Birthday Girl

I thought I'd post a few pictures from her birthday celebrations.

Opening up her doll house with her crasy morning hair.

Unwrapping her pillow

Getting cozy with her new pillow and quilo from Grandma and Grandpa

If this wasn't so blurry I'd consider enlarging this one of her. I love her hand on her mouth expression

This one is clear so it's the winner for my favorite. She looks so cute in her new birthday dress.

She's examining her Dora cake.

This is what it looked like after I finished. I tried giving the dress a gathered-ruffled look.

This is what it looks like after fingers have been in the frosting. I love this shot of her little hand grabbing the candle.

Happy 2nd Birthday Audrey

Happy Happy Birthday to our sweet Audrey! She's now 2 years old! We have loved having this sweet crazy girl in our family. She is a wild one for sure but we love her! We have managed to collect quite a few pictures of this girl over the last 2 years and I couldn't decide what to put on here so I put a lot. I tried to kind of keep it chronological but it may not be exact. Happy Birthday sweet girl!

Wearing one of Mommy's dresses from when she was little.

I liked this one of her fat little cheeks-I miss her little fat cheeks

I loved this one because of her fat little thighs

Look at those pouty lips and great big blue eyes

She was just learning to sit up and loving it.

I love her smile and that you can just see those 2 little teeth

Yes she got into the markers and put them straight to her mouth. She is banned from markers and crayons even still because instead of the mouth it's our walls.

She crawled into our cupboard to grab that cookie cutter and was super proud of herself.

Mesmerized by the antlers that her daddy put in front of her.

I love this cute little snow bear.

She was as happy as can be because of the corn on the cob-she loves it.

I love the back profile of her in this dress and this is the first time I was able to put her hair in pig tails.

This is just one of the many messes she has created in 2 years

She found one of the only mud puddles in the dirt and sat herself right down in it.

Again she's getting dirty but completely content playing in the sand

I love the side profile of her playing in the water

Bath time and a funny face

And another weird smile of hers

  

Her scrunched up smiley  face

Her I'm cranky, leave me along face.

Look at me-I'm being super silly face. She insisted on putting 2 swimsuits on.

Us on Sunday afternoons

This is us on a Sunday afternoon. The kids are sitting around the table eating caramel popcorn and watching a movie. We rarely miss America's Funniest Video's-it's on every Sunday at 6. That's one of our Sunday activities since we don't live near family.

And this is where I put a plug in for visitors. Obviously we are coming to Utah in July but I think there is ALOT of confusion out there that the road is a one way street. But luckily it's not! It goes both ways! I know it's a long drive, hello I do have 4 kids that I've traveled with and 2 of them from newborn- one was only 6 weeks old. It can be done. And you can count the travel days as part of your vacay and a bonus for us is that we've had some of our best conversations in the car. You can use that time to discuss so many small and important things. Just come and visit us! There is so much to do and see out here!  

This was a few Sunday's back. Danny tied some thread to Audrey's little fairy doll had it flying in the air. Audrey and Colton thought it was hilarious. She spent a good 10 minutes trying to get it and this is at the end of her efforts. She's a funny girl. But listen and watch Colton in the background cause his laugh his pretty funny too.

Question in a Jar

Today's question was pulled by Josh. It asks: Whom do you most admire? Why?

     I started this post a few days ago and have now had time to think about the question. This one really had me stumped. There are so many people I look up that it just felt wrong to narrow it down to just one and make other people feel bad. And then there is the obvious answers like, Jesus Christ, Joseph Smith, Thomas S Monson, etc. And I was feeling guilty if I didn't say those persons. So, I finally narrowed it down to listing attributes and the type of people I admire. (You can call me a cheater but I'm ok with that).

     The persons I admire the most are the ones that have had trial after trial and usually they're hard trials at that; and yet they still manage to stay positive and strong. They have a testimony of our Redeemer and no matter what is thrown their way they endure it and come out stronger.
     I admire the parents that have sat by the bedside of their sick even terminally ill child at the hospital. I can't imagine seeing your child with tubes and bandages all over their frail body, suffering, unable to take that pain away. I admire those parents' strength.
      In my opinion, loosing a child is one of the hardest trials a  parent can experience. And to those parents who have had to say goodbye to their child after only a few years on this earth is one of  the most unimaginable this one could do. And yet, countless parents have suffered through this and the ones that are able to still stay positive and testimony still intact are the ones I admire.
     I admire the military families that are constantly being torn apart by deployments. I obviously admire the men and women that are leaving and putting their lives on the line for all of us. But, for me the ones I really admire the women that are left behind to take care of their families and home. They are left to take care of it all and take over the role of Dad and still be mom. And more admiration to the women that manage to still be happy, genuinely happy, they are not moping around, they don't relocate their children from their church and school friends. I admire the women who can handle things in the absence of her husband.
      I admire capable strong women, married or not, that through her trials can look at life and still find good things around her, counts all her blessing, she sees the cup as half full rather than half empty. I admire the women that still thank Heavenly Father for her good life even if she never had the husband she wanted, the baby she wanted, the job she wanted, the mansion she wanted, the luxury car she wanted, the church calling she wanted,  the life she thought she'd live, etc.  But she accepts that her Heavenly Father has had a hand in her life and she's thankful to Him for giving her what she needed rather than wanted. That's who I admire most!

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.