Meet the Pres.

So we are heading out on Monday morning to Washington DC to meet the President!! Holy cow, what a ride this continues to be and I'm pretty darn lucky to be a part of it. So I went shopping to find a dress....I mean come on, what do you wear to meet the President. Well I found this cute little number and I hope I'm not to dressy or to casual compared to the other wives and all. Oh well its super cute, just need to find some shoes now. Man the joys of being a girl!!
We are leaving little man with my mom for the 2 days, and I'm going to miss him TERRIBLY. He's just getting so cute and doing so many things daily and I don't want to miss out on any of it. But we are gone and doing so much so quickly that it would be hard for him to stay on a schedule and I really cant say, "oh excuse me Mr. Bush, I need to put my child down for a nap, or whoops, he's got a poopy diaper!" So we are leaving him here.
Brett and I are pretty excited though. We got the itinerary and although it's going to be a great trip, there is something lined up for us/the team, almost every min. of the day. I guess you have to be like that when you take a trip like this. We get in on Monday, the guys go to tour the Walter Reed Army medical hospital and we go to the hotel, eat dinner, then get ready for a tour of DC at night, that'll be fun. Then wake up at the crack of dawn, get ready get our stuff on the bus, then head to the White House. We tour the WH, then somewhere around 10 or so meet G-Dub!! I can't wait, big fan!! Then we tour the Supreme Court and have lunch there. Then off to the Capitol, tour that and then meet w/ KS delegation, then leave for airport. So see, lots of stuff to do, but regardless we are excited.
Then we get home and the next fun begins w/ bball camps starting in full force that Friday and Coach Self's Boogie at the Speedway that Saturday, I'll explain that later-hilarious. In all of that I have Amber's bridal shower this weekend her bachelorette party next Friday and then a week from next Sat, they are getting married!!! AHHH, so much fun and so many things going on. I'll try my best to keep this up to date. Take care everyone and we'll share our stories and pictures soon.

Our Trip

In request from a favorite friend of mine....it is time to update the blog with our weekend trip. I haven hardly had time to sit down but I need to inform all my blog readers (whomever that may be!!)

So Hutchinson was a grand ole time. (No it really was, but here's the story) It started off with heading out of town Friday night after Kaden ate, so he'd sleep for the 3 hr trip. As we are heading into Hutch, well about 20 mins out or so, we started hearing bad weather reports and it was all where we were or were going. So winds pick up, darkness covers and I am freaking out a little bit. Tornadoes around western/central KS all night long!! Great, glad we are heading into it. So we made it to his parents house, unload the bags, carry Kaden upstairs and put him in the crib and go back downstairs to see whats going on w/ the weather....bad news...sirens started going off, red areas all over the radar and I'm a little nervous. So as soon as the sirens started we all looked at each other and Brett headed upstairs to get Kaden out of bed, mind you this is about 12:15 or so. He woke up a little and wondered where the heck he was, but smiled when he saw his parents dog and saw the grandparents, but yet still confused. So we watch and watch the reports and never really headed to the basement b/c of the reports and the fading away of the storm. An hour past w/ the sirens going on around town, and we put Kaden back to bed and headed there ourselves.

Sat. morning came, really quickly, and we played a while w/ Kaden and then got ready and headed to Haviland, KS to see his grandparents. The hr. car ride, let Kaden take a morning nap, and he was ready to go as we rolled into town. It was good to see them and everyone was impressed with Kaden's size, hey now, and talents (dancing, talking, walking, laughing, etc.)

Around 3 we headed from there to Kiowa, KS for his cousins wedding (the reason for this whole trip) Well on our way there (1 1/2 hr trip) we got lost (well Brett's dad did) so we are going down highways and trying to figure it out, then turn down dirt roads to get to another hwy, oh man, it was a trip. We made it there JUST in time for the wedding to begin, literally about 10 mins before it started, but I will say we weren't the last to arrive. The ceremony was really pretty and everything turned out great. We headed to the reception and ate, and talked a lot w/ his family and then needed to head out around 8:30 b/c Kaden was getting restless and it was still a 2 hr or so drive from there to Hutch!!Yikes.

We made it home and woke up Sunday, again rather a quick night, and saw and ate w/ his other grandparents, saw some aunts/uncles/cousins, then kinda hung out a lot at the house. Kaden LOVES wagon rides, we do them daily, so luckily grandma and grandpa Ballard had a wagon, so that occupied lots of time!! So after dilly-dallying around and eating dinner, we decided to start our trip yet back home to Lawrence. As we are doing this the clouds and weather start to feel a little weird and we start watching the radar on tv again.

Are you serious, more tornadoes and bad t-storms!!! So we had to adjust our route home to stay south of all the really bad stuff. So we headed out and gave Kaden his bottle in the car. About 30-45 mins out of Hutch and Kaden had JUST finished his bottle.........BLAH BLAH BLAH, Kaden was puking EVERYWHERE!! I mean I was throwing out buckets of vomit from the car. Brett pulled over and we are getting him cleaned up as good as possible and the carseat out of the car on the side of a dirt road and wiped out w/ napkins and baby wipes, which was all we had in the car. There is nothing in site where we were except for dark clouds and winds. We are getting things cleaned as good as possible, trying not to get to frustrated w/ each other and the weather stuff, and all of a sudden the sky turns pitch black and the winds picked up to like 60-80 mph. It was nuts, I started crying, trying to get the carseat back and buckled into the car, Brett has Kaden, he's crying and there is still puke everywhere. We get it in as good as possible, but we HAD to go b/c the bad stuff was coming. Brett speeds off and we were literally REALLY braking the speed limit for a LONG time to get ahead of the storms/tornadoes. Kaden finally fell asleep and we are stuck in the car for 3 hrs dodging & running from tornadoes and have the great smell of throw-up the ENTIRE way. I don't really know how we did it and at times I really wanted to puke myself.

We took my car, for gas reasons, and it is cloth seats where the Explorer is leather, so yeah....cloth seats-----soaked up all the puke smell!! (poor Brett he's still driving it, we haven't had it detailed yet, oops!!)

So there you have it, we made it home, more in between storms we actually did hit and could barely see, but we made it home and I don't EVER want to be in that situation again.

Kaden is feeling better, not sure what he had, just a little bug I guess, but man that was the most disgusting thing and most helpless feeling I have when he gets sick like that, poor baby.

Sorry this was so long, but details make it the story it is.

Hope everyone else's Memorial weekend was better.

We cant wait to see everyone really soon for my brothers wedding, we are anxious for it to be here.

Take care , talk to you all soon.

Off to Western KS

Well we are off tonight for Hutchinson for the night, then in the morning taking off to Haviland, then off to Kiowa, KS for Brett's cousin's wedding. We are pretty excited to see everyone, it's been a while and they haven't seen Kaden for a long time. It's few and far between that we get to see Brett's grandparents and aunts/uncles, so it should be lots of fun.
Kaden has been doing well w/ the tubes and is slowly but surely getting over his cold I think. He is just a great kid overall and we have so much fun. His new thing is to do headstands in a pike position. He'll just be walking, then pike up, then walk, then pike up...it's hilarious. He loves to "dance" too, so we hope he shows off his skills at the wedding this weekend and my brother's wedding coming up. He just makes us laugh a lot and is such a cute kid.
We are tentatively planning a trip to Destin this August w/ my sister and mom possibly and then us, so we are super excited for that. We used to go there all the time as kids w/ our families and its such a pretty place. It will obviously be Kaden's first time to a beach, and we'll have so much fun w/ that too. It's just nice to get away for a while and w/ Brett's schedule it doesn't happen very often.
That's all I know right now. Again, please keep our friends baby, Cooper, in your thoughts, he's still recovering and trying to gain some strength each day so he doesn't have to have a machine control his life. Thank you for all your prayers already, they all help.
Take care.

Another Request

http://thekeeferfamily.blogspot.com
This is where I want you to all go and read about my friends situation with her son (7 mths ols)and his life on the line. He's a fighter and I know Cooper will pull through, but I am seriuosly requesting ANY and ALL thoughts and prayers to be sent their way. I know they'll get through this, they are a really strong family, but every bit helps like I've said before. Please pass this along to whomever you think can help with this as well.
We love you Keefer family and thank you to everyone who is praying along with us!!

Request

This is just a quick post to ask for any and all prayers be sent to my friend Kristi and Terry Keefer for their baby, Cooper. He is going through his 2nd open heart surgery tomorrow and he's only around 7 mths old!!! He is quick the trooper but it is a complicated surgery. I just ask that you keep them in your thoughts and prayers tomorrow and then the days after. They think his recovery time is anywhere from 15-30 days. He is at Children's Mercy in KC and is in great hands, but every little bit helps.
Thanks so much for your help, this family means a lot to our family. Take care everyone!!

We're Moving on up!!

So Happy Mother's Day to those I didn't get to, we had a wonderful day. Brett and I went on a "date" sat. night, which we haven't done since well.....about 15 mths ago!! We headed over to the Legends over by the Speedway, ate dinner and then went to a movie over there. By the way we saw "Made of Honor" and it was great. I was impressed Brett finally watched a chick flick w/me, but he enjoyed it to. I recommend it to anyone, it was good. So we did that and I was thinking that was for mother's day so we could hang out w/my mom on Sunday.
So Sunday morning we are getting ready for church and here comes Kaden in my room w/ a card. I opened it up and it was of course the sweetest card from Brett and Kaden. Then Brett turns around and has a tiny box for me. I was shocked, b/c like I said I thought the night before was the gift, well I guess that wasn't it. So he had gotten me this black and reg. diamond cross necklace that I had seen a while back and really wanted b/c it was something different than any other regular cross necklace and it was soo pretty. I was TOTALLY not expecting him to do that, so tears fell and it was just really sweet.
We headed to church, heard a great sermon, then ended up going downtown to Mass. street and ate lunch w/ his sister, our brother-in-law and our nephew. Kale, our nephew was mainly in it for the ice cream afterwards that we went and got, and it was really good. I don't know the last time I ate "real" icecream. So that was fun.
On our way home though our realtor called us and told us we got the house we've been negotiating with...sorry, forgot to tell you we decided on one and put an offer in last thurs/friday. So we were SOOO excited and I cant wait to move now. We still have to do all the inspections and sign off on everything, but it's perfect!! We got a lot more than expected too. They are leaving the projector, projector screen, all window treatments, and their plasma tv in the living room, along w/ all appliances. So its really a great deal and we just have to get some new carpet in areas and put up a fence, which the carpet was allotted for in the final price, so we are pretty pumped!!! Here's the link to the place..........http://www.hometownlawrence.com/, then go to advanced search and in the MLS # put in 114789, and it'll bring up 109 Stonecrest, that's our new place. We cant wait to get it all together and then actually have a place where friends and family can stay if needed.
So that's that, and we are really excited about everything. Kaden is doing better, has a cold w/ yucky stuff and cough, but we're supposed to get that taken care of soon, the ears are doing what they are supposed to do we think, so we'll keep you posted.
Take care everyone!!

Kaden's Little Surgery!!!

So we went in this morning for Kaden's little surgery for tubes. Everything went well. We had to be there by 7AM and no eating before hand. That was the trickiest part. Every morning when Kaden wakes up we change diapers, and then go eat breakfast, pretty immediately. So this morning when he woke up earlier than normal, we had to keep him occupied before we headed to the hospital. So he was fine and ready to go and looking around when we got there, they explained everything and then the Dr. came and they took him away, crying and all, put him under. We were in the waiting room for like 10 mins tops and they called our name. So that went really really fast. He said he was fine, he had LOTS of fluid and infection behind the canals, but was waking up now, so we headed back to the waiting room, sat down for a sec and I heard a baby crying, so they called us back and he was not happy waking up. He was really out of it and kinda flaring around, not much control on his head b/c of his ears and all that. So they explained the drops we have to put in, what to expect and then we were off. So everything went well. Always makes me sad when he's crying and upset, but after we got home and ate a little something we calmed down and I took him to his daycare. I was hesitant, but her children went through it, so I knew she could handle it. He was still kinda out of it and probably took a nap right after I left. So I'll probably call this afternoon to check on him, but I'm sure he's doing ok. My sitter is the best!!!

Side note, Kaden got a pony!!! My dad called me the other day and said, guess what....Kaden has his first REAL pony. He was talking about it a while back and said he would one day, but while he is over in Iraq, his wife found this pony and decided to buy it for him. His name is little man, which is perfect since it's for Kaden, but my dad wants to rename him so it'll be short and sweet so Kaden can learn it quickly. We've been throwing names around and trying to tie it into the Final Four, KU Bball, Jayhawks and all that, but haven't finalized anything yet. He's about 5 yrs old I think and he's a super pretty horse. Now we just need to get down there a few times a year when my dad gets back so he can understand that it's actually his. So that's fun and we truly appreciate the gesture from my dad and Leslie. Definitely not expected or anticipated, but surely fun!!

I'll keep you up to date on his recovery, but lets hope he's on his way to some better health!!!

Oh, one more thing...we found a house we REALLY LOVE, and are looking at one more today and then hopefully making a decision, so I'll keep you posted on that as well.

Take care.

A Few Updates

Ok....where to start....

First, we sold our house!!! Yeah it sold in 2 days! Very exciting, but very scary too. So we are on the hunt for our new home and I CANT WAIT. I know it wont be our absolute "dream" home, but we made our townhouse pretty darn cute, so I imagine we can do the same to the next. We are definitely in search w/ one that has a good backyard and a basement, and the search is on.

Second, we sold our house in 2 days, then we had a really bad storm last night...I'm talking 60-80 miles and hour winds, they said it was hurricane winds. It was kinda scary, well really scary...I just got back from the Sprint Center in KC with the other coaches wives (we went to the Alicia Keys concert....what a woman....man she's talented, it was really fun!) and when I was ready for bed finally and started falling asleep, since I only had like 3 hrs before I had to wake up to work out....the storm hits. Needless to say I didn't get up to work out. Two reasons....lack of sleep and when we awoke, our front tree had been split down the middle and collapsed in our front yard. It covered the entire front yard and laid over our driveway and our neighbors. So, then we look around and a portion of our backyard fence has been blown down, lawn chairs in thrown on the other side of the yard, and a couple shingles on the roof pulled off..........YEAH GREAT!! We just sold our house and we now have to fix all this stuff. Well, so Brett left super early in the morning w/ the sr. guys to go to the Capitol, so I got left w/ all the calling and fixing and stuff, lots of fun. I was on the phone most of the morning w/ insurance and all that. So my boss and his friend came over to cut up the tree and put it in pieces then also put our fence back up and tacked it in there, hopefully it'll stay and we'll be good till we move. I don't think the roof had anything major from what our friend told us, so we're pretty clear on that.

Next big thing, Kaden is having his surgery next thurs. He is finally getting tubes put in his ears. I went to the specialist w/ him on wed. and he definitely said he needed them, so I'm happy he's getting it done. Of course a little worried about it, b/c its surgery and the anesthesia and all, but I know it's pretty routine and it's going to be great when we don't have to go from antibiotic to antibiotic. So we're ready for that and I'm ready for him to feel what "normal" is. He's had an ear ache every day of his life starting at 8-9 mths old, so I'm sure he's ready too. Everyone keeps telling me that it's night and day and they are so pleased and pleased for their child afterwards, and Kaden is really SOOO good, that I can't imagine or wait till this kicks in and he's even better than now, which doesn't seem possible to me, so that'll be good.

Brett is and has been super busy ever since the tournament, no slowing down, but that's good too, it means we get a bigger house :) jk, but he's bombarded everyday and I feel like our schedule of events on our calendar really doesn't stop till late July. He still enjoys is though and its great being Nat'l Champs!!! He's definitely a super dad when he is around and I can't imagine doing it alone. Kaden gets so excited when he gets home and he LOVES us taking him rides in his wagon, he's obsessed with his wagon, he's pretty darn cute.

My brother is coming in on tues for a couple days, so I'm excited to see him and show him how much Kaden has changed too. Then it's only a month and a half or less away from his wedding. We are counting down the days and I cant' wait.

That's it for now. Till next time....love you all!!!