The Lindell Family

My year in pictures: Week 1 and 2

2012-01-18T23:30:00.003-07:00

I decided that I was going to take a picture every day in 2012, and the make a scrapbook page for each week. This should be fun! So far, so good, but we're only 3 weeks in!! Here's what I have so far!

1. Happy New Year!! Reagan on New Year's Day!

2. Maddie making a board game for New Mexico History.

3. Reagan again. So cute and growing so fast!!

4. Jackson is such a good big brother. Helping Boston play his game.

5. Reagan is 1 month old!!

6. Poor Boston had his first bout with the stomach flu. Not a fun 24 hours!!

7. Silly Reagan all stretched out and sound asleep!

8. Our GeoTrax trains that kept the kids happy during sick days

9. Hooray we FINALLY got Christmas taken down. It's only Jan. 9th!!

10. Jackson's last Pinewood Derby.

11. Jackson made a catapult for scouts. He is so proud!!

12. Reagan after her bath. So cute and clean!

13. Boston fell asleep in the 2 min. that it takes to drive to the school, but he is NOT tired!!

14. Boston and Reagan all ready for game day. Go Niners!! (and Broncos)

Just a glimpse of how we spent January 1-14, 2012.

15 years

2012-01-17T18:14:00.005-07:00

Today is my wedding anniversary. I can't believe that Jac and I have been married for 15 years!! Holy cow!!

Our wedding invitation and picture. None of the detail on the invitation showed up when I scanned it, but it's fun to just look at the words.

Another one of our engagement pictures. We totally look like a couple of babies!! It was soooo cold. We didn't get a lot of wedding pictures. This is one that we took inside the atrium. My nose is still totally red from the freezing cold!!

A little older, and hopefully a little wiser!

It has been a great 15 years. It hasn't always been easy, but I wouldn't trade it. I'm so grateful for Jac and for the wonderful husband and father that he is. Watching him with our kids makes me love him even more!! Love you, Jac. Thank you for 15 fabulous years! Here's to eternity!

Christmas

2012-01-14T22:18:00.010-07:00

We had an eventful and busy Christmas season!! It started with Reagan being born, and then it seems that there was a string of visitors, and an extra hospital stay for me. My parents were here when Reagan was born and stayed for a week and Amy and Roy came the day after she was born and stayed the week also. The next week on Tuesday I was readmitted to the hospital, and so Jac was a champ and took care of all 5 kids on his own. His parents came on Thursday, and I was able to come home from the hospital on Friday. They stayed until Sunday. The kids last day of school was on Friday (Dec. 16) and they were pretty excited. I, however, was not too thrilled. I lost the last week that they were in school to my extra little hospital stay, so I was a little stressed about finishing the last few things with ALL the kids home! Luckily Jac and I ran out and grabbed what we needed on Saturday while his parents were still here to babysit. It was wonderful!! I have missed grandparents babysitting!! (although we do have awesome friends and are in an awesome babysitting group, it's not quite the same as Grandma!!) The kids got their first Christmas gift on Dec. 23. Wendi flew in for Christmas and the kids had no idea that she was coming. It was so much fun to have them go downstairs and be surprised by her being here. I have it on video, I will really try to get it downloaded and post it soon!!

Christmas Eve was a lazy day. We lounged around the house and made sugar cookies for Santa. The kids had so much fun using the new cookie cutters, but their favorite part was frosting all of the cookies.

Cutting out the cookies and Boston doing an awesome job with the frosting!

Maddie and Jackson working on their cookies. Doesn't Maddie look sooo happy?!

Aidan and Boston working hard. They had to keep running to check the computer. We had it linked up to the Santa Tracker and they had to stay up to date on where the big guy was at!

After the cookies were frosted we open our Christmas Eve gifts (yay for new pj's!) and got all cozy for our favorite Christmas stories.

Reagan in her cute Christmas shirt that says "for Santa.... not Daddy." Maddie and Reagan all cozy listening to daddy read "The Polar Express."

All 5 kids listening to stories. We read Polar Express and The Grinch. After stories we set out yummy cookies and milk, and checked where Santa was one last time. Then it was off to bed so Santa could come. All the kids and Wendi slept in the same room. This was a tradition from when I was a kid, and Wendi insisted on it happening here!!:)

Christmas morning was awesome. Santa found us, and the kids all seemed to be happy with what he brought.

He brought a blue Wii for the whole family.
Reagan got a fun new toy, but slept through Christmas morning, so I had to get her picture later!;)
Boston got his basketball hoop. It was all he would talk about for months before Christmas, but he still doesn't like Santa.
Beyblades for Aidan.

Maddie got the TV she asked for. Lucky girl.

Jackson got the Lego Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle. This kid LOVES Legos and is really good at building. He had completely put the castle together by the afternoon!

Wendi and I made ebleskivers. This is a Lloyd family tradition on Christmas morning. This was our first attempt at making them so we were a little nervous, but they turned out fabulous!!

YUMMY!!!!

The rest of our Christmas day was spent lounging and being lazy. We didn't go to church because we didn't want to take Reagan out yet and we wanted to spend the day as a family. We missed our family terribly, but it was a wonderful Christmas.

Daddy and Reagan snoozing on Christmas.

Wendi was here until the 28th, so while she was here we tried to have lots of family fun.

We had a movie night and popped popcorn and stayed up late. (Thanks Fife family for the awesome popcorn and popcorn "cups" we have had fun with our gifts!!)

Movie night fun.

Boston didn't quite make it through the movie.

We went to the Aquarium, and ate lunch at the little restaurant by the huge shark tanks.

Wendi and Bos checking out the fish.

Reagan had a good time on her first outing!

cute kids waiting for lunch.

Boston being cute.

We had lots of fun with Wendi and with all of our visitors. We are now having visitor withdrawals. You should really come and see us soon!! I will try to do more catching up soon!!

one month already?!

2012-01-05T20:48:00.002-07:00

How can it be that Reagan is 1 month old already?! Where did the last month go??

Reagan went to the Dr. for her checkup yesterday and she is 7lbs. 10oz. and 20 inches long. She is still my little munchkin, but she is growing too fast at the same time!! I am really trying to enjoy every second. Jac tells me that I am spoiling her because I LOVE to hold her, and do so often, but hey, this is the last time we will have a baby at our house!! Sometimes I think time needs to slow down a little!

Merry Christmas

2011-12-24T11:21:00.002-07:00

Merry Christmas!! I hope we all remember the reason we celebrate the season!!

Don't forget to pause the music on the sidebar!!

The BEST Christmas present EVER!!

2011-12-18T23:07:00.003-07:00

I decided to try some Christmas card pictures. The kids are fun. It was SUPER hard to get a good picture of 5 kids!! I was trying to play with the shutter speed, etc. but that only works if the kids will hold still, and with 5 kids that just wasn't going to happen. So I just took a normal picture with the flash. Reagan, however, was perfect for me to play with my camera a little. I LOVE the pictures I got of her. So fun. I am quite proud of myself!! Maybe I'll have to post the others soon, but I want to play with them in photoshop a little first!! Hopefully these will end up on Christmas cards that get sent out this week!! That's on my to do list anyway!!

a week I don't want to repeat!!

2011-12-17T18:07:00.002-07:00

I just wanted to blog a little about our insane week. I had been feeling really good since coming home with Reagan, but on Sunday night I had a bit of a headache, and Tylenol and Ibuprofen weren't making it go away. I have a history of high blood pressure postpartum with both Boston and Aidan. On Monday I still had the headache. I had to run out to do a little Christmas shopping (it was the last day to use my 50% off coupon) so I decided that on my way to the mall I would stop at Walmart and check my blood pressure just to be safe. It read high.... 160/111. I was super bummed out. I was so excited that it wasn't high when I left the hospital, and really was hopeful that we had avoided it this time. I called my Dr's office and they wanted me to come to the office in the morning so they could check it there. I had been telling them for the whole 9 months that this is what happens to me postpartum, but no one seemed to chart that anywhere, and over the next several days I started to feel like a broken record saying the same things over and over. I wish they would have just got my records from my doc in Utah right from the beginning. Anyway, I went in to the office the next morning and it was still high. The more they checked it, the higher it got. It was about 170/104, when I first got there it was 158/92. They sent me for blood work because they were freaking out that I probably had pre-eclampsia. The blood work came back normal, but one of the readings was on the high end of normal, so they wanted to admit me to the hospital and but me on Magnesium for 24 hours. They seemed to think that this would fix the bp issues. I told them that I had done this with both of my last babies and had to be on meds for about 4 months before it regulated again. Again they said they wanted to do the magnesium as a precaution. So, I was admitted to the hospital. Don't get worked up..... but the baby is at home and can't come back up because she's been discharged. She can come and visit during the day, but she can't stay. But don't get emotional... yeah right!!! So super fun to be on magnesium. You can't get out of bed for the full 24 hours, and because one of the things that can happen if you have pre-eclampsia and it turns to eclampsia is seizures they padded the whole bed, etc. and tell you all the garbage about seizures and strokes..... but again, don't get worked up or upset, even though we are telling you all the very worst things that can happen!!! Then they gave the IV and the catheter and started the magnesium, which makes you super flushed and like you're having a ginormous hot flash for 24 hours, and it makes your arm ache as it comes through your IV. So much fun!! They also come to check you every hour for the 24 hours. And I'm completely hooked up to the heart monitor and have the bp cuff that pumps up every 30 minutes. That was about the LONGEST 24 hours of my life. Needless to say, it didn't bring my blood pressure down. They wanted to monitor me for an additional 12 hours after the magnesium, and they were super concerned that the bp was still high. Again the story of this is what I do... history, blah blah blah. They started me on one medication and it wasn't working. I told them that this is what happened before and that my Dr. in Utah had the medication that worked last time. Still I honestly think that all they heard from me was blah, blah, blah. They kept upping the dosage on this other med, and it wasn't working the way they wanted. Thursday afternoon they finally came and told me that I could go home. They wanted me to monitor it at home and come in for weekly bp checks. So I call Jac, he comes to get me with Boston and Reagan. I am all dressed with shoes on, and the nurse comes in and says the doctor wants one more bp check before I go home. It was 157/92.... long story short, they changed their mind and I couldn't go home after all. At this point I'm crying pretty good, which doesn't help. In the meantime, Jac got in contact with my doctor's office in Utah. He got the name of the meds that I was on before, the dosage, and the schedule that I was on the meds. We gave the paper to the nurse who made a copy and got in contact with the doctor here to let them know. They decided to switch the meds to the Clonidine, but wanted to start me on the 0.1 dosage, which was the dosage they had started me on in Utah, but didn't work like they wanted so they increased it to 0.2 before it worked. The 0.1 didn't bring it down like they wanted, so they gave me another 0.1 and gave me something to help me sleep. By the morning my bp was more in the range that they wanted to see. 147/83, and it was MY dr that was on call. He came in at about 8 AM and told me I could go home. They were sending me home with a prescription for the 0.2 dosage, to which I resisted saying I TOLD YOU SO!!!! My dr was very happy that we found out about the Clonidine because it was what did the trick, to which I resisted again saying I TOLD YOU SO!! The only bad thing about the Clonidine is that I can't nurse Reagan anymore, but I couldn't with Boston or Aidan either and they turned out just fine. It's kind of nice because Jac can share in feeding time and bond with her, too. Now just to get over the next few days of misery that come with that! I am glad to be home. And this is nothing that I will have to deal with again since Reagan is our caboose!! Thank you to all of you who prayed for me. I think that was the only thing that kept me from losing it all together. It was a tough week, but I'm glad to be back home cuddling my sweet baby and loving my family. It's also been great to have Jac's parents here. They got here Thursday night, and I'm sure Jac has probably never been so happy to have some backup!! He was such a champ this week!! Talk about baptism by fire into 5 kids ALL BY HIMSELF!!! I don't know what I ever did to deserve such a great guy!!

Meet Reagan!!

2011-12-10T12:51:00.011-07:00

Dec. 5, 2011 and we get 6 inches of snow, school is cancelled, so of course this would be the perfect day to have a baby! We were scheduled to be to the hospital at 8 AM so that they could do a version and try to turn this little princess the right way. The hospital is about 15 minutes away from our house, so we left at about 7:30 to give us plenty of time to get there in the snow. Not enough time. It took us 50 minutes to get there. People DO NOT know how to drive in snow and it is sooooo annoying!!! The main road ended up getting closed thanks to dumb drivers, so we had to turn around and try to get to the hospital via back roads. Dumb. We weren't the only ones held up by the weather thankfully!! The doctor that was coming in to do the version didn't end up getting there until about 10. They gave me the meds to relax my uterus and they came in to do the version around 10:45. If it was unsuccessful they had a c-section at 11 and then would fit me in next. All I have to say about a version is OUCH!!!! It hurts so bad! They tried the first time and she didn't move. The doctor likes to try it twice and was successful on the second try. Then it was more of a waiting game for them to move me from the procedure room, to labor and delivery, and then more waiting for the midwife on duty to come and check things out.

One last picture before heading to the hospital, and once the version was complete waiting for them to get the show on the road.

Another bad thing about having a breech baby is that there was really nothing going on. I was only dilated to a 1 and not very effaced. They decided that they didn't want to start me on pitocin until I was a little more ready. There is another medication that they give that gets your cervix ready and starts some cramping and contracting. They gave me this med at about 2, but you have to wait 4 hours from the time they give this med until they can give you pitocin. YAY. More waiting. It was such a long day. They came in to check me again at 6:00 saying that if I wasn't at least a 3 that they would have to give me a second dose of the other med and wait another 4 hours. Thankfully I was a 3. They came in at about 6:20 and got the pitocin going. This started the intense contractions. Being the wimp that I am I immediately asked for my epidural. This was at about 6:40, and I had to wait for about 30 minutes before they could come do the epidural. After they completed the epidural my doctor came in to check me and break my water. I was a 4. I was still feeling quite a bit of pain on my right side. The nurse came to check me at 9 or a little after, and I was an 8. I told her about the pain on my right side, so she moved me and laid me flat and then the pain got really intense. The doctor and another nurse hurried in asking if I felt ready. I didn't know, I just said the pain was super intense. The doctor checked me and I was ready. That was fast. Everything else is kind of a blur of them hurriedly setting things up. I pushed about 6 times and Reagan was born. It was a little crazy!! Reagan was born at 9:33 PM. She weighed 6 lbs 5 oz and was 19 1/2 inches long. My smallest baby. She is absolutely perfect!!

The kids love their new little sister. Boston was very unsure and refused to be in any pictures with her.

The next morning after her bath.All ready to go home on Dec. 7, 2011.

It was really nice to have my mom and dad here, and Amy and Roy came on Tuesday.

First bath at home. Dec 8, 2011.

She hates it!!

Ahhh, all warm and clean!! Much better!!

More cute little Reagan. Dec. 10, 2011.

We are so blessed to have Reagan in our home. She is our little princess.

Monday, Monday...

2011-12-02T19:28:00.002-07:00

Just a quick update. I went for an ultrasound and to the Dr. today and they think that they have a good chance of turning the baby. So they scheduled me for Monday morning at 8 to go in and they will try to turn this little monkey. If she turns they will induce me and we will have a baby that way. If she doesn't turn they will do a c-section "possibly immediately" but they might schedule it for a couple of days. Fingers crossed for Monday no matter what!!

Blessed!!

2011-11-26T19:29:00.002-07:00

Before November is over I just wanted to do a little Thanksgiving post. We are so blessed!! This was our first Thanksgiving on our own with NO extended family. It was really weird to cook and have Thanksgiving dinner at our home. It was kind of nice, too. We missed our family like CRAZY, but we are so blessed to have good friends here. We invited our friends the Sorensen's to have Thanksgiving with us. They were family-less this year, too. We are so glad that they came and kept us from getting too lonely this year!! I am so grateful when I sit and actually list all of the things that I have in my life to be thankful for this year!! I know this video is a couple of years old, and I've posted it before, but it shows just a few of the things that I am thankful for. I will make a new one next year when we have our new little blessing in our family! We hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that you take the time to think about all of the blessings in your lives!! We love you and miss you all!

Happy Thanksgiving from Melanie Lindell on Vimeo.

still..growing...

2011-11-23T09:54:00.002-07:00

37 weeks...

I go to the Dr. again today. Hopefully he will tell me something useful. So far, she's breech... but they act like it's no big deal. I'm not nervous or stressing the fact that she is breech, just that this is a new Dr. for me... he doesn't know my history... I don't know his preferences, and I just hate the unknown. I would feel better if I had any clue as to what was going to happen!!;) Life just keeps trying to teach me patience!! I'll keep you all updated, as I know you are all on the edge of your seats!!!

earplugs, please!!

2011-11-17T09:19:00.002-07:00

Maddie got to have a friend party for her 13th. We decided that she would get to have it 11-11-11 while her brothers were at our babysitting group. She invited 7 friends, and they had lots of fun. They ate pizza and candy and played Wii (mostly Just Dance 3 and Rock Band) and some games. I'm sure they had lots of fun due to the sheer volume of the squeals and giggles that went on that night!! They were here from 6-10, and it actually wasn't too crazy!!

Some of the loot.... a necklace!
cute new pajama pants

Maddie giggling as the girls scream/sang Happy Birthday!

Fun group of crazy girls. Sophie, Dani, Maddie, Liberty, Taylor, Emily, Sierra and Liv.

I don't know how I didn't get ANY pictures of the girls doing Just Dance 3. I do have some video so maybe if I'm really on the ball I'll get it loaded up, but don't hold your breath!! Maddie is so blessed to have such a fun group of good girls to call friends!

watch out world, she's a TEENAGER!!

2011-11-05T23:40:00.004-06:00

The day I have been dreading has finally arrived..... Maddie's a teenager!! OK so maybe dreading is a bit of an exaggeration, but I can't believe she is 13!!! I swear I was just 13. I remember it vividly!! Now I am the mother of a 13 year old, it just doesn't seem possible.

Birthday morning getting ready to open presents.

A few of the favorites. She got mostly ALL clothes. She and Jackson have both grown so much lately that their waredrobes are pretty sad!! She also got some earrings, boots, books, picture, and iTunes gift card. She was very excited to get packages in the mail earlier in the week from both sets of Grandparents (and Amy, Roy and Wendi) and thought that we were VERY mean to make her wait until her actual birthday to open them!!

Birthday cupcakes. Maddie is having a party with some friends next Friday, so she can get more "girly" cupcakes or cake then. For now she got Transformers cupcakes and her brothers thought that was AWESOME!! (Maddie didn't mind either.)

Trying to blow out her candles. I mixed a few trick ones in with the regulars this year.

Happy Birthday, beautiful girl!! I can't believe you are 13! I know that you will continue to be my wonderful, loving, brilliant and good "little" girl! We love you "infinity, plus one"!!

Trunk-or-Treat

2011-10-30T10:05:00.007-06:00

Last night was our ward trunk-or-treat. I only snapped a few pictures of my kids. I should have taken some of the other great costumes that were there. We ate yummy soups and had lots of fun!!

Maddie as the Witch, Jackson as Harry Potter, Aidan as a Pirate, and Boston as Pooh Bear.

Maddie is so funny, weeks ago I asked her what she wanted to be for Halloween and she didn't know. I was telling her about some witch stuff I have, and she wrinkled up her nose and said no. She would just wear an old pair of my scrubs and be a Dr. Yesterday as we were getting ready the kids were going through the costume box and Maddie found all the witch stuff and went nuts!! She told me she didn't know I had that witch stuff, and she really wanted to wear it. So we found an old black skirt and old black shirt and improvised. If the stinker would have told me weeks ago we could have got her a fun witches dress!!!

Jackson as Harry Potter. When I asked Jackson what he wanted to be his answer was Harry Potter, or his Clone that he was last year. I looked a few places for a Harry Potter costume, but didn't find anything. I was going to have to go to a "costume" store. We have had this costume since Jackson was in Kindergarten and was Harry Potter. He wanted to try it on just for fun. The sleeves are a little short, but its the one he wanted to wear!! Works for me, saves me the moolah on a new costume!!:)

Aidan as a Pirate. Aidan has been so excited to wear this costume!! Actually he may have just been excited to carry the accessories!! He had lots of fun with the sword and looking through the spyglass!!!

Boston as cute little Pooh Bear. Boston was more of a problem this year. My costume box is full of costumes that he could wear, but he hated them all!! I had a frog that he tried on and he looked at himself and screamed. I have a cute monkey.... same thing. He wanted to be Sheriff Woody. I started looking at costumes and they are HUGELY overpriced!! I have the Levis and cowboy boots and was about to set out on a Goodwill hunt for a shirt, etc. when we came across Pooh Bear in the costume box, and he actually liked it!! HOORAY!! I think what sold him was the voice box in the hand of the costume. If you squeeze it the costume talks like Pooh Bear, and he loved it!!

We had a great time with our friends at the church, and we got enough candy that come tomorrow we will be relaxing in front of the TV instead of out trick or treating. Although it's supposed to be 68 tomorrow, so maybe we'll have to go out anyway!! I love Halloween in NM!!;)

Maddie's YW....

2011-10-27T16:06:00.002-06:00

Last night I got to go with Maddie to her YW in Excellence. It was so good and so fun to see the projects that these cute girls are working on for their personal progress. Maddie made a journal jar that has a bunch of questions in it that you can pull out and then write in your journal about, just in case you don't have anything to write about on that day. She is working on charting her personal history through journal entries. The YW sang this song last night. I love it. So glad that Maddie has this program, and wonderful friends here in NM.

this one's for the Grandma's!!

2011-10-25T20:36:00.002-06:00

Maddie had her first orchestra concert on Monday. I videoed her 3 songs and have them all here full length for you to watch. Like the title says, this one is for both of Maddie's Grandma's. The first one is "How I Became A Pirate" a story read by one of the teachers that they have done music to. The second one is "Shark Attack" and the third one is "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, Spooky Twinkle." They did it kind of spooky and Halloween themed concert so it was fun. Not too bad for a group of beginners that have only been playing since the end of August. It will be fun to listen to the improvement in the next concert in December. The first videos quality isn't great, I'm guessing because it's the longest of them, I'm not sure why, when I watch it on my camera it's perfect. The concert took place in the concert hall at our High School. It's pretty nice!! I hope you enjoy!!:)

*In the 3rd video you can't see Maddie, she is on the front row in the audience section*

Ahhhh Fall!

2011-10-15T23:35:00.007-06:00

We decided to head to the Botanical Gardens and Aquarium today. We haven't been in a while, and it was a beautiful fall day.

A couple of pics of my cute family. I had some fun with these in Photoshop.Cute Maddie.

My 3 handsome boys.

I LOVED the fall colors and the orange flowers! I really love fall, it's my favorite season!

We headed to the Aquarium for a few minutes before we left. We love going to the Aquarium right before they close because you can actually have the giant aquarium all to yourself! My kids could sit here for hours!

We told Boston that this fish was trying to give him kisses because it kept coming right up to the glass in front of him. He thought that this was pretty funny.

What a fun fall day!!

Glowing!!

2011-10-09T15:21:00.007-06:00

So glad that the weather was OK on Saturday and we finally got to see a balloon glow!! This one was called a twinkle glow and it was fun to watch.

It started with the Navy Seals parachuting in with the flag. It was so cool and they landed right by us. HOORAY balloons are starting to inflate.

Cute Boston LOVES the balloons and was having so much fun watching them all inflate around him.

Beautiful sunset between the balloons.

My cute family, and the alien balloon that Boston thought was "sooo funny!!"

A couple of balloons that are new this year. SpyderPig and Betty Jean, the butterfly. My boys loved SpyderPig, he was a HUGE hit!!

Here they are by another favorite, "Mister Z" the zebra balloon.

"Mister Z" getting ready to stand up.

Beautiful glowing balloons!

Boston is all snugly in his stroller and loving it!

"Oh the Wells Fargo Wagon is a comin down the street...."

the Creamland Dairy cow.

Front view of the cow and Humpty Dumpty.

We had so much fun and are glad that the we FINALLY got to see the balloons! We can't wait for next year! Who's coming?!

curse the weather!!

2011-10-07T14:49:00.007-06:00

This morning was supposed to be the Special Shapes Rodeo, where all the special shapes balloons launch. Mother Nature had other ideas. She has for most of the week. Balloon Fiesta festivities have been cancelled Wed., Thurs. and now this morning. It was a rainy morning, but they had hoped that the rain would clear out and they would still be able to launch. The rain did clear out, and on the ground the wind wasn't blowing, but they said the upper level winds were too high, so they had to cancel. The balloons could stay at the park and inflate, but no launch. Most of the balloons left, but there were a few that stayed around and inflated. We had tickets for the HP tent, so while we waited we enjoyed a hot breakfast and huge free mugs of hot chocolate. Not too bad!! Did I mention that it was COLD?! Only in the lower 40's when we got there. Definitely different than what we are used to!!

Jac and the kids by the HP balloon as it was inflating.

A few of the other balloons that stuck around and inflated. Not very many, but we still had a good time.

This balloon is called "Shroom With A View" it was fun to watch one of the special shapes balloons inflate.

As we were walking around there was a balloon pilot asking if the kids wanted to get in the basket and light the fire. The kids were so excited to do this. Maddie really wants to go for a ride in a hot air balloon. Maybe someday.... but this is something that I, personally, have NO desire to ever do!!

Maddie taking her turn.

Aidan's turn! He said "that. was. AWESOME!"
Jackson's turn. He said how much fun this was, but really his face isn't convincing me!!!

The balloon was called "Arriba Ire'" from Wisconsin. They really were the nicest people EVER!

The kids had lots of fun. Here they are back at the HP balloon with the pilot, Scott.

A couple more of the special shapes.

One last look.

We are sad that we won't get to see a mass ascension this year (so not waking up at 4:30 am two days in a row, especially with no guarantee of a launch!!) but we are hoping to still see a glow. The weather isn't looking too promising for tonight, but tomorrow night the weather is supposed to be good, so we are keeping our fingers crossed!! Hopefully we will have more balloon pictures to post tomorrow night!!

it's that time again!!

2011-09-30T10:41:00.006-06:00

Today is Abq. Aloft, the official kick-off to Balloon Fiesta. Each of the schools in Abq. and Rio Rancho has balloons come and launch from their school. My kids LOVE this!! It's so much fun for them to watch.

Starting to inflate. My cute boys watching. Boston doesn't like the sound of the fan.

getting bigger!!

My cute boys still watching.

The wind picked up as they were inflating the balloons. At one point they stopped and decided they needed to wait to see if the wind died down. They decided to give it another try, but the wind was still blowing a bit, so it made it tricky for them to stand the balloon up. Once they got it stood up, you could see the wind pushing in the whole side of the balloon, but they launched anyway. It was like they shot the balloon out of a sling shot, it took off soooo fast!! It was a lot of fun to watch.Oh and the second that they started the flame Boston came running to me, so I am holding him, and trying to take the following pics, they turned out OK, though!

Looking out across Rio Rancho and Abq. at all the balloons.

After the first balloon launched they decided that they couldn't launch the second one because it was just too windy. The kids got to walk up and touch the balloon as it went down, so they thought that was cool even though they didn't get to see it take off.

We really love this time of year!! Can't wait to go to Balloon Fiesta! More pictures to come!!

P.S. this is the PERFECT time of year for you all to come and visit!!

Lots of awards!

2011-09-15T09:44:00.003-06:00

Last night was our Scouts Pack Meeting. Jackson FINALLY received all of his awards. He had earned his Bobcat and Wolf while we still lived in Utah, but for whatever reason had never received them. When we moved here I was called as Bear Den Leader. We have worked really hard to get Jackson's Bear, but because we were gone for so much of the summer he just barely received it, too.

Jackson and Bro. Malone talking about all his advancements.
Pinning the Bobcat Mother's pin on me. (I had him pin them to the bottom of my shirt because my big belly makes it difficult to bend over for extended periods of time!!:))

Pinning the Wolf Mother's pin on. Boston had to be in on the action, too.

And finally, pinning the Bears Mother's pin on.

Now officially my Webelo!! So proud of him! And he is super excited that his scout shirt won't be "naked" anymore!

still growing!!

2011-09-05T20:21:00.003-06:00

My belly at 26 weeks. It's getting bigger!! I feel HUGE and old!!!:)

She is still nameless, which kind of makes me crazy, but I think I will have to see her before I know which name fits for sure. It will either be Reagan or Payton though, that hasn't changed!

Boston's 3!!

2011-08-19T21:19:00.006-06:00

It's hard to believe my baby boy is 3!!!

Birth announcement.August 19, 2008.

1st Birthday!

2nd Birthday!

Today!! Opening 1 present this morning before the boys went to school.

Yay, Mickey!!

The kids finally got home so he could open the rest of his presents. Buzz and Woody are a favorite right now!

Cool new Buzz shirt. He really wanted to wear this to bed and not have to wait clear until tomorrow to wear it!!

Boston has been wanting to make a Build-A-Bear, so we told him that it would be a fun thing to do for his birthday. He's talked about it forever and was so excited to go to the mall and FINALLY make his bear.

Proud owner of a bear he named "Three" but we put "Trace" on his birth certificate. He was so cute walking out of the mall with his bear in the box!!

Silly boy with his cake. Happy Birthday, Boston!! We love you!!!

love...

2011-08-18T09:18:00.001-06:00

Tags: I'm Gonna Love You Through It, Martina McBride, Martina McBride Videos

This is for all of you that I love that are loving someone through it.

school for the boys!

2011-08-15T21:25:00.004-06:00

Today was the boys first day of school.

Handsome Jackson the 5th grader. It was really bright this morning!!

Handsome Aidan the 1st grader. It was still super bright even when we moved into more shade!! Poor kid had a hard time keeping his eyes open!!

My two school boys.

All three of my boys. Boston wasn't going to be left out!! He was pretty ticked that he didn't get to go to school, too!

I can't believe that my kids are growing so fast!! It's hard to believe that this will be Jackson's last year in elementary. This time next year I will be sending 2 kids off to Middle School, and only Aidan will be left at the elementary!! I love these boys. They keep my life interesting and keep me on my toes. So glad I still have Boston around to keep me company. I'm going to treasure the next 3-4 months that I get alone time with him before baby comes! I can't believe it's going by so fast!!!

7th Grade

2011-08-10T07:49:00.003-06:00

Today is Maddie's first day of 7th grade. YIKES!!!

I can't believe how grown up she is. She is turning into a beautiful young lady. How did that happen?!?

I sure love this girl!!!

so depressing!

2011-08-09T22:14:00.002-06:00

Today was our official last day of summer. How depressing is that?!? Maddie starts school in the morning. I HATE the beginning of the new school year. Yes it's nice to get back on a little bit of a schedule, and it's good for the kids, but I dislike it nonetheless. I also really dislike the fact that it means my kids are getting that much older that much faster! Summers seem to just fly by!! I can't believe I will have a 7th grader in the morning. And on Monday I'll have a 5th grader and 1st grader as well. My kids are growing up too fast, and pretty soon they won't want to spend their summers with their lame old mom. So depressing!!

watch me grow!

2011-08-05T23:05:00.002-06:00

My belly at 21 weeks 4 days.

I went for another ultrasound last week and it's still a girl!! She still doesn't have a name. Some days it's Reagan, and some days it's Payton. I have no idea what it will be when she finally gets here! Anywho, just thought it might be fun for those of you who live far away to be able to see my growing belly! More updates will come!

Hooray for Family!!

2011-08-01T15:59:00.006-06:00

My brother and his family spent this last weekend with us on their way to Texas. It was so much fun to have them here!! On Saturday we took them to the ABQ Zoo. This is always a must whenever we get visitors!

Maddie, Taylor and Garret enjoying a picnic on the grass at the zoo.
Spence, Audra, Mili and Erma.

Chubby me, Boston, Sam, Aidan and Jackson.

Another must while we are at the zoo is watching the Polars Bears get fed. The kids love it, and it's always a lot of fun!

Waiting for food!

Jumping in to get the fish.

After standing in the sun watching the Polar Bears everyone was really HOT!! The kids thought it was fun to have water poured over their heads from the drinking fountain.

Aidan, Boston and Mili watching the Seals and Sea lions. They really loved the water over their heads!!!

Taylor, Maddie, Garret and Jackson.

Muah!

Crazy kids!

Sitting on the big chair in Africa. Another must!

Sunday was spent at church and then a crazy, chaotic BIG dinner like those of old! We had a lot of fun with our cousins!! We miss our family so much, so you should all really come and visit. We promise not to disappoint!!:)

4th of July fun

2011-07-19T19:31:00.004-06:00

Now that we shared our news, I can get back to catching up on other happenings in our lives!! For the 4th of July we were invited by some friends to a neigborhood party at the park by our old house. It was super fun. They had a bounce house, slip-n-slide, water games, and LOTS of good food.

Aidan helping Boston navigate the bounce house.

Aidan helping Boston down the slide, and then going down, too!

Maddie and Sophie.

Aidan playing one of the water balloon games at the volleyball net.

Jackson (orange shorts) enjoying the chaos of the bounce house.

Maddie getting her face painted by cute Amanda Clyde. She is also one of Maddie's beehive leaders and she LOVES her!!

This year we skipped out on the neighborhood fireworks (they had A LOT of restrictions this year because of our EXTREME drought conditions) and went to the city ones instead. We decided to use the 4 wheel drive and went up a dirt hill kind of across the street from where the high school is. We had a great view and didn't have to deal with the crowd.

Big kids watching fireworks and enjoying some cheese balls!:)

Boston and daddy enjoying fireworks in our comfy lawn chairs.

We had a fun filled 4th!!

???????

2011-07-15T09:44:00.001-06:00

Our Utah Finale

2011-07-09T18:00:00.005-06:00

In between our big Utah adventures we had lots of fun little adventures. With the help of my Grandma and my mom we made quilts for all 4 kids.

Jackson and Aidan's quilts

Boston and Maddie's quilts.

We played with our friends the Hancey's who used to live in NM, but recently moved to Utah.

Boston and Aidan, Clara and Boston.

Jackson and Ethan, Aidan and Clara.

We played with LOTS of old friends, went bowling at Fat Cats, went to Castle Park with lots of cousins, enjoyed the grassy backyard and did lots of slip and slide and running through the sprinklers, sleepovers and 4 wheeling with Amy and Roy, AND played with ALL of the cousins on BOTH sides. WHEW!!!

As our final Saturday activity we went to the SLC Cemetery. You can stop at the office and pick up a map of many of the different graves that you can see. It was so cool to see where many of the prophets are buried. We have been there before, but this is the first time we have got the map and took the kids to all of the different graves. I had WAAAAAYYY too many pictures of this so I had to make a slide show!!

We had a fantastic month in Utah, and were sad to leave our family and friends. We love you and miss you terribly, but it is sooooo nice to be home!!:)

Saturday at the Zoo

2011-07-03T23:32:00.007-06:00

The day after our fun adventure at Toad's with the Robinson Family, we went to the Hogle Zoo with my mom and sisters. Roy has never been to the zoo before, so we decided that it was something that he needed to do. I really LOVE the location of the Hogle Zoo. It is beautiful. But I really dislike how hard it is to see many of the animals out and about. Especially after being spoiled by our fabulous Rio Grande Zoo!!

Cute new baby elephant.
The gang checking out the elephants and rhinos.
Boston waiting for the bird show to start. We really like the bird show.

Cool picture of the Bald Eagle.

My cute kids by the Gorilla.

A new feature at the zoo is the dinosaurs they have throughout. They move and growl. These 2 sprayed water at the crowd. Here Aidan and Jackson are getting squirted by the baby.

And here are the kids getting squirted by the big one.

Jackson and Aidan by the T-Rex.

Boston didn't like the T-Rex AT ALL. It's growl was really scary. Here he is far away from it with Amy!

Our ride on the zoo train.

Amy and Roy taking Yoda for a ride on the train.

We had a fun day at the zoo. It was the first nice weekend weather wise that we had and I think about everyone in Northern Utah had the same idea as we did because it was BUSY! The weather really was perfect low 70's and a breeze..... PERFECT!! Hopefully Roy enjoyed his first visit to the zoo, and he has an open invitation to come and visit us and go to a "real" zoo!!!:)

Fun at Toad's

2011-06-30T22:50:00.004-06:00

We had such a fun month in Utah. I was hoping I could catch up by doing a long post, but I have waaaaay too many pictures!! One of the fun things we did was go to Toad's with all of the Robinson's. My kids had a blast and it was great to spend a whole day with Jac's mom, sisters and sis-in-law and all of the cousins. My kids were in HEAVEN!!!! The favorite was the arcade. We got passes to do 2 of the big things (mini golf, go carts, batting cages, laser tag, etc) and that included $5 each in the arcade. This was the FAVORITE thing.

Aidan is enjoying the merry-go-round with the little kids. Boston REFUSED to get near this.
Boston just wanted to drive the cars!!:)

One of the big things the kids chose was mini golf. Half wanted to try the indoor course and half wanted to do the outside one. DeAnna was awesome and took Jackson, Austin and Riker (and Grady) and did the outside course. She probably enjoyed it a lot more then we did inside with all the littles!!:) Actually we had a lot of fun and the littles enjoyed it, although Maddie was a little bummed that we weren't going to keep score!:)

Luke, Halle, Boston and Jerrett all trying to get to the hole. Or maybe they were trying to hit the serpent..... hard to say, exactly!

Boston glowing in the dark!

Boston and Halle resisting the urge to throw their balls in the water!!:)

The second thing the kids chose to do was go carts. This was a tough choice, lots of them wanted to try laser tag, but go carts ended up winning out.

Crazy kids waiting for our turn.

Jackson was soooo bummed that he was BARELY too short to drive. But it ended up being OK to ride with mom. Yep, I'm driving and taking a self portrait cuz I'm skilled like that!

Maddie and Aidan. From the look on his face I think he liked it!

Another cute shot of Maddie and Aidan. They were in the group of cars right after us so I was able to take pictures of them from the sideline!

We really had a fun (and exhausting) day. We love our family so much and are sad that we don't get to see them a little more often!

Missing You...

2011-06-28T21:42:00.005-06:00

3 years. It feels like yesterday, but it feels like forever ago at the same time. I miss you both so much!!

Grandpa Frew

Dec. 3, 1921- June 2, 2008

Grandpa Lloyd (photo was taken 3 years ago today)

October 5, 1927- June 29, 2008

When King Lear dies in Act V, do you know what Shakespeare has written? He's written "He dies." That's all, nothing more. No fanfare, no metaphor, no brilliant final words. The culmination of the most influential work of dramatic literature is "He dies." It takes Shakespeare, a genius, to come up with "He dies." And yet every time I read those two words, I find myself overwhelmed with dysphoria. And I know it's only natural to be sad, but not because of the words "He dies." but because of the life we saw prior to the words.~Mr. Magorium's Wonder Imporium

I love you both. Till we meet again.

Summer so far....

2011-06-06T22:56:00.015-06:00

We've been having a lot of fun on our Utah trip. We got here late Thursday May 26. Friday was just a lazy day spent at my mom's house. Spencer and his family came for Memorial Day weekend and so did Amy and Roy. On Saturday we went and spent some time at Jac's parents house. They have some cute new animals in their barn. New kittens, chicks, and a new colt. The kids had so much fun seeing the animals. Grandpa Robinson was even nice enough to let the kids ride Foxy. Boston did NOT want a turn, but the other kids had so much fun!

Boston liked Foxy, but he didn't want a ride!!

Cute kids and Foxy.
The new colt. Sooo cute!!

Boston feeding Copper and holding one of the cute kittens.

On the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend we went to Salt Lake to Grandpa Lloyd's grave. It was raining HARD!! We just stayed for a few minutes and by the time we got back in the car we were SOAKED!!
Frew family at Grandpa Lloyd's grave.
Trying to stay warm and dry!

Boston didn't like the cold. He was shivering and wimpering!!

On Memorial Day we went to the cemetery in Ogden to visit Grandpa Frew's grave. It wasn't raining when we stopped, but the wind was blowing and it was cold!! We were going to go to the park and play baseball, but because of all the rain from Sunday it was WAY too muddy. So we decided to ride up Weber Canyon and go across Trappers Loop and up South Fork to Causey. It is amazing how much water there is!!! It was beautiful and green, though. And there was fresh snow as we went over Trappers. Crazy weather!!!!

Amy and Roy at Grandpa's grave.

Wendi

me and Maddie.

Crazy Aidan and Jackson.

I can't believe that it has been 3 years since we lost both of my Grandpa's. It doesn't seem like it's been that long, but I feel like it's been FOREVER since I've talked to them. I think that's what I miss most.

Going over Trappers Loop.

South Fork all the way up to the road.

Perception Park where the rope swing usually is. The big rocks we usually sit on are completely under water!

The branch that usually has the rope swing. If you walk up the path a little ways the river is coming up onto the concrete where the benches are.

South Fork looking down from Causey Dam. This is where we usually get in the river on our tubes when we tube from the dam to Perception Park.

Causey. I don't remember it being this full before, and there is still snow in the mountains!!!

Water going over the spillway at Causey. I don't remember seeing this before either!!

The waterfall in Ogden Canyon. I tried to get some pictures of the Ogden River, but they didn't turn out. It is crazy high and white caps the WHOLE way down the canyon!

It rained on us our whole drive through the canyon. Just as we were getting back into South Ogden by Grandma Lloyd's house, the sun peeked out and there was a beautiful double rainbow. I wish I could have got a picture of the whole thing!

The kids were so excited when they found out that school here in Davis County went until June 3. That meant that we would be here for the annual school's out party. They have been doing this for 20+ years, and my kids LOVE it. My mom is still the bus driver, so she let my kids ride with her on the last day. The buses get a police escort and the kids go nuts. Then they have treats and drinks for everyone to enjoy and celebrate summer. It's so fun. I didn't take pics this year, but I did get it on video to share with you!!

School's out party from Melanie Lindell on Vimeo.

Playing in Grandma's backyard and snitchin mom's drink!!

Check out the big guns!!! Boston decided to sit in the tub they were using to fill the cups for the water fight in.

Last Day of School!

2011-05-25T09:39:00.007-06:00

Yesterday was the last day of school!! Woohoo!!! I decided to post pics of my kids on the first day, and then on the last day. They have changed a lot in the school year!!

Maddie on the first day of school in August and then the last day May 24.

Jackson and Aidan on the first day in August, and then the last day May 24.

I can't believe how much my kids are growing. It makes me a little sad, but I am so proud of them and everything they do!!! Hooray for summer vacation!! We're so excited! *P.S. I am having blogger issues!! So sick of it adding HUGE spaces on my post, but they aren't here when I am composing the post!!!! So frustrated!!!!!*

Aidan the Graduate!

2011-05-21T13:25:00.005-06:00

Aidan had his Kindergarten Graduation on Thursday. It was cute. They walked in and were called up one at a time. Mrs. Daniels asked them what they wanted to be when they grew up. Aidan wants to be a Police Officer.

Shaking Mrs. Daniels hand.
His shy little face after he said he wants to be a Police Officer.
The diploma.
My cute graduate.

Mrs. Daniels and my cute graduate.

Aidan and his best friend Logan, and Logan's little brother.

Cute brothers.

I can't believe he is done with Kindergarten and will be in the 1st grade!!! Where does the time go?!? My kids are growing way too fast!!! We are so ready for summer vacation around here! Tuesday is the last day and then off to Utah for a whole month of FUN!!!!:)

Amy and Roy's wedding

2011-05-18T15:41:00.008-06:00

We went to Utah for a quick 4 day trip to Amy and Roy's wedding. We had a lot of fun, and were so glad we got to be there and see everyone! They had a dinner on Friday April 29 at the church. They played a fun football game that Roy's family organized in which they had to answer questions about each other. Each one right got them a present and when they didn't get them right they had to do funny little games. It was fun to watch. Here are a few photos from the dinner.

Playing the fun game.

Maddie and Taylor watching them play the game.

Boston making silly faces with his daddy.

Saturday started out cold and snowy. My mom was major stressing the whole outdoor wedding thing. But the snow stopped and everything came together great! It was still super cold, and we did have a few flurries that delayed family pics for a few minutes, but that was it!
Everyone getting seated waiting to start. The sun is shining!!!:)
The cute quilt from all the Lloyds.
What handsome boys! Aidan, Jackson and Tanner.

Beautiful FREEZING girls! Taylor, Maddie and Hannah.

Heaters attempting to keep us warm.

The bouquet toss. I love how hard Maddie is trying to get there. This toss was directed at Wendi. Wendi just stood there with her arms folded at let it fall and someone else got it. What a brat!!:) It was a fun whirlwind trip, and we are so happy for Amy and Roy!

Easter 2011

2011-05-16T19:38:00.004-06:00

So I am finally catching up on some past events. For Easter we took it easy. It was during the couple of weeks when all of us were sick so we didn't do anything big. We colored Easter eggs. Here are the finished eggs.

One of Maddie's finished eggs.

Jackson is such a nerd!

Aidan is a nerd, too. Love his sore nose from the stinkin dry weather!

Boston and his Mickey Mouse egg. He's in heaven!

Cute kids and their Easter baskets.

Luckily the Easter Bunny still found us. We had a simple Easter egg hunt in our family room. It was a nice day and the kids had lots of fun.

Maddie's stinkin project.

2011-05-13T13:17:00.003-06:00

Maddie had a project for school on the Middle Ages. She got to pick what she wanted to make a model of the choices were a Medieval Castle, a Medieval Cottage, or Medieval armor or weapon. She chose the cottage. She did the research part and got all of her facts and found a picture of one she wanted to make. This time the procrastination on the project was NOT her fault. Aidan has been home sick all this week so my errands didn't happen. All of the sudden it's the day before the due date.... awww crap! We ran and got supplies and the clay we found was the kind that you bake and it hardens, which is a great idea..... when it works. We spent about 40 minutes or so molding it into the shape that we wanted and getting it prepped for baking. We braced it up with Popsicle sticks and everything, just to be safe. In it went to bake looking beautiful....... out it came a hardened collapsed mess!!!!! We followed the directions to a T and I was ticked!!!! I had a bit of a meltdown and began stressing BIG TIME!!!! Jac ran to Target and found the Crayola molding clay. It worked great..... only problem..... it takes 2-3 DAYS to dry. So we had to get clever with our gluing and sticking together because hot glue doesn't stick so well to wet clay!!!:) It was a simple design, and once we got the clay base together it went pretty smoothly. We used Popsicle sticks, skewers and shredded wheat, and of course some brown paint. Maddie did all of the painting. I just helped get the size of the clay house right and then with the hot glue and the shredded wheat roof. It turned out great, and she better get a good grade!!!! After a disastrous start it only ended up taking us until 10:30. Not terrible.The picture she found for inspiration.
Her finished project.

HOORAY FOR THE FINAL PROJECT OF 6TH GRADE!!!! Now bring on summer vacation!!!!

The video...

2011-05-05T23:09:00.002-06:00

Amy asked me to make her and Roy's wedding video. I love making these videos, and have done them for my kids, and for Grandparents 80th Birthdays. I really enjoy making them. This one was a little stressful because I used a new program. Adobe Premiere Elements 9. After figuring out all it's quirks (thanks again Ryan for your tips!!) I really love this program!! It's a 20 minute video, and while you probably don't want to sit on my boring blog for 20 whole minutes, I'm posting it anyway. So enjoy if you watch, if not.... you're really missing out!!!

Love you Amy!! Oh and Roy welcome to the chaos of the Frew Family!!:)

Amy and Roy from Melanie Lindell on Vimeo.

Wedding...

2011-05-03T23:41:00.002-06:00

My baby sister got married this past weekend. While I have lots of catching up to do, I thought you might enjoy looking at some of the photos of my beautiful sister and her fabulous day. To see her bridals click here. And to see some photos of the big day click here.

Hopefully I will have a few minutes later to do a better update!!!

they say it's your birthday....

2011-04-20T19:58:00.010-06:00

Today is Jackson's 10th Birthday! I can't believe he's 10!!! Time flies!

opening presents.... (and a few more of the many faces of Aidan..)

Jackson got to pick what he wanted to do for dinner, and he picked Red Robin. It was a lot of fun. It turns out that Wed. is kids night so all the kids got free sundaes and Red came out with the group to sing to Jackson. I was just glad we got out of the house. Both me and Jac have been sick, so I didn't know if we'd actually make it somewhere, luckily Jac started feeling better this afternoon and decided to try to come with us.

Red and crew singing to Jackson. Jackson trying to act embarassed, and Boston is pretty unsure. Then Jackson and Maddie posing with Red.Yummy cupcakes from Cake Fetish. Jackson got his very own Grasshopper one, and then assorted mini's for the rest of us. mmmmmm..... Happy Birthday, Jackson. We love you!!!

Easter Clothes

2011-04-17T13:22:00.008-06:00

Next week we have a special Stake Conference, so we got all dressed up in our Easter outfits this week instead. The boys were pretty simple this year. Since we had to get black pants and white shirts for Amy's wedding we just used those for Easter, too. They just got different ties. Maddie, however, was able to get a whole new dress. Since she has grown so much in the last 6 months, her dress selection is pretty pathetic, so any excuse to get a new one is FABULOUS!!

Cute kids in their Easter clothes.

Maddie with her eyes closed, and Jackson with his new "smile" but they are still cute kiddos.

They are all now at church looking spiffy, and I am home with a killer cold. I should enjoy the quiet, but I am going stir crazy!!! I hate being sick!! At least we are getting it out of our system before Amy's wedding. We WILL be healthy for that!!:)

Aztec

2011-04-09T23:20:00.009-06:00

Our second stop on our mini vacation were the ruins in Aztec. Aztec is a small town near Farmington, NM. The ruins here were very impressive, and right in town. We didn't have to travel far on dirt roads like you do to get to some of the other ruins, so it was great for a quick stop. In the last post I told you that Aidan loves to pose for the camera. Rarely do I get a photo of him just smiling "normally" so make sure you watch for the many poses/faces of Aidan. They totally crack me up!!!

Getting ready to start our exploring. At the top of the stairs where you get a good look at how big the ruins really are.

Standing on the path by the large section of the ruins that we get to go inside.

Looking at one of the Kiva's that has been back filled.

Getting ready to go inside. Maddie and Flat Hannah once we got inside.

Original wood ceiling inside the ruins.

Looking inside the ruins where we got to walk through. They had a section that you couldn't enter where the room still had original door coverings. It hadn't been fully excavated yet. You also had to duck pretty low to get through some of the doors!!

Looking in the ruins where Maddie is standing in the doorway above.

More exploring.

The cute family standing looking into another Kiva.

More of the ruins. It kind of shows the doorways in the corners which is something that is unique.

Cute Boston says "cheese!!!!"

Top left picture is looking inside another Kiva, and the top right is a Kiva that was rebuilt. The bottom pictures are inside of the rebuilt Kiva, and on the bottom right is part of one of the original columns from the Kiva. It was kind of cool to go inside and listen to an original sun song. A little eery, even.

And last, but not least, proof that I was actually there!!!

We had a fun mini vacation and enjoyed exploring some of the cool places in our new home state of New Mexico.

Four Corners

2011-04-02T09:51:00.004-06:00

On March 19 we went to Four Corners. It was part of our fun mini vacation at the end of Spring Break for Aidan's birthday. We stayed in Farmington, NM and drove to Four Corners, about an hour away. We had a lot of fun getting pictures of the kids and of Flat Hannah. My niece, Hannah, read about Flat Stanley in school and then her class made flat versions of themselves and mailed them far away. Hannah sent hers to us, and we have had some fun adventures. My kids have LOVED it!!

My cute kids standing in different states. My cute family.Maddie in 4 states at the same time.

Jackson in 4 states at the same time.

Aidan in 4 states at the same time.

Boston in 4 states at the same time.

kids and Flat Hannah in Colorado.

kids and Flat Hannah in Arizona.

kids and Flat Hannah in Utah.

kids and Flat Hannah in New Mexico.

kids and Flat Hannah in all 4 states. If you notice Aidan in the pictures he NEVER just smiles. He is always doing some sort of a pose. You will notice this in my next post about the ruins in Aztec, too. I find it hilarious!!!

Close up of the marker.

This is a picture of Shiprock, in Shiprock, NM. We drove through on our way back to Aztec and the ruins. I thought it looked kind of cool with the foggy look. (it was actually just dust because the wind was blowing soooooo bad!!)

Next up: ruins in Aztec!! Stay tuned!!

Unique Experience

2011-03-28T10:27:00.003-06:00

On March 19 our Bishop called us to give us a unique assignment. He asked our family to attend the church branch in Cuba, NM and attend their meetings. He also asked if me and Maddie and Jac would speak in their sacrament meeting. He said that they ask a family from our ward to go about once every 4 months. Cuba is a small town that is about 66 miles north of our house in Rio Rancho. The church that they meet in is actually in Regina, NM and it's 78 miles from our house. This is an experience that living in Utah my whole life, I never could have had, or imagined. I was always very spoiled to have the church be a mile or 2 from my home, and you usually drove past a couple of churches on your way. Yesterday was the big day. We had to leave our house at 8:30 am to be on time for meetings that started at 10 am.

Here is a picture of the church. There were probably only 5 cars total in the parking lot. My cute family in front of the church. Inside there was a small chapel if you went through the doors on the left. It had a total of maybe 10 pews. Only 3 seats on the stand. If you went through the doors on the right it was a small primary room. In between the 2 rooms there was a small hallway (which is where they had the makeshift nursery) and 2 classrooms. At the end of the hall there was a small kitchen and 2 small bathrooms. You notice the small portable bldg. to the right. It works as the office for the branch president. Counting our family of 6 there were probably about 25-30 in attendance. They said there are actually about 150 members in the branch but attendance is a problem. The branch covers a lot of reservation land as well. I have never been to a meeting where most in attendance were there in levi's and sweatshirts, but were so anxious to feel the spirit and learn the gospel. When we walked in the branch presidents wife hurried over and gave me the biggest hug. She was so excited to have us there. The primary is ran by a family that is from Rio Rancho. It is a 2 year calling for them, and their children made up most of the primary and the young women.... there weren't any young men. They were so excited for my boys to come to primary and participate and actually sing the songs. They only had about 8 children in the primary (counting my 2 boys) and Boston was 1 of 3 nursery age kids the other 2 were the children of the family that does the primary. Maddie was 1 of 4 young women, and Jac and I attended classes with the adults that there were probably 10 of us....(maybe) We left to come home a little after 1 in the afternoon, and arrived home around 2:30 pm. It made for a long day, but it was an awesome experience for our family. I'm so glad we had the chance to go. I hope it is something that my kids remember for a long time!

Aidan's 6!

2011-03-23T09:55:00.007-06:00

Hooray for internet and finding the cords to my camera!! Now I have some catching up to do!!

Aidan turned 6 last Friday. It was our Spring Break so he didn't have to go to school, and after a week of mess and moving I was ready for a break. So we decided to celebrate the whole weekend and go on a little "staycation" to Farmington, NM. It was a lot of fun.

Aidan opening presents. Secret Agent P he got from his sibs.

Bakugon stuff from Grandma and Grandpa Robinson.

DSi XL from mom and dad. He has begged for this for weeks. We told him that it would be the only thing he would get, and that would mean he would only have 1 present from us to open. He said that he didn't care, and I think the grin says how happy he was!!!!

After opening presents we headed off to the zoo. This was Aidan's activity of choice for the day. We love the zoo, and have a pass so we go quite often.

Aidan all set with the map so we won't get lost!:)

Maddie the flamingo and the boys having a snack by the Polar Bears.

The Polar Bears are a favorite. Boston LOVES them! I love this picture of the bear being "shy":)

It's great to be KING.

In the car after the zoo and on our way to Farmington. We had fun adventures with "flat Hannah" but that will be another post!!

Happy Birthday, Aidan. We love you!!!

moving.... UPDATE.

2011-03-07T17:30:00.003-07:00

We are moving this week.... YES THIS WEEK.

It's funny how things work out. It turns out that the new Property Manager on our current home (also the realtor) had an available home that is in Northern Meadows, this is the neighborhood that we live in and so it would keep our kids in the same schools and us in the same ward. It also happens to be a 4 bedroom, which have been difficult to come by. Since he is the new prop. manager on our current home, our security deposit (which we had written off as gone) has been transferred over to him. So he is not requiring a new security deposit, in fact we will actually get a little bit of money back!!!! We definitely feel that this is an answer to the many prayers said in our behalf. Thank you so much for all of you who have prayed so hard for us. It has been a rough few months, and we are very happy to be to the end of this chapter, and very ready to begin the next (much happier) chapter!!:) I promise I will post more pics soon, right now this is all I have!

Surprise Visit

2011-03-02T09:36:00.009-07:00

On President's Day weekend my family has a tradition of going to St. George for the Parade of Homes. This year was no different. Jac and I really wanted to go, but had told my family that it just wasn't possible. Jac, being the incredibly awesome husband that he is, allowed me to go. He got me a plane ticket so that I could fly to St. George and surprise my family. Wendi and Amy were in on it because someone had to pick me up from the airport. The surprise was great. Wendi picked me up and then she went to the house and I hid outside for a few minutes. Then I just wandered in and didn't say anything. I wish I could have had a picture of my mom's face when she noticed me. It was classic. Surprise success!!!:)

Me and my sisters. I love these crazy girls!!

I have included some of the pictures of the homes we went through. Lots of things to love!

This home was the most "kid oriented" The upstairs had a loft that had a big projection TV and several sitting areas. I loved the 2 kids bedrooms that were upstairs, too. The nursery was great. I LOVED the clouds painted on the ceiling.

I loved all the colors in this house. This is the bathroom just off the office, and then the bar area in the kitchen. I wish I were brave enough to put permanent colors like this in my home!!

My favorite girls room. LOVED the green, purple and brown. SO CUTE!!

My favorite built-in entertainment center and fireplace combo.

This house was so fun!! I LOVED it!! The water feature in the front courtyard was a waterfall and then it went into a little stream that went under the hallway/walkway in the house and ended in the backyard where the pool overflowed. I loved the pool/hot tub, and the 2 fire pits in the yard. LOVED the color in this home, too. The backsplashes in the bathrooms were so fun, and I LOVED the purple pool table and the bunk bed room downstairs.

My dad, taking a little snooze during our lunch break!

I LOVED these tubs. The rectangle one was the biggest tub I have EVER seen! I love the overflowing tubs, too and the view from this bathroom was beautiful!

LOVE these green chairs around the fire in the backyard!

This was my favorite kitchen. I loved the color of the cabinets and the wood around the bar. I also LOVED the lights in this home!

I could have put so many more pictures on here, but I didn't want to bore you with close ups of tile and floors and backsplashes that I loved, too!;) It was such a fun weekend. Spence and Audra were there as well as my Uncle Scott and Aunt Darla and Uncle Mike and Aunt Sharon, and Amy's boyfriend, Roy, who passed the test with flying colors!!!:) Thanks Jac for holding down the fort, and allowing me to have a much needed escape!

Young Love...

2011-02-14T12:40:00.004-07:00

Boston just loves Meredith. They were being so cute today, I had to snap a couple of pictures. He would kiss her and just giggle. Ahhh, young love. Happy Valentine's Day!

My Anti-Valentine's Day Post

2011-02-12T21:44:00.003-07:00

So, have I ever mentioned how I HATE Valentine's Day? Don't get me wrong, I love Jac and my kids, and my kids always get a card and a little treat, but Jac and I don't celebrate. In my mind it's a holiday that makes single people feel like crap, and puts pressure on couples to get the perfect (overpriced) gift. You have to make reservations for dinner way in advance and still everywhere is overcrowded. I just don't like it. I like presents and flowers just as much as any other girl, but to me, it's much more special on an ordinary day.... just because, and not because St. Valentine's Day said so.

Boston loves Black Eyed Peas!!

2011-02-06T21:46:00.004-07:00

Sorry to overload you with the cuteness of my Boston! He is growing and changing so much, and does such cute things right now. He LOVES the Black Eyed Peas, and sings along with their songs. It totally cracks me up, so when we found out that they were the halftime show for the super bowl we had the camcorder ready to watch Boston. This is what we got. Enjoy.

my cute lil boy!

2011-02-03T13:44:00.007-07:00

Boston is such a cute little copycat. He thinks he is so grown up and he's sure that he can do ANYTHING that anyone else is doing.

Here he is playing the Wii doing the ski jump with Jac. I love this picture!
He loves to play Just Dance with the big kids, and I think it's pretty darn cute!!
Here are a couple of videos of him doing the ski jump and dancing. I just LOVE them!

Proud Parent Moment

2011-01-28T15:00:00.002-07:00

Maddie has done awesome in school this year. At first it was really hard for her to adjust to Middle School and 7 class periods a day, but she always got good grades. 1st term she got a 3.2, and 2nd term she got a 3.5, making her GPA for the 1st semester of middle school a 3.5. They had an assembly this week to honor the achievements of all the students that made honor roll and got the Positive Behavior awards.

They were sponsored by the NM Thunderbirds Basketball team. All students that got a 4.o received tickets to a basketball game and will be honored in a pregame ceremony as well.
Maddie and her friend Liberty.
Maddie and "Thundercat"

Her certificate.

I am now the proud owner of this beautiful bumper sticker! I couldn't be more proud!

This is the video of them calling her name and presenting her with her award.

Love you, Maddie! Keep up the good work!!

New Year's and Erma's Blessing

2011-01-27T17:49:00.005-07:00

The week between Christmas and New Year's was filled with a lot of fun. I was able to go for a pedicure with my sisters, and to dinner with all of my girlfriends and their spouse's. No pictures, though because I forgot my camera.:(

New Year's Eve we spent relaxing in our pj's at my mom's. We hung out and ate food and played games. It was fun, and nice to just relax. I'm convincing myself that I'm NOT tired!!
Boston made it till midnight, but wasn't a fan of all the noise we made to welcome in 2011.
Aidan.... he's NOT tired, either!

Maddie and Jackson

Maddie. She thought that she needed to be able to stay up even later with the grown-ups. Too bad she had to go to bed with the kids, but it was after midnight!:)

Wendi and Boston. Still unhappy.

New Year's Day we slept in a little, and then that afternoon we headed to Vernal and it's subzero temperatures to stay with Spence and Audra. We were excited to finally meet our new niece/cousin, Erma. She was blessed on Sunday Jan. 2.

Aidan loves his sweet cousin!

Jackson and Erma, so cute!

Abby and Erma checking each other out.

Boston and Sam. They had so much fun together!

Cute little Mili!

Downstairs there was some fierce competition on the new pop-a-shot game. Justin and Spence fighting it out!

Me and Jac. He kicked my butt!

Sam and Boston playing baseball. Who says it's a bad idea to let a 2 year old pitch to a 2 year old?!? They had fun, and nothing got broke and no one got injured!

We left Spence's house and headed back to Jac's mom's house for a delicious dinner with all of his family. It was good to be able to spend the evening with them and see everyone again before we had to go home. We went back to my mom's and got everything packed up. We headed for home bright and early Monday morning. It was hard to say goodbye, but we had a lot of fun and are looking forward to more visits soon! We are also hoping that we will get lots of visits HERE, too! (hint, hint!)

Christmas Day

2011-01-25T09:26:00.007-07:00

I'm still trying to catch up!! Christmas Day was busy and fun. We stayed with my mom and so we were able to have our Christmas morning with my parents, my sisters and my Grandma Frew, which was a lot of fun.

Aidan and his Penguin Pillow Pet. He had been begging for this for MONTHS!! I think he might be in heaven!

Boston and his Puppy Pillow Pet.
Aidan was excited to see the cool helicopter/car carrier that Santa brought him.
Boston checking out his Mickey and Minnie. Santa knew he would LOVE them!
Maddie and her new iPod dock/alarm clock. It even matches her pink iPod. Santa is pretty smart!

My cute boys opening and enjoying more presents. They were so happy. In going through my photos I noticed that I didn't get one of Jackson and his loot this year. He got an iPod dock/alarm clock, too. His is purple and matches his iPod as well. He also got a Pillow Pet like the other kids.
After opening presents we headed to my Grandma Lloyd's house for our traditional breakfast of Aebleskivers. It is always fun to see everyone Christmas morning, and to eat a yummy hot breakfast!!
On Christmas afternoon we headed to Jac's mom's house for our traditional fondue. We usually do this on Christmas Eve, but it was on Christmas Day this year. It was so nice to see all of his family and see them open their gifts. It was fun to spend the whole afternoon with them!

Luke and Jerrett playing hide and seek in Grandma's basement.

Aidan found the wildcat claw.... WATCH OUT!!

more hiding.... such cute boys!!

Boston taking a long drink after a yummy dinner!

Cam. He is the cutest most chill boy EVER!

Halle enjoying some crackers! What a princess!

Some of the craziness.

Sometimes I get a little overwhelmed by chaos. This year it seemed so nice because we haven't been around everyone for so long! I realized that I kind of miss the chaos!:)

We were very lucky to have a wonderful Christmas, and to be able to spend it with ALL of our family!

Christmas Eve

2011-01-22T12:51:00.008-07:00

Our Christmas Eve was a fun-filled day. It started in American Fork visiting Jac's dad and Grandma Lindell who were in town staying with his Aunt Denise. We started by having lunch at The Pizza Factory with Jac's dad and Grandma.

Jackson and Aidan enjoying the breadsticks.Aidan and Great Grandma Lindell

Boston likes his breadstick.
Maddie and Grandpa Jac.

After lunch we headed back to Denise's house to make Gingerbread houses with her family and their friends The Henrie's.

Boston made quick friends with Garrett. They had lots of fun together!

Such cute boys!!

My Christmas Elf.

The Henrie's golf course gingerbread house.

Lexi's was the 3 little pigs.

Maddie's house. We called it "The Burrow" because it's kind of what it ended up looking like! She did a good job!

Jackson's finished house and putting green.

Aidan's finished house and Boston's train.

Brett's house was still a work in progress when we left. We are missing pictures of the other houses. Mirissa made a cute train, Laney made an Igloo, and Jake & Courtney made Deron Williams. It was a lot of fun to be a part of their Christmas tradition this year!!

My cute family right before leaving Denise's house.

Jac and his dad and Grandma.

We left American Fork and hurried back to my mom's and shoveled down a bowl of cereal, and then headed to my Grandma Lloyd's house for our traditional Christmas Eve get together. The kids acted out the Nativity, and their was a small talent show. Always lots of fun.

Maddie as an Angel.

Tanner, Jackson and Aidan the 3 Wisemen.

The Frew cousins.

All the kids (minus Boston.)

Tanner, Jackson & Aidan- 3 Wisemen.

Maddie, Abby & Sawyer- Angels

Ryker- Shepherd

Kaimen- Joseph

Hannah- Mary

Boston and his Grandma.

Wendi and Amy performing their Christmas rap for the talent portion of the program.

Hannah, Abby, Tanner, Jackson and Aidan playing the chimes.

Me trying to help Boston. He discovered that if he kicked his chime it made a fun noise. It ended up flying up and thumping him in the head giving him a nice little knot on the side of his head. Bad mommy.

Aidan concentrating!! So cute.

To sum it up, our Christmas Eve was "fan-freakin-great"!! (thanks to 5 yr old Alexeea for my new word!)

New Mexico Bowl

2011-01-20T13:53:00.004-07:00

I'm finally going to start posting pictures of Christmas break. To start things off my family came down on the 17th and we went to the New Mexico Bowl on Dec. 18. What a great year for BYU to kind of have a down year because it meant that they played their bowl game in a stadium just 40 minutes from my house.

The girls before the game. I miss my sisters!!
running onto the field Heaps getting ready to start the game.

The handoff to Kariya to score our first TD.

Logan our DLF dancing to UTEP's band.

Riley...

Love Andrew Rich, I'm gonna miss him!

Juice.

Hooray for a winning season!! I love Coach Mendenhall!!

I'm pretty excited for the future of BYU football. They had a lot of freshmen that were fun to watch and should have very bright futures! It was fun for my family to come here for a couple of days, too. I will post pictures from Christmas next. We had such a fun Christmas break!!

14 years later...

2011-01-17T12:44:00.004-07:00

Today is my 14th Anniversary. It's so true that time flies when you're having fun!

Engagement picture fall 1996. (we have NO clue!!)

Wedding day January 17, 1997.
Payoff on lots of hard work. Graduation day from WSU, May 2005.

Family Pictures from fall 2009. A little older and a little wiser.

Disneyland 2009, a couple of big kids!;)

Family Christmas 2010.

It has been 14 years full of highs and lows. I am grateful that I get to spend everyday with my best friend. Jac is a wonderful husband and an awesome dad. He loves to spend time with the kids, and they love him soooo much. It's been awesome to go on this journey with you, and I look forward to the next 14 years and beyond.... to eternity. I love you.

Did I do that?!?

2011-01-13T13:30:00.003-07:00

Did I just a week or so ago come onto this very blog and proclaim that my theme for 2011 should be "Continue in Patience"??

Stupid.

Dumb.

Don't do it....

oh wait I did do that. I must really need to work on this because since making this declaration my patience is being tested and pushed to it's limits. Funny how that works.

What a week....

2011-01-08T17:43:00.002-07:00

Let me just start by saying that it has been quite the week. We decided that we would get all of our crap for 2011 done and over with in the first week of the year. Now 2011 can only get better. I wasn't sure how much of this I wanted to share with people. At first I really didn't want anyone to know anything. Then the more I thought about it the past couple of days, the more I thought that the more people who love me that know what is going on, the more prayers might come in our/my behalf, and I need those. If for no other reason just so that I can feel the love and hugs of those who care, even though you are all a long ways away.

We had a wonderful Christmas break spent with lots of family and friends. We loved every second of it, and really wish that the time wouldn't have passed so quickly. We wanted to do so much more while we were there. Tuesday morning was our first morning back. Jac was just getting back from taking Maddie to school when he was served foreclosure papers. Yep, the house we rent is being foreclosed. We are still unsure what this means for us. We spoke to the attorneys for the bank, and they told us not to pay anymore rent to the homeowner. We contacted our leasing company, and they were just as surprised as we were. The property manager told us that this will void our lease, and that he had to contact their attorneys, but was pretty sure he could just cut us a check for our deposit back, so that is good news. We are looking into options, but are more nervous about renting now, as this has happened to several families in our ward recently.

On Thursday morning I woke up and had a bit of a headache and just felt a little "off". Jac left for work, and Boston was such a good kid to watch Mickey Mouse sitting on my bed and just let me lay down. About 11 I got up to use the bathroom, and discovered that I was having a miscarriage. We had found out that I was pregnant right before Christmas, and hadn't told anyone. I was 8 weeks along, with a tentative due date of 8/16/11. Jac came home and we went to the ER. We have such wonderful people around us here. Jac let his boss know what was going on right before he left work and his wife texted Jac moments later wanting to bring us dinner. How awesome is that?!? I called a friend in the ward and arranged for her to pick the boys up from school. After she did that she came and picked Boston up from us at the hospital and took him home with her. She had Mickey Mouse Christmas all ready to go in her car so that he wouldn't freak out that he had to go with her. Maddie is such a good kid and babysat Jackson and Aidan. She did her homework, had Jackson do his homework, and even helped Aidan with his. We got home from the hospital around 7. It was so nice to know that the kids had been taken care of. Thank you so much to Charlotte and Jaime. I love you guys!! I have been lucky because I never had much pain. I also completed the miscarriage so that makes it easier on me, too. Emotionally I have been kind of a mess. I feel great one second, and then something will make me cry, or nothing at all will make me cry. It's been very hard to be so far away. Jac has been a champ. He's cleaned and done laundry, and cooked. We have wonderful friends around us who honestly care, and have been awesome. I just wanted you to know what is happening in our lives. I am very blessed to have 4 happy, healthy, wonderful kids, and that helps. Just keep our family in your thoughts and prayers for the next little bit.

"Light and darkness cannot occupy the same space at the same time..."

2011's Theme

2011-01-04T17:18:00.003-07:00

I don't really do resolutions, but I decided I would look for a theme for 2011, and I found it in this talk. "Continue in Patience." For those of you that know me, I'm sure you know that I do NOT ooze patience. I, in fact, struggle with it. It is always something that I want to work on. So this year I am going to really try to focus on it. It will be an ongoing process I'm sure, but I know that it is possible, especially if I simply try and apply this quote from the talk;

"keep the commandments; trust in God, our Heavenly Father; serve Him with meekness and Christlike love; exercise faith and hope in the Savior; and never give up."

Hopefully you can find your "theme" for 2011, and you all have a happy and healthy New Year.

Matress Surfing.

2010-12-23T21:06:00.003-07:00

My family all came to town for the New Mexico Bowl. We decided to do a little matress surfing in the morning before the game. The kids all had fun, and Amy even went a few times and said how much fun it was. Here is some video of Amy and Aidan.

Wendi took some taunting. Everyone told her how much fun it was. And then Maddie double-dog-dared her. Wendi caved to peer pressure and this is what happened.

Why is it ALWAYS Wendi?!?

She recovered, and we had a fun day, and then headed back to Utah the next day, but those are pictures and stories for another post!!:)

Aidan sings..

2010-12-17T23:33:00.003-07:00

The kindergarten classes at the boys school had their Christmas program on Wednesday. They sang a bunch of Christmas and holiday songs. It was very cute and fun to watch my cute boy sing and dance.

Doesn't he look sooooo excited. Aidan wouldn't tell us the names of the girls he was standing next to because they are NOT his girlfriends. Too funny. I just love to watch my cute kids as they grow and do fun new things. Oh, I love this boy!!

Meet Daisy...

2010-12-17T23:24:00.002-07:00

This is our new guinea pig, Daisy.

In our reading about guinea pigs it says that they are herd animals and do better with a companion. While we were in Utah we went to Petco, and this is what we came home with. She is still a baby, and she is more mellow and lovable with Aidan than the other guinea pig is. We have officially renamed "Moonie" to "Minnie" since Minnie and Daisy are best friends. Merry Christmas to me!!:)

"Bah Humbug"

2010-12-14T23:43:00.004-07:00

I'm struggling this Christmas season, and I'm feeling a little scroogish...

Maybe scroogish is a bit of an exaggeration. Not quite that bad, but definitely a little Grinchy.

It's been a tougher Christmas for us, which is odd because we really have been sooooo blessed this year. I'm so grateful for a husband who has a job that has allowed me to stay home. Sometimes staying home brings so much guilt. I wish that I could contribute more to our financial well being instead of being a burden. Hopefully one day I will be able to more clearly see the benefits of staying home with the kids. I know it sounds dumb, and it's clearly how Satan works on me, but people say the most insensitive things sometimes. Especially the people who are supposed to love us the most. And it's times like this that those words ring crystal clear in my head causing all sorts of my worst features and my insecurities to rear their ugly heads. I'm a work in progress. Some days much better than others. I'm really going to try and focus on my favorite line from the Grinch story. "Maybe Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas... perhaps... means a little bit more." I KNOW that it does. I'm going to try and focus on being kind and loving and thinking of others. Being a little better to my kids and my hubby. Be a better daughter and sister. If I can show love and be truly kind, maybe I'll find that Christmas spirit after all!!

**we are fine. this sounds kind of bad, but it's NOT bad. just a little stressful, and I don't do stress well. just to be clear!!**

The True Meaning...

2010-12-09T22:53:00.001-07:00

I love this, and I think I post it every year. This is my attempt to start the season right and remember the true meaning of Christmas. Pause my music on the sidebar and enjoy.

Thanksgiving Vacation

2010-12-07T15:12:00.007-07:00

We had a fun 2 weeks in Utah for Thanksgiving. We met my family Saturday at Aunt JoAnn's house in Provo. My parents took the kids to their house and Jac and I were able to go to BYU vs. NM with my sisters. It was a lot of fun, but I kind of froze my butt off!!:) It was really cold the first week we were there, and on Tuesday they had a Blizzard warning. We were kind of excited for the Blizzard to hit, and it did hit, but didn't last nearly as long as they had thought it was going to. Here are a couple of pictures out of my mom's front door when it first hit. This is about 5:30 in the afternoon.

without the flash

same view with the flash. During the blizzard we went to see Harry Potter with my friend Melissa and my sister Wendi. Good movie!!

On Wed. my brother and his family and my sister came from Vernal. We ended up going to see Tangled with a bunch of my family. We took up 2 rows at the theater, and we had a lot of fun.

Boston is ready to go out into the snow, and Aidan is soooo excited it's Thanksgiving!

Thursday was a chaotic morning with my brother and his family and us and my sisters and parents all trying to get ready and get food ready to go to the church, but we made it!

Boston playing on the stage with Ryker waiting for dinner.

The kids passing the time waiting for dinner playing full contact basketball/tackle basketball.

Thanksgiving dinner was yummy! After dinner we had a pinewood derby. We had Thanksgiving with the Lloyds this year. All of my mom's siblings and spouses were there and a lot of their kids and grandkids. It was fun to have the derby with some of the grown cousins, but it was fun for the smaller kids, too.

Once it was finished they announced places. If you were over 16 you got a pat on the back, but the kids younger than 16 got candy prizes.

Aidan finished top 3 so he got a candy bar. Jackson was top 10 so he got a bag of chocolates.

After the derby we played Fat Albert and worked off our turkey dinner. This is my favorite part. It didn't get as out-of-control this year as it has in years past. Fat Albert kind of combines baseball and dodgeball, and it can get a little bit crazy!!

Wendi and I went shopping a few places for black Friday, but there wasn't a deal good enough to get me to wait out in 5 degree weather. It was soooo cold!! Amy came back on Saturday with her boyfriend Roy. We watched the BYU/Utah game....oh so close.... and then the adults went to Harry Potter..again!:) Monday we hung out and went to the Cheesecake Factory and Gateway before dropping Jac at the airport so that he could go to meetings in Denver. Later Monday Amy gave us all haircuts!! HOORAY!!

Crazy Aidan before the top of his hair got cut. It's never been that long before!!

and after. He loves to make his "crazy eyes."

The rest of the week was spent hanging out. I was able to go out with my girlfriends one afternoon, and the kids had lots of fun playing with friends in the old neighborhood.

My cute boys snuggled up watching a movie.

We had a lot of fun, and we are excited to be going back for Christmas. We are looking forward to seeing everyone that we missed on this trip! See you soon!

shiny and scary..

2010-11-16T17:14:00.003-07:00

Boston fell off his step stool last night and smacked his eye. He has his first black eye. It's actually not too bad. I expected worse with how fast it turned purple and puffed out last night. This is what it looked like today.

Then I had to get a little video of him being sneaky and scaring me. I love the little glare he gives me as he's sneaking up on me. Too funny.

it's a girl...

2010-11-14T17:02:00.003-07:00

Introducing the newest member of our family....

Our pet Guinea Pig, Moonie. We got her from some friends that couldn't take care of her right now. Her name was already Moonie, but we are thinking of changing it. We can't come up with anything clever, so if you have any suggestions feel free to share in the comments!!:) The kids are thrilled to FINALLY have a pet! (we have to be the meanest parents ever to have made them wait this long!!)

12

2010-11-05T22:34:00.005-06:00

Some fun facts about Maddie....

She is my first born. November 5, 1998 weighing 6lbs 15oz at 2:08 AM. She was due October 28...(she likes to take her time)

She looks like her mommy, and she has ALWAYS loved pink!

She has always been a huge ham, and loves to be the center of attention. (and she loves cake)

She has the cutest smile!

She LOVES to dance, and she is really good. (no thanks to mom!)

She donated her hair to Locks of Love...

TWICE!!

She's AMAZING and BEAUTIFUL!!!

and she's 12!! How did that happen?!?!

Happy Birthday Maddie! I know I said it on FB, but it's my favorite book, so I'm gonna say it again..

I'll love you forever. I'll like you for always. As long as I'm living my baby you'll be.

Happy Halloween!

2010-11-03T23:07:00.005-06:00

We celebrated Halloween at our ward Trunk or Treat on Friday Oct. 29. The kids had a lot of fun and got tons of candy!

My cute kiddos.

Aidan the Clone Trooper and Boston the Dalmation.

Jackson the Storm Trooper and Maddie the football player.

Little hams. Nothing like Halloween with temps in the low 70's. Maddie opted to do her trick or treating in shorts and flip flops! Gotta love it!

Boston is at a stage where whenever I get out the camera he has to be in the picture saying "cheeeese!" It's so cute and I always end up with twice as many pictures of him because I can't resist! Here he is with his big cheese and being the mutant clone dalmation.

We opted to not go trick or treating on Halloween. It was on Sunday and the kids already had plenty of candy. We were invited to dinner and hang out with Chet and Jaime and kids (our New Mexico family.) It was the perfect ending to a really nice weekend!

Bring on the Glowdeo!

2010-10-15T20:48:00.003-06:00

The Balloon Fiesta is one of the coolest things about living in Albuquerque (so far). We had such a fun week. We went back for the special shapes Glowdeo where all of the special shape balloons inflate and glow at sundown. It is quite the sight to walk around all of the balloons on the ground and watch them glow. We loved it. The kids had fun meeting balloonist from Denmark and Brazil and collecting more cards. It was a great night! Here are a few of my favorite shots of the night.

a concert to remember

2010-10-04T18:21:00.003-06:00

Muse was AWESOME!!! We loved it! I couldn't pick my favorite pictures, so I did a slide show. Passion Pit opened for them, and I actually liked them. They were cool! Muse puts on a great show and we really had a lot of fun.

Some video of some of our favorite moments.

lift off

2010-10-02T21:14:00.006-06:00

Balloon Fiesta is incredible!! Yes getting up at 4:30 AM is not a favorite, nor was sitting in traffic for an hour, but it is well worth it!! Watching the sun come up and all of the balloons filling and taking off was FANTASTIC! We loved it. Boston was in heaven, and the other kids loved being next to the baskets and waving as they left. They also LOVED getting cards from the different balloonists. We went back in the evening for the night glow and fireworks. They started to inflate, but then the winds picked up and they had to cancel. We had fun waiting, and kind of enjoyed the fireworks. We are going back to a glow on Thursday, so that will be fun. Until then I'll leave you with a couple of my favorite pictures from today.

teaser...

2010-10-01T10:08:00.003-06:00

Just a little teaser....

On the Friday before Balloon Fiesta they launch balloons from the local schools. It was fun to watch and makes us excited for tomorrow. The Balloon Fiesta officially opens and there are about 700 balloons registered that will launch. We will be there and can't wait to post the pictures!!

Boston's a BIG BOY!

2010-09-27T11:54:00.003-06:00

We officially took Boston's crib down yesterday. This is what his side of the room looks like now.

And this is what he looks like now.....
It was tough for me to take down the crib for the last time. I'm glad he is growing and learning new things, but kind of sad that I will never have my baby again. It goes way too fast!!

Storms and Silliness

2010-09-22T20:39:00.004-06:00

On Monday Night we had a little storm. There wasn't much rain, but the lightening was AMAZING!

Today it rained all day, and was actually cool (it has been way hot lately, unusually hot.) So I thought it would be a perfect soup day. This is Boston after eating yummy Potato Chowder.

He is pretty good at the silly faces.

Then I have a little video of how cute and silly Boston is. This is for all of our family that is far away and missing how much he is growing and changing lately. Really I think he is a little different every day!

Another one bites the dust..

2010-09-20T09:27:00.003-06:00

Aidan lost his 2nd tooth on Friday. He was very happy that he didn't swallow this one!! He sounds so cute when he talks, and his new favorite treat is chocolate milk through a straw! My favorite is the toothless grin... it's the best!

Time Out...

2010-09-15T16:36:00.002-06:00

This is my sweet little Boston with his nose on the wall. He is in "time out" for hitting his brother. He seems to like to hit lately...ugh. I love that he understands and kept his nose on the wall. This seems to be the WORST punishment EVER, and has been for all of the kids. As sad as it is that he is hitting... he is still so stinkin cute, even in time out, while crying his eyes out. Love this boy!!:)

lost, lost, lost

2010-08-25T19:22:00.003-06:00

Aidan lost his tooth today. He was eating an oreo when it fell out, so he ended up swallowing it, which was kind of traumatic! Once I convinced him it was OK that he could write a note to the tooth fairy and she would still leave him money, and he wouldn't get sick, then he was really excited! I can't believe he's old enough to lose teeth... doesn't seem right. I really do love this cute little man!!

summer storm

2010-08-23T20:20:00.004-06:00

We had quite the summer storm this evening. Here is a little footage of it.

It's only 62 outside right now, I really do love the weather here!!

two

2010-08-20T12:04:00.003-06:00

Boston turned 2 yesterday. He had a fun birthday!! Here are a few pictures of the celebration.

opening presents
the "big cheeeeese" with a few of his gifts
yummy mini cupcakes instead of cake

the candles

the "big cheeeese" all ready for bed in his new Buzz pj's.

I can't believe my baby boy is 2. I have said this waaaaay too much lately, but time flies!! It was a very different birthday celebrating with just our little family instead of with all of the extended, but we still had a fun day!! We sure love our little Boss-man!!

Big Boys...

2010-08-17T10:29:00.004-06:00

My boys started school today. I can't believe that it came so fast!! Jackson is in 4th grade, and Aidan is in Kindergarten.

Such cute boys!!! Aidan was pretty excited, but all morning he kept telling me how much he'd miss me being gone all day, and how much he loved me. I held it together pretty good. He was excited to be there, and I had Boston with me as a good distraction as we walked away.

3 kids gone ALL DAY... the house is so quiet!! Guess I'll have to go shopping for my baby, who turns 2 in just 2 days!! Where does the time go?!?!

Good Morning!

2010-08-15T15:52:00.007-06:00

When we woke up early this morning we could hear a strange noise. It sounded like our neighborhood was being attacked by dragons. We went out front to investigate and this is what we saw instead.

There were at least 20-30 balloons in every direction over our house. We have talked a lot lately about how beautiful the sky is here. What a beautiful sight to wake up to!!

Maddie..the Middle Schooler!?!?

2010-08-12T08:22:00.002-06:00

Maddie started her first day of Middle School today.How can my baby girl be in 6th grade already?!? This is one of those moments when I kind of want to freeze time. I'm not ready for her to go through all the crappy, rough, fun, emotional next few years. But I am excited for things to come, and the things that she will accomplish. Man I love this girl!!

Temporary Home

2010-08-09T11:01:00.002-06:00

I love this, and since I'm sitting here being a huge boob watching it, I figured I'd share it. I do think that this is the new favorite. The end hits really close to home...

Jac & Mini-Me

2010-08-02T16:54:00.003-06:00

Jac was doing a little work this morning, so Boston decided that he needed to go and get his laptop so that he could work too. So of course I had to snap some photos of Jac and his little clone!

Hard at work.
Getting some help from daddy.

Working on the computers in the office a little later.

Since the older 3 kids headed back to Utah this morning with my mom and dad, Boston got a little spoiled. We took him to lunch at Chick-fil-a and then to the mall to visit the Disney Store. Boston just LOVES Mickey Mouse.. he calls him ah-ah. He already has a stuffed Mickey and Pluto, so he got a Mickey Mouse ball and 2 new friends to join his Mickey Mouse gang, Goofy and Donald.

When we got home he had to get his favorite friends, his favorite blanket, and his favorite chair and sit to watch his favorite DVD, Mickey's Twice Upon A Christmas. Too cute.

Reasons to Smile!

2010-07-26T17:48:00.004-06:00

Just in case you were looking for a reason to smile....

this was the view out of my bedroom window this afternoon.

Still not smiling??

Sometimes I need a reminder of reasons to smile. Next time I need a reason I will look at this post. I just can't help myself when that beautiful boy giggles!!:)

"Faith in Every Footstep"

2010-07-22T19:09:00.009-06:00

Pioneer Trek 2009 from Melanie Lindell on Vimeo.

I have been thinking about pioneers a lot this last week, and so I thought in honor of the 24th of July I would do a pioneer post. I grew up hearing pioneer stories, my Great- Great Grandmother was a pioneer and came across the plains in 1856 with her family when she was just 13 years old. I heard her story many times, but I think I am going to blog a little about her mother. Mary Penfold Goble. I have been thinking a lot about what it would have been like to be a mother and bring my young family on this journey, and I don't know if I could have done it. I am so grateful that she did, and I'm sure I was cheering her on in heaven, knowing how much easier it would make my life here on earth. Let me tell you a little about Mary, from her history..

Mary Penfold married William Goble in 1841 in Brighton, Sussex England. They became interested in in the message of the Mormons and were baptized. William and Mary decided to emigrate in the spring of 1856. By this time they had 6 living children. Mary 12, Edwin 11, Caroline 7, Harriet 5, James 3 and Fanny 1 1/2, and Mary was 3 months pregnant. They left later than they had hoped May 19, 1856. They went aboard the ship Horizon and it set sail on the 25th of May. They arrived in Boston and then traveled by train to Iowa City. The Gobles purchased a wagon and oxen to transport them and their belongings. They grew weary of the delays, knowing that unless they left soon, an early winter would be disasterous. They had already encountered trouble. Their infant daughter, Fanny, had contracted measles aboard the ship, and wasn't recovering as she should. A thunder and rain storm came and blew down their makeshift shelter of handcarts and quilts. Fanny became chilled and died on the 19th of July, just 4 days before her 2nd birthday. They were sad as they visited her grave the day they left on their journey to Council Bluffs, from there they started on their 1,000 mile trek west. It was about the 1st day of September. Their journey was difficult and they were told to stay with the Martin Handcart Company. They watched them cross the river with great lumps of ice floating down. It was bitter cold. The next morning there were 14 dead in camp. The saints gathered together for prayers, and they sang "Come, Come Ye Saints." Mary cried for she knew that her baby would be born soon. The next morning her baby girl came into the world, and they named her Edith. It was the 23rd of September. Edith lived for only 6 weeks and died from lack of nourishment. It was very difficult for Mary to bury another child. Mary herself was weak after the birth of the baby. They traveled in snow from the last crossing of the Platte River. They were short on food and the cattle gave out. They could only travel a few miles a day. When they started out in the morning the men would shovel a path in the snow for the cattle. At night the ground was so hard that it was impossible to drive pegs into the ground for the tents. They would clean a place for the tents, and then put snow around the bottom to hold them down. When they got to Devil's Gate they left some of their belongings there. They stayed 2 or 3 days because the weather was so bad. While there an oxen fell on the ice and broke it's leg and had to be killed. It was distributed amoung the group to eat. Mary's son James, who was 4 years old, ate a hearty meal that night and was well as ever when he went to bed. In the morning he was dead. With sad hearts, they buried him there at Devil's Gate. Finally help came from Salt Lake. They could travel faster now. Mary was still weak from child birth and from lack of good food and medication. Young Mary's feet were frozen and she rode in the wagon with her mother, who was near death. William prayed that she would live just long enough for them to reach the valley where she could get medical help. But it was not to be. Somewhere between Big and Little Mountain, the morning before they reached the valley, Mary passed away. Since she had expressed such a strong desire to reach the valley, they brought her body to the Salt Lake Valley so that she could be buried in the city she longed to see. She made the last leg of her journey in the wagon with Young Mary cradling her head lovingly in her lap. They arrived in the Valley around 9 PM on December 11, 1856. The families courage and strength sustained them. The words of their mother always lingered in their hearts: "I want to go to Zion while my children are small, so they can be raised in the Gospel of Christ, for I know this is the true church."

Mary Goble Pay, who was 13 at the time had a tough recovery from her frozen feet. She was lucky in that they "only" had to amputate her toes (all of them) with a butcher knife. She went on to marry and have 13 children. My Great-Grandpa is #13. I'm so grateful for brave, wonderful people in my family who were willing to make this journey. I'm also grateful I grew up hearing their stories, and feeling like I knew them. My Grandma is awesome! The video at the top is of our Pioneer Trek June 2009. We were lucky to get to go to these incredible places, and we truly got the "celebrity" treatment (thanks Grandma and Aunt Joanne!)

Rock On!!!

2010-07-10T23:09:00.002-06:00

Aidan is so much fun to watch play Rock Band. They just figured out on Band Hero that they can be their Mii and do free play. This is great for Aidan because he can go "crazy" without being booed off stage!! (That usually makes Maddie and Jackson happier too!) Here is a little footage of him rocking out on the drums. I will have to try to get video of him on the guitar because it's the BEST!!:)