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Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Wunca Kenny

I love this picture of my brother Kenny (wunca Kenny cause that's what the other kids used to say & it stuck) with Adelyn. It's so weird that I had a baby while my brothers were gone. I'm sure it's strange for them too. Not that tons of people don't have babies and their family lives far away & don't get to see the baby for a while. But my brothers lived here before & have been a big part of my kids' lives, so that's what was different. I was good about sending them pictures & stories of the kids while they were gone, but it's a lot different seeing how kids have grown in real life than it is to see them in pictures. I'm glad they're home. For now. I mean I'm glad they're home for the time that they're home until they leave to go do bigger & better things :) Like get married & have their own adorable kids (who will probably never be as adorable as mine I'm sure)!

Monday, April 25, 2011

Easter {2011}

It was a big Easter for us this year! We had lots of family in town since my brothers just got home from their missions: Grandpa/Grandma Green; Uncle Brian/Aunt Lorie, Caroline & Annie; Chris & Jayda; Jeff, Rivka & Bray; Grandma McCombs; Tabby, Sophie & Isaac; Ryan & Chelsea; and Tara & Kayleigh.

On Saturday we helped the little kids dye Easter eggs.






Well some of us did. :) Others enjoyed Super Mario Bros on the patio!




Later the grown-ups hid candy-filled eggs for the kids & they had the ultimate egg hunt. Seriously ridiculous! Each of their baskets were completely full of eggs. Lorie, Rivka, my sisters & I had all got candy & plastic eggs. It took us quite a bit of time to fill them the night before!




In the afternoon Chelsea & I had snuck away so that I could go get the chicks I'd talked Jeremiah into! :) I kept them in my parents' garage until later that night so that I could surprise the kids with them in the morning. When I took them home I had to stop at the store so I left them with their little feed tray & their water in the truck while I was doing my shopping. When I got home 45 mins later & got the box out of the back seat of the truck I realized it was pretty wet & I knew immediately there was a problem.

I got the box into the garage & opened it up to see 4 basically dead chicks. 1 was pretty wet but moving around a little. The other 3 were soaked with what little down they had matted to their tiny bodies & they were not moving at all. They were barely breathing. I went in the house just about in tears & got Jeremiah. He came & looked at them said they were definitely not going to make it & that he was sorry. He told me to put them in the garbage. I felt terrible that I hadn't thought about their water sloshing around during the ride to the store & home, and it definitely had made matters worse that they'd stayed soaking wet in the cold truck while I went into the store. I was just sick about it! And I felt so guilty. But I wasn't giving up.

I was very anxious & feeling so terrible about what I'd done as I went & got some wash cloths and Jeremiah plugged in their heat lamp (at my request). I very gently tried to dry their bodies, then I'd hold them cupped in my hand 2 at a time up to the lamp. After a while their feathers began to get a little fluff in them and the chicks started to move a tiny bit, but they still took shallow breaths. That gave me encouragement though so I kept rubbing & heating. My sister Tara got my blow dryer for me & I put it on low & took turns blowing the down of each chick. After doing that for several minutes they were getting more fluffy & even started to peep a little bit. I sat on the garage floor tending my little chicks for an hour & a half. When I went to bed at 1:30 I knew I had done all I could do. I said a heartfelt prayer & pleaded with Heavenly Father to let those chicks live. Not because I wanted my kids to have chicks on Easter morning- saving the chicks was not about that. I kept thinking how could I have been so careless with God's creations?




When I got up in the morning the first thing I did was run out to the garage to check on my chicks. They were still alive! All four! It was a miracle! Jeremiah was completely shocked. I'm not exaggerating when I say they were practically dead the night before! He could not believe I'd brought them back to life & that they'd lived! My heart was filled with gratitude that Heavenly Father had spared these little insignificant creatures' lives. I don't even really like animals but I just hadn't wanted my stupid mistake to needlessly kill those chicks.

After the kids looked over their Easter baskets I took them out to the garage for their surprise. They weren't freak-out excited, but they did think the chicks were pretty cool. They each picked out a chick & named it. Jack named his chick Muffin, Callie named hers Buttercup, Ellie named hers Lola (I gave her suggestions but she made the decision :)), and Adelyn's chick is Dot.







Happy Easter!


Return{ed} with Honor

I am shamelessly stealing this post right off my sister's blog!

{Chelsea} My two brothers are the youngest in the family. Both are strong, diligent, and faithful members of the Church and chose to serve missions two years ago. By some crazy luck/coincidence, they both left on April 15th, 2009, and both served in Mexico {in different missions}. This week they returned with honor; one on Wednesday, one on Thursday.

Unfortunately, my sister Kayleigh and I Chelsea were running SO late we they had to RUN through the airport to make sure we they were there to see Stuart get in on Wednesday so I Chelsea didn't have my her camera. Luckily, we had a do-over the next day and I Chelsea got pictures and even had time to make some signs for Ken. We had signs for Stu but I Chelsea didn't get any pictures of them. (But Tara did!) Here are some great pictures of their arrivals - one at lunch with everyone and one at the airport. Stu picked Chili's for lunch. {/Chelsea}

Okay, that's funny b/c I thought we'd be the last ones to the airport & that we'd miss Stu walking through his gate because we'd left late & then had to take the long way to Vegas because of damn dam construction. And then, as if I wasn't stressed enough about getting there, I got a big fat ticket in Boulder for going 65 on the way up the hill before you get to the first stop light. The speed limit is 45 and it's a major highway! WTC?! I hate you Boulder! But we STILL beat Chelsea & Kayleigh there. Who'd stayed the previous night in Vegas! And don't have kids to get ready! But we all made it there and still had a little bit of a wait before Stuart came.


{Tara's pictures}

Waiting for the excitement to start.


Chelsea


Thing 1 & Thing 3


Stuart's arrival!


{Now back to Chelsea's post - captions included :)}

Stu picked Chili's for lunch


Ellie was exhausted from all the excitement an hour earlier.


{Stuart is so handsome, isn't he?!}


Thursday was Kenny's arrival


{Callie is crazy-pants}


{Hillary} This is a funny picture because my self-portraits have pretty much become a joke! I took lots in Hawaii & on the last couple of days I thought I should have taken more the whole time so I could do a whole funny book about me in Hawaii. haha {/Hillary}



Here he is! {With practically a frame-by-frame walkthrough! lol}


Two brothers after two years!


Aunt Kayleigh laughed at Jack and he cried. Boo Aunt Kayleigh.{hehe}

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Sunday, April 17, 2011

Easter Party

My friends Cambrea Corbett & Kayla Nichols hosted a fun Easter get-together with lots of friends up in the Hualapais over the weekend. Cambrea & Kayla went up early in the day to reserve our rec area & hide all the eggs for the kids- and there were a ton! Of eggs. And kids.

Once all the families were there, Cambrea & Kayla gathered up the kids for the big hunt. They lined them up & then let the youngest kids go first, with two groups of older kids following.



All the moms were doing this: (this mom is Miyeko Kelsey)


Jeremiah got to do this: (I helped Ellie)


Ellie had a great time looking for eggs!


Callie & Jack both got too many. We made them put some back & give some to younger kids.








After the big hunt we had a great time eating hot dogs & sides & hanging out together. Thanks Cambrea & Kayla for organizing such a fun evening for all of our families!



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Sunday, April 10, 2011

Cousins

It was so fun to have Jason, Richelle & Triston visit us! It was a little bit of a hectic weekend because I was also co-throwing a baby shower on Saturday, but I loved that they were able to come from California for the weekend! We hadn't seen Triston since he was born in December. He is so cute!

Adelyn & Triston on Ann's & Jeremiah's Mom's laps


Jeremiah's mom getting to play with her 3rd grandson!


Our SIL Richelle & Triston


Cousins!


Adelyn - 10 wks; Triston - 4 months & a week



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Wednesday, April 06, 2011

April Fool's!

It wasn't until after the kids were in bed on the 31st that I was browsing Family Fun and saw some cute lunch ideas for April Fool's. That I hadn't been looking for. But they were really fun so I stayed up way too late working on Callie's trick lunch, and I was so excited for her to open her lunch box at school the next day! I gave her a normal sandwich & some mandarin oranges, but then I swapped the contents of her Gold Fish & fruit snack packages & I stuffed her Juicy Juice into a Yoo-hoo drink box. Which was especially funny since she doesn't really like Yoo-hoo! I also gave her a note that said she'd been pranked by the baby, and a word search with no solutions (both from Family Fun)! I loved it! And so did she! Funny thing is when we were talking about it after school she told me that instead of just sticking her straw into the Yoo-hoo and finding out she was drinking Juicy Juice instead, she noticed the bottom was a little funny (because the flaps didn't stay down all the way. Oops! I didn't glue it b/c I thought there was no way she'd notice it! I should have glued it!). She and her friend Emily worked really really hard to get the Juicy Juice back out of the Yoo-hoo box! LOL! I can't believe they were even able to do it!


It wasn't until I pulled back into my driveway in the morning that I noticed my star missing from it's usual place in our porch entry. I thought it was so awesome that I wasn't the only one who'd realized & taken advantage of April Fool's Day this year! Then I thought about who might have been so funny and plus who might have had an ugly sun with a coyote in the middle (haha!) on their house. I texted my friend Kate and asked, "Do you have my star on your house?" Yes she did! I knew it! PS they're renting and the coyote-sun was already on the house so I can say out loud that it's ugly. Bahahaha! I waited a few days before swapping back. And then I thought I was funny too because I backed up really close to their house so I could stand on my bumper & get my star, and then I put the coyote-sun upside down when I replaced it. :p Let me just mention how else Kate was funny (and Abby since they were partners in crime). They put a wishing well thing from her yard in someone else's yard, and they also put a little pond from her front yard in another person's front yard. With water in it! LOL