Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Bad News and Good News

BAD NEWS: Some of you probably know that we have had our house up for sale since January of this year. We aren't in a rush to sell. We just felt like it was time for our family to move from our "starter home" into a more permanent home where we can raise our kids and grow old. This house was always our 5-10 year house and when we put it up for sale we had been here six years. After trying to sell it ourselves, a realtor, trying to sell it ourselves, and another realtor, we finally received our first real offer on October 12th. We were excited, even though the buyers wanted to close by October 29th. No problem, we thought. We find something quickly or live with family if we have to, whatever. We were up for the rush of getting out fast. So the last week and a half have been a mad rush of looking at houses, putting in offers, deciding to build, gathering boxes, arranging to live with family for a couple of months, changing schools for the kids, calling utility companies to arrange shut off dates, letting church leaders know and all sorts of other things.

UNFORTUNATELY, yesterday we found out (even with the wonderful assurances from the buyers lender) that the buyers actually DON'T qualify for the loan and (unless some miracle happens) we will not be selling our house in three days. Yesterday, I was SHOCKED for awhile. Then I just cried the rest of the afternoon. I prayed to have strength and peace, which of course I was blessed with. I reread this amazing talk from the April 2010 General Conference. Then Eric, my rock, came home and convinced me (again) that everything was going to be alright and Heavenly Father has a plan for us and we just need to keep being patient. Which I knew, but it was nice to hear coming from him. So now we wait and trust in Heavenly Father.

Now for the GOOD NEWS: Last week, we found out that a new baby boy will be joining our family in early March. We are so excited! I must admit that I was kind of hoping for a girl to even things out and get to use my adorable girl clothes again, but we make such cute boys that once I knew it was a boy I was ecstatic! So far everything is progressing as usual. I keep joking that maybe I should have the baby at home this time and skip the ambulance and hospital altogether. Not really though! I am really hoping for a nice normal delivery this time. Any name suggestions would be nice. It is alot harder the third time.

It looks like we may have another thumb sucker on our hands.

Monday, October 4, 2010

Where Has The Time Gone?

I can't believe it is October already. This year is flying by! It is going to be Christmas before we know it!!! Here are a few pictures of what we have been doing over the last month or so.Carter and I both love to pose for the camera. I got quite a few good shots of us cheesing it up!
We went to Thanksgiving Point twice during the month of August. Gotta love $2 Tuesdays; at the Gardens at least. No way was I going to try and go to the Dinosaur Museum. I think this was a picture right before church one Sunday. It is a great picture showing each of my kids personalities.
Carter LOVES corn on the cob. Eric usually feeds him a piece raw while the rest of dinner is cooking and then he has a cooked piece while the rest of use eat. He also HATES for me to feed him anything. He thinks he is a big boy and can do it all by himself. Thus, he usually looks like this after each meal!
Tade loves Carter and Carter loves Tade. So fun to have a brother buddy.
Tades first day of 1st Grade. Eric gave him a blessing and he was on his way. He is doing pretty well for the most part. He comes home pretty tired, but even that is getting better. So far he has aced all his spelling tests and is reading like crazy! I am so proud of him.
We go in a crash on the 13th of September. The van is still in the shop getting fixed! Hopefully, I will have it back tomorrow. I really miss it.

Ashlynn got to do Drill Clinic again up at Maple Mountain High School. It is such a fun thing for her and it is only a one week commitment so I love it too. She did a great job dancing this year! Ash turned four last month. She also started preschool and loves it. She is such a big girl and a great helper.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Santaquin Parade And Rodeo

Eric's sister and husband live in Santaquin and they have an awesome celebration for their city days. We usually just go to the rodeo and fireworks, but this year we decided to hit the parade that morning too. This was the first parade my kids had ever been to and they LOVED it. The city is still small enough that the parade isn't too long and they still throw candy. Both Ash and Tade had a huge bag full by the end. It was great! The rodeo was a little rough with Carter. He doesn't like to sit still for very long, but it was still fun. The fireworks didn't go over so well with Ash or Carter, but Eric, Tade and I had a blast watching them. (Yes, that pun was intended.) Oh, summer....we are going to miss you!

Ashlynn learned if you smiled and waved they threw more candy! She quickly became very good at it.

Monday, August 9, 2010

Button, Button, Who Has The Button? and What Did You Say?

This post is all about the Carter bug. Last week he had surgery to fix an umbilical hernia and put tubes in his ears for recurring ear infections. If you hadn't know he had surgery, you probably wouldn't have been able to tell by how he was acting. He did awesome! We went in early Thursday morning, the nurses got him all prepped, the anesthesiologist took him away, and about an hour later both surgeries were done. Hernias are pretty common and most will repair on their own by one year of age, but Carter's didn't and since it was kind of gross looking, we opted for the surgery to fix it. His ear infections have been pretty constant since he was nine months. The poor kid has probably been in pain since then so we were happy to have a solution to that problem too. I am sure the reason he's done so well is because the surgery pain was nothing compared to the ear infection pain and he is just excited to not have that anymore.

A few before pictures. I called it his ugly button cause look at it. It's pretty nasty looking. His isn't even that big. I've seen much larger on other kids.

Waiting in the foyer for them to call us back to get prepped. Yes, he is man enough to have a PINK binki. It's a hand me down from his sister. We're pretty cheap. What can I say?Cute little hospital clothes they took him to surgery in. He was so excited with all the new stuff and the attention for awhile. Then he saw the bottle of milk I had brought for after surgery and he could only think about that until they took him back. His dressing. We had to leave that on for three days (Sunday). Then there were steri strips underneath that were supposed to stay on for another seven to ten days. I keep saying WERE because he ripped those off today (Monday). Oh well, it looks pretty good so I'm not too worried.
I need to give a big huge thanks to all the family and friends that fasted and prayed for him. We really felt your love. Also to my mom, who had Ash and Tade for two and a half days so Eric and I could focus on Carter. THANK YOU!!!!!



This is Carter's button video. He has know where it is for awhile since everyone always wants to see his "ugly" button. I love that he lifts his shirt to find it.

On a side note, probably time for a new camera. So if you know any nice point and shoots that do video too, please let me know!

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Summer Fun

This summer has been really fun and busy. We had a few birthdays in June. We went to Lake Powell and Lagoon. We've gone up the canyon and roasted hot dogs. We went on a "bacation" to the Zermatt in Midway. Plus lots of popsicles!
Even more swimming. This is Tade and his cousin Austin. Eric was smarter enough to make it possible for the pool to easily be put under the slide on our play set so it is like we have a water park in our backyard. Tade loves it. Ashlynn isn't so sure, And Carter would love it if I let him, but the slide is WAY too fast!
Tade lost his first tooth this summer. It was super loose for almost a week, but both Eric and I remember getting forced to pull a loose tooth out so we just let him let it come out on its own time. He got "one whole green dollar" from the tooth fairy.
Ashlynn went to the dentist to get a cavity filled. For three or four hours afterwards, she chewed on her numb lip and this is what happened. Poor girl. It was really sore for almost two weeks. Hopefully, this won't ever happened again!Apparently, we have been having so much fun it is hard to even make it in our rooms for naps! Actually, she was in the hall mad at me for not letting her do something and that's how she fell asleep. I thought it was pretty funny so I had to take a picture.

Well, that is definitely not pictures of everything, but is some of some of the things. We still have a lot planned with the one month left before school starts. I can't believe it is almost here already!

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Motherhood

Motherhood: An Eternal Partnership with God
I was crying while I watched this. I hope you enjoy it too!

Friday, July 2, 2010

Just A Picture Update

She reminds me of Fancy Nancy.

Art City Day Race.
Love the new course. SO fun to do with the sisters. (Sara not pictured.)

My bug is getting big. He is walking all over now. Not a baby anymore. BOO!

Balloon Festival this morning. Really early, but the kids had fun. Thanks for inviting us Kelli.


Thursday, May 20, 2010

My Baby Turned ONE!!!





Can you believe it? A little over one year ago I was delivering this kid in an ambulance? We love you Carter-bug!!!

Saturday, April 10, 2010

A Look Back At March

Crawling up and down the stairs! He has fallen down one more time :(
He gets so tired sometimes that he'll pull his blanket out of his crib, find his bink, and fall asleep on his floor! Too cute!!!Tade doing a little bit of hair styling for the bug (That's Carter's nickname). I gave Carter a little trim today. It was kind of sad! He is getting so big. Goofies! They found their goggles and wanted to wear them. Whateves! One Sunday morning, I had enough time to do Ashlynn's hair before 9am church. It turned out pretty cute so I had to take a picture.
Ashlynn hates washing, drying, or styling her hair. She LOVES the outcome, but HATES the process. So sometimes she wears a shower cap so I don't have to hear the screaming. She saw I had a blue one so she insisted that the bug wear one too.
Tade wanted to make Carter look like a football player so he stuffed him with soft animals. The bug thought it was funny.
Ashlynn is in preschool. She got to pick any ceramic animal to paint on farm day. One of her friends pick a horse and another picked a puppy. She picked a chicken. What!?! She loves it too. Kind of weird, but whatever makes her happy!

Monday, March 29, 2010

The Stairs

Of all my kids, Carter has been the quickest at learning how to go down the stairs. He is also the only one to have fallen down the stairs! :( It's been awhile since he has learned so this video is a little old, but I still thought is was cute. We worked on it everyday until he finally got it. Now (a month or so later) we are gate free! Yea. I do not like having a gate in front of my stairs.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Can You Tell?

Everyone always says how much Carter looks like Tade so I finally decided to go back and look at some old pictures of Taders when he was Carter's age. I can tell the difference. Can you?

The top ones are Tade and the bottom Carter. Just to be fair, here is one of Ashlynn. She is too easy to tell the difference because she always had a bow in her hair.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Carter's Laugh

*Tade's head was only somewhat harmed in the making of this video. It was pretty red afterwards, but was worth the price paid.*

I know it has been awhile since I've updated. Things are great around here. SUPER BUSY, but great. Everyone's growing up, including myself. Thank you to everyone who sent me birthday wishes yesterday. It was an absolutely FABULOUS day. Eric stayed home to be the "mom" while he sent me to the spa for a day of pampering. It was AWESOME! I have such a great husband. Thanks again for all the love! We couldn't be more blessed!

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Three Little Kids That Make Me Smile

My awesome friend Kelli made these cute hats for the kids for Christmas. She is the one who gets to wrangle them every Friday when I am at work. Thank you Kelli for being a great friend and for watching my kiddos and loving them too. We totally appreciate you!!!This is just a cute picture of Carter. The kid is all over the place now. He has been crawling for a month and a half and pulls himself up to everything. He might be my early walker. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Friday, January 1, 2010

A New Year

I have been struggling with not thinking that I have the Spirit with me as much as I should, but this quote was the Daily Gem today and it made me realize I just need to keep trying and listening and then do what it right. Happy New Year!

"I am convinced that there is no simple formula or technique that would immediately allow you to master the ability to be guided by the voice of the Spirit. Our Father expects you to learn how to obtain that divine help by exercising faith in Him and His Holy Son, Jesus Christ. Were you to receive inspired guidance just for the asking, you would become weak and ever more dependent on Them. They know that essential personal growth will come as you struggle to learn how to be led by the Spirit."Richard G. Scott, "To Acquire Spiritual Guidance," Ensign, Nov. 2009, 6–7