RUNAWAY JURYS

matchy matchy

2012-02-12T17:27:00.000-05:00

yep, we've become one of "those" families...

the ones that match on holidays.

well, everyone except for me, i guess.

and you know what?

i loved it today!

i told maddie some time ago that i would make her and makinley matching skirts for valentines day.

so, i whipped those up on friday (easiest things EVER, so i will be making a ton for the summer time) and decided to make patrick a matching bow-tie.

then, mike said this morning, (we had really late church today) "so, do i get one too?"

i laughed because i thought he was kidding, he wasn't.

so, i made him one too-and he looked pretty dang sexy, if i say so myself-didn't know i'd love a man in a bow-tie so much!

somehow maddie's little flower got messed up for the pics-so ignore!

our little model!

(ignore the food on the floor, which i didn't notice until i looked at this! :)

natural

2012-02-08T15:35:00.000-05:00

alright folks, when i come across something i genuinely LOVE then i will be sending to you all, via this here blog. you might think i've gone a little wonky (not that i haven't always been a little wonky anyway...can we all say "wonky" all the time, it's kinda funny...)

ANYWAY.

so, my awesome sister, seems to find everything, does extensive research on it and then, sometimes hesitantly, shares it with her sisters-secretly fearing we will think she is wonky (haha-had to)

or a "granola" i think she said when she told me about this.

well, you big granola, i am super happy you shared this with me! :)

and now, i am happy to share with you-now that you have been forewarned that this may make you wonky or granola-ish.

alright, the first thing on board...

hair

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i have been using a baking soda and water combo as the wash for my hair instead of shampoo now for a week and a half-ish. and to "condition", an apple cider vinegar and water combo.

sound crazy?

yeah, that's kind of what i thought too-but i tried it anyway.

and the verdict...

LOVE!

and my hair doesn't smell like vinegar! it smells...clean. that's the only way i can describe it.

it fixes better and i was so worried that it would just be flat at the roots, and it was just the opposite; I don't need product to give umph at the roots at all-it's already there.

the other night, i went to shower and didn't have any of my wash mixed up so i just figured, "eh, i'll just use shampoo and conditioner tonight." so i did and my scalp was so itchy the next day and my hair was frizzier too. NO LIE. that was when i became hooked. so, try it and see what you think. the link is here so you can get the ratio and read about why it's good for your hair and you can read the comments as well-which i think is always helpful. also, i like to put the baking soda/water mix in a squeezy bottle (one with a tip, like the red and yellow ketchup and mustard bottles) because you want it more on your scalp and then the ACV/water mix in a spray bottle. works great for me.

next, is using oil to clean and moisturize your face.

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say what?

yep, oil.

if any of you know me well, you know that my skin is not something i have ever been proud of. actually, it drives me nuts. i have tried A LOT of different products and nothing gets rid of my acne. i am 27 years old and still have acne. i hate it, it's embarrassing and gross.

so, i decided why not give this a go too, what is there to lose?

so, it's a mixture of castor oil (to cleanse) and extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) to moisturize. now if your thinking i must have dry skin, you are thinking wrong. i am an oily skin girl, severely in my t-zone. but apparently you should use oil to fight oil. who knew?

not me.

same site but here is the link so you can figure your ratio for your skin. i use 3 tsp of castor to 2 tsp of EVOO. it works good for me and my oily self. if you have dry skin you will use more EVOO and less castor oil. mix a good amount up and put it in a little squeeze bottle (travel size ones from walmart work good-the ones with a cap) and you're good to go for a while. (try a small amount for the first week or so to see if that's the right ratio for you though, so you don't waste any) one more thing, it's a GREAT make-up remover; close your eyes rub it all over and wipe off after you do your steaming with your washcloth.

so how's my face? soft.

i am having a breakout, which is normal-not everyone will have one but if you do that's NOT bad, it has to pull it all out. but my breakout isn't normal which is what makes me think it is working. what? i am breaking out in odd places, not where i usually do-so for some reason i think that's good...maybe not? i don't really know but i am giving it at least 2 months. i'll give more updates as i see more results-or don't see them. also, it is healing my skin more quickly it seems. my makeup also looks a lot smoother and nicer. i am happy with it so i guess that's all that matters, right?

give it a go if you want, it can't hurt anything-it's all natural and you already have it all in your house. it will save you on shampoo/conditioner and any face washes/moisturizers that you buy.

let me know what you think, i am curious!

funny faces

2012-02-07T11:42:00.000-05:00

i do not seem to be getting the things accomplished i need to today...

oh well, at least i can be happy that i had these faces to look at today-they make me smile.

hahahaha!

2012-02-06T14:34:00.011-05:00

i hope this makes you laugh as hard as i did...

i won't confess as to how many times i have watched this,
and then laughed just as hard each time...

on the menu

2012-02-06T11:47:00.001-05:00

3 out of 5 in this family are sick today.

we are playing multiple games of Toy Story Memory

and watching the High School Musical movies...gotta love that music even when you're sick.

so we've got games, movies, blankets, and homemade chicken noodle soup and rolls on the menu for today...and a whole lot of snugglin' and love. :)

Happy Monday!

ew

2012-02-04T14:14:00.000-05:00

i really love being a mother.

i love all the ups and downs each day holds.

i love the smiles, giggles, cries and screams.

i love snuggle time and play time.

i love watching them sleep.

i don't love so much when a baby poops on the floor (because you were trying to be a good mom and let her raw bum air out and help a BAD diaper rash heal) and then proceed to smear it all over the floor, the stairs, the wall, some hangers that weren't put away, and legos.

yeah, i don't love that at all.

that's pretty nasty.

but oddly, i did still love the cheeser of a smile she gave me when i found her, and i couldn't help but scream ew and smile all at the same time-motherhood's a little odd like that sometimes.

sunshine

2012-02-02T16:22:00.001-05:00

we have gotten to enjoy so much sunshine this week, and warm temps!

it's been uh.ma.zing.

yesterday we enjoyed the zoo,

heck i feel like i devoured it!

we stayed for 3 hours and soaked in every sunray, every whippy breeze, and every lion growl and monkey holla (and there were LOTS of those!).

we also didn't know we had free rides this year with our specific passes.

the kids were in heaven.

the carousel was a blast and the little "train" ride. the sky lift will have to wait until

daddy gets to join us.

ahhh, i am so glad february started off kindly this time around,

it's usually my least favorite month due to the cold-so hopefully she won't be showing that ugliness
too much this go round. (fingers, toes and legs are crossed)

hope your month of love has started nicely too!

she gripped on for dear life the second the thing came to life...it was supoer cute-and she loved it!

Happy Friday

2012-01-27T07:39:00.000-05:00

we' re off to enjoy family time in dc...

hope your weekend is as happy as ours will be.

so blessed

2012-01-26T16:41:00.003-05:00

I am grateful.

As we drove around this morning, the kiddos and I found ourselves in a conversation about gratitude. Me telling them the importance of telling Heavenly Father about all the things we are grateful for, in our prayers. I found myself telling them that if we don't tell Him the things we are thankful for then He can't bless us with more. I have now found myself thinking about that a bit today. I pray daily, multiple times a day, and I DO express gratitude in each prayer and there is a small little list that I never forget and then other things that get added as they come to mind.

My children being one of those things that are always remembered and spoken.

However, I find it nearly impossible to express it in the way that I feel. Are there really words that can? Have you ever had moments, or days or even weeks where your gratitude for your kids is more than you can even bare? That's me this week. My gratitude and my love is more than I can hold in. I am so blessed with such amazing little spirits to surround me.

My heart aches for so many who struggle with fertility, who find themselves longing for something because, for them, it isn't coming easily.

I ache for those who have miscarried and who have suffered that pain as well.

I suffered that pain almost 2 years ago. I never blogged about it. I was broken and I didn't know how to write it out. We told our family a little while (like a few days to a week) later. We weren't very far along, in fact we had barely found out we were expecting and then in a matter of days the joy and excitement was gone. Mike was strong, almost oddly strong, about the whole thing. Somehow I think the Lord prepared him for it in a way-he had gotten excited when we saw the test, and the 2nd one, and the 3rd one but part of him remained stand-offish about it, unsure really.

Me?

I was ecstatic.

We were wanting another one and I was so ready.

And then I started cramping.

I got scared, scared to even go to the bathroom and kept telling myself not worry-I had cramped some with my other 2 pregnancies. But, in all honesty, deep down I knew what was coming, just hoping though that I was wrong. Hoping so very very much.

And then I started bleeding. And my heart felt like it was bleeding too.

I was in a really bad place for about 2 weeks. I felt utterly alone. I couldn't understand it, I couldn't explain all the things I was feeling. I felt silly for being so upset when I wasn't very far along anyway-a lot of women wouldn't have even know they were pregnant at that point-would probably have just thought they were late by a little more than a few days. (my mom told me it didn't matter though, she miscarried early once and quite a bit later as well-it hurts no matter what.) I felt angry too, angry because I wasn't stronger, angry because the peace I was trying to find wasn't coming. It was one of the hardest times of my life.

Thankfully, I had the blessing of 2 other beautiful and wonderful children. I HAD to snap out of it. I can't imagine what it must be like otherwise. My heart goes out to those who have to deal with it in that sense, being without other children. We were really blessed to get pregnant quickly after that. It helped a lot. But I also know that doesn't happen most of the time either, again, that must be so hard.

I still think about it though. I still wonder a lot of different things about it.

But, I know that trials and heart ache are necessary to growth and development here in this life. Does that knowledge make it easier to deal though?
Not always.

But luckily time helps heal, if we let it and so does the love of a very loving and caring God.

Anyway, I am not really sure where all of that came from- I never intended on sharing any of that, it just came out.

I am beyond grateful though, for the amazing children that I have been lucky enough to help come to this earth. I don't take them for granted, I truly know that they're great blessings and I wonder everyday why that wasn't a struggle that I was to have, while so many others who would be great parents (who would be much better than me) do have that struggle.

I am grateful for my children, truly grateful. I love them and wish I was better at expressing the very depth of that love and gratitude to my Heavenly Father.

Luckily He knows my heart better than I even do.

To any of you who may be struggling or who have struggled with infertility of any sort, lean on Him. I promise that is where you will find all the strength you need. If you can't see it or feel it, look for it in the small ways, He seems to be there the most in the less obvious yet most obvious places.

Oh My Goodness...

2012-01-24T20:32:00.001-05:00

i really have some cute cute kids...

okay, okay...

beautiful!

and today, was amazingly gorgeous outside.

thank you virginia for your sunny 60* weather-it was much needed

and much appreciated!

My Monday Lovely

2012-01-23T08:08:00.003-05:00

I've been thinking about our future a lot lately...

Source: thefancy.com via Shannon on Pinterest

I would love to have one of these someday.

the day is done...and it's friday

2012-01-20T22:03:00.000-05:00

thank goodness it's friday.

it's not been a bad week just a poopy day today.

and only because of me.

i was in a bad mood. and sure the kids wouldn't listen to a single thing today but really,

i think it was because i was just raunchy today.

i hate these kind of days.

i whined too much, i raised my voice too much, i did too much of a lot of nothing that was good or happy. i just made life more miserable for myself.

the thing is, i also made life more miserable for my family-and that's what really stinks.

thank goodness today is done.

thank goodness i have tomorrow to do better.

and thank goodness my sweet family is so forgiving.

there it is.

the not so pretty part-life isn't always pretty peaches,

often times it's bruised ugly peaches...

and that's okay, I hear those make great jam.

The actual b-day

2012-01-19T14:11:00.000-05:00

She requested biscuits and gravy and eggs for her birthday breakfast. Luckily, church doesn't start until 11:00 this year so...I didn't have to get up too early.

Sometimes I think we'd be fine if we didn't get her gifts at all, she's LOVES those singing cards and Daddy made us parents of the year by finding a "Little Mermaid" one!

Her "American Girl" doll...thank you Target for having your own affordable version!

"She looks just like me, but she has blue eyes and not brown like me. She's pretty."

An outfit for changing...thank you Meema and Pampa.

And a doggy (Cloudy's the name) with a coordinating leash to her doll...again, thank you Meema and Pampa!

and a few Tinkerbell goodies from the siblings-these

kept her well entertained at church that day!

And she got more than wonderful gifts from her birthday party too. Between Christmas and her birthday, this girly could open up her own mini store!

She is so excited to be 5! Poor thing though is ready to go to school now that she is 5, so the concept of waiting until August is kind of stinky to her...I don't mind at all though. ;) This girl is ready to grow up but this Momma is not ready at all!

Here's to some yummy cake!

2012-01-19T13:10:00.005-05:00

The cake was extra deeee-li-cious!

My sis gave me the tip of freezing it over night before frosting it,

my oh my, talk about some moist cake!

Madds LOVED it!

I had planned a big tower cake thing (since Rapunzel was the theme for the party)

I found online but when she saw Rapunzel cupakes at Wally World that's what she had to have.

I felt like a failure of a mother if I didn't have some soort of cake that I made, so a small

pink "sparkly" one went at the top and the cupcakes adorned the bottom tiers (those pics won't come for a while-they are on my sisters camera). She was very happy with the pink and purple sparkly sprinkles and then of course, the flowers. It was a hit!

(and serisouly, could I be louder and more annoying sounding?)

getting' there, soon.

2012-01-18T23:18:00.000-05:00

this crazy girl is 5 now.

her party was great.

she was defintely pleased and oh so happy.

that's all we hoped for.

and i cried during her birthday breakfast, time has gone too fast.

pics coming soon, life has to slow down a little first.

put your hands in the air...

2012-01-12T08:49:00.001-05:00

Happy Friday.
Have a great weekend.
We'll be enjoying cake and ice cream, and a pinata for that matter.
Oh, and of course...
some more dancin'!

Edited Note: Thanks to my fab cuz-in-law...Happy THURSDAY! You can still have a great weekend though. ;)

4 days...

2012-01-11T17:12:00.000-05:00

and this gorgeous little lady will be 5!

She asks everyday how many more days until she is 5.

She's not at all excited.

And she has a Rapunzel party on Saturday...

she squeals about that one.

My Monday Lovely

2012-01-09T22:25:00.002-05:00

prettynprint.tumblr.com via Shannon on Pinterest

This made me happy today...especially on the nasty, rainy day it was today.

What made you happy?

ho-hum

2012-01-05T07:54:00.000-05:00

we don't really have much going on here, hence, the lack of posting. it is mostly due to my insane amount of exhaustion. i think something might be wrong with me. i almost can't function-if i didn't know for sure, i would jump to the conclusion that i was preggo, but i do know for sure that isn't the case...you would be able to admit me if it was. it's weird, i have been super tired but then also i have been having the weirdest head pain too-not headache just this weird pain. however, around 4-4:40 every afternoon i do get a headache, one that really hurts and that makes me want to lay down and close my eyes. i don't know, i've always been crazy so maybe it's just some fluke thing and it will go away. i can't really go to the dr. for those symptoms alone. random, i know.

on a different note, my kids are awesome. i don't think i have said that in a while. they have been playing so good together and have been so good for me. (now today is going raunchy because i said all that out loud...it's like praying for patience) anyway, i love those kiddos, they are teaching me a lot. they make me laugh too. the other night for fhe, we talked about goals and we set some (which is a very big deal in this house-i gave up setting goals at the new year a long time ago). i shared some examples of my own so the kids would understand what we were talking about. and then everyone had to share a goal they wanted to make. keep in mind that one, of the many, that i shared, was to exercise more regularly. so, then madds had to follow suit and then she couldn't seem to stop...

Her List:

exercise outside
learn to write her last name better
learn to read
learn to fold laundry
learn to turn clothes right side out

(she came up with that all on her own, promise)

His List:

exercise outside (sissy has good ideas i guess)
learn to play basketball and play it with daddy
learn letters better (identifying)

(the first 2 were all his and we helped him get excited about the 3rd)

i love maddie's list though, she's a funny girl. she always wants to learn the things she thinks will help make her a mom one day. that is all she ever talks about..."one day, when i am big, and marry austin in the temple, then i can be a mom. and then, i will have 4 babies and i will be a mom like you." she makes me laugh non-stop. the thing is, she is dead serious. madd's doesn't joke...no joke-she really is about the most serious child i have ever known. funny, funny girl.

anyway...

hopefully life will have some things that are blog sharable soon. in the meantime, here are some cute pics of madd's and patch showing off the gifts they picked out with there money from Nanu (their great-grandma)...thanks Nan-they LOVED picking out what they wanted, and it has been good purchases so far (always being used)! We love you!

madd's loves her "polly pocket ice-cream swimming pool"

and oddly, patch picked out slippers...elmo ones at that (b/c they didn't have his size in cars). and he wears them non-stop...who knew he had such cold toes!?

hope you all are having a great start to your new-year and your goals. i got on track early this morning, i will get in the best shape of my life this year-it's not even so much about losing weight (which would be great) but it's about being healthier, having more energy, and feeling happier/better about myself.

i have quite a few others and might share at some point.

what are your tips about sticking to your goals?

i need all the help i can get.

a new chapter

2012-01-01T21:56:00.000-05:00

with the new year brings new chapters of our lives. a new chapter for the life of our 3 year old is sunbeams. ahhhhh! i can't believe he is that old already. i happened to be in primary today substituting and got to watch him as he turned around in his chair watching his big sister, and making sure she was still there. i watched him as he got scared to go to class and wanted me to go with him. as he then, after some coaxing, grabbed his buddy caiden's hand and they walked together to class with weary smiles on their faces. he's off to learn how to sit and listen and learn in a class with one teacher; where he will learn to be reverent and learn to be like Jesus; where he's start telling us each sunday in the car ride home what he learned about that day; where he starts growing up just a little bit more.
my heart is full.
we excitedly wait for the day to see our kids get up at the front of church and sing us songs with the rest of the kids, to give talks in primary, to attend primary activities and then...it's suddenly here and while you are happy for them and still excited, your heart is heavy and longing for the yesterdays. my life is going past me too fast. my kids are growing too fast and i can't figure out how to stop enough to take place in it all, to soak it in enough that i can hit replay in my mind over and over again. don't get me wrong, i look forward to all the new memories that will come, to see the new adventures that they will each go on, to see them change and grow and their minds and imaginations grow and soar and see them each achieve all that they desire to achieve. it's just that some days, some days i just want to be back to their first smiles, first giggles, first crawlies, first words, first steps, their first "i love yous". oh, how i love them and oh how i hope and wish these new chapters are all that they hope them to be. here's to new years, new chapters, new life...and apparently some villains to fight of too! ;)

2011-12-25T13:05:00.000-05:00

what we've been up to...

2011-12-23T22:45:00.001-05:00

(taken from Baby Jesus' mother's cell)

The Miracle Of Christmas.

This was our 3rd year this year and it was just as amazing as the first.

We had some weather issues, rain, but it didn't stop people from coming. It is an experience that people come back for over and over because it truly brings the spirit of Christmas and helps give a more clear view of what it would have been like then. Live animals are used, I ride a donkey, the wise men bring their camels, the stable is full with sheep, goats, baby goats, another donkey...it really is a site to behold. We are so grateful to have been able to be Mary and Joseph yet again, but most importantly, we are grateful for the true miracle of Christmas-our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ.

Merry Christmas to you all, may you feel the miracle of this holiday this year.

more pics will come at some point, we are waiting for the cd of pics that were taken.

stats

2011-12-23T13:30:00.000-05:00

at 1 year old this cute girl is

19.4 lbs (25%)

29 in long (50%)

she has weened and is drinking whole milk like a champ and has loved "big people food" since about 7.5 months.

she walks (11.5 months)

she waves

she claps

she blows kisses

she gives real kisses-very slobbery mind you

she signed please for the first time yesterday

she says, mama, dada, baby, bye-bye, nigh-nigh, I swear she says Bubba but-no one else has heard that to back me up on it, she said thank-you clear as day one time but refuses to do it again (Mike heard it too) and she yells...a lot. (in a happy way)

she loves baby dolls, she burps them and gives them kisses

she loves the stairs but is good and doesn't even attempt to go down them

she loves drawers, especially the diaper drawer where she proceeds to pull every diaper out and then play with them

she loves pulling all the food out of the cabinets, and the pots and pans

she loves to be upstairs playing with her sister and brother

she loves to sit in the sink and have her hair done

(i think she really likes to pull out all toothbrushes and chew on them)

she loves when her daddy comes home

she's still a Momma's girl (love)

she loves to fake laugh...and it's hilarious.

she's pretty much just awesome.

and here's a few more...

2011-12-22T10:52:00.000-05:00

my favorites of the night

2011-12-21T14:09:00.001-05:00

oh my goodness, this girly is the cutest and funniest little thing!

it was a happy birthday indeed.

1 year ago...

2011-12-20T00:25:00.002-05:00

you came into our lives little sweet baby girl.

you were so tiny i remember. that was the first thing i commented on when they brought you around the curtain. and sure enough, you turned out to be our small fry, true to your "womb name" of peanut, weighing in at 6 lbs 12 oz. the second thing i commented on was how beautiful you were, even with the crazy amounts of swelling you seemed to have, you were and still are so beautiful! you changed your daddy and me, yet again, that day. daddy told me all about this crazy feeling that came over him when he saw you, one that he hadn't quite experienced before-it was just different-and so amazing, he said. you brought a pretty special and amazing spirit with you, and a very ready one too. you were just perfect. i couldn't stop crying. in fact, i was bawling before you even officially arrived, and that was becuase of the crazy medicine they were giving me-and partly because when they started making my incision i could feel it on my left side, that doesn't feel too good by the way and anyway, i was a little scared i would start feeling it again. finally, they gave me something for the feeling and something to help me relax. and that worked for the crying only long enough for me to hear you cry. they brought you around the curtain, like i stated earlier, and it was magical. i hadn't been able to see your sister and brother so quickly and so this was new for me and incredible. they let me touch you quickly and then cleaned you up and brought you to me while they put me back together. for a c-section, it couldn't have been done better. the sweet nurses got a picture of us all together, and luckily angled it so you couldn't quite tell all the bloating mommy had from all the iv fluid they pumped in me prior to bringing you here. (a whole bag and a half of fluids!!! yikes) then, they whisked us off to our room where i got to check you out, make sure you had all 10 fingers and 10 toes. i got to see how scrawny your little legs were. but i had to do it all pretty quick because you while you came out tiny, you came out HUNGRY! it was amazing how easily and quick you took to nursing (and i say easily for you, but you still about tore mommy apart within a week, yowch!). daddy and mommy ooohed and ahhhed over you for a little while and then daddy went and got the kiddos so they could finally meet their "little peanut". well, maddie adored you from the start and i could tell instantly that you would be the greatest friends, that you would fight over clothes someday, talk about boys, share secrets and ultimately love each other deeply. and then there's patrick...he wasn't as sure about you. he was intrigued but kept his distance, he just couldn't decide what to make of you. and he was mad at mommy and didn't want anything to do with me. but that changed sometime after we got home. he fell in love with you! he is such a good big brother to you and i know he always will be and that he will always protect you the way a brother should.

makinley diane jury, we want you to know how much we love you. you have brought us even more love and taught us so much in this first year of your life. we look forward to all the years ahead and hope that you come to know how much you mean to this little family of yours.

happy birthday beautiful angel.

new traditions

2011-12-19T11:33:00.000-05:00

After 6 years of marriage, I feel like we still haven't established many holiday traditions. You know, things that you want, and your children will want, to remember years down the road. So, this year we started a new one, last night actually.

and I got no pictures from it...tear.

We started a "Cocoa and Cookies" night.

We had some of our closest friends and their sweet little families come over and spend time. We had homemade cocoa and everyone brought cookies. We chatted for a while, while the kids ran rampant throughout this tiny house of ours-it was brilliant and a noise/noise level that just made my insides happy a clam. We then all sat down and read a few Christmas stories-ones that remind us of the true spirit/meaning of Christmas...and yes, I cried like a baby. It was a beautiful evening and one that I look forward to doing again and again. I especially look forward to doing it with a few more friends once we have more room. We made up cookie plates of the leftovers-and there was tons-and everyone went home happy with tummy's full of sweets and a plate to fill them up even more. And we went to bed with smiles on and hearts full of the sweet feelings of Christmas.

What are some of your traditions? We need some ideas!

2011-12-14T22:04:00.002-05:00

“Of course, we do not need a Christmas holiday or Christmas traditions to remember Jesus Christ, the Savior. … May each Christmas season remind us to lift up our voices and fill our hearts with joy and gratitude that Christ the King has come! Christ lives! He is real. He is our Redeemer at Christmas and always."

Lights all a glow

2011-12-14T11:34:00.000-05:00

We decorated the Christmas tree a couple of weeks ago and the kids couldn't have been more excited!

We had planned on stringing popcorn this time around, for the first time, and I had made all the popcorn and then realized kids 4 and 3 with needles probably wasn't the best idea...and it would take like, forever.

So, the old garland will have to do for now! But the tree itself has seen it's last year; a few days later a whole chunk of it fell-not off just down-it looks pretty sad. OH WELL, I don't mind having to finally get a new one for next year! ;)

Excuse the photo clarity, I just realized recently I can adjust the ISO and white balance, etc on my little point and shoot and had been playing with it earlier in the day and that night, so, my pictures were taken with too high ISO and I never changed it so...this is what we get this time around.

Makinley thoroughly enjoyed chewing a nerf football while decorating ensued. She looked pretty cute doing it too!

I love pulling out the ornaments and seeing how much we have acquired in the short 6 years we've been married and then remembering where they all came from.

The best is getting out each person's individual ornaments, the kids LOVE that part the most!

Ho, Ho, Ho, Merry Christmas!

2011-12-13T12:02:00.000-05:00

It's that time of year...

Our scanned in photos from seeing the "Bass Pro" Santa Claus last night.

And then the one I snapped quickly

(Mom can always get them to smile...only cause I'm a little nuts)

And these were from our Ward Christmas party the other day. There aren't any of Patch because he wouldn't sit on his lap since we were going to see "the other Santa". I love the ones of Maddie and Santa, she looks so excited! In the one she is telling him, "I want a Rapunzel doll

that sings and glows."

Well, check...Santa is so good.

My Monday Lovely

2011-12-12T10:18:00.002-05:00

Yeah, it's been like, umm, forever and a year since I did my last one of these...so here we go again.

found this on Pinterest, I am in love with it and want one of me and each of my kiddos...just beautiful. it makes me happy.

Source: flickr.com via Shannon on Pinterest

Sweet Girly

2011-12-11T19:02:00.001-05:00

It is hard for me to fathom that this sweet girly is going to be 5 next month...

FIVE YEARS OLD!

I just love her to pieces and feel so privileged to be her Momma.

She has and given me so much, she made me a mother.

I love that she loves her brother and sister so much.

I love that she is strong willed and independent (although sometimes that is hard).

I love that she LOVES to sing but is so shy to speak in front of a crowd.

I love that she loves to talk and will talk to just about anyone.

I love her beautiful hair and those big dark and beautiful browns.

I love that she knows she can pray anytime, anywhere and about anything.

I love that she loves to play outside and dig in the dirt but is still more girly than you can possibly get.

And I love that she is so incredibly serious but loves to be silly too (on her own time)!

Take 1, and 2 and okay, take 3!

2011-12-10T22:47:00.000-05:00

I often have to tell my hunky man to give me a real smile right before I snap the picture-which always gets a smile and usually a good laugh. This time around he just couldn't seem to get it,

I said it and I would just get this fake goofy smile, over and over.

Then he had to adjust his face, literally-it was hilarious-but apparently it works!

here's the goofy, not so real one

here he is adjusting..what in the world?!

and finally, a good shot of the men in my life!

Sorry to say it ladies...

2011-12-09T09:22:00.000-05:00

but my husband wins "the cutest/sweetest husband EVER" award.

this was the breakfast he brought in for me last Sunday as we were rushing to get ready for church.

handed to me with a simple, "because I love you."

yeah, i gushed and smiled really big-all day.

and he is probably blushing and shaking his head right now as he sees I have blogged this. :)

I love you sweetie!

over the weekend

2011-12-07T08:23:00.000-05:00

we had an utterly perfect weekend.

i can't even remember friday, which means it wasn't bad. i did stay up too late reading the books i am into right now (the hunger games series). but the books make it worth it, for the most part.

saturday we got up and headed to the richmond city parade. our little family hasn't ever been to a parade. we had a great time. it was cold, so we bundled up, met some friends and enjoyed the rather long parade. the santa clause was incredibly real looking and just fabulous.

we headed home for lunch and rest time. patch and i headed to the grocery store for some much needed food. we came home and made the kiddos dinner. got them cleaned up and showered and to bed. then mike and i enjoyed some cheesecake factory (he went and picked it up) and football. church was more than fantastic sunday-it was just good meetings all around-and then enjoyed our afternoon and evening together as a family.

i love my family, i really am blessed.

almost there!

Dang! is all I have to say.

It's comin'!

I liked the hoola-hoopers the best-pretty fan-flippin-tastic.

He was so excited he got to give him a five.

Such excitement and amazement, I love children.

I am not a big Star Wars person (haven't even seen all the movies) but these guys seemed to be the highlight of the parade.

the girl's in this house kind of go crazy for this guy.

it was such a great time!

Last set

2011-12-02T15:17:00.001-05:00

Again, I didn't get ANY pictures on either the Jury or Drysdale side with our camera-all these Jury Family ones are from my SIL Kate's camera; I am waiting for Drysdale Family pics from siblings and then I will post a huge load more.

Some aren't crystal clear but they are still such good pics!

Maddie saw this picture today and says, "Patrick looks a lot like Pampa in that picture Mom."

He surely does-he's a Jury for sure!

and some more

2011-12-02T15:12:00.001-05:00

She tried getting her whole hand in there!

Angry Birds or Ant Smasher...equally big hits.

Makinley's true talent, chewing everything.

I love Makinley's cabbage patch kid face in this one!

handsome boys

pretty girls

True talent right there folks

And Michael is so very amused. ;)

more pics

2011-12-02T15:02:00.000-05:00

Look at that beard...preparing for Joseph again this year.

Mikey and his tongue, it's a wonder he hasn't bitten it off yet! ;)

So focused

These last 3 are my favorites...the kids and their 92 years old great grandpa...Gramps. I love that his joy is so easily seen-he truly loves his family.

and even more to come!

here goes

2011-12-02T09:34:00.000-05:00

let's see, where to begin...

the kids did WAY good on our trip to MO. We drove through the night, once Mike got off of work. With a couple of stops, we rolled through good ole St. Louis, viewing that lovely Arch, after only 13 hours. We made good time. We slowly made our way to KC by lunch time-making a couple stops along the way. We spent the weekend with Mike's side of the family, and we had a wonderful-pretty low key-weekend...perfect. It was great to see all the grandkids together and to see how incredibly old and big our nephew and nieces have gotten. It stinks being so far away and only seeing them through pics and very occasional visits.
The siblings and spouses (other than Aaron and Margie-since they were working) and then Mike's cousin Mandy and her husband Trevor went out for dinner one night and then the ladies went and saw "Breaking Dawn". It was a great night. The movie was the best of the 4 for sure and I even got teary-eyed at the wedding...at least you can count on me for tears in a Vampire movie. ;) There were some parts that made me a bit queasy so beware (I like to think I have a strong stomach too).

We attempted to do "grandkid" shots and Patch just didn't want to participate, and so he bawled-fabulous (he does have such a cute bawl face though). We got to see the temple progress, just beautiful-can't wait for it to have it's open house and dedication come summertime (hopefully).

Monday, we headed back to Columbia (where I from and where me and the honey-buns met), we saw our fabulous friends, the Creeds, and then headed to Moberly to visit my mom and bake a little with my sisters before our big family reunion. That was a fun time as the Christmas SheDaisy played in the background and we danced like fools. We were there for a few hours and then headed back to CoMo to stay with Aaron and Margie. I loved seeing their home and being where they live, they are just an amazing couple and we had a great time chatting it up. Patch was REALLY comfortable there as he ran around like crazy and let some bodily noises be heard. (oh dear)

Tuesday began more fun and some serious CRAZINESS! We made a serious Sam's Club trip and then made our way to the Lake of the Ozarks where we had a rented a "7 bedroom house".
We got there to find that 2 of the "bedrooms" were closets with beds...interesting but we made do-able. 2 others were in a "cottage" which was a shed type thing split into two rooms with cement floors...do-able again but not quite what we were expecting.
So, that day we all got situated and tried to get set for the week only to have the laundry room in the basment flood-like serious standing water-and one of the upstairs bathrooms flood as well (which we then decided to just lock and not use for the whole trip because it was a finicky toilet), so we went down to 2 toilets for 26+ people.
It was interesting...and you will see why shortly.
My Dad and Nan came that night and I think they loved being surrounded by all the kiddos-it was a pretty amazing site to behold. And I loved seeing Nan with 16 of her great grandbabies-they all just adored her, especially the little babies.
Wednesday was pretty low key-we baked and got things ready for Thanksgiving. Our Pappy came and the fun of having so many of kids meet him for the first time (my kids being some of them). He was one proud great grandfather-you could see it all over his face. The kids all played so well together and I am still thoroughly amazed at how well 16 little kiddies, 7 and under, could just jive so good together.

We did quickly realize, by the way, that if you wanted a shower-a warm one especially-you either had to take it at night, a good time after the kiddos went to bed, or make sure you were one of the first ones up. Poor Nicki, I think she only ever got enough warm water to get wet and then the whole rest of it was cold!
Thursday morning brought my mom and Rob and Terra and Michelle. Again, the excitment of all the grandbabies/neices and nephews in one area began and it was just as fun as when the first grandpa/great grandma came. It warmed my heart.
Oh, back track a few hours...Kelli peeps her head into our room-early-and says, "Shannon, we need your help upstairs...the turkey burned."
WHAT?!
She proceeds to tell Nicki the same-since she is in our closet sleeping-and we all head upstairs. I was sniffing the whole way because I couldn't smell burnt anything.
It really wasn't burned but it did overcook and turned out pretty dry, which was a disappointment and kind of a long story that I am NOT going to get into. Kell's comment getting us up though ended up being the quote of the trip-it was pretty funny. Everything else, food wise turned out great. We did have 2 oven fires that morning though-good size ones too by the way. We ate good and then cleaned up and hung out resting and then it started...

the puking.
and then the "you know what" that I won't type.
The big "D" if you didn't catch on.
Around 25 of us ended up sick while still there. Friday we all just sat around in our beds, some laying outside one of the 2 bathrooms we could use, and others on the floor and couch with bowls in the "entertainment" room. If you're gonna have food poisoning and be vomitting you might as well have good company while doing it. (and we are pretty sure it was the turkey) The house didn't smell so pleasant, we'll just say that. However, by Friday evening we felt well enough to play a second round of Minute To Win It and it was a blast, exhausting but a blast. (the first round we played with my dad and nan-Wednesday night, equally as fun) Saturday we cleaned house and boogied on out of there, sad to say goodbye to eachother and not so sad to say goodbye to the house. ;)

Madds got sick in the van when we hit the St. Louis area on the way home Saturday-yuck. So we made an impromtu stay at my Dad's, cleaned out the van, did a load of smelly laundry, gave baths/took showers, and got a little, much needed, sleep-madds puked 2x's that night hence the "little, much needed, sleep". Then the trek home began. It took a lot longer since the kids were all awake this time around and more stops were necessary. However, rolling into our driveway at 10 pm that night felt like being a kid in a candy store. And the kids felt the same I am sure of it. Makinley was awake, since she doesn't like to sleep in the car, and she went all over the house playing and squealing excitedly with Patrick, who had taken a late nap and was wired and excited to be home as well. Madds was conked out but she was all smiles the next morning. Mike and I were just excited to sleep in our own bed again. And the kids were too apparently since they didn't wake uip until 8 the next morning!

The trip was wonderful even if lots of things didn't go as planned. This was our first family reunion on my side and we defintely learned a lot from it and how to be WAY more prepared for next time. We loved being with our family though, both sides, and that, even amongst all the chaos, made the trip a success. I love you all and look forward to the next time we are together again!

Oh, and the excitement of the reunion was finding out we are going to be adding a new niece or nephew to my side of the family come July...can't tell you who since I am not sure if they are announcing it to anyone else yet...oh the suspense, I know!

Could this be any longer?! WEll, knowing me and how I talk-yes, yes, it could! ;)
I only got the one picture I posted before of my side so no new ones until my family members send some way but here are some Kate got while we were with Mike's fam. Here's just a few, I will put more up off and on throughout the day.

Oh, and it's nice to see that I am not the only one with fetish for taking pictures of my baby! ;)

Look at her tricks!

2011-11-29T12:10:00.000-05:00

I can't figure out how to flip it, so cock your head to the side and enjoy-it's worth it, I promise!

Oh, and don't forget to turn the music off at the bottom of my blog first.

AHHHHH, she's too tiny to do this!

Oh, and she's blowing the cutest kisses ever now too. :)

back and oh so tired

2011-11-28T11:09:00.001-05:00

we're back!

we rolled in late last night and couldn't have been more ready to crawl into our own beds.

there is just something about your own bed.
ahhhhh.

we had a wonderful time and some interesting times as well.

but, i am tired and have a lot to catch up on so a long post to describe the good times and the "not so good" times will have to come later, soon, but later.

and, the disappointing thing?

i got hardly any pics...boo.

however, i have a great story to tell and i am sure pictures will be easy to imagine, and some that you just don't want to imagine as well. ;)

here are a couple that give a good look at some fun the kiddos had

hope you all had a fabulous turkey day too!

it's almost time!

2011-11-16T09:51:00.000-05:00

we're gonna' see some family, LOTS of family, in just a couple of days!

WAHOO!

life has been busy this week as preparing ensues.

so many clothes to wash and pack, food to buy, cut up and prepare.

new crayons bought, coloring books, activity kits.

now to let the kids pick out the movies they want to bring-thank the heavens for the creation of tv's in vehicles, it truly is a miracle those were invented!

there is nothing i wouldn't do to see family, even if it means 18 hours in a car with 3 kiddos, 4 and under and one who doesn't sleep anywhere but her crib...let the fun begin-we are so ready for it!

so grateful

2011-11-13T14:38:00.001-05:00

I sat in my car in the driveway yesterday while the car warmed up

and watched the sunlight peak through the trees barely while that big yellow tree I love shed itself

of it's best feature. My emotions got the best of me as when in that moment of beauty and awe I felt this overwhelming feeling of love from our Maker. To see this beautiful earth that He has given us and in that moment also knowing that we all have our seasons, not just the earth. And each season brings more beauty yet in such a different light.

I am grateful.

So very, very grateful.

These were taken the day we took the shots of the kiddos.

Funny story, totally unrelated.

At lunch today Patrick passes gas and I immediately give this, "did you really just do that at the kitchen table?" look and he quickly follows with, "scuse me." While my look continues for a sec he then says, "Sometimes my bottom burps. Sometimes it does."

So, needless to say the look was gone and we might as well have been rolling around on the ground we were laughing so hard. Love that kid, even when he's gross.

autumn and windows

2011-11-09T09:57:00.002-05:00

first of all,

I. LOVE. FALL.

if only i had a better camera and could capture all that i saw as i stepped out onto my front porch this morning. Amazingly beautiful.

secondly, this little lady loves to climb and she LOVES to look out the window and "pat" it over and over.

cute, right?

very, actually.

the not so cute part??

what the window starts looking like after 2.5 seconds because she's a beaver.

nice.

a little while ago...

2011-11-08T10:53:00.000-05:00

I can't believe I never posted about the fact that Mike and I had our anniversary last month!

October 22, 2005 I married the most amazing man EVER and have been so incredibly happy since.

This year obviously marked our 6 year anniversary and I can honestly say I am even more in love today with that man than I was that special day 6 years ago. He truly does complete me and makes me want to be better. He is the most amazing example, the most amazing husband, the most amazing friend and the most amazing Daddy. I love you so much sweetheart and am glad we got to actually have a date this time around and got to spend it together! LOVE YOU, lots and lots and lots!

and ps-i've always known i have a lot of hair but man, this pic proves it for sure...should i cut it?? just need some opinions!

a few things...

2011-11-07T08:37:00.000-05:00

1. i HATE daylight savings time, just in case i haven't expressed that enough in the past.

2. i LOVE that my 2 oldest are coloring and watching Curious George this morning, and that they already cleaned their room this am.

3. i LOVE that my baby played in my wallet for a good 30 minutes and then moved on to a trying to put a bracelet on her head...she must have thought it was a hair piece.

4. i DON'T like the way that baby made her diaper smell during the above.

5. i LOVE that even though my husbs knows i despise the scratchy beard that is currently consuming his handsome face, he knows that i love the kiss on my head before he gets out of bed in the morning (while i sleep warmly under the covers) even more.

6. i LOVE that it is november and that i will get to see ALL of our family, on both sides, in a week and a half...eek! oh, and i am excited for turkey too!

7. AND i love this picture, it makes me laugh

it hurts

2011-11-04T10:09:00.000-04:00

i am needing a place to just write down my thoughts, so forgive me.

sometimes...sometimes, the trials of others hurts so much more than my own.

today, is one of those "sometimes".

i have sat back for a while and listened to and watched so many people suffer, over and over.

and i do know that through suffering and struggle we grow, learn, and ultimately become more like Christ-if we let ourselves.

but sometimes the hurt just happens, despite that knowledge

i find myself wondering today, "why? why do they continue to suffer and hurt so much? can it please be over for them soon? can i take it instead-because i will?

i have so many family members struggling with so many different things and i wish so badly that it would be over for each of them. my heart literally is aching today, for them. the tears can't seem to lock themselves away currently and i am so wishing they were happy tears, tears brought on by good news.

to my family, all of you, i wish it was better.

i wish words took the pain away and brought the blessings that you so desperately seek and need. i wish that trials didn't take so long sometimes. i wish that you didn't have to hurt the way you are, and especially for so long.

but i also want to say thank you.

thank you for being so strong, even in your weakest moments. thank for pressing forward with faith.

thank you for the example that you set, even though you may not know it. thank you for teaching so many others who you may not even know are learning from you.

and please know

He is there.

He does love you and this will strengthen you. His hand is outstretched, His arms are opened wide.

my hubs brought this talk to my attention again today.

he's so good like that-i love him lots.

and because a more sad post needs some upliftment,

here's a picture to make you smile...

she's pretty good at brightening up a dark mood.

poor baby

2011-11-03T10:42:00.000-04:00

little miss makinley has been under the weather for about a week and she's been just miserable.

i noticed stuff in her ear yesterday morning and so in to the dr. we went.

sure she had an ear infection, but not just that, her eardrum ruptured due to that infection!

that makes you feel like a fabulous mom, let me tell you.

luckily though the pressure has been relieved due to it's rupturing and with antibiotics the infection will clear and the current little hole in her eardrum will heal "beautifully" the doc said.

she was a lot more pleasant yesterday though so my guess is that it ruptured the evening before-she cried all day that day, it wasn't very fun.

then, last night...

well, due to the way the stairs are in this house you can't put a gate up, so we have been creative and put a basket on the bottom step-she usually doesn't bother with the stairs if it's there.

i was on a phone call about church and mike had run upstairs really quick with mike. then, all the sudden mike is in our room trying to hand me a baby that has blood dripping out of her her mouth, like a lot-no exaggeration. "shannon, she feel down a few stairs, can you take her?!" i end my phone call in a panic but notice she isn't crying, and hasn't even done so. i am trying to see where all the blood is coming and finally realize she clipped her upper frenum (those bleed a TON). so, luckily, she was fine and she saved us a trip to the dentist and moo-la down the road. she had a really tight one and it would have been clipped if it didn't happen on it's own anyway.

poor girl, i just feel so bad for her-she's had a rough week! so, last night around 10:30 when she started fussing in her sleep for about a minute i went upstairs and snuggled/played with her instead of letting her sleep. maybe that was bad mothering, since she was pretty much back to sleep already, but i just felt so bad and i wanted her to know how much we loved her.

she loved it, and so did we.

Trick or Treat!

2011-10-31T19:31:00.000-04:00

I know I posted pics from the "Trunk or Treat" but I, of course, had

to get more tonight!

We dressed the babe up strictly for a picture, poor girl is just still not feeling good, she

was asleep by 6:30 tonight.

The kids were drenched when they came home to change Maddie's shoes for boots, but then headed out for more. Patch is WIRED! For the 1 minute that they were in the house he was

yelling, "BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!"

Have no idea where that came from! Yikes!

I have also discovered that I love Halloween and love handing out candy to kids,

their faces make it all so worth it. I love their excitement...even if I do hate all the scariness of this holiday.

Hope you all had a Happy, and more dry than us, Halloween!

my main men

2011-10-31T09:27:00.000-04:00

Well, my only men that is.

(i know you were so worried)

We had a fabulous Saturday, cleaned up the house a bit, played and were ultimately lazy for the day-

since it was cold and rainy.

It was perfect.

Trunk or Treat!

2011-10-30T09:40:00.001-04:00

Our church does a "Trunk or Treat" every year for Halloween and ours was on Friday. The kids had a great time. Poor Makinley hasn't been feeling well and it was her bedtime so, she "wilted" quickly and before I got a picture, we put her hat back on so I could get that at least. We'll take pics again Monday hopefully, but just in case something goes awry...

Patch didn't want to do the costume parade, he's quite shy and has been under the weather as well but he was the cutest fireman I have ever seen!

And Maddie, oh Maddie-I don't know what we're going to do with that girl when she gets older. She was soooo excited that she got to wear make-up! She has the longest eye-lashes by the way, just so ~~pretty~~ beautiful. Oh buddy, Daddy REALLY needs to get a gun, I have a feeling!

Oh, and did I mention that we had 80 degree weather this week and the next day it was 50?? Yep, then it dropped even lower....buuuurrrrr!

the pics just don't do her justice.

Oh, and this is Austin...Maddie says,

"Me and Austin are going to get married in the temple when we get big."

(excuse her eyes in this one)

Our super cute fireman!

Our super sick and tired flower baby!

we're ready!

2011-10-30T09:16:00.000-04:00

Monday night we carved our pumpkins and it was a good thing we took pictures then...

they are starting to look pretty bad-all shriveled and stuff.

We had a good time-Mike obviously did the good ones, and I did the basic one.

Mine was meant to look like Makinley though (thank you very much), ya know the button nose and the teeth? Well, that was my intent at least-I am about as basic as you get, plus I needed to be quick since that girly was getting into everything in the other room and Patch was about to spin himself sick in the computer chair. It was fun. Maddie had a blast helping Daddy and Daddy did a great job on the pumpkins.

today

2011-10-27T21:50:00.000-04:00

today...

i let life slow down.

i enjoyed my kids more fully and didn't allow hurried-ness and stress to consume me.

i ended early at the gym because i needed to see my kids and have them near me.

we walked to the park.

during said walk, i watched my beautiful children throw leaves in the air and then squeal excitedly as they ran through those swirling twirling leaves.

today...

my little man preferred to hold my hand on that walk than to walk with maddie and her friend.

the wind blew perfectly and the sky was beautiful.

we had a picnic at the waterfront and that wind blew through our hair and brought giggles from my sweet maddie girl and watery eyes from a happy baby.

the water rippled from the wind and made the sun look like glitter dancing across the water.

i realized my little man is still just that, little...he still has the cutest baby pudge on his hands.

today...

makinley realized she doesn't like sand on her feet-or in her mouth either.

the kids got "collections" on their way home and made pretty collages later.

today...

today i realized i need to soak everything in everyday-as much as i can-because life is short and so uncertain. i have healthy children, an amazing husband (who is far beyond what i deserve), a home, we have a job, running vehicles, the gospel, a testimony of the Savior and

a whole lot of love in our life.

today i started hoping to better live everyday for today.

2011-10-26T08:01:00.001-04:00

Since I posted about Lydia last week, I thought I would let you all know

that she passed away last night.

I really have no words. Please keep her family in your prayers, her parents and her her two little brothers. I know she is pain free now and in an even better place, but my heart breaking for them right now.

How grateful I am for my gospel knowledge and for the plan of families, they can be eternal-and what a sweet blessing that is.

Learn more about what we believe on families and life after we die here.

(You can learn even more if you go to the menu at the top of that page as well.)

Maybe this can bring you peace as well in times of struggle and losing a loved-one.

**edited note** you can read about sweet Lydia here.

not so good and pretty cute

2011-10-25T16:03:00.000-04:00

We attempted taking pictures of the kiddos on Saturday...haha! We've had so many comments about how we so often get such good pictures of the kids...well, not this time! At least none when they were all together!

However, they are still such cuties...and take notice of Maddie's eyebrows in some of the pics. We kept telling her to stop raising them and she replies, "They won't go down, they just want to keep staying up!"

Well alright then.

The single shots turned out pretty dang cute. We kind of need to take Maddie's again, but-that will happen sometime...maybe when her eyebrows want to stay down? :)

a little laughter for the weekend

2011-10-21T10:58:00.004-04:00

Don't forget to turn off my music at the bottom of the blog before hitting play!

grab the tissues

2011-10-20T21:39:00.000-04:00

sometimes it's the struggles of others that bring you back to reality and help you have gratitude for all the things you've been blessed with. seeing others without jobs, seeing other with health problems, seeing others who's marriages struggle and have dissolved, seeing many who struggle to have children, seeing others whose children are ill or hurting.

today was a good day. in fact, for a couple of days now i have found that my prayers have been prayers more of gratitude than asking. however, my heart is hurting tonight but my gratitude for my family and my healthy children is boiling over. mike came home with heart wrenching news.

mike works with a man whose daughter was diagnosed with a tumor on her brain stem. i am not sure how long it has been now, maybe a couple of years. she was doing pretty well for the last little while though and things were looking pretty good, as far as progression of the tumor growth slowing down a bit.

a few weeks ago, mike came home and said we needed to keep lydia (the little girl) in our prayers, she started having problems suddenly. they went for some tests pretty quickly and it showed that the tumor had grown significantly in a short amount of time. they gave her, i think, 6 more months to live. her sweet and wonderful parents have been doing all they can to make her as comfortable as possible, she is in a lot of pain. and she's 7 years old.

mike had to stop by his house tonight to pick something up for work. he came home and i saw nothing but sorrow and sadness all over his face. he said they were told it would a short time now, maybe a couple of weeks.

my heart broke.

i can't even imagine what they must feel right now. he (the dad) is just hanging out at home for a while and spending all the time he can with her. as a mother, i can't imagine ever wanting to close my eyes to sleep. the sadness of just seeing her hurt and be in the pain that she's in must be almost unbearable let alone the thought that they might not see that smile in just a couple of short weeks, or hearing her voice or see her cry.

my eyes are filled to the brim.

i have locked away the moments from today that i want to hold onto.

the moment when i was nursing makinley and she stared into my eyes and then waved her little pudgy hand up above her head, and smiled with her eyes at the same time.

the moment when patch snuggled into me on the couch at quiet time and fell asleep as he held trunker (his snuggly elephant) so close to his face like he always does.

the moment when i had maddie laughing her real, deep belly laugh as i tickled her-and she begged for more. and the moment at the dinner table as we talked about little miss lydia and keeping her in our prayers and maddie says, "she'll come back to the earth again though right?" with so much faith and conviction in her question.

life is short, hold onto all the moments you can. love more than you ever thought possible. give hugs and kisses as often as you can. say i love you always.

please pray for lydia and her family; that she will have strength to bear her pain and that her family will find comfort and peace somehow amidst this terrible trial. they are a strong family, they love the Lord and trust completely in Him-i know that they will make it through but it doesn't mean it will be easy.

yummo

2011-10-19T20:20:00.001-04:00

no, they are not the prettiest they could be,

but whoever said ugly couldn't taste so incredibly delicious!

and, i am not known for making sure my food is pretty anyhow. :)

(not that I am known for making "ugly" food either though)

anyway,

go here to learn how to make these.

our candy bar of choice was twix-yummmmmy!

don't you love making healthy food NOT healthy??? :)

we sooooo did not mind tonight.

A weekend in pictures

2011-10-19T09:40:00.000-04:00

lost and found

2011-10-17T08:27:00.000-04:00

well, the hubby informed me the other day that he "found" our memory card.

i was super excited and yet leery as to where he found it...i could hear it in his voice.

"where did you find it?" i responded.

"did you look in the camera shannon?"

well, the camera is the one who told me there was no card and YES, i did look-I PROMISE!!

SO, we have a card and i have started catching up on my picture taking...pics will come later today, we had a great weekend in DC with Jamie and fam. i am catching up on laundry and waiting until quiet time to do some pics, but they are coming!

YAY!

oh, and have i mentioned...i have the cutest little baby in the world??

well, i do, just in case you didn't already know!

Upliftment

2011-10-13T13:44:00.000-04:00

I talked in this post about our Church's General Conference that we have twice annually.

Well, that specific weekend proved to be a weekend of inspiration and answers to prayers.

It was just what I needed in so many different ways, from the music to each speaker that gave an address.

I just wanted to share this talk today with you, from Elder Robert E. Hales

It was the talk that I needed the most and that gave me drive and hope to move forward in faith.

I also loved it because I feel like he was sharing feelings, not just counsel, that he had had recently in his life-so relate-able. Anyway, a fabulous talk about enduring and the Lord's timing.

"I have often pondered, Why is it that the Son of God and His holy prophets and all the faithful Saints have trials and tribulations, even when they are trying to do Heavenly Father’s will? Why is it so hard, especially for them?...

As we ask these questions, we realize that the purpose of our life on earth is to grow, develop, and be strengthened through our own experiences. How do we do this? The scriptures give us an answer in one simple phrase: we “wait upon the Lord.”¹² Tests and trials are given to all of us. These mortal challenges allow us and our Heavenly Father to see whether we will exercise our agency to follow His Son. He already knows, and we have the opportunity to learn, that no matter how difficult our circumstances, “all these things shall [be for our] experience, and … [our] good.”¹³

Does this mean we will always understand our challenges? Won’t all of us, sometime, have reason to ask, “O God, where art thou?”¹⁴ Yes! When a spouse dies, a companion will wonder. When financial hardship befalls a family, a father will ask. When children wander from the path, a mother and father will cry out in sorrow. Yes, “weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”¹⁵ Then, in the dawn of our increased faith and understanding, we arise and choose to wait upon the Lord, saying, “Thy will be done.”¹⁶

I know I put a big chunk in but there is soooo much more. I hope it gives you the peace, drive and determination to move forward in faith and know that Lord knows and loves you specifically, and is aware of your struggles, what you can handle, and He wants to see you happy.

Click here.

a stegosaurus kind of love

2011-10-10T22:40:00.001-04:00

I need to record this because it's something that makes me smile and that I want to smile about forever.

Did you know that Saturday it was Mother's Day?

And how about today? Yep, it was Mother's Day today-where have ya'll been?

Actually, it was "Happy Mother's Day".

Or so my cute kids said.

They came in our room Saturday and said, as I was getting out of bed,

"Mom, it's Happy Mother's Day today, we're going to make you some cards."

And so they did.

Lots and lots and lots of cards.

Today, as I was switching laundry,

"Mom, it's Happy Mother's Day and we have gifts for you today."

If I had my memory card I would have posted a picture of my nightstand and what it still is currently holding.

A Jasmine barbie, a stegosaurus (are they even called that now?), a pink treasure chest and I believe a rhinoceros.

My kids love me.

(although sometimes I wonder if they really hate my guts, like when I make them clean their room)

Didn't you know that that is what a stegosaurus on your nightstand means?

silent

2011-10-10T08:14:00.001-04:00

maddie was given her first assignment to speak in primary at church.

she was to speak on prayer and give a ya know, like 1-2 minute little talk on prayer.

yesterday was the day.

she got up there confidently with me by her side to help along and...

gave the talk. she did stay by my side the whole time so we praised her for that but

not a word would escape those cute little, usually so talkative, lips.

after finished her leader said, "well, great job to ummmm, sister jury and wow maddie,

I've never heard you so quiet!"

HAHAHA-she's always a talker (not sure WHO she gets THAT from:).

Oh well, again, at least she made it to the pulpit!

And, I did find my glasses-they were at the church.

But still no memory card-oy!

boo!

2011-10-06T10:59:00.000-04:00

I have lost our memory card to our camera.

boo.

so, not too much posting will be going on until it is found.

I am pretty sure the kiddies took it-it was in the computer, and now it's gone.

hoewever, maybe I shouldn't blame it on the kids,

I have lost my glasses for the 2nd time in a month...

go figure-I am good at losing things.

I'll leave you with this...

Maddie helped edit this pic...she loves purple.

Pinna-pin-pin!

2011-10-04T23:30:00.014-04:00

Yes, I am a pinner.

I kind of told myself I wasn't going to add anything else to my list of things to do on the computer.

But I am sucker-I like to check things out.

And this Pinterest isn't something you can just "check-out".

It's too stinkin' fabulous...

and addicting

This week I have done these...

http://pinterest.com/pin/276340720/

http://pinterest.com/pin/275705673/

http://pinterest.com/pin/263347977/

http://pinterest.com/pin/248788796/

I have LOTS of other things to do and try but...

I need to have a permanent house first-so...my "to-do" board should probably be a

"someday" board instead.

Oh well, I am sure I will do some more stuff soon,

probably more food!

Brrrrr...

2011-10-04T15:53:00.000-04:00

Dang this kid is cute!!

He is modeling his cold weather attire for us all and that dang handsome smile of his!

We didn't get out of the 50's yesterday and man,

it was FAB-U-LOUS!

We went for a walk and then the kids just played outside while

Makinley and I paid bills on the porch, perfect.

(other than the bills part:)

It was cool enough that we were all all wiping our noses by the time we came in,

some of us using tissues and others using their sleeves...

LOVE the coolness and looking forward to the changing leaves-

Virginia has BEAUTIFUL autumns!

Oh, and the aroma of pumpkin muffins is wafting through the house right now-

yummmm-O!

black and white

2011-10-01T22:48:00.000-04:00

i post a lot of this little lady.

she grows a lot, and fast, and is learning so much.

tonight, as i watched her daddy teach to her stand alone and heard her laugh

harder than she's ever laughed, my heart rejoiced and broke a little.

it's all too fast and i can hardly take it.

madds was her size not too long ago, I remember it vividly

as she crawled from the end table over to me at the couch, with a sock

hanging out her mouth-as it always was.

patch was standing at the stairs as i snapped a photo that is forever etched in my mind,

that big gummy grin with his big deep dark eyes that seemed to go on forever and ever.

but today.

today they were running together around the house playing one of the many games they play. today they were putting puzzles together on the floor as we watched conference, and calling out random, familiar words

they heard from the speakers.

today they shared candy.

today they got in fights. today they loved each other like i always hoped my kids would.

and today, they grew even more...

did they really have to go and do that part??

i thought i took a lot of pictures of them then, when they were so small.

and i look through them, the pictures, and know that i did but also wish i had taken even more.

every moment-so i don't forget a thing.

her pudgy little hands, with those sweet dimples instead knuckle bumps...

her pudgy feet that just make you want a little nibble...

her beautiful look of curiosity...

the way she gnaws anything and everything (wood included)...

the way she smiles...

it's black and white...

they aren't babies forever, they don't stay in those stages you love so much.

they move on to more stages you love, and some you don't so much,

they grow and learn new things and become these intelligent, funny and beautiful little people.

and i'll soak in every moment from the time they are babies,

until forever.

and i'll take, and post, as many of them as i can.

moved

2011-09-30T14:18:00.000-04:00

Last weekend I had the opportunity to listen to a broadcast from our church.

They do this particular "session" every year for the women of the church. The session goes with the church twice yearly General Conference, where we have an opporunity to listen the Prophet of the church, his counselors, the apostles and many other leaders of the church. It's amazing-always.

Anyway, the General Relief Society Meeting, or women's meeting was phenomenol this year.

The concluding speaker is usually the prophet or one of his 2 counselors, and this year it was the 2nd counselor, President Dieter F. Uchtdorf.

AMAZING.

Just what I and so many other women, I am sure, needed to hear at this particular time in life.

I encourage you to read it, if you haven't already, and even if you aren't a member of my faith-I can promise you, you will be uplifted and moved.

Secondly, I happened upon the blog, of the woman/family friend who took our wedding photos, not too long ago. While she shares her amazing pictures she takes-it is her personal/family blog.

I read her newest posts just a little while ago and wanted to share because they were incredible and such moving posts. Her name is Emily and she is a mother of 2 and she is so honest and open about her feelings as a mother and the struggles and joys that happen day to day.

Read here first and then here second.

I love my life currently. I laugh and hang my head a bit as just this morning, on our way to a quick Dr. appt. for one of the kiddos, I called Mike because I was about to lose my mind due to the kids not listening and not cleaning up an trashing the house that I have been trying to keep some kind of order to-even with boxes everywhere and trying to de-junk. In all reality, I am just exhausted-another story-and they are just being kids. I read Emily's posts and my perspective was changed for the day. I have thought about those things (that she writes of) lately and have found myself being overly grateful for all the little and crazy moments-I just lost that this morning. Anyway, beautifully written and I know a pick me up and gentle reminder for any mother of young kiddos.

Enjoy every moment you have now-the good, the bad and the ugly...

it will be gone before you know it.

AND, we need to get all the pictures we can with our kiddies, whether we enjoy the way we look now or not...will we ever REALLY feel picture worthy anyway? They need the memories just as much as you will need them one day too.

momma in the making

2011-09-29T10:34:00.000-04:00

Oh this Maddie of ours.

She loves any moment that she can be the "mom"-

and especially to this little lady of ours.

She does a really good job with her too and I love to watch them together,

it's like magic-the way they connect and love each other-

it's just beautiful.

And I love that Maddie can't wait to be a Mom someday-she talks about it all the time.

She'll be a great one, when the time comes.

(so glad we don't have to worry about that for a VERY.LONG.TIME! :)

uh-oh

2011-09-28T09:04:00.000-04:00

little lady's newest word!

she is saying "uh-oh" all.the.time.

and it is as darling as she is.

oh, and she is already climbing...heaven help us.

the things we do

2011-09-27T09:25:00.000-04:00

Sometimes we find ourselves, as parents, doing things a little out of the ordinary or different

for the sake of our children.

I found myself doing that this morning,

all over some fly like little creature that flew onto our kitchen table as my 3 little children and I devoured our cereal like ravenous wolves.

That little man up there in that picture is typically doing just what he is doing in that picture,

can you tell from the blurriness?

Running.

And when in the kitchen-like pictured-it's running circles around me and whatever it is that I am doing in there.

So, said fly creature thing landed on our table, and I'll be honest here, it freaked me out a little too-it was weird lookin'-but anyway, that cute little face turned into one of pure fear as he tried to scramble away from the table. A face that I hadn't ever seen until just a few weeks ago when we had a baby mosquito in the house and a girlfriend of Maddie's over who told him they sucked your blood...another story but seriously sad just because of his fear.

So anyway, I try to calm the crying and shaking little guy down meanwhile scouring the kitchen trying to find the little bugger so that it can be creamed.

Nowhere to be found.

Dang-it.

After a few minutes, lots of tears, and more fear being instilled from his lovely sister by saying she thinks it was in his shirt (yes, I know, hilarious to read and think about-just not in the moment), Madd's finally spots it, it flew up to the ceiling. So, I grab my towel (duh, towels are much more effective than fly-swatters-hello!...and maybe I couldn't find the swatter at the time) and my heart starts beating a bit faster, I hate bugs.

Plus, I HAVE to do good-it's always a good thing when mom gets to be the hero.

I swing the towel, barely hitting it, it flies to the blinds, I whack, I miss, it's flying, I'm swinging, 2nd swing and...

a bowl of cereal of and milk go flying everywhere and I can't tell if I got the thing or not.

The kids are asking, "Where'd it go Mom?" Me, "I don't know. (thinking, "great, here comes another outburst from a little guy, please, please say I got it.)

Then Maddie says, "It's on your towel Mom."

I look and there is no actual fly just some dark stuff...so, I THINK I got it unless there was some nasty stuff on the bowl that I whacked, which lay in a large puddle of milk and honey nut cheerios all over the floor. So, I start to clean up the mess, and I find what I think are remnants of legs but still, I see no bug.

That is until I put the dropped cheerios from the floor into the sink.

DEAD FLY CREATURE THING!!

So, not only did I whack it like there was no tomorrow, I made a shot into the sink.

Dang, I'm good.

Well, except for that cheerio mess that is.

Ahhh, the things we do for our kids...

and maybe for a our sanity too. :)

how did this happen?

2011-09-25T17:17:00.000-04:00

I am pretty sure we do not have a child old enough to be participating in a Primary Program...

oh but wait,

we do!

Miss Madilynn did her first program today, and she was so excited/nervous!

She was psycho insane this morning as we got ready and she didn't even eat her breakfast, she was so nervous. Then we got there and she was bit crazy still, wouldn't sit still much. Her class got up to say their parts and she was to go first...wouldn't say a thing! AHHH! That's okay though, I asked her if she was nervous later and she said, "No, I was just itchy."

Itchy? Ok.

But no worries because then she got up with 2 other little girls and sang a trio!! And she did it beautifully and with a big smile on her face. The song was, "I Love to See the Temple" which is her favorite. It was so good and we are so proud of her!

Good job Miss Maddie, we love you and we are so proud of you and all you do!

(excuse the hair, we didn't have time to take pics before so this is

after church and she's kind of a mess, still beautiful but...)

slowly

2011-09-22T13:52:00.000-04:00

I love the beginning of fall.

The weather slowly starts cooling,

the leaves slowly start changing colors,

the rain starts,

and you find yourselves indoors enjoying time together as a family-life seems to just slow down a bit.

I also enjoy kids doing crazy things because you are in the house so much!

I am looking forward to sweaters and boots,

and let's not forget sweatshirts too,

apple cider and hot chocolate,

chili

(which we did already have on a 60 degree day last week),

fall smells,

pretty leaves,

and nice cool walks.

I look forward to kids coming up with more crazy things to do as well...

and maybe I'm a little scared about that too! ;)

old man

2011-09-19T16:31:00.000-04:00

he decided to to do this all on his own yesterday, thought it was hilarious, saw that WE thought it was hilarious and then wouldn't stop doing it.

so funny!

also, he is SUCH a good big brother!

just can't get enough

2011-09-18T20:24:00.000-04:00

i just can't help myself, i LOVE taking pictures of this cutie!

and this is my favorite, she's smilin' up at her daddy. (swoon!)

bookworm

2011-09-15T22:29:00.000-04:00

This cute little lady seems to be developing a love for books,

especially Sissy and Bubba's sticker books.

(she loves to find them and pick the stickers off, it's funny to see how intent she gets on getting a one off)

She does like to pull them off of any shelf that she can find them, and then just sit int he pile and pick through them. She's such a little cutie!

She was quite disappointed when all the stickers were already off this page. So she moved on...

and I guess thought the Book of Mormon might be a better read??

(Notice her right (your left) hand) :)

ya big baby

2011-09-15T13:48:00.000-04:00

if you haven't noticed from my whiny last couple of posts,

things have been a bit crazy and stressful around here lately.

and that's okay, that's life-a lot of the time.

i love that there are moments amidst chaos and stress that make you stop for a minute

and just breathe and smile. the moments that feel like the Lord is saying,

"I'm here, I love you and settle down a bit-life is good and life is okay, you are blessed, just take a second to notice it, okay?"

i've had a few this week. my kids were the first. i love them-i love that our life is about them and making their life good, as less chaotic as possible and that they take our thoughts away from ourselves so often. they make us smile, they make me (and my phsyco crazy self) smile...

ALL. THE.TIME.

my sweet hubby was the second when he walked in with flowers the other night.

we don't do flowers very often, so when he walked in with them...

it was perfect and made me smile and feel warm fuzzies.

third was in a (very) early morning drive yesterday as a song was playing (a churchy song)

and it was like i was being spoken to-sounds weird i know-but it couldn't have been more perfect

for me at that time.

so, i've ditched the whine and acting like a big baby and settled for a smile.

life is good, so very very good.

now tell me these don't make YOU smile...

this boy of ours DOES love sports-basketball mainly-not just dressing up like a girl... :)

can we all say, "AWWWWW!"

a pirate and a princess, at the same time-now that's talent!

(or that's what happens when a brother is messin' with a baby)

shiny 'n' white

2011-09-12T15:05:00.000-04:00

"what's that, what does this do, do i have to get a pokey pokey?

"good, i don't like pokeys, they hurt.

"are you going to take pictures of my teeth?

"is it going to hurt?

good, i don't want it to hurt."

a few of the million things my kiddos asked/said prior to the actual cleaning of their teeth...

well, guess just maddie, patch was too scared of the lady who cleaned his teeth to say anything. :)

first time to the dentist, they did so good!

madds was our brave one instantly, she did so good. she has a cross bite and not a lot of space between her teeth, so a palate expander and braces are in her future-poor girl.

you can see the excitement all up in that smile...hahaha. this was after 3 minutes of him refusing to get in the chair. i told him he had to the count of 3 and we'd have to leave and he wouldn't be able to get a prize from the box like maddie-he changed his mind in a snap! :) and then he was excited and did great-it was almost weird how quickly he changed...but yeah that he did! his teeth look really good, great spacing, great bite...keeping fingers and toes crossed!

when did they get so big???

a teeter-totter life

2011-09-08T10:51:00.000-04:00

we had a pretty good labor day weekend and day itself.

it was pretty chill and in great company a couple of times.

this was maddie and patrick's first time on a teeter-totter, madd's loved it-Patch, mmmm, not so much.

(and probably due to madd's hitting to ground too hard and in turn hurting a little man)

family, good food, good friends, good time.

I feel lately as though I am riding a big teet-totter, and the other side won't let me down.

Lots of life decisions to make yet not feeling able to make them due to having to wait, not knowing, and worry if it's the right thing.

Yowza!

It's been a good learning experience nonetheless and that's what we're here on this earth to do, learn, right-and make the best of any situation?

Well then, I am imagining a nice big bright PINK teeter-totter that I am riding, with a bit of fun sparkly(think Taylor Swift sparkly) and wind blowing in my face-and luckily that partner on the other end is my "one and only"-so I have a great view too.

(I am sure he is NOT imagining a pink sparkly teeter-totter though ;)

a little shout out

2011-09-01T07:53:00.000-04:00

this little girly,

oh this little girly.

i feel as though she doesn't make it up on this blog all too often and that makes me sad.

she's a pretty rockin' little chica and we kinda love her lots here in this house.

she is such an independant little lady yet so desirous of some lovin' that it's almost confusing at times.

she has 2 laughs...

a serious fake laugh, one that if you don't know her well you really would think it's her real laugh.

and then her real laugh, it's a "comes from deep within" laugh-we love that laugh.

it's hard work to get it out of her-but that's how she's always been, since a baby.

we often hear, mostly from family, how incredibly serious she is-and she is,

and so matter-of-fact-she is often putting us in place.

she has an infectious love for others though-although sometimes her sassiness proves otherwise. but we love her sassiness, another "since she was a baby" trait.

in fact when she was being born, she was a c-section, they went to get her out and didn't realize that she was positioned in a way that made her stuck a little. anyway, that first pull on her made her start screaming, and she wasn't even out! we didn't have a name for her immediately and so the nurses named her Miss Sassy Pants.

(it is really rare, apparently, for a baby to cry before they are even out of belly)

madilynn is just an awesome girl and we just love her so much.

we love that she is such a wonderful big sister, so much so that BOTH of her siblings get so excited when they see her. patrick doesn't like being away from her for too long-he'll squeal, "Mom, Maddie's home, Maddie's home!" when she's been away at a friend's house . and makinley...oh she adores maddie; just this morning maddie got up last and was coming down the stairs when makinley started squealing in delight at the sight of her. she's a good sister for sure.

she's also a fab helper. she's is great at cleaning up, she always wants to help wash dishes,

and she now likes help clean the bathroom,

(although the toilet she isn't a big fan of...don't blame her though-who is?)

she loves to sing and we've been informed that she is one of the best singers in primary at church. :)

she loves to learn and has an incredible memory.

(thankfully! we know she must get that from her daddy!)

i could go on forever and tell lots of stories but...

we just love her tons and want her to know that!

much happier...

2011-08-31T13:33:00.000-04:00

i am the "bad mood" no more!

i made the girlies some dresses a couple of weeks ago but never fully finished them,

they needed some accessorizing and i just haven't had the time nor energy to finish them.

until last night! i am still working on their hair pieces and when i get those done (should be today)

i will dress those girlies up and snap some pics...

i love that they are coordinating but not the same and i love that i had an idea of what i wanted to do in my head and then found it online...let's be real-i wouldn't be able to figure out how to do it without some guidance-or a full on "show how".

super excited, and i know you are antsy with anticipation now!

well, this little girly will have to hold you over...

her and her first ponytail-or whale-spout.

(from the likes of my phone)

there was yellow in her dress, but mostly i wanted to see what it looked like and that was the only small bow clip i found at the time. not sure what i think but...a first "hair-do" has to be recorded!

bad mood

2011-08-30T09:17:00.000-04:00

that's me today.

i am a bad mood, not just in a bad mood.

that's probably not so good.

it happens though so...

i am a week now of being sick and i am just done already.

i thought, as of yesterday, that i was starting to feel better (although i sounded downright terrible)

but i woke up today and both of my eyes (rather than just the right one that has been for the last week) are both REALLY red and squinty looking. my nose is nastier than it has been yet and...

i am just done.

we have been waiting on some news and just found out this morning that more waiting will occur and frankly, it makes me mad a little, and emotional and...i don't know, lots of things.

makinley has been severely whiny for the last few days, which followed being sick

all last week. i don't like it when i have no ideas on how to soothe my always happy/smiley baby. i can't MAKE her teeth come in-but man i sure can wish they would hurry on up.

my other cute kids want to get out of the house already and i can't/shouldn't be frustrated that they are going crazy.

wow, could this be any more of a whine-fest? well, i probably could make it more so but...

i'll be done for now. :)

are you ever a bad mood? how do you deal with it?

and please don't feel sorry for me...there is no reason too, it happens to all of us.

at least i have this little guy to come up to me randomly throughout the day and say,

"i like you mommy. i love you mommy, i do."

damage

2011-08-28T08:32:00.001-04:00

this was a few houses down and across the stree from us. the damage outside it crazy. this was one of 5 trees we saw this morning, on our little 10 minute walk. 1 went down on the strete (and it's a huge tree) and 2 others were actually on houses. so many branches everywhere, it's a mess here. good friends of ours had a tree fall on their house, right in the middle and they had to gather what they needed and make to the in-laws. i haven't seen anything like this before...it's pretty crazy/sad/heartbreaking. many prayers to many people!

and this is how he rolls...

2011-08-26T13:33:00.000-04:00

when he's sick, he puts on his jammies and cowboy hat/boots and steals food from a baby.

a girl and her pizza

2011-08-25T08:45:00.000-04:00

what is up...

2011-08-24T05:00:00.001-04:00

with this family and wild animals??

like, seriously?

A couple of weeks ago, we had an interesting event take place.

Being the ummm, (ahem) GREAT mom that I am (cough, cough) so great,

I grabbed a big blanket, toys and my 3 beautiful kiddies and we headed out to the front yard for a morning of play. I anticipated being out there ALL morning and letting the kids get out their energy and just a good time, without worrying about time and other things.

About, mmmm, 15 minutes of being out there we hear,

"Chhhchchchchchchc, ptchptchptch, chchchchc....

BOOM!"

(that is talk for something coming down, and coming down FAST, from a tree)

That boom, and mind you-this is like a foot and a half from where we are sitting, was a baby squirrel!

Seriously, I almost cried-it hit the ground SO HARD, and it was SO TINY!

Well, it freaked me out a bit too. The kids thought it was cool and all but...what the heck do you do with a baby squirrel that has fallen out of a HUGE tree? Well, the UPS man said there wasn't really much we could do-since the same thing just happened to a family member of his. (his nephew actually took care of it but it died after a month) At this point my kids have now pet the thing (it wasn't moving and I was trying my darndest to keep a little baby at bay) I then called a few family members (since my hubby wasn't busy and not answering his phone) but really, not a whole lot to do. WELL, then, while on the phone with my MIL, we hear,

"Chhhchchchchchchc, ptchptchptch, chchchchc...

BOOM!"

AGAIN-for real!

This one moved a little bit more than the other one but looked a bit scrawnier.

they fell about 2 feet apart

My sister thought I should take them to the Dr. after that (my kids that is) since they touched wild squirrels! HAHAHAHA. They did wash their hands, thank you.

Eventually we went inside. I kept an eye on them religiously so that if a cat came roaming, I would come running/roaring out the door so it wouldn't get them. Also, it was thought best to give them some time to see if their mother would come down and get them...

dumb mother-she never came and that made sad/frustrated with her!

(I know, I know-they're squirrels!)

I posted on FB that I had random baby squirrels fall from my tree and got some feedback. Well, around 4ish my friend called to see if they were still alive. I went and checked (I had finally scooped them up with a dust pan and took them to the wooded area behind our house-I couldn't handle walking out to dead baby squirrels in my front yard) and they were. She came and got them, with intentions on nursing them back to health. She's a brave one, that friend of mine.

I got the scoop from her a few days later:

The scrawny one, #2, died that night

and she called a vet, a day or so later, and took #1 to them and they took it in to nurse back to health.

Crazy huh?? I thought so...

Us and wild animals...what will happen next?

Do I really want to wait and see?

No, I just want to be done with it all already! :)

not cool

2011-08-23T15:12:00.001-04:00

earthquakes=not cool.

for record keeping purposes.

we experienced an earthquake today, a real and very obvious earthquake.

it really was not cool.

it has been at least an hour and i still have "quaking" insides.

it was said to have been a 5.9 on the scale and felt all the way from here to as far as Ontario.

yikes.

i heard it before i felt it-it was loud and i thought some kind of big vehicle (but bigger than a trash truck), like a train, was coming down our street. i got up to go look out the window but didn't get that far when the whole house started shaking. it took me a minute to realize it was an earthquake but when i did we headed over to the door way of the kitchen. i could see neighbors outside looking around during it. it lasted about 20 sec, give or take a few. that may not seem like a long time, but apparently it is for an earthquake and let me tell you-it felt like WAY longer-it was a bit scary.

everyone is okay though, thankfully. mikey was on the road but he's good-whew!

while we may still feel a bit shook up, we're all good and hoping for no after-shocks.

oh, and prayers that hurricane irene decides to take a different course would be much appreciated...her current path will hit us pretty good about saturday or sunday.

cuzzy wuzzy woo-woo-woos

2011-08-23T00:37:00.001-04:00

I wish the kids were closer to ALL their cousins, that would be the perfect world, ey?!

But they're not, that's reality.

I am glad that they are close to some, and that they love spending time with them.

We had fun over the weekend. Mike and I enjoyed time at the temple

while the kids enjoyed time playing with their cuzzies and then we swapped with Jamie and Evan.

We had fun yard sale-ing, hangin' out at their house and heading downtown DC for time at the Natural History Museum and a nice/awesome park there too.

It was a fan-freakin'-tabulous weekend.

handsome guy...no, no the one that has skin and is holding the baby! ;)

hahaha, this one just makes me laugh

this lady is demonstrating to us all how I felt by the end of that day-oh so tired!

glad they were game for going-she wasn't feeling too good,

and neither were 2 of their 4 kiddos.

you have to try the downtown vendor food at SOME point...luckily the pretzels

didn't disappoint, and it wasn't expensive like I thought it would be!

Stickin' our feet in the water felt

AHHHH-mazing and the kids got soaked!

sometimes ya just havta...

2011-08-22T10:08:00.000-04:00

8 months old and a teeny tiny, yet chubby, cute girl.

at 8 months:

she's crawling all over the place,

eating table food like a champ,

pulling herself up to standing on just about everything,

saying "da-da" non-stop,

(a humble reminder though to you all that she DID say ma-ma first...a long time ago)-

and I think she also says "hi", not entirely sure though,

laughing ALL the time at anything and everything,

fake coughing at anyone who coughs-no matter where we are,

LOVES peek-a-boo,

is a Momma's girl BIG time,

nursing great again (we did have some issues for a little while),

she can drink from sippy cup-but she can't tilt it back herself-since she never did take to a bottle,

she has the saddest sad face ever,

oh, and she tried to walk along the couch for the first time yesterday (NO!),

and there is more but that's a good list for now.

i can't believe in just 4 short months she will already be 1-time doesn't ever seem to slow...

except when we don't want it to that is. :)

STOP

2011-08-10T15:16:00.000-04:00

in the name of love...

my heart can't handle you getting any bigger!

(she's pulling herself up all by herself )

it's the little things

2011-08-09T08:15:00.001-04:00

and why don't i let them do it more???

doing that thinking thing again...

2011-08-08T07:00:00.003-04:00

This, my 500th post, is a lot of thinking.

Thinking about the blessing that my life is.

I am healthy.

I am happy.

I am loved.

I love...

and I have a lot to love.

I think, actually I know, that so often in life it is so easy to become complacent. It is so easy to fall into the hum-drum of our life. I don't like those moments, I seem to start losing sight of the many good things in life when that happens. And then trials start happening and we start weakening, even when those trials are really nothing very serious or big. We start, unpurposefully becoming a little more selfish and more worried about ourselves only-and I know, this is totally normal. We start losing sight of all the good things we have. We start longing for the things we don't have and we start becoming a bit more impatient with each passing day, sometimes each passing moment.

Life gets hard sometimes. It's hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel, especially

when that tunnel seems to get longer

and longer

and longer.

I am coming to realize all the time, more and more each time, how important it is to always look at the things I DO have. To see the things the Lord has blessed me with already. It is not easy to recognize that all the time...really not easy at all sometimes. But it does help.

And so, I have hit that point.

No, life hasn't been terribly hard with trials lately. I just became complacent and
lost site of a few things, not even so much at doing those things but paying attention to the things I was doing and doing it with "real intent". I allowed myself to become impatient in waiting for important things in our life to happen-things that naturally take time. Then I started to complain and be Miss Crankily Pants of the house. And Miss Crankily Pants is not too pleasant to be around-let me tell you.

And then, with much thanks, I was given a light. Not answers to things I was searching for so much, but a lightbulb-displaying a sign that said,
"Hello, your kind of being more Miss Ungrateful Pants than anything else. Count your blessings."
It wasn't anything big or a slap in the face thing, that sometimes happens, just subtle and perfect for me at that time, or at this time rather.

And so, I am grateful...for oh so many things. If I listed them all, this post would never end.
I truly am livin' the good life. I thank my Father in Heaven for giving me that good life, even when it may seem hard.

I am blessed and I am thankful.

Just try and take a second and think of 5 things you are grateful for today and I promise, your day will brighten that much more.

Also, go here for some good upliftment-one of my all time favorite spiritual addresses.

i just love them

2011-08-05T10:19:00.000-04:00

"I'w carwy dis Momma, I'w carwy dis."

(I'll carry this Momma, I 'll carry this)

"I wuv you Mommy."

"Mommy, you pwetty, I wike youw haiw."

(I like your hair)

"Pwease bwess Jesus and his owies."

This is what it's all about...

the moments that melt your heart and take your breath away.

The moments/words that make your head (cuz your heart ALWAYS knows/remembers)

remember why it is that you became a Mom and why you always wanted to do it.

I am in love with these kids and am overjoyed that I get to be their "Momma".

already half over

2011-08-04T06:45:00.001-04:00

it's thursday!

we get a little goofy around here when it's almost the weekend...

that means Daddy gets to be home for 2 whole days!

WAHOO!

and this weekend we get to spend some more time with family...

whoop-whoop!

finally caught it...

2011-08-03T10:02:00.003-04:00

one of our favorite noises in the world right now...

so cute huh?!

oh monday...

2011-08-02T09:11:00.000-04:00

i often loathe you.

you are a day that is filled with laundry, computer, and cleaning.

i so often find myself exhausted when you roll yourself around to start my week.

you take my husband away, except if it happens to be a holiday

(i appreciate you so much more on those special days).

in all honesty, i just don't usually like you much.

however, yesterday, you were a lovely monday-and i welcomed you.

you made me and my kids happy when you allowed us to do this

she was all shades of excited that there was a pool AND sprayers. she also enjoyed making new friends as she played and splashed in the perfectly cooled water.

this little guy enjoyed taking those said friend's, water toys/boats and zooming them around the water, while also taking quite a few trips to the potty since he gets far too much water in his mouth still.

oh and then there's this little lady, who quickly fell asleep in the not too hot heat, as her pudgy little belly and legs hung out of her swimsuit. she also enjoyed splashing in the nice water and pulling away at momma's colorful swimsuit.

thank you monday, for not being so ugly this particular day...thank you for being a beautiful day and for starting my week off so much nicer!

now tuesday, we're going to have to have a talk today about all this laundry that now needs to be caught up on...

"singing"

2011-08-01T08:12:00.003-04:00

While I have posted this on FB already, I couldn't resist to put it here too.

These kids crack me up.

I love that their "singing" is straight up yelling.

Oh, and watch Patrick-this kid is hilarious.

(i didn't know his voice could go even deeper)

Happy Monday!

seriously...

2011-07-28T15:44:00.000-04:00

divine

(imagine me singing that word-or don't, that might scare you)

luckily my sister reads the "money-saving" and coupon blogs because if she didn't...

I wouldn't have this fabulous recipe to share with you!

DELICIOUS, FAST and EASY!!

Try it out...so good!

And her (my sister's) recommendation was to do an egg wash so you get a nice crunch to the outside.

And don't be alarmed if yours turns out really lite in color, that's normal-I just have a REALLY hot oven!

http://blogs.babble.com/family-kitchen/2011/02/21/crusty-baguettes-made-fresh-in-30-minutes/

she can't decide...

2011-07-27T14:56:00.001-04:00

if she wants to be happy or cranky.

reminder times

2011-07-26T11:28:00.000-04:00

being a mom is oh so rewarding.

i think most people would feel that way, and i know so many wish for it so deeply.

sometimes, unfortunately, i have to remind myself of that-and then I feel bad because so many others have yet to, or won't, ever have that feeling.

anyway,

yesterday...it was a reminder day.

and it really wasn't my kid's fault at all, i was just so busy-and kids sense business which

let's be crazy!

i was putting bread in, cleaning up, preparing 2 meals, taking care of a baby who was hungry and turn around to find this.

i know, how cute, right?

well, when you are in the midst of so much stuff and having to do it in a hurry because you need to be somehwere (actually 2 different places) at a certain time, and you see your daughter making the world's largest flour mess, not only on the kitchen but all over herself, cute is not exactly what you are thinking.

But there's a picture so...

well, i didn't want to yell at her (what I consider my biggest downfall as a mother) and make everyone upset and risk the hurt feelings and melt-down that would occur, thus leading to more unnecessary time wasted-so, a picture was the way to go. i can laugh and smile now but i really didn't want to then-

i needed a reminder.

shortly before that...

the kids always go in makinley's room when she wakes up, no matter when it is-morning time, after morning nap, after afternoon nap. today was no different except that i walk in to them ALL in her crib.

again, cute-right?

not how i felt though at the time...they know they aren't supposed to be in her bed and bouncing around (which they were prior to me running downstairs to get the camera) so, it was a bit frustrating and another...

reminder time.

i am grateful for reminder times but at the same time wish they wouldn't have to happen.

today is another day and guess what??

we have had LOTS of reminder times already-inevitable?

what say you and your house?