Monday Memories

So first off, this Monday memory doesn't include Colton and Audrey. This was before they were with us. But I have to include a picture of them on here, I just couldn't leave them out. These are 2 random pictures that I took of them with my new camera.

Look at those big beautiful blue eyes. He has the biggest blue eyes I've ever seen! I just love this momma's boy! (Ignore the cookie dough lips)

This is my precious little "momma." She loves her baby dolls. She's giving this one some kisses. She's been so sweet to have in our family.

My Monday memory is our wave running days. We spent hours and hours every week at the lake wave running. We'd go for a few hours in the evening during the week and spend the majority of the day on Saturdays at Willard Bay. Honestly, I don't know how we afforded it since we had just gotten out of the Marine Corps and didn't have a full time job. It was a rather crazy time for us. But I loved those carefree times spent on the water. I loved gliding over the water and seeing what I could get the wave runner up to. It was exhilarating just feeling the wind in my hair. We spent so much time there that even Nate grew to love being on the wave runners and he was only like 3 and 4, I think. I can recall finally getting Mom convinced to ride one but only after Jason and Danny agreed to be on each side of her. And only then did she head in a straight line-one loooooooooong line. Eventually making her way back in the same straight path. (hehehe mom)

All this fun began because Jason bought this "Cadillac" of a waverunner. It was our old reliable one, the only one Mom would get on. Then we decided that "1" just wasn't enough for all of us to share. Then eventually we all pooled some money together and bought 2 more. So eventually we were up to 4 wave runners. Plus we had Aaron's boat to play with. We really did have some fun at Willard Bay. Then when it lost all it's water we had to search else where for our fun. We made our next choice Echo Reservoir and that was an awesome lake too. And on occasion we'd go to Bear Lake. That by far is the best, more beautiful lake but unfortunately too far to boat frequently.

We loved those 2 years of being beach bums. It really was a blast. One day we'd like to be able to let Colton and Audrey experience the same thing. We'd love to one wave runners again and make a trip to Lake Powell with them. Oh, Lake Powell is an awesome place too but that for another Monday Memory. 

Now one to our pictures  of Monday Memories.

Look at my guys at Bear Lake. Nate and Josh are just so little and super blonde from all the sun.

Nathan loved playing in the sand. I loved that this tent kept Nate out of the sun while playing. We definitely got our use out of it.

Me and my Nate on our wave runner. And yes, I did take Nate out on it. I'd even let him steer on occasion. He's always seemed older to me. And look at that beautiful blue lake behind us.

Who wouldn't be happy playing in the sand with a sucker in his hand. Josh did go through many suckers that day because they'd get sandy.

Mommy and Josh. We were just posing here, I didn't take him out on it. I think he'd just come off of a boat ride.

Look at those 2 little boys all dirty and happy as can be. Still can't get over their blonde hair

OK, I included this one of Jason and Tilisa because this was one of the first times Tilisa came with us. They had just barely begun dating. And lets just say Jason was so twitter-patted. We had 4 wave runners and had always relied on him to help us load them all in but that all changed when they started dating. He wouldn't leave her side-he had abandoned us, left us hanging in the air to figure it out on our own. Thanks Jas:) But we're glad Tilisa's in the family.

Danny was cleaning of all the wave runners. It wouldn't have been possible to be out on the water without him. His handy mechanical expertise really saved our butts on a number of occasions. Wave runners are a fickle little machine. You have to handle them with care or else they stop working. And Danny spent countless hours on the shoreline figuring out what was wrong. Thanks babe for being so handy that we could have so much fun on them. 

And finally, the boys also loved being on the boat. Nate was our flag man in this photo.  It was almost guaranteed that one of them would fall asleep on the ride. We loved riding in Uncle Aaron's boat.

Jan 27, 2012 Question

Today's question was pulled by Colton.

Do you remember any special feelings you had as a child? (fears, fantasies, spiritual experiences, etc.)

      Hmm, this seemed like a loaded question to me. There are so many different paths I could go down. I guess first thing that comes to mind is experiences that my children have not been able to experience at this time. We live on a street but I grew up in a neighborhood. And the majority of that neighborhood was LDS. It was a neighborhood filled with young families. As a child we were able to spend time playing with kids all the time. I remember spending hours in our sandbox and swing set with other kids. Our swing set was well used and loved. I remember spending hours riding my bike around the neighborhood and feeling completely safe even when it was dark outside. I could walk around the neighborhood and name most of families that lived there. I honestly can't even put a number on the number of kids that were in my grade level.

     I do know that there had to be at least a dozen girls that were my exact age that I went to church with. I can think back to growing up in the Syracuse 8th ward and being close to my young women friends. I've lost touch with many of them now, but fortunately I still keep in touch with one friend and visit when we go to Utah. I can remember that for me and many others, we loved spending time doing things with each other at young women's activities. And going camping we loved going camping as a ward and didn't like going as a stake, on the rare instances that we were split up, we very much despised that.

     Another experience that I grew up with was living very close to all my relatives. With the exception of 2 Uncles. But I loved spending my weekends with my grandparents and aunts and uncles. I recall, we had many sleep-overs at both sets of grandparents. Me and my brothers would always ask to sleep over. We spent many nights sleeping in my grandpa's camper and hearing train whistles go by all night. Or at my other grandma's house waiting in anticipation for the next day to come so we could spend all day in the pool. And we did-and much credit goes to grandma for sitting next to that pool for hours on end. We had countless BBQ's  Sunday dinners, and holiday dinners at their houses.

     I had a really great childhood. It was filled with lots of family, friends and church members. I had (have)  really great parents that provided many wonderful experiences for my as a child. This is just how I'm able to summarize my memories of my childhood.  Sometimes it's hard for me to accept that my children are really OK even though they are not experiences that same kind of childhood I had. For me their childhood is completely opposite of mine.  I lived in a neighborhood, they live on a street with no kids around. I had many, many friends my age in my ward; they have a small group of kids their ages in the ward. I lived by all my family, they live by no family. Thus since it's on the opposite spectrum of my "great" childhood, their childhood has to be "bad." That's how my thinking is, so it's a battle I fight to correct that thinking. We provide well for them. They do have friends. They enjoy their church classes. They love their visits to Utah and they love having visitors come here. They get so excited to get a package from their grandma and grandpa. In the end, they'll never experience what I did, but that doesn't mean that they won't turn out "normal." I hope: ) 

Jan. 24th 2012

     To continue with my better blogging resolution I have a jar of questions that is meant to help with journaling. It's just various questions to help you think of things to write down in your journal. Well, honestly, I'm really not going to write in my journal but I will blog. So, today I had Aurey pull out my first question.

What is the best thing that has happened to you so far? The worst?

     Well, I'm going to start with the worst because their are so many good things to decide upon. The very worst thing that happened to me was hands down, loosing my little Lidia. That was the worst day of my life to find out that she was gone-not going to be with us. I can still vividly remember the day I discovered she hadn't moved. It was a Sunday. We lived in California. We taught 5/6 year olds in primary. I was huge!!! But I no longer felt pregnant as strange as that sounds. But I recall getting home and starving for dinner. But we couldn't cook our food because we had no power because of rolling black outs in California. I remember not wanting to tell Danny that I hadn't felt her. I tried eating and drinking and moving around and nothing. I remember trying to find her heart beat with a heart doppler and being unsuccessful. I remember we went to bed praying harder than we had ever prayed in our lives. Danny asked to be woken up no matter what time it was. I remember the solemn ride over to the hospital to be checked out. I recall the nurse telling us not to worry, that she'd look and find our baby safe and sound. I recall her trying with the heart doppler, then the ultrasound machine, then turning the volume up more and more. I can remember her going over the heart and seeing her 4 chambers, silent and still. I can recall how the nurses demeanor went from happy to somber and concerned. She told us not to worry and she'd get a doctor in to help her. I remember finally being told and Danny and I fell apart.

     I remember having to set up an induction. I remember leaving that day not knowing how I was going to break the news to people. I had so many calls to make that day and none of them easy. In fact they were the hardest I had to make. It was the hardest thing in my life to say that my baby had died-I could barely get them out before I was inconsolable.

     Then I recall holding my beautiful, perfect, round baby in my arms. She was a beautiful, dark curly hair chunk. She looked beautiful. I think she'd have looked like Colton but with curly hair. She was just perfect. I remember not wanting to prolong the process and eventually letting her go with Dr's.

     And lastly I think the last thing that I'll never forget is watching my husband carry a small white casket in his hand. Carrying it ever so tenderly because that was his daughter in there. That image is burned into my memory forever. I remember feeling like the worst mother because I had to leave my baby in the cold hard ground. That may sound illogical but she was mine. She was my baby and will always be my  perfect little baby.

     So, there you have the worst thing that I've experienced. And even to this day, almost 10 years later (Sept), I was still crying as I write this and remember this. It forever changed my life. I have found peace with it. It doesn't always hurt anymore. Having my other 4 children really helped my heal. But I occasionally wonder what it would be like to have a 9 1/2 girl running around our house right now. Luckily, I know she is in Heaven and gained her exaltation. She didn't have to suffer through the trials of life, she only needed a body. And for that I'm happy to know exactly where she stands. One day I will be with my little girl again.

     Now on to the best thing in my life. At first I immediately came up with something that I got yesterday but that's temporal. There really are a lot of good things that I have experienced in my life. But honestly the first thing that I seriously came up with was Danny. Marrying him was the best thing I've done.

     From the moment we met it was just an instant relationship. He was so easy for me to talk to him. We understood each other. I didn't have to try and be anyone but myself. We had fun together.  I can't explain how we just knew instantly that it was right. That we were meant to be together. We have always had good communication with each other. After 10 years we don't  always agree on one anothers view points but we work at. He's always been the one I can tell anything to. I enjoy having him come home from work, spending time together on his days off, going on vacation together. If I want to do something or go somewhere, he's the one I want to do with it.  I'm so glad that I have him in my life. That is the best thing that I've had happen to me: my marriage.

Boys' Spotlight

I mentioned in one of my posts that I wanted to be better at doing blogging. I wanted to include things on here that I usually don't mention or talk about. This is my journal after all. Although it's fun to look at all the pictures and what we've done I want to have more personal things on here too. So, today I'm going to start with a post about the boys. I came up with some questions and asked them all the same thing. I couldn't ask Audrey so I came up with some for her.

Nathan
What is your favorite color?  Gold and Silver
What is your favorite show? Magi-Nation
What would you do with $1million? Buy a trampoline and 100 video games
How old is Mom? 31
How old is Dad? 32
What is your favorite food? Home made pudding
What is your favorite toy? Legos
What do you want to be when you grow up? Secret Agent

Joshua
What is your favorite color? Green and black
What is your favorite show? Inspector Gadget
What would you do with $1million? Buy Tons of Beyblades
How old is Mom? 15
How old is Dad? 17
What is your favorite food? Mac n Cheese
What is your favorite toy? Playing with cars
What do you want to be when you grow up? Fireman


Colton
What is your favorite color? Blue
What is your favorite show? Caillou
What would you do with $1million? buy a ball
How old is Mom? 4
How old is Dad? 8
What is your favorite food? Sandwhich and cereal
What is your favorite toy? Train table to play with puzzles
What do you want to be when you grow up? Daddy


Audrey
What is your favorite color? anything with sparkles
What is your favorite show? Dora
What would you do with $1million? lots of baby dolls
How old is Mom? she's young
How old is Dad? he's young too
What is your favorite food? Nacho Cheese Doritos
What is your favorite toy? baby stroller with her baby
What do you want to be when you grow up? a mommy

There you have it. All there different personalities shining through.

Branson-New Year's Trip

     For Christmas we bought a gift for the family. The gift was a trip to Branson, Missouri over New Year's eve and day. We thought the trip would be more memorable than just getting some physical item.  It was a 2 night stay in the Grand Country Hotel. We chose this hotel because it had an indoor water park, mini-golf, arcade, bumbercars, shows, and restaurants. It was all there for our enjoyment. We were able to purchase a package deal that included the 2 night stay, a ticket per person to 2 shows, $10 arcade voucher, 2 free pizzas, 2 days worth of water park and mini-golf for each person. Upon check-in, she informed us that we didn't have many choices left for the shows. So we were to go and get at least 1 show reserved then come back and she'd give us another $10 arcade voucher if nothing was available. And honestly that sounded like a much better idea for our family than seeing 2 shows.
      We had a great time. The kids all said that the swimming was their favorite. And I'm sure it was but they also loved the arcade games just as much. We ended up buying another 2 $10 vouchers so they each had their own. They enjoyed the mini golf but it came in last.  They were constantly asking if they could go swimming any chance they could. It was a good Christmas present and well worth the money.
     This is the 2nd trip to Branson that we've made. I love Branson, I think it's so pretty and fun. There are so many things that you could see and do while there. I'm sure it'd be so much fun in the summer because there was site after site of go-cart tracks. It's such a touristy city but something that is worth coming and seeing. If anyone is ever interested in going, let us know and we'll make it happen. It's only 4 hours away from us. Any ways, this is honestly all the pictures we took of the trip. We accidentally broke our camera, don't know what happened, but it happened at the Amazing Pet Show.

On the way down, Audrey fell asleep cradling her baby.

After checking in the kids have to try out their bed.

Audrey is a bed-hog, ok, so is Colton.

This is one side of the water park. Danny kept telling me to put the camera down because we were here to have fun.

Audrey really enjoyed the kiddy area.

Josh and Audrey are getting ready to go down together.

Josh is exiting the slide. Technically he wasn't tall enough but when we were measuring him, a life guard was next to us and said he was fine to go down. He really only missed it by 1-2".

A fun little swing for the babies but Colton had to give it a try. He got in but couldn't get out.

This girl is a fish. She loved the slides. She'd do them over and over.

My little Josh, enjoying himself.

The boys in the kiddy area.

Colton being silly after swimming.

I caught Nate sneaking some snack.

I love seeing them enjoying a book together.

We're waiting for the Amazing Pet Show to start.

They didn't allow flash, so this is the best shot a got. The pets really did do some awesome tricks.

Nate was chosen to go up front and help with a magic trick.

He's watching and listening to him.

And lastly, the guy was teasing Nate about something. But of all my kids, Nate is the lucky one to be chosen for things like this.

Christmas 2011

This is better late than never. And sadly, one of my goals for this new year is to do better at blogging and be more personal in my blogging.  So, now you know that this is a goal of mine-you can help me and push me along. 

We had a great Christmas this year. It was really a good one. We let the kids get up and see what Santa brought them while we did breakfast. Then they ate and got ready for church. It was really nice going to church on Christmas.In fact it really helped bring the spirit and focus back on Christ. I really enjoyed going to church. Of course, once we got into the car to come home, they were asking to open presents. We took our time unwrapping gifts and enjoyed their excitement of it all. We spent the rest of the day relaxing enjoying the new gifts, snacking on finger food and being together. Here is a few pictures of our day.

Audrey's new vanity. She loves mommy's salon stuff so Santa thought she'd enjoy her own.

Colton is thrilled with his new lightening McQueen flashlight. Although, #1: he picked it out at the store.  #2: it had been unwrapped like 3 times and re-wrapped. And yet he was still filled with excitement for this toy.

Nate had been begging for a Fushigi ball forever. So, I indulged him on this gift. Personally thought it was a waste of money but he wanted it. Well, hard lesson learned for him- not everything they sell on TV is actually going to work. He was extremely disappointed but he's finally convinced that they just want money and when mom and dad say it's not worth it, he actually know what we mean.

My Josh is all smiles on this day-unwrapping a  gift.

Helping the kids set up Kerplunk. They enjoy this game.

All the kids in their new pajama's from Grandma and Grandpa Howell

This is Josh's favorite gift. It's his own personal computer from Santa.

This has been Audrey's favorite gift. She LOOOOOOVES pushing her dolls around in this and on occasion she'll get in and her brothers push her around.

Nate had 2 favorites: his world record book and his Lego Pirates of Caribbean set.

And Colton's favorite gift was his lightening McQueen light and his table.

Thanks everyone for all our gifts. We are very blessed and fortunate to have a loving family that thing of us. Look for my next post about our New Year's celebration in Branson.

Oh Christmas Tree 2011

We always do a real tree. We prefer it. It wouldn't feel like Christmas if we didn't go looking for a tree. Last year we just went to Lowes and went cheap. And we got what we paid for cause that tree was painful if you were poked by the needles in addition to that, the needles  fell off like mad. It was insane. This year we found a fun little tree farm to chop it down. I don't remember the name of it but it was north of us. They had free hot chocolate, popcorn, and a hay ride. They shake your tree to remove any loose needle or debris. They also had Santa there if you paid for it. It was such a nice day in December when we went. We had a really fun time. It's one of our family traditions that we enjoy and the kids really get excited about too.

Audrey get VIP treatment while looking for our tree.

Colton petting the cat. This cat just appeared out of the blue and the kids were all excited about it.

Audrey would not leave the cat alone. She would pet it and follow it around everywhere it went.

We've found our tree!

Chopping it down

A cute picture of all the kiddos.

There was a free wagon ride at the farm and the driver let Nate, Josh and another child sit up front with him.

Daddy and Audrey. She kept eating her hat. She really loves her hat.

Colton and Mommy

Colton is showing Audrey and ornament

The kids totally decorated the tree. Danny and I did the lights but this was all them decorating.

Our finished product