My favorite picture of our trip

I think this is my favorite picture of the whole trip. It accurately portrays how most of us felt most of the time. At one point Haddie just got so sick of everything that she put her blankie over her head and fell asleep. Too funny!

More Christmas

Grandma bought each of the boy cousins a light saber. They were a hit.
Hadley giving a not so sure cousin Oliver some lovin'.
Ollie and Haddie and Grandpa got a turn to play.
Look at these three cute boy cousins. Oliver, Jude and Dexter. I sure was happy to get some holding time in. I had never even seen Jude, he's so wonderfully adorable. Auntie Heather misses all of you already!

Christmas in Utah

We drove 23 hours to spend Christmas in Utah with most of my family. Good times--with the exception of the endless hours in the car. Helping kids pee into the tupperware so we didn't have to stop every half an hour, Haddie getting pneumonia and a double ear infection and then waking up every night either at 3am or 5am making me stressed as to how I was going to keep her quiet and happy so as not to wake up the other many people in the house, and then during the day she was such a cranky pants. Ahhhhh! I'm glad to be back home, but we also really did enjoy our Christmas. My kids had SO much fun playing with cousins they hadn't seen for a year and a half. We also took a morning to drive down to BYU and walk around campus. I love that place! I hope at least a few of our kids decide to go there so that I can go back over the years. Thanks Marie and Ryan for letting us come and play at your new house!

The Golden Gate Basketball Hoop

This is the "Adjust and Jam" Litte Tikes Basketball Set we bought for Benjamin's 5th Birthday. I would not suggest buying it. It has been a nothing but a major pain in my side. First the net would not stay in place. I finally got twisty ties that come with garbage bags and rigged them into each and every slot to keep the net in place. PAIN! Then the rim would not stay up, it kept falling down. Finally I noticed a hole in the middle of the plastic rim closest to the backboard and I figured out a way to jimmy rig the thing up and over the backboard with some yarn. The yarn that I used was made out of cotton, so it kept ripping. So then, I decided to reinforce the yarn with masking tape. AAAHHHHHHHHHH!! Is anyone else sick of this basketball hoop yet?
Yesterday the yarn that had not been reinforced with masking tape ripped. So I took all of that yarn off and decided that an acrylic yarn would probably work better. So, that is what I spent this morning doing. Hopefully, it will last longer than 1 day. I think my next stop is wire if the acrylic yarn doesn't work. Anyway, we have taken to calling it the Golden Gate Basketball hoop since the rigging resembles the wiring on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. And remember dear friends, if the plastic of the rim does not directly insert into the plastic of the backboard, DO NOT BUY THE DANG THING!

blankets

The three little kids made a bed of blankets in the hallway and were playing babies. They are cutie kiddos.

Ryan's birthday

A giant chocolate chip cookie cake and a Nintendo DS. What more can a guy want for his 10th birthday? We love you Ryan! and we're SO glad you're are the big brother in our family!

Recent craftiness

A poncho for one of Emily's friends.
A newsboy cap for the 3 year old sister of the little baby I watch during the day.
Here is the newsboy cap with the Elf hat I made for the baby.
I did this one today in a little under two hours for one of my mom's friends who underwent Chemo to treat her cancer. She is now in partial remission!

No longer a Bear

Ryan earned his Bear rank in Cub Scouts, and now that he is officially 10, he is no longer a Bear, but advanced to a Webelos! We are proud of all he has accomplished in Scouts and in school. His last progress report said one B and the rest A's! Way to go Ryan!

Hadley's Birthday

Haddie had sort of a lame birthday. We had had a lot of Halloween candy and figured our kids didn't really need any more sweets, and that Haddie didn't particularly care, so we skipped the cake and went straight to presents. Don't worry, we did sing Happy Birthday!
We hit the jackpot with the present. I found a set at Costco for $34 that had a baby, a bassinet, a high chair and a stroller. Haddie was in heaven for many days, and even thought the novelty has somewhat worn off, she still LOVES her present!

Off to School

It was about 6 o'clock in the evening and Haddie decided that it was time to go to school. She put on her brother's jacket, her sister's backpack, one shoe and headed to the door. She kept saying, "I go?" Hoping that someone would let her out the door to find her way to school. Poor Haddie, she had no such luck.

Kipper the dog

My two oldest would never own up to it, so don't ask them, but my kids all LOVE Kipper the dog. It makes me happy that deep down in their hearts they are sastisfied with the simple things of life. To me Kipper represents someone who is happy with who he is and what he has. Someone who tries to make the best of every day. Someone who loves to learn and laugh. He is a devoted friend, a caring dog, and always tries to do what is right. It makes me SO happy that all my children connect with this and enjoy watching. I hope that much of what Kipper teaches sinks deep down into their hearts. I hope they are never afraid to admit that they love good and truth and God.
I also thought I'd post an update about Scott. His scars look better every day, and he gets back more energy everyday. He is carefully weaning himself off of his pain meds. He has a follow up appointment with the Oncologist on Thursday, and we'll see what he says. For those of you who follow this blog and didn't receive and email or text, we have great news! The doctor's office called us to say that they biopsy of the lymph nod was clean, and it looked like the doctor got all of the cancer! We are so grateful to God and to all of you who have added your strength and your prayers to our trial. If we could, we'd like to request your continued prayers that he will heal quickly and well and that the cancer will not return. We love you all!

Battle Scar--this next post is not for the squeamish!

Here is my poor Scottie's face, marred by surgery. The cancer was a lot bigger than I thought, much bigger than the mole on the outside of his face. Poor baby! When they let me back to see him, he was pale white and his cheek was still pulsating from the trauma. His blood was all rushing to fix the problem. I almost fainted three times looking at him. Poor baby! The doctor is confident that he got out all of the cancer. Now all that remains is to biopsy the lymph nod they removed (that is the lower straight line on his neck) and hopefully that will come back negative for cancer and all will be well! We appreciate all your kind thoughts, fasting and prayers. We love you all and have felt your strength and love through this!

Happy (early) Birthday Ben!

We celebrated Ben's birthday today because Scott is going into an outpatient surgery on Tuesday to have a cancerous mole removed from his cheek. We appreciate all prayers in his behalf on Tuesday. As a result, we decided to celebrate Ben's birthday a couple of days early. He requested a "giant cookie cake". So I made a pan full of blondies, which were delish! I've never tried them before but I have now fallen in love. They are basically giant caramel squares with chocolate chips in them. How could you go wrong? Delightful. Anyway, back to the birthday fun~
He got a present from his sister Julia which was an interesting assortment of all the odds and ends she could find in her room that she didn't want anymore. Included items were: a blue lego, a cheap notebook, a new pencil, an old pencil, several pieces of her Halloween candy that she didn't want, a plastic horse toy, a used eraser...You get the picture. I guess it's the thought that counts?
Here's his new flannel blankie.
And taking a page out of the wisdom of the book of my parents we purchased Ben his very own basketball hoop like they did for Ryan when Julia was born. That was the best $20 dollars they ever spent on anything, Ryan got so much use out of it and loved it SO much, and we're already on that path for Ben. We spent a little more than $20, but he loves it and has spent all evening shooting hoops. Even the older kids spent a good hour playing hoops with him. The legacy lives on!

Halloween costumes

Ryan, as Harry Potter. Probably the coolest part of his costume was the lighting shaped scar I drew on with some of my eyeshadow. In every other way he was shafted. He wore his Sunday pants and shirt, we safety pinned a yard of black fabric around him for a cloak, sadly his glasses were already taped because he lost a screw, he already had the appropriate hair, and I handed him a chopstick for a wand. Poor guy, but he got plenty of candy and didn't seem to feel bothered by the inadequateness of his costume.
I sewed this pioneer, dress, bonnet and apron for Julie. She loved it and also came home with a lot of candy.
I sewed this poodle skirt for Emmy.
Ben decided that he wanted to be the well-loved and falling apart Jaguar costume that my mom sewed for my brother Derek MANY moons ago. He looked super cute in it, but as you can see it barely fit him. He is a rather large boy. My dad always says to Ben when he's here visiting, "How do you get so big eating food of this kind?" It is a valid question, he doesn't eat very well at all and yet he is gianormous!