Well, this Blogspot business is ticking me off.  My pictures keep disappearing and overlapping and doing all kinds of dumb stuff.  This is taking me forever, just like it is going to take you to read through this whole update!  We are all still up to our shenanigans, if you can believe it.  Go get a snack, your reading glasses, and a chair....you might be here a while.  Better get a pillow and sleeping bag too, just in case.

Some of this might be a tiny repeat from Facebook, I posted some pics of our trip and stuff on there, but that was the super condensed version.  Here goes nothing!

The little ones like to climb in the doll stroller and push each other around, pretty cute until they tip it over and start screaming bloody murder.

Brevan still loves emptying out all contents of my purse, we still have not found the $25 gift card to Olive Garden.  I could cry about that one.

The boys love to wear anyone's shoes, Holden is modeling Kyah's winter boots.

Celebrating the 4th of July.

   

This was at the Gillen Reunion at my Aunt Elaine's house.  You're suppose to swim at this reunion, which means you should wear a swimming suit.....right?  (Unless of course you are a big old stick in the mud.)

 

So I had to put both of these pictures in, because Kyah looks awesome in this picture!  Her facial expression and body position is the best, I love it!

The one below we all look nice and posed as a group, so I had to put that one in too.  Anyone want some ribs, because Porter has a rack of them--too bad there is no meat on them!

   

Glen (Glenard Skennard), Tami, Kathy, Matt

Well what--or more like who do we have here?  Hmmmm it looks like three "big old sticks in the mud" and ONE party animal (me of course).  As mentioned above....."swimming party".  So my brother Glen decides it is a good idea to tease me about wearing a slinky black dress deserving of a night club.   Why thank you Glen.  So, I had them cover up my naked body. (By the way, these are 3 of my five siblings--I love 'em!!)

We go to the Spanish Fork Rodeo every year, and this year was no different.

 

The apple doesn't fall too far from tree does it??  These two are twins!

 

  

This year our seats were the top back row, on purpose.  I always like to get the back row when we go places now so we can stand up, and so we won't bother anyone behind us.  Little did I know that there was no real back on these seats.  I thought the kids were going to fall to their deaths. It was very scary for all of us, except the little ones, they wanted to die. We made it out alive though, wheew!!  

  

I cook a lot, and the boys like to help me a lot!  I was getting something out of the oven, and they both had to get their "oven mitts" on! They are so stinking cute!

  

 

Renee, Tami, Kristi

 My friend Kristi was in town from Alaska, so we went out (and partied like it was 1999). A group of us have been gal pals since elementary, we were sad the rest couldn't make it. Sad for them that is, we hogged all the food and the fun.

California Trip August 2011

This year we decided to go to Sequoia, Kings Canyon, and Yosemite National Parks. We took a 10 day trip and of course had a great time. We also went to the beach, San Francisco, etc.

 

I went and checked in and then went to the room. I thought it seemed like Bri was parked about where our room was. I threw up the sash and wha la, the car directly in front of our window.  I had Bri stick his head out, because it was just so awesome.

This was at the Hoover Dam, I think Bri might be trying to run away, maybe even sprint. Or maybe he just finished the race, and now he is resting, not sure.

Porter is in Nevada--Kyah Arizona

Kyah being a strict teacher!

 

We went to different children's museums and science centers all along the way.  The kids loved that!

Doesn't he look darling??  Nice, crisp, super clean, white shirt, ready for a beautiful sunny day at the park.

 

We made it to the first stop (Fallen Rock). Holden got out of the car and walked about 10 steps, then fell right in a mud puddle. It would have to be the child wearing the white shirt, right? Nice belly flop Hold---keep up the good work. I give him a 9.5...

These are some big old trees Baby! Reach for the sky!

Stick 'em up pardners!!

The kids becoming Junior Rangers, how proud we are, their successes are astounding.

 

General Sherman Tree

Inside a fallen tree

This was a waterfall in Kings Canyon NP

We are always on the road for Bri's birthday.  He celebrated his 38th this year. Woot Woo Bri Baby, looking fabulous for a man of your age (hee hee).

The famous Yosemite Falls.

Holden's favorite part of the trip was playing in the dirt every chance he got. I guess it all worked out that he was the one that went swimming in the mud puddle earlier.

Glacier Point, Yosemite NP

Big guy in a little car, you know...like "fat guy in a little coat". (Remember Tommy Boy, sing it in your head.)

 

It is really hard to see in this picture, and Bri is almost cut off, but I love it. He was hooting and hollering like he was having the time of his life on this little coaster. He is obviously easily entertained, that is where I come in....he thinks I am hilarious. Cheap thrills. 

This was the Happy Hollow Park and Zoo, the kids liked this place the most I think.

We went to Capitola Beach that night and nearly froze our tootsies off. It was nippy I'll have to say.

Holden looked so very sad in this picture, with good reason. I took him to the car and fed him a nice hearty meal. Lots of pasta, breadsticks, pizza, and drinks. He was cozily sitting on my lap, when about two seconds later he barfed all over himself and me. Oh yeah baby-just what I was after that night. 

Stinson Beach, Holden feeling much better than the night before.

It was nice and cloudy in San Francisco, really windy too. It made for a beautiful view of nothing. We sure enjoyed thinking about what this might look like behind all the clouds.

Where's the Golden Gate Bridge???  Somewhere behind us, we think?

Where is Alcatraz? Somewhere behind us, we think?

What we didn't miss out on was the Spaghetti Factory. Made little piglets of ourselves in fact. We never let a good meal pass us by! OINK!

What good is a trip to Northern California without a stop at the Jelly Belly Factory? We put our fancy hats on and enjoyed the tour.

 

This was at a Science Center in Sacramento.

I think this might have been the same expression Bri had on his face when he made the first move on me all those years ago. His hand positioning also brings back memories.

We named this set of wheels the "Poop Mobile". It looks kind of fine in this picture, but it was honestly the color of poop--no joke. The combination of the two poop colors made it especially diarrhea-ish.

Kyah's summer Dance recital

Now what fun would it be for us if we didn't have anymore emergency trips to the doctor? We wouldn't like that one bit, because we want to meet our $6000 deductible in a bad way. We especially like that none of the dental goes towards this either. We feel bad for the rich medical profession, so we are doing our best to keep them busy. Considering we are billionaires we don't mind. This time Bri got stung by a wasp. Holden got stung 4 times in one shot, my poor little boy got over it. My poor big boy had to go get his owie fixed at the doctor.

Kyah's summer Cheer recital

We really don't believe in wearing all of our clothes, all of the time around here. We also like to wear shoes 6 sizes to big, it's fun! I think it looks particularly cute. I also love that every time I go to take a picture of Holden, he bends down like I do to get the shot.

Well, after LuLu got catnapped we got 2 new kitty cats. The new ones are named Tink and Sylvie. These cats somehow scale the back door and grab on to the screen where the window is. Then they hang from it. I wish they wouldn't. They need to be out catching those mice, not swinging from the window screens.

He is a great little helper!

I am so thrilled Holden actually got something from me. If you don't know it, I sleep like this too!! One leg crossed over. Aaaahhhhh, that is comfy.

Porter 4th Grade

This was the first day of school for the kids! They were so excited, it kind of off set my sadness. I usually run home bawling like a tiny infant. Once I get home, I call Bri, with tears in my eyes and sorrow in my voice. (Sobbing actually.) Not this year though, oh no.....I was a big girl and I didn't even call him babbling on about how sad I am and how much I miss them. Congratulations are in order.

Kyah 1st Grade

Kyah did not feel too well this day, she spent the day before barfing her brains out. Bummer!

Kyah has Mrs. Raff

Porter had Mrs. Herrmann

 

So the babies are getting into more and more trouble all the time. This time Brevan decided to make a nice concoction consisting of chocolate milk powder, grapes and water. He used his hands, a bowl (kind of) and an ice cream scoop to do it.

The best part about it was that it was the giant size Nesquick from Costco, and all but about a tablespoon was used to make this meal. Holden sure helped us out with the clean-up though. He kept sticking his finger in the chocolate dust, and licking it off. Over and over, until the stool Brevan was standing on was almost clean. What a great little human dust buster.

M

I know everyone is wondering how the tooth saga is going, and boy has it been exciting. I have been loving every minute of it. I had the bone graft done on Aug.16th, and it was a piece of cake compared to what I went through in June. It practically felt good compared to what I experienced before! So, I am back on the liquid diet and it is one calorie packed week. Shakes, shakes, and more shakes. I soon found that my sweet tooth did not want anymore sweets! Hard to believe I know, because I gotta have the sweet stuff. Then, ten days later, I go in for that other re-treatment-and it turns out I get to have an apicoectomy instead. Guess what that means, more stitches! So, I have had stitches in both side of my mouth--you wish you were me don't you? That root canal went bad because I had a 4th root in there that was not treated with the original root canal-perfect! So, nearly $2000 later I am out of pain. I still can't chew on the side of my mouth that had the bone graft, and I am still totally numb from 3 1/2 months ago, but the stitches on the other side of my mouth just came out yesterday! Now we just get to wait and see what goes wrong next week. It's a real nail biter! I get to get the rest of the stitches out and the membrane thing removed in another week and a couple days! Yippee! The fun doesn't stop here for the McCuistions though, next week Brevan gets to go in for 4 crowns and 2 cavities-we are totally psyched about this.

Just in case you wanted to see, this is where they did the bone graft. The black and white stuff  are the stitches and membrane, there were more stitches all along the gum line where my cheek connects to my jaw.

Holden came up to me the other day, and he really smelled of chocolate. I went upstairs looking everywhere for it. I wondered where he got the stuff, I wanted some! If there was candy in the house I would have eaten it myself, but I was pretty sure there was not any. Come to find out the boys had climbed up and gotten into the double stuffed Oreos, and they ate the cream out of every one of them. They ate a little of the chocolate cookie too, just enough to smell like chocolate! Those two are TROUBLE! 

That's what was left of them, sad. They're no dummies though, the best part is the cream....hence the double stuff.....