Scott's birthday

 For Scott's bday we went to the airport and had a picnic dinner and watched the planes take off and land.  It was just perfect weather and we had a great time.  Dallin entertained Lila the whole time running around holding her hands and playing ring around the rosies and stuff with her.  He is such a great brother to her.  The boys also had fun climbing the trees. 

 After that we went to gpa and gma Thurstons for some icecream cake.  It was yummy.  We had a good time visiting with them and Aunt Connie who has been in town visiting Great gma Norton.  Dallin asked who she was and said she looked like gma Alice when Brig was a baby cuz of her short hair.  They must be sisters!

 After that we came home to have a family Wii night.  Scott got a new game "wipeout" cuz we love the tv show.  It was a lot of fun.  In the middle of the Wii tournement someone knocked on our door.  It was one of our neighbors saying the grass at the park across the street was on fire.  Of coarse we had to go take a look.  And call the fire dept.  by time they got there the fire was almost burned out on its own.  Our neighbor did fill a bucket at our house and come across to put some of it out.  We decided we better leave it so there was something for the firefighters to do when they got here. 

 I am sure it was a bunch of teenagers just causing trouble.  It was fun to see the fire truck roll on up with its lights on.  We could hear the sirens coming but of coarse they have to turn those off when they get into the neighborhoods. 

What an eventful birthday night right?  All the excitement that goes on around here is just crazy.  Anyway, Scott is such a great dad and husband and we love him so much we hope he had a great birthday and we will just continue the celebration tomorrow when we go out to dinner with his parents. Woo Hoo for birhtdays!

Lions and javelinas and BEARs, oh my!

 Okay, so there were no lions but we did have a javelina in our front yard this past week.  Crazy but it fits in with all the other weird things we have seen the past two years since we have lived here.  According the the neighbor kids about 5 houses down they see them all the time.  I wish I would have taken a picture of it.  And we definately have a bear!  Alden is just a couple months away from turning 10 and moving up to the webelos group but he already earned his Bear patch, 1 gold and 2 silver arrows.  He is really loving scouts and is doing great.  He has great leaders and a bunch of really good boys his age.  We are so proud of him.

As tradition with our cub scout group to officially become a bear you have to eat some "grub" worms you have to pick out the the dirt (oreos crushed up with gummy worms in it).  Alden is showing his mouthful off.  It was a fun pack night with lots of awards. 

Happy Birthday Nick!

Nick doesn't get a picture posted since I posted a picture of his family for Tanya's birthday.  Nick's bday was yesterday.  We have enjoyed having Nick in our family since he has married Tanya.  He has a great personality and is a lot of fun to hang out with.  He is a great match for Tanya and a great daddy to his two sweet little girls.  We hope you had a great birthday Nick! 

11 year Anniversary

Today Scott and I are celebrating are 11year wedding anniversary.  That seems like such a short amount of time compared to some of you and yet it seems like it is longer than that like we have always been together.  I don't show my love and gratitude as much as I use to I am sure and I can pretty much guarantee I am not as thoughtful as I use to be.  I definately need to work on those things. Still I love Scott more than words can say.  He is my best friend, someone I can count on and my team mate in raising these crazy kids of ours.  I can't imagine life with out him.  I look forward to many more anniversaries to come.  I love you hun.

Jedi Knight

 Some how Brig convinced Lila to play Star Wars with him.  It only lasted all of 3 minutes but she came out and it was so cute I had to take her picture.  she likes to do what her brothers are doing that is for sure!

Happy birthday Tanya

Tanya was born on Valentine's Day which we all think is pretty neat.  She has a fun birthday.  Tanya is such an amazing person she is so talented with her profession as a hairdresser she is crafty and a great seamstress.  She is a very hard worker and and knows how to clean/move or what ever you need done better than anyone else I know.  She is very independent, a great mom and fun to be around.  Tanya is a wonderful sister too.  We love you Tanya and hope you had an awesome valentine/bday.  Enjoy it now while you are still young!

Happy Valetine's Day

Elena found the cutest Valentine templets and made these cute cards up as a thank you for helping her out while her arm was in a cast.  With Lila's surgery we didn't have time to retake pictures but Elena had taken these back in Aug/Sept. and they turned out so cute I didn't mind one bit using them instead.  I love them they all turned out so cute. It was fun for a change to pass out cards that were a little different than the "norm".  We just printed them all up as wallets and that is what we handed out.  The kids like them too.  Thanks Elena!  Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Lila surgery update

 Lila's owie.  She knows it is there cuz she can feel the tape. I am afraid when it starts to heal and be itchy we may have a problem with her leaving it alone.  I think it was such a big cut on her little tummy but I think it will heal really nice though so it should be okay.

 While I was trying to take a picture of her tummy she kept saying "cheese" and smiling.  I thought it was so cute I couldn't cut her face out of all of the pics. 

Lila recieved so many gifts it was like Christmas.  She got a cute minnie mouse from Uncle Ryan and Aunt Heidi, a baby doll from gpa Brad &gma Alice, Aunt Tara helped her brothers pick out the brown and red puppy, gma Janice & papa Steve brought her a musical book thing.  Aunt Kim gave her the awesome balloons with the pink puppy. The cinderella book, baby, duck and surgeon build-a-bear all came from the hospital. I was actually really impressed with the bear it was super cute and a little more expensive than the normal little toys they give out at the hospital are. 

Lila is doing really well.  The second night at the hospital she had a really rough time and they were talking about maybe keeping her an extra day.  That made me want to cry but she was doing better by morning and by that evening they were able to let us go.  She tires out really easily and I can tell when she is starting to feel the pain but I have been totally amazed at how well she is doing.  She wants to play and she is climbing on the couches and everything.  She doesn't go back to see the dr. for 3 weeks but I am sure everything will be good and very much on the mend by then. 

Thanks again to everyone for visiting and helping with the kids and bringing food in.  It is so nice to have so much family and friends around that are willing to pitch in and help out. 

Awesome Alden

This is very random but if I don't write it down somewhere I will forget and I want to remember it.  This past  Monday, Dallin came home from school early because he got his eye scratched with a pencil some how and the nurse thought he might need to get it checked.  I asked the school receptionist if she would get a message to Alden to not wait for Dallin after school since I took him home early.  She is usually an extremely on-the-ball lady, she does her job amazingly well, however, she was trying to talk to someone else and her phone was ringing so she apparently forgot to tell Alden.  So, anyway, after school Alden waited and waited for Dallin in their normal meeting spot and he started to get nervous cuz Dallin didn't show up and Alden didn't know why or what to do, so right as he was about to have a little panic attack my friend, Amber, walked by and saw Alden looking worried and standing alone.   I happened to see her earlier when I went to pick up Dallin & was chatting with her briefly, explaining I was there to take Dallin home.  She then called me just to make sure that was true and that Dallin didn't come back to school later in the day and then explained to Alden that Dallin wasn't coming and to go ahead and go home.  So Alden left school.  I was outside to pick him up and when he got in the car he said he didn't know what to do and so he said a prayer in his head and as soon as he finished Amber walked by and told him.  Very small simple thing but I am so glad for things like that so that I feel like my kids are gaining a testimony and know what to do when the need help.  Alden is such an amazing boy I am so proud of him!

Sweet Baby girl!

Our sweet Lila Belle had to have surgery today.  It was so sad.  A little mini "c-section" they called it because of how the incision was made.  She had reflux between her bladder and kidneys that needed to be fixed.  She is such a trooper she did a great job.  She wanted to help push the bed down the hall before they took her back for the procedure and all the nurses and everyone we passed thought that was the cutest thing ever.  She gave mom, dad, Gma Janice and Papa Steve all a tight squeeze and kiss too.  She is just the sweetest little angel.  The nurse has a nursing student shadowing her up on the floor we are staying on and she had to go get one of her nursing school buddies to show off how cute she is.  It is so sad to see her looking so little and all hooked up to her IV and stuff.  She has been so amazingly good today, super drugged up, though I am sure tomorrow won't be as good.  We love her so much and hope she starts to get better real soon.  We will be at the hospital for 48 hours. Thanks to Tara for staying with the boys and to everyone else who is helping to carpool and set up play dates and everything else while we are down here.  We appreciate all the support and prayers!

Happy Birthday times 3!!!

So as most everyone knows, I have the most amazing mother-in-law.  She is absolutely fabulous.  I am so lucky to have her because I know so many people who really dislike their mother-in-law.  She is so fun to be around.  People always are complimenting on how fun and happy she is at church and stuff and I totally agree.  She is a great teacher.  She is a wonderful mother and grandmother.  Very patient and caring.  The kids all adore her.  She is so kind and thoughtful she always is willing to baby sit or offers to come fold laundry or help out however she can.  We all love her so much and hope she has a great brithday! 

The Marble's have a thing with sharing birthdays too because Janice had 2 of her own children on her own birthday!  Talk about birthday celebration! Is that crazy?  We think it is so fun. (I don't know how well they liked it growing up though).  Uncle Mike her first baby was born on her birthday and then she had Aunt Kim the 3rd out of 5 kids and only girl on her birthday again!  Mike is very caring and willing to help out all the time.  He is a great big brother and I know Scott has always looked up to him.  The boys think he is so fun.  Yesterday when we walked into papa's house (their birthdays are February 2nd, I am a day late posting) Mike was over there and Lila pointed and said "Mike".  It was so cute I didn't know she even knew his name.  Mike is a fun grandpa and we are glad to have him as a brother/uncle and friend.   Kim is a great aunt.  She is fun to be with and the kids love playing at her house.  We have a lot of fun hanging out with her and her family. In fact it was her and Glen that set me up with Scott those many years ago.  Kim is a great mom, I hope her children realize how lucky they are to have such a wonderful mother.  She is always so kind to my kids too.  My favorite characteristic of hers is how nurturing and caring she is.  She is always very sweet and nice to everyone's kids even neighbors.  In fact the other day she drove some random kid on the street home from school cuz they had fallen on their bike.  She let the kid use her cell phone to call their mom and when the mom wasn't home she packed her up in her car and brought her home.  She is a great freind and sister.  We love you Grandma, Mike and Kim, Happy Birthday! 

happy birthday sandee!

Sandee is one of my favorite people.  She is such a wonderful friend aunt and great sister in law.  I am so glad we got to be neighbors for so many years because she is absolutely wonderful.  She is so willing to help out other people (especially me).  Always helping me decorate my house, helping me scrapbook and make any other sort of craft, letting me borrow eggs and stuff all the time, making cakes for all my kids birthdays, bring dinner over.  Awesome is a great word to describe her.  I miss living next to her, but I am so glad I got to so that we were able to become such good friends.  Sandee is just amazing and I really admire her for her caring heart and her friendly personality.  Happy birthday sandee! we love you.