Fowers Family

Josie 1 month

2011-10-13T12:29:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe that a month has gone by already! Josie looks so different to me. She is gaining weight at a rapid pace. At her 2 week checkup she had gained 1 1/2 pounds. She is getting little fat rolls on her thighs and her cheeks are chunking up. Nothing is better than a baby you can squeeze! She loves to be held, which means sleeping at night is hit or miss. Some babies are born good sleepers and some have to be trained. I have now had 2 of each. Overall, we are all doing well with the new little addition- especially Juliet. I have the worlds best neighbors and family, so I never have a day go by without someone calling to check on me, come over to help, or offer to take my kids for a couple hours. I am so blessed :)

Birth Pictures

2011-10-13T12:28:00.000-07:00

If I had a dollar for everytime I said, "Blogger is being dumb..." I would be a rich woman! Here are the pictures that wouldn't upload from the previous post. Enjoy!

Josephine is here!

2011-09-23T13:52:00.000-07:00

It's taken me 2 weeks, but I can finally blog that Jopsephine Elizabeth has arrived! She took her sweet time and made things much more difficult than they needed to be, but we always say that baby is worth it and it's totally true. I got checked on Thursday the 8th and not much was going on. I was disappointed to say the least. That night at 10:30 I was sleeping and my water broke- which shot me awake like a gun! I have never had my water break on my own so this was a crazy thing to experience. Good thing I just bought a watterproof mattress pad last month for our new mattress :) I jumped up expecting to deliver a baby within a couple of hours and made all my phone calls to my "people" but nothing else happened. I kept waiting for contractions to start and they just didn't. I walked the circle for awhile and packed my bag, but nothing. At midnight I called my midwife who told me to come to the hospital as soon as contractions were anything regular because this is baby #4 and they usually come fast. By 9:00 am we just decided to go to the hospital anyway. I prepare for unmedicated births and have had 2 of them that way. I thought this would be no different- I was wrong! We finally started me on pitocin at 11:00 which started 5 minute contractions immediately, but they were so much worse than natural labor pains. This means I had to have fluid put in me and keep an IV in. Then, Josie's heart rate dropped with every contraction so I had to stay hooked up to the monitors. Once you start with all these things the chances of going unmedicated fly out the window.

By 1:00 I was pretty depressed because I wasn't really dialating and the contractions had stopped. So this is me immitating what Josie must be doing on the inside- "I'm not coming out. Can't make me!" After this they jacked up the pitocin, which was awful, but contractions started every 3 minutes. It was at this time the nurse asked how we were going to spell Josie's name. I said j-o-s-i-e and Tim said, or we could spell it j-o-s-e. I had to remind him that spells Jose. (Think Spanish) :) There was lots of concern over her heart by this time, so they had me stay in the bed and try lying in all sorts of differnt positions. Nothing worked, and I was really starting to struggle with the pain of it all. By 2:30 I was still only a 6 and 70%. Then I went through the worst hour of my life where I quietly dealt with feeling like I was going to die. By 3:30 the new plan was to put more fluid inside to try and relieve stress from the baby. They checked me again and I was still a 6 and 70% and was staring to lose it. I asked for an epidural and everyone tried to tell me how close I was and I yelled to get me an epidural NOW! It was the best decision of the day. He came right in and gave me one dose and it didn't numb my legs and feet, just my middle. And it didn't take away all sensation, just the edge of pain was eased so I could handle it. 20 minutes later I felt like I needed to push, so I did. It took about 40 minutes of pushing. Also strange for me, I usually push a couple of times is all. Turns out the cord was around her neck, just like Emmary. When asked afterword how I felt I believe my response was, "It's been a really sucky day!" 18 hours after my water broke Josephine arrived at 4:07 pm.

My first look and snuggle with my baby girl. She was much smaller than I thought she'd be for 39 weeks, but I was just so glad it was all over.

I got to hold Josie skin to skin for a good hour. I was shaking so bad it was kind of hard to do, but she was happy as can be snuggled up on her mommy.

Josie weighed in at 7 lb 1 oz (a full pound smaller than Juliet) and 20 in.

I forgot to mention that we chose the name Josephine after Tim's dad's middle name- Mark Joseph Fowers. It is hard to believe that it has been almost a year since he died.

With our nurse- I can't remember her name- but she was with us all day and got to see Josie delivered. All in all, this was an experience I never want to relive, but like I said, it's worth whatever it took to have a healthy happy baby join our home.

Meeting baby Josie

2011-09-23T13:20:00.000-07:00

I was concerned about how Juliet would react to seing me in a hospital bed holding a new baby, so I parked myself on the couch and made sure someone else was holding Josie. Turns out Juliet didn't care. She actually has been so interested in the baby and just loves her. She is so good at saying "baby" now and wants to give her her binkie and love on her all the time. She goes looking for Josie as soon as she wakes up. This is much better than how I thought she'd respond. It has made the transition so much easier for me, but I am still overwealmed most of the time.

Our new family of 6! Emmary reminds me all the time that we have a big family with a lot of people. Yes we do....

This is the best we're gonna get trying to convince 4 kids to sit quietly and say "cheese."

Josie with her eyes sort of open. She has big blue eyes with long eyelashes like the other kids, but I think she looks like Tim's side of the family.

This was actually taken a couple hours after she was born. I am so exhausted and sort of forcing a smile.

What a proud big sister. Emmary so sweetly told me that she thinks she loves Josie more than Juliet :) I told her that's not allowed :>

An Update

2011-08-23T08:31:00.000-07:00

I finally got some updated pictures taken of Juliet and Davis. It had been waaaay too long since I had done this. So now I will be ready to get pictures taken of the new baby when she decides to show up! I am now 37 weeks, which is when I had Emmary. This is sort of a curse for a first time mom, because once I hit 37 I think I am done, when really I am not:( I went to the dr today and I'm at 2 cm- yeah!- and my fluid levels are normal, so I think this baby will hold out for another week or so. Anyway, Davis did really well for the photo shoot, and Juliet started out okay and then it went downhill from there.

I need to remember when I download pictures to do it backwards so that they download in the order I want. Oh well, this would be funnier, but it is still funny. Juliet was okay in the first outfit, but when we put these pink bummies on her she was MAD! This is when she had finally lost it:)

Even when she cries she is kind of cute....

Did I mention she has the world's longest tongue?

Just my handsome boy.

Such a cute little smile on his face. I wish his had wasn't up or this would have gone on my wall.

I think she was crying, but this is still an adorable shot of those thighs!

I blew up this picture to hang on my wall. When she is sweet she is so sweet. It's just when she's a stinker we wonder where she came from...

Such an innocent face:)

This is the picture of Davis for my wall. He looks so grown up, I wonder how it happened so fast.

Juliet's Favorite Things

2011-07-14T16:00:00.000-07:00

Juliet is a whole different child now that she is walking! She still follows me around and cries to be held sometimes, but not as often- which my back and eardrums are thankful for! With all of the walking comes the falling and she has taken some good spills. But all in all, she has taken off and is doing everything in her power to keep up with the big kids...

On the 4th of July Jules went face first onto the cement in my parents backyard. It was one of those really sad falls where she didn't even try to get up- she just laid there crying until we ran and picked her up. That made it sound like we left her there for awhile- we did not! We were just on the other side of the yard is all, and I don't run very fast anymore:) She was supposed to get her pictures taken the following morning, so we had to reschedule that one,but she recovered faster than I thought she would.

Juliet's favorite place to be is outside. Specifically, if she is outside she loves the dirt! She just has a radar for dirt and will find it no matter what. This works well when Tim is weeding the garden, which is almost a daily chore. She loves to "help" and Tim loves the company. It is really cute to watch.

She has also learned to say "cheese" when you pull out the camera. Saying new words is another of her favorite things. She says "hello" like Scooby Do "ra-rooooh" and it is one of the cuter things I have ever seen!

Gunnison was heaven on earth for Juliet! She could be outside, there was lots of dirt to play in, and she had the undivided attention from Brinley. What more could you need?

Finishing Disneyland

2011-07-05T14:21:00.000-07:00

By our last day at Disney we were pretty exhausted. As I mentioned, the premier for the new Pirates movie was taking place, so a lot of that side of the park was closed and/or super crowded. We just rushed through lots, but the one thing the kids spent a lot of time at was Tarzans Treehouse. They walked through a couple of times and just loved it every time. We also did the Pirates ride first thing and they thought that was so cool. We rode the train and did the haunted mansion and the Big Thunder Railroad. Splash Mountain was closed, which was a bummer, but I guess we'll do it next time; which will be in 3 or 4 years when I have the energy again:)

The boat ride was so fun becuase of our tour guide. She was so funny and Emmary was just eating up every word she said. I think she really thought the animals were real until the very end. Juliet is wearing a cute princess dress we got for Emmary when she was 9 months old and Tim and I did Disney without her. Jules looked so cute in it and it was fun to connect the 2 memories.

One of the last things we did was see Assimo the Robot in Tomorrowland. I actually stayed out with Juliet because you couldn't have strollers in and she was asleep, but the kids and Tim said it was so cool and they have been continuing to ask if we can have an Assimo in our house. I say if it will help me clean, I don't care what sort of robot comes to live with us!

And of course the strange name of the road in the middle of nowhere Nevada. We left Disneyland feeling like we were ready to leave, which is a good sign. We didn't leave feeling like we had missed something. We left with no regrets and exhaustion from a good time. The kids have fun memories and they loved most minutes of it, and I couldn't ask for more. It was a learning experience, and now we know things we want to do again, and a couple of things to do different. All in all, I am so happy we went when we did and got to have some good memories with our family of 5 before we become a family of 6!

Disneyland Part 5- Toon Town

2011-06-21T16:26:00.000-07:00

Thursday was only 80 degrees instead of 100 and we were so happy! What a relief! The day started out perfect by meeting Mickey- again!

Next, we did all the original Magic Kingdom rides that we all remember from our childhood. It was nice to get Juliet out of the stroller and participating with us. Tim took the big kids on Dumbo and then we stopped in the Mad Hatter to try on hats. Davis ended up with the Mickey Visor. I kept tellling the kids I would buy them Mouse Ears, but they just weren't interested- they were more interested in candy!

Most of the day was spent in Toontown. The kids just could not get enough of this place. It was fun to let them be in control and doing exactly what they wanted to do. The weather was perfect and the kids were happy- this was a highlight of the week!

Tim wins dad of the year for sitting in the 2 hour line to meet Rapunzel while Charyl and I took the big kids on some rides. It was a little over rated but Em was excited to see her. Davis had a little meltdown once he got inside. I think he thought we would get to go up in the tower and you didn't. Plus, it was lunch time. Oh well, he made up for it after lunch by going on the tea cups-finally!-with me while Tim took Emmary on the Matterhorn.

The day ended with a walk through Pixie Hollow. It was nice and shady but we didn't really know what to expect after our 1 hour wait. It was just 2 fairies that we got to meet and oh my is Tinkerbell's skirt short! She had to stand just right to keep it mostly G rated! We took the monorail over to Downtown Disney where we ate at the Rainforest Cafe. Then we went back to the hotel and crashed. We all slept so good this week, which is the benefit to running the kids ragged and overstimulating them!

Disneyland part 4- the Magic Kingdom

2011-06-21T15:43:00.000-07:00

After leaving California Adventures, we headed back to the hotel for a dip in the pool and some lunch. Then, we headed back to over to start the Magic Kingdom. It didn't turn out quite like I had pictured it in my head. I imagined the kids jumping up and down with excitement and giggling for joy, and me crying as I caught everything on camera. They were happy and excited, but it was overshadowed with the heat and exhaustion. Us poor Salt Lakers hadn't seen the sun yet this year, so this was a pretty big shock to our systems. It was just a very casual and laid back entrance into the park:)

We were lucky and ran into Pluto right away, which lifted everyone's spirits a bit and got the kids more excited! Then we rode the carousel and Davis was the happiest boy on Earth when he found this tea cup sitting empty. He was looking forward to the tea cups more than anything the whole trip so red faced and all, he jumped in and smiled his heart out!

The premier of the new Pirates movie was taking place at Disneyland on Saturday, so you can see the spotlights in the background. There were bleachers set up down Main Street for the photographers and fans, some things were closed or altered. It was an intersting process to see, but I was glad that we didn't plan on spending the day in the park on Saturday- it was way to crazy!

Sweet Jules and her Grandma Charyl. These two spent most of the trip together and Charyl was priceless to have with us. It was so perfect to have one adult per child and we never had a moment of losing a child- even for a minute. We have had a lot of sad this last year in the Fowers family, and it was wonderful to have Charyl with us in the Happiest Place on Earth.

2011-06-21T15:28:00.000-07:00

Disneyland Part 3- Finishing California Adventures

2011-06-21T12:41:00.000-07:00

We started out the day ready for another 100 degree scorcher. The kids bought sunglasses first thing to help with the glare at least:) We needed to finish up California Adventures- there was still a lot we hadn't seen.

A Bug's Land was so much fun! We spent a lot of time there because the kids loved it so much. Juliet could ride a lot of the rides with the big kids so it was fun for all. Plus, there was lots of shade, which made it really fun for me!

We finished up on the backlot of C.A. and you can tell that the kids are just exhausted. It was so hot and they were ready for lunch and a break from the heat. There were absolutely no crowds and it felt kind of weird to be wandering around alone. It almost felt like we had broken in or something:)

No wait at all for the Monsters Inc. ride- but the air conditioning was running at full speed- AAAAHHHH!

Tim was the only one who would go up and meet Mr. Incredible. Don't you see the resemblance? I wonder if they are distant cousins or something....

Disneyland- Part 2: Emmary's Birthday!

2011-06-11T16:20:00.000-07:00

One of the reasons I chose this time of year to take our big trip was because of Em's birthday. We went into the park for the first time on Tuesday May 3, Emmary's birthday. This was also the first time her birthday landed on the day of the week she was born. I was so excited to give her the best birthday ever. She is such a joy to have around and I can see that it isn't always easy being the oldest in a lot of ways. Emmary handles it so good and is always so willing to compromise and/or accomidate the younger kids. I wanted to give her a day that was all about her for a change: She deserved it! Shona got her a cute pin to wear on her shirt that said Birthday Girl, plus we got one from Disneyland. Everyone told her happy birthday and called her by name and it was so fun to see her so happy.

We started out the trip in California Adventures. I really wanted to kids to see the castle of Disneyland first, but it didn't really make sense because we had a special birthday lunch scheduled at Ariel's Grotto. I had been watching the weather like a hawk and it had been a perfect 75. We got into the park that first day and it was 80 by the time we started. It ended up getting up to 100. For any of you who know Davis, he is the world's biggest sweater, so he was flushed and miserable a lot of the time. Not to mention overstimulated and exhausted. He didn't behave as well as I hoped he would, but we survived with the help of Grandma Charyl. We spent the morning doing some fun things like the Redwood Forest and hanging out at the pier before our lunch.

The birthday girl, who wouldn't smile for the camera for some reason.

We lucked out and got to see Mickey first thing. We chose the perfect week to do Disney- there were no lines and hardly any crowds. We timed it perfect: after the spring breaks and before Memorial Day and the summer season.

In Ariel's grotto after our delicious lunch. I had heard conflicting things about the food, but it was so good. I mean, not $30 a plate good, but not hamburgers and hot dogs either. I would do it again for sure. This is Em with her chocolate seashell.

One of the nice things about the character lunch is that all the princesses come to your table, so we didn't have to track them down in the park and wait for a chance to get a picture with them. My kids aren't huge princess fans, but they wanted to see them so it worked our perfectly. Em was her shy self but when they walked away she just gleamed!

By the afternoon, it was too hot for Juliet to be out, plus she was running a fever from some new teeth that were coming in, so I had to ask Charyl to take her back to the hotel to cool off. That was the nice thing about getting a hotel across the street. Tim and I stayed with the big kids and did some rides, but even they didn't want to be out in the heat for long, so we all headed back to hotel and jumped in the pool while Juliet took a big nap. We ate dinner and headed back to the park for the World Of Color show. We got some fast passes so we had awesome seats right down on the pier. The show was one of the highlights of the whole trip! It was worth all the heat from the day to see it. I highly recommend it!

Disneyland- Day 1: Hoover Dam

2011-06-11T15:43:00.001-07:00

Okay, I am finally blogging our big trip. It was a month ago, but it has taken me this long to recover and regain the energy it drained from me! I will break the posts up into days to make it easier for you to read and me to put together:) We drove to St. George on Sunday night and relaxed at Tim's mom's. She was coming with us, so this worked out perfectly. Monday we got up and hit the road. If any of you know Tim even remotely you know he HATES to spend money. So this trip took a lot of convincing on my part. Tim's only request for the whole trip was to see the Hoover Dam on the way. I couldn't object. So, while I thought it was a pretty big waste of time and not really worth the detour, we can check it off our list of Important Things That We Have Seen and Exposed Our Children To. Plus, Tim was as happy as a child at the engineering magic of it all. In case you haven't seen it, I included a little colage of the highlights:)

A super sweet picture and Tim and Emmary. Really though, Emmary was terrified of the height and clung to Tim like a spider monkey!

Our best family picture we could muster. When we were leaving Disney to drive home Emmary said, "Mom, do we have to stop at the Hoover Dam again?" I said no. She then asked,"Do we ever have to go there again?" Tim was heartbroken. This picture is pretty awful, but it is my proof that we have already done that therefore we don't have to do it again!

How Juliet spent most of the next 5 days: smiling in the stroller.

Em smiling because this was taken just before we got back in the car to drive to Anaheim:)

A Big Day!

2011-06-08T20:25:00.000-07:00

Emmary learned how to ride a bike last Saturday. I love these beautiful days that keep us outside and busy! We decided that Emmary needed to ride a bike now that she is 6. Tim took her out and within 5 minutes she was off on her own. It is incredible how that is one of those things that you learn once and never need to learn again, no matter how long it has been since you have done it. Tim was super man running next to her to keep her from crashing and managed to save Juliet from the oncoming train that was Emmary. It is funny to watch kids as they focus so hard on not tipping over they end up crashing instead!

Another big day, Juliet learned how so say "cheese" and actually look at the camera while I am taking her picture. She really is so cute with those squishy cheeks and thighs:) She LOVES being outside and just watches the front door like a hawk. If it doesn't close all the way she is out the door and attaking my flowers faster than a kid chasing the ice cream truck. Which, since when did those turn into creepy things rather than super- cool? I would not feel comfortable with my kids chasing down a stranger in a car that has loud music blaring from the windows. I'm just saying is all....

I wish this was the day that Jules decided to walk, but no. She is being so stubborn about it. It's like she knows I'm about to steal her babyhood from her so she is torturing me on purpose. It is really making me nervous- I am so not able to carry 2 babies around! In the meantime, Jules just does the stink bug walk when she is outside.

Juliet's favorite place to be.The little white flowers are her favorite and she picks them off one by one. I wish she would just find the dead ones, but no. She is very thorough at picking all the dead and pretty ones:)

Davis got his first big boy bike today as well. He just loves riding and I think he spent the entire day going up and down the driveway and around the circle. Living in a circle is the best thing ever, by the way. We are at the center of the circle too, so we can always see where our kids are. They know not to leave the circle without us, so they feel like they have freedom, but we have peace of mind. I highly recommend it and it might be a requirement for the rest of my life!

What we've been up to....

2011-06-08T20:02:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the highlights of our May- besides Disneyland, which I will blog about- eventually! I haven't even been that great at taking pictures, but I am trying to pull out the camera more and document our lives. This pregnancy is sort of sucking my will to live! Not really, but it is taking all my energy; whatever is leftover from my kids at least:)

Somehow Emmary's elbow found the exact spot on Davis' forehead that would swell immediately upon contact while they were running next to each other. I felt so bad for him, but he was fine within 5 minutes. Unfortunately, the bump stayed for a good couple of days. I feel awkward when I go places with my kids and they have a noticeable inury and people ask what happened. I almost feel like I have to prove to total strangers that I don't beat my children!

Emmary lost her first tooth on top. This was an event at our house that took up most of a Friday night. She insisted that she wanted to tie the tooth to a string that's tied to the door and then slam the door to make the tooth pop out. She has been watching too many America's Funniest Home Videos latley! Needless to say, it doesn't really work as easy as they make it look in books and in movies. That tooth is small and slipery and by the time it actually worked, the tooth was hanging there sideways. I think a strong breeze could have pulled it out! But, we were successful and Emmary got some good money and a piece of candy from the tooth fairy.

Our primary had a good family activity at Temple Square and we made a smart choice to leave Juliet with my mom while we took the big kids downtown. It was lots of fun and the weather couldn't have been nicer. The kids really enjoyed the tours and they got to see all the brides in their pretty dresses. I then promptly begged them to never get married at the Salt Lake Temple on a Saturday in the summer- too many crowds!

Not a good picture of Emmary, because she was being a stinker about the sun being out, but regardless this is her on the last day of Kindergarden. It is amazing how she has grown this last year. I'm glad I had the thought to take her picture before school. I think it is something I will make a tradition out of so that we can compare the 2.
These were just some of our highlights for the month. This summer is already in full swing and I shift between being excited for this baby to get here and wishing that I could stay pregnant forever! Not really, becuse any woman who has been pregnant knows that no one wants to be pregnant past 36 weeks. I've never been pregnant in the summer either, so I am a little nervous about the heat, but we've got central air and popsicles to keep me happy:) All in all, I am looking forward to the summer and I am hopeful that I will have the energy to keep my kids active and doing fun things instead of just watching too much T.V. We'll see.....

Davis Birthday!

2011-06-05T10:42:00.000-07:00

My little man turned 4 last sunday! He has grown up so much this last year and we are so happy:) He wanted a panda birthday cake, which I was more than happy to make for him becuase it was so easy! Pre-made blak frosting, and white- you can't get any easier than that! We had a small party with my parents and a couple of neighbors after church to share the cake and ice cream. Davis got a big boy bike and some clothes and toys from friends. It is such a joy as parent to see your child so happy and to realize that it doesn't take much for them to be completely happy with life. Simplify, simplify, simplify is all I have to say!

Blowing out the candles!

The piece he wanted out of the whole cake was the ear. So it was black mouth and teeth for the night!

Juliet's First Birthday!

2011-05-10T15:22:00.000-07:00

I know this was a couple weeks ago, but blogging has taken a back seat lately. We just got back from our week-long trip to Disneyland and I will post about that soon, hopefully. In the meantime, here are some cute pictures from Juliet's birthday/easter party. we were so happy to have most of Tim's siblings, his mom, and my parents there all at once to celebrate our sweet baby girl. She truly is a Jewel and we have loved every minute that she has been in our family.

These cake pictures are so funny. she really started out trying to be dainty, but then she realized that this was good stuff and she just dug in!

I got her an adorable outfit that said "I'm the birthday girl" bur she wouldn't sit still long enough for me to get a good shot of it, so this was the best I could get.

hanging out on the table just before we sung to her.

Opening her presents. She loves these little blocks- good one Grandma Diane!

Easter

2011-05-10T15:07:00.000-07:00

This Easter weekend was a little chaotic with Juliet's birthday as well, but it was fun to be with family and have so many reasons to celebrate. Plus, Tim didn't have to go to meetings until 10:30, which is a huge bonus for me since Tim has been put in the bishopric. He's usally gone by 7:30. We got to have a nice morning as a family and talked about the reason for Easter and how much we love Jesus and that His gift is WAYYYYY better than anything the Easter bunny brought. Although, the easter bunny did bring Tangled, which was pretty awesome:)

Not too bad a picture, considering 3 kids were involved.

Tim and Davis in their suits together. Don't they just look handsome?

okay, this is normally how pictures involving 3 kids turns out. Emmary just wants her bunny, Davis is hiding behind my growing belly, and Juliet just watches the other kids and laughs at everything they do! Here's to motherhood!

Happy St. Patty's and BIG News!

2011-03-17T11:56:00.000-07:00

Wow I have really neglected the blog lately! We finally got a new computer, yeah!, and I am motivated to get on the computer now because I know it won't take me 2 hours to check my email or download photos. Anyway, this is our first St. Patrick's Day with a child in school, and my it is different. It was a must that we all wear green, and Emmary was very insistent on making a trap for catching a leprechaun last night. Tim took the "treasure" and made a cute response last night- but forgot to take a picture of her trap first. Use your imagination- there were lots of coins and notes and necklaces to entice the little leprechaun in. Oh, and our big news is that we are having another baby! I am 14 weeks now. This baby is a surprise, but we are very excited and can't wait! Well, I can wait, but I know that doesn't make a difference, so I will just say I can't wait! I am due Septwmber 13 so that will put our two babies 16 months apart. Whew! Good thing my parents live around the corner, is all I have to say:)

tim's note from the leprechaun. I was asleep in bed while he did this because I am useless in the evenings and am asleep by 8:30 every night now.

footprints. Kids will believe anything they truly want to believe. Why would a leprechaun leave paper footprints? She didn't even question it!

We even got the world's prettiest rainbow a couple days ago. It was so beautiful and there were 2 but it was faint so our camera didn't pick it up.

Just another shot of the rainbow:)

Hillarious!

2011-01-11T14:58:00.000-08:00

I know this post is from Christmas day, but this was too funny to pass up! Christmas morning Emmary woke up with pink eye. So, after opening presents my mom and I set off driving around the valley trying to find an open insta-care. Once we found one we waited for 3 hours. While we were gone, Tim stayted at my mom and dad's with Juliet and Davis. Before we left my mom laid Juliet down for a nap on the guest bed. Up till this point, Juliet wasn't rolling around so it was safe for her to be on a bed sleeping. Eventually, Tim heard her crying and went in to find she had rolled over and devoured some plants my mom had brought inside and left on the bed. The poor thing! Of course, there were only men in the house, and they weren't quite sure what to do with her, but she survived!

Her poor eyes were red from rubbing the dirt into them. Also, there are little sticky traps in the plants to catch little bugs and Juliet had managed to get that in her hair! When I got home I could still see dirt in the corners of her eyes and I had to pin her down and dig it out. She was happy and laughing and seemed to hold no hard feelings! Lesson learned: if you leave a baby alone with a plant, they will attack:)

October

2010-11-05T14:30:00.000-07:00

Well, our October has been a month that I never want to repeat in some ways, and in others I wish it could have gone on a lot longer. We started out the month with the news that the cancer Tim's dad had been fighting for the last year was terminal and all we could do was make Mark comfortable. This was incredibly overwhelming do deal with. Add to that the moving. We moved out of the small rental we were in by the 1st and put all of our boxes on that patio, and moved all of our furniture to the new house (next door) patio. Then we packed up our suitcases and stayed at my mom's for 2 weeks. Add to that us traveling to St. George 4 weekends in a row to spend as much time with Mark as we could. This was precious time that I wish we could have had more of. We even had a weekend where Mark had all 6 of his kids together to spend time and get some last council and comforting words from him. Add to that Tim studying for his Professional Engineering exam. He studied 10-15 hours a week on top of working 40-50 hours a week- making me feel like a single mom. Add to that moving into the new house- which has been wonderful! It feels so good to finally be in a home that we can grow into! All of these things added together in one month have put me close to losing my mind at times, but I have managed to pull through. The day after we moved into our house we got the phone call that Mark was going back to Heaven quickly. I had to run over to the Stake Center bawling and pull Tim out of a meeting so that he could call his dad to say goodbye. Mark was not very responsive by this time, but we did find out that he said Tim's name when he got on the phone and said, "I love you." We jumped in the car again and made it to Nephi when we got the call that Mark had taken his last breath. This experience has been so sad for our family, but we have a firm testimony in the Plan of Happiness. There have been far too many spiritual experiences in the last year to be able to deny that Heaven is real, the Savior lives, and we don't just go to sleep when we die. We go back Home and we know that is where Mark is now. We know we will see him again, but we miss him a lot still. After the funeral I realized how lucky I am to be married to man who was raised by Mark Fowers. Tim has so many characteristics like Mark and I am so blessed to have him for a husband and the father of my children. Mark's example has made us want to be better people and has made me be a better wife and mother. A week after the craziness of the funeral, Tim took his 8 hour test. One of the last times we saw Mark he gave Tim a blessing and said that he would be successful with this test. Tim could feel that strength during the test. We know that Mark was aware of what Tim was doing that day and was proud of his son. Mark was only 64 years old- not even old enough to claim Social Security! We know that our Heavenly Father needed him more than we did. That knowledge has brought us comfort that I can't even begin to explain. I posted some pictures here, in no particular order, of what we have been doing the last month.

Halloween. Juliet- ladybug, Emmary-witch, Davis-dragon

Mark's casket. The only picture we took during the funeral. Tim's sister took a lot, so we can get copies later. It was weird how that didn't even cross our minds that day.

St. George at Tim's parents.

7 days before Mark passed. I know it is sideways, but I didn't upload it from Picasa. Oh, and I am brunette now. Davis has a giant piece of candy in his mouth.

The same day as the previous picture. I was trying to get Brinley, Emmary and Juliet, but Juliet just wanted to look at Mark. When you zoom in, they look so cute just the 2 of them. It is hard for me to know that I will have to show this picture to Juliet one day and tell her about her Pappa Mark because she won't remember. But for this one moment they had a special connection.

A great picture one week before Mark passed.

Davis at Grandma Charyl's.

Juliet and Mark the beginning of October.

Davis at Grandma Charyl's pool

Tim, Emmary and I at Tarzan. The show was awesome! But we were emotional already and it was sad when the dad gorilla dies:(

Juliet's first swim- she loved it!!!

The Lion King

2010-09-15T18:33:00.000-07:00

Of course, I'm a week late doing this post, but better late than never! We were so lucky to be able to see The Lion King with some great friends last week. We started with dinner at the Blue Iguana-yum!

I think I only have 2 pictures of me and Sarah together, even though I see her everyday and talk to her mulitple times a day!

Me, Sarah, and Christina in front of the theatre. It was beautiful weather.

Our group- minus Greg because he took the photo. We had awesome seats in the orchestra section so we could see the bongo drums and had an awesome view of the stage. We could see all the animals coming down the aisles too. The show was so good. I wasn't super hyped for the show like I was the 4 times I saw Wicked last year, but I was so entertained! The costumes were phenominal-especially the scenery costumes. My favorite was the Mufasa scene in "He lives in you"(if you've seen the show you know what I'm talking about!) Overall, we had a great night out with wonderful friends:)

First day of school!!

2010-09-08T13:50:00.000-07:00

Call me crazy if you want, but whenever my kids watch Nemo I skip the first scene where Coral and the babies die because I think it's just sad. So according to the Fowers family, Nemo begins with little Nemo shouting, "First day of school, first day of school!" I have been waiting for years to be able to run into Emmary's room and wake her up saying that- our day arrived on Friday. She was so excited and I was so excited and happy for her. She is so very ready to be learning again and socializing with friends. I knew I was going to miss her, but I didn't feel sad about it at all. When the day finally came we got up and I made Emmary's favorite breakfast of French Toast with Coconut syrup-yum! It is my new goal to make a hot breakfast every school day and I think it has made a big difference already. Because I get up early to make the meal, we are ready to go with no fights and no running late. At the last minute I insisted that Tim go with us to take her to kindergarten and he resisted, but he finally agreed. After giving Em a blessing we were off.

As soon as we got to the school Em found Kiya and Melody so I knew she was not going to be friendless! Watch out Mrs. Selk is all I have to say:) I just need to say that it is the weirdest feeling sending my child to the same room I went to kindergarten in. How did this happen and how in the world do I have a child old enough to be in school?

The bell finally rang and the kids lined up and refused to open their eyes in the bright sun for any more pictures. It was at this point that I thought, "Hey, I might get out of this without crying!" until I made eye contact with Pam who was tearing up. I lost it. I practically had to run to my car holding my breath. Once safely inside I exhaled and let myself have a good strong cry for a minute. It's not a cry of sadness, it is just an emotional transition in life that i have entered. For the next 25+ years I will have a child in school and will be involved in PTA's and homework, bakc to school night, and helping out in classrooms. Fieldtrips and school programs. Our lives will revolve around
summer vacation and spring break. I cried it out and felt much better:)

After school Shona and I took Emary to lunch at her favorite- and mine- Red Lobster! It's so fun having such a big girl around. I love this girl so much and couldn't be happier that she is my daughter.

Juliet 4 months

2010-08-28T15:53:00.000-07:00

Juliet just hit her 4 month mark and we took another trip to the doctor to get her checked out. Luckily her pneumonia is all cleared up and the dr. said she sounds healthy as can be again- whew! Juliet is 16 lb. 1 oz. (93%) and 25 1/2 in. (90%)- basically she is thriving and growing like a weed! She is gettting so strong at sitting up and holding her body up.

Yes, I know the hair is wacko- she just had a bath but it was in a pony the day before and it didn't want to do anything else! She doesn't love tummy time, but she does love chewing on her fingers constantly!

This picture is a little blurry because she obviously isn't interested in sitting still while in the jump-r-roo. I was hessitant putting her in it this young, but she just loves it and is ready to be playing instead of laying and watching the big kids play.

I just love this girl:)

Some Firsts

2010-08-11T20:32:00.000-07:00

We've had some exciting firsts around here this week. Juliet got her first pony tail. She looks so big with her hair done up, but she looked so cute!

She just wants to sit up so bad. She is just holding onto one of my fingers and is holding herself up.

Worn out after the photo shoot.

Our next exciting thing is that Emmary lost her first tooth! She is only 5, but her tooth started feeling loose a couple weeks ago and she would not let us touch it. This last weekend it was just hanging on by a thread. Sat morning she came in and said she pulled it out and put it under her pillow and wondered why the tooth fairy didn't come. OOps!

What's weird is that Em's tooth started growing in already where the baby tooth fell out. Also, we can see the tooth next to it coming up, even though that tooth hasn't fallen out yet, but it's a little loose. I hope she gets my teeth and not her fathers!

Pioneer Day

2010-07-25T18:39:00.000-07:00

Check me out- this just happened yesterday and I am already blogging it! I am fighting a summer cold, so I spent most of the day laying down on the couch reading, but in the evening we did fireworks with the awesome people in our circle. I'm telling you, living in a cirle is the way to be. This was the first time we have done fireworks and our kids didn't cry or get sad. We didn't get the kids in bed until almost 11:00 last night, but it was worth it.

This is how we found Davis napping yesterday

This is our neighbor Katie. She and Davis have a special relationship and they just love eachother. This is great for me because Davis is so difficult right now and it is great to know that someone loves him and is happy to play with him when I have reached my limit!

The first time we have taken a picture with our family of 5 since the hospital. Although I asked one neighbor if she would take a picture of all 4 of us. She looked at me like I was missing something before I realized that we are 5 now!

The Great Outdoorsman

2010-07-25T18:13:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from Tim's backpacking trip with 2 of his brothers. He had a great time- male bonding and all of that good stuff:) It was hard with 3 little kids by myself at home, but I have awesome neighbors and parents who kept me company and helped quite a bit. Needless to say, I was so happy to have him back. Yesterday Emmary said, "Hey dad, remember when you were gone camping? I really missed you." That pretty much sums it up! If you look closely in these pictures you will see goats. Yes they are real, and no they weren't worth the money. They got them to carry their gear, but the goats kept sitting down and wouldn't carry their stuff. Anyway, I guess it was a funny memory.

Juliet- 3 months

2010-07-25T18:01:00.000-07:00

My sweet girl is 3 months old now. It doesn't sound like a very long time, but I feel like I have known her forever. She has just fit perfectly into our family. She is such a sweet, easy going baby. She cries only if she's hungry or tired and even then it is more of a wimper. She really has to warm up to full on screaming these days. She is getting bigger by the day and it is fun to watch her grow. Her hair is still wacko and sometimes it has a red tint to it and somedays it looks like it's turning blonde, but either way, none has fallen out and it is just getting longer and thicker. She is smiling all the time now and she has started giggling- which is super entertaining!

Strong girl. Tim put her on the chair the other day and she just stood there by herself for awhile. Check out those thighs!

Before church today. I can now have clips stay in her hair-it's getting her to keep her head still long enough for me to get it in that's the problem!

Juliet- 2 months

2010-06-29T17:44:00.000-07:00

Juliet just went in for her 2 month checkup. She is 12lb.12oz. and 23 inches. She is growing so fast, I feel like she flew through the newborn stage and it makes me sort of sad, but I love watching her grow and interact with us more.

Juliet's first stroller ride, next to Ginormica Emmary!

Trying to smile ( I actually have one with a cute smile, but it's blurry:()

This one is a bit blurry too, but it shows her cute smile and chubby cheeks. This is also the first time I managed to get a bow in her hair!

What a Dad!

2010-06-29T17:38:00.000-07:00

My kids are so lucky to have Tim for a dad. He is so involved with the kids and loves them unconditionally. He is not one of those dad's that comes home from work and watches tv. He walks in the door and is playing with the kids until I make him stop so they can go to sleep! They love him so much and it shows:)

Juliet just loves her daddy and falls asleep on him all the time like this.

Fathers day- Tim +3

Juliet Birth Pics

2010-06-29T10:38:00.000-07:00

These are a little late, but better late than never right? My goal is to keep our blog updated-it's always good to have a goal :)

Shrek Forever-Never Again!

2010-06-12T13:11:00.001-07:00

We have gone to two movies in the last couple of weeks and last night we saw Shrek. We have decided that we will not be taking Davis to another movie until he turns 4. The movie did not hold his attention- nothing does really unless it is a musical toy or a door. Tim had to take him out of the theatre a couple of times. One time Davis was coming back in (we were on the last row) and as he was walking up the stairs he announced, ever so loudly, "I have to be quiet the rest of the movie mom!" Everyone in the theatre turned to look at us and laugh. I love my little boy but in the future we will save his ticket money and just pay a babysitter!

We're Alive!!!

2010-06-08T17:38:00.000-07:00

I'm back from my month long hiatus from the computer! We got a bad virus and I am just getting back into the swing of things. Little Juliet is now 6 weeks old and we blessed her this last Sunday. We were retarded and didn't take a single picture of the event. Sad! Oh well, that's what happens when you have 3 kids and can't function normal anymore:) Here are some updated photos.

We have the best couch in the world-especally for babies. They love sitting right in the corner and they have all slept like champs on the couch.

Juliet LOVES the windows and stares at them every chance she gets.

Big and little sis.

Like I said, my kids love to sleep on the couch. Check out her belly and chub rolls on the thighs!

Juliet pictures

2010-04-25T13:20:00.000-07:00

I forgot to put on this link of pictures that they took in the hospital. They are only available online for 2 weeks, so look and enjoy while you can. The website is www.bellababyphotography.com
The password is 0423julietfowers all lower case and no spaces.

Juliet Charyl Fowers

2010-04-25T13:16:00.000-07:00

Our sweet baby girl finally arrived Friday morning. I did my last whining post on Thursday and that evening I started noticing that I was having a lot more contractions than normal. By 8:00 I realized they were every 10 minutes and they had been that way for 3 hours. Tim had to go back into work to get some things done, so I hung out at home trying not to get my hopes up, but really getting excited that I might actually be in labor. Tim got home at 11:00 and we tried to go to bed. I slept for 2 hours, but the contractions were really painful and I couldn't sleep through them anymore. I got up and walked around, ate, read, showered, just tried to keep myself busy. Tim kept dreaming that my mom was yelling at him for sleeping instead of helping his laboring wife, so he got up with me and we just talked- it was quiet and nice. By 5:30 am they were 7 minutes apart and I was just sure I was dilating- after 12 hours. We decided to go in and see how far I was. At the hospital they checked me at 6:45 and said I was still a 3 and only 50% effaced. I cried. They told me to walk around for an hour and if there was no change I would have to go home. After the hour my midwife came in prepared to send me home, but I was a 4+ and 80% effaced so she broke my water. 30 min later- 8:15 I was a 6 and 100% effaced. 30 min later- 8:45 I was an 8 and 15 minutes later I was complete. This labor was incredibly fast after she broke my water, an hour and a half, but it was the worst pain I could ever imagine. Davis' unmedicated birth was nothing like this. Finally at 9:05 when I was feeling like I would die I said I wanted to push so that I could be done with the whole thing. Davis felt good to push out- no pain whatsoever. This time I felt like I was going to tear in half! Aparently I was calm and collected on the outside, but on the inside I was verging on hysteria. I found out after that the baby was posterior- face up- and then she so sweetly decided to turn in the birth canal! Youch! So I kept my eyes closed and cried as I pushed and she joined us with a full head of crazy hair and beautiful as can be.

Juliet Charyl Fowers: 8 lb 2 oz- our biggest baby yet- 21 inches long, 9:26 a.m.

Me, still in shock from the delivery, not aware at all that someone was taking my picture. I loved the skin to skin bonding. IMC is very much in favor of this and it felt so nice.

Our new family of 5.

Emmary is very timid around the baby, and Davis just jumped right in. He is having a much harder time adjusting though. The acting out has begun and it is going to take a lot of energy to make sure he is entertained and busy so that he doesn't start acting naughty!

Juliet part 2

2010-04-25T12:56:00.000-07:00

sound asleep on her daddy- her second favorite place to be!

A rare eyes-open moment. We don't see much of those big blues.

They always look so little in the big carseat

Proud daddy

UUGGHHH!

2010-04-22T07:33:00.000-07:00

It's Thursday and I am still pregnant. I went in for my last checkup yesterday and I am dilated to a 3, which I am very happy about, but still not as effaced and I should be. My midwife is very confused why my body is acting so weird. Baby is head down in my pelvis and she thinks it is bald- we'll see. So we scheduled me for an induction on Tuesday if baby doesn't come on its own. That would be 2 days after my due date. I know due dates don't mean a whole lot and medically it is fine to go over your due date a little, yet I am so torn becuase I want to go into labor on my own and do the unmedicated birth again, yet I am so ready to be done with this pregnancy. With the 2 misscarriages last spring/summer I have really been pregnant for the last 13 months! Emotionally and physically that is a really long time! I really thought yesterday was the day- I woke up at 4:30 a.m. having contractions and I got up and paced the floor for and hour and a half with them coming every 3-5 minutes. Then at 6:00 they just stopped. After my appointment I had contractions all day- plus the storm- and I thought for sure I would be holding my baby by now. Nothing! I keep willing my water to break. I don't care where or what embarrasing situation it puts me in- I just want it to break and then things can get going! Once again, sorry for the whining, but this is a learning experience for me and next time I will know not to get my hopes up of having a baby before the due date! Hopefully my next post will involve pictures of a baby and fun information:)

Funny Story

2010-04-19T15:33:00.000-07:00

Here's a funny story. I have been walking a lot to try and convince this baby to come- it isn't working. But anyway, Saturday Sarah and I had been at a toy party and our husbands had the kids so we decided to go walk late in the afternoon. I didn't want to sweat in the only shirt that fits me so she said I could borrow one of Greg's t-shirts. Years ago Greg did an intership with the Utah Starzz so he had this bright purple shirt she handed me. I put in on in the bathroom-which doesn't have a mirror- and came out and asked how it fit. Sarah just started laughing hard and I about started crying because I feel so HUGE. She told me to look and down and read what the shirt says. In case you can't see very well in the picture it says, "ALL THE WAY TO LABOR DAY!" Pretty funny coincidence!

What isn't so funny is my poor cankles. I have never retained water in a pregnancy before, but my ankles look like tree trunks. You can see the line on my feet where my flip flops had been. I do have cute gel toes though!

Oh, and Davis is a big boy! He decided to be potty trained on Thursday. He said he wanted to wear underwear that morning and then he sat on the toilet for 20 minutes, all his own idea, until he figured out how to make the pee come out. I kept telling him he could get off and try later and he would say, "mommy, I have pee-pees, I need to squeeze em out!" And that is just what he did! So I guess I will have a break from diapers for a couple of days before the baby comes!

10 days and counting...

2010-04-15T09:24:00.000-07:00

This is the farthest I have made it pregnancy wise. Yesterday I hit my mark for when I had Davis and I hit that mark with Emmary last Friday:( It is a major curse to have 2 kids a couple weeks early because I am just about hating life right now. I am so ready to meet this baby and stop calling it "IT". I really think I might go to my due date- such a foreign experience for me. My amniotic fluid levels are great and I am only dialated to a 1 and 30%, but my midwife said yesterday that my cervix is very soft- she thinks I will go this weekend- I would like to believe her! Enough with the complaining, I know, I am grateful to have this experience and things are going to be crazy with a new baby around here. We are all so excited to use the baby stuff that we have pulled out and ready. I think the kids are going to handle the baby well and I can't wait to snuggle with that new little person!

Little Man

2010-03-26T15:11:00.000-07:00

Here are some cute pictures of our little man:)

Chowing down on a donught in the car (his dad was obviously in charge here)

Davis and Crush-as he called him- at the aquarium

Being a big boy. I am not pushing potty training at all, but he frequently asks to wear his Diego's and go to the bathroom and use "toilet papers." Plus, it's a cute little plumbers crack picture:)

"Napoleon, go make yourself a dang quesidilla- GOSH!" Davis actually went out like this the other night!

An Afternoon at the park...

2010-03-12T12:45:00.000-08:00

Last week we had a beautiful day where the sun was actually shining and there was no smog in the air, so after the gym I let the kids run around the park. It has been awhile since they have been able to do this and I enjoyed myslef as well. I love that Davis is getting older and i don't have to worry about him falling every 5 seconds. Now I only have to worry about him running off and staying where he's supposed to. As is normal for Salt Lake weather, it was sunny and warm in the afternoon and by the time nightfall rolled around it was snowing :(

Davis was so funny on this bridge. He found the most difficult way possible to crawl across it and was just sweating bullets by the time he got to the other side. I think this is why he crashed when we got home and took an incredible nap!

Just cute Emmary.

BFF's

2010-03-12T12:39:00.000-08:00

It is so surprising to me that we left St. George a year and a half ago and Bria and Emmary are still BFF's. They talk about each other all the time and they have so much fun the few times a year they get to see each other. Life would be perfect if we could just find a way to have them live in the same city...

Goodbye "Red One"

2010-03-12T12:30:00.000-08:00

This was a sad day for Emmary. We finally had to say goodbye to her favorite blanket. You can see the outer edge on the floor by her feet and the batting coming out all over the place. I know Emmary is a smart girl, but she always called this blanket "Red One"- who knows why. She was so brave when we told her we thought it was time to say goodbye. She just cried for a second and then said, "It's okay, aunt Jeni will make me a new one."

I didn't know Tim took this picture of her putting it in the garbage until I uploaded our pictures to the computer. It makes me really sad for her. She hasn't asked about it since, so she must be stronger than me :)

Update

2010-02-16T11:53:00.000-08:00

I am back in contact with the world wide web! We moved 2 weeks ago to an apartment around the corner from my mom and dad's. It is an old RV garage that has been converted into a 2 bedroom apartment. So we are a little smooshed, but it is wonderful to be smooshed in our own space instead of someone else's. Plus we have a garage for the first time in our lives- wahoo!! We are still unsure what is going to happen with our st. geroge house, but we are hopeful to have an idea soon, whether it be refinance, short-sell, or foreclose. We don't want to go through with the last 2 options, but we will do what we have to do if no one is willing to help us refinance. We can't live with my parents and continue to pay for a home we don't live in anymore. I would choose to just move back into it and continue on with life in sunny st. george forever, but we can't live somewhere where there is no work. Anywho, that is our housing update.

As for the baby, I am finally 30 weeks- those 20's dragged on FOREVER-and am ready for every 2 week apointments. We got our EOB for the fetal echo and it was-you might want to sit down- $900. Yep, $900 for a 15 minute ultrasound that told me there was nothing wrong in the first place. Good thing we have insurance is all I have to say. Plus, I have had 2 ultrasounds at $260 each and will be getting them every 2 to 4 weeks for the remainder of the pregnancy to check my amniotic fluid levels since I have had major issues with that in the past. I think we will meet our deductible before the baby is even born :)

Tim has manged to stay busy at work, which we are very thankful for. In fact he was so busy last week that we had to cut our St. George trip out and reschedule it for this week. I am now counting down the minutes until we can go! That is our update and hopefully I will be able to post more now that the computer is not in the kids' room:)

ultrasound

2010-01-05T15:35:00.000-08:00

I finally had my ultrasound this morning, and it turned out to be a bit more than we expected. There is only one baby, which is nice to hear, but I could tell the ultrasonographer was spending a lot of time looking at the baby's heart. She left and a doctor came in to talk to us and said she wanted to look some more. She said that in some pictures it looked like there was a shadow in the top right chamber of the heart. This could be nothing more than a shadow from the machine or the way the baby is laying, but she had me schedule an appointment with a pediatric cardiologist up at Primary Children's where they will do an echocardiogram on the baby's heart to make sure there is not a growth in the heart . She kept saying not to worry about it, but it's hard not to. She said all 4 chambers are developed and blood is flowing and draining correctly and looks great. And in some shots she didn't see a shadow at all and in others she did. So anywho, Jan 22 we go see the specialist. Also, this is a stubborn baby and would not cooperate so the doctor could not get a shot of the umbilical cord going into the belly so I have to come back in 3 weeks for another ultrasound with them to try again. Good thing we have good insurance is all I have to say. We were strong and did not find out the sex of the baby, but she wrote it on a piece of paper and put it in an envelope which is sitting in my purse. It is taking all the strength I have not to look at it. I am giving it to Janet so if you want to know and promise not to spill the beans to Tim or I you can contact her!

baby bump- 23 weeks

Stupid Cold, and Feelings, and Horomones!

2009-12-18T07:33:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the rambling today, but I am suffering from a cold and my horomones are out of control and I have all these weird feelings that I need to let out. As many of you know, we have lived with my parents for the last 15 months. My parents are saints for allowing us to be here this long and they never complain about us or ask us when we're leaving. Due to many unfortunate circumstances we still own a house in St. George that is worth nothing, has a high interest rate, and high balance still (we only lived in the house for one year when we had to leave it). When we left I knew it was the right choice, but ever since I have felt lost and confused. I know lots of people end up living with parents, but it seems like they leave with a large sum of money to put down on a house. We will leave here with nothing but our good credit, but yesterday I had a realization that we might not even leave with that. The reality is that we cannot afford to hold on to that house and move out of my parents, and we can't let go of the house without destroying our credit or carrying a high balance with us. Yesterday when I was on the verge of tears I called Tim and he tried to comfort me but I still hung up crying. I then went to the BOM and started reading. I read about Nephi in the wilderness with his family when his bow breaks and everyone is so angry with him. Then, the Lord helps him fix his bow and I read the scripture that says by simple things the Lord can bring about great things. This really made me cry because I knew it was exactly what I needed. All the odds were stacked against Nephi and the Lord helped him. This is how I feel. All the odds are stacked against this stupid house and I am just praying now for our "small thing" to help great things come to pass. At this point, a small thing could be just knowing where we are supposed to be. Tim's company is trying so hard to get an office up and going in St. george and I don't know if we should continue holding out hope that we can go back or move on and settle up here. Add to this the fact that Emmary starts school this fall and I have no idea where we will live, what school she will attend, or if she will have friends. Add again the fact that we are having another baby in April and there is absolutely no room for another child here. Another small thing would be some kind of resolution with the house. I thought things worked out so well for us to hold onto it becuase we were supposed to move back into it, but now I don't know if it's that or just bad luck. If you can't tell, I'm questioning myself and my ability to know when it's an answer or just what I want to hear. I am yearning for the confidence in knowing that we are where we are supposed to be and I don't have it. I know that this is the time of year when we count our blessings and are grateful for what we have. Everytime I approach the Lord in tears over my frustration and sadness I spend 5 minutes crying and then 10 minutes thanking Him for all He has given me. This is not a matter of ingratitude. We have been abundantly blessed this last 15 months, but I am ready to move on and be independent again. We are all in desperate need of our own space. So, sorry again for the rambling. I never do this on my blog, but I felt like I should today, so I did. Thanks for listening :)

My Awesome Husband

2009-12-16T16:42:00.000-08:00

I just have to brag about Tim for a minute. We bought our Odyssey last September and I just wanted to pay Forrest Motors (the best place to buy a Honda) the $600 to install a dvd system in the van. Tim was adament that he would find a way to do it cheaper. It has taken 15 months, but Tim has kept his promise. He found a dvd system on KSL for $35 that has the dual screen thing (one for each headrest) and he spent a lot of time wiring it into the system of the van and it actually works and he didn't destroy anything! Then he found a pair of wireless headphones for the kids for $10. Yesterday he got the router in the mail that sends the signal for the headphones to work with the dvd player- also for $10. So, that's $550 saved. I love this man! I don't have much patience, but he does- which is how he manages to stay married to me:)

One Baby or Two?

2009-12-03T15:36:00.000-08:00

Sorry, no pictures in this post today. I will give a clear explanation on what has been going on in the baby scene the last couple of weeks. At 16 weeks I went in for my checkup and I was measuring a good month ahead of schedule. My midwife asked if I was positive about my dates, which I was, and then asked how sick I have been. I have been so very sick this pregnancy when I wasn't sick with my other two. She then asked if this could be a different sex baby. Nope, I have one girl and one boy. Then she asked if twins run in the family. Yes, my dad is a twin. She asked if I usually measure big. Nope, I usually have dangerously low levels of amniotic fluid so I measure small if anything. She braced me for the fact that there might be twins. I told her I'd already had an ultrasound at 10 weeks and we only saw one baby. She said it is rare, but twins can line up and you don't notice, especially if you are not looking for them. We were looking for a heartbeat because the Doppler didn't pick it up.She also said their hearts often beat in sync so hearing 2 heartbeats is rare. She said we would just wait and see and keep a close eye on it. 3 weeks later, I was going crazy thinking that I can feel 2 babies moving and called to see if we could check again to see if there are 2. She kind of treated me like I was being irrational and that it wasn't' a big deal. I am hoping this was related to stress right before Thanksgiving, but I got off the phone feeling stupid. I finally went in yesterday for another ultrasound and met a new midwife (I go to a practice of midwives, I don't just have one I see). She said she is not an expert ultrasonographer and she wasn't super confident in her ultrasound skills, but she would do her best. Immediately we saw one baby with a strong heartbeat. The baby's head was on the left side of the screen. Then a minute later the baby's head was on the right side of the screen. The midwife said, "Woah, that's weird, the baby is facing a different way now. Did you feel the baby flip?" I had not felt any movement. Then a minute later the head was back on the left side. She did her best, but we will know for sure jan 5th when I have my big ultrasound. We are waiting until January so that the cost can go towards our deductible, even though I am about 20 weeks now. She measured me again, and I am still a month big. Anyway, that is the whole story. I would really like twins, but really I feel so incredibly blessed to be having one. This pregnancy has been a different experience in every way, but I hear that is what happens with number 3. I will post more info in January and until then keep myself busy with the holidays!

Ladies Trip!!

2009-10-27T17:08:00.000-07:00

So much fun!! I just got back from a ladies trip to see Wicked in Denver. Yes, this is the 4th time this year I have seen it, and yes, it is really THAT good! I would see it again, given the chance. Some girls from my ward and sweet Melly from St. George packed up and headed out Thursday. We stayed in Longmont, Co and we didn't take a single picture until we were leaving the hotel. Then, on Friday we drove into Denver and paid up the wazoo for valet parking at our posh hotel, The Magnolia. We were just a block from the 16th street mall and 4 blocks from the theatre. We had so much fun shopping, laughing, eating, not sleeping :) The show was incredible and I was the only one who had seen it before. The best thing about seing Wicked again and again is seeing it with someone who never has. We laughed and cried and had a blast. Too bad we had to come back to reality, but I was ready to see my kids. Davis, however, has been punishing me for leaving him by whining and crying CONSTANTLY since I got back... It was worth it!!

Shona, Holly, Melanie, Christina

Before the show-notice Shona's awesome shoes!

Which is good and which is Wicked?

Yep, 4th timer here!

Exciting News

2009-10-19T08:49:00.000-07:00

Okay, most of you already know, but I'm pregnant with baby number 3. I am finally through the first trimester and still waiting to feel better. It looks like I will be due in late April (I tend to go early, so I will just say late April and call it good). This pregnancy experience has been much different than I have had in the past. I ended up having 2 early misscarriages trying to get this baby here. It has been a long road, but I think I can finally let myself be excited and happy. We have had an ultrasound and heard the heartbeat so the baby seems to be healthy and happy. Emmary is so excited for this baby. She is just begging me to make it a girl, I told her I will do my best :) Davis is clueless and in complete denial. He's a bit attached to his mommy. We are not going to find out the sex of the baby because we have one of each and they were both born in May, so there is nothing we need to buy (at least that's what Tim says- I know better:) ) Anyway, we just wanted to share our happy news with the blog world!

Photo Shoot

2009-10-01T11:47:00.001-07:00

I finally got my kids' pictures taken, and then I finally got them put up on the blog. The computer is in the kids' room, and the only time I have to get on the computer is when Davis is sleeping. This means I hardly ever get on the computer anymore. It's kind of freeing actually. Anyway, here are some of my faves of the kids. Thanks Steph for doing such a great job!

What a Day Wednesday!

2009-09-01T09:02:00.000-07:00

This is pretty sad that it has taken me a whole week to write about our exciting day LAST Wednesday, but hey, I do the best I can! So, poor Emmary had to have a tooth extracted and it was a pretty traumatic experience for me. I did not enjoy giving her Valium and then watching as the Anesthesiologist gave her a shot in the arm to sedate her, and I especially did not like watching my child come out of the anesthesia. I hope we never have to do this again. Emmary was such a trooper though and she handled it so well. She recovered fast and enjoyed relaxing and watching movies all day. Well, not movies plural because she just wanted to watch Hercules again and again, but you get the idea :)

Her left side swolen and a little bruised.
Now to the second half of our exciting day. A car took out the telephone pole in front of our house- Well, luckily the neighbors house. It's always an adventure living on 70th south. This accident was pretty intense because we watched it happen and we ran out to help the guy and had him sit on our lawn for a few hours. He fell asleep at the wheel. I really did feel bad for him. How many of us drive drowsy when we know we shouldn't? Anyway, here is the lesson of the day. Be alert or you might take out a telephone pole and shut down a main road for 8 hours. Oh, and we didn't have power, phone, cable, or DSL the whole night. My kids thought it was super fun to use flashlights and pretend we were camping. I doubt you saw the accident on the news because that was the day Ted Kennedy died- lame!

This is the Jeep throught the neighbors fence. Notice if you will the T shaped pole bouncing in the air with nothing under it. The other half of the pole is next to the vehicle.

And we're off!!!

2009-08-06T10:12:00.000-07:00

We're off for a kid-free trip to San Diego with Paul and Janet. This trip was full of lots of firsts for me and some repeats, but it was one of the funner trips we have taken. It is fun to get away with my husband, but it was even funner to be with good freinds. Janet already did a blog post that was hillarious, so I would recommend looking at my pictures, but reading Janet's blog if you want to be entertained!

In the airport, waiting to fly off.

Our first stop was seaport village. It was a cute little village right on the sea, imagine that, and we did some shopping and snacking and lots of laughing.

Elvis has left the building...

2009-08-06T10:05:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, Elvis has left the building and is driving down the road on a bike that he thinks has a motor, but it really doesn't. He even has a picture of himself of the back of his bike so no one will have to wonder who he is. Also, he is very traffic savvy and was telling us to slow down here. Paul just had to snap a picture!

Old Town

2009-08-06T10:01:00.000-07:00

Old town turned out to be one of my favorite things. Everything was cheap like Tijuana, but you didn't have to worry about being kidnapped or getting you know what from drinking the water! Plus, everything is funner when your're with fun people and Janet and Paul are hillarious! Tim really regretted not buying that mask. We ate at a yummy authentic Mexican place in the middle of the square of shops and then went back to the hotel and did some swimming and played cards and laughed all night. Playing cards is one of those things that is hard to do with kids around, so I loved being able to just relax and play.

San Diego Zoo!

2009-08-06T09:53:00.000-07:00

Friday morning we woke up, had our free breakfast, and then headed to the zoo. I was so excited for the zoo. I had never been to the SD zoo before. It was so much fun and it turns out you don't need kids around to enjoy looking at animals!

This little Koala was sleeping in the tree. Isn't it the cutest thing you've ever seen?

This was the best picture of the day! Watch out for those Lions! I thought only babies could do that :)

Wicked!

2009-08-06T09:40:00.000-07:00

I know what most of you are thinking, "Holly is obsessed with Wicked" and this may be true, but in my defense the San Diego idea was there already when we found out Wicked would be playing. Plus, Paul hadn't seen it yet, so it was more for him than me :) So Friday after the zoo we rested and then got dressed and ready for the show.

Here I am at Outback showing off my shirt before the show.

Outside the theatre two drunk guys offered to take our picture. It was a surprisingly good picture considering the fact that they couldn't even walk straight!

two little love birds!

Janet and I before the show. Watch out for the Nazi ushers if you go to a show in San Diego; an old bitty came and yelled at us for taking this picture. We calmly told her that we didn't get the stage at all, just ourselves. She helped some people find their seats then came back to yell at us some more and told us that the whole theatre is copyrighted for the show and it is a federal offense for us to take pictures in there and we could go to jail. Right, because the cops in California have nothing else to do but arrest people for taking a picture of themselves inside a theatre. Oh, and while she was saying this 10 other people actually took pictures of the stage around us. Some people take their jobs so seriously...

La Jolla Beach

2009-08-05T18:57:00.000-07:00

The beach day was one of the things I was most excited about! I bought a new swimsuit (and spent way too much money on it) and I laid out a lot so that I had a good base tan down and I was just ready to sit on the beach for a few hours and worship the sun. Well, the sun didn't come out, and it really wasn't all that warm. It was a little dissappointment, but we still got to feel the breeze on our faces and get some sand between the toes!

Paul and Tim contemplating getting in the water. They did end up going for a swim-with all of the surfers. Aparently you are supposed to swim in certain parts and surf in certain parts. The surfers finally told them they were in the wron place, but that was at time same time Tim saw a baby shark, so they were ready to get out anyway!

What a great anniversary! August 1st has always been a special day and it was even better by being on the beach with my man. We took a lovers stroll all the way down the beach and back.

Sea World

2009-08-05T18:51:00.000-07:00

Our last event planned was to go to Sea World. Now, I haven't been to Sea World since I was about 8 and all I remember is that a seagull attacked me and ate my cinnamon roll. I was hoping this time around would be a better experience, but I was wrong. It appears as though everything else in California was closed that day becuase it was so crowded you couldn't even walk around. It was so hot and humid and the really only cool thing was the Cirque de la Mar show. I just don't think Sea World is a great place for kids. But anyway, we did it and here are some pictures from our adventure.

As soon as we walked in a Shamu show was starting so we went right in. I'm sure it takes a lot of hard work to be a killer whale trainer, but cheesy isn't even a word to describe how they were acting. C'mon- do you really need to "high five" every time you turn around? And it wasn't even for cool things they would hi-5 for. The lady who rode the whale and then jumped off his nose into the water- she deserved a hi-5, but these people were hi-5ing for giving the wales a snack! But I'll be honest that I stared crying really hard during this show, when I wasn't laughing at the trainers, because I missed Emmary so much and I knew that she would have loved watching the whale jumping around.

We're putting on happy faces, but we really wanted to go jump in the pool becuase it was so hot!!

I had just called my kids when this picture was taken. I was so sad until I heard Davis throw a fit and then I was okay being on vacation:)

At the very end of the day we got in line for the Atlantis water ride. Janet does not like water rides, she's kind of like her feline friends and doesn't like getting wet, so she sat out and waited for us. We stood in line for 45 minutes and then went on the ride which was pretty fun, but when we finished we were sitting in our boats for a long time and all the boats behind us started lining up and no one was moving. Sure enough the ride broke down! We sat there forever and then finally they had to come around and manually lift up our lap bars. I was so glad we got to ride it before it decided to break!

Temple

2009-08-05T18:36:00.000-07:00

Before we flew home we made a stop at the San Diego temple. It was closed for cleaning so we couldn't go on the grounds, but it was still so beautiful and we enjoyed it from outside the gates. A very fitting way to end our trip I thought.

All tuckered out!

2009-07-21T09:49:00.000-07:00

I peeked in on Davis napping on Saturday and found him asleep on emm's bed with her blanket and sunglasses. He is so funny.

Mama's Boy

2009-07-21T09:44:00.000-07:00

Davis is such a Mama's boy right now. This is really sweet sometimes, but sometimes it just drives me crazy. I have been blessed with the best husband and father around and if Tim even looks at Davis or touches him some days Davis just screams and cries for me. Bed time is a joke also because he only wants me putting him to bed. Once again, I have a husband who is willing to do the bedtime thing and Davis ruins it by crying for me! I love him and I love that he loves me but some days I just wish he loved someone else as well.

Normally I would never allow a picture of me sleeping to be posted on the world wide web, however this really is a sweet picture. Davis sneaks in our room most nights and comes over to my side of the bed because he knows what will happen if he goes to Tim. I am half asleep most of the time and I just plop him next to me and continue sleeping. Tim took this picture the other morning and I didn't even know it existed until I downloaded the pictures onto the computer. Like I said, Mama's boy.

Davis bouncing.

Bouncing on his bum!

So Big!

Denver!

2009-06-29T18:13:00.000-07:00

We have had a busy couple weeks. I took off to St. George 2 weeks ago and spent the week with Mel. It was so nice to visit and relax and have some great girl time. Tim was super busy at work and my mom was gone to girls camp (I was also supposed to go but couldn't due to Tim's work schedule). I didn't take one single picture, but we had a great time! I got home and got the kids back to their schedules just in time to pack up again and go to Denver. Tim's brother lives there and we had so much fun with their family. We arrived on Thursday and just relaxed. Friday we got up early and headed to the Denver Zoo.

Our little family at the entrance of the zoo. A pretty good picture- no one is crying:)

Davis' favortie was the giraffes. He is growing like one lately so they had a lot in common!

Apparently it is tough being an elephant these days.

Davis fit right in with the animals by doing the "Ostrich". It is his new way to throw a tantrum. He tries to bury his head in the sand when he gets upset. We find this hilarious and don't expect him to continue this for long since all we do is laugh and take pictures when he starts!

Denver part 2

2009-06-29T18:01:00.000-07:00

Can anyone tell me why picassa will only download 4 pictures at a time even though I have more than that in my tray? Am I the only one this happens to? Anywho, our trip continues...

Emmary and Reagan playing dress-up. We need to get her around little princess Reagan more and she may start acting like a girl occasionally!

After the zoo and some awesome naps and a tornado warning/rain/thunderstorm we headed out to Boulder to play.

Emmary and her new best friend Zippy. She had a hard time understanding that his real name is Isaac and we just call him Zippy. Kind of like she has a hard time understanding that she is indeed a human and not a frog!

Tim and the kids on the carousel at the Denver Mills outlets. The kids cried for a full hour after this ride was over :(

there's no place like home

2009-06-29T17:45:00.000-07:00

There's no place like home, or that's what they say. We don't have a home, we are a family of nomads who change addresses every year. Anyway, there's also no place like the strange rest stop in Wyoming where there is a giant Abe Lincoln head atop a large rock. It was the freakiest Abe I have ever seen. The eyes were scary. We stoped to eat our PB sandwiches since it was sunday and let the kids run around and get out some wiggles. This rest stop is the highest elevation rest stop in the country though (8000 ft?)

A lazy Sunday night in the garden. I found Emmary outside in the garden helping my dad pick the peas, or eat them I guess.

So cute, she just loves her papa!

the cake- part two

2009-06-04T09:14:00.000-07:00

This is the finished product. I was actually really happy with how it turned out. It only took 2 1/2 hours to make because I bought pre made red frosting. Best $2 I ever spent!

Davis blowing out the candles. It was a really warm day and Davis is a sweaty boy. He was red faced for much of the day, but he had so much fun playing with his friends.

Some of the kids cooling off eating popsicles with my mom.

I'm 2!!!

2009-06-04T09:10:00.000-07:00

My little man is 2 years old. We have practiced saying how old he is and he sounds so cute when he says, "I two."

The birthday boy with his hat.

the Zabriskies gave Davis the snuggliest monkey. Davis hasn't let go of it since.

And of course his signing time videos- his favorite!

Preschool Graduation

2009-06-04T09:05:00.000-07:00

Even though Emmary really isn't graduating preschool (she still has one more year) she had a super cute program and she was hilarious!

Emmary with her cap and certificate.

Emmary doing her elephant dance.

All the kids dancing.

This is my favorite. Emmary spent the entire program with her chin up high because she couldn't see at all. It was so funny to watch her.

The Cake!

2009-05-17T15:30:00.000-07:00

I have this strange tradition where I spent hours decorating a cake that the kids just eat the frosting off of , but it's fun for the kids. This year Emmary chose Tinkerbell. It's looks pretty good from a distance, however I realized that making cartoon characters is a lot tricker than I thought. The eyes alone took a good hour. I think I'm going to be hating myself in a week and a half when I attempt a Lightning
McQueen cake for Davis. Cross your fingers...

Emmary turns 4!!

2009-05-17T15:25:00.000-07:00

I know all mom's say this, but I can't believe my little girl is 4 years old. I just don't know how it has gone by so fast. Emmary was born at 1:56 am at Logan Regional Hospital on May 3rd 2005. She was 3 weeks early and she came on the first day of finals week! I actually took a final with my water broken and then missed a final on the day she was born. She has changed my life completely and I couldn't be happier. She is not the perfect child, but she is perfect for me (most days:) ) and I am so happy that she is mine. Due to the rain on the weekend of her birthday, we did a party the following weekend. She had her cousins and our neighbors the Hatch's come over for a BBQ and then festivities.

All the kids eating their dinner

This picture is for you Janet. Davis closes his eyes like this when he is throwing a tantrum. He gets a lot of sympathy from Grandma, but Miriam abvously isn't impressed.

Emmary taking a swing at her "PITIATA!" She says this complete with a spanish accent! (yes, I know I spelled it wrong, that is how she says it)

If it wasn't for Carson, I think we would still be waiting for the pinata to spill it's guts!

Curious George

2009-05-17T15:09:00.000-07:00

The other day I put Davis down for his nap and he was so sweet and went right to "sleep" except he didn't sleep at all. Instead he reached up on the dresser and found Emmary's markers and decided to give himself, as well as everything around him, "tattoos." I've said plenty of times that I would love to have one more girl to use up all of Emmary's cute baby stuff, and then have the rest boys because they are not emotional at all. However, I forgot to factor in that boys are trouble!!! Davis is so michevious and into everything sometimes I think I should have named him George with a middle name of Curious :)

Fun Run

2009-05-15T15:24:00.000-07:00

I'm a little behind in blogging, but on May 2nd our family did the Linda Buttars Memorial Fun Run through West Jordan City. Linda was a close family friend and we miss her and love her very much. Tim and I ran the 10K (6 miles) and my parents did the 1 mile walk with the kids in the stroller. This would have been just perfect, but it decided to rain cats and dogs all weekend. It was a fun race, but the turnout wasn't what it would have been with better weather.

Tim and I before the face with smiles on our faces and dry clothes.

Tim and I after the race with forced smiles and soaked to the bone. I think 6 miles is perfect distance for me to run, however, when I am weighed down by my clothes from all the rain it isn't very much fun :)

Wicked: Take Two

2009-04-30T18:02:00.000-07:00

Oh wow! What a night last night! As most of you know, I stood in line for Wicked tickets and Tim and I went to the show about 3 weeks ago. Well, Capitol Theatre is doing a drawing before each show now to "win" prime seats for just $25. Janet works just a block from the theatre and I really wanted to see it with her, so I asked her to come stand in line to try and win tickets. We had been planning it for 3 weeks now, but last night it finally worked out for us to try. We got there early and had a good spot in line. I told Janet that I was feeling really lucky. Now, my mom may win every contest she enters, but that has not been passed down to me. Although, people I am with usually win when I am with them. I informed Janet of this when I told her I was feeling lucky. She was doubtful. We got our names in the cauldron and stood around to wait. The first name they called was a guy standing next to us. The next name was a lady far away. The third name was some other guy standing right next to us. The fourth name was JANET HENDERSON!!! I screamed like a girl, well I am a girl, and was jumping and hugging. I was shaking and in a serious amount of shock. We got up to the front and they thought I was Janet because of my loud display of excitement :) Alas, we paid $25 for our second row seats, got some dinner at the Blue Iguana next door, and laughed and cried as we watched the show. You can check out Janet's blog on my link list for her version, which is much better than mine. I must say that the show was even better the second time around and I am plotting out how I can see it again somehow (not in Utah). The first time Galinda was played by the understudy, but last night we got the real deal and she was hilarious!! Anyway, here are the pictures of our super wicked night!

At the Blue Iguana

At the theatre- some ladies offered to triple what we paid for the tickets, but there was no way we were letting them go!

Our seats on the second row!! It was so awesome!!

First Field Trip

2009-04-25T10:13:00.000-07:00

Today was Emmary's first field trip. Her preschool went to the Living Planet Aquarium. The kids just loved it. These are just some fun pictures we took with the kids and some of their friends from the neighborhood. Both of my kids are a year off in age from all of the other kids in the ward, so these girls are a year older than Emmary, but she doesn't mind! The middle picture on the bottom is Davis signing fish. He is so smart!

A WICKEDLY Perfect Day!!!

2009-04-11T18:12:00.000-07:00

Today is the day I have been waiting 4 long months for. Today is the day I reap the rewards for standing in line for 9 hours on a frigid day in December. Today is the day all of those hours of listening to the same music in the car and on my iPod paid off. Today is the day we went to WICKED!! We had tickets to the 2:00 show- perfect time- and we had tickets in the Grand Tier- best seats in the house!!

This is us at intermission. They are so strict about taking pictures of the set, so we just snapped one of the two of us in our seats. I had just finished wiping my tears from Defying Gravity before we took the shot!

Sharon told me that I just had to buy some kind of memorabelia from the show. I told Tim this and he must really value Sharon's opinion because we walked in and saw the souvenier booth and he so sweetly told me to go pick out whatever I wanted. So I got the I Love Oz shirt. I love it!!

After the show we walked over to P.F. Changs for dinner. Neither of us had ever been there before, but I did run over to P.F's and use their bathroom when I stood in line for the tickets, so it felt like fate for us to go and eat there after the show. We were seated immediately and as soon as we got seated there was a major downpour of rain outside. By the time we were done eating all the rain was gone. We strolled hand in hand down Broadway and then drove home to our sweet kids and dyed easter eggs. This truly was a perfect day!

Bugs, Bugs, and more Bugs!!

2009-04-11T18:00:00.000-07:00

Emmary has discovered gardening. Grandma even got her
her very own gloves. Her favorite part is to find worms. She gets so excited and insists on bringing each and every one to me to inspect.

As Davis approaches 2 he spends more and more time in this mood.

However, this is always the thing that makes him happy again: His Grandma Diane!

MOAB

2009-03-24T17:53:00.000-07:00

What a fun weekend we had! There is nothing like getting the cousins together
and letting them play until they drop. We rented a condo in Moab instead
of a hotel and it was perfect. Elise even planned an easter egg hunt for all
the kids. This was my first time in Moab and I didn't get to see too much
because of the marathon and then the exhaustion that followed, so I would
love to go back one day and see all the sights!

Moab 1/2 Marathon

2009-03-24T17:46:00.000-07:00

Well, I finished my 2nd 1/2 marathon. Now I guess I can say I've ran a marathon! j/k But really my sister in law Katie says it best when she says we ran the FULL 1/2 marathon! These pictures were taken just as I crossed the finish line and I am really holding onto Tim so that I don't pass out! I am so glad I did this marathon and I hope to do another one day, but not for awhile. I really didn't get to prepare for this marathon since I spent 6 weeks after st. george sick and then the last 3 weeks with a broken rib-courtesy of Davis. From the first mile I was thinking things like, "What the heck am I doing", and "I think I want to die right now so that I don't have to run anymore", and "this is excruciating!", and my favorite "Why did I PAY money to do this?" I did have a stretch between miles 9-11 where I felt really good though. I was in a good rhythm and those thoughts went away, at least until we came out of the canyon. About a block from the finish line I was feeling like I was going to throw up and/or pass out and I wanted to stop and walk across the finish line. Just then my sweet sister in law Elise jumped out of the crown with her daughter Brinley and they ran across the finish with me. Then I just had to focus on not crying, especially when I saw Tim and the kids in the crowd (I didn't think Tim was going to be there because he was back at the condo watching all the kids). All in all, it was hard, but I'm glad I did it (in 2 hours 26 minutes) and maybe one day I will break the 2 hour mark!

My Girl

2009-03-24T17:27:00.000-07:00

Emmary is such a funny girl! We truly get a kick out of her everyday! This top picture is Emmary asleep. The polka dot thing is her bum. Don't worry, she is breathing!

This is a picture of Em and I at the UTAH gymnastics meet. Emm loves gymnastics, which is a good thing since she has the body of a rubber band. She is very excited to start gymnastics class this summer. She sat on my lap the whole meet and she loved watching the girls flipping through the air.

Emmary isisted on wearing her halloween clothes the other day. Oh well!

TROUBLE!!!!

2009-03-24T17:21:00.000-07:00

Boys really are more trouble!! Emmary never did strange things like flush cold medicine down the toilet, run out of the house and ring the doorbell of a stranger, or grab the toothpaste and get it all over the place!! Davis is truly a handful, and like the blogging mom I am, I took these pictures before getting upset. I just had to document it!

The Worst Day of my Life

2009-03-09T16:03:00.000-07:00

I truly mean the title of this post. Sunday was the worst day of my life! I will tell you a little story of why I say that. We were getting ready for church and I was in the bathroom, my parents were in their room, and Tim was downstairs with the kids. He put Davis' shoes on and then went to find Emmary to get her shoes on and to get the church bag packed. A few minutes later I came down stairs to put my shoes on and I saw Emmary and Tim but no Davis. I asked if Tim knew where he was and he said no. I felt sick inside immediately but told myself to calm down. The front door was closed and I thought he wouldn't have gone outside and shut the door behind himself right? I went around the house calling his name but it was so quiet. If any of you know our boy, quiet and him don't go together. I searched the garage and we opened the front door and didn't see him outside. I checked the backyard and basically everywhere else in the house and I was really starting to freak out becuase I knew in my heart that he was not there. He had gone outside. Once again, for those of you who know, we live on what we like to call I-70- 7000 south is a major busy road with traffic all the time. Big cars and my little boy don't mix well. I told Tim to run one way down the road and I went the other to check the side of the house. He was no where in sight so I ran back inside to check the closets. Emmary did this to us once and it turned out she was asleep in the closet. He wasn't in the closets. So I yelled at my dad that Davis was missing and to help us search or call the police. I ran out of the house again and went the opposite way of Tim just screaming Davis' name. I got to the corner and started to go around the block and across the street and I saw him standing in someone's yard with a lady that lives there. He just pointed at me like,"Hey! There's my mom. Hi mom!" I was crying and hysterical by this point and I ran and grabbed him. The lady told me he had rung her doorbell and when she answered he was just standing there happy as can be. I scooped him up and just cried and cried and told her thank you. Then I had to run back towards the house to tell Tim that I had found him. I forgot to mention that Davis kicked me a week ago and cracked my rib, so this was very painful to run with him, but I was so happy to have him safe that I didn't care. I was shaking for hours afterwards and I just about threw up. I can't even imagine what it must feel like to lose a child. Well, I can, but I got mine back. While I was running around though I kept thinking that this can't be happening, yet this does happen. I thought someone had taken him and that helpless feeling still makes me sick when I think about it and think about what could have happened to him. We said a prayer to thank our Father in Heaven for keeping our little boy safe and for helping us to find him. So parents who read this- give your kids an extra hug and kiss today and give thanks for having a safe day! I was so upset last night that I put up a fight to bring Davis into our bed because I couldn't sleep. I kept thinking that I would wake up and he would be gone. I won and we all slept great. And we put a child lock on the front door and keep it deadbolted at all times! I love you DAVIS!!!

Utah State, Hey Aggies all the way!

2009-03-09T15:41:00.000-07:00

For some reason, picassa didn't include this picture, even though it was in my tray and starred. Whatever. I will just say that the game was so fun!!! We had really good seats next to the student section, but we didn't have to stand the whole game- horray! and we were on the 9th row so I didn't need my glasses! We went to just about every home game in the 3 years while we lived in Logan and it was just as fun as we remmeber- except the fans are ruder than they used to be! Here's some examples: When the line-up is called for the opposing team, they all turn around and ignore them; when someone of the opposite team fouls one of our players they all point to him and chant "you, you, you" this wasn't new except they added on to the end a loud "SUCK!"; and finally when the coach of the opposite team complained (we were very close to their teams bench) the fans would all point and chant "stupid, stupid!" I guess there is a reason that the Aggies have gone 2 straight seasons undefeated at home and have one of the best home win records in the country!

Logan

2009-03-09T15:32:00.000-07:00

Tim and I went up to Logan on Saturday and it was so much fun! We haven't been up there for 2 1/2 years and it has changed a lot, but we have special feelings for Logan. We started out by going to Gossners and getting some squeakey cheese and flavored milk, then we went to Cafe Sabor for dinner. I realized at that time that the batteries were dead in our camera so we don't have any pictures of those places :) Then we went to the store for batteries and drove past our old places- we lived in 2 different basement apartments but they were next door to each other. Then we decided to walk around campus.

It was freezing cold and it was spring break so we didn't get to see any friends while we were there but that was okay. It was nice to just have alone time. We love the quad and the open space. It was fun to reminess while we walked around.

I drank about 4 glasses of water at the restaurant so I really needed to find a bathroom, but all of the buildings on campus were locked. I said we needed to go to the engineering building because those engineers never go home- spring break or not! Sure enough the building was open, and sure enough there were students there! Gotta love those engineers:)

This is the education building where the bulk of my classes were held. I also worked as a peer advisor for the psychology department my last year in this building. Fond memories of this building- most of them involving Sharon!

St George

2009-03-01T15:38:00.000-08:00

We went to St. George last weekend to visit some friends and to go to the Parade of Homes. It is a fun family tradition and this year was no exception. The weather was beautiful most of the time, and it just felt like we were home. I still do consider St. George "home" and I can't wait for Tim's company to open their office so that we can go back, but for now I am having a better attitude about being in SLC. St. George is a very hard place to be right now and unemployment is so high and there is a lot of stress in the air about job security and home values, etc. I am grateful that Tim has a good job up here and that he is so busy. I will enoy our time here and have a good attitude from here on out. We are trying to take advantage of all the fun things there are to do up here and we are liking being able to see friends and family more. Here are just some pictures I took from the home show.-A lot of ceiling work this year- I loved it!

Fun Times

2009-03-01T15:25:00.000-08:00

These are just some random pictures from the last couple of weeks. The best part about living in SLC (besides the live-in babysitters!) is being close to the Mandarin restaurant in Bountiful. This is our favorite restaurant and it was so fun to go on a date with my sweet sweet husband!

Here is Davis before church one Sunday. He got this cute suit for Christmas and I realized that I didn't have any pictures of him in it. He wouldn't sit still so the pictures are a little blurry, but oh well. Isn't he so handsome?!?

And just chillin in a box. Who needs toys when you have your blanket, a binkie and a box?

Never Ending Sickness!!!!

2009-02-11T10:21:00.000-08:00

I don't normally post anything without attaching a picture because I know most people just look at the pictures and don't really read the post, but I don't have any pictures today. We have all been so sick around here and I just keep thinking, "When will this end!?!" I have had a cold for about 18 days straight now and my kids have both had pink eye- Emmary woke up this morning with the signs of it again- and Davis had an ear infection at the same time as pink eye. Then, the antibiotic that Davis was on for those gave him diaper rash so severe that he couldn't sit or walk or sleep on his back. The entire surface area of his bum was covered. I tried eveything I could but for 4 days straight it got worse every day. Then-halelujia!- I found some pink swizzle left over from St. George. For those of you who don't live in St. G, pink swizzle is magic ointment and can only be found in St. G. Within 2 hours of his first treatment he was able to run and sit down in his car seat. It has gotten better so fast, but it still isn't gone all the way. In fact, his skin is peeling like a sunburn now that it is healing. Anyway, nothing else exciting here, but I am hoping that we can get over these colds eventually. I can't stand not being able to leave the house-especially when I live in SLC with it's dreary and depressing weather!! I am counting down to our St. George visit in a week and a half :)

It's Racing Day!!

2009-01-22T10:19:00.000-08:00

Thanks to all of you who wished me well on the race this past weekend. It didn't turn out quite like I had dreamed, but it was still awesome and I will do anything to be able to spend time in St. George!! Tim ended up being swamped at work so I took Emmary to St. G alone and left Davis with my mom. Also, Melanie was going to run the end with me and she ended up getting to go spend some time with her mom so she was out of town. So my cheering section was a little smaller than I hoped, but it worked out fine because Emmary Platt was there to cheer me on at the end while wrestling 3 kids!! Luckily I crossed the finish line alone so she was able to snap a picture of me :) I wish you could see the clock from this angle, but you can't so I will tell you that I finished in 2 Hours 19 Minutes. So just about 10 minute miles, which I am so satisfied with. I was surprised how hard the race was though. I was really prepared, but it was just harder than I thought it would be. So onward now and I will prepare for the Moab 1/2 marathon and look forward to doing that with Tim's Fam!

Me exhausted at the end- but check out the gorgeous blue sky! I HAVE to move back to St. George!!

Emmary, my little cheerleader

Sporting my number- 1880

Oops, He Did it Again!!

2009-01-22T10:10:00.000-08:00

Poor Davis is having a hard time keeping his handsome face from being mangled! The other day I was running at the gym and the playroom people came in to get me and said Davis climbed up on a toy and fell and split his lip open and was bleeding all over. AAHHH!! I went running in there and he was all cleaned up, no blood on his clothes or anything, and he was just snuggling with one of the girls. Until he saw me, then the tears came out!! So here are the pictures and I am hoping that he will stop trying to scar up his face :)

Jazz Game

2009-01-14T15:04:00.000-08:00

Last Monday our neighbor called and asked if we wanted to go to the Jazz game that night. It had started snowing and my dad didn't want to go, but Tim did. So I said I would go, but I really didn't want to go out in the snow. Then Tim thought about taking Emmary and she was so excited!! And I was so excited because I knew Tim really wanted to take her, and then I didn't have to freeze in the snow!

Emmary riding on Trax. She was so excited to ride the "train" and hasn't stopped talking about it.

Tim and Emmary on Trax

Emmary with her popcorn. They were totally far up, but they had so much fun together!

Tim and Emmary in their seats. I was glad that they got the bonding time, but I was sad that I didn't get to see her experience something new. This is why Tim got so many pictures- I begged him to take as many as he could so I could see her!

First Day of School

2009-01-14T14:53:00.000-08:00

Here is Emmary on her first day of Preschool. She loves school and
is so happy to be learning new things and meeting new friends.
My little girl is getting so big!

Christmas 2008

2008-12-31T16:06:00.000-08:00

We had a really good Christmas this year. Emmary was so excited and I'll admit we used Santa as a bribe to get better behavior out of her, just a little bit though :) Davis was fun because he actually liked to open the presents, but he didn't really care what was in them. I feel like a terrible mom because I didn't take many pictures, mostly we video'd. But the highlight was definately getting Tim tickets to Wicked, as well as the soundtrack. Let me tell you that I stood in line for 9 hours to get these tickets in 20 degree weather and on and off snow. It was a terrible experience to be honest and I would rather travel to another city than have to deal with the Capitol Theatre again. They basically let season ticket holders buy enormous amounts of tickets, so by the time they actually went on sale there were only 6,000 seats left when they started out with 56,000. Anyway, I got some at $100 a piece and the show is on Sunday, and Emmary's birthday, but we will see if we can sell them for different ones once the shows get closer and Utahn's stop being so greedy and asking $300 for a $55 ticket. I'll get off my soapbox now and just say Merry Christmas and that "Happy is what happens when all your dreams come true!!"

Oh and yes Emmary got Kung Fu Panda for Christmas from Santa!

Davis has met his match!!!

2008-12-31T15:59:00.000-08:00

Over the weekend I went to a party with a bunch of friends from high school and while I was there Noah Defay totally beat up Davis! Not really, but he fell on Davis, we think, and then Davis bit his lip. It was all swollen and bloody! Sad! But he recovered as soon as he saw the cookies on the table. It really was so good to see everybody!

First Snow

2008-12-19T16:26:00.000-08:00

This is the first time Davis has seen snow! He was very excited, as was Emmary and Tim, to take him out for the first time to "Play"- kids don't play in the snow, they just eat the snow! Getting him all bundled up involved some tears but once he was outside and waddling around he was happy as can be. He really looks like Randy from A Christmas Story when he's all bundled up and he really can't get up on his own if he falls over!

Santa Clause or Scary Claws?

2008-12-19T16:20:00.000-08:00

Let's be honest, Santa can be a little scary for small kids. When else would we as parents tell our children to go and sit on a strange old man's lap and ask for gifts? It must be confusing to be a child! Santa came to our ward Christmas party and Emmary did okay- she asked for the Kung Fu Panda movie- but I don't have a single picture of Davis because he not only cried when we came near Santa, but he ran screaming out of the room. I also posted a picture of Leah Quinney for Melanie's viewing enjoyment!

Acting Like a Girl!

2008-12-19T16:14:00.000-08:00

Our little Emmary is not girly at all- she never has been. And that is fine with us, I don't care that she chooses dinosaurs over dolls, it doesn't bother me. But imagine my surprise when the other night she told me to be quiet becuase the "baby" was sleeping. She took me into her room and low and behold she had put her little monkey to bed. She even wrapped him up in her favorite blanket. Then she crawled in with him. It really was so sweet to see her act girly for once!

Trouble

2008-11-24T18:04:00.000-08:00

I have always struggled to get new backgrounds on my blogger site. Everyone says it is so easy, but everytime I try I end up wasting HOURS and just end up frustrated. Which is why I have had the same template for the last year. I found pyzam and decided to try a Christmas theme and it was quite simple and actually worked. The problem is that it erased all of my pictures and link list info. So if you don't see your name on the link list please leave a message so that I can get it added once again to the list. And when the holidays are over, if someone would be so kind as to tutor me through this process so I don't have to do this again I would so appreciate it!

Halloween

2008-11-11T17:16:00.000-08:00

I know I'm a little late with the Halloween pictures but better late than never. My kids were bees and my mom made the costumes. Poor Davis will look back on this Halloween as the one where we made him look like a girl!

Tim's pumpkin was the one one that was "Skulvis" He came in 3rd place for his work pumpkin carving contest! I was lame and didn't do one.

I didn't have a black long sleeved shirt for Davis so I put him in one of Emmary's. I also didn't have black pants, so he wore her old tights. I know, I know, lazy mom but in my defense I was on my trip the week before halloween.

Davis and his papa Bob

The kids with Grandma Diane after filling their bags and pumpkins. Emmary traded in her candy for the Tinkerbell movie. I was surprised she fell for it when I brought it up. I tell her Tink came and took the candy anytime she asks :)

Kirtland, Ohio

2008-10-30T18:09:00.000-07:00

Tuesday we went to Kirtland Ohio. This was so special for me. I have never been to church history sites before. This was Sharon's 4th time going to Kirtland in the last year, but I think she had a good time as well. The temple was so special, but there was an overwhealming feeling in the Newel K. Whitney store where the school of the prophets it. It was so neat to sit there and imagine Joseph Smith living there and all the things that happened there. I am so glad that I was able to go experience this. And just like my entire Michigan experience, it was cold and there were threatning clouds, but it didn't rain, so we were able to see everything we wanted to see. The last picture in the grid is me and Charlie and Angelo's in downtown Ann Arbor where we had breakfast the day I left. Thanks so much Sharon for such a good time. You were the best hostess and you let me sleep in everyday and be lazy for 5 days. I owe you!!

Jennys and University of Michigan

2008-10-30T17:50:00.000-07:00

On Monday we went to a farm called Jennys. It was so cold so no one was there besides us, but that's okay. We got some hot pumpkin doughnuts- YUM- and hot apple cider- also YUM. Then we drove along the Huron River- gorgeous- and went to campus to walk around. Sharon took me to the law school and I was amazed. The place looks like it came straight out of Harry Potter. It was like a castle with a courtyard in the middle, and a lot of really smart people walking around. The bottom row are more from Jennys.

Michigan

2008-10-30T07:38:00.000-07:00

I just got back yesterday from a trip to Michigan to visit Sharon. I had so much fun!!! One of the highlights was going to the Michigan vs. Michigan State football game last Saturday. That stadium isn't called the Big House for nothing! I couldn't believe how many people were there. This was made clear by the line we had to wait in just to go in our section and walk down to our row. The first row of pictures are Sharon and I waiting in line. There was 110,146 people in attendance at the game. You can't even imagine what that many people crammed into one space feels like until you are there. The middle picture is what we saw coming into the stadium. We had 8th row seats right in the end zone so we felt like we were right in the action. It was freezing cold and Michigan lost, but it was a really close game and an in state rivalry so there was a lot of excitment. Pretty much everyone was drunk but us though!! This is something that I will never forget!