Life is Short For Some.....

Truly, life is short for all of us in the grand scheme of things but sometimes it seems extra short for those that pass too soon. We had the opportunity to attend a small service for the almost 3 year old daughter of my husbands cousin. Tragically, she drown in her uncles pool in Kentucky last week.....it was such heartbreaking news. I had never met the baby personally but have met her mom a few times as well as her Grandma. My heart broke for her. I just dont think I could ever survive something like this. Perhaps I could, but it would certainly alter the course of my life in many ways.

They were getting ready to move back to Utah this week and so they wanted to bury their daughter where they would be living....this is how we were able to pay our respects on Sunday. Her daddy is Samoan and so there were beautiful reminders of her cultural heritage to be seen all around. I especially loved the gorgeous Lei that someone had made by hand of real flowers and draped around her tiny neck. She looked beautiful....as if she were sleeping. Addie kept telling me she was sad the baby had died..... it was just sad. But in the midst of the heavy sadness was some hope for others. They agreed to donate their daugthers organs and 2 children received her heart and her liver and I believe an adult received her kidneys....I could be wrong on who got what but the point is that others will live now because of her. It was such an unselfish act to perform in the middle of such sorrow. My heart goes out to them.... the first 3 songs on my playlist at the bottom of the page were featured in her slideshow. I thought they were beautiful.... I want to listen to them for a while and remember how precious life is and how much I love my babies....

The Diva Went Shopping....

I am in awe of my little daughter. I have no idea where she came from....truly, I dont. Not that it matters, because she is incredibly fun. Such a personality.... I dont even know what to do with her. Old Navy is having a big sale this weekend so I thought I would pop in and buy the kids some desperately needed summer clothing. We took each child at a time into the dressing room because 3 at once is too much for me to handle. Ian went first and Im soooooo sad to report that he is officially into men's clothing at Old Navy. He is only 9 and Im a little mad that I dont get more time in the 'boys' section with him. Oh well, Evan is right behind him. Next year it will be the same for him.... Boo hoo. So, onto Addison....she is easy to buy for. She LOVES everything. Everything she see's is "SOOOO CUTE MOM!".... I never imagined a 4 year old would be so excited about shopping for clothes. I picked out a few outfits and some shoes and she insisted on trying them on in the big dressing rooms. Everytime she put something on she twirled and flipped her hair. It was all I could do not to bust up laughing. Seriously! Where did she come from!!! I could hear the dressing room attendant laughing too...it was hilarious. The last outfit she tried on was a one piece short/tank thingamajig....totally 80's style....it was so cute on her and she squealed (literally) "oh my gosh, Dana is going to LOVE this!".... Who the heck is Dana?! This girl.....what am I going to do with her except love her to pieces :)

Evan, Our Little Trooper....

Well, I guess Little isnt really the best word to describe our BIG 8 year old...but what a trooper he has been. 2 days after I got home from my "girls trip", Evan had surgery. He had his tonsils removed, his adenoids removed, a cauterizing of one side of his nose, AND if that werent enough, they removed/reduced his turbinates (I have no clue what these are exactly except that they have something to do with the septum and that his were too big and blocking his airway.) He has a deviated septum also but that wont get repaired until he is 16. So, anyway....he was so brave even though we could tell he was quite nervous.


He is such a sweet boy and I hated seeing him walk away with the anesthesiologist but, this surgery will really help him in so many ways so I just kept telling myself that. He had very supportive siblings who wanted to be part of the whole deal, except the actual surgery of course.

Evan takes after his Grandma Ries apparently because they couldnt get him to wake up and stay awake after the surgery. He looks awake here but trust me...he wasn't!


We did finally get him to wake up though and took him home. Notice the glazed and happy expression.....I do not like my kids being in this state of mind!

Everything was great until about midnight that same night....that's when it was hard to be a mother and not know what to do to help my baby :( He was in a lot of pain and the swelling had started so he thought he was choking. He cried and cried and cried. Thank goodness for liquid Lortab!! We have been sleeping on the couches so he can stay propped up and once again the other 2 children, feeling left out, insisted on being included. We made Ian and Addison up some beds on the floor and it was a regular slumber party! Its been fun but not for Evan sadly....today he whimpered that he wished he hadnt had to have it done because he cant eat anything. The ice cream and popcicles arent cutting it anymore I guess! He is doing great though and each day the pain is getting less and less.....in a week the old Evan will be back and breathing a lot better!!

3rd Annual Girls Trip......

Each year me and a couple of my good friends from when I was in the Air Force get together somewhere for a girls trip. This year we were going to go to Mexico. Unfortunately the friend that was going to be driving us across the border totaled her car (not her fault) and could not drive a rental vehicle over the border so we changed our trip last minute to Palm Springs, California. It was probably for the best since there is so much trouble going on at the border..... Anyway, I flew into Los Angeles and waited for Kellie who was flying in from Denver, Colorado. Kris was then going to pick us both up. Sadly, when I got to baggage claim I quickly realized that my bag was no where to be found. The only bag left on the carousel looked just like mine though so I thought perhaps someone had taken mine by mistake and crossed my fingers that they would return it. I waited for the next flight from Salt Lake to come in just in case my bag got put on that plane but still no luck. Eventually a little old lady called and she had taken my bag instead of hers. She lives in Pasadena (insert song: Little old lady from Pasadenaaaaa) and so we opted to drive her bag to her and pick mine up. Southwest airlines gave me a $75 voucher for my trouble....this came in handy a few days later. I was supposed to fly standby home on Jet Blue through a friend of mine that works for the airline. I thought it was a great idea and would save me money. Unfortunately there were only 2 flights going to Salt Lake and if I didnt happen to get on the p.m. flight I would have had to spend the night in the airport! The standby list was already 38 people long and there were only 9 empty seats on that flight. I quickly looked up flights on Southwest and with my voucher that they had given me I only had to pay $20 for my flight home and it was guaranteed! I think that lady took my bags for a reason...someone was watching out for me!~

So we drove to Palm Springs and checked into our fabulous digs....2 bedrooms, full kitchen, balcony with a grill. We grocery shopped and cooked most of our food, laid by the pool in the very HOT sun (my favorite part). We even tried to go dancing one night but apparently flip flops are inappropriate footwear for the "fancy" club in the local casino....hmpf!! That's Ok...we had plenty of our own dancing in our condo. It was such a fun time and Im already looking forward to our next trip :)

Evans Big Day....

Evan has been waiting so patiently for his Baptism day. He turned 8 back in April and it just seemed like one thing after another came up and pushed his day back further and further. Well, today was the day!! He was so excited about it that he told his Taekwondo instructor last night that he was getting baptized the next day.... He also lost a tooth last night and got his new video game in the mail yesterday. I think Evan feels like he hit the lottery this week!! I wont go into detail about the stress that we went through yesterday trying to find Evan a suit. Let's just say that trying to find a 2 piece suit for church in the summer is probably as difficult as finding a swimsuit in the winter.

I got up early this morning with a great plan in place to get myself and all 3 kids ready and out the door on time. Along with a list of things to bring like the camera, extra underwear etc... and still have time to swing by and pick up my sweet Grandma. Well, I didn't anticipate not being able to find the shirt I wanted to wear nor the ensuing hour of trying to find something else to wear. I did not anticipate Addison throwing up this morning or Ian's shirt being dirty. And finally...I didn't anticipate not being able to find my camera. All things considered being 20 minutes late and making a grand entrance with Addie screaming wasn't too bad I guess!

Ian gave one of the talks on the program. He did a great job although he says he is embarrassed because he started to tear up at the end. He takes after his mother in that area unfortunately. Speaking of which, I gave the closing prayer and had steeled myself to do it without crying. I got through about 4 words before I lost it. Later we went to Chili's for lunch and my brother admitted to making bets that I would break down during the prayer. Nice. I guess he should have put money on it!! It turned out to be a wonderful morning though....my boys are so handsome and growing up way too fast. Thankfully I have 4 years before Addison gets baptized.... (thanks to Nate for taking these pic's on his phone. They are the only ones we got!)

My Little Dancer....Sometimes....

I think we are finally coming to accept that Addison has a deep fear of being in front of crowds. It is hard to understand because most of the time she is a little performer and cant get enough singing and dancing. Put her in front of people though, and she falls apart. I'm not talking just acting shy or freezing up....I'm talking meltdown city! We were so excited for her Spring Recital....even she was. The morning of, she jumped out of bed and said "is it time for my recital mom"? All was well until we actually put on her costume. Meltdown #1. Once we finally got it on and bribed her with Laffy Taffy, we were on our way to the school. Once we got there and she remembered what is was she was going to do, Meltdown #2. Once we found our seats and sat down and other dancers began their performance...she calmed down and let me take a picture...sort-of. Still not thrilled as you can see.

Then it was her turn....we made to the stage, and Meltdown #3 took place. I hadn't planned on being part of the performance but as you can see in the video, there I was!! We were right in the middle of the group so I did my best to hide so as not to appear on everyone's home videos. Oh well....perhaps she will grow out of it? I hope so because when no one is looking, she is so very talented :)

New Pictures!!

I just love getting new pictures of the kids but am even more excited when they actually turn out!!! Its a long story, but the short version is that this company came to Evan's school for Spring pictures which I normally don't even bother with. Their brochure looked so fantastic though I could resist the studio quality pictures....turns out that the people who own the company are friends of mine from high school!! It was so much fun taking the kids down to the school and getting to visit with people I havent seen in over 2o years. They took great care of the kids and did such an incredible job! The best part is that aside from their 'school picture' company, Capture Studio, they are opening another studio which will be run somewhat like Kiddie Kandids only much better. Its opening at the end of the month in Draper so if you live in the area, you must check it out....it is located by the In-n-Out Burger in Draper Peaks and it will be called FotoFly! Anyway, Im just so excited to finally have some good pictures of the kids and to have a new studio to take them to for pictures.... I know I am biased, but I just think my children are gorgeous :)

The Boys and Their New Adventure.....

We have always encouraged the boys to be involved in some kind of sport. Ian started with soccer, as did Evan. They have both played baseball, Ian has played basketball and football. Evan seems content to stick with soccer at the moment as he is just finishing up his season with the Firebirds. Anyway, I dont believe in forcing them to play anything. If they ask to play, they are expected to commit to the whole season...and they always do. With summer coming, there are not a lot of sports to play and frankly, Ian isnt really interested in anything anyway. He decided not to play football again this fall; not a big shock there. But he really needs to do something active as I worry about his potential weight issues. I told him to pick something and he chose Tae-Kwon-Do lessons. I was a little hesitant at first because I would prefer some type of team sport. But Ian is who he is and once he gets something into his head its hard to change his mind. So.... happy that he will be doing some type of exercising 3 times a week, I enrolled him and Evan. They have been to 2 classes so far and it is lots of fun watching them try to coordinate themselves to these moves. Listening to them call their instructor 'sir' is fun too...maybe this wont be so bad :)

Here are a couple of videos of their class last night.....