Bath Time

James and Lynnlee love bath time. They never want to get out. Now Kaden gets to join in on the fun.

Thanksgiving Weekend

I loved my Thanksgiving weekend and didn't want it to end. We spent Thanksgiving day at my sister Ali's house. Our dinner was delicious and it was fun to spend time with family all day. There was a lot of relaxing, looking through the ads, and watching football. The weather was beautiful and the kids had fun playing outside.

Betsy stayed at our house and it was so fun! She is the favorite Aunt so my kids were in heaven all weekend. Friday we went shopping, not crazy early but around 9:00 after getting up and eating breakfast. Before I had kids I liked the early morning shopping but for now I'm taking a break. Not to mention all the stores that are open on Thanksgiving now. Kind of takes away the excitement of waking up early and being the first in the store Friday morning. I would rather enjoy the holiday with family at home then out shopping Thanksgiving night.

Friday afternoon we saw the movie, Rise of the Guardians. It was the most enjoyable movie experience with the whole family. Kaden was happy through half and then slept the other half like a perfect 3rd baby. (We have a joke about needing child #3 to be perfect since being out numbered and having 3 kids is so crazy) I didn't even have to leave the theater. Lynnlee watched the whole thing and didn't need a potty break, unheard of :). James watched the whole thing sitting next to his cousin Katelyn on one side and Aunt Bets on the other side. Doesn't get much better than that! The kids were so great it was me that spilled the soda. Luckily an almost empty cup but someone had to do it.

We ate at Five Guys after the movie. Then went to Toys R Us. I don't go to that store very often so I forget how much fun it is. It is always crazy to me how many toys are there. When we got home Betsy read a bedtime story to James and Lynnlee. They loved it!

Saturday morning we had a nice lazy morning. Slept in or until my kids woke up. Betsy and I made crafts. She found some really cute ideas on Pinterest for Christmas trees. (Pictured below) They were fun and easy to make, right up my alley. You take a card board cone from a craft store or you can use a cereal box and roll it into a cone shape. The green tree I painted green and then glued green beads on. The silver tree I painted silver and then wrapped a type of yarn around.
I stayed in my pajamas until the afternoon. We were sad when Betsy had to go home. I wish she lived next door.

Sunday we had a 2nd Thanksgiving with Beckie and Anthony. Everything tasted so good. Got my fill of turkey. I'm glad my kids love turkey a lot too.

I didn't want the weekend to end but I'm excited for Christmas and all the fun traditions in December.

Pilgrim People

Beckie, Ashley, and I had craft night last night. Beckie had the idea to make little pilgrim people but we weren't sure how to do it. My Mother-in-Law has some but since she's on her mission we weren't able to use her pilgrim people as examples.

Beckie and Ashley came up with patterns and the pilgrims took shape. They weren't bad to make. Just a little hand stitching, fabric, and hot gluing. They turned out really well.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Unique Park

There is a park by our house that is really unique. The slides and play ground are modern looking. There is a huge pyramid. James started to climb it but is afraid of heights (gets it from his Mom) so he didn't make it higher than the first level.

Kaden tried out the swing for the first time and loved it.

More Thanksgiving Lessons

If you ask James to plan the family night activity he always says he wants to make stuff out of rice krispy treats. So this week we made turkeys out of rice krispy treats. Marshall redeemed himself from our last turkey challenge. I'm pretty sure he had the best one. What do you think? His is the last picture.

The pictures of the trees are from our lesson a week ago. We wrote things we are thankful for on each leaf. James loved it so much we made another one the next day. He is into crafts and projects these days. Everyday he asks me what projects we can do. We throw lots of interesting crafts together involving coloring books, staples, stickers, crayons. Things that you wouldn't see on Pinterest. He's easy to please.

The Riverwoods

We went to Lighting of Riverwoods Friday night with our friends, the Tibbs. All the lights were beautiful! There were lots of fun activities for kids. They made ornaments, got there face painted, collected lots of glow sticks, and saw some really fun gingerbread houses. Santa was there but the line was super long. James was really hoping to tell him what he wanted for Christmas. I told James we'll have plenty of time to see him again before Christmas. This past week James saw some things he wants for Christmas in a toy ad. He saved the ad and wanted to bring them to show Santa.

I'm officially ready for the holidays. Usually we wait until after Thanksgiving to listen to Christmas music but I felt like I didn't have long enough to listen to it last year. So we started listening to it this week. James's favorite is Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. Every time a new song comes on FM 100 which only plays CHRISTMAS songs Lynnlee asks, "Is this a Christmas song?"

Imagination

I love the imagination of kids. Today James and Lynnlee were pretending the floor was water and their blankets were boats. They also got out two boards to use as bridges from one "boat" to the other. It was so fun watching them play!

Celebrate Life

Today my family celebrates my Dad's life. It has been 16 years since we almost lost him. He was driving to Park City and was hit head on by a drunk driver. My Dad was driving a little red truck and the drunk driver was driving a Suburban. My Dad is very lucky to be alive and I'm grateful I wasn't with him. I should have been. He was in Park City heading to the pool to swim laps. I usually went with him but I had a friend over when he was leaving so I stayed home. My Dad had so many injuries and they had to resuscitate him a few times while he was on Life Flight headed of the University of Utah. It is truly a miracle he survived. I can still remember when my Mom got the phone call. You could tell by the tone of her voice that she had received bad news. A member of the bishopric drove my Mom to Salt Lake and some other members of the ward stayed at my house with my siblings and me. We said lots of prayers. I was so scared. My siblings and I slept in our family room that night. I was 12 and had no idea how we were going to get through this. We spent the next few days in Salt Lake. Luckily my Grandparents lived close to the hospital so we stayed with them. I just wanted things to go back to normal. Luckily my Dad was able to come home thanks to home health. We set up a hospital bed on the main floor. Life felt a little more normal being able to have him home. There were lots of other changes and I learned a lot through the whole experience. I remember taking care of my Dad; emptying his urinal (sorry if TMI), rubbing his dry and cracked feet. It taught me that I wanted a career in health care. I am the youngest in my family so before the accident I was a brat and very spoiled. I had to change that and pull more weight and take on more responsibilities. I'm so grateful for that because it helped changed me from being selfish and spoiled to a harder worker and more level headed. (Some of you may disagree) My Mom was amazing through it all. Going through that with 6 kids isn't easy. She helped my Dad recover and it was a long road. He was in a wheel chair for quite awhile. She kept the household running through it all. I'm so glad I didn't loose my Dad 16 years ago. He may not be able to do everything he did before his accident but he is still a wonderful Dad and Grandpa to my kids. I am grateful to celebrate his life today! Here's to many more great years!

Adios

Lynnlee had a check up yesterday with the Cardiologist. It was full of good news. Lynnlee no longer needs oxygen when she sleeps so I am happy to send this concentrator back to the home health agency. Grateful there were no mishaps with this crazy oxygen tubing strangling her during sleep.

We can wean her off the Lasix. It helps the body get rid of extra fluid which equals making lots of trips to the bathroom. It will be nice to get back to normal. Lynnlee's heart is doing well post surgery and she can get back to normal activities. Lynnlee cheered when the doctor told her the good news. When we were walking out she said, "Mom, I'm so happy!"

I'm so grateful despite Lynnlee's heart condition that we have been so blessed other ways. Blessings that have compensated for her heart condition. Although we are given trials that are completely out of our power I have looked back and noticed all of the blessings we receive to compensate for the trials. I'm so thankful for that.

Big, Bigger, Biggest

I have big babies. James was big. Lynnlee was bigger. Kaden is the biggest. He is in the 90 percentile for weight, 80 percentile for height and his head is in the 50 percentile. There is lots of him to love.

He still likes to be swaddled.

Brothers

James loves all babies. He gets so excited to see them hit milestones. He was so excited when our friend Beckham started to say words and walk. So James loves seeing Kaden hit milestones. It's so fun to see how excited he gets over the smallest things Kaden does. Kaden started eating rice cereal this week and James thought it was so cool that Kaden could have cereal too. He likes to help feed him.

More and more James wants to hold Kaden and help with him. One morning I was getting ready to take James to preschool. James and Lynnlee were in the house playing. Kaden was on a blanket in the family room. I put a few things in the car and when I came back Kaden was half way in his car seat. His top half was in the bottom of the car seat and his bottom half was hanging out on the floor. Luckily he wasn't crying. Come to find out that James wanted to be helpful and some how picked up Kaden off the family room floor and carried him to his car seat in the kitchen. Kaden is a huge baby and probably 1/3 of James's weight so I'm amazed he got that far. I thanked James for helping but told him he better wait until he gets a little older. Glad no one got hurt :)

Kids Again

Having kids gives you a good excuse to act like a kid again. We went to our favorite park in American Fork Saturday morning. We had a snow ball fight, went sledding and also tried out some of the slides on the play ground. Such a fun morning! James and Lynnlee loved it. Kaden napped peacefully in his car seat.

He woke up as we were loading up to go home. He's a good baby.

We were in a hurry to get out the door so I put these snow pants on Lynnlee really quick. When we got there I realized they were more like capris. Oops! I looked at the size and they were size 18 months. Guess I'll have to dig through some boxes and find the next size up.

Marshall and James have been practicing hand stands at home so they decided to try some in the snow.

My Girl

Well Lynnlee's allergy results came back. The doctor tested for cashews, peanuts, pecans, almonds, plus out door allergies. They aren't able to test for bee stings though. Everything came back negative so we assume that it was a bee sting. Apparently Lynnlee's pain tolerance is amazing after heart surgery because she didn't even flinch if there was an apparent bee sting.

So I'm glad to know now but it is scary at the same time because she loves playing outside. Luckily I have an Epi pen that I keep with her at all times. Hopefully I am at her side the next time she gets stung. Marshall's Great Uncle died of a bee sting so I guess the allergy runs in the family.

Politics

I usually don't post about politics but a friends put this on Facebook and it made me feel better about things.

"Men may fail in this country, earthquakes may come, seas may heave beyond their bounds, there may be great drought, disaster, and hardship, but this nation, founded on

principles laid down by men whom God raised up, will never fail. This is the cradle of humanity, where life on this earth began in the Garden of Eden. This is the place of the New Jerusalem. This is the place that the Lord said is favored above all other nations in all the world. This is the place where the Savior will come to His temple. This is the favored land in all the world. Yes, I repeat, men may fail, but this nation won't fail. I have faith in America; you and I must have faith in America, if we understand the teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are living in a day when we must pay heed to these challenges.

"I plead with you not to preach pessimism. Preach that this is the greatest country in all the world. This is the favored land. This is the land of our forefathers. It is the nation that will stand despite whatever trials or crises it may yet have to pass through." (Harold B. Lee, Ye Are the Light of the World, pp. 350-51)

Thanksgiving Family Night

I love when holidays are approaching because it makes it a lot easier to think of a family night lesson and activity. Last night we told them about Thanksgiving and why we celebrate it. Then we traced our hands and made turkeys. We wrote things we are thankful for on the turkey. It's always funny to hear what my kids say. James said his bike, cars, and Lightening McQueen. Then after I gave him a few hints he said family, Jesus, and church. Lynnlee started hers after James so she Jesus, family, Grandmas, and Cars.
 

Then we had a contest. James and Marshall vs. Lynnlee and Rose. The game was simple, which team could make the best turkey out of Halloween candy.

Lynnlee's and Rose's turkey

James's and Marshall's turkey

What's your vote? I think Lynnlee and I won but we are a little biased :)

Scheels

We went to Scheels for our first time. The Ferris Wheel is really cool. We had fun walking around and checking out all the activities. Definitely lots of places to take pictures.

Bah Ram You

Who knew sheep could be so entertaining. We have had fun watching turkeys walk around the fields behind our house and now we get to watch the sheep. I feel like I'm in the movie Babe. "Bah Ram You"

Two Time

How much can a little 2 year old handle? After a 2nd trip to the ER in one week I'm beginning to worry what the cold season has in store for us. I have been trying so hard to keep Lynnlee healthy. It looks like we will have to hide out for the winter and hopefully she can stay healthy.

Last night she woke up with nasty croup symptoms. She already wears oxygen at night and she was still pale and having a hard time breathing. So I took her to the ER and they gave her a breathing treatment and a steroid. They watched her awhile and she was doing better so we went home.

She told me today she doesn't want to go to the hospital anymore. I don't blame her! I think we should move to Arizona for the winter.

Kaden at 4 months

Kaden hasn't been in very many pictures and seems like he gets forgotten but we love him just as much. He is almost 4 months. It's gone by fast but at the same time it's crazy how much has happened in the last 4 months. He's a happy and healthy boy!

Kind of a blurry picture but Lynnlee wanted to hold him in the car while we were waiting for James to finish preschool.

Yoda: official Halloween costume this year.