister-in-law! So our family will be heading to Vegas in May for the wedding! Congrats Chris & Amy!

It's Sunday afternoon. We didn't go to church today due to the number of runny noses and coughs in our family right now. Tom left for Utah this morning and now we are bored out of our minds! Sundays can be really long.
So what is new? Well, we are still totally up in the air about what we are going to be doing in the future. Staying here? moving to Utah? Starting our own? Joining a practice? Right now we are looking seriously at starting our own practice. So if that be the case, I need some help. Please!!?!!
We need a name. The location we are looking at is in Hayden, Idaho (about 5 minutes from our house). If anyone has heard of a cool pediatric dental name, please share. We are thinking of:

Hayden Pediatric Dental

Dr. Dance
Pediatric Dentistry

Dr. Dance
Dentistry for Children

We will need a big sign with our "name" on it. There are other pediatric dentists we've heard of with names such as "kiDDS Dental", "Little Smiles" (his old job), "The Children's Village". If we could come up with something catchy, that would be great too. We are blessed with a memorable last name so that is why we thought of using it in the title.

Who knows? As we are racking our brain trying to come up with a "name" (because every loan application we've filled out we've left the "business name" blank so far), I kindof want to just get a moving truck lined up and hit the road back to Utah where a busy job is right around the corner. I told Tom to figure it out when he is in Utah this week. If he wants to move back, we'll just go for it. If he thinks Hayden is the place for us, then we're here to stay. I have come to the realization in my mind that I'll be happy wherever we call "home". There are so many advantages to both places, and as I weigh them all out in my mind (and on paper), I've realized I just can't take the emotional stress of deciding any longer and I'm leaving it up to my husband.
Of course I say this today but tomorrow I'll be on the phone crying to Tom we have to do "this" or "that".

Can you tell I'm a wreck lately? I know I'll look back on it all and laugh (or not), but right now it's just plain old hard.

did you know?

So I always get those pamphlets at the doctors office and never really read them. Well, when the doctor told me yesterday that Jane had RSV I decided I'd read up on it and I'm glad I did. Some of it the doctor warned me about, and some of it I was surprised to know. SO, I thought I'd inform blog readers out there a little about RSV.

RSV infects almost all children at least once before they are 2. Most of the time, they just exprience cold-like symptoms.

Preterm infants & young children with medical conditions are at increased risk for developing serious infection (about 500 kids die each year).

RSV is highly contagious. The virus can live for several hours on surfaces like countertops, tables, playpens, and unwashed hands.

It is spread by direct or close physical contact with a person or contaminated surface.

Prevention? Wash hands, keep away from sick people (duh), keep away from crowded areas like shopping malls, keep away from smoke (tobacco), immunize against influenza (!)

OK. I'm done. I've never had a baby with this so I didn't know much. Now I know more. More than anything, I realize it's not that big of a deal if they get it (unless they begin wheezing) and it's totally normal. But it still STINKS!! So get out the lysol, ladies. Disinfect, disinfect, disinfect!

Jane is fine. She's got a nasty old cough and runny nose. She had 1 HOrriBLE day...screaming pretty much all day long and just miserable...but now she's back to her happy, but sick, self. But now I can't go anywhere b/c the doctor told me as long as she has ANY symptoms, she is contagious.

what am I thinking...getting on to blog? the kids are in bed and I should get a moment of peace.
of course not.
jane just started crying.
poor girl.
took her to the doctor today.
RSV.
lucky me.
i'll be in for a few weeks.
gotta run!

After my last depressing post I decided I needed to go and take some pictures of my kids and post them. After all, they are what make life fun and crazy and bring true happiness! And I was really smiling when I posted these pictures...I know I'm biased but my baby is just so dang cute! She makes me smile all day long!

Here is a picture of Jane in her favorite new chair. One of the few new things I got for Jane.

So Jane is so bald...not an ounce more hair than she had at birth. Oh well...bald is beautiful, right? I found this picture of Cameron at about 5 1/2 months...so Jane in a month...and realized Jane will never have the locks Cam did! Braden wants to hold her ALL the time!!!

Here's my handsome 6-year-old! Isn't he a cute kid!

Fun times?

So lately when I get on my blog I ask myself, Why did I name it "fun times in the lives of..."? Because lately I've been thinking it needs to be renamed, "Scary times in the lives of..." or "What's next for the lives of...". Yes, the Dance's are going through a time of change. I haven't blogged lately b/c it's pretty much consumed my thoughts and I didn't want to write when we are so uncertain as to what we are doing. Basically we are going through a job change. Most dental friends reading this will probably relate. We needed to have a DSAW (the dental wives club) lecture about what to do when you finish school, take a job, work for a few months, and it doesn't work out. So pretty much we "are seeking other opportunities". Or in other words, things were still slow and Tom's future partner decided he didn't want a partner. We were really okay with everything...it all made sense...we told ourselves it would all be okay, but then a few days later when it really hits, so does the freak outs! So what are our options now, you may ask? Well, in 2 1/2 weeks we are job-less. Tom has a job opportunity to work for a guy in Spokane Valley, about 25 minutes from here. It's not full-time, but enough to pay the bills and hold us over till we figure out what we will be doing more permanantly. We may start our own thing (I know, crazy, huh?) or buy out an existing. Fun times? not really. But that's okay, we'll figure it out soon...we have to!

Rollerskating

So Lizzy and I decided to take the kids rollerskating the other day when we had company. The kids had a blast. Cameron ate the floor a million times but got right back up and sprinted off! Anyways, as we were getting ready I decided to grab my rollerblades in the garage...save a few bucks on rentals. So i grab them out of a cupboard out there and notice it kindof stinks in there. I turn over my rollerblades and shake them thinking, "I hope there is nothing dead in there." Nothing comes out. I walk to the car and think to myself, "I'm going to do that one more time, just in case." So i open it up wider and give it a good shake. Well, my instincts were right...out comes a dried up mouse. I scream and throw the rollerblade. Then I run to the car, tell Tom to have it cleaned up when I get home, and decide to rent skates. I guess they lasted 9 years, those good old rollerblades of mine! Can I ever wear them again? Never! I shiver at the thought of putting them on and feeling something in there. If I hadn't done the second shake, I would have.