HO HO HO

this last weekend, i took the kids and flew to SLC for a few days (i am so lucky i can do this! sorry darrel, we wish you could have been with us). my dad home teaches "santa" and asked if he would come and visit all the grandkids. my mom had me buy cute little cheap things to fill some stockings with so that santa would have something for them. most of the kids were a little scared, but all of them were really excited to get presents. you can tell by the look on ryan's face that he was less than thrilled to be sitting this close to him. (i found this odd because he actually went and sat on his lap at the mall a few weeks ago..... hum curious). emily was fine with him, at a distance. overall, it was so much fun for everyone i think. just to see the faces of these little kids who are really figuring out this whole santa thing is great!

this picture below is at the mall. if you look closely you can see ryan holding up 2 fingers. he is telling santa the only things he wants are 2 boy dress up costumes of general grievous, and kit fisto. i really hope i don't end up with one way disappointed little boy, because santa can't seem to find anything to fit his request. of course he would have to ask for the most abstract characters, whose costumes would be very difficult to copy.

goodyear had a holly jolly festival a few weeks ago. they made fake snow, and ryan thought it was pretty fun, but why play in fake when we can go to SLC and play in lots and lots of the real stuff.
every single morning this is how emily wakes me up. MOM! MOM! ARE YOU? I NEED MY DRESS ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! she then proceeds to take off her jammies and diaper, goes potty, and then i make her put her jammies back on (it is kinda cold here), and then she picks out her dress de jour (yeah, i have no idea how to spell this word but it just seemed like the perfect word to use). it is different everyday. i have some dresses that were hand me downs, and 2 sizes too big for her that she loves wearing. i think because they are so long. anyway, you can see in this picture her dress over her jammies. and, no, it is not lipstick, it is an orange marker, that we could not get off her face for about a day and a half. she kinda looks scary. (nip/tuck anyone?)

this is all the kids with their great grandmother momo. she loves all the kids so much, and spoils them rotten. all the kids think she is pretty special too. every time they go and visit her, she gets her tea set out for them to have a tea party. i know that my kids just about drink her whole gallon of milk when we go (she only buys whole milk, and i guess my kids love it). i really can't believe christmas is this week. crazy! i have so much stuff for the kids, but i keep wanting to go and buy more. i ran a lot of errands today, and was so good. i only bought a few stocking stuffers. now i just have to get all the wrapping done. anyone want to help?

JUST THE FOUR OF US

about 5 weeks ago ryan came up to me out of the blue and said "mommy, i don't want any more of us. i don't want another sister, or a brother." i thought that this was very strange because we have never even discussed having more siblings with him. it really made me start thinking about if i really wanted another baby. i have told myself for a long time that if i wasn't pregnant by the time i was 37 (which is next month. YIKES! man that sounds old), i would stop trying. it sounded like a good plan, and it seemed reasonable. well, a week and a half ago i found out i was pregnant. you all know i would never tell you the big news in my blog, so i'm assuming you guessed the worst. yep, i miscarried today. the third time this year. i didn't tell any of you i was pregnant because of my excellent track record. it's kind of crazy because when ryan said that to me, i was pregnant and just didn't know it. maybe he did, and he was preparing me. so now i am very confused. i was starting to let myself go to the "if it's a boy...... and if it's a girl...." and i was getting excited that i had met my deadline. i don't think i have ever heard of anyone having 3 miscarriages in a row. how am i supposed to get myself to a place where i won't regret not having a third child (if i am ever able to, my odds haven't been that great- 6 pregnancies and only 2 kids). that said, i am absolutely CRAZY about ryan and emily, and love them so much. i guess i should just be grateful for the 2 i have, not the 3rd i wish i had, and stop worrying about my deadline, and let nature take it's course (except i feel like 37 is a little old to be having a baby). every time i find out that someone is pregnant i find myself getting so jealous, and mad at myself. that in itself should tell me that i do want another baby. maybe i will just have to ditch my self imposed deadline. i guess on the bright side, if i am not able to have a 3rd, think of how much more money i would have to buy emily more shoes!

p.s. thanks naima and john for the picture!

little to no motivation

it's not that i haven't had things to blog about since halloween, i just feel like i have been so busy doing other things, i have really not had the motivation to sit down and blog. i love it when other people update their blogs (especially when it's been a while), so here it goes.

.

.

this past sunday, ryan had his first primary program. i was so darn proud of him. he went up to the mic and said his part perfectly. i almost started doing my ugly cry i was so proud. i don't think that anyone can ever really experience that truly deep down proud feeling until they have kids. i had never felt it until i had kids anyway. it is a feeling that is so hard to explain.

i think that you can almost tell what she is going to look like when she is older. my little sweetie pie!

ethan and ryan at the zoo. they have so much fun playing together. ethan just recently introduced ryan to star wars. now everything in ryan's world is according to something that has to do with star wars!

ryan woke up in with a bloody nose. this picture does not even show how red his face actually was. dave and kristy were staying with us when this happened, and we all couldn't help but laugh. what a mess.

now this next picture is of darrel's lacerated foot. besides not being able to walk, this is the worst of what's left of his injuries. it's pretty darn gross, so if you don't want to see it, don't scroll down. i don't usually like to post such yucky pictures, and i really don't know why i am now, but here it is. the picture is of the top of his foot, so you can tell how big it really is in real life.

.

.

.

.

.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

i know that most of you have seen this picture, but i thought it was so cute i just had to post it.

so this really has nothing to do with the picture, but i thought it was so funny, i couldn't help but write about it. the other night ryan came up to me and asked "besides addition, subtraction, division, and multiplication what other kinds of math are there?" i proceeded to tell him geometry, trigonometry, algebra, logarithms, etc... he then asked "what's the sign for logarithms?" i told him you just use the word "log" (i don't know how to do them, or even what they really are, but i remember seeing the log button on my calculator). after i told him, he didn't say much else about it, until today. he came up to me and said in a really excited voice "mommy let's do logarithms." i told him i didn't really know how to do them and he said "let's figure it out. 6 log 6 is what?" i bet it won't be long before he can actually do them. he is now able to add double digit numbers in his head, and on paper he can add multiple numbers together. he even knows how to "carry" numbers. it's quite amazing to me!

DA- DA- DA- DA!!!

FINALLY!

i have been wanting to get em's pierced now forever, and darrel finally got sick of me talking about it, and agreed (kind of) to let her get them done. they are so cute. i love them, and so does she. after she got done crying for a few minutes i showed her the earrings in the mirror and she said "i want more earrings." she keeps looking at herself in the mirror and touching her ears saying "pretty."

A PATIENT, A FIREMAN, AND MINNIE MOUSE

SAY NO TO MOTORCYCLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!

this is the arm darrel broke, that now has a rod. the whole left side of his body is bruised this badly. OUCH!

spleen removal scar. i was surprised how long it is.
i have been wanting to take the kids to have their pictures done in their costumes (i even had to cancel an appointment i had last week). who knows if i will be able to get them done, let alone leave the house for the next few weeks. i was just glad that i actually finished them the day of the accident. i think that they turned out pretty cute (especially because i didn't have the exact pattern for either costume, so i had to do a lot of improvising). the kids were trying their costumes on last night for daddy, so i just took these quickly.
nice reflective tape. here is my handsome firefighter. he is convinced that he is going to be a firefighter when he grows up, and this was the only halloween costume he would even consider.
and, my sweet little "princess minnie mouse" (that's what she calls herself). i do have black tights and white gloves for her but we were just doing a fast try on last night. doesn't she look so grown up?

UPDATE AND A SIDE NOTE

darrel is still in the hospital, and we have no word yet on when he might be getting out. i was there all day today helping him out. since he is not in ICU anymore (they moved him last night), the nurses are not so quick to help him out when he rings his button. the shortest amount of time we spent waiting for a nurse was 30 mins, but most the time it's closer to 40 mins. he was not doing so hot today. they weened him from morphine cold turkey, and were trying different things to control pain. they did bring us the lovely wheelchair that we will be using for the next 3 months. i told darrel that he will have to push the stroller while i am pushing him if we want to go anywhere. he could push himself except for the fact that he only has limited use of one arm due to his previous shoulder injury in july. i really am not looking forward to the next 3 months, but i am so glad that we still have darrel with us.

now for the side note
my first "fall" weather i experienced when i first moved down here just made me laugh and make so much fun of people. as soon as the temperature gets below say 95 people start dressing like it's winter. the past few weeks it's been in the 80's and 90's and everywhere you go people have their long sleeve shirts and pants on. sometimes even sweaters on. well tonight as i was doing the laundry i was laughing to myself because i have fully turned into one of those people without even realizing it. all i have been dressing myself and the kids in are "fall" clothes because i think that they might be too cold when it's only going to be 92 outside. i was even getting excited earlier today to be able to wear one of my long sleeved shirts. i guess living here for 10+ years has done it to me. i am a wimp in cold (below 90) weather.

ICU

no person should ever have to endure this horrible waiting room twice in a lifetime, let alone twice in one year!!!!!! it brings back such horrible memories! the only thing that is better than the last time is that darrel is conscience and awake, and he can talk to me, and he knows what is going on. they took him to surgery at about 1pm. they found a blood clot behind his spleen, so they are doing exploratory surgery as well as removing the spleen. they are also going to put a rod in his arm. it is now 4pm and i still don't have any information. i'm sure he will be very sore for a long time.

this is the top of his foot. it's pretty gross! he claims that it isn't bad. all i know is that is looks bad to me!

DEJA VU

so, tonight at about 12:15 am my home phone rang. we have talking caller i.d. so i listened for a minute, and it said st joseph hospital. i immediately panicked. i answered and they went on to inform me that darrel was in an accident on his motorcycle, and they were taking him to icu. what do you do in the middle of the night with your kids. my great neighbor came over and stayed with my kids so i could go see darrel. it brought back so many memories of my dad. as soon as i walked up to the icu, i started crying. darrel is in the room right next door to where my dad spent a lot of time. i am still not exactly sure what happened, but he was turning a corner and slid on some gravel. thank goodness he was only going 25 or so. they are probably going to have to operate on his arm because it is in bad shape, and they are watching his spleen, and he had to have a ton of stitches on his foot. poor guy. it's hard for me not to be mad at him because i never wanted him to have the bike in the first place. so anyway, as soon as i can find someone to watch the kids in the morning i will be going back to the hospital. i hate that place! so much for sleep....

CATCH UP

a few days before we left for slc, we took the kids to the park. we hadn't been in a long time because it's been just way too hot. this is the first time that emily could really be trusted doing everything by herself. both of the kids had so much fun. that night when em was saying her prayers, all she would say was "thank you go to park and plaaaaay." i guess we need to go more often now that the weather has cooled off a bit (if you can call the upper 90's cool).

ryan went on his first field trip with his preschool class (this picture is of 2 different classes). we went to the puppet theater. i got to go and take em with also. it was cute. ryan and em kept talking about how "silly" it was all day.
"cheese" why is it that some kids (i.e. ryan) can't smile normally when they are getting their picture taken? we miss ethan and hannah
the first night we were in slc ryan decided he had to sleep with me. that was fine and all, but in the middle of the night he woke me up because he was gagging. well, he had one of the worst bloody noses. it wouldn't stop for a long time. there was blood everywhere, so i had to change the sheets, and his jammies and get them in the wash. after i cleaned him up we both got back to sleep. well, apparently he got another bloody nose that same night, and this is how he looked when he woke up. it looked much worse in real life. he looks like he was in a bad fight.
i love my kiddos so much!!!

lisa, this one is for you....

since i never to any of the tags you give me, i thought i would do this one because it is easy.

2 names i go by: amy and aim

2 things i am wearing right now: my work-out pants and sports bra (yes it is almost 5:00 in the evening and i haven't gotten dressed yet, and i suppose that i will just be putting my pj's on next)

2 things i want right now: a hair cut, and of course a lot of money

2 things i did last night: ran some errands with the kiddos, and folded the laundry

2 things i ate today: homemade snickerdoddles, and lemon rice

2 favorite drinks: diet coke and diet coke.... nothing is better (maybe a bit of water too)

BOWS AND LIP BALM.....

last friday night the kids and i flew back to phoenix, after spending the week up there. the kids had sooooo much fun playing with all their cousins. Kristy was up visiting for the week too. we took all 6 little kids to get pictures done. amazingly enough, they turned out pretty darn cute!

so, my kids are so used to flying and everything associated with it. they have each flown at least once a month (or more) since they were 3 weeks old. well, when we went through security in slc, i beeped. i took off my watch, and checked my pockets and beeped again (they always have their sensors turned up way high). i was holding emily, so i checked her and decided to take out her bows. you would have thought that i pulled all of her hair out. she screamed and cried sooooo LOUD saying "my bows, my bows" over and over again until we got through security, and the bows back in her hair. once they were in she was her happy little self. i was a bit embarrassed though because 2 of my friends i had not seen in probably 15 years were behind us in line witnessing the whole thing. they were probably wondering "just what has she created?!?" oh well, i'm glad that she likes to have bows in her hair.

today we went to the mall, and i was trying out some new make-up. as soon as we got home, emily got into my bags that had the new make-up, and was trying to open it all. i told her no, so then she proceeded to my bathroom drawer to get into my make-up there. she was so angry with me for not letting her have more than a little pretend blush and eye shadow. she would not stay out of my drawer, so i pulled out some hello kitty lip balm she got at a b-day party the other day. it was like she had struck gold! she was once again a happy little lip balm wearing girl. she would not let go of the tube all night. she put it all over her mouth, down her chin, and clear up to her nose (thank goodness it's clear). she would come over to me and have to put it on me too (at least she shares). she definitely is a girl through and through!!!!!!!

CUTE CONVERSATIONS....

today emily walked out of my bathroom with lipstick on her cheeks (i didn't even think to take a picture, darn). it was so cute i couldn't get mad. i just told her that she shouldn't get into my make-up, and she said to me "make-up makes me happy." i really don't know where she got that from. i have never said that, and some days i don't even wear make-up. it just goes to show how much kids really watch every single thing you do.

yesterday we were driving to the mall, and on the way there ryan informed me that we were on the highway. as we were driving we went down a hill and then he informed me that we were on a "low way." i guess he thinks that all the bridges and overpasses are high and everything else is low. i have never thought about it that way, but i guess it makes sense, especially to a 4 yr old.

today ryan asked me if i could wink. i told him yes, and showed him how i could do it. he then told me he couldn't do a regular wink, but he could do a "double wink" (so basically a blink). i just had to laugh to myself. then he told me he could do his double wink 15 times and wanted me to count with him. we counted to 15, and then he complimented me on my counting by saying "that was great mom, you are amazing." i couldn't ask for a better compliment from my little guy. he actually quizes me all day on my math skills. when i give him the answers he will say "that is correct" or "you're right." so far i know the answers, but i feel like very soon he is going to start asking me things i don't know. i don't look forward to that day.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY PRINCESS BABY DOLL

two years ago we welcomed our sweet little precious emily into the world. what a good baby she was. she starting sleeping the night through the day she was born. such a pretty baby too. we started her on the bows early (yeah like maybe a few hours old).

one year ago... she was a little sick for her birthday, but still as cute as ever.


today... i can't believe she is two! we had a little party for her, and she had so much fun. she got some great gifts (thanks to everyone by the way, you all are so generous). you ask her how old she is and she holds up one finger, and says 2. she'll get it.as you can tell by the look on her face she loved everything! while we were singing to her, she was singing the song to at the top of her lungs. i was trying so hard not to cry because it was so cute, and just made me realize even more so how big she is. i love that little girl so much! she brings so much joy and love to our lives. i hope she never quits wanting to cuddle with me, and giving me squeezes and kisses, and wanting me to hold her all the time. i love you emers!!!!!!!

dinosaurs, dragons, an octopus, and a watermelon... oh my

so, i know that this is a very good picture, but ryan brought this to me yesterday and said mom look at my dinosaur. well, i was on the phone so i didn't pay much attention. he kept talking about it, so i looked. i was so impressed. he told me that it is a dinosaur eating a dragon, eating a watermelon. i hope you can see it well enough, but it was pretty amazing to me. especially all the dino teeth.

then later he was playing with his kid knex and made this cool looking octopus.

GIRLY THINGS

i had my niece over the other day to make tutus. emily has one, but insisted on wearing this instead. even though they are 4 years apart, they are so cute together. hannah is such a good big cousin, and emily absolutely adores her.

i am so excited that emily's hair is getting so long. i have started experimenting with some different hair styles. here are a few that i liked.
so, i have really been wanting to buy myself a purse that is already made, but i feel so guilty (or something) spending money on something that i can make. anyway, this is what i came up with today. i don't know if i love it, but it will do for a few months. by the time i get rid of it i will not have to carry diapers anymore (hopefully), so i won't need something quite so big. i think that this is my 7th bag in almost 2 years that i have made. wow! that is actually quite a few now that i think about it. all my old ones work great as church bags.

5 YEARS!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!

i really can't believe it has been 5 years. in some ways it seems like longer, and others it feels just like yesterday. i guess that's a good thing. i just want to tell darrel how much i love him and appreciate everything he does for me.

FOREVER AND A DAY!

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

ryan started preschool on wed. he loves it! he probably could be starting first or second grade right now without a problem, so i basically just put him in school for the socialization. he has 2 new friends and they are both named josh. he calls them "my joshes." i tried to take his picture alone, but emily insisted on standing right by ryan, and she had to have her back pack on too.

MORE RANDOM VACATIONS PICS

we took the kids to wheeler farm one day. ryan was laughing so hard at this sheep because it kept "talking" to us. he liked the sheep and all the other animals, but he was most impressed by the orange cone. it's funny what catches their attention.

on your mark... get set... GO!!!!

we went to gateway on night and all the kids (and grandpa chief) had so much fun playing in the water.
i love those bums! the kids played naked in momo's backyard for a few hours. it's nice she has such a big backyard with lots of fun things for the kids to do.
on the train at the zoo. notice how all the girls are dressed alike?! pretty cute huh? we didn't even plan it that way.
no! look this way.....

"CHEESE" funny how they both do it the same. they look like they could be twins. everyone assumed that they were when we went shopping, and when they asked how old they were and we told them 2 differant ages, they all looked confused.

fast asleep. after all, shopping is hard work.

(oh by the way kristy, thanks for the new idea for em's hair. it's my new favorite style. i do it like that all the time. have you been able to do hannah's?)

we were at cafe rio in vegas and we let ethan and ryan sit at a table by themselves, and they each had their own chair. we thought it was so cute that they chose to sit in the same chair together. they had so much fun playing. this was the first time since they were born that they actually "played" together. they were inseperable the whole time we were together. it's fun that they are more on the same level now. they are going to be best buddies!!