Together We Can

It's A........

2011-11-30T20:03:00.000-08:00

beautiful, healthy little GIRL!

We were so very shocked! We all thought it was another boy. It has taken some getting used to (because we were so sure), but we are so excited to welcome this beautiful girl into our family in April.

Special Spirits!

2011-09-19T19:52:00.000-07:00

I can't let this story not go without writing it down to remember for a long time. My kids were outside playing and I was in my room reading. My window was open so I could hear them. Something happened and I heard DD#1 yell, "Don't you tell on me!" Well....this is a common quote said between my kids. I guess if they say that, then the other won't come and tell. DS#1 then yells, "DD#2 don't you tell!" At this point I thought I should get up and see what was going on. As I watched quietly out my window, I saw something that made my heart so very happy. It made me feel so great to be a mom to such special spirits. DD#2 who was on her way to tell, stopped and asked DD#1 to come and give her a hug. DD#1 came up and DD#2 grabbed her and hugged and hugged her. DD#1 then reluctanctly wrapped her arms around her sister. They were talking to one another (I wish I would have heard what they were saying). Then DD#2 grabbed DD#1's face and brushed the hair out of her eyes and said something to her. (Again, I wish I could have heard it). Then they grabbed each others hand and yelled, "All for One, One for All" and threw their hands up in the air!
DH had found his way to watch as well. It was amazing and made a mom's heart proud. They really love one another. Is there anything more wonderful?

A Dream....

2011-09-16T15:25:00.000-07:00

Ten years ago, I had just started my first year of teaching, my dad had passed away recently (July) and DH and I had been trying to start a family for 2 years with no sucess. It was a very hard time for my family. My mom often asked questions wondering if my dad did this or did that in heaven. For some reason, when she would ask I would always have a dream about my dad and he would always answer the question for me. I haven't had a dream like that in a very long time.

Ten years ago this month, I had a dream one night. We were all sitting in my mom's room in our Delta home. We used to gather on my parent's bed while my mom read. (Funny, my kids have been doing that to me recently.) My dad usually ended coming in later and asking what everyone was doing. It is a favorite childhood memory. Even though my mom hated us interruppting her quiet reading time, it was a great family time.

Back to my dream....we were all sitting on my mom's bed and the phone rang. My brother Scott answered it and got a shocked look on his face. He said, "Dad is on the phone!" We couldn't believe it. We all knew that he was in heaven and couldn't be on the phone. He again said, "No, really, dad is on the phone". We were all so shocked. My brother Dan walked in and we said, "Dad is on the phone!" He said, "No he is not!" We again said, "Yes, he is on the phone!" He again said, "No, he is not on the phone, he is here." At that time, my dad then appeared to us. We were all VERY shocked. My dad explained that he felt that it would be not as shocking if he called first before he appeared. We were elated! We asked why he was here and he said he had come to talk to each one of his children. I was then on my way down the hall and he sat me down on the couch (it even had the flowers on it) and asked what I needed to know from him. I looked at him and asked when I was going to have children. He said, "April!" and then I woke up.

I remember waking up and thinking, "Wow! Was that real, or did I just make it up?" Whatever it was, it comforted me enough to continue to struggle with our infertility.

Fast forward 3 months and we found out two days after Christmas that we were expecting. We were over the moon with excitement. My due date was Aug. 31st. I was a little confused and once again questioned my dream. Three weeks later I miscarried. DH and I cried for about 10 mins and then rejoiced that we actually did get pregnant. I had heard that a lot of women miscarry their first and then your body gets ready for another baby. I held on to "April" all the while. Well.....April came and I wasn't pregnant. I thought maybe I was going to get pregnant in April. July came, which would make me due in April, and still no pregnancy. We hit the year mark and I really started to mourn my miscarriage. Maybe that was the only time I would get pregnant. The two year mark went by and I was devastated that I hadn't got pregnant again.

We started the process of adoption and began going to the classes. We met some great friends and really felt like this was the right direction. I had surgery in March of 2003 and when I woke up, DH was smiling from ear to ear. He told me that the doctor had found nothing and there wasn't anything wrong with any of us. Boy, this pretty much put me into a deeper depression. Nothing wrong with either of us??? Then why can't I get pregnant. The doctor came in and said that he thought I would be pregnant in the next 4 months. I was so angry! I had just finally accepted adoption and had stopped crying every month.

Fast forward 6 months and I felt the real need to get our adoption papers in and completed. Every time before this I would get them down off of the fridge and it just didn't feel right. I sat down one Sunday after church and finished them in record time. Tears streaming down my face, I talked about my dad who I loved and missed so much. I was very anxious for DH to get his part done. I knew that there was a little girl waiting for us and she was coming quickly and we needed to get our paperwork in and get ready. A few days later DH came up to me and said, "You are going to have a baby!" I looked at him funny and said, "No, remember we feel strongly that their is a baby girl coming to us!" He then said again, "No, you are going to have a baby!" I was 4 days late at this point, but was not going to get his hopes up. Watching him cry, because of infertility. was much harder to deal with then my own crying. Three days later (so 7 days late) I told him that I was a week late and that we should probably go and get a pregnancy test. We drove to the store and I was so angry. I knew I was going to start 30 mins after the negative like I ALWAYS did! We got home and I took the test and walked away. Remember, I was angry and was sick of seeing negatives. Twenty minutes later we both walked in together and got the shock of our lives. It was positive! We couldn't believe it. We immediately went to my in laws and got a blessing. My due date was August 10th. It still didn't fit the "April" dream. Our first daughter was born on July 31st. We talked about whether or not we should prevent from getting pregnant just in case it didn't happen again. We didn't and to our great surprise found out 15 months later that we were expecting our 2nd child. I was due June 26th and had our second daughter on June 17th. Fifteen months later (do you see a pattern?) we found out that we were expecting our 3rd child. His due date was May 13th and our first son was born on May 6th.

So you can see that we were getting closer to April, but just never quite got there. DH and I had talked and had always wanted 4 children. So I assumed that 15 months after our son, I would find myself pregnant one last time. Nope, it didn't happen. Fast forward a year and I find out that I am pregnant. We are thrilled. Just a few short days later, it was no more. We were sad, but still hopeful. The very next cycle, I found myself with a positive pregnancy test in my hand. We were so hopeful, only to lose that pregnancy as well. I couldn't figure it out. Why were we having such a hard time again? So we continued to try and try. It wasn't working. I was done with it and felt like the 3 beautiful children that I did have were plenty for us. We were at a great stage of no diapers, buckling themselves in the car and being more self sufficient. They were having a great time together and we felt it was right and that we could be done. We begin telling people that we had made that decision. I felt peaceful about it.

I attended a girl's night with my husband's side of the family and one of my sister in laws had just had a baby. When I walked into that room and saw her, I had to keep myself from crying. I had the most overwhelming feeling that there was still one more for us. It made me mad, because here I was finally feeling at peace with this decision (sound familiar?)

I went home and DH immediately knew that something was wrong. He asked me what was wrong and I just told him he didn't want to hear about it. He was tired of talking about whether to continue or be done. He wanted to be done. So he continued to ask and I finally said, "We've talked about it enough!" I told him what had happened and he said, "Do you just want me to make a decision?" I was so happy, because I was bouncing back and forth with my emotions. I knew he was going to say that we were done, but no! He said, "Let's have another baby!" I was shocked!

So on to our journey again. We found ouselves once again having a hard time getting that last little spirit here.

In June, I went back to the doctor and he wanted to re- test us again. It had been 8 years from the last time and wanted to see if something was wrong now. So we went through it again. DH's tests came back perfect. My tests came back as good as well. I went in for an HSG (dye through my tubes) mid July. The nurse called and said, "Everything looks great for the both of you, why don't you try and get pregnant this cycle?" I wanted to say, "Why don't you come over here and let me punch you?" I was so angry. Once again, nothing was wrong with us! We decided we would put in Heavenly Father's hands (like we had to learn, oh so many times) and contiue on.

WELL......

Renaming the post: A DREAM COMES TRUE!!

Do you see that arrival time on the bottom? APRIL!! Our little caboose is our little April baby that I was told would come ten years ago. We are ecstatic and so happy!

So, on what would have been my dad's 62nd birthday today....I saw our little bean growing with a healthy heartbeat. We are so very excited and the kids are just as excited as we are.

Happy Birthday Dad! I love and miss you more than anything. Thank you for advocating for me to send these special spirits down. We think about you often and know that you would have been one EXCELLENT grandpa. I love you!

Phew...that was one very long post. I had to get it down somewhere so I wouldn't forget this wonderful time.

A decade.....

2011-07-27T09:19:00.000-07:00

since we last talked to you. Missing you all the more. September 16, 1949-July 27, 2001

Fathers Day!

2011-06-20T06:36:00.000-07:00

Just thought I would post something on this blog. I am hoping to sit down and post the past 10 months with pictures included. Don't hold your breathe though.

Happy Father's Day to a wonderful husband and Dad! The kids absolutely adore their daddy. He is a great Father.

We went to Delta for birthtday parties. We dropped off Grandpa Mark's gift on the way out. We love you Grandpa Mark.

We also dropped off Grandpa Oliver's gift as well. Grandpa Oliver's birthday is at the beginning of June and we gave him the soda for his birthday. So for Father's Day he got nuts. We love you Grandpa Oliver.

And last, but not least, Happy Father's Day to my Dad! I can't believe we are coming up on the 10 year mark. That is crazy! I went walking while in Delta and stopped at the softball fields. They had held an all night softball tournament and it was the championship game at 8 AM. I sat and remembered all the summers we spent score keeping for his softball tournaments. It brought back many good memories. I was pretty emotional on the walk home. I miss him so much. I just want to talk to him and get a big hug from him. I love you dad! Happy Father's Day!

Halloween 2010

2010-11-01T20:17:00.001-07:00

Halloween 2010 was cold, fun and lasted all weekend.

DD#1 in her school parade. Thursday, October 28, 2010

Ready to Trick or Treat. Saturday, October 30, 2010

50's Sh0wgirl

A cute little witch

Thomas the Train

School Photos

2010-11-01T20:09:00.000-07:00

Another year, another round of school photos. My kids go to different schools. My school doesn't have a preschool, so my kids go to the school here in our neighborhood for Preschool. Once they begin Kindergarten, I bring them with me. It makes it easier for Parent Teacher Conferences and other things.

DD#1 in 1st Grade

DD#2 in her 2nd year of preschool

She didn't start school until after Labor Day. On the 2nd day of school, I emptied out her backpack as we were walking out the door and noticed the flyer for pictures. I thought to myself that I needed to make a mental note about the date. Then....I realized it was THAT day! So we didn't buy a package through them, only a school photo. I took her to my school when we had school pictures. I thought they both turned out really great.

UEA Weekend!

2010-10-17T16:17:00.000-07:00

Ahhh...the wonderful UEA weekend where school is out Thursday and Friday. It was a nice break.
So...what did we do? We were cooped up in our house with the virus hand, foot and mouth. Not fun!
DS started running a fever and we had him into the pediatricians office on Thursday. They didn't know if it was strep or the virus. DD#2 started running a fever two days later and we had her in the InstaCare yesterday with the confirmation that it was the virus. I had the doctor look in DS's mouth to make sure and she said it was covered with ulcers all along the back of his throat. Poor baby! No wonder why he didn't want to eat anything.
We had a lot of popsicles, puddings and yogurts. We watched movies (thank heavens for netflix) and we snuggled on the couch. When the medicine would kick in the kids would go outside for a while. A positive of the time was getting pretty close to getting my scrapbooking caught up. I am only 3 months behind! Hooray!
Abotu 2 months ago, the girls were looking at their scrapbooks. DS came up to me with the saddest little face (the girls were not sharing) and asked, "Where is my book?" It broke my heart. I realized I was that far behind. I got on the computer and found out that I was 2 1/2 years behind. Ugghhhh...... 2 years! I started working on his pages and checked off months as I went along.
I was doing really well until I hit January of this year. Our Disneyland trip has 200+ photos in it. It stopped me from being motivated. So, this weekend I decided to go backwards and hit the present and move towards Disneyland.
While scrapping I thought it would help keep this blog more up to date if I would post my pages as I do them. It will also help keep me up to date on my scrapbooking. So here is the summer.
The weekend is coming to an end. The great thing is that Dad is home. He has been hunting. He left the night before DS started running his fever! Doesn't it always happen that way?
Well..enjoy!
** I already posted about the last day of school and the kid's birthdays, so it looks like we will start at the first of July. June was so cold. I don't know or can't remember if we got out much in June. So here are some of the things that we did this past summer that I missed. Once I get the Disneyland pages done I will post those (as promised 8 months ago) :)

Our annual trip to my hometown for the 4th of July. Can't beat a small town celebration. We love it! We didn't make it for the jets and DH was sure disapointed. I will get ready on time next year. Whooops!

We road Trax to the Galivan Center for Radio Disney's water day. There were a million people there. The kids enjoyed being in the water and getting free squirt guns. I think the train ride to and from was the highlight, though.

We went to the float preview before the parade. It was so nice to go and have some fun. We got to go around to each float and see it up close. We were able to vote for our favorites as well. The kids got their faces painted and balloons made out for them. It was fun and the air conditioning made it even better!

The girls's preschool teacher went to Mill Hollow with me and we became good friends. She volunteers for the Days of 47 Rodeo and called us up to see if we wanted her free tickets. It was a lot of fun. The kids had a great time seeing the horses and the bulls. DS loved when the tracker came out and plowed the arena. He loves tractors.

We saw that a community theatre was putting on the production Cinderella, so we thought it would be great to have Mommy and Me Date and get the girls all dolled up. It was the day before DD#1's 6th bday so we had cupcakes and sang Happy Birthday to her.

First Day of Preschool

First Day of 1st Grade

Better Late than Never, right?

2010-09-16T08:37:00.000-07:00

DD#2 started preschool the day after Labor Day. She was so excited and couldn't wait. Especially since her older sister had been going to school for 2 weeks already.

The first day the parent's are always welcome to come and stay for the hour. It was crazy, crazy, crazy. Along for the ride, was my DS who is 2 and the two boys that I watch in the mornings who are 3 and 4 months.

She had a great time and hasn't cried this year! Hoooray! That is such an accomplishment especially comparing it to last year. She is going 4 days a week this year instead of 2. I about died when I realized she will be going to Kindergarten next year. It was a weird realization.

Big girl ready to go

My two sweet girls ready for school.

Little Brother had to join in on the picture taking.

Making her quilt piece for the class quilt.

School Days are Here Again!

2010-08-25T08:01:00.000-07:00

We had our first day of school on Monday. DD#1 is starting the 1st grade. Really? Wasn't she just our first little miracle that we were so grateful to have? She was excited and was happy to finally get to be a real 1st grader. She had a great time and said her teacher is very nice. We did have an emotional break down that night, but it was all so tiring to go after having a lazy summer. She is doing well and continues to be excited each morning.

My class seems pretty cute. It is always hard to tell in the first weeks, but they seem to be very sweet. We will probably only have a few who will give us a hard time.

DD#2 starts preschool after Labor Day. I will post pictures of that soon after (hopefully) here beginning day.

Nine Years!

2010-07-27T22:10:00.001-07:00

.......and still missing you. Love you!

Gas Rodeo!

2010-06-18T04:39:00.000-07:00

Questar Gas has an annual Gas Rodeo each year. DH really wanted to attend, so we loaded up all the kids (6 of them) and headed to the Gas Rodeo. We got there a little late and found that there was only one team left to compete. For what it's worth, I was glad that we only had to sit there for one team! It was kind of boring! Shhh...don't tell DH!

We were able to have a free lunch, which the kids loved! But most importantly, DS got to sit in a tractor! He was in heaven! He is obsessed with tractors and it was great to see his reaction. Overall, it was an outing. We had Faith with us for the week. We also had DH's brother's two girls with us. They were moving this day and we had a sleep over so they could get their stuff moved out.

Phew...well there you have it, the first 2 weeks of summer! I told you it was crazy! We still have another Mill Hollow, the 4th of July, and a few family reunions to attend. I hope the summer will slow down some. I am not ready to start school again!

Dance!

2010-06-18T04:22:00.001-07:00

We put both girls in a dance class at the beginning of this year. DD#2 didn't quite like it so we took her out and put her in Soccer. DD#1 on the other hand LOVES it. I still say that I don't know where she came from. She is so girlie girl and loves to dance!
She had her first recital and did a fabulous job! Okay, I might be biased, but she really did do a great job!

It was a crazy time with her younger sister's birthday landing on the day, but we had help from family and it all turned out great. Aunt Camille did a fantastic job with her make up. She looked so grown up.

We had a lot of family come and support her and I know she is very grateful to them. Thank you to those that came. Her Kindergarten teacher and her daughter even came. See, I told you we love her!

This has been a great opportunity for her and I can see it in her future. As much as I would like her to be an athlete, I think this area is where she is headed!

Miss Marcie is her teacher and she has some real patience. With the above girls above, she has about 10 little 3-5 years old in the class. She did a great job!

We have one more performance and then a break for the summer. She will be moving up to the 6-8 class, which she is excited for. I don't think this will be the last time I write about dance and this little girl.

Birthday Girl!

2010-06-18T04:10:00.001-07:00

Our little girl turned 4! I can't believe that it was just 4 short years ago that she came into our family. She has been a joy! She has been a terror! We can't imagine life without her.

We spent her birthday getting ready for her little party and also for her older sister's dance recital. It was a little crazy.

We had a great (but fast) time with her cake and ice cream. She wanted a Princess Tiana cake, but made sure that I knew that she wanted Prince Naveen on the cake as well. Well....as you can see, the past two weeks have been crazy, so Walmart to the rescue! Thank heavens I can always depend on them for cake!

It was a whirlwind of a night. We were trying to have cake and ice cream in the middle of getting DD#1 in her dance costume and make up on. DD#2 just rolled with the punches and really was just happy to have people over to play with.

When we asked her what she wanted for her birthday, she said a bike. I was behind her for this shot, but she was so excited! She asked if she could ride it to the Library on Monday when we go. We will have to see how good she does with it.

Happy 4th Birthday Sweet Girl!

Mill Hollow

2010-06-18T03:55:00.000-07:00

Mill Hollow is a 3 day camp for students in Granite School District. Students are able to go and enjoy nature and learn about the forest environment. It is an excellent oppotunity for those going into the 4th grade to get a taste of the Science curriculum. There are many things they learn.

This year, at the assembly, the director talked about the weather at Mill Hollow. He said that if we have a dry spring, there wouldn't be any snow in early June. Well, we had far from a dry spring this year. It was snowing in the valley a week and a half before my first group went up. What did that mean to me? Stress! The forecast was rain for all three days. This meant that I needed to come up with activities to entertain these children for three days. It was a very stressing time. Usually the time is spent hiking various trails, but not this year. All the trails were closed. There was still snow covering them. The directors went up the week before and there was 3-6 inches of snow on the ground in the camp. Luckily, the sun did wonders and a lot of the camp area was dried.

I took a 3rd/4th group at the beginning of June. I went armed with many, many crafts and game ideas. Fortunately, it only rained on us twice. Once while we were in doing crafts and the other time while we were loading the buses to go home. We got to "hike" up and down the road some. It was good to get out and get moving. The clouds were amazing and were moving at record speed.

Overall it was a sucessful time. The kids had fun and didn't have to hike as much as usual. They loved being with the counselors at night and sang all their new songs the entire time. I am glad that this session is over because it gave me the most stress. I have another session in about a week with a 5th/6th group. Hopefully the trails will be open.

I was able to take my niece Faith (on the right) with me this year. She had a blast and asked if she can come back next year!

This was our last hoorah before the kids went to lunch and we boarded the buses. He really is asleep. He had too much fun or maybe not enough sleep! Good times!

Final Days of Kindergarten

2010-06-18T03:32:00.000-07:00

DD#1 has finished her first official year of school. She loved Kindergarten! I was very hesistant to put her in the all day kindergarten, but I am glad of my decision. Her preschool teacher said she would never qualify to get into the program, but a little talking to my principal and she was in. This is when bringing your kids to your school, really works out well.
She had 10 days off prior to the last week of school for Kindergarten testing. She did very well and improved in every area! She passed off everything that was required. She spent this time playing, sleeping in and going to Lisa's house. She hasn't been to Lisa's house all year and she was sure excited to go.
The last week of school was filled with very fun adventures. One that she talked and talked about was her Safari Hunt. She was equipped with a safari hat, a camera and a map. The kids went around the school and searched for all the animals that had studied throughout the year. On top of this, she had a field day, talent show, awards assembly and a trip to McDonalds for an ice cream cone. Her dad got to come to McDonalds with her. Along with the other two kids, they followed the class. She has loved Kindergarten and has often expressed that she doesn't want to move on to 1st grade.

She absolutely adored her teacher, Mrs. Lambourne. I think she said, "Goodbye Mrs Lambourne, I love you!" 100 times before I was able to check out through the office. We both loved her.
We are so proud of you sweet girl.

A few things I wanted to jot down before I forget:
She came home with a book of all her art work and handwriting assignments. She began looking through the book and asked who colored this picture? I asked why and she said, "they didn't color in the line, mom". You should have seen her face when I told her it was her work at the beginning of the year. She also talked about how "silly" her name looked at the first of the year.

There are some positives and negatives to having your children with you at your school. More postives I would say, but my children might say more negatives. Although, she was very spoiled by most of the faculty there. Here is an example of each from this year:
Positive:
DD#1 fell off her chair in school and had a really bad goose eggs on her head. I was notified immediately (I was in the faculty room for lunch) and was one of the first ones there to get to her (along with our principal). She was not herself and was acting very strange when I arrived. I immediately knew I needed to get her looked at. My coworker took my class for the last hour of school and I was able to take her to the Instacare. Everything turned out great, but I was so grateful that I was right there to help.
Negative:
I was in the work room making copies when I heard a class walk by. I turned to look and realized it was her Kindergarten class. I poked my head out to watch and saw that her class was walking away and she was standing on the wall. I didn't like what this looked like because obviously she had done something wrong in the line to warrant waiting back and standing up against the wall. I immediately walked down to her and asked what was going on. She smiled at me and said that she was asked to wait for Savannah in the bathroom. There I was frustrated that she was getting in trouble, when in fact she was the responsible one being asked to help. I am sure her teacher was worried when I walked up to her. It made me so happy to realize that she wasn't in trouble, but was being good. I have to remember that when teacher mode steps in.

Summers a Movin!

2010-06-18T03:21:00.001-07:00

Summer is in full swing. I am once again playing catch up (story of my life) and wanted to highlight some of the things that have happened thus far. Because it is so hard to move pictures around here in blogger, I am going to do individual posts. Enjoy!

DD#2 Last Day of Preschool

DD#2 had her last day of school on May 26. 2010. She finished her first year of preschool. We made it! She will again return to the same preschool. Instead of 2 days a week, she will go 4 days a week. We are so very proud of her. She had a really hard time adjusting to this change of life and has done very well with it. We love you sweetie!

Teacher Appreciation!

2010-05-16T08:28:00.000-07:00

It was teacher appreciation this week. I went in on Thursday to volunteer in DD#1's class. No one had volunteered, so I decided to go and help out. I didn't have to pick up my class until after I was done with hers. Boy, it takes a special person to teach Kindergarten. They are so cute, but they all want to tell you a story if you bring up any subject. It was fun and we made a fun poster for her teacher.

On Friday when I went down to pick her up, her teacher said that she had convinced her that she was going to stay in Kindergarten. When I got her back to my classroom, I asked why she wanted to stay and her response was, "Because Mrs. Lambourne has done such a great job this year, and I love her!" I couldn't have said it better! Mrs. Lambourne has been fabulous. DD#1 has come leaps and bounds and I couldn't be more pleased. We will be very sad to not have her next year.

We gave the teachers this gift. I had seen it in a book and made them for Secretary's Day this year. After making it for them, I knew this is what I wanted to give the Teacher's for a gift. It was perfect. We got them a gift certificate to go to Cold Stone's along with it.

The story of getting this gift to her teacher is interesting. I had to work that Friday. So we left our home fairly early and drove the two younger ones to Herriman. I held onto the box containing this gift the entire 30 mins. there and the entire 30 mins. back to school. I made sure to hold onto it at turns and when I would slow down. I breathed a sigh of relief when we arrived at my school with it still intact. As we were walking into the school, I got into my purse to get out my school keys. Doing so, bumped the box and over it went. There were dumb dumb's all over the ground. Can you believe it? I took such great care and we were a few steps to the finish line and bam!

I was pretty calm. A couple cute kids came to help pick it up and I took the mangled mess into my classroom. Thank heavens my house is about 4 mins from my school. I left at recess and got another foam ball and put it back together. It was just so ironic that I took such great care for an hour and in the end it didn't make it. Oh well. It all was resolved and we got it delivered in one piece.

I didn't take pictures of DD#2's gifts. We were in such a hurry that I ran out of time. She has 3 teachers in preschool, so we did 3 for them. They all seemed to love them.

We really do appreciate their teacher's this year. I know how hard it is and I am grateful that they are willing to help my children grow and learn. It has been a great year!

Birthday Boy!

2010-05-16T08:05:00.000-07:00

He is 2! This is classic cheese face. I love that my kids have unique faces they give when they are little. We love his little squished smile when you ask himt to show you his cheese!

My husband and I decided that we would have a party for our kids's birthdays every other year. We chose their odd birthdays, so that we could always have their big first birthday. Since it is the even birthday this year, we usually just have cake and ice cream. When I got pregnant with this cute little boy, I was very excited for the time of year he was expected. It was at the end of the school year and I knew I would always look forward to it. Well, I didn't realize how busy this time of year would be and we have a lot of other spring birthdays in our family.

We decided to have a very low key birthday with Grandma and Grandpa's. It was very fun. He is into trucks and tractors and abosolutely loved getting his big truck!

I didn't have time to make a cake, so we went and bought one. I let him decide which one he wanted and was sure he would pick a Cars themed cake. He didn't! He couldn't look at another picture of a cake after he saw the Thomas cake. I tried hard to get him to change his mind, but it didn't happen.

We had dinner and then cake and ice cream. He was in heaven. He didn't last long until he was outside with Grandma O. playing in the dirt with his new toys.

We love this little boy to bits. He is so loveable and cuddly. He is a "mama's boy" and a "daddy's boy!" He loves to be with both of us. He loves to play with his big sister's. They sure do love to have him dress up with him and paint his fingernails and toenails.

He is talking a lot. It reminds me of DD#1. He is talking in some complete sentences and loves the word "disgusting!"

We love this little boy. Happy Birthday little man!

His sisters got to be in on all the fun. Grandma O brought things for them. They loved it. She also took time to read his new "The Foot Book" with them. They sure do love her! I sure do love her too! Thanks mom!

Out of the mouth of Babes!

2010-05-02T17:17:00.000-07:00

My kids say the darndest things....don't all kids? I have wanted to keep a small notebook with all their sayings, but it is still a thought. A few things have been said in the last few weeks and I thought for journalling purposes, I would jot them down here. So bear with me as I document some things my kiddos have said recently.

DD#1 (6 in July)

A few months back we were getting ready to go to family dinner. DH was in the girls's room getting shoes on DD#2. He was wearing a green hawaiin shirt that my grandma had given him for his birthday. DD#1 walked into the room and said, "Whoa Dad! You look like a pinata!"

Last weekend we went to New York (pictures will be posted when I get them all sent to me). In Sacrament, the bread was made out of potato bread. It was yellow. As it was being passed, DD#1 said, "The bread is yellow. That is disgusting! I hope it is not poisonous!"

DD#2 (4 next month)

At this same meeting in New York, she was sitting on my lap. I whispered in her ear, "I love you so very, very much!" She whispered back to me "If you love me so very, very much, do I still have to go to school?"

Last night the girls got to have a sleep over at their aunt's and uncle's house. They were so excited. We had a family blessing to go to, so they got ready there for church. DH's sister was doing DD#2's hair. While doing it DD#2 said, "This looks very hard for you , maybe you should call my mom"

DS#1 (2 in less than a week)

He loves to point out big trucks and tractors as we drive. We have been driving a lot recently to get them to babysitters (thanks a ton for all the help). He says, "Mom, look" (pronounced wook) everytime we pass a big truck (diesel) or a tractor. I decided to count yesterday how many times he said mommy. From 7200 S. to my mom's house in Lehi, he said mommy 32 times! Ahhh....it was so cute at first. I shouldn't complain, because I know I will miss the days when he doesn't want to talk to me.

I hope to record more fun and exciting things that my sweet kiddos say.

Wow!!

2010-04-18T10:07:00.001-07:00

Has it really been that long since I last posted? Okay, I know I have neglected this blog. I got behind and it just continued to get behind. I have had two big posts (Christmas and Disneyland) that seemed overwhelming to post to say the least. We had a wonderful time at both of these occasions. I don't know if I will get to post about it, but I sure hope I do.

As of late we have celebrated Easter and DD#2 had her first soccer game.

She did a really great job! She was very aggressive and followed the ball and sprinted if it was kicked away from her. She had so much fun doing it. She tried dancing with her older sister and did not like it all that much. She decided to try soccer and loved it.

Merry Sickmas

2009-12-26T13:41:00.000-08:00

I was completely planning on coming on here yesterday and wishing you all a Merry Christmas. But, the blasted stomach flu hit and I was miserable. Luckily, I didn't get too bad until after the opening of gifts, but after that I was bed ridden the rest of the day and night. It was not fun!
We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas. We feel so blessed to have had a wonderful Christmas, with family who loves us. We are so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who sent His Son. We hope to carry the peace and spirit that we have felt this season the whole year through. We love you all.

Christmas Card!

2009-12-20T10:16:00.000-08:00

I thought I would post this on here in case I didn't have your address and you didn't get one.

Christmas 2009
To our Dear Friends and Family,
I have a cute friend that always has a theme to her Christmas letters. I always enjoy how she shares about her year in a unique and creative way. I thought I would take a try at it and give our Christmas letter a theme. I guess it’s not really a theme, but an acrostic poem for our family.
C is for Me. Hmmm…how interesting that I get to be first. I am doing great. 2009 has been a fun year for me. It has had some downs, but the ups seem to come to mind when I think of the year. I am in my 9th year officially teaching (10th unofficially). I am in my 5th year of dong a job share. It is such a blessing in our lives. I have the opportunity to stay home with my sweet kids, but able to help make ends meet with the job. We were moved to the 4th grade this year and I enjoy it. I forgot how young the 4th graders are at the first of the year, but quickly remembering that we just need to be patient with them. I also remember that most of them still love their teachers. That has been fun. We have a really great class even with the very strange things that have happened the first few months of class. Work and being a mom keep me very busy.
H is for DD#1. DD#1 is 5 ½ and just started Kindergarten. She is attending all day kindergarten and loves it. She does have her days where she is tired and doesn’t want to go to school, but don’t we all? She is doing very well and learning a lot. She has recently begun to read sentences, which thrills us. She is a great big sister and loves her sister and brother. She loves to dance and sing.
R is for Responsibilities. DH has recently been called back into the Young Men’s as Assistant Scout Leader. He is really enjoying being with the boys. I am still in the Primary Presidencies and have enjoyed working with my Presidency. It is fun to be in with DD#1 and soon DD#2. DD#1 will be moving into the CTR 6 class. She loves Primary and especially loves singing time. DD#2 is advancing into the Primary as a Sunbeam. She just recently started enjoying Nursery and now it is time to move on. She is very excited to go to Primary. DS will be holding down the fort in Nursery. He began going last month and is doing pretty well. He sticks pretty close to DD#2, so we shall see when she moves on to Primary.
I is for Interesting News. I wish I had something spectacular to share with everyone, but I don’t.
S is for Superhero. DH is a superhero in the kids’ eyes (and mine). DH is so good with the kids. He often takes them when I send him out to do errands. He plays all the time with them and helps Hannah with her homework. He bathes them and gets them ready for bed most nights of the week. He often lets me to 0the gym or go shopping and give me a break. He is still working for Questar Gas and loves it. He is working on getting his Rep 3 soon, which will be a pay raise. We are so grateful for his job. He is a great dad and superhero to us all.
Tis for Terror aka DS. What a boy!! He is so different than his sisters. He has recently learned how to throw a pretty good tantrum. He also loves the word no and hitting. AHHHHH….this age is so hard. It’s a good thing he is so stinking cute. I think that Heavenly Father made them so cute so we could still love them even when they are being stinkers. When he is not grumpy, he is a very cuddly sweet little boy. He will often come up and lay his head in my lap and pat my leg. He is talking more and more each day. We love this little boy more than ever and will continue to be patient with him.
M is for Miss DD#2. That is what her Preschool teachers call her. The name really fits. She definitely knows what she wants and doesn’t back down for anything. She is 3 ½ and definitely confirming my theory of “whoever said terrible twos, didn’t have a three year old yet!” She is very sweet and kind, but sure can whine until you’re ready to pull your hair out. She is attending Preschool this year two days a week. She struggled really hard at first, but seems to be doing very well and isn’t crying anymore. She also loves to help and is very affectionate to her mom and dad. We love this beautiful girl.
A is for Anniversary. DH and I celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary this past August. Can you believe that? It has gone by so quickly. It has been a great 10 years and we look forward to many, many more decades together.
S is for Season’s Greetings and the Savior. We hope you are all healthy and happy. We hope you have a wonderful Holiday Season filled with love and happiness. We are especially grateful to a loving Heavenly Father that allowed his Son to come and pay the ultimate price for us. As we remember the Savior this Christmas Season, we are grateful for our many blessings.
We love you all and hope you are well.
Love,
Together We Can Family

First Day of Nursery!

2009-11-15T17:21:00.000-08:00

My little man is old enough to go to Nursery. Crazy!! His first official week should have been last week, but he was sick and we didn't want anyone to get it.

We are so grateful for this little boy. He is my snuggly, cuddly little boy. He is definitely showing his 18 month old self these days. (He is throwing a tantrum right next to me as I type). :)

We took him for his 18 month well child visit on Friday. He is 33 inches long (60%). He weighs 25 lbs. 11 oz (50%) and his head circumference is in the 60%. So pretty average. We will take all of him! We you love you sweet boy!

And a picture of him and his sisters. They are always wanting to get in the pictures. :)

School Pictures

2009-11-14T16:40:00.000-08:00

We finally got all the school pictures back from school. I think I may be taking DS to our retakes and get his picture done. The girls' photos on the wall stand out a little more. I get a half off discount being a teacher, so it really is a great deal.

DD#1 Kindergarten Year

She is going to all day Kindergarten this year and I was a bit hesistant when we decided on it. I was really worried at first and her wonderful teacher told her to give it a month. Here we are two months later and she loves it! She is learning so much. I get to hear all about her learnings on our way to pick up the other two every afternoon. She is doing wonderful. We have her first Parent Teacher Conferences in about a week and we will really see how she is doing.

DD#2 Preschool Year

She is going to Preschool two days a week. Next year she will go 4 days a week. I was very hesistant in putting her in as we wall know her personality. She was terrified of strangers from day one. When her teacher asked if I was going to put her in preschool last year, I told her no because she is so shy and would be a terror to leave. Nursery was the case in point. The teacher said that this would be the best place for her to get over it. So I signed her up and the first day she went in and said bye to me with much surprise. I couldn't believe it. The next time comes and you would have thought I was killing her. She was throwing the biggest fit ever. It was so different than DD#1. I didn't know what to think. Her teacher was really good and just told me to leave her, her fit and all, and it would be okay. She survived. The next time, same thing, huge fit. We finally came up with a chart. If she doesn't cry when she goes to preschool, she gets to put a sticker up. We are 2 months into it and she is doing well. It is hit and a miss. We still have our hard days, but the easy ones are more than the hard ones. She is really enjoying preschool and loves to play school with her sister.

Halloween 2009

2009-11-04T12:45:00.000-08:00

November!! Really?? Does anyone else wonder where September and October went? I sure do.

Halloween was very fun this year. The girls and even the little guy really got into it. I am looking forward to getting out of the princess stage, so that they can branch out and be a little more creative with their costumes. DS did not care so we used DD's costume from last year. It worked and surprisingly enough he kept the hood on the entire time. He did not like the face paint and had it smeared before we could even get out the door.

We went to the ward's trunk or treat and the kids got a lot of candy. In fact, I took DS's bucket and dumped it into our bowl and distributed it out again. Is that cheating? I did not want a lot of candy around this house.

The weather was beautiful and the kids had a great time. Now on to November and Thanksgiving.

Look for photos of the kids's school photos next. We have DD #2's but are waiting on DD #1's. I may even post my school photo is you are lucky! :)

Enjoy the pictures of Halloween 2009.

A Real Hero!!

2009-10-11T06:41:00.001-07:00

DD#1 went to a super hero party yesterday for a young boy in our ward. She made a cape, played games with flashlights and overall had a fantastic time at her "super hero" party. She had a lot of fun and it was a cute theme.

My cousin, Heather Christensen, became a true hero yesterday! She gave her life trying to save others, namely her students of American Fork High School.

John Miller, who leads the American Fork band and is a music teacher at the high school, said Christensen died while attempting to save students on the bus by grabbing the steering wheel after the bus driver had an apparent medical episode, causing the bus to veer off the road.
Christensen dived for the wheel and tried to steer the bus back on course, but fell out a window as the vehicle rolled, Miller said.

"She loved her students, they were her life. I know she died trying to save them," a tearful Miller said late Saturday evening.

What a tribute to a great person. Heather and I were the same age. When we were younger, we would always play together during family get togethers. But as life seems to go, we grew apart as we grew older and life got busier. I am so grateful that we got to see her this summer at a family reuntion. She paid a wonderful tribute to my Grandpa that everyone was in awe about. It probably took her a long time, but it was so worth it. I can only think that there was a sweet reunion with people that we have lost in our family.

My heart aches for her family, for the days ahead of them. They will be hard! I pray that Spirit will comfort them in this hard time of life.

I am so grateful for the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation. We will see Heather again. I am grateful to a loving Heavenly Father, that provided a way back to Him. I am grateful to our Savior, who gave his life, so that we can return to our Father in Heaven.

We will miss Heather. DD#1 drew a picture of her last night and said, "I love you Heather". She had only met her once, but expressed her love for her. She and Heather share a birthday and have that common bond with each other.

Just a few more things that wonderful people have said about her....

The Wilsons went to wait with Peterson on her bus after the accident and were there when a teacher came on board to inform students that Christensen died.
"They broke out in sobs," Ellen Wilson said. "She was dearly loved. She will be sorely missed."

"I know this is a difficult situation for my students. I will be dealing with the sadness that will be at my school. I'm saddened. We all are," said Merrill, reached at her American Fork home Saturday evening.
She said she wants to wait to speak about Christensen until after the teacher's family has had more time to process her death. She praised her for what she called her "wonderful attributes."

Dan Adams, one of a group of parents that travels with the band, said, "We've never had any accidents that I am aware of in the 25 years that I've been here. It's just a tragic, tragic thing — not only for the students but the tragic loss of a wonderful teacher."

My regret is that I didn't keep this amazing person closer to me. She was a wonderful person and she loved those around her. My prayer to each of you reading.....keep your family close. Hold them close. They could be gone in an instant.

We love you Heather and you will definitely be missed. God be with you until we meet again.

First Day of Kindergarten!!

2009-08-31T09:02:00.000-07:00

Wow!! I can't believe that we are actually here. DD#1 started Kindergarten today. She was so excited to go and woke up in the greatest mood. I made it without crying, even though I did feel a few tears coming on. DD#2 said on the way to take her to school, "I'm going to miss DD#1". I had to hold back the tears then.

She is going to my school and has a great teacher. She is in the all day kindergarten class and I am a little anxious about it. I am excited to see how her first day went and how she handles all day. She did ask when school would be over and I said not until the afternoon. Hopefully she will handle it. She hasn't taken a nap for over a year and just this last week, she has started taking them again. Go figure. I konw they will have a rest time these first few months. Hopefully she will be able to handle it.

So here we go. I know that it will only go so fast from here on out. She did say on the way that she will be in High School soon. Thankfully, not so soon. But I am sure when it comes that time, I won't believe it.

Good luck sweet girl with your first day of school!

10 Fantastic Years!!

2009-08-13T07:20:00.000-07:00

This is our engagement picture. We lost our wedding scrapbook in the fire. It was all pre digital so we will have to replace it with what my inlaws still may have. :(

I am in awe at how fast the past 10 years have gone by. It is absolutely crazy to think that I have been with my best friend for 10 years. I guess the saying, "Time flies when you're having fun:" is true. Happy anniversary Sweetheart! I have loved every minute of it and hope to spend many more years with you!

Here is a fun breakdown that I have seen on others blog which help you realize just how much joy and happiness. along with heartache and sorrows, we have been through. So grateful that it was with my best friend!

10 years

120 months

22 weeks

3,650 days

87, 658 hours

5,259,488 minutes

315, 569, 260 seconds

6 homes

4 cities

9 Jobs

7 cars

4 Wards

10 Callings (shocking to me because I have been in the Primary almost the entire time)

1 House Fire

48 (LONG) months of trying to get pregnant

4 pregnancies (1 miscarriage, not pregnant now :))

3 Beautiful Children

3 Pets
4 Surgeries

3 Funerals (my dad, my grandpa and DH's grandpa, Miss them all)

7 Siblings Weddings

1 Disneyland/California trip

Many trips to the cabin

Many, many, many sleepless night with children

Many Laughs

Many tears

Millions of Hugs and Kisses

Many Unforgettable Memories

Happy Anniversary Sweetheart!

Pictures

2009-08-12T22:56:00.001-07:00

We got family pictures with DH's side of the family. I thought it would be a great time to get my kids year pictures. Since we had already had DS's done a few weeks back, we went ahead and did the two girls and the kids together. My sister in law did a wonderful job again. Thanks Sarah!

DD #1 is growing up to be a beautiful little girl. She is very intelligent and so kind. She is always saying thank you and gives plenty of hugs and kisses. She has become such a big help around the house and to her brother. He has learned the words, "don't and stop" because she is constantly toting him around. We are so grateful to have her in our home.

DD#2 has really started to come out of her shell and show her true personality. She is our little chatterbox that we love to hear. She can talk your ear off and you are good to catch most of what she is talking about. She is in the prime of the wonderful 3's. She can throw a tantrum with the best of them. She loves her siblings and is a joy to have in our home.

A picture to show just how fun the 3's are. :)

Our Children... What special spirits from our Heavenly Father. Not a day goes by without me realizing what a gift these sweet children are. As my summer is coming to an end, I feel sad. It has been such a fun summer with these sweet kids. I have really enjoyed spending so much time with them. I count my blessings everyday for having such wonderful children!

DD's 5th Birthday Party!

2009-08-12T13:42:00.000-07:00

We had DD's 5th birthday party a few weekends ago. It turned out very well. About 8 months ago, DD asked for a camera party. I had just bought a digital camera for her right after Christmas for a killer deal. It was perfect. I could give her her camera and have it be the theme. I searched all over for a camera cake and the only ones I could find were ones that were 3D with fondant. So we took a clip art picture and made it from that. We decided to make it silver, however I should had made a pink camera cake for her. Oh well. It was a lot of fun.

We had friends and family come and enjoy her birthday party with us. We had sloppy joes, chips, fruit and drinks. Thanks all who came and supported her.We had a camera scavenger hunt. Each person got their own disposable camera and a scavenger hunt list. The kids had a lot of fun running around the park getting pictures of their clue. The last clue was to get a photo with them and the birthday girl. She loved it.We then had a dress up corner and the kids got to use their cameras to take pictures of themselves dressed up. The boys enjoyed the tie.

She then opened presents and was thrilled with all the new things that she received. It is crazy to think that she is 5. We waited 5 long years to get her and the past five have definitely flown by. We love you Lou, Lou! Happy Birthday!

Update Coming Soon!

2009-08-11T11:03:00.001-07:00

I promise, they are! :)

I am One!!

2009-07-20T21:39:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I know that he is 14 almost 15 months old, but the summer has been a crazy one. I thought I should get on the ball and get his pictures done. My sweet sister in law met me at the park after work and she took these awesome photos. He was having a hard time smiling, but once we put him in the swing, he was all smiles. I wanted her to capture two things.... his 4 teeth and his eyelashes. She got them both. They are wonderful. Now to figure which ones to put up on the wall and which ones to scrapbook. She did take over 300 photos of him. :)

The Fabulous 4th of July!!

2009-07-06T14:20:00.000-07:00

I don't know what it is about a good ol' small town 4th, but they are the best! If you haven't tried one, you really should. It is just good fun to have a parade with candy flying everywhere and a party at the park afterwards. This year was especially great because my whole family was there. It has been a long while for this to happen. We all sat (more like stood) in front of great aunt Rosie's house. She is always so great to let us invade her space. :) The parade was fun. My kids actually got a little bored of picking up the candy (gasp!) I guess when there is taffy flying at all times, it is quite the workout to pick it all up.
After the parade, we ventured over to the park for food and fun. We actually ended up not eating the food there. A first for our family. The kids got to ride the ponies and run and play on the playground. It was a great day. We went and rested at Grandma B's home and DH and the two girls headed out for the derby. Another tradition of our small town. My mom and I and DS waited until the powder puff to go. My sister drove in it. We watched the fireworks and enjoyed the nice cool breeze. It rained some, but just enough to keep it cool. DS loved, loved, loved the fireworks. He sat there in awe of the amazing show in the sky.
I love going home for the 4th. It is nice to see old friends and have a great time celebrating our wonderful country. I am proud to be an American where we are FREE!

The Birthday Cake!!

2009-06-30T07:01:00.000-07:00

I have been slow this year with birthday celebrations. I have worked some this summer (Mill Hollow) which has put me off my game. I decided when the kids were born that we would have a party on their odd birthdays. The even birthday would just be cake and ice cream. Something low key. Well, seeing that all of my children were born two years apart has changed my thinking. That is a birthday party every month for 3 months. I am going to have to rethink my plan, because it is a lot of work and a lot of money. Anyway, DD#2 wanted a princess party this year. She wanted a princess cake, but that seems too daunting to me. So I got on the computer and started looking. I found this video to this fantastic cake and it looked fairly easy. So I got DD#2 all excited and we took the challenge this weekend. My piping skills are not the greatest, but it did turn out pretty cute.

I will post some of the pictures from the party when I can figure out how to get them off of my camera rather than off of my memory card. Until then, enjoy the cake pictures!

Father's Day Gifts

2009-06-20T21:06:00.000-07:00

Has it really been two weeks since school got out? I can't believe it. It is going too fast. My sister and her family moved out, the next day DH's sister and her DH moved in. We have celebrated DD#2's bday. She turned 3. I went to Mill Hollow with 5th and 6th grade students from my school and now we are preparing for Father's Day. In the next few weeks we have more planned. I am going to go to Mill Hollow with another school as a sub (crazy, but the money is good), the 4th of July, a small birthday party for DD#2 and a Family reunion. It will keep us busy. Busy is good, right?

So, I decided to try my hand at some really cute food that I saw on a blog. I do not take any credit for these little beauties. It was from Bakerella's blog. She has done some amazing things and I really liked this idea for Father's Day.

So with the help of my mom and my kids, we were able to accomplish this. I thought they turned out pretty cute. I hope that the men in our lives will love them tomorrow. It took some time, but they really did turn out cute.

Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there. and to those that are not Fathers yet, Happy Father's day to you as well. You all deserve it!

Last Packed Lunch of the School Year!!

2009-06-04T19:21:00.000-07:00

I just packed my kids last lunch this year. Hooray!! I am so excited to take a couple month break from packing lunches. School is out tomorrow!! I am so glad to have a break. I have had a great class this year, but it will be nice to not have to work for a bit, not saying that 3 kids isn't work.

Well, here is to a great summer. Enjoy it everyone. Because we all know that it will go by so fast. Next thing we know, we will be posting pictures of our kids first day of school next year. AHHHH!!!

The pictures of the scenery!

2009-06-03T21:32:00.000-07:00

Well, I didn't get the students in these pictures, but I thought it might be fun to post the scenery. The kids did a great job. I picked the pictures and put them up on the projector, they traced all of them and painted everything. It is amazing what they can do!

The stage

The banner

50's

60's

70's

80's

90's

2000's

It's Over!!

2009-06-02T19:56:00.000-07:00

The production, that is. I took my camera, but in the craziness of it all, I didn't get a photo. Oh well. I will probably just take pictures of the scenery to show you how great my students did on that. Phew....I can now breathe a sigh of relief. The kids did a great job! There were only a few computer glitches with the slideshow, but overall it was a great success.
Now, to get through the last 3 days of school for the year! Hooray for summer!

Last day of Preschool!

2009-05-21T12:31:00.000-07:00

Can you believe that the school year is coming to an end? I still have two more weeks, but DD#1 finished today. I was able to go to her "promotion" (thanks Lisa). It was a bit chaotic with having the 4 kids tagging along, but it was worth it. DD had a wonderful year and learned a lot this year. It definitely was worth taking all the kids along to get her to school. She is already asking to do her homework that is in her bag.

Miss Haymeth (aide)

Miss Dina (aide)

Miss Dora (teacher)

I made these gifts for her teachers. We made the flowers with cookies and gumdrops. The fillers are paintbrushes, crayons and pencils. They seemed to love them. They turned out pretty cute. I usually have great ideas in my head, but when I try to get them out, they don't quite seem the same. These did turn out pretty close to it.

Bees Game

2009-05-19T19:56:00.001-07:00

A while back we went to the YMCA Healthy Kids Day. The kids had to complete certain things at different stations. At one of the stations, they were giving out free Bee tickets. We gladly accepted and made it a family home evening night. We went with our good friends, the Minsons and had a great time. The kids did really well for about 4 innings and then they had it. Luckily, they have a play place with a park and some bounce houses. That was the best part for the kids. The girls were sad to leave "the bee" at his house the beehive. It was a great night for our family.

5th Grade Music Production!!

2009-05-14T19:34:00.000-07:00

The years that I have to teach general music, I decide to put on a music production. This way, I only have to teach songs and dances and don't have to teach rhythym and alll that jazz. Well....once again it is my year to have general music. So, at the beginning of the year I put together a "Music Through the Ages" show. I got the theme from a previous production put on by a good friend of mine. I started from scratch with the music and the dances. It is slowly coming together. I had a coworker say that it is more work to do the production than to teach 3 months of general music. True, but I like to cause major stress in my life. :)

We always make our costumes. We don't have any funds coming out way, so it is something that all of us can do and not too expensive. Three years ago, we did a Disney Production and we painted Mickey Mouse on their t-shirts. It was a lot of work. I made stencils of Mickey's face and we sponged the paint on. This year I thought I would do something a little less stressful (or so I thought) I thought I would tie dye t-shirts to represent the 70's. It was a great idea and I didn't think it would take 3 hours to do. But like all of my productions, my grand ideas are a lot of work. But in the end, it is well worth it.

Here are some of the pictures of the time spent doing it. We are putting on the production at the end of this month. It is coming along really well and the students are doing a wonderful job. My stress is turning into excitement.

PS....Remember the Healthy Habit Challenge? My family and I are on week 5 and it is going great! Posting is a point in the journal entry. Hooray for a point!

Happy Birthday Little Man!

2009-05-06T09:19:00.001-07:00

At 8:18 AM this morning we sang to DS for his birthday. A year ago today we were in the hospital having this little man. We went in at 6:00 AM and had him in our arms by 8:18 AM. He was the first of my three children to make it to their C-section date. It was really nice going in and having a baby in your arms 2 hours later.

We are so grateful that a year ago this little man joined our family. He has been such a great addtion. His first 5 months were really hard, but since then he has been so fun. His little personality is shining through. He now has a voice and says, "dada, mama, what's that, down, up, taytay (my niece Taylor), bye and uh oh". He signs, "more, all done, food, milk, please, thank you and drink". It is so nice when they can communicate. It helps both of us.

We had him in the Instacare a few weeks ago and he weighed 22.3 lbs. We don't have his year visit until June.

The girls are in love with him and enjoy helping him. DD#1 gets yelled at by him quite a bit because she gets up in his face. He is done having his personal space invaded. He is crawling all around and loves to follow his mom. He has finally started to sleep most of the night. He has only been getting up once a night lately. Phew....that was long and coming. My girls slept through the night at 6 weeks and then started waking up after they turned one. Hopefully he will follow the same pattern, but only reversed. Maybe he will sleep through the night now that he is one??

Happy Birthday sweet boy. I love you more than you will ever know!!

**I took his month pictures in my dad's recliner chair. I missed 9 months. I don't know how that happened. :(

1st Birthday Party!!!

2009-05-04T19:31:00.001-07:00

We celebrated DS's 1st birthday this past Saturday. DH has to work midnights this next week, so we decided to do it a few days early.
I was going to have a bear theme because we call him Brother Bear, but chose to go with a Mr. Potato Head Theme because we also call him "Nater Taters". It was perfect.
Well, we all know their was a huge chance of rain, so we called and reserved the church. We are grateful that we did because it was pouring rain. It worked out perfect for us.

My sister in law made the awesome Mr. Potato Head birthday cake. It was so great. She did a wonderful job!!

We decorated with red and browns. We used actual Mr. Potato heads as centerpieces and Sugar Babies as the candies to represent potatoes.

We set up a table for all the kids to color while we got everything going. It seemed to work out pretty well.

We served a potato bar for lunch. It was really yummy and fairly easy. This was the whole basis of changing the theme.

We showed our traditional first year slide show. It gets me everytime. It is amazing how fast these little ones grow up. I can't believe it. It just seems like yesterday that we were off to have him in the hospital and now he is crawling up on my leg saying, "mama".

DS was so cute when he was eating his smash cake (cupcake). He wouldn't pick it up with his hands, he would just lean over and take bites out of it. It took him about 5 bites before he would touch it. It was so cute. He then was given some ice cream and decided to eat it using Mr. Potato Head's hand to eat. He was so cute with it all.

He really enjoyed opening presents. There were lots of kids around to help. He enjoyed getting new fun toys to play with. He even reacted cute with giggles when seeing the new things.

It was a great day. We played basketball and had fun until it was time to go. I know it is a first birthday and he will not remember it, but I love to celebrate their first year with a bang.

We had a great time and we are so grateful that DS joined our family a year ago. We look forward to many more years and parties. We love you little Nater Taters.

Thanks everyone for making it a great party.

He is turning ONE!!

2009-04-17T08:28:00.000-07:00

Can you believe it? I know, I know I have said many times before...but really? Where has the last year gone? We are getting ready for his first birthday party. It is going to be bear themed. His nickname is Brother Bear. We thought that it would be a great theme for our little "brother bear". I will talk [more about our little man when it comes closer to his actual birthday. Watch for birthday pictures. I am sure there will be tons.

Happy Easter!!

2009-04-11T22:36:00.000-07:00

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We had our family Easter Egg hunt this afternoon. It was stormy, but the storm let up just enough to have a quick hunt and then back inside. The kids were so cute this year. We let DS#1 go out first and grab a few eggs and then DD#2 came out on her own. My kids were the youngest out of all the grandkids there. DD#1 came out with the other two five year olds. They were able to be out for about 15 seconds before the rest of the crew came out. It was a lot of fun for the kids and they came home with their buckets full. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Oliver for a great day.
We stuck with our tradition and got them matching outfits. DH picked out DS's and forgot to match it to yellow. Oh well...we were ready to get out of the store. We had 5 kids under the age of 4 and it was crazy. We got in and out quickly and forgot to match his outfit to his sisters. They are still cute, though. We went out tonight to try and find Sunday outfits for them and there was nothing. I guess we waited just a little too long to do that. There were plenty of sleeveless dresses, but we have the girls wear sleeves. All the cardigans were gone.
We are so grateful for the Savior who made it possible for us to return to our Heavenly Father. We are grateful for this special time to remember what he sacrificed for each of us. We hope that all of you have a very special Easter this year.

Healthy Habits Challenge.....who's in???

2009-04-09T13:31:00.000-07:00

I found this challenge on another blog and wanted to start it up. This is a 12 week challenge. I have needed some motivation lately. With DS not nursing as much, and the eating of sugar again, I have needed some help to get back on track. This seems like it would really be great! Not only physically, but spiritually as well. If you would like to join, please leave a comment or you can email me at amiracleatlast @ yahoo . com.
I want to start on Monday, April 13th. This allows you to enjoy those Easter treats that the Easter bunny has left you! :) Email your email address so we can get a weekly email sent on points. We all have to have accountability you know.

Here are the rules:
You have been challenged live the following habits for the next 12 weeks! The idea of the Healthy Habits Challenge is to motivate each other to develop 10 healthy lifestyle habits.

To participate you score yourself "on your honor" every day and then each week send in the number of points you have earned to me. I'll send out a weekly email with point totals for all participants. You can earn up to 10 points per day. Sundays are days off- you get to take a break with no points earned/lost. The person with the most points in the end wins a small prize! (C'mon- do I look like I'm made of money?)

Daily Habits (1 point each)

1. 7 hours of sleep: naps count

2. 30 minutes of exercise: doesn't have to be all at once, taking a walk counts

3. No sweets/unhealthy snacks: you know what "sweets" are to you. This one gets most people nervous, but remember that you have Sundays to have dessert and this will only last for 12 weeks. If you stick with this one you will be surprised by how you lose the desire for sugar and junk when you've been off it a while.

4. 64 oz. of water

5. 3 servings of veggies, 2 servings of fruit: or whatever combination of 5-a-day you get! If you are concerned about knowing what constitutes a serving- click on the "view food gallery" here for vegetables and here for fruit.

6. No soda: the aim is to avoid sugar, artificial sweeteners and caffeine

7. No eating after 8:00 PM: unless you are pregnant or nursing, in which case you can eat healthy food after 8:00 if you have or have had and extra serving of veg/fruit.

8. 15 minutes of scripture reading

9. One journal entry in the journal type of your choice: you can make this as short or long as you want! Blogging, letters to missionaries, gratitude journal, whatever else you do to keep a record of your life counts.

10. Choose your own habit: this is something that you will work to do daily. Another 30 min of exercise? Service? Eat breakfast? Flossing? Whatever you want to work on personally!

Earrings

2009-04-05T20:03:00.000-07:00

I asked the girls what they wanted for Easter a few weeks ago and was shocked to hear the answer. Both of them excitedly wanted earrings. So, after much talk about it, we decided to take the girls to the mall and get their ears pierced, so that the Easter Bunny can bring them earrings.
DD#1 had here ears pierced before. When she had her tonsils out, we had to take her studs out and DH lost them. We put other earrings in after the surgery, but her ears got really infected. We let them grow back in and had to get them done again. They both did good. DD#2 went first and had a great time holding onto the bear and having the girls draw dots on her ears. You should have seen the look on her face after it was all over and she realized that it really did hurt. She cried for about 5 minutes (she holds onto things longer than DD#1). DD#1 went next and jumped right up into the seat and was extremely excited. We had warned her, but it happened and she was in tears. She only cried for about 2 minutes. They are in love with them today and are doing really well not bothering them. We think they look great.

A BIG shout out to my mom. It is her birthday today. I love her so much and I am so grateful that I can call her MOM. Happy Birthday MOM!!

And the Winners are....

2009-03-03T09:17:00.001-08:00

I put all the comments into a random number generator and the winners are...... I bet the suspense is killing you.....

#2 Kristen W.
#1 Annie of Bluegables

Congratulations to the two of you. Please email me your pictures and I will get your two page layout done.

Pay it Forward!!

2009-02-18T21:40:00.000-08:00

Here's how it works! I'm having a GIVEAWAY! You have a chance to receive a two page layout digital scrapbook page (you just send me your pictures)from me at some point in time during the next year. How fun is that??! If you'd like to be a part of this awesome idea, you need to leave a comment ON THIS POST no later than Friday, February 27, 2009. If you've never commented on my blog before, don't feel sheepish--this is a fabulous time to comment! I will draw three names randomly from the comments left to see who will receive the gifts. My "Pay It Forward" winners will be posted on my blog as well as notified via e-mail, word-of-mouth, blog comment, --whatever works best for me at the time! Here's the catch: if you choose to participate, you need to post some sort of "Pay It Forward" idea on your blog as well. If you don't have a blog, this can easily be done on Facebook, MySpace, etc. It doesn't have to be anything extravagant; just a simple gift from the heart (it can be purchased, homemade, a simple act of kind service...ANYTHING!).

A Giveaway!!

2009-02-10T09:39:00.000-08:00

My cousin's BFF is having a great giveaway. Hurry, Hurry over to here and make a comment. I am excited to see what she has. I know it must be great if my cousin says it is. Hurray, Hurry, I am #2. There still is hope.

Here are the rules:
The first 5 people to respond to this post will get something homemade by me! I know what you are thinking....."do I really want something made by Amanda???" But you might just be surprised what I can do!Like any good giveaway, there are restrictions and limitations, as follows:
1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make. I get to choose, you just get to receive!

2. What I create will be made just for you......one of a kind!

3. It will be done this year.....hopefully sooner, rather than later.

4. The gift may or may not be edible, wearable or recyclable!

5. In order to be a winner, you must repost this on your blog.

The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me you did will receive one FABULOUS homemade gift by me! After I choose the winners, you can send me your mailing address! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you receive it!

****In other news, my 2 1/2 yr old and 9 month old are on the floor having their first fight. I am watching and as DS is crying and looking at me so sad, all I can say is, "Ohh, you're first fight. How sweet!" You gotta love firsts!! It definitely won't be the last and I am sure this will be the last time I use sweet and fight when referring to it again. :)

9 Months Old

2009-02-06T18:49:00.000-08:00

I love 9 and 10 months and DS is proving why. He is so sweet and loving. He has such a cute personality and we are loving everyday with him. He loves to play and watch his sisters. He loves to say "da, da da" and "hi dad". He loves to whine "ma, ma, ma". We love him to bits.

Picture Princess Contest

2009-01-28T19:48:00.000-08:00

Oh my!! I found this contest going on and had to investigate it for myself. What a contest!! I visited their site and loved what I saw. The winner will receive a new spring wardrobe and a photo shoot. They will be featured on their website. Isn't that great??

Princess #1

This princess came with a princess personality. Her favorite past time is to either be dressed up or painting her nails. She has always loved being a "girlie girl". She has one disadvantage. Her mother grew up a tomboy and thinks that dresses should only be worn on Sundays. This princess thinks otherwise and would be in a dress everyday if her mother would allow. She is in need of some cute, fabulous clothes to show how truly lovely she is.

She would be a doll in this dress.

Picture Princess Contest

2009-01-28T19:46:00.000-08:00

I read about this contest and knew that I wanted to enter my two princesses into it.

Princess #2

This princess would also be a great picture princess. She loves all princesses with a special liking of the Disney Princesses. Today she is Giselle, yesterday she was Mulan. More times than none, she is "Cinderelly". This princess is always asking what "princess hairdo" she is going to have for the day. She is in need of a new spring outfit to go with her princess hair. She is full of love and personality.

This princess would be a cutie in this dress.

Are you ready for some PHOTOS??

2009-01-24T20:16:00.000-08:00

Hooray, Hooray, Hooray!!! I have finally got my pictures off of my camera. When we wiped out the computer, we had to reinstall things. One of the things was our printer. Well, it now will get my photos off of my cards. I am so excited. So, here we go. Sit back and relax, because this will be long.

Here is DD#1 all ready for her first day of preschool. She was so excited. I wish we still had that same excitement today. Mornings can be quite painful with the fits she throws when she is tired and doesn't want to go to school.

Here are the monthly pictures of DS#1. He is 4 months old in these pictures. I will keep them in chronological order.

5 months old

Boo at the Zoo. We took the kids to Hogle Zoo for the annual Boo and the Zoo. It was CHAOS!!! We thought it would be really cute to have the kids dress up as zoo animals and have my nephew be the zoo keeper. We ordered Renew the Zoo signs from the zoo and thought it would be so cute for them to walk around with them. It didn't last long and they were handing out the yard signs at the zoo, so it was nothing special that the kids were carrying them. It was a great idea though!

Halloween...The past two years, my sister and I have tried to keep a theme going with our kids. This year we chose Knights and Ladies/Princesses. It was hard to convince a 4 and 2 year old to want to be ladies, but they were all over the idea of being princesses.

6 Months Old

7 Months Old

We went to Temple Square for the lights. It was fun. They have really cut back this year.(like everyone else). DH went up to one of the volunteers and asked if they were going to have some ceremony where they turn on all the lights. He said that was it. It was still beautiful though.

Making cookies for Santa....We had a lot of fun making cookies for Santa Clause. There was a lot of sugar and candies involved. Santa loved his cookies, but left a few bites of one. There was just too many.
DD#2 had an accident a few days before. She came running in DS's room and trip on a bag of diapers and fell into our wooden bus. We put some neosporin on it and a bandaid and had her go to bed. An hour later, DD1 knocked on the door and said that there was blood running down her head.
We took her to the Instacare because we didn't want to pay the ER copay. Luckily we made it with 10 minutes to spare. They decided to glue it shut with dermabond. I was so glad to not have to hold her down for stitches. She was so brave and didn't cry at all. It did really well and there is only a tiny scar left on her forehead. We got to the instacare at 9:45 and walked out at 10:15. They got us in and out in a flash. I think we will go 15 minutes before closing everytime.

Christmas Eve Presents....Pajamas!! We opened our Christmas Eve presents and were very shocked to find that we got PJ's. The girls loved their princess ones. DS was happy to have his footsies. Nice and warm.

Christmas...Christmas was so much fun this year. The excitement and magic of the day was so fun. The girls are finally to an age where they understand the story of Jesus and also get excited for Santa Clause. They were very cute with all of their presents. From Santa they got DD1 a baby, DD2 a puppy that swims in the water and DS1 a jumperoo. It was a lot of fun. We felt so blessed to have a nice Christmas.

8 months old... Here is our handsome boy's recent montly photos. He is getting so big. He is now 20 lbs. He is rolling all around, but not crawling yet. All my kids moved slow. I think it is coming though. He has his two bottom teeth and acts like more are coming. We still love him to bits and pieces.

Well...there you have it. Our last 5 months of life. Hopefully I will stay up to date and not have to spend an hour on catching up. Hope life is good for all those reading.

We are still alive!!

2009-01-19T18:20:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I could post all the same excuses that I have in the past. But the truth, well.... it's still the same. We are busy and our crummy computer is still acting up. My awesome brother in law wiped it out and reloaded it. We are slowly adding back all the programs. I, sadly, forgot to copy our movies over to our external hard drive and lost a lot of my kids over the last 2 years. I haven't asked if they are lost because I don't want to know the truth.

We had a crazy, wonderful, quick, exciting holiday season. When I find my cord, I will post a ton of pictures. Until then, here is one of our family. I am in the process of getting family photos done, but want to take a break for a bit to breathe. Maybe we will send out Easter cards instead of Christmas card.

By the way, if you don't know about Google Reader, write a comment and I will give you the directions. That way you don't have to be dissapointed when I haven't updated in 2+ months. You will all be surprised when it pops up on Google Reader and be happy for the update. Until the next time (hopefully not another 2 months) have a great time!!

Six Months Old!!

2008-11-14T19:56:00.001-08:00

Can you believe that this handsome little devil has been with us for a 1/2 a year?? Time has gone so quickly. We had another Dr.'s appointment. It was a mess!! Not because of the shots, but because they said I didn't have the appointment that I had set over 2 months ago. They got a new computer system and said that DS wasn't scheduled today. Yes, I felt like I wanted to cause pain to my son and listen to him whine for the next two days for the fun of it!! Mothers dread these days and count down to when you have to take them in. I know that it was today at 3:30. So I saw the PA, who I am not so fond of, because I was already there and had mentally prepared myself for the dreaded shots!!

The nurse came in and said that they were sorry, but they were out of some of the vaccinations and wouldn't have them in until Wednesday. So, I still have to go back. It will be in 4 weeks because he got a flu shot and will need another one then.

He is doing well. He is still our big boy, but has come down percentage wise in the weight department. We still love him to bits, even though the next 2 days will be long.

Here are his stats:

Weight: 17 lbs. 13 ozs. (55%)

Height: 27 1/2 inches (85%)

Head 17 1/2 inches (65%)

We love you little man!!

It Never Hurts to Ask

2008-11-05T16:59:00.000-08:00

Some may not know but I hate to talk on the phone. Okay, I hate to talk to people about bills and things like that. I am a chicken and I hate contention. I make DH make the nasty phone calls to companies that cause us misery by charging us wrong. Anyway, to my title. I found a deal on pinchingyourpennies.com that was awesome. It was a $30.00 code for a photo book. A 20 page photo book cost was $29.95, so you are getting the book for free. You just had to pay for shipping. I jumped on it and scrapped all the pictures from the photo shoot. I like to make these books because they are great to take to Church for the kids to look at. I also thought it might be a nice gift for DH for Christmas. Shhh...I don't know if he reads this. I spent all weekend working on it and got it done on Monday at 6 pm. The code expired that night and I wanted to get it ordered before that happened. I put it in my cart and tried to apply the code. Nothing!! What??? I tried it again...Nothing!! I was sick inside. I had spent a lot of time on this book and I didn't want to pay $40.00 with a code.
I went back on to pinching your pennies and others were having a hard time as well. I tried everything that they suggested. After an hour I gave up. I was okay with it, but very dissapointed.
The next morning I checked on PYP again and people said that the code began working that night right before midnight. Ugghhh....I could have got back on and had it work.
Well....I heard that this company had good customer service, so I gave it a try. I am not one to even question or send something that might explain things. I usually just blow it off because (remember) I am a chicken when it comes to things like this.
Well, I sent an email and guess what??? They sent me a code to use. Hooray!!! I get to get the book printed.
So lesson learned...It never hurts to ask!! Just do as I and put your DH's name on the email!!

THANK YOU MYCANVAS.COM!! I am very pleased that you are helping me out.

School Photo!!

2008-10-31T08:18:00.000-07:00

We got DD#1 Preschool photos back the other day. They turned out pretty cute. I can't believe that she is in Preschool already. I remember being put on bedrest and thought the 11 weeks would never go by. And now look...she is 4 1/2. I had to get paperwork from my secretary yesterday so that I can apply for our open enrollment at my school. She looked at me shocked and said, "You need one? She really is that old?" I couldn't believe it myself. She was a year old when I transferred to my current school. Now I will be registering her for Kindergarten in the spring. For now we need to decide if she will go all day or just half day. Thank heavens we have until the spring to decide.

More Photos!!

2008-10-20T19:44:00.001-07:00

Okay, so I was sick about leaving DS's outfit home. It bothered me all night. Saturday morning (the next morning) I asked DH if he would mind going back down to Provo and getting more photos done. He was okay with it. Now, to ask my sister in law. She was game!! This time we MADE SURE we had DS's outfit. I am really glad that we did it. I have printed some of them and they are hanging on my wall as you read!! Thanks again Sarah.

Photo Shoot!!

2008-10-18T07:37:00.000-07:00

This is only the tip of the iceberg. We have so many to choose from!!
**We forgot DS's outfit. DH asked if I wanted to have him change him into it when we were getting ready to go and I told him we would wait. Well, I grabbed the dinner and he grabbed DS and no one grabbed the diaper bag (with his outfit in it). I was sick about it. I am hoping to do another session with my sister in law and get some of him in a more matching outfit. I guess we can be glad that his outfit at least had some brown in it. :)

http://www.slide.com/r/rp3PK1QZ2z_ohmD-OE5GAsbZbPmcUmkn?previous_view=mscd_embedded_url&view=original

It won't embed my slideshow. So if you would like to see it you will have to copy the above address and paste it in the address bar. Enjoy!!

My Sweet Children!!!

2008-10-17T22:54:00.000-07:00

It is late, but I wanted to hurry and get some of the pictures of the kids that my sweet sister in law took today. She took 527 photos. I have a lot of great photos to chose from. I will make a slide show of some of my favorites, but until then enjoy these few that I love!!

Don't you think she did a GREAT job?? She is just getting into photography. These pictures look like she is a seasoned photographer. We had so much fun and I have a lot of scrapping to do with all these photos!! Thanks a ton, Sarah!!

In Search of a Google Reader Expert!!

2008-09-26T19:04:00.000-07:00

I need some help. I love, love, love Google Reader. When I had read on someones blog about it, I jumped right on it. I couldn't believe how much time it saved me from blog surfing. It is the greatest. Anyway, to my problem. I put in all my subscriptions and went my merry way. The next time I went in, it showed me one of my blogs automatically. This same blog is the blog that will always come up. Now, don't get me wrong, this is not an emergency, but I would like if my blog would come up when I open up Google Reader. So, I thought I would remedy the problem by taking them out of my blog list. It is still there and now it says I am not subscribed, would I like to be. How do I solve this problem? How do I make it my blog that shows up when I open it? Thanks for all who have the solution. I will love you forever.

Happy Birthday Dad and 1 year later....

2008-09-16T20:37:00.000-07:00

First off, I want to wish my sweet dad a Happy Birthday in Heaven. It has been 7 years since he passed away. He would have been 59 this year. I can't believe that the time really does fly by. I remember when he was just turning 50 and my parents were happy empty nesters living life to the fullest. I am grateful for the knowledge that we will see him again and that we will be together forever.

A year ago I wished my dad a Happy Birthday as my first post. Wow...a year went by so fast!! What do we have to show? Well... DH has a new job (had 2 new ones this year). DD#1 started preschool. DD#2 goes to Nursery without much of a fight. And we added DS to our family. Things are great and life is good. There are many things that happened this year. Scroll down and check it out.

Blasted Dr. Appointments!!

2008-09-10T20:22:00.000-07:00

I'll admit it..... I hate taking my kids to their well child visits. It doesn't get any easier with each child. I think it only may get worse.
It actually happened a little weird for us. I had his appointment set up for yesterday. It was scheduled for 4:00 pm. My contract time is from 12:30-4:00 pm. In the past, my principal has been really great about letting me leave when the bell rings (3:45) and going to things like Dr.'s appointments. This year we got a new teacher. She has decided that she wants to leave every Friday 1/2 hr. early. My principal told her no way. She then proceeded to tell him that all of us don't stay for contract time. Well...he has pulled a lot of us aside and told us to be very careful about it. She is keeping tabs. Wow..an adult tattle tale. So that was my dilemma.
I called my peds. office and told them that I had set up my app. back in June and didn't know that the school year would be this way. I asked them if it was okay if I was late. They said it was her last appointment and that we could reschedule. So, I did. I rescheduled for this Friday at 4:00 pm. We get to leave at 3:30 on Fridays.
I picked the kids up and DS was very, very wheezy. With every breath he took, he wheezed. After getting home and letting James and my sister listen to him, we decided to call and see if we could get him in. The after hours was open and guess who was on call that night??? My ped. What?? I thought I would have been her last appointment. Oh well.
So we took him in and before she even listened to him, she said that we could do his month visit. And I quote, "and we can even do vaccinations with a small cold". After listening to DS she told us that he indeed had croup. She prescribed steroids to open up his airway and we did do the well visit and the shots.
He weighs 16.5 lbs and is 25 3/4 inches long. He is in the 75% for his weight and 85% for his height. His head is in the 55%.
Fast forward to today. He is so pale and is miserable. When he is awake, he is whining. His eyes are swollen and he is miserable. I will not do vaccination again when he is sick. He just doesn't do well.
So, after reading this, it seems like I am annoyed with my ped. I am not. I still like her. I am just tired from having a sick baby. I was going to take a picture of his poor little face, but he just doesn't want to be put down and a picture is just not that important. Or is it??

Free Cricut??

2008-09-08T09:57:00.000-07:00

I don't normally find myself entering many giveaways, but this one I couldn't pass up. It's a contest going on at SITS (The secrets in the sauce). What a giveaway!! Check it out here. Here's to hoping!

Sit Back, Relax and enjoy the ride down Summer Memory Lane!

2008-09-04T19:23:00.000-07:00

Thanks to my awesome brother in law, Josh, and his sweet wife, Sarah, we are up and running again. Hopefully, what he did has allowed me to deal with my pictures again. If it is working, sit back....there is a ton!!! If not, I guess we will have to see what our next step may be. Now that school is back in session, time on the computer is little for me. Some of you may say, but she only works part time..... That's right, but the other part time job is watching 5 children under the age of 4. Teaching school is actually easier than being home with the kids.
So onto the summer report. I am going to start with May, as that was the beginning of MY summer. It was very nice to have an extra 5 weeks off this year. Are you ready??

May:
Our sweet son was born at the beginning of this month. What a great experience!! Everything went smootly and my recovery was great. Our sweet boy came into the world weighing 8 lbs. 10 ozs and was 22 inches long. He has a head full of black hair and quite the allstar around here.

Memorial Day: We headed to Delta to decorate my dad's headstone. DD#1 had a hard time understanding that Grandpa was in heaven, when her Grandpa Rick (my mom's husband now) was home and alright. It was nice to remember my sweet dad.

June:
We used our rebate this year for Lagoon passes. We went the first time on June 14th. DS was only 5 weeks old. It has been great fun being able to go whenever we wanted. We would go on Monday nights when it wasn't busy. Having the passes allowed us to go for a few hours here and there and not feel guilty for wasting all that money on one ticket. After the second time, we were attending for free. The girls have absolutely loved going all summer. It was (and still is) well worth our money. We are off this Saturday for DH's work party there. We will be doing Frightmares as well. So, we are still enj0ying that purchase. I don't have any pictures of the first few times. I knew I had all summer to take pictures and here we are at the end of the summer and well....no pictures. This is a picture of DD#2 after spending the day at Lagoon-A-Beach all day. She was falling asleep on the cooler.

We celebrated DD#2 second birthday. We had a playgroup that morning with water and a bbq that night. She chose to have a Winnie the Pooh cake. Needless to say, her birthday approached way too quick and I didn't plan her bday cake that great. Luckily, my sister gave her a cute card and I quickly cut it up and placed it on top.

DH and I took a quick weekend getaway and went to St. George for the night. We left on a

Saturday morning and came home Sunday night. Thanks Dad and Mom J for watching the girls. While in St. George, we went to Tuachan and saw Les Miserables. What an amazing and fun thing to do. I will NEVER grow tired of watching this musical. When the opening song began, I got teary eyed. I don't know if it was post partum emotions or emotions that reminded of my time on my mission. I think it was a little of both. We had a great time. DS (who we took with us) didn't want to sit the entire time, so I spent some time at the top holding him. He was so little. I can't believe that I thought he was so big. Thanks Dan and Kim for letting us stay with you. It was tons of fun. ** The picture is on the other camera. Sorry.

We attended DH's family reunion the next weekend. It was in a Monroe. It was great fun. They only hold it every 3 years. It was nice to see family members. The theme was Faith of our Fathers. Friday night, they had a Buckin Bronco and a rodeo for the kids. DH's cousin brought some of their farm animals and let the kids feed them and pet them. It was so much fun. On Saturday, the family gathered together and were placed in Hand Cart companies. DS didn't want anything to do with the Trek. He screamed and screamed while in the stroller. I made the decision that it was not worth it to go. It was a sad choice to make. I realized just what some of the pioneers faced. They didn't get to not go just because their baby was screaming. They had to push on and trek in all kinds of weather. I stayed back and watched all the items of the family. A funny side note. I was sitting in the town's park and enjoying the quiet time. There is a small hamburger joint across the street. I watched cars pull up and leave. I was quite shocked when a four-wheeler pulled up to the drive up window and ordered. That is one SMALL town. It made me miss my hometown. I enjoyed the quiet, slow pace of the place. All the companies came back with beet red faces and were so hot. I was glad that I didn't go with DS. The girls loved it and got to ride in the handcarts. It was so much fun.

July

July seemed to be a little less hectic than June. We didn't travel as much. It was nice.

We headed to Delta for the 4th. We love, love the 4th in Delta. It was so good to see family and enjoy the parade. We especially love to go to the park afterward and catch up with old friends. DH and DD#1 went to the derby. DD#2, DS and I stayed at Grandma B's and blew bubbles and watched the fireworks from her lawn. (So, it was only me. The other two were sound asleep) DD#1 had a blast and talked about it for days. For pictures watch this slide show.

We spent the 24th of July at home. DH had to work. We did go down to Lehi to have a bbq with my mom. Thanks mom. That night we lit fireworks. The girls had a blast except DD#2 when the neighbors let off the noisy ones. It was fun to be together as a family.

We blessed DS during this month. It was very nice and special. We also had our transformer catch on fire that day. I blogged about it a few blogs back. You can read about it here.

We celebrated DD#1's fourth birthday at the end of the month. We did almost exactly what we did for DD#2's. She wanted a princess cake. I don't know why my white cake sunk, but it did. The decorations were cute and then she got to enjoy them. She was thrilled to receive dress up items. She has got a lot of use out of that present.

August:
We went to St. George for an impromptu family reunion. We had a blast. On Saturday we went out to Sand Hollow and enjoyed riding in the boat and on the 3 man tube. We grilled hamburgers and hot dogs. The next day we had lunch (after church) at my mom's condo that they got. We enjoyed swimming in the pool later, as well. Monday, we went shopping for school clothes for DD#1. I am waiting on these pics from my sister in law.

School began. It was really hard going back to school this year. I think it was because DS was such a hard baby this summer. He really was very, very fussy. It made it very hard to handle. I really worried about the babysitters. I just didn't know if he was going to be okay with them or scream the entire time. I have had to watch screaming babies before and it is not fun. I just wanted him to be okay. he did pretty well over all. He is getting better and better everyday. I think that establishing a routine will help him out a ton.

We had some cousins over to make an invitation for a sister in laws baby shower. We pulled out the dress up and some make up that DD got for her birthday. They had a blast getting all dolled up.

September:
We spent the last weekend of August and the first day of September camping in American Fork Canyon. Labor Day in our family equals our HUGE family reunion. This is my family reunion. We are talking about 350 people attending. The girls had so much fun sleeping in the tent the first night with dad. I went down to my mom's because DS is still too young to sleep out. We had a great time seeing family members that we hadn't seen in a year.
On a sad note, my great uncle passed away a few days before, so we attended his funeral that Saturday.
DH's and my team took 2nd in the volleyball tourney. We had to alternate playing this year because we have so many children. :) Thanks mom for taking the girls to the children's crafts during the tourney. We appreciate all the help you give us with our kids.
That night during dinner, it started pouring rain. It was pouring so HARD!! Luckily our tent was under a huge oak tree, so most of the family congregated under there. Needless to say, DH went down the mountain that night. There were a few die hards, but not many. We are now just putting away things and getting things washed. It took a few days to get it all dried out.
My mom took pictures of the reunion and hasn't emailed me them yet. I will get this updated when I receive them.

On Sunday morning at 2:45 am, my youngest brother called and let us know that his wife had their 3rd child. They now have 2 girls and 1 boy. My mom, my sister, me and my youngest brother all have 2 girls and a boy. My brother just younger than I has 1 girl and 1 boy. We will see if he will follow the family plan. She is a cutey and we are excited to have her join our family. They are stationed in Japan with the Marines, so it may be a little while before we see her in person. They named her Raegan Aoibheanne. She is beautiful.

We have had a GREAT summer. DH, after 7 years of working Saturdays, finally had them off. We took full advantage of this. It has been so much fun. DD#1 starts preschool next week, so this is where I will end. I hope you all had a great summer as well.

DS has began to really show his personality lately. He has the cutest little laugh. He has started sitting up and eating. These are two big milestones. He also has finally started acting a little more calm. We are pretty sure he had colic and his stomach was bothering him. We are grateful he is calming down. We love him to bits.

Clarifying!!

2008-08-20T19:31:00.000-07:00

So, I just read the comment wondering what is 9 wonderful years. So for you Lisa, yes, we have been married for 9 years. Can you believe it? It was 10 years ago that we were first roomates. Are we really that old?
I had to go back to work this week, so no pictures yet. I am exhausted!! I will hopefully be back sometime in the near future (not promising anything) to update you all.

9 Wonderful Years!!

2008-08-13T21:52:00.000-07:00

It's another be back tomorrow with pictures and an update. We just got home and it is late. Just wanted the date to be posted.

Turning the Big 4!!

2008-07-31T20:18:00.001-07:00

DD#1 turned the big 4 today. She was so excited. What a wonderful day we had. We had a playgroup with friends and cousins in our backyard. We filled the small pool and had the sprinkers running under the tramp. I was running everywhere and completely forgot to take pictures. It was so fun to have cousins and friends come over for cupcakes and celebrate her birthday.
Tonight we had a BBQ with friends and family. We invited my side of the family and had so much food that we invited some friends over. It was fun and yummy. DD#1 wanted a princess cake for her birthday. I had been told that it was cute to buy a toy that they wanted and use it for the decorations. So, I attempted this. I don't know why white cakes never work out for me. Does anyone know the secret?? Anyway, it turned out pretty cute. The black writing icing was at it's end. The writing is a little skewed because of this. She loved it and then had a crown, earrings, a ring, and a necklace to play with later.
She got some great presents. She got a chest full of dress ups. She was in heaven tonight when she opened them and tried them on. She also got a Dora game and some fun magnets. From Grandpa and Grandma O, she got a singing machine that hooks up to the TV and lets them watch themselves sing and dance. So fun. From Aunt S. and her kids, she got a complete bedding set, with pillow and all, of Tinker Bell. She is so excited to go to sleep tonight.
We had a great day, but boy am I exhausted tonight. I'm glad that birthdays only happen once a year. Too bad that we have kids with May, June and July birthdays. Makes for a fun summer!!
Happy Birthday my doll!

ughhh!! I am seriously ready to throw this computer out the window. When I can get pictures off my camera and onto the computer, I will post them. Sorry!

Blessing Pictures

2008-07-31T15:08:00.000-07:00

We got his pictures back. Not too bad, aye?? I was glad that they turned out so well. We were in such a hurry. A good fried of ours had just got home from the hospital from having her baby. I had offered her to bring in dinner. I had one hour. When we got to the studio, DS was so cute and smiley. He was so happy. The people there were helping others and didn't get to us for about 20 mins. Well, as it always goes, DS got the hiccups and wasn't happy anymore. Everytime we tried to place him in the thing that sits them up, he would throw himself out of it. We did get a few good shots. We love him and think he is absolutely adorable.

Translating DD#2's language

2008-07-29T09:30:00.000-07:00

DD#2 has really begun to take off with her talking. I am really enjoying that she can speak to me in sentences. Things are still a little bit confusing, but with my translations right behind her speaking, most people can understand her. I am having to translate less and less though, because everyone says they are understanding her more and more.
Last night, we went to a nephew's birthday party. It was a swimming party and we had the entire pool to ourselves. It was so much fun. The only thing was in order to reserve the pool it had to be from 9 PM - 11 PM. So needless to say, I am awaiting the dreaded tantrums from lack of sleep.
Anyway, on the way home, DD#2 was asking for something. For the life of me, I couldn't understand her. She would say her word, and I would repeat what I thought it was that she wanted. She would then reply, "No". This went on for about 4 other times. She then gave up knowing that I was not going to understand.
This morning she came into me and said, "I want walka". I looked at her puzzled and said, "walka?" She looked at me with this "oh, here we go again." look and said "yes". So if any of you know what walka is. Please let me know, because she is still waiting for it.

7 years ago today...

2008-07-27T21:05:00.000-07:00

my dad passed away. In a way, I can't believe that it has already been 7 years, but in others it seems like it has been forever since hearing his voice or seeing him. We all still miss him terribly. We are so grateful for the knowledge of seeing him again. I love the memories that I have of him. My heart aches that my children will never know him in this life. But, we are so grateful to know that we will be with him again and for eternity.
I miss the talks that we would have. I miss hearing his voice. I miss his willingness to help in any way, shape or form. I miss the way that he would treat DH. I miss the gentleness of his spirit and how he was a peace maker to everyone.
I love him and I know that I will be with him again. Time does heal some of the pain, but not all. We love you Dad and miss you everyday.

Blessing Day and some Excitement!!

2008-07-21T09:20:00.000-07:00

We blessed DS on Sunday. It was a beautiful blessing and he was so calm. It was actually amazing how calm he was. I had many comments of how different he seemed today. Maybe we have turned a corner and he can be a bit happier with life.

DH did a wonderful job. I was more emotional with his blessing than with my DD's blessings. Unfortunately, because of all the running around, we didn't get a picture of him in his little outfit. It was also very hot and we took him out of the tux so he wasn't roasting hot. I think I might have to stage it and get some photos. I did take him to JCPenney's on Friday and will post those pictures of him in his outfit when we get them.

We had a lot of family, which is always fun. Thank you all for supporting us. We love our family and it is so nice to get together.

At 3:30, I was in my room feeding the baby when DH received a phone call. I then heard my sil say "What's going on?". This immediately piqued my interest and I finished nursing the baby. When I came out and asked I was told the Transformer in our backyard was on fire and smoking. DH told me that he had already called the Fire Department and they were on there way. I laughed and wondered what the neighbors were going to think when they saw the Fire Department in our front yard again.

**For those who don't know, in January of 2006 our oven malfunctioned and we had a pretty good house fire. We were out of our home for about 5 months while some of it was rebuilt.

Well, to make a long story short (because the baby is waking up). We waited 4 hours, without power, for the Power Company and then another 2 hours while they replaced the Transfomer. We got to chat a lot with our neighbors which was nice. The whole block was without power. We joked about having a lot of power over our neighbors :).

The power was turned on around 9:45 pm last night. Thank heavens we had overcast yesterday. It was hot, but not as hot as it could have been.

Better Late than Never...4th of July!

2008-07-17T11:24:00.001-07:00

2008-07-14T10:07:00.000-07:00

I am busily trying to get these done. Does anyone else think that the summer is moving WAY to fast?? I guess when you are having a ton of fun, it goes by quickly. All too soon, I will enter back into the working world with a new school year. Until then, I will try and get DS's pages done.

Scrapbooking

2008-07-09T04:52:00.000-07:00

We went to DH's family reunion (I have yet to blog about it) a few weeks ago. They had a silent auction and I donated some scrapbook pages to do for a family member. She hasn't sent me her pictures, so I thought it would be smart to get going on DS's pages before I am buried. Here are a few that I finished in the wee hours of the morning when I couldn't sleep. Enjoy!

Big Boy!!

2008-07-08T21:10:00.000-07:00

DS had his 2 month appointment today. Everything went well. He only cried for about 20 seconds after his shots. Poor little guy. We are going to be putting him on Zantac and see if it helps him with the acid reflux that we think he might. Another option is to put him on formula that supposedly doesn't have a lot of allergen ingredients for 3-4 days and see if it helps. I will have to pump so that we can return back to nursing. If this helps, it looks like I may have to go off of dairy, wheat and soy. Supposedly soy is in alot of food. I hope that the Zantac works because the formula is SO expensive. I don't know if I could go off of all those things either.
Anyway, the pediatrician was pleased with his progress. She was impressed with how he holds his head up.

His stats at two months are:
Head circumference: 16 inches (55%)
Weight: 13.5 lbs (75%)
Height 24 1/2 inches (95%)

He is growing great and we love every bit of him. I hope to get pictures up soon. Sorry to those that love to see pictures. I hope to resolve our computer problems soon.

Two Months Old!!

2008-07-06T22:40:00.001-07:00

I will be back tomorrow with pictures (hopefully) and stats on our little guy at 2 months.

He did it!!

2008-07-03T10:31:00.001-07:00

DS slept through the night. Yippee!! Happy, happy day for us. I went out to go grocery shopping and left ALL the kids with DH. When I came home, DS was asleep in the swing. When I headed off to bed, I was sure he would want to nurse before sleeping in his bassinet. He didn't even stir. So I got myself prepared for waking up an hour or two after I fell asleep. I heard him stir and looked at the clock... 6:30 AM. Are you kidding me?? I was so happy. He has finally calmed down some (knock on wood), as well. It sure has helped with my sanity.

In other news, we are headed to Delta for the 4th of July. This will be the 3rd weekend in a row for us to go somewhere. I guess after having a husband who has worked almost every Saturday in 7 years and then finally having them off, makes for a whirlwind of fun. We are making up for the lack of being able to go anywhere for that long of a time.

I have been having trouble with "my pictures" on my computer. It seems to freeze up when I want to upload to Blogger. This is why I have been absent for a few weeks. I went to the hospital to have DS and all was well. When I returned, my computer was slower and "my pictures" have been acting out. Hmmm?? Could it be some games that were installed and unistalled while I was gone?? I guess I will never know. Anyway, I will probably have a huge post with many, many pictures to share when we get back and get it looked at. But for now, Happy 4th of July everyone.

Happy 2nd Birthday Sweet Girl!!

2008-06-17T22:29:00.000-07:00

Our second daughter turned two today. Actually, she will turn two in 20 minutes from this post. We have had a wonderful day. It started out with her cousins and friends coming over and playing in the water, the small pool and the sprinklers. It was so much fun and the kids did great. The weather was nice, the water was freezing!!

Tonight, we went down to my mom's and Rick's house for a bbq and swimming. It was so much fun and the kids always have a great time swimming with Grandma. Thanks so much mom and Rick for a wonderful dinner and fun. DD2 loved her "Pooh" cake. She started to dig in and we all stopped her. What a change from the first bday. We all want them to dig in and they don't. Oh well. We had a fun day.

Birthdays always make you remember back to the day that these little ones entered the world. I woke up the morning of June 17th thinking that maybe my water had broke. I didn't know and had promised my niece a day at the zoo for her birthday on the 22nd. We went to eat first and I decided to call Labor and Delivery to ask what to do. They told me to come in and get checked. I felt so bad to cancel the zoo plans that I forgoed going in and went to the zoo. It was a lot of fun and hot! The hills at Hogle Zoo can be treacherous when you are 9 months pregnant and pushing a toddler in a stroller. We decided to watch the bird show to relax and catch our breaths. This is when I felt like maybe we should possibly go and stop at the hospital on the way home. After the bird show finished, I told my family that we needed to head out and take a detour to the hospital. I wasn't having any contractions, but just felt more like my water may have broke.

So the whole crew went with me to the hospital. When they checked me the paper immediately changed and they knew that my water had broke. They told me that I would have a baby in my arms within the next two hours. I had to call my husband at work and tell him to get there quickly. The nurse that admitted was pretty rude and couldn't believe that I would go to the zoo IF I thought my water had broken. The problem with both of my first two pregnancies is that my water breaks at the top and trickles. I couldn't believe that she was so rude. When a new nurse would come in after the delivery, they would acknowledge that they had heard that I went to the zoo instead of coming in. I guess I was a great topic of discussion for them. Anyway, we sat around for quite some time and they came in and said that I had been bumped because of an emergency. Now, the way that the nurse had talked to me, I thought I was an emergency. It was almost harder sitting around waiting to have a C-section than actually progressing. At least, a nurse would come and tell you progress if you were laboring. We just sat, and sat and sat. Well, after being bumped 4 times for emergencies, I was taken back and we had our sweet little girl at 11:49 pm. I was a little bummed because if it had been 11 minutes later, she would have been born on Father's Day. What a great present for DH.

We have really enjoyed this little girl. She is a sweetheart and has a special place in both of our hearts. I have mentioned her personality in previous posts and nothing much has changed except adding the terrible two's tantrums.

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl. We are so grateful for you and we are grateful for the blessing you have been.

Nathan's Announcement

2008-06-17T08:33:00.000-07:00

My cute sister in law wants to get into photography and asked for volunteers. I think we were both shocked at how hard it is to photograph a newborn without the props that the stores have. She did a great job though. I have yet to get Nathan's pictures done. By now, DD#1 ands 2 two had been in for pictures at this point. It is true that the younger children get "jipped" when it comes to photos. We are taking all three kids in for their yearly pictures and DS's blessing pictures in the next month, so I am not doing too bad. Here is what we will send out to you. I hope I have your addresses. If not, send me an email and I will get one sent. It will also tell you all the info for his blessing. We are blessing him on July 20th. You are all welcome.

One Month Old!!

2008-06-06T21:42:00.000-07:00

DS is one month old today. Time really does go by quickly when you have your hands full with a newborn. DS has had his ups and downs this past month. At around 2 weeks, he became very fussy. We didn't know what it was, but for me it meant go off of sugar. I didn't think he was going to have the same things as my two girls had, but it seemed to calm him some. I enjoy snacking on nuts when I can't have sugar. So out came the nuts. And out came the monster from within his body. I quickly learned that he does not handle nuts too well. So, off of that. It took a good two weeks to understand what he needs. He is nursing a ton and wasn't getting what he needed. Luckily, I had pumped and froze bottles, so I started thawing a bottle out and he would fill up on another ounce after nursing on both sides. Wow!! He was hard to keep up with. He has finally settled down and we are enjoying him more and more. He has shown a few smiles. He showed his first to Aunt Stef. They have a special bond and I am glad she is getting this. Her children were lifesavers for me when we were going through our infertility. I could be okay with life because they loved me and treated me so special. So, I am glad to return the same things through DS.

Some of the things DS is doing at one month....cooing, smiling (very random), holding his head up, looking around and seeing better, eating a ton, pooping a ton and not sleeping near as much. Did I mention that he is eating and pooping a ton??

With DD#2, I began taking her monthly pictures in the same object every month. I took her pictures in the pink chair that DD#1 had received the Christmas before. I didn't think it would be nice to DS if I did the same for him. So, I had to come up with a new spot.

This is Grandpa C's beloved chair. I was lucky enough to get it to rock my sweet babies in. There were many nights that I would sit on the arm of this chair and get a "rock" from my dad. I thought it would be a great place to see his progress. We attemped to get him to sit up straight and look at the camera, but no such luck. This is the best we got.

Here he is "chillin" during the photo shoot.

We are still completely in love with this little guy. The girls are finally not acting out and seem to have adjusted to our new little addition. We love each one of them and feel so blessed to have them in our family.

First Time at Church!!

2008-06-01T20:45:00.001-07:00

After taking DS all over yesterday, we figured he was good to go to church. Isn't he a handsome boy? We are excited for him to begin smiling so his pictures aren't all so serious.
We only made it through the first hour. DD#2 doesn't go to nursery on her own (yet) and I didn't want to take him in there with him still being young. I wasn't going to attempt the last two hours on my own with the two of them. DH has to teach primary and it is very distracting for him to have to take DD#2. It was a good start and we are so excited to see our little man grow in the Gospel.

Memorial Day

2008-05-26T17:54:00.000-07:00

Growing up Memorial Day was just another holiday that we loved. The reason we loved it so much was because it meant the beginning of summer and school was out. We loved that we were able to sleep in, except the few years that Grandpa Christensen (my dad's dad) would have us meet at the cemetary and tell us stories that seemed oh, so boring. Little did I know that I was missing out on some very interesting life history stories of our families. If we only knew then what we knew now, right?
Memorial Day became something different to me about 7 years ago. I guess when you lose someone that you are very close to, it changes the holiday forever. My dad passed away 7 years ago this July. What a life changing event to go through. We miss him terribly and we are so grateful for the time that he was here with us. We are grateful for the Gospel and the knowledge that we will be together with him again. There are still many times that I think of my dad and wonder what life would be like with him here. I know that my kids would just adore him and he would adore them. I know that DH would still insist on weekends in Delta so he could play golf with my dad. I know that Dad and Mom would spend many weekends with their grandchildren. Time has healed some of the pain, but you still ache to hear his voice, hug him and even the occasional "rock a bye" on "his chair" is missed.

We went to Delta for a quick trip yesterday after church. My mom came along and we spent a few hours playing dominoes with Grandma B and then we went and decorated Dad's headstone. The night before we went to the store to find something that the kid's could place for Grandpa C. I looked at the flowers and thought maybe. I looked at the fake "grandpa" flower things and thought no way. I ended up wanting personal that each of the kids could make (well, at least the girls) and would look cute. I came up with the posters.

Sunday morning, before church, DD#1 and I sat down and wrote her letter to Grandpa C. She, of course, wanted to write about anything that she saw. She wanted to tell him how grateful she was for the pencils, for the posters, for the paint (that she was going to use) and so on. I had to guide her in the right direction. She came up with most of what it said. *** Side note...I was hesistant to put on their that she can't wait to see him again, because part of me is a little superstitious. I couldn't bare the thought of losing my children. So, she can't wait to see him again, but only after a LONG life filled with children, grandchildren and great-granchildren. There now I can be okay about it.

DD#2 didn't say too much, but we helped her along as well. She loved placing her hands in the paint and was sure proud of her poster to Grandpa C.

And, of course, DS didn't really say anything at all. I didn't even get around to doing his hands. I thought it was just too hard with his newborn jerks to try and keep us all clean.
We got out to the cemetary around 8 pm. It began to rain as we entered the entrance. DH stayed in the van with DS and the rest of us got out and decorated the site. I wanted to get some cute pictures of my girls, but the rain was coming down pretty good. So we got a shot and we stayed a few minutes and then ran back to the van. DD#1 kept asking my mom why she was crying. She just didn't understand. It is hard for an almost 4 year old to understand that her grandpa is in Heaven, when Grandpa R. (my mom's husband) is here and healthy. Here little feelings for everyone got the better of her and she began to cry.

It was nice to visit and see my family. It was nice to return to my dad's headstone and remember many, many things. Not one day goes by without remembering him, but we do know that we will see him again. Thank heavens for that knowledge.

2 Weeks Old!!

2008-05-20T20:33:00.000-07:00

We cannot believe that our little man is two weeks old!! It's amazing how fast the past couple of weeks have gone by.

We took DS to the pediatrician today for his 2 week visit.

His stats are:

Weight: 9 lbs. 9 ozs.

Height: 22 1/2 inches

He has gained some weight, but not much height. We are still doing well. He is a great baby and we love him to bits. I wanted to add some not so calm moments too.

Growing Up!

2008-05-14T07:59:00.000-07:00

I have blogged recently about my other two children, I thought I should blog a little about DD#2. We were so worried about our little man joining our family and having DD#2 not adjust well. We didn't think that she would let her daddy even touch the baby. To our great surprise, she has done very, very well. She is so gentle and sweet with him. She will walk up to him and say, "Hi baby!" and then go on her merry way. We thought we were going to have to hide the baby away so that she couldn't get near him. I think that this will not be a problem.

Another thing about her, is that she is growing up so fast. When I came home from the hospital, she was talking so much more. It was so fun to hear her. We think that she had to be understood by grandma. Grandma didn't understand her grunts like Mom and Dad did. So she learned how to talk. She is also holding her own with her older sister. This has caused me a lot of stress as now the two of them fight. And wouldn't you know, it is always when I am nursing the baby. Great timing??

DD#2 always loves to stand on the fireplace while I search the internet. She loves to look at the pictures of everyone. This morning she was standing next to me and this is what I saw. She is so grown up all the sudden. Her hair is so long and she doesn't look like a baby anymore. I guess they do all grow up, but it just seems like yesterday we were bringing her home to our family. We love you, sweetie!

One Week Old!!

2008-05-13T20:50:00.001-07:00

Our little man is one week old today. I can't believe that a week ago, we were meeting him for the first time. He is such a great baby. We were worried in the hospital because he was fussy. Turns out, he was starving!! He is doing so well now. We can't think of life without him. We love him so much.

Soccer, Soccer, Soccer

2008-05-13T10:41:00.000-07:00

DD#1 had her first soccer game a few weeks ago. Her dad is the coach. She is so proud of her soccer jersey and the #5 that she tells everyone is her number. DH has a team of 10 3-4 year olds. He actually has more 3 year olds than 4 year olds. His job is to coach and referee them for about 48 minutes. I don't think he knows what he got himself into. The first game was actually cancelled. We had snow and the coaches decided to cancel. When DH told the lady in charge, she told him that they wouldn't reschedule it because they weren't the ones to cancel it. They are 3 year olds. They were drenched and freezing. The next game was nice and sunny. He can only have 6 players at a time. He decided who to start and the others sat on the sidelines patiently waiting. We thought it was going to be a problem to find kids to want to stay out. Well, it was the exact opposite. Once they were out, most of them didn't want anything to do with going back in. All of us parents tried so hard to get them back onto the field. At one point, there were only 3 kids on the field. DH couldn't believe just how hard it would be. But overall, they did well. I think things will get better when the kids feel more comfortable with playing.

First Bath!!

2008-05-11T09:02:00.000-07:00

One of the many things that I liked about delivering at the new IMC was that they bathed the babies in your room when you were ready. Both of the girls were taken to the nursery and bathed while I was in the recovery room. Little Nathan was bathed right in my room after I had left the recovery room. I loved that I was able to be there for it. He loved his bath!! He was so calm and looked like he was chilling in the water. Even now, at home, he loves his baths.

Here are some of the cute photos of him and his first bath.

All Clean!!

He is HERE!!

2008-05-09T21:08:00.001-07:00

We are proud to announce the arrival of our 3rd child (1st son) DS#1. DS#1 was born on May 6th, 2008 at 8:18 AM. He came into the world screaming and fighting. He weighed in at 8 lbs. 10 ozs. and is 22 inches long. We are still trying to decide who he looks like. I think we all agree that he looks most like his older sister DD#2. DH's parents came over tonight and swear that he looks exactly like he did as a baby.

We arrived on Tuesday morning at 6 AM for the scheduled C-section. It was actually quite nice because everything was relaxed. We checked in and was put in the prep room. The nurse was very sweet. It seem to take forever to have everything set in place. The doctor came in and said "Let's have a healthy baby". The anesthiologist came in and asked if I had any questions. I told him about my experience with DD#2 and how I couldn't breathe. I told him that it took all of my power to stay calm the last time, but didn't know if I could stay that calm and might panic. He told me they would have to put me out if that was the case and he didn't want to do that. He told me not to worry and he would take care of it. My mom was there and asked the anesthesiologist if this cute grandma could come in. He hesistated, but let her come. She was so excited. So DH and my mom got in their attire and we were set. We all walked to the OR. The anesthesiologist then had me lay on my side and started with a spinal block. He told me he was going to do things a little different. He only put in less of the spinal block that he normally does and then he put in a epidural catherter in case I was able to feel anything. I thought that was pretty smart. If the spinal wasn't enough and I could feel them, he could immediately put in the epidural medicine. He then told me that I would start to feel the numbing in my legs and to let him know when I could feel my fingers tingling. I was so nervous as I felt my body numbing. All I wanted was to not have it go past my chest and make my brain think that I wasn't breathing. It did stop at my fingers. I was SO EXTREMELY RELIEVED!! I had a blessing by my DH and his father on Sunday night, for this exact reason. In the blessing, I was told that I would have no complications from the spinal. I am so grateful for the Priesthood. I know that the blessing helped tremendously.

The surgery began and I could feel pressure but not pain. My mom and DH would tell me what they were doing. I guess when they got the forceps to open up my belly, DH had to sit down. They then said, "there is his head". What a rush of emotions come over you when you know your child is here. I heard a scream and knew that he was here. There was meconium in the water, so they quickly got him out and rushed him over to the pediatricians. DH immediately went over to be with the baby, while my mom stayed with me while they stitched me up. She continued to give me a play by play of what they were doing. I heard them pounding on Nathan's back and suctioning quite a bit. DH came over and said that he is struggling some and my need to go to the Nursery to get added assistance. I was hoping he wouldn't have to. They did seem to help him and he didn't have to go. He still was grunting some, but not enough to take him away. When they were finished, they wheeled me back to recovery and then up to my room.

The whole experience was great!! The doctor did say that we could probably have one more. But that is something that we will discuss in the future.

Nathan is a great baby. He is nursing like a champ. Something my girls never did. He has had his fussy times, but seems to be doing well. We got home yesterday and had a rough day. The girls are testing the waters and mom's baby blues aren't helping with dealing with it. We will all be okay though. It is nice to have DH here today. He is being so great with everything.

We feel so blessed to have this special spirit with us fresh from Heaven. We look forward to the many days ahead with our sweet little man.

The Last Day!!

2008-05-05T11:41:00.000-07:00

Here on my last day of being pregnant with this little guy, is my list of lasts until the next time.

*Last day of work for the school year.
*Last day the girls go to Lisa's until next school year.
*Last day of being pregnant with little DS#1.
*Last day of feeling this little boy inside of me.
*Last day to get the last minute things done.
*Last day to be a family of 4.
*Last day of saying "the girls". It will now be the kids.
*Last day of DD#2 being my baby.
*Last day of being a mother to only girls.
*Last day to get a semi full night of sleep.
*Last night of having the excuse of not being able to pick up the girls, so DH has to wake up with the girls. (well, I may have 6 weeks left of this).
*Last day to be huge and pregnant.
*Last day to have my hands ache because of the carpal tunnel (I hope this goes immediately away)
*Last day to have sugar while I am nursing.
*Last day to have the excuse to eat anything, because I am pregnant.
*Last day for DH to be the only boy in the house.
*Last night to have to sleep on my side with a body pillow.
*Last day to only have 2 carseats in the car.
*Last day to go out to the store with only 2 children.
*Last day to have enough hands for my children.
*Last day for DH and I to each take a child.
*Last day for only having a diaper and some wipes in the diaper bag.
*Last day to not have to mop the floors. (blast)

We go in tomorrow morning at 6 AM for my scheduled C-section at 7:30 AM. We are so excited to meet this little guy.

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!!

2008-04-30T13:45:00.000-07:00

Today is DH's 31st birthday. Happy Birthday sweetheart. We are so lucky to have you as a father and a husband. You truly are the greatest. DH has worked so hard over the last couple of days. I have been deathly ill and he has been great!! Not only has he worked hard all day, he comes home and works almost harder. He has been taking care of all of us. He takes the girls out to give me a break and then comes home to make dinner and get the girls bathed and in bed. I couldn't ask for anyone one else. He is the love of my life and I am so grateful that I have eternity to be with him. So, Happy Birthday my love!

SINGLE DIGITS!!!

2008-04-27T19:31:00.001-07:00

As you can see from the sidebar, we are now in SINGLE DIGITS!! I can't believe it. I feel like all I do is talk about this little guy arriving. Bear with me for 9 more days. I do have fun pics of the girls from a couple of weekends ago that I will post someday. The camera is in the car (just in case). I will have to get it out and download the fun.
DD#1 has her first soccer game on Wednesday. I will take pics and post them. DH is her coach and she is so excited. We got her uniform on Saturday and the shorts she got went down to her ankles. We had to search around other teams for a smaller pair. Luckily, we found some and they go down to her calves. Her soccer socks go up to her armpits when we hold them next to her. We don't need to get her any shin guards because Dh could wrap the socks up and down twice over her shins to create some. She is so little. We are so excited for her. She is also very excited.
I had a false alarm last Thursday. My worst nightmare came true. I thought my water had broke and I spent all day getting everything ready with subs and such. To find out, it did not. The nurse was great and didn't make me feel like a fool. I think he is comfortable and won't come out without the eviction notice that has been given. Here is to 9 more days (and counting).

Catching Up (Again!)

2008-04-22T21:48:00.000-07:00

I just looked at this blog and realized that it has been 2 weeks since I last posted. I couldn't believe it. Where did the time go?? I have been busy trying to scrapbook as much as possible, because I know there are a lot of pictures that come with a new baby. I want to be 100% caught up by the time he comes. Which, by the way, is 2 WEEKS from today. Oh my!!! Am I ready?? I had a dr. appointment yesterday and had a slight scare with my blood pressure. For a moment, I thought he was going to join our family yesterday. But, with a little rest, my blood pressure went down. it is a good thing and a bad thing. Good, because I don't want him to be too early and have to spend time in the NICU. Bad, because we just found out that we have double coverage until the end of April. What a blessing it would be if we could have him and be doubly covered. So, we are really hoping something happens this weekend.
Anyway, we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of this little guy. The girls are so excited and continually come up and speak to him through my belly. I did get a glimpse of how DD#2 may react. I watch two little boys age 3 and 8 months every afternoon. DH picked up the 8 month old and DD#2 about had a fit. I don't know if DH will get to hold the baby when DD#2 is around. DD#1 has promised that she is going to change the baby's diapers and feed him. I guess she will think otherwise at 2 in the morning.

Update on this little guy!!

2008-04-08T14:39:00.000-07:00

I had a request to update you on this pregnancy that is coming to end very soon. Too soon somedays, but not soon enough, on other days. I am 35 weeks along. I have a scheduled C-section for May 6th at 7:30 AM. It seems so surreal to think that in less than a month, we will be welcoming our third child into our family. I spent some of last weekend getting the nursery ready. It was so weird putting away all the pink stuff and getting out some blue things. We are still wanting to paint, but that may take a back seat to it all.
As far as school goes, I am having a hard time not checking out with the students. I am pretty uncomfortable and tired. I think I only have like 15 school days left. I have all my sub plans done and copies ran. We are just waiting for our little boy to arrive. I can wait, as I don't want him to be too early and have complications. So here is to 4 more weeks.

Back, Sort of.....

2008-04-02T06:34:00.001-07:00

Well, I have avoided posting on here because we still don't quite know what we are going to do with the internet. We are looking into cheaper options still. I will have to do a catch up post soemtime soon. I just wanted to share some recent pics of my dd's. This is Easter Morning and I love the love they are showing to each other. I thought the saying went perfect with it.

Also, here is a shout out to my Aunt Paula. Happy Birthday Paula! We love you!!

Goodbye Blogging World

2008-01-17T07:57:00.000-08:00

We had a change in employment and we are cutting back. The first to go: Internet!! I can get on the internet at the school, but blogger is blocked by the district. I can still get on my family website, but that's about it. So, it is goodbye for now. I hope we can find an alternate for this, but for the moment we are really trying to help with the bills and this seems to be the most logical to go. Goodbye to all, it was fun while it lasted.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

2007-12-25T21:49:00.001-08:00

It is late and I am exhausted. I will come back with details and pictures. It was a great day and we had some great experiences. I will be back.

I'M BACK!!! Finally. My cousin's wife (Jennie) put her Christmas in a slide show. I thought it was a great idea rather than uploading all the million of pics I took. Anyway, enjoy. We had a great day!! D1 stills says that she misses Christmas.

Merry Christmas Eve!!!

2007-12-24T12:19:00.000-08:00

If you are all anxious and can't wait for tomorrow, take you mind off and watch our family once again. We added our new baby into the mix. Only a few more hours until we find out if we have a new little boy or girl coming!! We are so excited.
I hope the holiday season is finding you well!! We love you all.

Together We Can

It's A........

Special Spirits!

A Dream....

A decade.....

Fathers Day!

Halloween 2010

School Photos

UEA Weekend!

Better Late than Never, right?

School Days are Here Again!

Nine Years!

Gas Rodeo!

Dance!

Birthday Girl!

Mill Hollow

Final Days of Kindergarten

Summers a Movin!

Teacher Appreciation!

Birthday Boy!

Out of the mouth of Babes!

Wow!!

Merry Sickmas

Christmas Card!

First Day of Nursery!

School Pictures

Halloween 2009

A Real Hero!!

First Day of Kindergarten!!

10 Fantastic Years!!

Pictures

DD's 5th Birthday Party!

Update Coming Soon!

I am One!!

The Fabulous 4th of July!!

The Birthday Cake!!

Father's Day Gifts

Last Packed Lunch of the School Year!!

The pictures of the scenery!

It's Over!!

Last day of Preschool!

Bees Game

5th Grade Music Production!!

Happy Birthday Little Man!

1st Birthday Party!!!

He is turning ONE!!

Happy Easter!!

Healthy Habits Challenge.....who's in???

Earrings

And the Winners are....

Pay it Forward!!

A Giveaway!!

9 Months Old

Picture Princess Contest

Picture Princess Contest

Are you ready for some PHOTOS??

We are still alive!!

Six Months Old!!

It Never Hurts to Ask

School Photo!!

More Photos!!

Photo Shoot!!

My Sweet Children!!!

In Search of a Google Reader Expert!!

Happy Birthday Dad and 1 year later....

Blasted Dr. Appointments!!

Free Cricut??

Sit Back, Relax and enjoy the ride down Summer Memory Lane!

Clarifying!!

9 Wonderful Years!!

Turning the Big 4!!

Blessing Pictures

Translating DD#2's language

7 years ago today...

Blessing Day and some Excitement!!

Better Late than Never...4th of July!

More Pages

Scrapbooking

Big Boy!!

Two Months Old!!