President Hinckley

I was shocked when my Methodist friend arrived at my doorstep to drop off her daughter for me to take to school (she and Emily go to the same preschool) and she told me how sorry she was to hear about the president of my church. To my great astonishment he had passed away Sunday evening. It wasn't unexpected, he had been suffering with cancer and he was 97 years old, but to me it seemed as if he would live forever!
I apologize for the tardiness of my post. I have a hard time thinking outside of the box sometimes. I've put my blog into the category of posting pictures of me and my family and what's going on. All of my friends did a tribute to President Hinckley on their blogs, and I don't want to be a copy cat just to be a copy cat. But as I've sat reading their beautiful words I can't help but think how much President Hinckley has been a part of our family. His life and passing more than anything I can think of have been a pervading influence in our home and hearts. He truly was a prophet of God. He did have a talent for helping everyone to feel like he loved them, and we all feel like we personally knew and loved him too. His accomplishments were all emcompassing, he led the church into a new era of temple building, established a relationship with the media, and loved the members so much he spent months traveling the globe to extend the hand of fellowship and gratitude to them all. He was a mighty man of God and he will be sorely missed. But like all of my friends I can't feel sad for myself very long, for he has been reunited with his wife whom he dearly loved and with the Lord whom he faithfully, ceaselessly and energetically served. What a glorious day for him! We love you President Hinckley and can't wait to greet you in the next life and express our gratitude for all you've done for each of us!

Scripture Mastery

We've set a goal to help our kids start memorizing scriptures. I orded the seminary scripture mastery cards to get us started. They're only 25 cents! This is the second one we've done. I got to thinking about it, and decided it would be fun to use my adobe photoshop to make a layout for it. I really like how it turned out!
I used Melany Violette's kit "You are my sunshine". For the tree I used "In the shade of the woods by Mira Designs and the cookie cutter tool.

New layout!

I loved the picture of Haddie smiling so much that I sat down today and made a layout. I love how it turned out. The kit is called "Sunnydaze" by Nancie Janitz. The only thing that isn't in that kit is the stitching, that's from Kay Miller's "Over the Rainbow" kit.
I love that the kit is called Sunnydaze and that's exactly how I feel inside when my babies start smiling at me--bright, sunny and cheery!

My melting heart.

Haddie loves Ryan, he gets down there and talks to her in a sweet voice and she starts cooing and kicking her little legs and gets very excited. She LOVES her brother!
I did it! I captured one of her sweet smiles on camera. It just melts my heart!

Reading

Julia just spontaneously started reading to Emily this afternoon. It was very cute. About halfway through Julia looked at me and said, "Mom, I just really love reading to Emily. I could sit here for the rest of my life and just read to Emily."
Snaps to my friend Kristie! We were at the library and I was trying to find some books that Ryan could read, but that would be interesting to him. I remember Kristie saying her son Weston (who is Ryan's age) really loves to read the Hardy Boy Mysteries. We got Ryan one and he loves it!
Here is Ben playing with one of the Matryshka dolls my Grandma and Grandpa Kohler brought back with them from their mission to Russia.
I got some new specks that I absolutely adore. Julia was practicing her photographic prowess. She took this picture of Haddie and I.

Haddie

She is sure getting big! The poor thing is very congested. She has that wonderful rasping grate in her breathing so indicative of asthmatics. She has to stop and take lots of breaks in between drinks of bottle so that she can breath.
I thought it would be the perfect time for a little photo session. But she got sad right off the bat.
Who couldn't love a sweet little face like this?

I'm back!

Things are finally starting to calm down here; although, I'm now 99% sure that Haddie is asthmatic like Benjamin. She does the same wheezing and grating. It's pretty sad actually. This spring I'll probably have to take her in to see Ben's Pulminologist and she'll probably have to start being nebulized. Hopefully, she won't put up as big of a fight as Ben did. Anyway, here's Ben playing with his trains.
He's at another stage where he's learning a lot of new words rather quickly. He was talking up a storm while I was photographing him, telling me all about the trains, their numbers and who went first, second, etc.
It's a nice coincidence that he has his Thomas the Tank Engine shirt on for the occassion!

Another one bites the dust!

I woke up at 4 am to a sick little boy reeking of overnight diaper distress at my bedside. Benjamin is now in a severe asthma state. He had a temperature of 102 degrees, and is couging until he almost throws up. I can't get him to eat hardly anything, and he is not even "making it" (being cough free and better able to breath) between nebulizer treatments which we are doing consistently every four hours. At 4:30, because Ben was having such a hard time and they seem to have a similar thing going on, I went to check on Hadley. Sure enough she was awake, severly congested, crying and hungry. What in the world am I going to do about my immune deficient, breathing challenged two youngest children?
I haven't had time to go purchase another battery for my camera, so still no pictures, sorry!

Back to the hospital!

Well, Hadley has another fever and is congested and green boogery again! We called her doctor's office last night and they sent us back to the emergency room at Cook Children's! Oy, vey--let this be a lesson to all of you, never have a winter baby!
After another onslaught of tests, booger sucking, urine collecting, blood drawing and ANOTHER spinal tap, the conclusion was that my poor tiny baby has a urinary tract infection! Poor little one! So, after five hours in a tiny stark white poorly vented room, they gave her a shot of antibiotic, made us wait another half an hour to make sure she didn't have a negative reaction and then sent us home.
I only have a few things to say about all of this: 1)I am certainly grateful for the medical advances of our time 2)I really hope we don't average an emergency room visit per month for the rest of the winter and 3)I don't know how moms and dads who have kids frequently in the hospital do it--it's emotionally draining, time consuming and--at times--extremely annoying! I swear they'd wait just long enough between procedures for her to fall asleep and then they'd come back in again and torment my beautiful baby! I know that it was good to take the precaution and I'm glad they did. It's hard to see a needle draining spinal fluid sticking out of your little babies back who's curled up in a little ball and turning red because she's in pain and crying in terror, she doesn't know what's going on and she's being firmly restrained by a complete stranger who just wants to get this procedure done so she can go and do the next one so she can go home when she's supposed to.
Okay, my rantings are starting to sound bitter, and I'm really not. I guess I'm just starting to realize that people are human. Yes, even doctors and nurses. They also get short handed and tired and other stuff just like "regular" people.
Well, we'll go get her antibiotic and hopefully she'll start feeling better soon!
For those of you interested in stats, Hadley is now 10 lbs and 3 oz. They didn't measure her height though. We have to go follow up with her doctor today, so maybe they'll measure her. The battery in my camera died, so I have no new pictures to post, sorry :(

On my toes!

My friend Kristie certainly keeps me on my toes! She asked for more pictures of Hadley and I am more than happy to oblige. I wish I had a better variety, but the battery in my camera ran out. It's a little frustrating because I'm sure I had another one somewhere, but I can't find it. She was being so cute just talking to her daddy and smiling at him and telling him "words". I was trying to get the smile on camera, but it didn't work.


She fell asleep in her bouncy seat and she looked so sweet I just couldn't resist. I love how her little hands look!
A closer shot, she was getting tired of me taking pictures! You can tell because her little eyes are shut tight trying to block out all the annoying light.

Ooops!

I forgot the best part of the chicken azteca recipe! 20 minutes before you plan to serve it you add 8 tbsp. (or 1 cube) of cream cheese (I use the light). If it's not already, you turn the temperature up to high and let it melt. Then you serve over the cooked rice and add all the other good stuff on top!

New Year's Resolutions

Alright, when I was at Ben's pulminologist appointment I weighed myself. AAAAaaahahhhhhHHH! I am chubby. Today I joined www.myfooddiary.com. It's cool because it's only $9 a month. It tracks your calories and your exercise. I have 35 lbs. to lose, so if anyone out there wants to join my in weight loss, let me know. We could cheer each other along!

Recipes

My friend Sheena is in a recipe rut, so I decided to share a few.

Chicken Azteca: (My awesome friend Sarah told me about this one)
In a crock-pot combine 1 15 oz. can black beans, drained, 2 cups of frozen corn kernels, 1 clove of minced garlic, around 1/2 tsp. of cumin (depending on what you like) and 1/2 cup of chunky salsa. Put 3 large boneless skinless chicken breast halves on top. cover with another 1/2 a cup of chunky salsa. Cook on low 4-6 hours or on high 2-3 hours. Serve over cooked rice, top with shredded cheese, sour cream and taco sauce for an added zing!

Chicken Haystacks:
2-3 cooked chicken breast halves
1 can pineapple
1 chopped red pepper
1 chopped tomato
shredded cheese
1 small can olives, chopped
1 can of cream of chicken soup reconstituted
crunchy chow mein noodles
sweetned shredded coconut

I love this meal because everyone can take what they like. You put some rice on your plate and top it with any combination of the items listed. It's yummy!

Broiled Salmon:
We've recently enjoyed buying some fresh salmon and cooking it for 15-25 minutes (depending on how thick the salmon is). Salmon is definitely better if it is cooked the day it is bought. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Place some aluminum foil on a baking sheet. Place the salmon on top. Rub with a tiny bit of olive or canola oil. Sprinkle with a little salt, garlic powder and squeeze a little fresh lemon juice on top. We love this with homemade baking powder biscuits and a vegetable.

Alfredo Sauce:
There is a restuarant in St. George and Salt Lake City called the Pasta Factory. It has the yummiest alfredo sauce ever. In high school my brother worked there, and he gave us the recipe! Just don't even think about the fat content, or your arteries will start to clog, but it's super delicious.
Melt 1/4 C. butter and 1/4 C. cream cheese in a sauce pan. Season with salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste. Add 1/2 C. flour and stir with a whisk over medium heat for a minute or so to get the floury taste out. Add 1 C. of milk (it's even better with whole milk, half and half or whipping cream, but it does add more fat) (you can add more later to get it the consistency you like) and cook over medium-high heat stirring constantly. When sauce starts to thicken add 1/2 c. shredded parmesean cheese. Stir until combined. Serve over fettucine (or any noodles), with chicken, mushrooms, mixed vegetables, shrimp or whatever combination of things sound good to you.

Ryan's Baptism Part II

Thanks to my sweet daddy, I have more pictures of Ryan's baptism to share. Here are Ryan and his daddy all set for the big event. They look great in white.
Here is grandma giving Ryan a brand new set of scriptures so he can study more about the gospel.
Here is Emily in the hallway. She's a cutie bug!
Julia had an especially hard time. She loves to be the center of attention. She was totally freaking out that it was Ryan's special day and that it had nothing to do with her. She almost didn't get to come with us to Ryan's baptism day lunch at Burger King because she was throwing a fit and making it a hard day for everyone. Luckily she decided to pull it together and did an awesome job of helping her brother feel special on such an important day!

Hadley's blessing

I had a little bit more time this morning (as opposed to yesterday morning) before Hadley's blessing, so we had a little photo session. For those of you who don't know, Hadley actually means a field of Heather. So, in a way, she is named after me. This is actually the blessing dress I wore. Hadley looked absolutely adorable, thanks to my mom who stayed up until 3 in the morning replacing yellowed lace and the slip underneath.
I pride myself on being on time to church, usually we're five minutes early. You'd have to know that the one day I'm late is the day I need to be early. Scott called me five minutes before we had to leave to tell me that Ben's new sunbeam teacher needed a picture of him for her lesson. I couldn't get the darn thing to print. I knew we were running behind, so I went a different way to church because I thought it may be faster. It wasn't! We came bolting into the chapel in the knick of time.
My mom and I always like to take a picture of the cute little shoesies, since you can't see them under the dress.
Here they are, all five of my little munchkins!

Ryan's Baptism Part 1

Well, in typical Heather fashion, I was trying too hard this Saturday. I got so busy with other things, even though pictures were one of the most important things to me, that this is one of only three pictures taken with my camera, and the other two didn't turn out very well. Grandpa Oliver has some other pictures on his camera, so when he emails them we'll do baptism part 2. Here's all of us right after Ryan's confirmation. He really loved everything about the day and said he felt the spirit and felt "pure". He absolutely adores the new scriptures G & G Oliver bought, and carries them everywhere with him!

Grandma and Grandpa

Grandma and Grandpa Oliver drove down to visit us from St. George. An 18 hour drive. We love that they love us enough to take the time and spend the money. They came down for Ryan's baptism and Hadley's blessing--stay-tuned for pictures of those exciting events! Hadley LOVES sleeping on Grandma!

Here's Hadley eating on Grandma. They've spent a lot of time together! They're now great friends.
Here's Hadley taking a little nap with Grandpa. Aren't they cute!

Blocks

Benjamin got a set of 200 wood blocks for Christmas. I would say it's everyone's favorite toy of all the toys they got at Christmas. They spend hours and hours constructing towers, houses, roads, etc. This is Ryan's castle. He was SO proud of it he wanted me to take a picture.

I'm serious!

Here is Hadley's serious face. I was interrupting her while she was eating. So she gave me the look.
Putting away the laundry--not Hadley. I was holding Hadley and Scott asked me to take Emily's clothes upstairs and put them away. So, I put Hadley in the basket and she went up with me. She just looked TOO CUTE I couldn't resist a picture.
When we got upstairs I laid her on Emily's bed so I could put the clothes away. Her sister couldn't resist her charms and they crawled on the bed with her to give her snuggles.