Hey there. Just getting things packed up and cleaned up so we can start our journey home with the Slettens. But since Jayci had such an awesome work out yesterday, I wanted to get these videos on for y'all to see. She worked sooo hard yesterday and you will see it in her face. You will see the swollen eyes of one, and the too much sun of some too. In the last video, Jayci is standing. Woo Hoo. She is a lot stronger than the last time she did this and it definately shows. She did great! It was a great day! Oh, and when you see Cassi jump in the video, she wasn't trying to steel the show but they were trying to see who is taller. Haha! Hope you enjoy!!

The Craven Cali Crew

Good morning from Carlsbad. What a busy time we have had these last 6 days. We picked Cass up from the airport on Wednesday. Sooooo good to see her. From there we headed to the zoo and spent the afternoon there. On our way in, we met this man from Montana but now living across the street from the zoo. He saw the plates on our van so we got to talking and he even took one of us as his guest into the zoo (he had a season pass). Once inside, another man heard Shawn talking and says "What part of Canada are you from?" What? How did he know that, eh? Was it the Canadian bacon slopped on our shirts from lunch??? Anyways, he was from Calgary. Then the man from Montana starts talking about how he has gotten really good at recognizing accents and where the people are from. Accents??? We actually get that a lot down here. People will ask where we are from because of our 'accents'. We're from Saskatchewan, ain't got no accents, do we???

The Slettens arrived Thursday night around 6:30 and we picked Amy up at the airport Friday night at 11:00 and we have been on the go since. We've been to the Village and the Outlet Shops (some people more than once, ha). The kids have gone to the mall. We went to a Padres game and Sea World yesterday. Today after training is the beach (I think) but not sure who is going to be brave enough to go in that cold, cold water. Then it is time to start getting things organized to pack up tomorrow, as we will be leaving Sunny California after training and making our way home. First stop.... Very Hot Vegas!!!

The Lebels are travelling in this neck of the woods and they came over for supper Saturday night, along with Shane and Les and the boys. We were told they didn't make the trip so that was a nice surprise for us. It was the men's turn to cook and since we were supposed to be using up what we have in the house, I was quite looking forward to seeing what 'Jayson the Cook' would come up with using honey nut cheerios, brown beans and won ton soup. But, he cheated and went to Ralph's (the grocery store where we shop) and cooked us up some delicious ribs, baked potato (Shawn made the potatoes) and fresh garden salad. Yummy. It was a good time!

Yesterday at training Jayci was the talk of the shop as she had 16 people following her around. "Are you all from Canada?". Yep, we like to travel in packs. I think people were thinking there was some kind of tour going on but nope, it was just some of Jayci's fans, come to see her in action. When Jayci would move from one machine to the next, there would be a long line, almost like single file, following her. It was pretty funny. After training, Lebels and Wittmiers continued on their way so now we are back to a 9 pack.

Happy Belated Easter to all!! Ours was one not to be forgotten. We were hearing things like "Oh, no Easter Egg hunt this year?" and "It's Easter. Don't we usually get money or something?" Little did they know that the Mama Easter Bunnys were way ahead of them. Then I opened up the back door and yelled "What the dickens happened out here?" And the kids came running (well, not exactly running but they did eventually come outside). And there, on the ground were 5 tiny chocolate Easter eggs, you know the ones in the shiny colorful wrappers. One for each of them. Haha! But then with a little push, they started looking around and found the beautiful candy baskets hidden in the yard. Again, one for each of them. Well, they all sat down at the table outside and started eating their candy when all of a sudden Cassi screams "Snails!!! There are snails in my candy!" You see, the baskets were not wrapped and Cassi's was hidden at the bottom of a tree trunk, and apparently the Easter Bunny did not know (and I don't blame her) that the tree was the 'snail tree'. Personally, I have never heard of a snail tree. Anyways, kids were spitting out what was in their mouths and checking their baskets to make sure there wasn't snails in theirs as well. Everyone else's seemed to be fine so guess maybe there is such a thing as a snail tree!!?? At the ball game that afternoon, we ate hot dogs (really, really good hot dogs), pizza, nachos, popcorn, peanuts and yes, even cracker jacks. Of course not everyone ate all that, but we all ate! So for Easter supper, much later that night, we all enjoyed a big pot of itchibans, cooked by Tye. Haha!

Like I said, we are trying to use up the food we have left, and because some of us are banned from shopping at Ralph's, last night for supper we had chicken wings, mozza sticks, a couple mini pizzas, turkey bacon, hot dogs, homemade mac and cheese and some shrimp. Pretty funny combinations, but it was good. Hopefully today we can find a use for the beans, cheerios and that darned won ton soup!!!

Training doesn't start until noon today so everyone is still in bed except for me and Jayson. We seem to be the early risers. Or should I call him 'Rocky'? Why, you ask. Well, we aren't really sure what happened but his eyes are so swollen that they are almost shut. This morning he is claiming he was bitten by a spider.???? So, you can imagine there have been a few jokes at his expense, but not like he never dishes it out so.... Also, we have some pretty red people in the house and not sure how Amy slept as she couldn't even undress herself last night. Her little sis Abby was more then willing to help out!! Cass and Dianne are pretty red as well and our theory is that it is the fault of the sun screen. Seems that anyone that used sunscreen got red. Weird!

Well, it is about time to get things started around here so I better get going. Not sure if I will post again before we head home so this may be it until next week. Take care all and see you when we get home.

Love Starla

ps 7 more days office peeps!!! Keep pushin through!!!!

Hey there y'all. I'm back with a little update from, well, you know, Sunny California!

Things have been good here and Jayci is continuing to work hard at Project Walk, as you will see from the videos below. She worked with Jason the floor manager yesterday and he was excited to see things firing in her glutes and hip flexors. In the one video you can see her trying to pull her legs up and then having to push them down. Jason does say he is giving her help, but he can definitely feel when she is initiating the movement. It just isn't constant yet. Her last hour she worked with Bri and she had her standing with the harness instead of just the standing frame and Jayci liked that a lot better. As you can see in the video, she is standing straight and looks soooo good. She was pretty excited also as Shawn had me stand beside her and it would appear that Jayci is indeed taller then her mama. Not sure why this excites them so much. I mean, it's not like this is exactly a huge accomplishment. There is also video of Jayci on the spin bike. Now, while Bri and Kyle are moving her legs, she is supposed to be helping, but what is huge about this is that last time we were here Jayci only lasted about a minute because it was too hard on her shoulders. As you can see, those shoulders are much, much better. She was on there for probably 15 or 20 minutes yesterday. YEAH!!!!

Jayci has today off as WE ARE PICKING CASS UP!!!! WOO HOO! She was supposed to be in San Diego at 11:45 but I just received a text from her and there is a half hour delay.???? Don't they know I'm waiting???? After we pick her up, think we are going to head to the zoo. It's a little cooler here so it should be a good day for the zoo. Not too hot. Not that I am complaining at all. Could you imagine if you were somewhere and it was still snowing??? Speaking of that, I like to check up on the news back home and had a good laugh one day last week. These were the headlines from Swift Current, all on the same day. It was something like this; Flood watch ongoing; Icy roads around the province; More snow on the way; Thunderstorm in the forecast; Golf course set to open. Crazzzyyy!

I also included a video showing off the talents of my youngest two (don't tell the Grandmas). Always have been double trouble and some things don't change! This was last Saturday when we were outside enjoying, well, never mind. Shawn had gone to see about a tattoo, ya, another one. Die hard or dumb ...? Anyways, he was gone for like 8 hours. He was told the wait would be a couple hours and that was fine with him but then it turned into 3 and 4 and 5 hours???? He thought that since he had sat there that long already, that he would just continue to wait. I don't know, but I'm leaning towards the dumb ...! (jk jk) He did get a discount on the price (whoop whoop). Anyways, he comes back and shows me and I said "A windmill? Why did you get a windmill?" Well, turns out it's not a windmill. It's the sun. Oops! My bad!!!!

Well, better get going. Did I mention Cass is coming today???!!!

Take care!
Love Starla

To my peeps at the office - only 12.5 more days!!! Don't stress! I will be back to help out the last day!!!!

Push ups

Jayci doing push ups on her own. YEAH!!!

Hey there from Cali. I am sitting outside in the beautiful sunshine. Going to a be a hot one today!! I'm sorry! Probably shouldn't rub it in as I hear there is still snow back home. Haha!

The above video shows Jayci doing push ups. Her trainers at PW have been doing different stuff with the FES pads and instead of putting her on the bike, they place the pads on the appropriate muscles and do different exercises that way. Here, she is doing push ups and with the extra boost from the FES, she can do them on her own. Really is amazing. And the more and more she can use the FES, the more and more she will build up her muscles and that darn right arm is going to go craazzzy. As the camera batteries died, this is the only video from yesterday but sure there will be more to come today.

We haven't been doing a whole lot really. Just hanging out in the sun when we can. Jayci loves the sun. Yesterday her and Tye were in the spa (really is an over sized hot tub, which the owners don't heat) but it has a ramp entry so we wheeled Jayci in her manual chair just enough so her feet were in the water. Tye wanted her to go further but I felt that was good. Shawn mentioned something about her life jacket, so not sure if that is the plan today. For some reason I think Jayci will find the water too cold. We tried to go to the outlet stores on Sunday but think everyone and their dog was there. Couldn't find a parking space no where, and it is a huge parking lot, so we just decided to come home. Maybe we will try this afternoon. We found a frozen yogurt shop just around the corner so we did that one day but Tye still prefers the Cold Stone Creamery in the village, so there have been a few trips there (real good for the waist line). I'm actually not a real big ice cream fan, but there is just something about eating ice cream in California.???

Five more sleeps and Cassi Lynn will be here. She is busy writing her exams. One yesterday, one today and last one on Tuesday. Good luck Cass. Yous sooo smart!!!! And about 7 more sleeps until the Slettens arrive. Woo Hoo! Will be nice to have some familiar faces around, even if it is Jayson's. Hehe! Think there is a ball game in the plans and Sea World, and then whatever else comes up. They probably want to see the ocean so hopefully there is nice weather. Well, at least I'm pretty sure it won't be snowing. Oops, I did it again. Sorry!

So, for anyone out there that may be going through some tough times right now, we are thinking of you. Life isn't always easy and for damn sure it isn't fair. In fact, sometimes, it just plain sucks!! Just remember that you will be OK! Your loved ones will be OK! Things will get better. Be strong! Lean on your family and friends and be kind to one another. They are what's important. We decide what kind of day we are going to have!!! If you wake up positive, even if yesterday was a bad day, guaranteed you will have a better day. So what if you dropped your toothbrush in the toilet this morning and had to secretly use someone else's until you can buy a new one, get over it. It's a minor detail! Some days our house is pretty chaotic, like pull your hair out(or someone else's) kind of days. But they pass and I still have my hair. Even tho Shawn's hair may be thinning, believe me, it's not because I am pulling it out. When my alarm goes off at 4:00am and I am tired and I have to get up to care for Jayci, I just want to stay in bed. But when I go into that room, turn the light on and those big blue eyes stare up at me from above the blanket, I realize how lucky I am that I am able to get myself up at 4:00am and how lucky we are to have Jayci to care for. AND, I have another set of big blue eyes AND a set of beautiful green eyes, that I thank God for everyday. That is what's important. Love you all very much and miss you too!!!

Well, I better sign off now. The sun has shifted so I have to change positions and maybe get a cool drink. It's getting kind of warmish out here. Hehehe!!!

Love Starla

Elbows and Knees

Jayci's first time on elbows and knees. Pretty darn good!!!

Set up for elbows and knees

This is the set up for Jayci's elbows and knees exercise. Little did we know that Mike would steal the show when he crashed Jayci's wheelchair while moving it. Haha!

Crossed Leg Sitting and Total Gym Balancing

Jayci's first time sitting crossed leg. Doesn't take her long to get the hang of this.
Balancing on the total gym. The belt they are using is to help with posture but also makes it harder for Jayci. As you can see, she works it very well.