Splish Splash

I will be the first to say that the last two weeks, which happen to be the first two weeks of Noah's summer vacation, have sucked. Noah started out with a cough, Hope got strep, Eden had a stomach flu and now Ben possibly has strep. Despite the many encounters with high fevers, vomit, diarrhea, amoxicillin and just plain miserable children, we have had a few good moments so far this summer.

Top center left shows Eden making her surprised face when the water would fall on her. She loved it. We are all looking forward to when everyone feels better and we can start doing the really good stuff.
Next week hopefully we'll have some pictures to share from an actual pool.

The Park

Noah is amazed that I took so many pictures during our 45 minute excursion to the park. I am just trying to document better and I am sure he will appreciate it when he's older. If not, his wife and children will, right? I know my dad will have something to say about that. :) Look at how many adorable pictures I took in just 45 minutes! Eden was especially thrilled to be able to go down the slide with the help of her big brother, Noah and Hope is so happy to have her best friend, Noah, here everyday for the summer (so is mommy).

Old Friends

My good friend from High School recently had a birthday celebration and invited a bunch of her old friends. The good thing about this is that they were my old friends too!!! I am so glad I was able to make it to the get together. I had a great time!

Michelle was my best friend senior year and a couple of years following high school. I have so many awesome memories of our friendship: code names, the fairytale story we wrote for English class (which to my devastation I've misplaced), silly notes with misspelled words, late nights and long talks,"our boys" ( I think we had a couple sets), the huge blood blister I got on my foot from walking/running barefoot to your house after I found out about my parents, and all of those very creative little poems that we referred to as jingles that we would leave for our friends and cute waiters, Club Omni, Pizza Hut in the middle of a school day, Dirty Dancing quotes, and all those songs we loved to sing at the top of our lungs in the car. I love you dearly and I hope I never forget those times!

Heather and I have been great friends since we were 12 years old! She was my first friend when my family moved to Utah. Sleepovers, Newsies, Alex and Aaron...need I say more?, lip syncs, cheer tryouts, parties at my house, letters to and from California, quoting you from 6th grade..."kiss off", chasing our neighbor Colt around the cul-de-sac, mean notes in junior high, sharing lockers, the time you fell off the handrail outside the junior high and fell right on your face. You just kept crying and saying "I don't know, I don't know". Country Apple lotion from Bath & Body works, living with Bill and Tamra, taking missionary prep. Running into you years later at a graduation at UVSC....We had lots of good times, lots of bad times and lots of in between times. I've loved and cherished you through them all!

Marci, unfortunately I don't know you very well. But you are lovely and I look forward to getting to know you more during our future girl's nights. :)

Karlee, a fellow Viking swimmer with whom I share an "orthodontic bond". No pun intended. I have only a few memories of you, like the swim team bus and finding out that you had missing adult teeth just like me!!! I have to admit that I was a little intimidated by you because I always felt like you were just too cool for me. The feathers in your hair a couple of weeks ago just proves it. :) I look forward to getting to know you better too.

Megan....dancing queen and crazy, sexy, cool fellow swimmer. Club Omni, Stake Dances, "Crushed Eye-liner", misunderstood tissues falling to the floor, your "boy crazy but feet always on the ground" attitude (I'll explain later if you want). You are beautiful, wonderful and smart and I've always loved being around you!

Thanks for reminding me who I was way back then ladies! And thanks for a great night!

Where We've Been....

Be Back Soon.....

Happy Birthday Eden!!!

Eden turned ONE year old on March 5!!! I can't believe it's already been a year. It has definitely been a tough couple of years, first with the miscarriage, and then getting pregnant right away and the very difficult pregnancy and the EXTREMELY traumatic birth and the fact that Eden was not a happy baby for about the first 8 months of her life. She just didn't feel good or couldn't get used to her little body. She wanted to be held constantly, even while sleeping(which she did very little of at night). Once she started crawling she got a little happier and it's been better and better ever since. She and Hope are slowly but surely creating a great friendship and she and Noah have always been great together. He asks if he can hold her and likes to play with her and has that awesome look of love in his eyes when he looks at her.

I still don't want to go into details about her birth but to be brief; I dilated from a 5 to a 10 in about 60-90 seconds while my epidural wasn't working correctly. Eden's precious little face was bruised from coming down the birth canal so fast and then she was having a little trouble breathing right at first. The placenta wouldn't deliver...so it had to be yanked and then there was still a piece left and I wouldn't stop bleeding for several minutes.....*sigh* my midwife finally got the remaining placenta and gave me like 3 shots to stop the bleeding which it finally did as they were discussing if they should take me to the OR.  Whew. Poor Ben was traumatized as well and all the doctors and nurses were saying they couldn't believe how fast it all happened. I remember being so surprised that a human being could survive that kind of pain. It took me a couple of days just to get over the trauma of it and start to heal physically.

Anyway, it was a long hard journey, but we got an angel out of it and here are so pics of her birthday celebration.

Playing outside with Noah and Hope.

Opening presents and reading the instruction manuals.

BIRTHDAY CAKE!!!

Getting to Know My Valentine

Meet Tux, the newest Maxwell! This cute kitty was one of my Valentine's Day presents from Ben this year. The first night we had him he was pretty timid and didn't come out from under the couch for quite a while (until I moved the couch and pulled him out from under it, actually). By the second night he was warming up quite nicely, but still a little shy. Muffin was quite wary as well. Ben said it looked like Muffin was trying to decide if he was supposed to eat Tux or not. :) By now, though, Tux and Muffin are starting to play a little and Tux has found great friends in Noah, Hope and Eden. Tux will go right up to them and try to play. I knew that Noah would be great with him, but I was a little concerned about Hope. I didn't know if she would squeeze the love right out of him or not, but she is surprisingly gentle. He loves to snuggle and I am so enjoying watching his feisty personality come out from hiding. I know that Muffin will love having a new friend too as he has seemed a little lonely since Sassy disappeared. Anyway, welcome Tux! We love you already!

Here Hope is generously sharing daddy doggy, mommy doggy and baby doggy with Tux.

Look ALike?

These are pics of Hope and Eden about the same age wearing the same shirt. Do you think they look alike?