I am grateful

A couple of weeks ago I stumbled across a website that you can read about families that have loved ones living with cancer. The link is www.colesfoundation.com This one little story touched me. (www.laylagrace.org) This family had a little girl named Layla and she was in the last stage of cancer. This story touched me so much because she was born 2 weeks after Halle so it really hit close to home. I started to read about her life and one thing I read really made me think. This is what her mom wrote:
"The house is quiet. I am able to go through the motions of laundry, dishes, cooking and picking up without interruptions. But I WANT interruptions. I WANT Layla to be under my feet asking for cookies. I WANT to hear her playing with her toys. I WANT to take 45 minutes to unload the dishwasher because she keeps trying to help. For every time I uttered the words “I just can’t get anything done with these kids under my feet all day” I am eternally regretful. The days that I looked forward to naptime so I could get a grocery list made, or finally fold all the piles of laundry…I regret those days too. If I could do it all again, I’d enjoy EVERY SINGLE WAKING MOMENT I had with her. I would never wish for her to sit still or take a nap or go to bed early. I would never look forward to the days when she could sit through an entire episode of Dora silently. I would treasure every second with her."
Even as I type this it makes me cry. Yesterday I was very sad when I got on her website and found out that she had died early yesterday morning. It makes me want to cherish every day I have with my family. I have been guilty of just wanting my kids to take a nap or go to bed early or even sit down and watch TV while I try to get things done. I am so glad that they are healthy and they are there to "help" me around the house. I am so glad that they are here to enrich my life and to make me a better person.

I can't post anything without adding pictures so here's some cute pictures....
Halle and Caden go crazy when I get the shop vac out. They follow me around the whole house. They love it when the air blows in their face. (strange, but cute)





Caden drew a picture of Monsters Inc. This is Sully waiting at the door. I thought it was a really good picture.

I love my kids!!!!

Mini Vacation

We had a free hotel voucher that we had to use before March. We talked about going to St. George, but we didn't want to drive all the way down there and stay just one night and we didn't want to pay for extra hotel nights. We decided it would be fun to go stay in Logan for the night. The kids don't know the difference. They could have fun anywhere.
While we were up there we decided to take the kids to a movie. This was the very first movie they had ever been too. I think they are way overpriced and I always thought the kids were way too young to enjoy it anyways. We went to the really cheap theater and saw The Princess and the Frog. The kids loved it! They were mesmerized by the huge TV screen. After that we went to see where my brother Jer lived. The kids really wanted to see Cooper also. Then it was onto Blue Bird! We had a hard time deciding where to eat because there are so many good places to choose from. I really wanted Blue Bird chicken and Iron Port and Cherry. It was yummy!!

Here's some pictures from our fun night in the hotel room. I always feel bad for the people that sleep in the rooms next to us. Our kids don't know how to be quiet.

You can still see all the ketchup on Halle's face. I think she enjoyed that more than the fries.

Crazy kids!!


Caden even tucked in Buzz and Woody for the night.

The next moring we went up on Campus. They were in the middle of elections so they had signs everywhere. I thought this sign was pretty cool because it had a cut out for your head so you could take your picture. Very clever!



Old Main

The Famous A




Here's some picture out takes. My kids can't sit still...



Take the picture please!
Here's my Family Life building

Here's the Business building for Lucas

Of course our vacation wouldn't be complete without some Aggie ice cream!




Lucas and I decided we should do this more often. It was a lot of fun!

Em's Birthday Party

For Emily's Birthday she wanted to go bowling. It's been a long time since we've taken Caden bowling and I don't think we've ever taken Halle. We had to wait like an hour. I guess everyone else had the same idea that day.

Halle entertained everyone while we waited..

Caden decided to read the paper to pass the time..


Caden was very excited to go "real" bowling. He does it all the time on the Wii, but that isn't the same.

I got nice pictures of everyone's bum.

Lucas..

Halle really wanted to play with the red ball, but it was just too heavy for her. She was a little mad.


Caden really liked the ramp for the ball.



Mal...

Dad..(nice form)

Jason...
Emily...


Halle tried it too. She started freaking out saying, "No! I want the ball back!" She thought it was gone forever.

Audrey chillin'

Mom and Mal were happy to be there


Audrey...


Lucas and Caden...

Jer...

Me and Lucas...

Me..

Here are all the scores. At least some of us broke 100.


I let Caden bowl in my place. I definitely would've came in last.

Are you scared?

The other day Caden decided he wanted to draw a picture of a scarecrow. At first I thought that was pretty random, but he's been watching Casper the Friendly Ghost cartoons nonstop so I thought that might have something to do with it. I think he drew like 10 different pictures. Then he decided he wanted to make his own scarecrow. I thought it was pretty creative. He drew a face and found clothes and shoes and arms. Here's his cool creation...

The scary face...
Then he decided he wanted to be a scarecrow too. This is his scarecrow face. Are you scared?
(I love how he's holding the scarecrow's hand.)
(This is Liz that posted it. I don't know why I signed in under Lucas' name.)

Valentine's Party

When it comes to being creative, I am not very good. If someone gave me all the materials and gave me detailed instructions I could probably create something. When I have to come up with something on my own, I struggle. I feel bad for my children when it comes to Halloween costumes and Valentines boxes because I never know what to do. Luckily I have my mom to help. I wish I would have gotten more of her creative genes. She can create anything with the scrap wood in the garage. I had an idea of what to do for Caden's Valentines box and my mom made it happen. I did help out a lot, even though Lucas doesn't believe me.

Here's how it turned out....



Caden was very excited!