Merry Christmas 2014 - The Year of Clark

Hello family and friends,

Another year, another amazing Christmas letter from the Gailans. 2014 was truly an incredible year with so many family visits and some wonderful memories we will treasure forever!

A Trip – In February, we finally decided to take a trip to visit Dana’s old mission grounds: Santiago, Dominican Republic. Mom and Dad Kitchen and Sarah and Taylor Woodbury joined us for the trip. The country is so beautiful and can I just say, sitting on a warm beach listening to the crashing waves is really the only way to do winter. We saw lots of wildlife, including a pet lizard who frequented our rental and a few cockroaches in our car. We went scuba diving, drove terrifying roads, ate probably too much helado (ice cream) and jumped, scaled, slipped and stumbled down the breathtaking 27 Waterfalls – a park I am sure would not be legal in America which is why it was so awesome!

 

A Reunion – Sometimes the best things come to those who wait and for the Kitchen Family Reunion, it was well worth it. We finally gave a beach vacation a try and in August spent 7 heavenly days on the pearly, white sand beaches of Destin, Florida with 2 parents, 6 kids, 6 spouses, and 20 grandkids. The whole vacation can be summed up as warm, relaxing, and something we will be doing again.

An Injury – Just after hitting his 32^nd birthday, Dana joined the manly ranks of guys who tear their ACLs at church basketball. He’ll be having surgery at the beginning of December and will then have 4 whole weeks where he’s allowed to trip people with his crutches in the halls. We are so grateful to have an amazing orthopedic clinic that has taken such good care of him and hope this event will not be repeated in future newsletters.

A Little Man – But of course, the biggest event of the whole year came on May 15^th at 6:12 in the morning when our cell phone rang with the news that Clark Pascua Gailan had finally made his way to earth. If you want the full details of how Clark came to be a member of our family, check out our blog at www.kelliplusdana.blogspot.com. The short story is, we prayed for him. Then we flew and got him.  In between was a lot of the Lord’s guidance and some seriously awesome family members. He was officially adopted on May 21^st in Mena, Arkansas. He was then sealed to us for time and all eternity at the Columbia River Temple on July 6^th with friends and family all around. In between and ever since he rules the roost at the Gailan household. He just hit his 6 month mark and weighs in at a whopping 17.6 lbs (30^th percentile) and 24.5 inches tall (umm…1^st percentileJ). He has an insane amount of hair and big dark eyes that will just suck you in until you give him anything he wants, like the whipped cream on your plate he isn’t supposed to have yet. He’s very chatty and sleeps all through the night with his thumb stuck in his mouth. All in all, we can’t stop feeling blessed. He will always be the best gift we’ve ever gotten.

And that’s our year. We hope this letter finds you and your family happy, healthy and blessed. We hope you feel the love of the Savior in your lives. We love you all and wish you a very blessed and merry Christmas!

What a Change a Month Can Make

Hello all! November is waaaay over and was super fun and here is what we did:

Turned 6 months old! 
The stats: 24.5 inches short (1%), 16.9 oz (25%). No teeth yet but he makes up for it with that smile. Now can roll tummy to back and back to tummy. Usually rolling to the tummy is done at 2AM and will upset the baby who will call for his minions to turn the little prince. He also sleeps ALL over the bed and is a little devious at times now.

Half Birthdays/Whole Birthdays
    One of the more fun coincidences in our life now is Clark's half birthday falling on Dana's real birthday. We look forward to it being a fun tradition every year. This year, we did all the usuals: birthday pie, dinner with Dana's fam, feeding Clark a lemon. Just usual stuff.

Dana's presents this year were quite spectacular if I do say so myself. First, new work shirts. Second, a Top Ten Golf Legends mug. Look closely, whose that in the number two slot right below Tiger Woods? Why I believe it's one Dana P. Gailan. Third, a secret photo shoot with my good friend Rachel produced these adorable photos:

Can I just say how hilarious and fabulous these photos are. Some super cute. Some super distinguished. Some just funny. Poor guy was not gonna smile for my friend if he could help it.  

The family dinner was amazing as always. Matt made delicious ribs and then had fun trying to freak my kid out with a lemon. But of course Clark is way to cool for that and simply licked his lips and asked for more.

 

Cry Baby Cry
I just have to add this in because it's hilarious. One day Clark was in the exersaucer while I worked and out of nowhere this happened:

The one at the end is my favorite. Or maybe the one with the little tear.

Thanksgiving!
We have so much to be thankful for this year and one of those things is being so close to Dana's family so we can celebrate with delicious foods. We also finally got a photo of just the Gailan men. And yeah, I know Clark isn't looking at the camera. I figure that will go on for the next 18 years or so.

Dana the Lame
No, I'm not saying our Dana is lame in the cool sense, but lame in the actually can't walk sense. One morning he came home from basketball limping. Seems he tried to pull a Lebron James move and his ankle went one way, his knee the other. Youch! One long day of his right knee swelling up like a balloon and we decided to head to the Orthopedic Urgent Care in town. An x-ray and an MRI later the diagnosis was confirmed: ACL and meniscus tear. Bummer. They put him in physical therapy for a few days, let the swelling go down, and on December 2nd he went in for surgery.

This is Clark saying how sad he is for Dana

The surgeon was Dr. Roux and if you've had an ACL tear in Yakima within the last 50 years, he probably did the surgery. Honestly, he was AMAZING! He said Dana had a beautiful 9.5 hamstring graft (he told me like 10 times how nice it was:)) Here Dana's getting into his stylish gown and yellow socks. I had to go walk the halls while they put in the needle for fear of making myself a patient. Never fear though, I returned in time to watch a nice nurse shave my husband's leg. Nice.

Once he got the IV in, they wheeled him away and two hours later they returned a super sluggish, very tired, fully repaired Dana P. Gailan to me. He didn't say anything funny which was unfortunate because I was all set with my video recorder.

At least I got to watch him muscle down those three whole crackers they gave him though. It was a long day and I'm honestly not sure how I managed to get him in the house and in the bed. The last week has been crazy with all the activities I've had going on (hosting a baby shower, book club, and RS meeting at the house) but we've managed. Dana basically slept like a log Tuesday. Wednesday he was feeling not too shabby, even squeezed in some work, but by Thursday the good drugs had worn off and he was suffering. In true Dana style, though, he pushed through with dignity and ice cream. Now his days are 4-6 hours in the knee mobilizer with his trusty ice water machine by his side. By the way, this is how the Gailans think exercise should be done - sitting down with your phone. He'll be off his leg for the next week and then will be on crutches for a few more weeks. That means he can't drive so the Gailans will be spending a lot of quality time together:)

And that's our November. Seems I'm now doing monthly updates:) It was a great one and we are thankful for good insurance and good doctors to take care of Dana. We're also grateful for all our friends who offered and gave help while I was running around like a crazy chicken without her head. We truly are blessed.