Troy had a hernia repaired last Tuesday and cannot lift anything until this Thursday. My friend Jana watched the kids for me while he was being fixed. We ordered pizza that night and just chilled at home. Cousin Katie came to spend the night with us and we watched a movie with her and her friend who happens to be a boy. It has been hard to take care of things all on my own, but Troy needs to rest. He feels pretty good...just sore.

Wednesday night Dani and Todd stayed with us. It was good to see them and visit. We went to Grovers on Thursday and had a wonderful turkey day. We had great food and great company. Dani and Todd returned to our house on Thursday night and stayed another night.

Friday morning I was up early...not to shop, but with Kaebryn. Troy left about 7 a.m. to shop, he was feeling okay, but returned home empty handed. I headed out about 8:30 a.m. with Kara and went to Michaels and WalMart. I found a ton of stuff at Michaels. WalMart was surprisingly dead. We walked in, spent a couple hours walking around, and made it to the check-out without any problems. The only thing I didn't get was slippers. They had sold out. But I did get everything else. It was a fun break. I got home about 11 and took care of the kids. Dani and Todd had helped with Kaebryn. I spent the day cleaning and making a Christmas countdown with the boys.

Saturday I made apple and blueberry pies, a huge container of yams and got the rest of the house cleaned. We headed to Pocatello and had a huge gathering (refer to pics). Late, about 10:30 p.m. we headed home. The kids were all asleep except Daeson. He was pretending. He rode with my parents. They stayed over and we had a good visit.

Sunday we went to church, but only Sacrament meeting. It was a good meeting. We came home, got the Christmas decor out and put up the tree. The lights gave us issues, but Troy and my parents saved the day with new ones. My mom and dad left about 4:30 p.m. and headed back to Poky. We finished decorating and watched a Christmas show. The kids went to bed and we crashed! I was exhausted!

Yesterday came and went with a blur. I am almost done with laundry, got all the beds changed, cleaned the house, and put the decoration boxes in the garage. I blogged a bit and relaxed a little. The kids have been really good. Today is filled with a very busy schedule. Troy took my place at school helping cause he cannot lift Kaebryn. Our new shower door was installed and I have a Relief Society mtg. My cousin has a basketball game up here at 6 so we are going to that. Tomorrow we have Kaebryn's helmet fitting and then dentist appointments for the boys. Thursday is busy with Troy gone til 10 for school. Friday I am going to try to plan date night and Saturday we have a baptism. What a week. I fear that it will stay this busy until after Christmas! But its great!

Families are FOREVER

This is my mom's family...minus my sister in law, Carlie and nephew, Carson. Kaebryn and Quincy joined us this year totaling 16 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren for my Grandparents.



This is my Dad's family...minus a cousins, Shailee, Jill, Fred, Jake, Jenni, and Nick. Totaling 21 grandchildren with 2 soon-to-be(?) grandchildren and 8 great-grandchildren.

I hope I got the numbers right.

We had a shin dig on Saturday...a Thanksgiving/ Christmas gathering. It was a lot of fun and a TON of hard work went into it. My mom plans this every year and we all look forward to excellent food, fun activities, and great visits with our family members.

Happy Thanksgiving, 2011

There really is so much to be thankful for this year. I am overwhelmed when I think of the blessing that have been sent our way. This year, I am sure, we are all thankful for many things. I am thankful for my home. I am thankful for my children, and grateful Kaebryn's arrival was smooth. I am grateful for the educators who have taught Daeson so many things already. I am thankful that we were able to sell our business for what we needed so Troy could go back to school. I am grateful for a husband who works so hard. I am also grateful for the changes I see in him everyday...he is always surprising me. I am grateful for non-judgmental friends. I am grateful for family. I am thankful for the ability I have to stay at home wit my kids...something I haven't always been grateful for. I am thankful for life's experiences that make us who we are. I am thankful for stability for I know how quickly it can change. Most of all I am thankful for the knowledge I have about my Heavenly Father and my Savior and brother, Jesus Christ.

I love this time of year when we reflect on the things that matter most. I love the seasons of change. I love the desire to reflect and renew, to be better.

When upon life’s billows you are tempest-tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God hath done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your many blessings, see what God hath done.

Are you ever burdened with a load of care?
Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?
Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly,
And you will keep singing as the days go by.

When you look at others with their lands and gold,
Think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold;
Count your many blessings—wealth can never buy
Your reward in heaven, nor your home on high.

So, amid the conflict whether great or small,
Do not be discouraged, God is over all;
Count your many blessings, angels will attend,
Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end.

Johnson Oatman, Jr.

I love this girl!!!

Oakley's blessing

Party, party, party! We have done so much partying lately. Sunday, the 20th, Oakley Jade was blessed by her dad, Todd. He did an amazing job and Oakley's dress was beautiful. The food was great and there was a wonderful turn-out. The red dress and fluffy slip Kaebryn is wearing was mine when I was a baby. I love it and I am glad my mom saved it all 31 years!

This is all the Grandchildren on Troy's side. We have one more coming in March for a total of 11...three born just this year. We are thankful for the healthy and happy children in our family and I am so lucky to belong to such a wonderful and amazing family of in-laws. I really have been blessed with the best. We missed Heidi and Brad this year. They love so far away. But we love you and cannot wait to see you and that cute pregnant belly!!!

I decided I never have time to go downstairs to turn on the computer so I am doing this by phone. We will see if it works! We all recovered from the flutype bug we had. It was awful and took a week to fully recover. Finally we are all better. We took Kaebryn to the Dr the other day and she was diagnosed with a head deformity and she will be fitted for a helmet on the 30th. She will wear this helmet for 4 months and needs to see the Dr every six weeks for check ups. She is a level 8...10 being the worst. I hope this corrects it before her head bones harden. Daeson and Troy both have the week off for Thanksgiving and we are excited to spend time as a family. I need to find things for the boys to do while sitting around the house. I think we will do a little play doh and paints, games and treats. I can't believe it is Thanksgiving already. November flew by and is quickly leading us to Christmas. We finished all our shopping for Christmas and the presents are wrapped and labeled. Every day Tevan begs to open his presents and every day he is turned down. He will be excited for Christmas when I actually tell him yes. We will put the tree up in a couple weeks. It is such a relief to have it all done so we can focus on other fun things. I want to make ornaments for the tree, take treats around and visit friends and family. I am hoping to have a great season.

Stylin'

I love this outfit! I got the pants from Kara and bought the rest. Marilyn from my Dr office made the bow. I just can't get over how fast the go from newborn to big baby!

They grow so fast!

We love this outfit on Kaebryn. It was given to us by Kara. It is a 12 mo outfit, but she fits perfectly into it. The onesie is an 18 mo and her shoes are a size 2. They are bargains I bought right after she was born thinking they would fit her this summer! Danielle made the super cute bow.

Bed buddies

We have the hardest time getting the boys to go to sleep at night. They talk, fight, argue, play, tell stories...you name it they do it. It is a challenge some nights that I do not want to face. This night they were loud and, I must admit, they got a spanking after two hrs of being told to be quiet. They just would not sleep. Then, after about 10 minutes, I went in there and found them sleeping in Daeson's bed.

Johnny Jump-up

We borrowed this Johnny Jump-up from Kara to get Kaebryn to start putting weight on her legs. I am convinced that she doesn't bare a lot of weight on her legs because of her neck and head issues...but that's my opinion. She liked it for a few minutes then decided it wasn't great anymore. I am sure that Tevan, swinging her and hitting her head on the door frame, had something to do with it. We returned the jumper and found a jumperoo on Craigslist for 20 bucks. Now the brothers cannot hurt her. We traded Kara the jumperoo for the exersaucer until she loves jumping. Jace loves it so he was happy with the trade.

Sickness fills the air

Forget about smells of fall, I have completely different smells at my house.

Monday was pretty chilly outside. After lunch Daeson called Troy to tell him he was not feeling well and that he had thrown up on Jada (a girl in his class). It was just her shoe thank heavens! When we asked if he was feeling sick he told us he just threw up because his lungs were cold and he coughed so hard after he ran. So we left him at school but told him to call us if he felt sick again. He never called and the rest of the day acted fine and played fine. Tuesday morning he said he was very tired but wanted to go to school. He didn't have a fever, so I sent him. I help in his class on Tuesdays, so as I sat reading to the kids, I watched him. He was definitely not himself. So I took him home with me. At 3:00 I had an appointment for Kaebryn. When we got there I inquired about flu shots. A little boy in Daeson's class tested positive for H1N1 and missed weeks of school. They took Daeson's temp...104.8 degrees. He was burning up! So hie was not allowed to get a shot.

Tevan, however, was able to and you would have thought we were torturing the poor kid. He wailed so loud the entire office could hear him!!! Then it was all over with.

Now, Kaebryn was the reason we actually went in. She has not felt good for almost three weeks so I took her in. She has an upper respiratory infection and got an antibiotic for it. I also had him look at her head...again. This is an ongoing thing. He is very worried about it. She is 5 mo old and soon her head will be fused together and it will be too late. She will have her deformed head forever. So he set me up an appointment with a Plastic Surgeon. He is very good and he works at Primary Children's. Luckily he comes here a couple of times each week. So on the 18th we see Dr. Morales. He will most likely set her up for a helmet and do some Botox injections in her neck to help her little muscles. After three months of physical therapy and spending a ton of money and time on this Torticollis problem, we are finally getting somewhere. I told the PA that I wanted to get it all taken care of right away since we have met our deductible. I hope to see results! I would hate if she had her deformed head forever!!! I am a bit upset that it took this long to take care of it. I have been in to the Dr four times already and was told just to watch it. I watched it and it did not get better. She turns now, and that is an improvement. I love our Dr and I trust him. He is one of the most requested Drs in our area. I just wish we could have done this earlier!

This morning Kaebryn puked all over me. We are talking everywhere. It was all I could do not to throw up too! We got her cleaned up and I got her to sleep. Tevan and I ran to Sam's and Target and had a call from Troy telling me to get carpet cleaner because she had just pooped all over him and the carpet. I hope she isn't getting the stomach crap on top of the respiratory junk! Poor girlie!

Polka dot cake, spider cake, butterfly

The polka dot 6 in double layer round is funfetti with vanilla buttercream and fondant accents. $22.00

Spider cake is an 8 in double round vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream and black fondant spider accent $22.00

Butterfly shaped vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream $18.00

Playin with doh

I came home from my Tuesday helping with Daeson's class to find Tevan and Troy playing with play doh. He was having a blast, and Tevan was too! Troy made Gumby as per Tevan's request and Tevan made...well, I am not sure. But they had a good time and I was glad to see them playing together.