Kate 1 Year old Pictures!

Kate is turning ONE! 

We went to the park and took some pictures, right as we were leaving it started to rain on us.  It was her nap time but she was a doll and put up with me and my camera!  I love these pictures because it shows how beautiful she is not just on the outside- but the inside.  Since she was a baby, she has had a tender and sweet spirit. She is the calm spirit in out family. She unites us-- the boys all adore her and talk about how she's the most beautiful and loved baby girl.  We are grateful she is in our family-- she is such a blessing to us all.

1st Epi-Pen experience

Later that night we went to Costco as a Family.  Spencer was home unusually early and the whole family decided they wanted to eat at the Costco diner! We shuffled everyone in the car and drove to Costco.  It was raining outside so when we got there they used a towel to whip down the shopping cart.     Kate and I were looking at snow boots and dresses while the boys were in the toy section (Kate was sucking on the shopping cart at this time).  A couple minutes later we met up and Spencer noticed some large hives on her face.  I didn't have Benadryl with me (which almost never happens) and so I went to the pharmacy section and grabbed one off the shelf and gave her some.  As I was walking back to Spencer and the boys she started to faint.  She was going lethargic and her mouth was white.  Inside I started to panic.  I held her and tried keeping her awake.  After a minute Spencer held her to see if she was okay.  She was breathing fine, but her behavior was very odd.  We decided we needed to leave and get closer to a hospital.  A couple seconds later she went totally floppy and fell asleep.  Spencer told me to grab the Epi-pen and give it to her. He pulled down her pants and I injected it.  This all happened so fast.  I don't remember anyone around us, but we were in the middle of the main aisle. I'm sure people were wondering what was going on.  We then took off running out of the store.  As we were leaving I ran Tanner over with the cart. I told him to get up and run. He obeyed while crying. I'm sure I looked like an all-star parent (I can laugh about this now).  As we were running out of the door I literally threw a ten dollar bill at the photo guy and told him it was for the Benadryl I took off the shelf.  I told him Kate was having an allergic reaction and we have to take her to the hospital.  He said, "what, I need to scan it first".  I said, "sorry but we are leaving we have to run to the hospital--bye!" I'm sure the people around us were wondering what the heck was going on.

We drove quickly to the nearest hospital which was only a couple minutes away.  Kate's mouth was still white and was having a hard time staying awake.  I took her right in and we were taken back into a room.  As soon as I put her on the bed, she looked at me and started smiling.  WHAT? Why didn't she do this to me in the car? That would have saved us SOOO much money! But, I was relieved and so happy to see that smile of hers.  She did really well from then on.  The next morning she was pretty sick from all the medicine, but once that passed through her she was back to her sweet self.

I am so grateful everything turned out okay.  Those moments are so scary.  All it took was her sucking on the shopping cart to put her into a serious allergic reaction.  I'm grateful I am comfortable giving epi-pens.  It's been a blessing.  And we are so grateful to live in a day where modern medicine is so advanced that we have things like epi-pens to save our children's lives.  We are blessed. Love, Mom

FHE donut and pumpkin Carving

Each year we spend the FHE before Halloween eating homemade donuts and carving our pumpkins.

Reece can hardly wait for the donuts! 

We make glazed and cinnamon-sugar donuts and donut holes.  

After we eat donuts the kids fight over who gets Dad to help them carve their pumpkin.  See, we have two different styles.  My style is the efficient "get it done" style.  Spencer is the meticulous "lets make it perfect" and so he wins every year.  But I make the donuts that feed their bellies and make them happy so I guess we are even at the end of the night!

Tanner was darling and was really into painting his pumpkin. He was in the zone! After 5 minutes he was done and needed a bath to help him stop itching. So our night was kind of crazy.  But we had fun and made a big massive mess. Happy Halloween.

Family Pictures 2015

I really liked our Family Pictures this year.  

We had to hustle and take the pictures to beat the storm.  As we were walking to our car it started raining.  I prayed we would get at least one good shot before it rained. It took all morning to get ready and organized and I really wanted a great family picture.

We showed up at the park and Kate's shoe was missing! WHAT? After all my organizing and making sure everything was perfect. Well, that's life I guess.  I tucked her foot and hide it as much as I could for the pictures!

Kid Pictures Fall 2015

Kids

Kids--they grow to fast

Life has seemed a little short lately.  

The kids are growing up fast

and I feel like I have a long way to go as a Mother.

I went to the Temple and three things went through my head:

Be Kind, Be Patient, and Endure to the End. 

I've needed this lately. 

But when I tuck the kids in bed and kiss them good night I am so grateful to be their Mother. 

They are precious souls and good kids.  

They are fun, loving, and full of life.

They make our Family beautiful.

And I love them forever!

Love, Mom

 This is Spencer reading the Narnia series to the kids. He's on the last book. The kids LOVE when he reads to them. It's the highlight to their day.  We just moved Reece into the guest bedroom and so now it's just Benson and Tanner.  It was a little sad to see them not all in the same room, but it's been good for Reece to have his own room and for Benson to be the big brother to Tanner.  Tanner also told me that all he wanted for his birthday was a big bed like Reece and Benson.  The first night we had them in their new rooms Spencer went down to check on the kids and Benson was reading a book to Tanner.  It confirmed that we made the right decision.  They are precious little kids! Brothers are the best!

Pumpkin patch

Each year we find a pumpkin patch and Apple orchard to visit during the month of October.  We didn't find an apple orchard, but we did find a pumpkin patch. I got really mad at the kids the other day because every time we got in the car to go ANYWHERE they would complain. They just wanted to stay home all day, every day, all weekend long (which is awesome they want to be home-- but we do need to explore the world a little). So this time they were champs and didn't complain ONCE! They've wanted to do a real corn maze so I paid for us to go through one.  After 5 seconds I realized I wouldn't keep up with Kate and so they decided to go ahead by themselves.  15 minutes later the three boys came through the maze and said it was the worse experience of their life and they never want to go through a corn maze again. I was shocked because for the past 2 years they have begged to go to a big maze.  Well…they apparently got lost in the maze and were scarred they were never going to make it out alive! Well… bummer for them. At least Kate and I got some great pictures of her in her Halloween outfit! :) 

After our tractor ride, per Tanner's request, he was in terrible shape because of the sun and his skin was read, hot and itchy we left.  Oh and I have to add that I had one lady tell me I should take Tanner to a "voodoo doctor" who would cure Tanner's skin and another lady say, "oh my, is he having an allergic reaction?" It was epic.

We ended our trip at the BYU bookstore which is Christmas to the boys. They were HILARIOUS!  Never in their life have they EVER wanted to go shopping or asked for clothes.  They wanted EVERYTHING.  They kept saying things like:

 "oh Mom look at this sweatshirt-- I think it would look good on me!" 

"look at all this BYU gear! We are in BYU territory"

"The Utes would hate this place"

"I have never been around so many BYU fans"

"look at this shirt. Look at this sweatshirt. I think we need them"

Then we went to the book section and the boys got lost reading.  It was a dreamy trip!

GO BYU!

Annual Kid Halloween party

Annual Kid Halloween Party!

We had a great party this year.  Unfortunately we picked the wrong weekend and most the kids friends were out of town for the holiday weekend. But we still had a great time (although I was missing our Rochester friends who made this party awesome).

We started out playing "lightening basketball".  It's been a favorite game in our house lately.  

We then dressed as mummies and hoped across the yard and ran back to pop our balloons with a treat inside.

Next, we went inside for some treats (zombie eyes, cupcakes and gatorade) and played the "pumpkin dice game".

Next was the all time favorite "don't eat Frank!".

We always watch a movie at the end-- almost every year we have watched "It's a great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" which we watched again this year.

We ended with glow sticks in the dark while playing night games until the parents arrived.

Marys lake

We went hiking with Spencer's cousin Jenika and her family. It was a beautiful hike! It wasn't easy, but the kids did great. The boys are gaining confidence in their climbing skills and super brave climbing up and down huge rocks.  It makes me happy seeing them so active, but I also get SUPER nervous when they are climbing.  It's hard not to be over-protective.