Santa was here!

I just discovered that my camera has this really cool option- I can set it to take a picture when it senses motion! So, I set my camera out last night and caught a few pictures of Santa. I can tell you how to do this too, e-mail me if you want me to tell you how to put your camera on this setting :) My kids loved this and want me to print pictures so they can show their friends at school.
Merry Christmas!

Beautiful Day!

It was a beautiful (but still cold!) day today and Tyler took the four boys for a horse ride. They all rode their own horse. One of them was very nervous and wanted his horse tied to another horse -I won't tell you who but it wasn't the youngest one! This is the second ride Parker has been on this week- he is a natural horseman and just loves to ride. Today he was holding the reins with one hand and eating his PB&J with the other hand. When Tyler was getting all the horses saddled up, Parker was showing me his "tricks" he could do on the horse- sitting sideways, standing up while holding onto the saddle horn, etc. He is way too brave but so fun!
Jenna is gone this weekend- we always hate it when she is gone. I hate to have her missing from pictures that we take, and I hate having her miss out on our fun adventures. We miss you Jenna!

Happy Halloween!

Seriously...

I have NEVER been interested in politics until this election. I am so afraid of what will happen to our country if Obama is elected. Let me know what you think of this video.

Mean Brothers

I have always said that Allie is going to be protected from all the mean people in the world by her 4 big brothers. However, I am afraid that she is going to have to endure her share of teasing and tormenting from them.

9 Stitches

Preston was riding his bike yesterday at the neighbor's house when he wiped out and got a nice laceration on his knee. They called me and said that "maybe it just needs a butterfly" but I knew when I saw it that he needed stitches! (Later Janice told me she just didn't want Preston to freak out, they were trying to minimize it.)It was really deep and the ER doc was afraid that maybe it had gone down to the joint, so after it was numb he did some deep probing and said that it looks like it didn't go into the joint.



Today he is pretty swollen and sore, a lot more sore than yesterday. I don't think I am going to have to tell him to stay off his bike for a few days.

Fundraiser time!

Jenna plays the clarinet in band and they are going to be taking a trip to San Fransisco. They are selling cookie dough and hot chocolate to help raise money for their trip. If you are interested in helping her earn money and would like to buy something, let me know! (You can click on the images below to see the orders forms larger; you can see the flavors, cost and sizes of the tubs.)
Thanks!

Parker

It can be pretty dangerous when your 3 year old already knows how to drive!

Happy Birthday Allie!!!

I seriously cannot believe my baby girl is a year old already!
I wanted to take some fun pictures with a smash cake, and I asked Jen to make a pink and brown polka dot cake for Allie. I love her cakes! It went perfectly with her outfit. You can't tell, but there is a number "1" on her shirt. The boys could hardly wait for me to get some pictures so that they could dive into the cake too- I should have taken pictures of them, but didn't- they were all grabbing handfuls of cake and shoving it in their mouths as fast as they could. It was messy and yummy!

I scrapped!

It has been over 4 months since I scrapbooked- I got so burnt out on scrapbooking. Mainly because I *had* to scrapbook with certain products I was given, and it just wasn't fun anymore. I quit my main design team that I had monthly requirements with, and decided I needed to take a break so that I could hopefully do it again one day because I wanted to, not because I had to.
I owe my mom her Mother's Day layouts (I promise I will get them done, Mom!) and so last night I wanted to do a quick, simple page to get started. It was fun, but hard to even get these done with all my little interruptions. I think scrapbooking is so important, and my kids just love to look at their albums. Here's hoping that I can find the drive and motivation to do it again!

*THE* Book

Yes, I had to go down to Barnes & Noble first thing this morning to buy the book. If you don't know what book I am talking about- you are so out of it! But, I told Jenna she could be the first one to read it. I gave it to her and told her goodbye, and reminded her to come up sometime today to eat. I am sure she will have it done today and I can start it tomorrow!

My little guys

I love my little guys!

allie

Just wanted to share a few pictures I took of Allie tonight. It is so much harder to get a picture of her now- I set her where I want her and hurry and back up and try to get one quick before she starts walking towards me. I had to bribe the older kids to help me- I told them I would take them swimming if they would help me get a few pictures of Allie first.

We have had Alesa staying with us this week, it has been so much fun! We love having cousins here.

Football

I have been cleaning, organizing, de-junking, etc. and found some pictures of Tyler when he was young. I love looking at old pictures of him- he was so cute! He looks SO MUCH like my boys, I can't believe it. I especially love this picture. Football was a huge part of Tyler's life and I know he really wants our boys to love it like he did. Oakley played last year and he "endured to the end" but didn't love it. We told him he had to finish out the season, and if he didn't want to play next year, that was okay, but we weren't going to let him quit. He didn't want to play this year, and Preston wanted to play, but can't. So I know Tyler is disappointed that we don't have any boys playing football this year, but don't worry honey! I know Jaxon and Parker are going to be little maniacs. :) Just like you!

Look Who's Walking!

She started taking a few steps a few weeks ago, but now she will take about 10 steps on her own and she is so proud of herself! My BABY!!!!

I thought it was thunder

and then I realized someone, something, or SOMETHINGS were running on my roof. I ran outside to check it out and couldn't believe what I was seeing!

These goats make us laugh every day, but I think this has to be the funniest thing they have ever done. They were having a blast running and jumping over all the different levels and roof lines!
They have been running through the new part of the house, running up and down all the stairs in the house. They must have found an open window that they could jump out and onto the roof. I just hope they get off the roof before I try to go to bed so I don't have to listen to them play all night!

Update on Preston

I forgot to update on Preston's test results....everything came back okay, meaning they don't think he has any type of cancer or autoimmune disease. They are still calling his ITP "idiopathic" which just means that the cause is unknown. We have to keep getting his blood drawn every month, and going back to the hematology/oncolory clinic every three months. That was great news....basically nothing has changed. I had a hard time believing it could be anything serious, because he is generally so healthy!

Thanks Sarah!

My friend Sarah just told me about this blog, and I just read the entire thing and have never LAUGHED so hard in my life. Oh my goodness. If you want a good read...

http://seriouslysoblessed.blogspot.com/

I started my new job yesterday and LOVE IT. I have to say thanks again to Sarah, she really pushed me to apply for the job when I told her about it. I feel very fortunate right now! I am also SERIOUSLY SO BLESSED! ;-)

Parker

We have been going swimming (almost) every day at East Canyon Resort- they have two pools there and the kids love it. Sometimes I swim with them, but this time I was just watching and taking pictures, and Tyler was holding Allie in the hot tub.

Parker gets in his float ring (and sometimes puts on the arm floaties too) and just kicks and swims around the entire pool. He loves to jump off the edge with his ring on. Well, the older boys were goofing off and trying to jump off the edge of the pool INTO Allie's float ring. As I found out later- Parker tried to do this too. He jumped off the edge of the pool, without his arm floaties, and tried to jump inside his ring (which he left in the pool), but he missed.

And I was RIGHT THERE, watching all the kids, taking pictures.....I heard Oakley say "Parker" and I looked around the pool to count little blonde heads.......I saw Parker's little hands flapping above the surface........and his head was all the way under the water. I felt like I was moving in slow motion......running towards that side of the pool.......taking the camera strap off my neck........throwing my camera down.......yelling for Tyler........and jumping into the pool (fully clothed) to pull Parker out.

He choked and sputtered and burped and I held him on the edge of the pool and I was SO THANKFUL that I heard Oakley say "Parker" or I could have lost my little buddy.
I decided I am done taking pictures of the kids swimming, I have a TON of them and will share some more later, but for the rest of the summer, I am going to leave my camera at home and just enjoy my kids. And count all those little blonde heads.

Preston

My kids look so goofy in their goggles. :) I love it.
I took Preston into Primary Children's on Wednesday. He was examined by two doctors and had his blood drawn twice. They are doing some blood work to see if he has an autoimmune disease, they think that is what is causing his ITP. They are checking for things like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. They said they should have the results back on Monday. But they were sure to emphasize again- NO FOOTBALL for Preston this year! :(

new job

Last week I applied and interviewed for a new job as a Labor and Delivery RN- much different than what I have been doing for the last 14 years, which was working in the Pediatric ICU. After not hearing anything for a few days, I assumed that I didn't get the job, but yesterday I got a call from the HR department offering me the position!
This is really the only other area in nursing I have been interested in, besides pediatrics. I am a little nervous, but really excited to be making the change!

Happy 4th of July!

We were going to go camping this weekend but had a few health problems with the kids, so we decided to stay home.

Preston had a doctor appointment for a sports physical on Tuesday. He wants to play football this year, but it doesn't look like he is going to be able to. He was diagnosed with chronic ITP almost 4 years ago. His platelet count was 64 on Tuesday, and normal is 150-400. His hematologist said that he absolutely cannot play sports if his platelet count is below 100.

So, that was disappointing. Then when his doctor got the results back on the rest of his CBC (complete blood count) there were several other things that were abnormal and his doctor is worried it could be something much more serious and wants him to go back to Primary Children's for further testing.

Jaxon also had a few trips to the doctor this week- the pediatrician thinks he has mono and so he had to have his blood drawn for that (not fun!) and we should get the results tomorrow. They also sent a throat culture since he has had 2 negative strep tests. He is miserable- I feel so bad for him!

Since we had to stay home, Tyler wanted to get some work done. He dug a big hole for the second septic tank needed for the new house, and then he was lowering the huge cement tank into the hole with the excavator. Thank goodness I wasn't watching when this happened.....because I would have FREAKED out......he always scares me so bad when he is working on his heavy equipment.....he tipped the excavator on it's side.

I can't believe he didn't get hurt at all. The glass all shattered, there is oil spilled everywhere, and who knows how much damage there is to the excavator. I am just so grateful he is okay.
It took two big tow trucks (the ones that tow Semi trucks) and several hours to pull the excavator upright.

What a day...what a week! It is always something, right?

Proof of a good time

The 4 boys had a sleepover last night at Rob and Janice's house and then worked and played hard all day! They came home and I made them all shower and told them to get dressed. A few minutes later I found Parker asleep on the couch! He was so worn out.



Thanks Rob and Janice for having the boys over- they had the time of their life! Thanks for being so brave (their five kids plus four of mine=9 kids at the same time- wow!) and for your help loading that hay today- you guys are the best!