BLESSINGS

Sunday my cousin and his wife were blessed to welcome their first baby, Drew. Unfortunately, Drew made his appearance too early. He's doing ok and many pictures have been shared of this little boy. As I look at this 3 pound 15 ounce baby, it reminds me of some premies from 20 years ago! My sisters and youngest brother were delivered early and they weighed in at 4 pounds 1/2 ounce, 4 pounds 7 ounces, and 5 pounds 4 ounces. They were so fragile and tiny and we prayed and prayed and prayed for all of them to grow and develop and be strong. Prayers were answered. They did grow. They did develop. They are strong. They are all attending college - Audra and Catherine at BYU-ID (if you know it by Rick's....then we know how old you are!) and Austin's at BYU-Provo. Here they are at Catherine's wedding in August (yep, she was born 20 years after me and married 20 years after my August wedding!) So sweet!

This was one of my favorite parts of the reception - The Triplet Dance!
So hang in there Andrew and Michelle! Baby Drew has LOTS & LOTS & LOTS of family praying and praying and praying for him. (and for you too!) We love you!!!

INTERESTING

Why do kids make everything more interesting in life? Just a quick trip to the grocery store turns into a circus when you take Kyler and Asher. Isn't a circus more interesting than a plain old grocery store?!? And what about taking kids to try on clothes. Isn't that a blast? I recently took Asher and Kyler to find some Sunday clothes. INTERESTING! (isn't that a nice way to say TORTURE..........interesting.) Kyler took forever to take off his shorts....then forever to put his pants on.......then to actually come out of the dressing room to show me. I could see his feet under the dressing room door and HE WAS SLOW! I think the biggest hurdle for Kyler was the fact that they have a mirror in the dressing room. Mirrors are built-in audiences to this boy! He performs and has the time of his life in front of mirrors. I know....interesting!

Even the word interesting became more interesting when I had children. Have you seen Little Bear? If not, you're missing out. Colton used to watch Little Bear. He was a quiet, nice little bear. He had nice, quiet parents and nice, quiet grandparents. They loved him and he loved them. He was a curious bear and would always say "Innnnteresting" Colton even had a Little Bear doll that said "Innnnteresting"....

AND IT'S BEEN BURNED IN MY BRAIN EVER SINCE!

INTERESTING.

THE VIEW FROM MY SECOND HOME

What?!? You didn't know that Tony has provided me with a second home!!! Of course he has! I'm such a spoiled woman! I'm even get to spend a lot of time there....many times by myself! Even so, I never feel refreshed when I'm there. In fact, I'm much more relaxed when I leave my second home!!!

Here's the first view from the front window in my second home. Oh, I didn't tell you, my second home can move from location to location. It sees lots of different locations in a day, but ironically, not different from day to day!?!

I have a special feature in this home....a mirror that allows me to simultaneously look through my front and rear windows! If you look in that mirror, you'll see how many fellow moms have second homes too!

For such a busy home, it spends plenty of time going nowhere! (Man, I can't believe how dirty it is. Must be the maids day off!)

I don't mind sharing the home with my family. Everyone has their own space and it never interferes with my space. Except for the music room. Colton and I have compromised, he gets FM1 to program his stations.....

and I get FM2 for my stations. It has really cut down on the frustration for me. As soon as Colton leaves our second home, I turn the music back to FM2 and all is well. (I'm getting used to some of his music, just not the dj's. One station even has Paternity Test Tuesday......I wish I was making that up)

LET'S GO RIDE A BIKE

Colton and Asher were much older than Kyler when we finally taught them to ride a bike. I didn't want to wait that long for Kyler and thought it was about time to learn. Asher was happy to step in and teach Kyler for us.

He was very patient with his brother and even made sure that he was well protected - helmet and elbow and knee pads.

Kyler's not ready to go solo yet, but he'll get there. For me, the best part was when his dad pulled up and was able to see this moment.

My goal is for Kyler to be riding his bike (without training wheels) by his 6th birthday. I hope he agrees!

BRACES!

January 5, 2010. 7:51 am - Asher and Kyler are dropped off at their elementary school, the first day back from winter break. Big sigh of relief from mom. I then pick up Colton from home and we drove to Robison Orthodontics for our 8:30 am appointment. After some x-rays Colton is sitting comfortable with a frozen drink in hand. (yes, this is an orthodontist office!) I, on the other hand, am not sitting comfortably - I'm writing a check...a VERY LARGE CHECK! Once the paperwork is handled, the Dr. has seen Colton, we are now very close to actual braces!

Here they are! That's a lot of $$$ for little bits of metal!

The point of no return. Colton's ready (or not) for it all to begin.

The first of only two bands is put on a back molar.

One last look at that metal-free (pain-free) mouth!

Now the first bracket is placed. This really brings back memories for me -

not good ones, but memories nevertheless!

This part seemed to fly by! More than halfway done with brackets already!!!

This does not look pleasant! I had to include it though.

Colton said it was as comfortable as it looks!

Colton's first look at his braces.

Robison Orthodontics is on facebook now. They asked Colton if he would like to make a little video for their page. I thought it was a great way to finish off the day. (Isn't the office so cool?! We love it!!!)

Once we were done here, we went to Colton's dentist to schedule a tooth extraction - YIKES! He still has one baby tooth and it needs to get out! By the time that was done, it was lunch! So much for getting Colton back to school. We grabbed In-n-Out (Colton's choice of course) and as he was eating, he popped a bracket off!!! We called the office and were sent down there to have it repaired. So here's Colton in the chair for the second time today!!!

We really do like Dr. Robison, but I hope we don't see him until March!!!

Here's Colton's new smile!

It may not feel like it to Colton, but 18 mo. will fly by!

(I promise, Colton)

Kyler (in true baby-of-the-family fashion) could not be upstaged by Colton's braces. Here he is with his new haircut all spiked up! He asked for it, he got it! Pictures are great, but I should be recording this kid! He had both of the hairstylists there cracking up at everything he said or did.