I missed it again!

Once again, we had a family get-together, and I did not take any pictures! It was a really great sunday, Enos, Lindsay, Mica, and Matt, came over to watch conference, play StarWars Legos, and eat food. :) I LOVE having them all over! Enos and Lindsay are moving about 10 min away next month, we are all SUPER excited to have them close for a little while before they head off into the world to seek their fortune.

Conference was uplifting, as usual. (LDS General Conf, held twice a year) I especially liked Elder Ballard's talk to young mothers, and I thought of how blogging is helping me to cherish the moments with my kids. They will one day be able to look back at my "journaling" and pictures, and it will bring back memories of the "little things" that are sometimes so easy to forget. Things I never wrote down with Jade and Josh, I am doing with Eddie through blogging. I think this is a great use of modern technology.

I also LOVED Pres Monson's last address. What a great man he is! I felt renewed and ready to move forward in my life. I love his sense of humor, it would be so cool to just sit and talk with him. This was a good weekend.

Since I flaked on taking pictures of this weekend's events, I will leave you with a few cute ones of Eddie. He normally pulls EVERYTHING out of the kitchen drawers, but yesterday he found out they are ALSO fun to climb into. I just bought a bag full of baby-locks......... it's about that time.

Just out of the blue pics

This was a few days ago, Alyson and Josh put on ski goggles and pretended they were race car drivers. They pulled out Bills tools and set up a "car shop" to work on their "cars" (scooters). I love the way kids think!
Here is my happy boy! He is just so darn HAPPY, I love it! I am SO SO grateful we discovered what was wrong. With the right diet, he is going to grow, and he is a happy little dude. Doesn't his soy/rice/almond milk mix look oh so yummy?

Here's to smart doctors, brilliant lab work, and a persistent mother!

I love this video!

I received this email last year and thought this video was very inspiring. Actually one of the most inspiring things I have received through email. If you have not see this video, take some time to watch Randy Pausch, on Oprah reprising his last lecture. My favorite thing he says is "Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want". He says a lot of really great things that make you think about the way you live and parent. I'm sure alot of you have already seen it, but for those of you who have not, and also for those of you like me who need to be reminded, (I have watched it several times), check it out.

If you are interested.....

My friend Javier, who is over in Afghanistan, has some posts on his blog which I found interesting.

This whole thing over there is just so sad. I can understand the logic of pulling the troops out, but I can also see reasons for us to stay. It's going to be sad either way, for our troops who leave families behind, or the innocent people of those countries we leave still filled with bloodshed and chaos. I just have to keep telling myself that we can't fix everything, and the Middle East is NOT the only place in the world where thousands of people suffer and innocent are murdered every day.

Right now, I support our troops 100 percent. I am proud of what my friend Jav is doing. Check out his blog when you get a chance, it's not a big fancy informative blog about life over there, just simple daily things he is experiencing and thinks might interest his friends and family to see.

btw-he is a pretty big goof-ball, that should explain some of his posts. Also, he has some of the most beautiful girls waiting for him back home, if you want to check out Andrea's blog, feel free.

Remember- comments can feel like a lot of support, so don't hesitate to leave one if you check out his blog!

Dinner with family and happy Eddie

Friday night we went out to Mimi's Cafe with Bill's parents, his sister Diane, and her kids. It was a great dinner, good company, and just nice to be with family.
Max is 9, and the only young male cousin Josh has. He is always so sweet to play with Josh even though they are several years apart. There are times when I think they look like they could be brothers, but they DEFINITELY look like cousins! Josh just adores Max.

I wish I had taken pictures of everyone, Diane, Bill, Hannah, Lennon, Jade, and good 'ol mom and pop. :)

Eddie's food allergies have brought some challenges and blessings. The blessing is that he is going to get us all to eat a bit healthier. Now I have someone to split meals with, but the catch is that I HAVE to order special. For this dinner, I ordered salmon with a vinaigrette salad and baked potato. I had to order the salmon plain without the butter spray or any coating, and the potato completely plain with butter on the side for myself. (I have never had very simple salmon like this before, usually has seasonings, but the seasoning mixes have wheat in them)

Eddie really loved the food. He ate half the potato before I got a picture of it. And he probably ate about half the salmon too. I can't believe how much this kid can eat sometimes! Once he heals up inside and starts absorbing all the food he shovels in, he should shoot right up in size.

I know it sounds a bit extreme to those of you not familiar with food allergies, but it seriously makes a difference. I wanted to cry the other day, I didn't know what we were all missing, Eddie was just SO happy! H woke up friday and happy talked in his crib for 20 mins before I got him! He has NEVER done that! (always wakes up crying) All day, he made happy sounds, he was loud, smiling, laughing, playing, etc. He wasn't pulling on my legs and begging to be held, wandering around whining and crying, he even slept without waking up crying through his sleep. I am just so happy his little body is not in pain anymore.

As an example of why we need to be extreme with avoiding gluten, eggs, and dairy, we had a little experience recently. I was gone saturday to a girls night out with Janae, Mica, Lindsay, and another friend of theirs in Provo. Bill didn't know, but when he ordered chinese food for everyone, he ordered some french fries for Eddie. (They were coated and fried in the same oil as all the other breaded foods) He woke up crying and was fussy most of the day, just like his old self. So a little bit makes a difference.

btw- As far as I have been told, McDonald's is the only place that fry their french fries in separate oil from all the other breaded, fried foods. I do not know any other places, but I'm sure there must be at least one or two others.

Jade's creative gift

Jade went to a birthday party for a friend in her class. She said this girl loves dogs, so on her own, Jade made this watercolor painting, put it in a frame, (I dug out the frame for her), wrapped it, and decorated it.
It's not the best picture, I actually un-wrapped it so I could get a snap shot before she left for the party, and it's hard to see the brush details behind the glare of glass.

Sure makes my life easy, I don't have to run to the store and spend money on gifts when she just walks out of the art room with a gift all ready. I can't tell you how much I adore this girl of mine, for millions of reasons, but this is just a little one. :)

My little brother

"Enos the Genius" That is what we called my brother all growing up, to combat the things OTHER people were calling him. Turns out, it was honestly true. I am SO proud of my little brother, he does things all the time that make me grateful he is my brother. But every now and then he does something even MORE cool than his normal actions, and I have to brag a bit, cause I'm the bossy older sister and I can do and say what I want!
Well, aside from the fact that he has been BRILLIANT at school, he just told me today that he has been chosen as one of 4 out of nearly 1000 students to speak at his graduation. (Lindsay spoke at hers as well, so I think they are equally matched, and this is just more proof)

I also have to say, that I am proud to be the big sister of 4 younger brothers and one beautiful sister, and I am honestly proud of each of them in their own way.

but this post is about Enos, so........ CONGRATULATIONS MY BROTHER ENOS THE GENIUS!

Eddie update

We got the call from his doctor today with all the test results. It's not a big deal, a little more than what I was expecting, but I had a feeling we just needed to change his diet.

So he can't have gluten or wheat, anything with dairy or egg whites. I'm a little bummed about the dairy and egg thing, because it's not that hard to find specialty gluten-free breads and cookies, or lactose-free dairy items, but it's REALLY hard to find breads NOT made with eggs, or "dairy-free" cheese and yogurt.

I know a lot of people who can't eat dairy, or can't eat wheat. But I need to meet people who have experience with cutting out ALL dairy, wheat, and eggs. If you know of anyone, have any info for me, please let me know. I have already found some stuff on the internet, but I need to do more research.

THANK GOODNESS it is nothing worse! Simply changing diet is NOT that big of a deal, and his doctor is confident once his insides heal up, he will start to grow. I'm so grateful it's not some disorder that needs to be treated with medication, or leads to a shorter life, etc. There are a bunch of things that can cause stunted growth, discomfort, and digestive issues that are much more serious. Maybe now he will be able to sleep soundly, be a little happier, and grow to be a tall, strong kid like his big brother.

Thank you all again for your thoughtfulness and concerns, I really appreciate them!

Last attempt at Spring Break fun

Tomorrow is the dreaded day back to school for my kids. They have been awesome at helping me clean out the house, clearing out the junk for our yard sale next month. I also needed to run a few errands, so to multi-task, (my favorite thing to do, and the ONLY way I will make the effort to leave the house), I gathered a few neighbor kids, and we took a day trip.....in town. Alyson was with us while her mom worked, Cheyenne and Morgan joined in, and we headed off to do some shopping with the promise of a "good time" as a reward to decent behavior.

At our 4th errand stop, Josh got in trouble for being a bit mean to the girls, so I made him sit in the middle seat, and he did not like that at all.
As part of the "reward", (since the dollar movies were sold out), we went to a local historical farm. I picked up clearance Easter candy and Taco Bell to eat as a picnic, bought bags of duck-food to dump in the pond, tokens for a tractor ride, and we hit the farm at full speed. (I wondered if this is what it would be like to have 6 kids?)
Eddie could not take his eyes off the ducks and geese......and he clinched his cold quesadilla to death.
A really cool Elder tree.......and Josh showing off his monkey skills.
The fun tractor ride that gave mom and Eddie some alone time for 15 min.
Josh and Alyson being silly in a tree house.
There were a lot of animals to pet, but I think the kids loved the horses the best, and had fun feeding them grass. What kid doesn't?
I have about a dozen pictures of the kids on these old tractors. They had a good time pretending.




They were tired when it was over, but they came back and got right into eating ice-cream and playing with skate boards in our front yard until Alyson and Cheyenne were picked up by parents. I'm ready for school to start now!

Is this what a "fun mom" does?

Well, saturday afternoon, I was feeling a bit low. Not really "down", so much as overwhelmed and stressed. I have made the kids spend most of their Spring Break cleaning out the house, while my heart was missing the canceled trip to Vegas. I know most of you know this feeling, when you are overwhelmed with significant life issues, the "little" things appear absolutely meaningless and a waste of precious time. I have done very little for Easter, or any recent holiday. My kids did not get new clothes, cute toys, books, or lots of candy. It's OK, don't feel sorry for them, those things are not that important. But I sat there and realized I needed to do SOMETHING for Easter since that morning egg hunt with the primary was a little on the bummer side.
I had bought a little candy to put in a bag for them, but asked them if they would like to do an egg hunt in our yard instead of get candy sunday morning. They JUMPED at that idea. So I called Alyse and my next door neighbor, (Cheyenne's grandparents), and they pitched in with some candy and eggs, and I threw an egg hunt together in record time. I made some hard boiled eggs, and those combined with Cheyenne's eggs, made a pretty good collection for the kids to decorate, OUTSIDE, while I stuffed candy into plastic eggs as quickly as I could.
It was over so fast, but the kids had a lot of fun.
Eddie enjoyed his two little suckers. :)
I actually felt like a "fun mom". Lately I have felt like a big boss at a cleaning factory. I need to remember that although "adult" responsibilities may seem looming and overwhelming to figure out sometimes, to the kids, they just see tired and stressed parents. We don't want them to worry, they still need the "little things" that are fun and light-hearted so they can just be kids.



A great example of just being kids.......
Later that evening, they would NOT stop fighting. Bill sent them to the backyard with no further commands, just to get OUT of the house. About 10 min later I noticed it was so quiet. I went outside to this picture. They were looking at the sky, WITHOUT fighting. I wish I had a manual for these kids!

A sweet little reunion

One of my good friends from our time in Spain, Jackie, stopped by for a visit on thursday. I saw her in Vegas as they were passing through, and it has been a while. She has the most adorable baby boy, a much long awaited miracle. (13 yrs between her two boys) Her husband was the LDS branch president at Rota Naval base where Josh was born. They, along with some other (Navy) church members, were like our family, and we visited with them every time we traveled to Rota. (we were the only LDS family on Moron AB and the local area, we spent 2 years going to the nearest church in spanish, so the members at Rota were a major life-line for me)
It was a short visit, Bill and I had missed the big get-together with some of the other Rota families who were in the area the day before, but I am SO grateful I got to spend some time with Jackie before she heads off to Guam for 4 yrs. I miss how people bond when living overseas away from "American" comforts and family. Not quite the same here in the States, just different. Good friends are such a blessing!

Ok, a little off-subject......

some of you have asked about Eddie, that he looks "normal". He kind of does, but he is 1 yr old here, baby Jonathan is 4 mo. and they are about 2 lbs different. Jonathan's dad is NOT nearly 6'8". (Eddie really should be a bigger boy) His doctor called me today to give me some of the test results that have come back. He said they are "interesting" results, and do not quite fit together, but are not major. He is going to do some more research, as well as hope for more info from the tests that are still pending, and get back to me tomorrow or wed. It's nothing big, we probably just need to change his diet, and then the doctor is confident he will start growing like he should. :) Thank you for your concerns and questions. He really is fine overall, it's nothing big, I am SO thankful there is not something major going on.

quick list of junk

1. Am I the last person to discover google-reader? Do you all know about that? How brilliant! There are a bunch of "feed readers" out there, but it's just nice and convenient to have a window on your homepage that lists all the new posts from all your favorite blogs, so you don't have to waste time checking EACH blog for new posts. I love it!

2. Eddie's weight has dropped on the growth chart, low 20%range, but his head is now in the 90% range. So I have a list of TONS of tests the poor little guy is getting checked for. I have to take him to Primary Children's hospital again for them all. I need to do that today or tomorrow. I doubt it's going to turn up as anything major, but there is something. (probably just a mal-absorption issue) He is obviously a pretty active and otherwise healthy, normal 1 yr old. So what if he turns out to be a little mushroom among giant redwoods? He will be the cutest little mushroom in the whole forest. :)

3. We are at a sort of "cross-road" right now with some things, (one of many that come up throughout life), not sure how it's all going to pan out. Bill did the sweetest thing the other day, He told me he found our "family song". I don't know anyone who hasn't heard it already, but it was just so sweet that in the midst of stress and uncertainty, my sweetheart thinks of something romantic. (it was kind of for me, but we call it our "family song") HERE Jade loves to play this over and over. :)

4. I was hoping to get a bunch of stuff made for the spring boutiques, but I'm not sure I'm going to make it, I am a bit pre-occupied right now, but as soon as we sort out what we are going to do next, I will get my creative juices flowing. I will let you know when I get stuff up on my art blog, but it really might be a while. Thank you to those of you who have supported and encouraged me with that, I can't tell you how much I appreciate it!

More snow!

Saturday night we got nearly 8 inches, after all the lovely sun. Sunday we took a nice refreshing walk after church, and after some of the snow melted again. Jade takes Sadie, our neighbors choco-lab walking almost every day. She is our long term sub for Wayne-Sushi.

Yes, I know it's a bit much........

Ok, MORE cake pictures. On friday we had the BD bash with my side of the family. So Enos and Lindsay, Mica and Matt, and my cousins Jon and Angelina, joined us for an evening of yummy cheesy dinner, chocolate goodness, and video game madness. (*whew* that sums up the night)

I have to say for last min "box mix" cake, this is one of the better bundts I have made. (Devils food cake, choco pudding mix, variety of choco chip, with thick choco icing, sprinkles, and Jade's artistic touch for decorating) Eddie loved it, I'm surprised he could still breath with all the cake up his nose.
Lindsay found him the CUTEST little shoes. I LOVE them! (he loves them too, doesn't complain to wear them, and I have never seen him "play" with his shoes when they are off, but he does with these)

Angelina got him TOO COOL "Gap Surf" swim shorts that should last him the next 2 summers. I love this age when a size 2 fits a baby with a diaper, and also a toddler without one. We put on his new gear over his PJ's, he is so stylin'!
Oh for the love of Lego Star Wars! Josh seems pretty content to share his glorious (and weekly restricted) game.

It was so nice of everyone to drive up for the evening. We love you guys! Thanks again!

Happy Birthday Edmund Cole!

This picture was taken less than 40 mins before Eddie literally exploded into this world one year ago, when he is ready for something, there is NO stopping him!
At the time Bill took this photo, I had a panic feeling that we were short on time, Bill was NOT moving fast enough, we barely made it to a hospital bed in time. That's my boy!

The next few are a bit out of order. First, Jade got to help give him a bath, then took a sweet picture of a calm, clean, new baby brother with her hand near by.

About a week old in Grandpa Ed's hands.

Grandma Velda just gave him a bath

It took Josh a while to warm up to him, but then it was pure love.

Cuddling with grandma in his warm fuzzy hat she made him.

My three kiddies, nothing put peace and love. (I will always remember that moment)

Eddie, about 6 months old, with an adoring big sister.

I love baby kisses!
I also love sleeping babies. (8 mo old)

Yesterday afternoon, my BIG BOY, likes to play......

He is alot of work, AND alot of fun, we can't imagine our family without him!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EDDIE-BOY!!!

New sidebar item

I just started a section in my sidebar, "Josh quotes". I will post silly random comments he makes, (at least the ones that are appropriate), just for all amusement. Enjoy!

Jade's last game of the season

This afternoon Jade's team had their last game. Mom's against the girls. Girls won, Jade made the winning shot. I didn't make a single point, but I sure tried.

It was a great game, Jade is pretty aggressive with defense. Her coach joked that the other teams were coached against Jade, they were told "where ever #15 is, go to the opposite side, stay away!" She plays a mean defense, has NO problem getting in someones face, and at this age, most of the girls are still a bit wimpy, so she made quite a few cry during the season because she wouldn't let up. I love my girl!