I'm Missing......

This.

The Great Pumpkin

We're going on a pumpkin hunt, we had to take a train.



We're going on a pumpkin hunt, thank heavens it didn't rain!


We had to search so long and hard, it made us very tired.


We had to search so long and hard, we had help that should have been hired!


We found our pumpkins near and far, and loaded them on the boat.


We found our pumpkins near and far, thank goodness for our coats.


And now we see how big and tall we can be this year


Three cheers for our Aunt Jessie, we all say hear hear!!

Why it pays to have friends in pharmacy school

Thanks, Dan.

(btw, they are filled with M&Ms, I promise)

Blessings

My K's "Behold your little ones." 3 N 17:23 Today in church, our Sunday School lesson was on Christ's visit to the Americas in 3 Nephi. The teacher started out the class by asking what we would want if the Savior came to our church. And honestly, my first thought was that He would spend time with my boys. I was so thankful to be reminded of how precious they are to our Father in Heaven and to our Savior. In 3N 17:21, it says that "he wept.....and he took their little children, one by one, and blessed them..." I only hope I can show my Savior how much I am thankful for my sweet boys by showing them a glimpse of His love for them through my actions as a mother.
My Zach who gave me the best birthday ever. He made me a DIVINE tres leche cake from SCRATCH. He bought me a beautiful ring over a month ago and kept it secret (thanks to some help from my sis Jessie), took me out to dinner with some friends, and just made me feel extra special and loved. It was a great day. I love you babe!
My friends & family who also made my birthday extra special. I got phone calls, blog comments, texts (some at 1am, those were especially nice), free babysitting, complete with Halloween crafts for the Ks (WOW Jessie, I see why Norma loved having you down for the girls), and so much more. I am blessed with so many wonderful people in my life, I love every one of you!
Joseph Smith Our lesson in Relief Society was amazing. I can't begin to imagine all that Joseph Smith endured for me to have the Book of Mormon and the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am thankful that he was so willing a servant of our Heavenly Father and I am thankful for our prophet today. I have loved President Monson since I was a little girl, I always looked forward to him speaking in conference. I know he is our prophet and will lead us in the direction our Heavenly Father wants us to go.

PS Happy Birthday Sugar Mama!! We love you tons!!!

A quarter of a century..........

Yep, I'm feelin' old.

Wordless Wednesday: Getting ready for Kayden's arrival, June 2007

Home Sweet Home

With our busy vacationing finally over, I feel like now I can get settled and back into a routine! Yeah, we're home and we're healthy! Thank heavens for 24 hour bugs. We left early this morning and made it back in good time - home for dinner! Enjoy a few pics from our trip while I get some sleep. Seriously.........zzzzzzzz.

Our happy marathoners (minus Krista, who we never caught up with after the race - Sorry Kris!!)

The gorgeous campground in Red Cliffs Canyon

Out in the RZR careening over the Idaho hills. SO FUN

Getting ready to ride off into the sunset.....

Loadin' up and gettin' outta there!

The sick and wounded

Ouch

Keegan thinks his stitches are pretty cool to look at

Our family picture. It snowed and I got REALLY REALLY cold. Honestly I did.

And what visit would be complete without loves from Sugar Mama?

Thanks for all the fun! We love and miss you guys!!!

It only gets better.......

I promise, I really do love Idaho, but right now it's not high on my list. Our little clan was hit with a stomach bug starting with me this morning. Kayden followed with waking up from his morning nap throwing up, and continued for most of the afternoon. He alternated between laying with me on the couch and not moving, and getting up to walk around (which I learned was the sign that he was about to throw up). Keegan just started his turn right before dinner time. I'm starting to feel better, and Kayden seems to be as well. When is it going to hit Zach? Hopefully soon, so that he can get over it before we have to drive back to Oregon. Our drive may be postponed a day. Ick! At least we are here where we have loving family to take care of us. I don't handle throwing up well, and when I am sick myself, having others do the same around me sets me off. Ew. Probably TMI! Oh, and it's snowing here! What is the DEAL?!

Give me a E!! Give me an R!! What's that spell??

ER! That's right. Kayden has gone down in history as the first child to take us to the ER. This morning, while happily demolishing Sugar Mama's house, he tripped with a rather large toy in his hands. He fell face first into the toy and split his left eyebrow open, just above his eye. It quickly started spouting blood, and I grabbed a towel (sorry Sugar Mama, but it's definitely ruined) to hold to it. After wiping some blood away, Zach and I were of the opinion that he needed to be seen. I was pretty impressed with us, neither Zach or I panicked (although I think Zach wanted to break the toy in half) we just calmly told Keegan to get dressed because we needed to take Kayden to the doctor. I don't think I've ever had Keegan listen so well or get dressed so fast. It was awesome! Zach and I took turns keeping the towel on Kayden's head while we got out of our pjs in record time. On the way, it had stopped bleeding and I was doubting if it needed medical attention. When we got there, I just asked if a nurse could check it and give us an idea if it needed help or just a bandaid. I should have known. He came out, took one look at him and goes "Oh yeah, he's gonna need some stitches." And so, my sweet kaydee-baby has 3 stitches over his eye now. He was a tough kid, they just strapped him down and gave him a quick shot to numb it and sewed him up. He screamed the whole time, but who wouldn't? He calmed down quickly after, and we treated the K's to a gourmet breakfast - McDonalds!

Marathon Miracles

It was been a weekend of miracles, and I LOVE IT! Hello from Idaho! After a whirlwind 3 days spent mostly in the car, we are finally in Idaho for about a week. Thursday evening we left Oregon, drove to Boise area and stopped to catch a few winks (literally) in a rest stop at about 2:30am. Friday morning (say, 6am?) found us on the road again, continuing our trek to St George. We reached St George about 5 pm, with stops for food and letting the boys stretch their legs. MAN, the boys were AMAZING travelers. Keegan has always been a great traveler, but Kayden has struggled a little more. Thankfully, he quickly took to it and was pretty good in the car. Thus, our first miracle!
Saturday was the BIG day. The St. George UT marathon, a marathon that had 7000 runners. WHOA. Amazing. Zach, brother Jace, sister Kelsey, and sis-in-law Krista were all running it. Miracle #2!!! They all finished and they all did FANTASTIC!!!!!!! I had been so worried about them all, because Saturday morning came with steady pouring rain. Not the best running weather, but it was better than 90 degrees! They all finished fairly close to each other, and they all did so great. It was Kelsey and Jace's first marathon, and Krista and Zach's fourth. Here are their times:
Jace: 3 hrs 27 minutes
Zach: 3 hrs 33 minutes
Krista: 3 hrs 55 minutes
Kelsey: 4 hrs 23 minutes

Can you believe it???!!! Zach had me all worried because his Timberline marathon really did a number on him. I wasn't sure how he was going to do. But he had his best time ever!!!!!!!! They all did so great, and we are all so proud of them!

Two people who were noticeably missing from the trek to St George were Autumn and Loren. Why were they missing? Because Auty was 38 weeks pregnant with twin boys, and waiting to pop!!! And pop she did! Sunday morning she was induced and seriously, she is a baby-machine!!!!! Her entire labor was under 6 hours, and she pushed both those boys out SO QUICKLY!! Miracle #3 and #4!!! Troy Lawrence, 5lbs 10oz, 19 inches; Harrison Todd, 6 lbs 4 oz, 20 inches. I couldn't believe how well she did, her labor went so quick and she did an amazing job. All the nurses and docs were so impressed. We are so happy to welcome the sweet new boys, and excited to be able to see them over the next few days.
Baby Troy
Momma holding her babies for the first time!

Baby Troy
Baby Harrison

Baby Harrison

Proud Daddy and his boys!!






CONGRATS MARATHONERS AND CONGRATS TO OUR NEW PARENTS!!!!!! WE LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!

My Monkey Demon

Our Kaydee-baby is now 15 months old. How did that happen? Overnight, he turned into a toddler. No longer is he a sweet baby. Granted, he is still sweet, but his spice has started coming out a little more!
He still loves to do anything that Keegan does. Any gesture or noise that Keegan makes, Kayden does his best to imitate. He LOVES shoes (wonder where that came from?). He doesn't care for getting dressed, but if you hold out his shoes, he comes running and sits down and holds out a foot. He is constantly picking up our shoes and wanting us to put them on! He signs bird, plane, more, dog, eat, milk, please (especially when you are tempting him with Oreos), and all done. He says Mama, Dada, here ya go, what's that, dog, and woof. It is SO CUTE to hear him bark like a dog. Our neighbors have a black lab puppy that barks when the boys play outside. Kayden loves to stand at the fence and bark back. He finds it hilarious. I think so too.
Last week he attempted to scale the stove. Zach caught him as he grasped the oven door and it was falling open with him still holding on. He loves to climb onto the bottom rung of Keegan's bunk bed, but today made it up another step. AHHH!
Kayden is still a really calm and low-key dude. He puts up with a lot from Keegan, but is learning to voice his dislike! I love his smile that lights up his whole face. He is always so happy and sweet, and I love how he loves to play with us. Last night, Zach was chasing him. Kayden ran into our room, hid behind my legs and looked up at me. He pointed in the direction of Zach and said "DADA!!" with a little excited panic in his voice. I just had to laugh as Zach came into view and Kayden squealed. Oh how we love you Kayden!!