Baby Isaac is ONE!!

I can't even begin to tell you how much I love this little boy. There is a very unique bonding power that comes with feeling your baby emerge from your body, being the first person to touch them, and having the warmth of your body be the first thing they feel outside the warmth of your womb. It's not that I don't love my other kids, but I feel a unique bond with him.

He has the cutest personality. He is pretty much always happy, even when he is tired he finds it in him to smile. He is very curious and active. He can't stand to be contained. Out of all my kids, he has been my best sleeper, in fact he falls asleep much better in his playpen or crib by himself than he does with me holding him. He rolled, scooted, crawled, walked and got teeth sooner than my other two kids. He is such a joy and great blessing to our family. He continually entertains his brother and sister. They laugh at everything he does! When we go out in public he tries to get the attention of any one who will give it. I think he just assumes he should get all the attention since he gets all the attention at home.

I am so thankful for the beautiful experience of birthing him and for all the joy he brings to our family. I literally think about his birth every single day. Every moment of his birth brings me such delight and sweet serene memories. I can't wait to be able to experience another birth.

Here is Isaac's birthday invitation that I made. I drew the dinosaur and I also put the dinosaur on his cake and on a little shirt for him.





Couldn't wait to get his hands on the cake



Loved the cake!


going at it with a fork.


this is what was left of the cake.

His present from mom and dad.



Poor kid is all worn out!


He is such a fun kid and I look forward to experiencing many birthdays with this kid.

Happy Birthday Audrey!

WOW, I can't believe it's been 8 years since I had my first child. Audrey turned 8 years old on Saturday. I remember the day she was born. It was a total surprise that we would be having our baby girl that day. I was only 36 weeks pregnant, not due until January 23rd, 2001. Two days after Christmas was my 36 week appointment. Apparently, my body decides to dialate REALLY early. I was 5cm dialated and 80% effaced. Not feeling anything at all. The dr was surprised that I wasn't feeling anything. With more information about birth and pregnancy now, I realize that I could have remained at 5cm and 80% for some time without actually being in labor. Although, I was having some contractions, that I didn't feel until after I was lying in bed at the hospital, they weren't regular or very strong.

I had been trying to get pregnant for almost a year when I found out I was pregnant with Audrey. My pregnancy was a bit rough. I had pretty bad morning sickness and at 16 weeks thought I had a miscarrage. I woke up with wet undwear and pajamas in the middle of the night. It was dark, I went to the bathroom and when I sat down I saw that my underwear was wet with something dark, I turned the bathroom light on and it was covered in blood. It scared me so bad! I woke TJ up. I had to pee so I sat on the toilet. When I did, a large piece of bloody flesh came out and fell into the toilet. I thought it was my baby. TJ got it out of the toilet and put it into a container. I called my mom and we headed to the hospital. In the emergency room they told me to go up to labor and delivery since I was so far along. They said the thing that came out was a piece of my endometrium. They tried to find the baby's heart beat with the doppler. They couldn't find it. We were so worried. I was so mad at the nurse that was with us. She kept saying how hard this must be for us, that she was so sorry we had lost our baby. She was so negative, without any proof that we had actually lost our baby. They did an ultrasound and there she was just kicking away! It was so amazing to see the baby. Unfortunately we don't have pictures from that ultrasound, the printer didn't work. The dr figured that the placenta had moved and pulled off a piece of endometrium (the lining of the uterus) and it came out.

The day after Audrey was born.

The day we went home (not quite 24 hours since I had her). She was so tiny her clothes and the car seat were too big!


Funny way to sleep.






Audrey was born at 6:39 on Dec 27, 2000. I didn't have to push very long. I didn't get to hold her right away, I think it was because she was early. After they monitored and cleaned her up I got to hold her for a bit. She wasn't breathing very regularly so they wanted to get her down to the nursery. TJ video taped her in there, she was screaming almost the entire time. It makes me so sad to see the video now. I just want to hold her and let her know that everything was ok and that she was safe.



Audrey has chosen to be baptized a member of The Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-day Saints.

I am so happy with all the wonderful things Audrey is doing in her life. She loves school and is doing well at school. She is taking piano lessons and her piano teacher said she is lucky have Audrey as her piano student. Audrey loves to draw and is creating a comic book with her best friend Aiton. She is a fun older sister of two roudy brothers. Audrey loves horses and when she was 3 her Granddad Riley bought her a pony. Audrey has a tender heart and is kind and helpful to others. Audrey told me that she'd like to be a vet when she grows up because she loves animals so much.

I can't believe how fast 8 years has gone. The next 8 will probably go faster! Before I know it, she will be all grown up with a family of her own. She is amazing and I am so happy to have her in my life and to share my life and knowledge with her. Although, she has taught me so much in the short time she's been in my life. I am a better person for having her as a daughter. She has an amazing spirit and anyone who knows Audrey can feel of this special spirit she has.

Cupcake Maker

In June a friend contacted me about making cupcakes for her daughter's 1st birthday. She had read on my blog how I liked to decorate cakes. I was so flattered that she would ask me.

She sent me this picture of the party supplies she had purchased for the birthday.
The birthday theme was Cupcakes.





I think they turned out pretty cute.

Happy Birthday TJ!

Today is my husband's b-day! He is 29. I can say that because I'll be 29 in about 3 months. TJ and I started dating 12 years ago. I took him out for his b-day. We originally met online and had met 2 times in person before that, but hadn't really hung out or talked much. I called him earlier in the week and told him I was going to take him out for his b-day. He said he couldn't go out on the day of his b-day cuz his mom was doing something for him. I told him I'd take him out the day after. I went and picked him up. I didn't really know what he liked, but I bought him a shirt. I think it had a basketball on it. Shows you how much I really DIDN'T know about him! We went to a movie. I don't remember what the movie was called, but it was really dumb. I really wanted to hold his hand, but couldn't get the nerve up to do it. Instead, I layed my head on his shoulder. It was funny.

After the movie we went to Albertson's in Spanish Fork to get drinks, then we went to the Spanish Fork Main Street Park. We swung on the swings and talked. Just before we were going to leave I gave him a hug, then I kissed him. I had NO idea he'd never kissed anyone before. Anyway! I took him home and I went in to meet his brother, Ashly. There's a pretty funny story about meeting Ashly, but I'll save that for another time.

TJ's a great guy. He and I have both changed a lot since we met 12 years ago. We've learned to deal with those changes. So much of life has changed in that time. I'm glad he was born and that we got married. He's my best friend. I really enjoy spending time with him. He's one of the smartest people I know. He's inspired me to be a better person and to learn all that I can. He challenges me a lot (in a good way :) ). He makes me think about things. He also knows how to get on my nerves. There are times when he frustrates me really bad and there are times when I am filled with so much love for him I feel like I'm going to burst. I don't mind the hard times though, cuz I get the good times too. I wouldn't change any of it for the world. I think we made a really good pair!

Happy birthday to the love of my life!

It's been so long!

There are have been so many things I wanted to blog about, but just haven't had the time to sit down and actually do it!

First: My mother-in-law Jean, became a Stampin' Up consultant. She had her first workshop a couple weeks ago. It was lots of fun and she had a few really fun projects.
Here are some pics:






My Nephew Hayden turned 1 year old on the 13th of March. His birthday party was at our house. It was a lot of fun! Erin, his mom, made the cutest monkey cake! She did a great job!
Easter, I decided that we would do Easter baskets the day before Easter so on Sunday we could focus on Jesus and the resurrection. Hopefully we can make Easter less commercial in our family. I made bird nests for breakfast. I took hash browns and pressed them into muffin cups then poured scrambled egg into them and topped with cheese. I put bacon on the ones I ate.

Happy Birthday Ethan

I tried to post this yesterday, but it didn't work. So here it is.

Ethan is my now middle child. He is turning 5 today! He is one of the funniest kids I know. He has a really great sense of humor. He has been having us laughing since he was two and he would ask "Why did the chicken cross the road, HUH?" The "HUH" part of his joke was the cutest part. It was louder than the rest of the joke and very emphasized.

Ethan loves video games and recently beat Super Mario Galaxy on the Wii. He likes Mario Party, Zelda: Twilight Princess, Lego Star Wars among others. He also plays many games on his DS. Ethan recently started pre-school at our local elementary school. He loves going to school and really enjoys playing with friends.

Ethan has always been a very affectionate and sweet child. When he was a baby he would rub my arm while he nursed. He continued to rub my arm as he got older. It couldn't just be any part of my arm, it had to be the upper arm that is close to my body. My skin must be softer there. He has also always been a mamma's boy. From the time he was a few weeks old I knew he loved me. I once wrote in my journal that I thought he must think I'm part of him instead of being two separate people.

I love Ethan and I'm so glad that I get to be his mom. Happy Birthday Ethan!!!!



Note about the pic: We had family pictures done and Opie took the one on the left. We thought the look on his face was so funny. Then as I was going through baby pictures I found the one on the right. It was the same face!!! So cute!

Happy Birthday Audrey

Today is my oldest child's birthday! She is 7. She wasn't due till January 2001, but was born 4 weeks early. A total surprise to us!

Audrey is in 1st grade. She is one of the smartest kids I've ever met. She likes to learn about new things. Infact, she asked for "fact books" for Christmas. She is always interested in how things work and why. When she was 4 she wanted to learn how to read, but with my patience level I had to wait till she was a bit older to really delve into teaching her. Now that she knows how to read, she reads all the time. When we are out she will read signs and packages at the store.

TJ and I use to spell things so the kids wouldn't know what we were talking about, but we can't get away with that now! Sometimes I think she's way ahead of us and has got it all figured out.

I feel blessed to have her as my oldest child. She has been such a big help to me. Her independence sometimes exceeds her abilities and coordination. Since the time she was born I felt that her spirit was much older than mine. I felt great comfort just being with her, but felt so inferior to her and her greatness. She is a very special child. I am constantly amazed by her!

To celebrate her birthday we took her to Kangaroo Zoo. She was able to invite 1 friend, her brother invited a friend also. We invited our families to come and watch them play. After playing, we took the kids to lunch at Los Hermanos in Lindon and invited our families to join us. It was a lot of fun and Audrey enjoyed it very much! We planned this for earlier in December so that having a baby wouldn't interfere with her birthday plans. Today I will make her favorite dinner, Chinese Chicken (that's what she calls it, it's really sweet and sour chicken). I made her a cake that she picked out. I made a video of her first few months of life, including her ultrasound and the day she was born. We will watch that and maybe another movie. It will be nice to just stay home and be with Audrey on her special day!