Megan's Coming Home!

My little sister Megan is coming Home tonight! She has been serving a church mission for the last 18 months, in Romania! We have missed her so much! My kids are just as excitted for her to come home than for Christmas Day! That tells you something about her! She is so sweet and so much fun to be with! She has an amazing talent at making people feel happy and good about themselves! She is truly a Christlike person! We are so lucky to have her in our family! We will see her in about 7 hours! What a great Christmas gift!

Brinley - My Current Boss!

Ok, well I have 500 things that I should be doing right now, but I had to write down just a few of the things Brins said today! She was so so bossy! She kept telling me to do whatever came to her mind. When she thought I was not going to follow her commands, she say, "Grandma told me so or Gramma says!"

Tonight she was singing, The we will we will rock you song!(I don't even know how she knows that song). I asked her what that song meant and she said, " It means you flush the toilet." She is so funny!

We had some friends drop off a treat and thier family Christmas card tonight. Brinley sat and looked at the card forever. (The family has 4 cute boys).Then she said, "When I look at this card I think LOVE!" I could not stop laughing! Rob said, " Oh no we are in so much trouble with this girl!"

About 30 min. ago I was saying goodnight to Madey, and Brins came in and said, "Madey don't forget your personal prayers!" Madey said, "I already said them Brinley." All 5 of us are used to her great "advice"!

Ok now I can get back to my to do list but I had to remind myself of how cute she is! She was such a sticker today, I didn't think she was so cute when she opened a pressent that I had put together and had made a HUGE MESS in the kitchen after I had cleaned. I love you Brin Brin!

Happy Birthday Madey!

Christmas 2000!

Madey and her favorite cousins Emma & Ellie at the Polar Express in Williams, AZ.

Easter of 2001! I was pregnant with Ethan & so excitted!

Christmas 2000!

Madey's Baptism 2006

Our Sweet Madey is ten today! She said it is her golden year. Ten on Dec. 10th! She is so cute! We are so thankful to have her! I am so lucky to be her mom! She was worth the tearful wait!

Rob and I are especially thankful that she is feeling healthy again and back to her happy self! Last Tuesday I got a call from the school nurse. She said that Madey was in her office & that she just didn't look right. She paused and said, "I think I am going to call 911! I said "What?!" I was shocked! (Little did she know her teacher had already called 911.) To make a REALLY LONG story short, Madey had passed out in class and was basically disoriented for a little while. By time I got to the school she was lying on a bed in the nurses office with 6 or 7 firemen standing around her. (she was hating it!) They were testing her blood, listening to her heart, and asking her questions to see if she was coherent. I couldn't believe it! (That morning she said that she was tired, but she had no fever, no cough, no signs of being sick at all. ) I told her that she could stay home but she wanted to go to school). Anyway, one of the firemen thought that she had some sort of obstruction in her chest, so they loaded her up onto a stretcher & off we went to the hospital! I have never riden in an ambulence before and I hope I NEVER do again! It was scary! She had all sorts of tests done at the hospital, an EKG, blood work, Xrays, you name it. She kept changing colors. First she was white, then yellow, then pink the white again. It was crazy! She finally got a breathing treatment and then she pepped up right away! She just couldn't breathe! They found out that she had bacterial pneumonia in her right lung. The doctors kept thinking that it was more, but after 4 hours of watching her, stay a "normal" color they were convinced that she would be fine. What a night!

I forgot to mention that all of this happened right as school was ending. So every eye was on her as she was put into the ambulence, something that just horrified her! She does not like that kind of attention! (Brinley on the other, would have loved it!) She has really appreciated all of the concern and sweet attention that her friends and our family have shown her though. She knows she is loved! Thank goodness you are safe in your bed tonight Madey!(& breathing perfect again!) WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!!

Happy Birthday Rob!

These are my all time favorite pictures of Rob, when he was little!
He is the greatest husband and father! We love you! Have a fun day!

I forgot to pray!

Well this blog has kind of become my journal, so I have to "write" down what Brinley did today. This morning we were in a rush to get out the door. She had one of her shoes in her room and I told her where to find the other one. She ran to get it and came back all excitted that she had gotten it all by herself. A minute later she said really loud,"OH MY GOSH!" I asked what was wrong, she said, "I didn't pray to find my shoe!" I told her that she could still say a prayer of thanks that she found it. She looked at me like- I don't like that idea! So she took off her shoes, went and hid them, then said a sweet prayer all by herself for help to find them.(of course she knew exactly where they were!) Right after her prayer she got up and ran to get her shoes! She came back just BEAMING with her shoes saying," I found them!I found them!" She cracks me up! Cute things like that ONLY happen when you are in a huge hurry!(Now you know why I was late today Monika!) Sorry!

School Pictures

Wow! These school pictures actually turned out good! You just never know what they are going to come home with. What a happy relief!

We miss you Kristi, Angel, Dori & Rhonda!

This year was our 10th annual friend party! Except we were missing 4 families! Dori, Angel, Rhonda, and Kristi's families! They have all moved away and are now traitors!! Traitors who I love and miss! At least we MIGHT have a reunion in 4 weeks! Rhonda is coming from Hawaii and Dori is coming from Utah! Hooray! We are missing 16 kids in this picture! So sad! At least the Tassainers and Larsons were there!
Our very 1st Halloween party was so fun and crazy that I went into preterm labor the next day with Madey! I had to stay in bed for 6 weeks after that! Jen sure knows how to throw a good party!

Halloweened-OUT!!!

OK I know that I am weeks behind on these pictures but I am Halloweened out!

There were one too many Halloween activities this year! Of course I loved every minute of it though!

Halloween Flashback!

6 years ago Madey was Cinderella & Ethan was a little Firefighter. It was so fun to have Brinley & Garrett dress up in the same costumes this year! These pictures make me feel so grateful to have these 4! 6 years ago I was only dreaming of having more kids! Prayers are answered!

Kids Halloween Party

The week before Halloween Madey and Ethan had an early release day.I am always trying to think of something fun to fill those short days,so that morning I decided to do an impromptu kids party!( cuz I'm crazy!)It really was fun to do! We made popcorn hands, cookie spiders, bobbed for apples, then made them into carmel apples. The best part was our "mummy wrapping" contest! The girls won that one! Ella was a good sport! We ended the party with Madey giving, whoever was willing, a ride on the quad.(on Rob's precious dirt track!)We even had Halloween flavored Jones soda! I love this picture of Garrett! He was so happy and so SHOCKED that I gave him his own can of soda! What a happy day!

A Visit to the Pumpkin Patch!

We had so much fun picking out a pumpkin! Of course Brinley had to find the PERFECT pumpkin!

Sedona

Sedona Arizona is beautiful!Rob had to go there to see a client so we went along with him for the weekend! It was so much fun! We did a little hike at Slide Rock. The kids loved it!

Ethan's 7th Birthday!

Ethan is 7! I can't believe it! I love those dimples! He is so dang cute! We had the best BMX party! It was Rob's dream come true! I am so sad that I didn't take a picture of all 12 boys riding their bikes on our homemade track. I took tons of video but forgot to take a picture! Rob has spent hours and hours working on this track! (I will have to post a picture of it later.) It is his current obsession!( I am glad his obsessions are so innocent!) He was up the other morning at 5 am watering it down so it wouldn't be so dusty. It is seriously a crack up! I am trying my best to love it despite the muddy mess it brings into my home EVERY DAY!!!!

What a party! I put this picture on to show you what a diva this Brinley is! Of course she thinks I am taking a picture of her! It does not even occur to her that it is Ethan's party and HE is the focus of the day! OH I so love that girl! She has the best opinion of herself!

I had to post this picture of my brother Todd! We had no way to hang up the pinata so he got up on the island and "risked his life" everytime someone hit it/HIM! We love you Uncle Todd! You are the BEST!

Wonder what that wish was?????????

First day of School

Brinley Loves Miss Becky's preschool!
She is hard to leave though! Well at least most days! She is so much fun when she wants to be!

Well I am finally documenting thier first day of school! It started almost 2 months ago, but better late than never! Madey was so worried about starting a new school, but now she just loves it! Ethan was excitted from day one! He is my easy going kid! Are these 2 Rob's kids or what! They look exactly like him! I love it!

Garrett's top 3 best tantrums

Today I was going through and organizing my pictures. I could not believe how many pictures I had of him throwing a royal fit! Someday he will just love me for documenting this! I love you my Garrett Boy!