Snow Day!

Wow! Apple Valley has been turned into a winter wonderland and the boys had their first snow day! It started snowing early Wednesday and kept going all day. Even I was surprised as it kept piling up ( at least 6-8inches here). I could barely get my van up the driveway after getting the boys from school when school was cancelled. We are really enjoying the novelty of it. But there are the down sides too, like our dish wouldn't work because the snow was piled up on it. Mike called a friend to come and sweep it off last night and so the boys are happy to have cartoons back. And shoveling the walk is no fun especially when you don't have a real snow shovel. But the kids are so happy and we will probably never see snow like this again!

Family Pictures 2008

Accomplishments X 2

There are 2 things that have happened that I am excited about. First, Julia has gone without a bottle for 5 days now! All of you Moms that have experienced breaking a baby from a bottle know how hard a time this can be and we are happy to have made it almost a whole week now with almost no crying at all! She is so grown up now. Second, it is my turn to brag a little. I have reached a goal I set a few months ago and lost 20 pounds! I feel great and am proud to have accomplished the goal I set for myself. It can be so hard sometimes to get rid of the extra weight that sneaks up on you between pregnancy's, and I finally did something about it. Yeah for me!!!

Thanksgiving Celebration

This year we spent Thanksgiving at the Taylor's home in Alta Loma . It was so nice to have Mike home and not be traveling this year. Here are a few pictures from dinner at their home.

This is a "sea" of pilgrims and Indians enjoying their feast together. Mike went to Hyrums Kindergarten class to help and he was exhausted when he got home! Hyrum is at the head of the table smiling.

In this picture they are pretending to be on the Mayflower. Hyrum was chosen to climb the ladder and yell " land yo!" He had so much fun!

Camping Out

Mike and the boys joined our ward for the annual "Turkey Shoot" camping trip and had a great time. They camp in the desert in tents,deep fry turkey for dinner,do skits for entertainment,don't go to bed until 11, go shooting in the morning, and come home exhausted!

The Flu

Over the last week and a half we have all had the flu. Poor Julia had it the worst and for the whole week and a half. It is not easy to have sick kids. It really makes you appreciate having everyone healthy. Here's to a Happy, Healthy Thanksgiving!

Literacy Week

Several weeks ago the school held Literacy Week along with the book fair. On the final day the kids can dress up as a favorite character from a book and bring that book to school for a chance to win a certificate for the book fair. Ethan was a Knight and took a Magic Tree House book where they go back in time to a castle. And, last minute Hyrum decides he wants to dress up too. I found a Johnny Appleseed book on the shelf and knew we had he makings of that costume and so he was happy too! The librarian was the judge, and both of my boys were winners from their grades. Mike and I were so happy for them.

Halloween Time

What can I say.....We had a great Halloween this year. The boys had fun at school with their party's and carnivals and I had a lot of fun helping out in Hyrums class. Hyrum really liked having his face painted at the carnival.

Buddy

So,we have been really busy lately and I haven't even mentioned the latest addition to the family! Our 4 year old rottweiler Labrador mix Buddy! He is a gentle giant weighing in at 93 pounds and we all love him. We went to visit my family in Idaho the beginning of October and Buddy belonged to the family next door. We have met him on previous visits to Idaho and saw what a good natured and calm tempered dog he was and we knew that the owner was rarely around to take care of him. So, my Mom asked if we could take him and they said yes. He is a good match for our family. This is me and my Mom and the boys freezing at my brothers football game. It snowed the day we drove home. Brrrrrrr!

Trying to fing a way out of the straw maze.

Hyrum, Ethan and one of their cousins Zachary.

Julia Kathleen is 18 months

Wow! How time has flown. Our baby is an independent little girl big enough for the nursery now. She likes to push dollies in the baby stroller, feed herself, put on her shoes, climb into the tub, go down the slide,and watch baby einstein dvd's . She says a new word every day ( sit down is the latest one) and we can't believe how grown up she is.

Home from the hospital

On Saturday evening both Pam and Isabelle were released from the hospital. The baby had been let go from the NICU Friday evening into Pam's room after she had improved how much she was eating and they took her out from under the light for being jaundice. So, now they are finally home enjoying some time together.

Baby Isabelle

On Monday morning we welcomed our niece,baby Isabelle, into the world with a rush of emotion. She is 6 pounds 11 ounces 19 inches long and has a head full of dark hair! After about 6 hours of labor the baby's heart rate wasn't stable and they took Pam in for an emergency c-section,Jonathan didn't even have time to call anyone and let they know what was happening. The baby wasn't breathing when she was born and was sent off to the NICU. Then doctors discovered that Pam had suffered a jagged tear to her bladder that was causing severe bleeding and they began surgery to stop the bleeding and do necessary repairs. This was a very critical and scary time and she spent hours in surgery and lost a lot of blood. Mike and I were able to see them on Tuesday morning. Pam is looking good but is in a lot of pain and has only been able to hold the baby once. Baby is being watched probably for 1 more day to make sure she eats well and isn't jaundice. They will probably be in the hospital until Friday. I know that a lot of you that read our blog are long time friends of the Taylor family and would like to know this information. Please send your prayers and well wishes on to Pam and Jonathan at this time, they are going through a lot. Seeing their baby in the NICU brought back all the memories of our son Hyrum being there and it is a hard thing for a parent to go through. We love you Pam, Jonathan and Isabelle and we hope you are all home soon!

A special day

Just a few family pictures of those that joined us to celebrate Ethan's baptism on Saturday. It was such a special day and we shared a lot of nice memories with our family and friends that were there. Thank you for all the cards and phone calls - it ment so much to him.

LA County Fair

We finally made it to the fair! We have been talking about going for the last 3 years or so and haven't been able to find time to go. This week we took the boys out of school a few hours early and away we went to find the funnel cake and BBQ! Ethan volunteered at a demonstration and then found out that he would be holding a snake! He was so brave. But the look on his face was so funny.

The boys tried these trampolines with a harness.You can do a back flip if you are brave. Of cource the kids just jumped up and down the whole time and Mike & I talked about how our parents never would have paid for us to go on something like this because it is a "waste of money"!

The good old slide on the sratchy sack. This is always a favorite ride.

This is the indoor Winter wonderland. The boys must have gone sledding for a good half hour & the best part is you climb up stairs to get to the top of the hill. How easy is that!!!

Riding the tractor in the big red barn, We liked seeing all the animals. Julia called everything a puppy!

Ice cream! We know the way to this little girls heart! It was a really fun day for everyone. The kids won some goldfish (yea!) and Mike and I were really glad that we had a good family day together.