Our Little World

2011-04-11T19:47:00.000-07:00

my mind is filled with to-do lists at the moment so here's a little list for you.

praying for: Strength

wearing: comfy dress & leggings

working on: editing all unfinished photos

eating: the dried pineapples and mangos out of trail mix

dreaming of: summer time

realizing: Little boys are always rowdy and curious.

impatiently waiting: this weeks American idol

anticipating: My next Operation:Love ReUnited Photo Shoot.

loving: watching my boys actually play pretend together

stalking: way too many blogs to mention {without embarrassment}

feeling: Restless

confessional time...

2011-04-11T19:14:00.000-07:00

I don't like rules.

I PUSH myself to follow them.

I love Music.

the main, the script, adele, meaghan smith to name a few.

I hate when People are mad at me.

When My world is in a whirlwind, I always know those who love me the most.

Cuz they Show me.

I like wearing weird things.

I love to surprise people.

Im not perfect.

never will be.

I oppose expectations.

I hate when People Judge.

Fabric, glue sticks, coke, new clothes, shoes, paint, friends, new baby smells,

clean sheets, lipgloss, A fresh shower,

Sunshine, twilight woods lotion, Lace, ruffles, Old things make me happy!

More Sledding!

2011-04-08T11:53:00.000-07:00

Sledding in Bear Lake

2011-04-08T10:08:00.000-07:00

Brock is officially an adrenaline junkie! Actually they both are! they love sledding and snowmobiling!

We 'heart' best friends!

2011-04-07T10:40:00.000-07:00

We 'heart' Andy! brock and andy have been best friends for about 3 years now!! And i love his mom alyson to death and jax loves playin with jack, so it works out!Its so crazy how well they get along! they mesh perfectly! and andy tells us that him and brock are going to live together during college. so cute! we play with them every monday and they usually can't wait til the next monday!!

Talmage cracks us up! he and brock have this strange fetish with collecting rocks and crystals and minerals. Go figure. but they love it! we love playing with his family too and jax thinks his little sister cadance is "sooo sweet" as he says! I'm so glad we have such great neighbors!

These crazy kids have a blast!! They've discovered how to race up and down the sidewalk at an unbelievable speed on the scooters! (its a little scary) but i guess its not fun unless its a little scary (says kayson's black eye!) but brock loves walking out the front door and having such great friends living next door to us!

Now we can't forget shae! brock tells me he's going to marry her someday! i love that! cause what better inlaws could he ask for?! We would gladly take shae as our own but that might mess up the whole marriage thing! but i do wish we lived closer to them so we could play more often!

As for jax and Tylan they absolutely are in love with eachother! its so adorable to watch them! jax will strap his helmet onto ty and off they go down the sidewalk side by side on their bikes! whats even cuter is when they ride the scooters, jax's is red and ty's is pink. They carry on full adult conversations with eachother which is hilarious to watch! Since brock says he's marrying shae, then of course jax says he wants to marry Ty!! where do they get this? And the only way i can get jax to do something is to tell him tylan is doing it too. "yes, tylan is going to bed right now, yes, tylan is eating dinner right now" we love tylan!!!

Operation: Love ReUnited!!!

2011-01-08T11:20:00.000-08:00

Everyone go check out whats happening at www.polkadotsphotography.blogspot.com Big things!!! Click on the link to my photography page and read all about this new amazing organization, www.oplove.org !! I'm so excited to be apart of it and share it with all of you!!

Now YOU know my ABC's

2010-12-16T15:29:00.000-08:00

A is for Antenna, my mommy antenna. i swear we grow them when we become moms. It tunes us into our kids {and even our husbands}and helps us to keep them safe and connect with them!
B is for Brock. Without him I am lost, he is my sweet tender loving boy, my cuddler! My first experience of becoming a mother,he has taught me so much and he is so precious to me! He is growing so fast and will drive all the girls crazy with his adorable face, beautiful eyes and big heart!

C is for Chaos. I feel like i am always running around like a chicken with her head cut off. Controlled chaos is my goal for the new year. I understand that with boys there will always be some chaos.
D is for Domestic Engineer (aka at home mom) Which my teenage self never thought I would become but my grown up self is learning to love.
E is for Excitable! I am so easily excited! Simple things. And i hope i can always have this! Because its always the simple things in life that bring pure joy!
F is easily for Family. My family is who I am and what I do. It is my past, future, and forever.
G is for Girl. I was always the tom boy as a child and now with a husband and 2 sons, I have never felt more like a girly girl in all my life. and i love it!
H is for Home. i love creating and making things for my home. i love to make it a happy place full of my creativity and my childrens happy memories.

I is for Irresistible sugar! Anyone that knows me knows that i love sweets! But being hypoglycemic i've found that it's become my devil on the shoulder. I'm learning that the strength lies in moderation and protein.
J is for Jaxon. My amazingly strong fighter! His first few months of life were scary but our love and his strength pushed him through.Now today at 2 1/2 he is crazy smart and wants to learn about everything. He is crazy hilarious and i couldn't imagine my life without him!
K is for Kids in which I have 2. Two boys to teach me the real meaning of ~~crazy mom~~ patience and love.They are my world!
L is for Laptop. My right hand, my companion, the tool of my trade. Things its most used for: Editing, blogging, and looking up clever ideas to use with my kids and home.
M is for Mom. I never would be able to be the mother and woman that i am today if it wasn't for my own awesomely awesome mother. She is my best friend!
N is for Neighbors. We miss our old neighbors so much but are learning that our new ones are just as great!! Brock and Jaxon have the cutest friends here!

O is for Optimism. I can always look at the brighter side of things.The glass is always half full.
P is for Photography, my passion. I've finally found my outlet. my way to express my creativity. It's such an amazing feeling to look through my lens and create art.
Q is for quiet... the word that never happens at our house. so when i find it, i hold on to it for as long as possible.
R is for Ryan. the man, the provider, the stability! He keeps me grounded and real. He makes me want to be a better person, to try harder and to do more! And especially for those who know him you know he's one of the hardest workers ever!!
S is for Surprises. I don't like surprises, i think its mostly my controlling inner-self. They give me anxiety. But to plan surprises is the best! i love surprising others!
T is for Twenty Eight. I have joined the group of the late twenties. So I'm raising a toast, may the last couple years of my twenties be made great!
U is for Utah. The state where I live.It is beautiful and i couldn't live without the 4 seasons. I {stubbornly} still claim idaho as a huge part of me though.

V is for Vacation. My favorite vacation so far was my honeymoon in Mexico!! Cabo is beautiful and it visits my dreams frequently.

W is for Women I admire. My mom for always being there for support, and for always helping me to see things though others eyes. And my friend Nicole who truly loves being a mother and is one of the best ones Ive ever seen.
X is for X-mas. {CHRISTmas} My favorite holiday. My favorite memories as a child were helping my mom decorate the tree, and finding everyone that perfect gift and OF COURSE getting the perfect gifts! I love the spirit of christmas!
Y is for Yellow. One of my favorite colors next to Teal. Sunsets, sunflowers and bananas. Whats not to love.
Z is for Zest. My passion for life. May it never grow dim or be found lost.

Its that time of year again.....

2010-12-15T13:17:00.000-08:00

Since i probably won't be sending our family Christmas card to all of you in the mail i still wanted to say Merry Christmas to all of you on here!!!! I am so proud that this year i finally learned how to utilize my photoshop and made this card (thanks to smarter people online) I don't remember exactly where i found this one.

I have the hardest time with stinkin photoshop (its gonna be the death of me) and i know that all i need to do is just take a class. So i have been trying and trying to find a way to make these myself {for free}! It killed me to have to pay other people to do what i could do myself!! So yay me!!!!! I finally found a way to do it!!! Mostly i couldn't have figured this out without jamie! Girl, i love you for showing me the simplest thing, i owe you!!! If anyone wants our family card just send me your address and i'd love to get one to you!! i don't want to forget anyone! This year especially, i lost my address book, (i'm freakin out) and i am scrounging to find everyone's addresses! So i hope i don't miss any of you!!!!

finally.... some family pictures!

2010-09-14T22:41:00.000-07:00

First day of school.....

2010-09-08T22:28:00.000-07:00

Brock was so excited for his first day back to preschool!! I was a little worried that he was going to feel unsure going into a new year with all new friends, but the little sweetie was so excited and loved every single one of them! I love his teacher almost as much as he does! she is so cute with them and provides the most creative environment! we carpool with the most adorable little girl that just moved into our neighborhood. Her name is kate and they have so much fun together!!

I can't bring him out of his shell and i can't make him say please and thank when he needs to and i can't make him wash his hands every time he touches something icky... but i can teach him and be an example and hope his little sponge brain absorbs it!! I'm so proud of him!

baby GIRL onesies....

2010-09-08T22:04:00.000-07:00

Okay, so i was SO excited to make these onesies! my neighbor is having a baby GIRL...after having 3 boys... and so i couldn't wait to make her something with bows!! It was so fun to make something for a little GIRL! I literally had to restrain myself from making tons and tons of things for her!! I'm sure this is the reason why i was blessed with 2 little boys!! my little girl would be so decked out with bows and who knows what else.... So i hope she loved them as much as i do!

2010-09-08T21:13:00.000-07:00

Something that I hope to instill in my boy's hearts now is to "be you." So they can avoid changing who they are to fit in the right crowd instead be proud of their own uniqueness. Now... how in the world do you do that? :)

Happiness....

2010-09-08T20:44:00.000-07:00

This quote really speaks to me I really needed to be reminded of this idea of happiness. There have been times in my life when it was up to me to choose it. Then even more up to me to continue to seek it. I love the reminder to keep praying even after the crisis has passed--another note to self.

"I keep remembering one of my Guru's teachings about happiness. She says that people universally tend to think that happiness is a stroke of luck, something that will maybe descend upon you like fine weather if you're fortunate enough. But that's not how happiness works. Happiness is the consequence of personal effort.
You fight for it
strive for it
insist upon it
and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations for your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it, you must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it. If you don't you will leak away your innate contentment. It's easy enough to pray when you're in distress but continuing to pray even when your crisis has passed is like a sealing process, helping your soul hold tight to its good attainments."
-elizabeth gilbert

Palisades with the fam

2010-08-01T22:33:00.000-07:00

Okay warning.... i've posted a ton of pictures with this post. i took so many when we went to palisades and i just had to share!! we had so much fun with everyone, especially all the kids!! brock was in heaven! he thought it was the coolest thing in the world to sleep in sleeping bags with all of his cousins!! We love that our family has so many great traditions! It is so much fun to be so close and to be able to do so many memorable things together! we love all you guys so much!!

happy birthday big boy!!

2010-08-01T22:11:00.000-07:00

Brock had the best birthday party ever!! He had all of his favorite friends there minus hunter and hayden.... they had another party to go to. Brock decided that he wanted his party to be a transformer theme! He loves transformers!! and we've been looking everywhere for the animated transformer movies and we can't find them anywhere, so if any of you know where they are... tell me, tell me, tell me!! any way, brock loved having all of his friends here playing games and celebrating his birthday! The guests included: andy, kayson, talmage, ethan, parker, shae and kenzie. This was our first friend birthday party so far and it was by far more than i thought it would be! we loved it and i'll be much more prepared next time! man, with 8 little kids runnin around... phew!! after they all left brock jaxon and i crashed hard!!

Third Dam

2010-06-03T22:23:00.001-07:00

Preschool

2010-06-03T22:08:00.000-07:00

Brock has loved going to preschool these past two years with his best friends!! He has learned and grown so much!! Ryan and i have decided to hold him back into preschool for one more year for a few reasons. I feel bad he's not going to be seeing his little buddies in school anymore but he will make so many more great friends. And we still have so many fun playdates with all of them! He loves his teacher and is so excited to be going back to her again next year! We're so excited for next year to come!

* rollie pollie bugs

2010-06-03T21:44:00.000-07:00

These boys love these rollie pollie bugs!!! they will sit and play with them for hours and hours. i'm sure there are quite a few of these little guys in our house because the boys let them crawl on them and then sometimes....oops... mom i can't find the rollie pollie!!!...

memorial weekend 2010

2010-06-03T20:43:00.000-07:00

jax's 2nd birthday

2010-03-28T15:54:00.000-07:00

2 years ago today!!! jax was 2 days old and had just had his surgery to connect his esophugaus to his stomach. we weren't even sure he was going to be strong enough to beat this. Now today he is the strongest little boy i've seen!! he is so thick and stalky! tough, if he falls he hardly ever cries. i'm so lucky to have this amazingly strong boy in my life! happy birthday jax, i love you!!

my bestest buddy!

2010-03-04T21:15:00.000-08:00

i don't know what i would do without my brock! i couldn't get through one day without him~ he is so helpful! Sure there are times when he just loves to make his little brother scream just for fun, or when he takes toys away and doesn't share but honestly he is so tender hearted that it reminds me how precious our children are!!! He is such a little sponge! i am amazed at how much he listens to me when i don't know he's listening! which is so good, cause it keeps me in check! I catch myself still talking in kid talk when i actually get the rare opportunity to communicate with adults!!crazy! i love him so much and i love the person and mother he has turned me into!!

my boys!!

2010-03-04T20:45:00.000-08:00

2010-02-20T00:28:00.000-08:00

straight motor heads

2010-02-19T22:50:00.001-08:00

i'll be right back to finish writing all the fun things about our valentines day weekend! I have so much to write about these fun pics so i'll be sure to tell you more about it in the morning.

{little Lucy Lou}

2010-02-19T20:25:00.000-08:00

I'm amazed!!! my parents actually got a puppy!! After sasha died they've been on the lookout for the next family member. Poor sooosh was just like a sister to me and a daughter to my mom and a bff to my dad! So you can imagine that the bar was set pretty high in looking for the next family member. they knew they wanted a cocker spaniel and were looking for an old calm dog. Shocker....they chose a newborn baby! She's wild and crazy and... a puppy!! A puppy was the last thing they wanted, well so i thought!! Its hillarious to watch them with her! Now keep in mind they are the kind of people that cannot stand annoying dogs. So to watch my dad feed lucy {right off his plate} or to watch him talk to her like she's his little girl. she lays right on his head and kisses his face. {wow} anyway they are so happy with their new little girl. She's learning their rules. love you lucy!

{brotherly} love!

2010-01-12T14:10:00.001-08:00

It tickles me to death to see how close my little boys are getting!! They're starting to play and share so much better!! i love it!! I absolutely love this picture!

i can't get enough of jaxon's cheese!! he absolutely loves showing off his new trick he's learned! I guess after i've taken so many pics of the boys they eventually learn the pose!!

Look how rosey jax's cheeks are!! i took this picture just after they got done with a {shoodoo} four-wheeler ride! It was so so cold outside but it didn't matter to them! They were out there for ever and frozen near to death but it didn't stop the fourwheelin fun!

i am so proud of this!! look at my boys actually sharing!! they both wanted strawberry milk and it was their idea! {so proud}

christmas day after ryan opened this beanie all jaxon wanted to do was run around and pretend to be "daddy" he wants to be so big!!

brocky loves his papa dan!! i thought it was so sweet to see them holding hands waiting patiently to talk to santa!!

Brock absolutely loves being with his grandma debbie! he has so much fun when they're together, it breaks his sweet little heart to leave! He would probably live there if we let him! I'm so grateful my boys have such loving and fun grandparents!

we love sweet brynners!

brocky loves playin with his papa dan! and i'm pretty sure dan loves playin with brock too!! its so cute to watch them play their fun little imaginary games!

family pics

2009-11-30T13:11:00.000-08:00

preschool trick or treat

2009-11-03T08:42:00.000-08:00

This is brocks cute preschool class with the exception of Easton. He loves all of his friends here!! He has so much fun with them! He comes home from preschool and tells me the funniest stories! I am so glad that we decided to keep him in his same class this year especially since we live in a new neighborhood! He gets to see all of his same friends! This year for halloween the only thing he wanted to be was Jimmie Johnson! No superheros or monsters for him!! I honestly can't believe how grown up he is becoming!! He is getting too big too fast!! Love you Brocky!

First Day!!

2009-09-10T23:25:00.001-07:00

Brock was so excited to start another year of preschool!! Especially this year because all of his friends are in his class!! There are 8 kids from our one street that are in his same class!! His teacher is amazing and totally gets him! I'm glad he's going to be with all his friends especially while we move, stability!! He is totally ready for 3 days a week, he gets so bored at home with me and jaxon! I can't believe my baby is getting so big! He keeps asking when he can ride the bus with the big kids. i tell him he can't cause i never want him to grow up!! It is so strange to me that one day he will be bigger and stronger than me, he'll probably be like 6'3"!! I hope he'll still need me to hold him when he's scared and kiss his bruises! Wait!!! I gotta slow down, i want him to stay little for as long as he can!!

In this second picture he and Andy were being superheros doing some sort of karate chop!! They are hillarious together!! I didn't think that i would know how to handle two little boys but i was given the 2 most amazing ones ever!! If i can keep them fed and clothed i'm doin pretty good. Just like all little boys they love to be rough and dirty. They are so content with trucks, dinosaurs and bugs!! It has taken me a long time to get use to this, but now that i have i wouldn't have it any other way!! Now i don't think i would know how to handle a little girl or even what to do with one! Granted i think i would pick up on it pretty quick!! Brock keeps telling me to get him a sister. Not quite sure what to say to that!! He is getting so smart, the questions he asks sometimes blow me away and take me a while to figure out the right way to answer them! His little mind is putting 2 and 2 together and he is so curious about everything!! But i guess thats the only way he can learn, to ask questions!! He has so much fun with Andy! It is going to be so hard to move away from him{ i know i'll have withdrawls from alyson} We love waking up in the mornings and going outside and checking up on all our friends and watching all {20} kids get on the bus right in front of our house, it's going to be so different when we can't do that! No matter where we go we'll be happy, because we'll always have eachother!!

Game night with the Murdocks

2009-08-13T21:50:00.000-07:00

brock and wesley {yay-yay} playing a game. they have so much fun with eachother. They just go crazy whenever they're together. I love it.

don't worry, i'm not about to hit THAT ball, i just hit. I do know which ball i'm suppose to hit.

We had such a blast hangin out with our most awesome neighbors last night!! {the fave neighbs}The Murdocks are crazy fun! Sammy is a doll.They came over after dinner and we made a campfire in our backyard and roasted marshmellows!! When our 5 bars of chocolate were gone, we moved inside to play pool.

This looks like a really intense game, ry was really into it! He was so excited to finally have someone to play pool with! i'm so horrible at it that its not even a game to him!

Don't even ask me whats going on with my crazy hair here. In my defense the wind was blowing! plus i'm pretty sure i'm talking. i hate pictures of myself, thats why i'm always the one with the camera.

Shayne is so hillarious, i'm sure he was telling some sort of story here while he's trying to eat his smore. Its so funny to watch ryan and shayne talk because they talk their own special lingo. sports lingo. all they talk about it football, nascar, work and who knows what else, after some point me and meg just stop listening.

Look how gorgeous these two are!! Mother-Daughter. They are so much fun to be with!

aaaaahhhhh! Snake!

2009-08-10T11:31:00.000-07:00

On our march to the field with the snake Olivia found this huge moth!!!

So last friday i was trying to be a good house wife and mow the lawn! {so proud of myself} Our mower is tricky and it takes a lot of work to get it going! I put jaxon down for a nap and headed outside to make ryan proud! I finally got the mower started and we were goin to town on our grass, suddenly i stopped cause i saw a big stick in front of the mower. I went to go throw it into the neighbors lawn{jk}, went to grab it and saw that it was a ginormous, i mean ginormous snake!! I was freakin! So i ran into the house to grab the camera, { i love that my first reaction is to document} I had to get a picture of this momma snake, no one would ever believe me! Then i run to my neighbors house! Thank goodness i have strong manly neighbors that are home during the day!! {thank you eric, you're my hero} It was hillarious to see us all out there 'watching' eric capture our snake, there was about 15 of us!! It took forever, cause that momma snake was angry and she wasn't goin without a fight! It was a huge 3 1/2 - 4 foot blow snake!! Finally after more neighbors joined us with a box we got her in. If you were to drive by and see us you'd think the entire neighborhood was goofy. we looked like a parade of crazies! we had our hoes and pitchforks and buckets and we were following eric and marching straight out to the field to set her free. She's just gonna find the canal and float her way back, we should have just let eric kill it! Now i don't dare mow anymore, yes, thats my excuse and i'm sticking to it!!!

travelin by train

2009-08-10T10:43:00.000-07:00

My mom got Nicole and I tickets to ride the train for free! I'd never been on a train. So we decided to take the kids to show them how awesome the train is! We had to drive over to dayton, which neither one of us knew where we were going, at all! The wind was blowing at hurricane speeds so we just wanted to hurry as fast as we could to jump on that train! The train took us from dayton to tremonton. We loaded at 4:30 and it was only suppose to be an hour, but we had to pull off on a side track to let another train pass and we ended up being on the train for 2 hours!! It was so much fun! We just reclined the seats lifted the foot rests and chilled, the kids ran wild, but it was still fun! I think cole and i are going to take a girls weekend, on a train! Could be fun.

Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House

2009-08-05T22:47:00.000-07:00

This was such an awesome day! I rode to slc with Meg, Sammy, Carter, Wesley{yay-yay}, Brock and Jaxon! We had quite the load! The kids were so good the whole way there! They just watched movies and played!We left around 12:00 and it was a miracle that we got there without any hiccups! Meg and i talked about anything and everything we could think of, it was so much fun! We met Shayne there and waited in line for what seemed like forever but i think it was only about a 1/2 an hour. The ushers said that 1,500 people were going through those doors a day!!! Wow, that blew my mind!! It felt like all 1,500 were there when we were! It was so crowded! But as we started walking through, room after room, stair case after stair case you didn't notice everyone else! It was so peaceful to just be there with your family and friends!

All the artwork was amazing! The chandeliers were crazy huge! I mean what a pain it would be to have to clean those puppies! But the rooms were so beautifully painted and decorated! It was such a spiritual experience to be able to hold my two boys in my arms and walk through the celestial room! We stared through the mirrors into eternity and i never wanted to leave!!! Brock kept telling me that he could feel Jesus and was watching for him {meg told him that Jesus roams the halls}! Now he keeps asking when we can go back! He doesn't get that mommy and daddy can go anytime they want but he has to wait til he's 19. Not fair. I am so grateful that Meg brought me along with her and her awesome family!! we love you guys!

obviously... we love to play in the water

2009-07-06T13:45:00.001-07:00

he's still a little nervous to be in the water alone so we double him up. life jacket and tube. he had a blast swimming with luke! we love you mason and luke!
The boat totally relaxes jax! his favorite thing is to lay on grandmas lap and take a nap while daddy skis.

Mason was awesome. he helped brock catch fish after fish! I think there were about 30 fish in the tank, too bad all we caught was blue gill. oh well, he was perfectly content with that!

DOCK PARTY!!!! Us girls had so much fun playin on the dock with the kiddos while the dads {bobbed} on logs! I can remember when jessie, cole and i would come out here when we were younger, its so different to be out here with all our kids. I am so glad that we are all still friends, its such a comfort to talk with them and know we're all in the same place and we love sharing it with eachother!

Here's most of us: jax, me, cole,{baby}, shae, jessie, rusty, carter and trisha. playing in the water was daxton, brock, justin, kody and reagon was taking our picture{she's so dang cute}

a family that plays together... stays together

2009-07-06T12:47:00.000-07:00

Brock is actually driving the boat {safe, right?} He thought he was a big shot!! Now every time we get in the boat he thinks he is driving. Now what do we do?
He can't get enough of this!! I'm jealous, i cannot ski! He can even do little tricks, i definately need to learn! Until then i am perfectly fine with laying out on the boat!!

Jax had a blast swimming with us!! It made him a little nervous, but he still enjoyed splashing and kicking his legs! We all slept extremely well that night!

He's reaching for grandma like 'save me'!!

We have so much fun together! Now that the weather is actually warm! Every weekend we look forward to all of the great memories we get to create!!

Four Wheelin'

2009-06-14T20:35:00.001-07:00

These boys had the best time today!! {i hate to say it, but i think i'm raisin a couple of motor heads}

This is looking from the mantua{north ogden} mountains down onto the pineview and eden valley. The storm thats blastin its way through was a huge one and you can even see the front wall of the rain!

He loves his helmet!! He says it makes him a "racer man" just like daddy!!

We had a blast today! We borrowed one of dan and deb's four-wheelers and rode up through the mountains in mantuawith my parents! It was so gorgeous! Our boys absolutely love the four-wheelers! The more rugged the better. We stuffed our packs full of treats and shoved our faces full all the way to the top!{well, not quite the top} Look in these pics your can see a huge thunder storm rollin in behind us! we had to book it as fast as we could out of the mountains! Even ridin in the rain didn't bother us! We raced and laughed the whole way down!

Four Wheelin

2009-06-14T20:35:00.000-07:00

Camping!!!

2009-06-08T17:25:00.000-07:00

Nothin better than a perfectly roasted marshmellow!!! It doesn't even bother him when its full of ashes and burnt. he's so cute!

mmmmmmmmmmmm! bacon for breakfast!! our family loves bacon! all of us!! We go through quite a bit in the summer!

the angel is waiting quietly for the fish to come back. he loves playing on teh dock! This year we are finally getting a new one. no more falling through the broken ones into the water. whew!

Jax had so much fun rollin around in the dirt! and he loved digging in the sand! He's gonna be so much fun to camp with this year!

I think brocks favorite part about camping is grandpa! He love to copy everything he does, if grandpa is building a fire then brock has to too! they loved watching the flames and roasting mallows! I don't think it even bothered him that it was so cold!

we love our camp outs! we are so excited to camp this summer!

Fishin, now thats something brock loves to do. the cabin is in the most perfect fishin spot! It's in a little culdesac. The fish just love it there, its just swarming with blue gil and other little ones! It's their camping thing to catch the fish and fillet and grill them for dinner. Brock thinks this is just the ultimate man thing to do. its so funny

Uncle bob hooked up this swing. Its so fun to swing on. we need to figure out how to put a seat on it. It builds major muscle when you have to hold yourself up to swing.

Oh, the dandelions

2009-06-08T16:54:00.000-07:00

we were on our way to play with some friends when i spotted this field that wass filled with dandelions!! we just pulled over and rolled in them for a while~! I'm so glad its getting warm enough to play outside!

Hyrum Dam

2009-05-26T21:28:00.001-07:00

we had so much fun here! Jaxon was in heaven, seriously! as soon as we set him down he headed straight for that water, with no fear! He kept trying to crawl in. I'm sure he thinks its just a huge bath tub with fishies and cold water. He is seriously gonna have to live in a life jacket this summer! He got a kick out of splashing us, he couldn't get enough of kicking and slapping his chubby hands and feet in the chilly water. Brock thought it was pretty sweet to throw rocks and sticks out as far as he could; him and daddy {of course} had to see who could throw something the furthest and make the biggest splash! And for those of you know ryan, well you know that he couldn't let his 3 year old think that he could throw further than him! I think Ry had fun being one of the little boys! He loved lying on the blanket and watching jax crab crawl all over. {he hates the way the grass feels on his legs so he won't let them touch} we got tired of fighting jax and the water so we would take him to the top of the hill and then it would give us a little chill time til he got down towards the edge! {i know, i know, but he loved it} I was just happy to get out of the house and play in some water on a warm day! It was so much fun to have ry with us. He doesn't get to play very often! He has been working so hard lately, pretty much non stop. He gets home around 7:30 or 8 and then we've been outside working on our yard with the tractor or the trencher! the poor guy doesn't get any down time!!! We love him and are so grateful for everything he does for us!

25 random things about me...

2009-05-07T15:48:00.000-07:00

25 random things about me...

rules* once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, habbits, goals or facts about you.

1. my birthdate categorizes me as a scorpio {within 1 day} but i have the personality of a libra. So i'm both a libra and a scorpio. i always read both horoscopes and choose the one i like the best.
2. I love to look through catalogs. i mark the pages and circle everything i want, with no intention of ever buying.
3. my towels have to be folded a certain way, if they're not. I refold them.
4. my toe nails are always painted.
5. i hate to run, but i ran the olympic torch for 2002 in idaho.
6. i have a {huge} phobia of spiders!
7. I am fueled by doubt.
8. i love books. i love to buy them. i love to read but never have time to, so i have a huge stack waiting for me. my boys have piles of books and they love to be read to.
9. it's impossible for me to hold a grudge. i've tried. it's just not worth it to me. it's easier to just forgive and forget.
10. I prefer to buy things for other people rather than myself. Its funner!
11. I have a hole in my heart. So does my oldest brother, we're defective!
12. I'm obsessed with texting. I would rather text than talk. I talk to my bff everyday without saying a word.
13. I don't know how to swim. Even though when i was a little girl i took swimming lessons.
14. I have a huge imagination! Fiction, romance and sarcasm make me happy!
15. I cry during the muttin' bustin' at the rodeo. {quit laughing jessie}
16. I love to go camping and to be outside. I love to get dirty. I'm sort of a tomboy that way.
17. I like to do the opposite of what every one else does. I can't follow the crowd. I love to make my own path and surprise people.
18. I love to go to carnivals. and before i leave i have to buy a carmel apple and cotton candy, or the night isn't complete.
19. I love lists and paperwork. I make daily lists for everything. I get excited when i get to fill out paperwork.
20. I love animals! in my life i've had: about 10-15 dogs, 6 cats, 1 guinea pig, a racoon, 30 or so fish, 2 frogs, 3 water snakes, 4 bunnies, 3 horses, a cage of baby pheasants { that i killed with a packaged of gummi bears} and a ferret.
21. my favorite thing on a person is their eyes. they tell their whole story, better than words ever could. It's what drew me to ryan! I love his eyes!
22. one day i hope to be a professional photographer.
23. I think everyone should have a fairy godmother. And she should grant them one wish.
24. The two most important things in my life: the gospel and my family. I can't imagine my life without either!
25. I love the 80's!! Especially the music. The clothes weren't too bad either! everyone wore what they felt, lots and lots of colors, and who could forget pegging your pants! i was the queen of pegging. The side pony{cindy lauper pony} and blue eye shadow just worked!

I tag:
Kristen { cause she's the most random person i know}
Jessie Golightly
Heidi
Jayna
and anyone else who reads this!!! {i'm serious}

picture tag...*

2009-05-02T15:49:00.000-07:00

i know that when i see the word tag, it sorta makes me wanna run the other direction! but this one was kinda fun!

Picture Tag..

These are your rules...

open your picture folder on your computer.

pick the 6th folder.

select the 6th picture in that folder.

post that picture on your blog, and the story that goes along with it.

tag 6 others to do the same!

This picture is one of my most favorite of all time!!! This was the first time i could hold my baby jaxon! He had just undergone a huge surgery at the precious age of 3 days old!! It is the most helpless feeling to watch your baby fight for his life and you can't even hold him to comfort him and whisper' everything will be alright'! I think he was almost 2 weeks old in this picture and this was the first time i could hold him! so all of my mommy training was in full swing within this 45 minute time i had to love him! i was singing all the songs i could think of and telling him all the stories of his awesome big brother brock. This moment gave me so much hope! because when i could actually feel his breathe on my face and the weight of him in my arms i knew he was fighting hard to come home with us!

I tag...

Nicole

Kristen

heidi

jayna

brittney

jessie golightly

we {heart} laketown!

2009-04-23T15:42:00.001-07:00

We love going to see grandma and papa!! They are so much fun, and brock thinks its so awesome to hang with papa! Pretty much because papa lets him do whatever he wants! Brock and Kenzie have a blast running, chasing, and running! They are so perfect for eachother because they both have such a creative imagination! It's so funny to hear the games they come up with. Wade and Dan set up the new ping pong table {perfect present deb} and it was such a blast!! i am officially the worst ping pong player in the entire family!!!! But i don't mind! It was enough to just be able to do something fun with them! Plus, there's no beatin dan! On our way home we stopped to see cute little grandma stringham! She is such an angel. We don't get to see her often enough!

Baby animals

2009-04-23T13:44:00.003-07:00

We had so much fun going to see all the baby animals and the heritage center! Brock loves animals! It was so excited to him that he could hold the baby ducks and chicks!! I'm pretty sure his favorite part was holding the bunnies!! He love, love, loves them!! He had such a blast riding the ponies too! I felt so bad for the poor animals! the poor things get mauled to death by all the kids! I bet most of them don't make it to the next day! Someone that worked there told me that at the end of the day they'd seen 8,000 people go through there!! Those poor animals! the kids sitting next to brock at the ducks was squeezing them so hard they were squishing out of their hands {the kids just get a little too excited}. Plus i have to say thank you so much to lori and wade! they were just leaving as we were arriving. So i coaxed them into letting me borrow their stroller! I can't believe i forgot mine. Jax is just too heavy to be carried all the way through the heritage center!! Nicole and I would take turns and we would let him down to crawl in the grass, but it was still quite the work out!! Thank you so much lori and wade, you saved my back!!

It was an amazing feeling to be able to take my boys {together} this year! Last year Ryan and I took brock alone and then took him to grandma debbie's so we could drive to primary childrens hospital to visit jaxon! He was still in the NICU at this time last year!! What an amazing turn around he's made! It was such a relief to stroll my two HEALTHY boys to see the animals!!

they are my reasons

2009-04-21T21:29:00.001-07:00

These 2 are the reason i love taking pictures!!!! Brock loves to get his picture taken as much as i love taking his picture! jaxon isn't the best poser {or the most patient} but he does pretty good, he's learning. There are so many awesome places in this old abandoned sugar factory in whitney!! It is so tempting to take all of my clients there! Unfortunately this fragile building is full of hasbestos { or however you'd spell it} . Apparantly the company that owns it can't afford to have hazmat tear it down the cautious way. Neat right?! So just a word of warning to any of you who dares to enter!!!

Ugh!

2009-03-30T20:03:00.002-07:00

I hate my computer!!! Ugh...! It is being ridiculous! Why will it not let me post pictures! i have some way cute ones! So if any of you are wondering why the slacking? It's because of this ..ugh... computer!!! So frustrating! I'm so irritating that i can't even form full sentences to tell you how irritated i am! Grrrrrr!

Take a look...

2009-02-25T10:43:00.002-08:00

I have posted a few pictures from Shane and Vanessa's wedding day on my photography blog. It's actually alot, but i say a few because i took like 300 pictures!! Talk about picture overload! So go ahead and check them out! www.laceystringhamphotography.blogspot.com It was so much fun to be there with them while they experienced this unforgettable day!! They were such good sports too! They aren't the type that (enjoy) getting their pictures taken. I was all up in there bizz-nasss too! I love you guys so much! Thank you for letting me be a part of your wedding day!

Hubby Tag!!

2009-02-23T10:59:00.000-08:00

Hubby TAG . . .

Fun facts on hubby TAG. . .

1. Where did you meet your husband?
we first saw eachother in the old Anderson Lumber, but we first met when our friends put us together.

2. How long did you date before you
got married?
4 months! We were pretty fast!

3. How long have you been married?
6 1/2 years!

4. What does he do to surprise you?
He loves to clean the house for me. if i leave the house to go to the store or something, he'll have the house clean when i come home!

5. My favorite feature of his?
His huge arms! we measured his forearms, they are the same size as my calves. we always joke and say he's built like a tank

6. What is his best quality?
He is an extremely hard worker and sets really high goals

7. Nickname he has for me?
He loves to call me 'nace' it's what my nephews use to call me when they were tiny

8. What is his favorite food?
anything spicy.and if its not spicy, he'll make it spicy!

9. What is his favorite sport?
basketball and nascar he's torn between the two

10. Where and when did you
first kiss?
It was on our 3rd date, he kissed me goodnight at my car in front of his house. It was so great, cause while i kissed him i looked behind him and saw a shooting star!!

11. What is our favorite thing to
do as a couple?
we like to do almost anything together. we don't really get to do that much together

12. Do you have any children?
Brock is 3 1/2 and jaxon is 11 months

13. Does he have any hidden talents?
He's a really good singer! He is very good at remembering numbers! like directions or phone numbers or any math

14. How old is he?
32

15. Who said I love you first?
He did. he took me out to my parents cabin on the lake

16. What is his favorite music?
rock and country

17. What is his favorite color?
not sure... probably like jimmy johnson, laker, or 49er colors

18. Will he read this?
Probably...

19. I TAG. . .
brittney, heidi, and jayna

Rub-a-Dub-Dub

2009-02-21T15:40:00.000-08:00

These two boys love getting in the tub! I think they are the cleanest boys on the block, squeaky clean! I don't know why they love it so much, but they love to get in together! I'm such a bad mom, i love to use the tub as bait or leverage!! If they're being naughty all i have to say is'fine then.. no tub tonight' then just as if i'd threatened their lives they straighten right up and become perfect angels!!! IT's awesome!

I'm told that most boys, as soon as the diapers and underwear come off, head straight for their little units! It's so true, i think it's got some sort of magnet attatched to it. their little fingers are so quick! And when they get really excited where do you think their hands go? yup... straight to the excitement area. I'll never understand boys and their toys!

Don't ask me why but i can't figure out how to post my pics upright. It must be my computer illiteracy hard at work!

snow, snow, snow

2009-02-10T17:25:00.000-08:00

We love going sledding!! Brock has so much fun. It is such a workout to get snow clothes on!! IT takes like 20 minutes to put on all the layers and make them fit just right, and as soon as you snap up the last layer they have to pee!! But to build stuff in the snow just to destroy it is what its all about. And of course to make the 'yellow snow' is the coolest thing in the world!! We went snowmobiling this last weekend up franklin basin and i wish i had taken my camera! It was the funniest thing to see brock and ry makin 'yellow snow' together. He was so proud to be just like daddy.Since then everything has to be a snowmobile with a long track that climbs the highest mountains! He had so much fun. I think i'm raising a motor head!!

Bless their hearts, the little angels

2008-12-10T12:21:00.000-08:00

I think that someone needs to invent a super pill to take on family picture day!It is so great to have a picture of everyone that you love together, but it sure is a headache to get it done. We have the most amazing family!! To quote my dad " without family, you got nothin" He is so right! It was so fun to hang out with them for thanksgiving! We don't get to see eachother very often, but when we do it is usually eventful! My two awesome brothers married the two most awesomest girls!! I couldn't have hand picked them any better. Brock is always talking about how much fun he has with his cousins!! It was so cold when we took these pictures and the kids really were good sports! After all the rushing and yelling it was so nice to load back up in the cars and drive back home to get warm! And thank goodness for Vanessa! She did such an amazing job. She was so patient. I think that maybe we scared her a little bit, she kinda realized what kind of family she was marrying into. We're crazy and chaotic but we love eachother!!! Ryan has so much fun hangin out with dad, chad, and jas! He always tells me how nice it is to just sit back, relax and watch the crazy kids with my bros. bless their hearts, the little angels. Anyway, we are so thankful for all of you guys!! Can't wait to see you again!!

Weston Family Thanksgiving

2008-12-10T11:42:00.000-08:00

We are so blessed to be a part of such an amazing family!! It is so fun to see all of you. We had a blast at the thanksgiving party! Brock gets such a kick from hanging out with all the older boy cousins! they are so sweet to him and let him play the games too! thank you so much boys! He can never have enough Kenzie time!! He is constantly asking when he can play with her. They are so cute together. I am actually a little nervous for when they all get a little older!! Especially Jaxon, Ridge, and Charleigh! They are going to have so much fun together! Ryan turns into such a little social butterfly when he is around his cousins! He loves them so much and loves hearing how they are doing! And i couldn't have asked for a better family to be married into!It wasn't quite the same without papa ivy, but we couldn't definately tell his spirit was watching over us. You are all so fun and sweet! Hopefully we'll see you for Christmas!

finally, ground breaking!

2008-12-10T10:58:00.000-08:00

It seems like it has taken forever to get my uncle shane's house started! But last weekend it finally happened, they broke ground! I'm so excited that Ry is building it, he and shane get along so well, and i love vanessa! Plus it's gonna be so much fun to have an excuse to go play with all of our friends in preston. I think that Ry is really excited to be building it for shane and make it amazing for them!

I'm workin on it

2008-12-08T20:22:00.000-08:00

okay, i swear i'm not just slackin in the posting department!! Something is wrong with my computer. It won't let me post any pics. i have so many to add. I can't stand this slow computer! it takes me so long to get anything accomplished! When i finally get it working right i'm going to be so far behind!! Sorry!

The family picture that almost was

2008-11-17T22:11:00.001-08:00

It is so difficult to get a good family picture!! On sunday Debbie tried to get a good picture of all of us together. Almost impossible, we did manage to get one! It was on her camera so i couldn't get it on here. It takes some major skill and patience to get everyone looking and smiling in the same direction! We haven't had our family pictures taken ever!! I'm not sure why. I was so excited that Deb got one of us. Love ya so much deb!!

so photogenic

2008-11-17T21:41:00.000-08:00

I could take pictures of brock all day long and he would never, ever get sick of it! He'll even pose for them. I tried taking some of just jax but brock couldn't take it. He loves being in front of that camera! I'll keep trying to get a good one of jax. I love to develope pitures of my boys, it makes my day! And I usually can't wait to scrapbook them, but mostly that has to wait until they're sleeping because they are both so helpful!! Every day when i drive over these train tracks i've wanted to stop and take pictures there, but it's so scary. If a train were to come we'd have to jump and roll. just like in the old movies when they roll down the hill as the train races by. Scary scary.

party on!

2008-11-17T21:17:00.001-08:00

I look forward to our family halloween party every year! It is so fun to see everyone dressed up! We have such an amazing family! We have so much fun together and love being together! I wish i could have gotten a picture of everyone dressed up. The outfits were great this year! I'm already excited for next year!

Best Friends

2008-11-17T19:53:00.000-08:00

Brock and Jaxon have the cutest best friends ever!! Brock goes to preschool with Andy Decker, and they get along so well! He has learned so much from andy. they were the cutest woody and buzz for halloween! We carpool with andy for preschool and they love to talk about all the fun things they do at school, and the silly girls there. Andy's little brother is only 2 weeks older than jaxon and his name is jack. They are so cute together too. when we went to the park they were so good to just sit on their blankets and watch the big boys! We love being friends with the Deckers!

halloween

2008-11-17T13:55:00.000-08:00

This halloween was so much fun!! jaxon was the cutest cow, and brock couldn't have been more excited to be buzz lightyear! We have to thank bobbie jo for the buzz costume! He loved it so much that we wore it the every day the whole week before halloween! And Vanessa thank you so much for the cow costume!! We gathered so much candy that we didn't know what to do with it! Brock went trick or treating at pre-school, our ward had a trunk or treat, and we trick or treated around our block! They were tired boys by the time we got home! At our family halloween party we had such a fun time dressing up. Ryan was brock's sherrif woody. It was so cute! We have the best family!! We are so blessed.

qUiRkS

2008-11-03T12:21:00.000-08:00

I've been tagged...Quirks!

Here are the rules: list 6 quirks about yourself. Tag 6 more people, tell who tagged you!! Jessie Golightly tagged me! So, here are my quirks...

1) I hate it when my food touches! i can't even stand it if the juices mix!! It makes me gag! I'd rather starve than eat it. Like the gravy mixing with anything other than the potatos, i can't handle it. I know it makes me such a waster but i just can't do it. I love those elementary school lunch trays that separate everything, i use them more for myself than my 3 year old!

2)I don't like folding laundry, or ironing it. Well, the ironing thing is just a matter of skill. It's hard. Every time i iron something it ends up looking worse than it did when i started. Folding laundry takes me so long to do because i fold it like department stores. When ryan folds he just kinda rolls things into neat little balls, that drives me nuts!! But at least he tries to help me.

3) My towels have to be folded a certain way. And placed facing a certain way in the closet. If Ryan has helped me fold the laundry i have to go behind him and refold the towels. I know thats anal but i just can't help it. When we lived with my parents i use to pull all of their towels out of the closet and refold them. My mom finally started to just leave the clean towels in the laundry basket and wait for me to fold them.

4) Candy! (sugar) i am always eating candy! Growing up I use to sneak into the pantry and eat spoonfuls of powdered sugar! My mom couldn't figure out why i was always bouncing off the walls, or why her powdered sugar was always gone. When i was pregnant and so sick, candy was the only thing that made me feel better. With brock i think he was grown with skittles. After i eat a meal i have to have something sweet or i can't digest. As soon as i taste something sweet it makes me feel so much better!

5) I'm easily excited! I'm like a little kid! If i'm doing something fun the next day i won't be able to sleep the night before. ya know kinda like christmas eve when you were like 5. I swear i don't have ADD, but if you get me excited about something, look out! It doesn't even have to be anything too great either. Like when i get a new toe nail polish or if i take a good pic of the boys, even when random little kids do good at muttin bustin! ( Don't laugh jess and kod) Little things make me so excited!!

6) Last, i love to fill out paperwork. Weird, i know. I love to do insurance forms, questionaires,even writing the address on envelopes when we pay our bills, and i love to do Ryan's employees W2's. I get so excited everytime tax season comes around. I should have some sort of job doing this, i should get paid for this weird quirk shouldn't I?

I tagg... Heidi, Jayna, Tina, Becky, Missy and Steph.

My Anchors

2008-10-16T11:09:00.000-07:00

"Sons are the anchors of a mother's life!" -Sophocles-

This is so true! Right now there is so much chaos going on around us and its hard to keep your focus! It feels like there is always something pulling and pushing us from tough to tougher, but these two angels keep me anchored where i need to be. They make me realize what is really important in life! Them! All the chaos around me doesn't matter. I just need to focus on strengthening them to stand up to all this crap. " the greatest oak was once a little nut who held its ground "

Smiles

2008-10-01T23:29:00.000-07:00

Tree Huggers

2008-10-01T22:37:00.000-07:00

It is so awesome to have such great friends! We love hanging out with Nicole and Shae! Today we went 'park hopping'. We started at our now favorite park in fruit heights and ended up at willow park eating lunch! The kids had so much fun climbing all over this tree! Brock and Shae play so well together (most of the time). It's such a big event when shae and cole come over! It is going to be so fun to watch our kids get older together. Plus it is so nice to have someone to go through it with. Only a mother knows all the tears and smiles of her little ones!I'm so lucky to have such an awesome best friend!
" Nothing else will ever make you as happy or as sad, as proud or as tired, as motherhood! "

Thanksgiving Point

2008-10-01T22:35:00.000-07:00

My favorite hobby

2008-10-01T20:07:00.000-07:00

I love to take pictures of these two! Brock is my mr. model, he loves to pose for pictures, and he loves to take pictures! Every mother says that they have cute kids, but i have the cutest kids! If Ryan would let me i would plaster their pictures all over my house!

Superhero

2008-10-01T19:42:00.000-07:00

Brock is my little superhero! He helps me out so much. I don't know how i lucked out and got the two best boys ever. Brock loves Jaxon and it is so amazing to watch them together. He loves to help me dress him and change his diaper, so extra helpful at bathing him! I'm so lucky to be able to stay at home and be with them all day! I can tell that brock and jaxon are going to have so much fun together. From the moment they wake up until they lay down at night they just love being around eachother.

Happy Birthday Papa Ivie

2008-09-28T18:55:00.001-07:00

Today would have been Grandpa Weston's 83rd birthday! Instead it's been 5 weeks since he went to heaven. We miss him so much! It was so awesome to visit his grave today with Grandma Stringham and Grandma Weston! There was such a good feeling there, and it was so neat to talk about him with grandma weston. She is so amazingly strong! Now he is in his perfect,healthy, pain free body watching over all of us, and that makes me smile!! That's something to remember the next time i'm needing a little strength! We loved coming to visit him! I helped Debbie put together the cutest fall flower arrangement and we took it up to his grave, and now he has the best view from his spot on the hill. He's been such an example to us on how we want to live our lives and we strive to have his strength!

i'm so computer illiterate

2008-09-05T17:15:00.000-07:00

I have the hardest time with the simplest tasks! Like this slide show.. i've done it before you'd think i could do it again! I'm so friggin frustrated! If anyone can fix my slideshow for me, go ahead! I'm spent! it took like 3 hours just to get this one, which doesn't work! GRRRR!

Jackson Hole

2008-09-05T16:54:00.001-07:00

http://widget-d7.slide.com/widgets/slideticker.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" quality="high" scale="noscale" salign="l" wmode="transparent" flashvars="cy=bb&il=1&channel=2882303761526371799&site=widget-d7.slide.com" style="width:400px;height:400px" name="flashticker" align="middle">

Little Poser

2008-08-26T16:59:00.000-07:00

I had no idea that it would be so stressful to get their pictures taken! Thankfully i had kristen with me! I could not have done it without her! Brock was Mr. GQ he couldn't get enough of it! he kept trying to hop into jaxon's pictures! He's such a little poser!

Yay!! First day of school.

2008-08-26T16:42:00.002-07:00

I had the hardest time today when i had to drop brock off at preschool! I guess i'm just soft, but i came home and pouted the whole time he was gone. i didn't know what to do with myself! I know, I'm pathetic! He was such a big boy! So excited to go to school, he loves his teacher and is so excited to see his friends there! He had no fear! I don't think he could have cared less if i was there or not! (tear) When i picked him up after he had a huge green booger in his nose and a stinky bum! I was so embarrassed! I was like uh.. yeah.. he's mine! Then i told her " that's just how we roll" which is so true, and so sad! I can't believe my little boy is getting so big!

This park rocks!

2008-08-26T16:21:00.000-07:00

We love this park! It has everything. it's built out of trex so it doesn't get hot and it won't give them slivers. there is even a toddler area. it has towers and rockets and boats and cars and lots of cool hideaways. It's called Ryan's park (which gives it one more reason we love it) It was donated by the family that was on extreme makeover home edition. They made it pretty sweet! This summer has been so fun, it seems like we've been gone every day to either the aquatic center, the park, or willow park, and even the lake. We just can't get enough of it! Summer went by too fast! I don't know what we'll do in the winter, we'll go crazy if we have to stay in the house! Well at least i will, its been so nice to have something to keep brock entertained.

2008-08-11T12:01:00.000-07:00

Our favorite thing about summer

2008-08-11T09:37:00.001-07:00

We love going to the pool! We always have so much fun! This time we had Nicole, Shae, and kristen with us! Brock just loves to swim. i have a hard time keeping track of him, he has almost no fear, he doesn't even need anyone with him. we just strap on a life jacket and off he goes! I can't believe he does so good, last year we couldn't even get him to put his feet in the water. Jax just loves to sit on the edge and splash his toes in the water. He thinks its funny to watch brock splash with all of the kids! I think we would live at the pool if it was possible. And when we're not at the pool we're either at the park or swimming at the lake. It's almost impossible to stay indoors!

Especially if you have the most awesome friends to play with!

My Everything!

2008-08-11T09:01:00.001-07:00

Jaxon and Brock, everyday i look at you and know how lucky i truly am to be your mom. There are no words to describe how wonderful this is to watch you grow. As different as you two are, you are both so special, so adored, and undeniably, my "everything."

Daddy's "big" helper

2008-08-11T08:46:00.000-07:00

Brock loves to help his daddy work! He thinks its the coolest thing ever to do what daddy does! Ryan put his tool belt on him and handed him his nail gun and straight to work that boy went! He studies how ryan does things and on the first try does it just like him! He even fired the nail gun(accidentally) at the dirt! His face just lights up! He can't wait for daddy to come home every day and help him "work", even if it's just to vaccuum the floor! He wants to be just like his daddy when he grows up, which is happening quicker than i want it to! I can see ry just beam when he sees brock trying to be just like him.

We "heart" Shae

2008-07-22T13:23:00.000-07:00

Brock loves playing with shae! He had so much fun with her at willow park. He's so funny around shae, he is like a protective big brother. Nicole and I love getting together and watching them! They've sort of become water buddies too, they're so cute! It's so awesome to have such great friends!

we are so glad to be back in cache valley and to be so much closer to our friends!

our neighborhood bike parade

2008-07-22T11:08:00.000-07:00

we have the cutest neighbors ever! Brock was so excited to ride his bike down the middle of the street and honk his little bike horn with all of his friends! All the kids in the neighborhood decorated their bikes and strutt their stuff up and down the road. Brock thought this was the coolest thing ever!

So excited for church

2008-07-21T17:54:00.000-07:00

We love our new ward! Brock loves nursery and all of his neighbor friends in there with him! Relief Society is so much fun! We love it! We all actually look forward to each class! Our bishop is so awesome too! We thank our father in heaven every day for all that we have been given! We feel so blessed to live where we live!

Ah! Summer!

2008-07-21T17:21:00.002-07:00

First of all, I am so sorry that it has been so long since i posted anything! Somehow i had changed my post format and i couldn't upload any pics. But we're back!! We'd been caged animals ( literally) for so long that now that the weather is nice and we're all healthy(finally!) it's like we've just been on a dead run! Trying to play and do as much as we possibly can! I hope you all don't mind if we back pedal a little bit and share what we've been up to this past month. Where to begin.. well first of all we have been so blessed with such an awesome neighborhood! Brock has so many friends, so many that he has a hard time making his mind up with who to play with first. And so far this summer i have learned that a little boy can attract all the bugs, dirt, and rocks from the entire neighborhood in less than ten minutes. Amazing! We've also tried to live out at the lake in preston at my parents cabin! Brock loves to fish and play in the sand. He catches more fish than his daddy does! i think Ry notices this because every chance he gets he's trying to catch up to him, with no luck. We've loved going to the pool with our friends! Brock is such al ittle water dog! We love you Brocky!

2008-07-13T22:43:00.000-07:00

Before I was a Mom,
I never tripped over toys
or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn't worry whether or not
my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never been puked on.
Pooped on.
Chewed on.
Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind
and my thoughts.
I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held down a screaming child
so doctors could do tests.
Or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night
watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held a sleeping baby just because
I didn't want to put him down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces
when I couldn't stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small
could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom,
I didn't know the feeling of
having my heart outside my body.
I didn't know how special it could feel
to feed a hungry baby.
I didn't know that bond
between a mother and her child.
I didn't know that something so small
could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night
every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth,
the joy,
the love,
the heartache,
the wonderment
or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much,
before I was a Mom.

"Life is a gift; live it, enjoy it, celebrate it, and fulfill it."

2008-04-23T22:00:00.002-07:00

We're in the home stretch! Jaxon has made so much progress this week! Although it seems we've been riding this roller coaster forever, it looks as though we're almost out of there! He is gaining weight and eating on his own. They've taken out all picc lines and tubes! He's on his own. Now it's his turn to show us he's ready to come home! He is such a trooper! Every moment that he's awake he's so happy to just listen to and watch all the chaos that's going on around him. Not even thinking of making a fuss about all of the gagdets and gizmos that are hooked to him. We're so blessed to have this little spirit of strength in our family!

No more tubes!!

2008-04-14T20:22:00.001-07:00

Today Jaxon pulled out the tubes in his nose himself. I guess he was tired of having them in there. He's one tough little boy! He is doing so well, they have taken him off the morphine (finally) and tomorrow he'll be done with his antibiotics, and they started to feed him again today. Since he's eaten before he gets so excited when he knows that bottle is coming! They start him out with only 5 ml of milk and gradually work him up to about 60 ml. they want to make sure his little tummy can handle it. He is so much happier and alert lately that it's like he's a whole new baby, well, i'm sure he feels like a whole new baby !! We can't wait to get him home and finally get things going in a rhythm. We haven't had any sense of normalcy for about 20 days so it will nice to be able to stay at home with our family as a whole!!!

Baby Animal Days

2008-04-13T22:27:00.000-07:00

Brock had so much fun at baby animal days!! I think that his favorite animals were the pigs and the bunnies! He didn't even seem to mind all of the people there. We are so grateful for this little boy! He brings us so much joy! We can't imagine our lives without him! We had so much fun! It was so nice to be outside instead of being cooped up in the house or the hospital. We can't wait for summer so we can take the boys outside to play!

Our Angel

2008-04-02T12:55:00.000-07:00

This past week has felt like an eternity! Surreal! It all started on Wednesday night, we knew the moment that we'd been waiting for, for 9 months was finally here! Getting him here was as smooth as it could be. We held him and Ryan cut the cord, just like a proud daddy would! When the nurse checked him she knew immediately something wasn't right. ( thank goodness for her) They knew right away that he needed surgery to repair his (tracheoesophogeal fistula) TEF. And the only dr. in the state that does it was at primary childrens hospital. They rushed him by ambulance since the snow storm was
so bad, and his daddy followed as
close behind him as he could. They
hooked him up with tubes and IV's
galor! We waited and waited and
worried and worried until he finally
had his surgery saturday morning.
Everything went better than as
planned, and jaxon was back out
recovering. So far they've just been
keeping him sedated and as still as
possible so the repair can heal. When
i saw him yesterday he was slowly
coming off his sedation so he can start
breathing on his own, ( i can't wait to
get that stinkin ventillator out of him)
He was trying so hard to open his eyes
and focus on his mommy. For the first
time since wednesday night my heart
was so overfilled with joy! Hopefully
today they can take him off the
ventillator. Tomorrow they will do an
esophogram to make sure the surgery
didn't leave any leaks. If all goes well
then they can take the tubes out of his
nose and throat. Then we will
FINALLY be able to hold him and
give him all the kisses that we can!
Slowly they will start feeding him pedialyte
and breast milk. By the end of next week
we should be able to bring him home.
Brock can't wait to see him. He has
been wondering all this time why he
can't go back and see baby jaxon.
He says that he wants to kiss his
owies better! Brock has been such
a brave little boy through this
whole thing. He has been staying
with grandparents and is so excited
to see his little brother. He is going
to be the best big brother ever! We
can't wait to have our two little boys
home with us safe and sound.
We want everyone to know how
thankful we are for all of you! We
never realized how incredibly
supportive and amazing our family
and friends are. We feel so blessed!

Waiting for Jaxon

2008-02-26T12:14:00.000-08:00

I think that Brock is so excited for a little brother to play with. He is so cute about it. He gets a little bit too excited when he sees my tummy and loves to squeeze it, a little too agressively! He loves to sing to jaxon and read him stories at night. He is going to be the best big brother ever! To him it is the silliest thing to see jaxon wiggle. We're counting down the weeks til we can bring him home. I've already been having some strong contractions so we know it's coming soon! Hopefully we can get into our home and get organized before he decides to come. We're working so hard to prepare ourselves for this great blessing that is about to change our lives forever! I am so grateful that i have been given these 3 most precious boys to share my life with. I love them so much, and I can't imagine my life without them!

2008-02-26T11:48:00.000-08:00

Brock loves to go to the library! He thought that it was so cool to see a giant clifford at this library. Now since we've seen clifford we have to watch him on tv every morning! I'm so glad that my little boy loves books, that makes me so proud! We could probably spend hours every day looking at new and exciting books. He is growing and learning so fast that i'm not i'll be able to keep up with him once he goes to school! That will have to be daddy's job!

We're growing by leaps and bounds!

2008-01-30T20:04:00.000-08:00

Today we went to the doctor for another check up. Brock gets so giddy everytime he gets to hear and look at pics of his little brother! We're so thankful that everything is looking great!! We are almost 30 weeks along and Jaxon weighs in at about 3.5 pounds! The doctor said he's a big boy, so i guess he'll be just like his daddy! Our new due date is April 5th. We can't wait to meet Jaxon and to hold him in our arms! Just seeing his face today made us all that much more extatic!

Oh where, oh where, have my little pigs gone?

2008-01-15T13:06:00.000-08:00

Jaxon is growing so fast that my little piggies are quickly disappearing! We've got 2 and a half more months of growing, so good bye for now toes. We are so blessed to be getting this little gift to build and strengthen our, soon to be ,family of 4. We can't wait til we can hold him in our arms!

Brock & Papa

2008-01-15T12:45:00.001-08:00

Brock is Papa Bruce's little shadow. He loves to help with feeding the fish in the pond and giving the birds their seed. And as always Sasha is right behind them. Papa is the coolest when they ride the 4-wheeler to feed the cows and baby chickens.

Ryan's Birthday

2008-01-15T12:09:00.000-08:00

We had so much fun celebrating ry's 31st birthday! We gathered all of our friends (Nicole and Ricky Theurer, Justin and Trisha Perry, and Kody and Jessie Golightly) to where else, Iggy's ( we couldn't tear ry and the guys away from the laker game). Then right after dinner we went Cosmic Bowling. We bowled the night away and sure enough Ry was the winner! And just as likely i had the lowest score. We are so lucky to have such great friends! We would be lost without them!

2008-01-04T21:37:00.000-08:00

Christmas Day

2008-01-04T21:15:00.000-08:00

Christmas

2008-01-04T20:32:00.000-08:00

Brock loves the snow! He can stay out in it for hours and not get cold! He gets so excited everytime we get to play in it.

2008-01-04T20:27:00.000-08:00

Here is our home! Ryan has pretty much put all of his blood, sweat, and tears into this. we can't believe it's ours!

We love Winter

2007-12-31T11:24:00.000-08:00

2007-11-14T17:51:00.000-08:00

This is our life. Brock Daniel, we can't imagine what we did before he was here! we couldn't have asked for him to be more perfect! He is all boy, through and through. He is always on the go and keeping us busy. He loves being with his daddy no matter what they are doing, whether it be watching sports center, playing with cars and trucks or building our house. He's daddy's little shadow!