Happy Times

One year ago

 11-11-10

The worst day of my life

 I thought my baby girl was hurt forever.

Lucky for us, she was just fine.

1 year later, we are still having some unhappy times.

Cancer came back to beat on us a little bit, but it looks like lucky for us, we are going to be just fine again.

Interesting note: The day of Brooke's accident was the day I found out I pregnant with Ivy. Really Crazy Day!

Lately we have had some not so awesome memories, and 11-11-11 wasn't a great day for me as I was reliving Brooke's accident all day long.

But I was scrolling through the pictures on my phone and came across some VERY HAPPY TIMES!

Here they are, in absolutely no chronological order:

The kids made this awesomeness leaf pile at Grandma Jane's, and sobbed when the lawn guys showed up and mowed them all up!

I left Brooke alone with a tube of Chapstick. 

The kids had the time of their life at Rigby Lake a few weeks ago.

And Brooke's poor little legs just couldn't petal her bike one more step, so she snagged a ride.

 "PLEASE MOMMY! PLEEEEEEEEASE!"

So many tears and public humiliation when I told them "no".

We have spent lots of time at McDonalds.  A favorite spot.

I had totally forgotten about our picnic in the rain.
Such an awesome day.

The kids gave Vince "Twister" for his birthday.

Hilarious. Absolutely hilarious.

Jack has grown up right before my eyes.

Good times at the Mall.

Conference was great.

Jack told us that when he grows up he wants to be a Prophet. 

Proud parent moment.

Getting the windshield replaced was more thrilling than any movie.

Ivy's new hat!  My sister is amazingly talented! Thanks Chica!

Glow in the dark glasses....

 aka...the best way to give your child seizures.

Seriously, I wore them for 2 minutes and was totally blind afterwords.

I found this picture and think it's great for so many reasons:

1. Ivy is soooo small!

2. My hair is sooooo white!

3. My glasses are HUGE!

 This seems like yesterday!

An attempt to take a picture that both me and Ivy are in together.

Brooke eating her very first Ice Cream cone this summer!

The Giraffe Pool.  Looked great, total disaster. 

The kids helping daddy change the water at Grandpa's Farm.

Thanks Trevor and Deana for all the suckers!

My current Happy Thought.

This made me laugh hysterically. 

It's worth watching the entire thing. Sorry the sound only begins halfway through.

Think Napoleon Dynamite.

I just want to give a quick shout out and thanks to everyone who has helped me over the past few months. You have all helped turn these not so happy times, into fabulous and fun memories.

Thanks!

Happy Halloween

 Before my mom went home she helped me take the kids Halloween pictures.

I couldn't have done it without her.

 Sunday night we decorated our pumpkins.

I am not big on messes and kids with knives, so a glue gun and candy works best for me.

And they turn out pretty darn cute.

I wanted to do some fun stuff with kids on Halloween during the day..

which means I planned a bunch of stuff and ran around crazy all afternoon and nobody had any fun.

Whoops.

They did enjoy their pumpkin shaped sandwiches for lunch.

And after naps we made Candy Corn Pudding

 Which nobody ate.

So we made little monsters with the left over pudding...

 which nobody would eat either

.

In fact, here is Brooke telling me it smells yucky. 

Come on, what kids don't like pudding!!! 

The Jello Pumpkins were much better received.

 My kids have a strange obsession with Jello.

After our Pumpkin shaped pizzas and making a huge pudding mess, we headed out for Trick or Treating!

 I was "Nurse Mommy" according to Brooke.

Jack told me to take off my wig because I didn't look like his mommy anymore.

He seemed generally concerned.

Grandma Jane's was our first stop....

 She is a hoot.

Brooke LOVED that she was a princess too!

And she was nice enough to take a group shot of the whole fam.

Don't ask how much I had to pay Vince to wear that shirt for me.

What a man will do for his son, right?

Memorable Moments:

We went to 4 houses, and Jack and Brooke were convinced that we were done Trick or Treating, so we went home.  I wonder how many more years that will work?

I told the kids they couldn't eat all their candy or they would get sick.  Jack came up to me and said, "Mom, can I have more candy because I am not sick yet?"

I think my kids were more excited to hand out candy, then to actually Trick or Treat.

When I took Jack to Preschool in the morning, he told me to make the house spooky while he was gone.

I love Halloween.



Ivy Jane

I'm a little late with this post.

Our little Ivy Jane is 3 months old!

 She is old enough to pose for Sunday groups shots now.

 And she is learning that we always end up with someone in tears.

She is filling out a little bit more in the face....

Here she is displaying just a few of her chins.

She LOVES to be naked.

She isn't self conscience of those chunkles at all.

She loves her Daddy.

Right around 3 Months old she discovered her hands....

and she hasn't let go of them since,

 She loves to snuggle her burpie.

I would love to claim that she can roll over....but she has only done it once for us, and she shows no signs of doing it again any time soon.

She is losing her hair, and has a fabulous comb over.

She has started sitting up, and supports her head really well.

And she is a smiler.

She will smile at anyone, anytime.

We sure love this little woman!

And she finally fits into her sparkly Toms! 

 They melt my heart.

For my records:

Weight: 15lbs

Eats 4-5oz every 3 hours

Sleeps from 11-6

She is the queen of cat naps.  About (7) 20 minute naps per day.

She is my least spitty baby. 

She is a wiggly worm.

She hates hats, and her car seat.

She loves being on her changing table, and being talked to.

She still will only take the binkie from the hospital.