Willow & her blessing dress...

Yes, it has taken me a month to get pictures of my baby in her blessing dress! Part of it has was due to my "wonderful" camera acting up and the other part was- we kept running out of time before church! I kept saying, "I'll get a picture soon, but it never happened. So, finally today, I propped her down on the couch and prayed for at least 1 decent picture.
I love this little girl. I am delighted that she is finally with us, and surprised at how wonderful everything and everyone has been with her arrival. I couldn't ask for a better baby. Love you Willow!

My beautiful babies...

Trav just showed me how to crop, flip, and fiddle around with my pictures, so bare with me as I try to figure it out. Here are my sweet babies, oh, how I adore them!

A family picture...

FINALLY... a family picture that doesn't consist of me in a hospital gown!

Thanksgiving fun...

Time to relax...

All I can say is I love my in-laws. They are the kindest, most gracious people I know, not to mention the bravest! They host Thanksgiving in their home almost every year. All 27 try to fit in their 1300+ sq foot home without breaking down the walls. It usually reqires 3 tables, a huge turkey and earplugs! (Just kidding, but with 17 grand kids, it does get a little bit loud!)We had a great time visiting with family for 3 days and are glad G-ma & G-pa have their house put back together!

My little Dr.......

It was so cute last week when Grace was playing Dr. with Willow. She was so gentle and soft, kind of melted my heart a little bit.

2009 Turkey Bowl...

(Jen, make sure Jared sees these so he knows I really did take pictures!)

Every Thanksgiving morning, the guys from our ward get together at 8:30 AM and play a mean game of football. Last year was Trav's first year playing in the blessed event and we joked then that he was getting old because, somehow, he managed to pull a muscle in his leg. I felt sorry for him! This year was a little different- there were no injuries, just sore muscles this time! Yeah. (He actually works out at the Y a few times a week, so we think that helped him this year!)
The kids and I walked to the park to watch Daddy play this time and they actually survived the FREEZING cold weather for about 30 minutes! It was fun to watch Papa play!

Going swimming...

We took the kids swimming the other night at the Y and they had a great time. It was Willow's first bathing suit experience, and I must admit, she looked adorable! Trav is such an amazing Daddy. After a long, exausting,10 hour day- plus another hour of driving, he still wanted to take the kids swimming for 2 hours when he came home! I love that man!

Saying goodbye this morning...

Here we are saying goodbye after a fun visit with G-pa & Aunt Helene...

G-pa & Aunt Helene come for a visit!

I was so happy when dad told me he and my Aunt Helene were coming for a quick visit. They arrived yesterday at 3:00 PM- we had pizza for dinner, had a treasure hunt, made a fire & relaxed, talked, took pictures and then said goodbye this morning at 9:30 AM. I am so glad they were able to make it out 1 more time this year. Thanks for everything!

G-pa & the treasure hunt...

I was talking to my Dad a few nights before he came to visit, and he said he was making treasure maps for the kids and was going to hide treasure in the back yard for them to find. My heart melted as I invisioned my Father drawing 3 treasure maps and placing treats in plastic bags, smiling as he did it. The kids had a great time trying to find their treats. Daisy found hers under the picnic table, Tristin's was hidden in a cinder block between the sheds and Grace found her's in the bottom of a tree. They each recieved a 5.00 bill & candy! It was pretty cute to watch their faces light up as the located their lost treasure.
I think a lot of my healing has come as I have watched my Dad interact with my children. I ached for my father growing up and we missed out on so many years, but it makes me heart smile every time we are together because we have a great relationship now. He comes to visit a few times a year and he rides his bike out often to give me a ride (although I don't think I'll be taking any more motorcycle rides at 7 months pregnant! That was a bumpy memory, but thanks Dad!)
I've learned that I cannot change what happened in the past, and that all those years I missed him, just made me a little more grateful for what we have today. It means the world to me when he drives hundreds of miles to see us and then has to leave the next day to return home, just to drive a few more hundred miles. It proves that I was worth the effort, I meant something, and that's all I've wanted my entire life. Just to know I was loved and valued...Thank you Papa for everything. I love you and I am so thankful to have you in my life.

Willow...

Here's a few more...

Willow is 6 weeks old!

My Little Miss Muffet is 6 weeks old today and doing great! She loves to sleep, watch episodes of "The Office" with her Mom & Dad, go shopping for deals, get wildly drunk off her Mommy's milk, be held by her sisters & brother, sleep some more & look pretty darn cute doing it all. We love her to pieces. My favorite moments are holding her tiny little hands and kissing her adorable little neck. It's amazing how much I can love another tiny person, and how wonderful it is that I get to wake up every day and do it all over again. I adore my babies...

My babies...

As I was leaving this morning at 6:20 to make an early Albertson's run, I couldn't help but take a picture of my sleeping beauties. They looked so adorable.

Integrity, people!

You know when you want something really bad and the thought of it just doesn't leave you alone? You know how you think about it all day, fighting in your mind that you really don't need it, but that it would just be fun to have? You know when you finally commit to buy it and you feel all warm inside and can't wait to hold it in your hands? And then you drag your 4 kids with you because you are actually salivating over it? And then you wait 30 minutes in the parking lot with kids going wild in the car until it's baked and then drag everyone inside just to wait longer for it and you are questioning yourself if it was worth it? But you remind yourself how wonderful it will taste and how calories are over rated to begin with. And then you pay for it, herd your children back out the door of the germ infested place, open the box just to take in the aroma- to find this staring back at you!
Really? I just wasted 45 minutes of my life for this? I was so mad last night as I drove away with my burnt pizza. I just shook my head in disappointment, looked at the kids and then wondered if it was worth dragging them all back inside, just to wait forever in line again, to be told it would take another 40 minutes to bake another one, and then wait for it while I cringed as I watched the kids playing with the greesy video games to kill the time? No. I decided it wasn't worth it, so I went home and showed Trav. " Ohmigosh" he said disgustedly. So I called and explained the situation and they offered us another pizza for free- which of course would take another 40 minutes, and naturally, we would have to go pick it up-again! I thought it was kind of funny because someone looked at that pizza, sliced it into 8 pieces, thought it was okay, closed the lid and then slapped my name on it for me to pick up. Where's the integrity, people? (it looked a lot worse in person! I think the flash gave it a nice cheesy glow because it didn't look that great, believe me!)

Willow is 5 weeks old!

I am still amazed at fast they grow and how quickly time flies. Here is little miss muffet, all 9 pounds of her at 5 weeks old.

Halloween...

These were the only 2 pictures I could get before my camera died- have I mentioned how much I hate that thing? My camera? yes, I will splurge a get a new one soon...
Here are my babies: the vampire, the baby leopard, the princess and the pink flamingo!

I never knew...

I never knew what it felt like to have my heart crumble into a million pieces until I left for college and watched my Mom drive away on the slippery ice.
I never knew how her words, "Emmy, I just want you to be happy" would change and alter my my life so dramatically.
I never knew how lonely I would be until I didn't have her by my side each and every day.
I never knew how impossible it was going to be without her until I got married and never lived with her again.
I never realized how just her voice could calm me, until that's all I had left to cling to.
I never understood how much she had changed my life until I became a Mother myself.
I never realized what she sacraficed for me, until my own children were born.
I never knew your heart could actually ache so much it felt like it had crawled into your throat making it difficult to breath.
I never knew how much I depended on her until 3 days would pass without a phone call and I would begin to panic.
I never knew how impossible it was going to be to let her go, until I had to...

... I'm glad it hurts this much every time we say goodbye.
I love you Mama.

Mama & Brent come for a visit...

One of the best parts about having babies, is that my Mom always comes for a visit after I have one! (So I've decided to just keep having 1 each year to make sure I see her often! Just kidding Mom!!!)We were counting down the months, weeks, days, hours and minutes until G-ma & G-pa would be here to visit. They arrived on Thursday the 29th (Trav's b-day) and left on Halloween day. We had such a great visit- recieving gifts, shopping, going to dinner, making split pea soup & birthday cake, playing Bingo with the kids, playing Yahtzee, making play- do critters, making carmaled apples, going to the park with G-pa, watching the snow, going to the movies, folding a few loads of laundry, jumping on the trampoline with G-pa, making haunted houses, getting Sonic with my Mom, finding orange earings, playing with the kids, talking, Mom stealing donuts from their hotel for me, having Tristin & Daisy stay a night at the hotel with G-ma & G-pa, admiring Trav's amazing spider web, going to Target, eating taco salad, trying to get G-pa in the back seat of the van with the kids, introducing G-pa to Joss Stone, watching Trav show G-pa what the Internet can do, buying a new hair dryer & shoe laces for Brent, holding the baby, watching Grace change into/out of a thousand costumes and dress up clothes, reading stories, thrift store shopping, Mom buying me a new toaster, laughing and watching Grace watch the movie Mask for a hundred times! We had so much fun together, made more memories and are now excited for May when we can drive to Seattle for my brother's wedding! Thank you for everything Mommy!

Playing red light, green light, balencing on 1 foot, Tristin holding Willow & playing Bingo with G-ma

I bought a really cool traffic light at a yard sale for a $1.00 and I have it hanging in the kitchen- so when Mom & Brent were here, they started playing Red light, Green light- they looked so funny, grown adults moving 2 steps and then freezing in place when the light turned red- here's one of Mom playing with the kids. The other one is of Tristin & Daisy trying to balance on 1 foot with their eyes closed (Just another goofy thing Brent wanted to see them do!)The next is of Tristin holding Willow and the other 2 are of our fabulous Bingo game. Mom & i always go to the dollar store and buy Bingo prizes and then play a kabillon Bingo games- the goofy glasses were one of the prizes, the kids were cracking up!