Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day Weekend started for us on Wednesday, the 20th. Adrienne celebrated her 31st birthday by picking up her parents from the airport and then having dinner together.

On Thursday, Aly had a big day. For pre-school graduation she asked if she could get her ears pierced so before school we headed over to Sassy and Sweet and got them done. Aly was a real trooper...she initially wanted pink heart earrings but they did not have any so she settled on pink flowers. She cried for just a bit but I think that was only due to being scared. She looks super grown up with her earrings!

That afternoon the fam including Adrienne's parents and Mike (Kevin's dad) had a picnic with Aly's class. The kids had a great time eating lunch and being able to run around! We then headed in for a little graduation ceremony. Each child was able to tell everyone what they wanted to be when they grew up...Aly would like to be a teacher...then they sang a couple songs, recited a poem and the teacher shared a little something about each child. It was so cute and Aly was able to have her Grampy and Grammy Davis, Grandpa Mike and Grandma Lisa, Great Grandma Joanne and Great Grandpa Burt there to celebrate her special day. We missed her Grandma Paula and Papa!! The day ended with mom and dad having to head to a meeting and Grammy and Grampy taking Aly for Chinese.

The rest of the weekend unfortunately went way to fast. We were able to spend some great time with Adrienne's parents. We went to Castlewood Canyon for a short hike, looked at possible areas for Adrienne's parents to move back to, went to the Plains Conservation Center to feed the cows and chickens and take a wagon ride, saw Night at the Museum 2, checked out the camp grounds at Cherry Creek, BBQ'd, shopped and purchased Aly a fish for her room. Yes we have a new family member...Lilo Isabell Kallas, the beta fish!

Getting Out

We went to the Zepeda's House to help celebrate the dedication of their near one year old T.J. The dedication was nice, the food was awesome and seeing friends and getting out was good too. Aly walked in the door, ran upstairs to Isela's room (daughter) and we never saw her again. Adrienne chatted around and I sat on the couch for 3 hours talking to those that would talk to me.

Aly ready to go in with her pink shades on.

T.J. Zepeda

Jessica, Kelli, Suyzel and Adrienne

Kevin and Dan

Happy New Year

A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OF OUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY!!!

Down for Christmas

Our Camera has kinda bit the dust. Since our Disney world trip, pictures that we have taken either have come out washed out by the flash or so dark you can't tell what is being photographed, even with the flash.

I took the camera in to Best Buys Geek Squad this morning to have it repaired. This is one of the few times that I bought into the service plan they offer and I am glad we did so. Adrienne and I figured that since I washed our last camera in the washing machine and we both have a tendency to drop things that it was probably in good judgement that we bite and pay the extra cash for the service plan.

So until January 7th, no pictures. Every picture we took Christmas Eve at my Dad and Lisa's house and all Christmas Day with my Mom and Kerry were very poor. The nice thing is they have camera's and will hopefully share their photos with us. (hint, hint)

Christmas

We spent Christmas Eve at my Dad's house with him and Lisa, her parents Burt and Joanne, Lisa's brother Keith, and B.J. We did a soup dinner with different soups and desert. Opened gifts and headed to Christmas Church service.

Christmas Day was celebrated with Mom and Kerry who came down from Montana. Aly has enjoyed their company, playing with Grandma and Papa has been fun for her since she does not get to see them very often. They have been here since Tuesday and head out Saturday Morning back home.

Saturday afternoon Adrienne's parents come to town from Ohio. They have driven cross country to spend post Christmas and we think New Years with us.

BUSY BUSY for us with family, but we are blessed to have Three great family's to celebrate the Holidays with. We love you all.

More Surgery

After meeting with my Orthopedic Doctor on Tuesday we have decided to go ahead and repair the hip impingement (see last paragraph) and torn cartilage in my left hip. We are unsure when this will take place for sure but it should be sometime in late February or early March.

The procedure consists of a cut near my hip to enter to get to my hip socket. They will then cut the ball off my femur to allow them to dislocate my hip. After this is done the doctors will file down the bumps on both my ball and socket (saddle part of socket is best way to describe it). Then they will pull up and reattach the torn cartilage to properly cushion my joint again. Then they will relocate my hip joint and screw the femur back onto the ball. That will be the easy part for me. When I wake up I will have to spend 3 or so nights in the hospital before they release me. Then spend about 4-6 weeks on crutches putting no weight on my hip. Then another 3-6 weeks of coming off the crutches and a total recovery of up to 6 months before I am back at it, and playing golf again...UGH!

What this surgery will do for me is fix the bone on bone contact I have so as I age my hip won't have to be replaced. Doctors believe that what I have ultimately leads to bad arthritis and eventually total hip replacement. This is a fairly new study, about 12 years old but so far others having it done have had great results.

Hip Impingement description:

The syndrome is produced when excess bone forms around the neck of the femur, and which, on flexing the leg, impinges on the acetabulum edge (ladrum), thus putting pressure on the cartilage. There are also cases where there is no excess bone protuberance at this point but the acetebulum is longer than normal and so, on flexing the joint, the femur neck impacts against the excess bone on the wall of the pelvis and pushes the femoral head outwards, causing pain and obstructing flexion. In most case, both phenomena occur together. According to the specialist, the symptoms of those suffering from this syndrome are pain in the groin, in the gluteal region, in the thigh or around one side of the hip, on making flexing or rotational movements.

Aly's Christmas Pageant

Yesterday we got to go and see Aly preform at her schools Christmas Pageant . First the kindergarten class reenacted the Christmas story. Then Aly and the rest of her Jr. Kindergarten class sang two songs. One of the songs was "Go Tell It On The Mountain". They had the music playing off a CD in the background and the kids sang along. They did a fantastic job and sure made us laugh. Watch the video, they all nailed the first verse and chorus, then mumbled the second verse and nailed the chorus, and so on. Too cute not to show.

Click on play to watch video

We then headed down to her classroom to have some refreshments and cookies and had some fun time making Christmas cookies and cards.

Well????

Well, Friday I went in for surgery at 8:30, at 9:30 the doctor stitched me back up finding no sign of either hernia, he even brought in a second doctor to confirm. What they did find was a lump of hard fat in the area that a ultrasound and two examination's showed hernias in. After a few days in bed, I am doing much better and am now feeling a little claustrophobic in the house. Adrienne has been awesome in taking care of me and being my nurse (although I wish she wore a candy stripe nurses outfit or something). A Thank You to Her, she is loved and I appreciate it tremendously.

So now it is back to the orthopedic department next Tuesday to figure out what to do with my hips since it seems THEY are the problem to my pains I am having.

Oh-Ya, if ever around me when I am waking from anesthesia, back off, I guess I'm kinda grouchy when I come too.

Walt Disney Word...Here We Come

As you can see, the countdown has ended...Finally
Are bags are packed and we are on our way to the Magic Kingdom!
We will see you all in a week!!

M-I-C-K-E-Y....M-O-U-S-E

Hole in the Wall...and Pipe

This is a classic Kallas story.

5 years ago we decided to hang some shelving in our downstairs laundry room hallway. When I (Kevin) hung the shelves I followed the same line that the builder used to make sure I hit the studs for better strength. Not a great idea 5 years later. (the builder put in a anchor but no screw.)

While Adrienne was doing cat litter she noticed a small puddle of water on the floor. We have noticed this before and though it was the cat. This time she followed a stain up the wall to a anchor in the wall, then up a little more to the next anchor, and again to the next one.

When I hung the shelves I drilled right into the drain pipe that comes off Aly's bathroom. Every time we drained the tub, sink or flushed the toilet, a little water would leak out of three tiny holes I drilled and put screws into. So I had to cut the drywall out, removed the insulation, cut the pipe and patch a new piece in.

The only positive to this other than the experience was that very little mold was found...THANK GOD!!

The pipe is fixed and lesson learned...NEVER TRUST A BUILDER OR STUD FINDER!

We Voted, Aly Too!!!

The Kallas' casted there vote today. We got to the poll around 3:30 and finished at 3:35. NO LINE!!!! Kevin and Adrienne voted for America and the state of Colorado while Aly did voting of her own at school. They have a class fish with no name and this afternoon to teach the kids about voting, they got to "elect" the new name. The final names on the ballet where Aeriel and Fish - Fish. Then the kids voted and the name Aeriel got the numbers needed to win. Aly was up set cause her "Party" did not win. She was very excited about school today and wanted to know why we vote and the names of the Candidates. Very cool to know your kid is interested in this stuff.