Remembering

Before I forget....

Preston spiked a fever yesterday, and wasn't feeling well.  He said in the weakest voice,  "Mom, I want to go see Jesus. Jesus to the rescue."  (combination of praying for Clara, and Toy Story)

When we were going to Clara's funeral Kyle told the boys that they needed to be very quiet and reverent because there were going to be a lot of very sad people in the church.  When they walked inside the church door Preston declared in his loud voice, "Where are all the sad people at????  I want to give them a hug!"

Let's me also not forget the moment that just happened.  Michael and I got in one of our daily battles.  I tell you that kid is a handful sometimes for me.  I finally got him to lay down and I came out here to have my own quiet time.  I heard the door open just now and out he walks with the scriptures in hand and says, "let me show you something," and proceeds to throw them on the couch and walk back to my room for his nap.  That's his way of saying,  Mom, you need to read the scriptures so you can be a better Mom.  He's right!

Picture Perfect

Note to Self: Don't take your boys to the mountains to take a picture perfect Christmas card photo.  They will immediately start playing in the snow and have no interest in photo ops, and all 3 will start crying because they are so freezing cold.  I had even talked everyone into wearing a sweater, and packed Christmas bulbs and a blanket for props.  Should have stuck to a picture in front of the tree because all picture attempts were a major FAIL!  Kyle and I (and the 16 year old neighbor girl I recruited to take the picture) had a good laugh about it the whole way down the mountain while our three wet boys warmed their hands by the heater vents.

Rotten Tiger

Michael taking care of his ladies.  He loves his hens.

Brooks loves pulling his brothers hair, and he's even gentle about it.

 Michael woke up from his nap with a fever (we have already ALL had the stomach, so pretty sure that's not it).  I asked him how he felt and he said, "like a rotten tiger."  Then I asked him what hurt and he said, "my brain and my stomach." Love his descriptive words.  I was thinking this morning that he was acting uncharacteristically calm.  Should have known!

Brooks was sick for a solid 3 weeks with every sickness under the sun.  He finally just finished his antibiotic today.  I hate putting my kids on that junk.  He had a terrible cold, which caused him to get ear infections (he has tubes in), conjuctivities in both eyes, sinus infection, a cough and on top of all of that we all had the flu and he was throwing up for two days.  So glad those days are behind us, and hoping to avoid that situation.

I'm going to update soon with our move and all that was attached to that.  Time to start documenting life for these 3 boys of mine.

Is it Friday yet?

One day last week I took the boys out to the country to get out of the house and take a couple pictures.  This is what I got.  Pretty cute, huh?  Well let me tell you, it was no an easy shot to get.  Every 2 seconds one of them was trying to throw dirt, rocks, and run in the corn.  They were not interested in taking pictures after their mom just took them to a farm.  

It's not been easy having Kyle gone all the time.  I am not cut out for having a husband away from us.  I like to have him here in the mornings with us for breakfast, I like to see him for an occasional lunch break, and I really like having him home at night.  This summer with him working in Wenatchee a few days a week, Sunnyside the rest of the week, and then sometimes Spokane, we hardly see each other. My boys need their dad home too.  They miss him so much.  We just need Dad around to help love, entertain, discipline and help put the boys to bed at night.  I know it could be worst, much worst.  On the bright side, we will all be together again in a month.  In the meantime, I'll just keep looking forward to Friday nights when we have him home for two days in a row!

Brooks is still not sleeping through the night.  My goal in the next two weeks is to get him to do that by letting him cry it out.  In a month and half I'm done nursing him and trust me, it can't come soon enough.  Nursing a 10 month old every 2.5 to 3 hours with two other toddlers in the house is not ideal.  I haven't slept through the night in years!

I'm not trying to complain...just document real life.  Things really are going well for us.  The family who is buying our home, sold their house, and we had an offer accepted on a lot in Wenatchee so we will be building.  We just secured a rental, and get to move in right before our house closes here in Pasco.  Now we just need to find a floor plan and get busy.   Kyle likes his new job, and we feel like we've been blessed for making the decision to take the job and move.  We also just got back from a great vacation to Utah to visit family and friends.  It was too quick, but great to see friends we haven't seen for a long time.  Plus we got to see our new twin nephews who were blessed.

*Thank you everyone for your love and concern for my niece Clara.  She is in the loving arms of her family, and they feel your prayers and support.  Her battle has been hard, and I don't know if we'll ever understand why it's been so hard, but we do know that God lives and has a plan for each of us. I'm grateful for my sister Natasha and her husband and their strengh.  It takes a special family to deal with the trial that they've been handed.

Slipping Away

Life has been too stressful and too busy lately. (Clara's cancer that is ravaging her frail body, moving, Kyle out of town every week for work, double ear infections for Brooks, RS President responsibilities, 3 wild little boys, nursing, Brooks' allergies, a sinus infection for me)   I feel like so many things are slipping away.   Luckily there have been bright moments with family and friends.  I'm not ready to say goodbye to some of things that are to come in the near future.  I want to hold on just a little bit longer.  I have to have faith in God, and know that He has a plan for me and my family.

 These pictures were taken in July.  I really am so blessed to have three healthy little boys.

Man Wipes

Preston just came up to me with messy hands after eating fruit and said, MOM, where's the man wipe?  I asked him what's a man wipe and he explained to me what it was, and it sounded like a baby wet wipe, but he insisted that's not what he wanted.  He directed me over to the paper towels and said, this is a man wipe.  I love kids.  

Out of Luck

Michael: "Mom, Brooks is so lucky."
Me: "Why?"
Michael: "Because he doesn't have any teeth, so he doesn't have to brush."
Michael: "Preston and I are not lucky because we have teeth and we have to brush."

For the record Brooks is getting his two bottom teeth.

CRAVINGS

I've just got to say it.  Right now I want some ice cream, a bowl of frosted mini wheat cereal, homemade whole wheat bread with a slice of butter melting on top of it, corn on the cob, french toast, broccoli cheese soup, homemade macaroni and cheese, gourmet thin crust pizza, lasagna, mud pie, cheese of any kind, fettuccine alfredo, sticky white rice, pad thai, a homemade juicy cheeseburger, chips and salsa, and MANY, MANY more things.

I'm going on 4 months with my allergen free diet, and I must say today is one of those days that I'm CRAVING all day long.  I'll just have to satisfy those cravings by eating a vegetable or fruit or a spoonful of honey (that's my guilty pleasure, a spoonful of honey, ha!).  NOT the same.   

I already feel better by venting to the internet.  The good news is, if I ever feel like eating one of those things, the thought of Brooks' having symptoms for days on end reminds me why I'm doing this!!!

Nanny Manawhanui

We found out a few months ago that Kyle's 83 year old Nanny (term in New Zealand for grandmother) would be making a trip to the US to visit her whanau (Maori name for extended family).  We prayed every day that she would be able to make the trip with good health.  Well the time finally came for her to come, so Kyle took a week off of work and we went to Vancouver for 8 days.  The entire trip was wonderful.  We had a Pacific Northwest miracle, and had amazing weather the entire 8 days.  Not one drop of rain!!!  Nanny Mana is the sweetest lady and I could sit and listen to her tell stories for days with her thick New Zealand accent.  Kyle's Uncle Sam also made the treck from Washington DC where he lives to see his mum and spend time with his whanau.  The boys played outside all day everyday with their cousins, and had the greatest time.  There are 7 boy cousins born all in a row ages 6 and under so things got a little wild!  There will soon be 9 boy cousins 6 and under when Bryce and Alysia have their twin boys. The highlight of the trip for all the boys was going to the zoo together.  It was a reduced price day at the zoo, so it was packed and crazy.  We had one scare where we lost Preston for 5 minutes while we were eating lunch.  There were hundreds and hundreds of people around and we couldn't find him.  I was getting very nervous.  Luckily some guy found him in some bushes and stayed with him until we came looking for him.     

As I said, Nanny is awesome.  I will have to get a video up of her sometime on here telling one of her stories.  The highlight of the trip for her was when we all went to the temple together and did a session.  The first time I met Nanny was in the Portland temple after I received my Endowment, so it was wonderful to go there again with her.  A week after Kyle and I got married Nanny came to stay with us in our apartment for a whole week.  We LOVED it, and tried to talk her into coming to extend her trip and stay with us again, but unfortunately there were too many logistics to figure out.  We are hoping it's not another 6 years before we see her again!  

I love this first picture.  Nanny was on the phone and Preston wanted to kick back just like her.  Some of the picture were taken at the cemetary where Kyle's dad is buried as well as our nephew.  

We went to the cemetery to visit Kyle's dad's grave and our nephew's.  

 All of these were taken with my phone at the zoo.  We'll definitely be going back!

 Knocked out after a LONG day at the zoo.   

The weather was so nice and we all went to the park to play on the playground and some soccer.  

We love the beautiful Portland Temple.  Married there 6 years ago!

Everyone was in town except for Kyle's younger brother Bryce.  

These next pictures crack me up.  Nanny knew that Brooks' couldn't eat anything because of his allergies, so when someone gave her a piece of cake she explained to Brooks' in the cutest accent voice that he couldn't have any cake.  It was hilarious!

Slip 'n slide withe the cousins.  

The boys with their Grammy.

These two spell TROUBLE.

Kyle's two grandmothers.

Nanny teasing Kyle, so cute.

Brooks' was short on naps this week.  

Mother's Day photo shoots.  Love this picture of my boys laughing with their great Nanny.  

The boy cousins did a skit.  They thought it was pretty funny.  

10 plus years with no practice and they still got it :)