26 Years...

Well, this is what I look like on my 26th birthday. I was doing my own personal photo shoot, but didn't really like the pictures alone, so since Hallie was the only one home with me, she got to join in on the fun. :) So, do I look wiser & older too? My sister-in-law informed me that you can now register at Target for your birthday, just like your wedding! How cool is that! If only I would have known that sooner... and you could all go and see my list, just wait until my 30th birthday, and I will send out little invitations with a "I'm registered at Target" card inside. Haha ha ha ha... I thought it was pretty funny, It's a fun idea though. ;) Anyway, my birthday has been wonderful! I'll write the details later.... but for now, here are some pictures from the past.
Here I am when I was a wee little babe.
I think I'm 5 or 6 here, so 20 years ago... wow I think I look the same, just older...
Now this is one of my favorite pictures. I think I am 7 or 8, and I'm with my best friend Alison. I'm not exactly sure what I'm doing here... I think I was afraid her head was going to fall off, so I'm supporting it... ha ha ha haha :) And by the way, I met Alison when I was in 2nd grade when I moved to Idaho. My first day in school there was a child sitting in front of me with really short hair, and I couldn't tell if it was a boy or girl, that's all I thought about until lunch when I met her, and it was Alison. She was such a tomboy, and I was a prissy girl, & we hit it off great. I remember her teaching me how to climb trees, and a couple of times she even came to school with no shoes on (of course hiding them under her long jeans so the teachers wouldn't see) We had so much fun together, & are still great friends. You should see her little family now on my sidebar (Alison) she is GORGEOUS & has a beautiful family! Anyway, after that little tangent :) don't you just LOVE my outfit, the nice tight biker shorts along with the belly shirt... you gotta love the 80's. :)

Cute Little Hallie

For our families who live away...

For all of you that live away and haven't met or seen our cute little Hallie for a while, I decided to put this video on here. She has been so much fun lately. Today she kept arching her back and scooting up with her heels... funny girl. The other night at 3:00 in the morning, she woke up and just talked like this in her bed. She is such a good baby. She rarely cries & just keeps smiling and laughing... is that abnormal? :) I count it as a blessing that she is such a good baby. :) Anyway, I was trying to get her to smile and video tape her at the same time, so sorry about the half shot of her face, but you get the idea. ;) And notice how fast her arms are flapping, yeah, her legs are going just as fast if not faster. :) Enjoy!

Scrapbook Pages

This weekend I worked on my digital scrapbook pages. Now I just need to print them. :) I love the way this first one turned out. This is my best friend Melanie, and she is amazing! I think that the Lord blesses us with friends who effect our lives at different times. When I was 8, my best friend was Alison, when I was 15 my best friend was Lisa, & when I was 18 and in college, my best friend was Jamie. I still keep in touch with these girls, & I am so grateful for the way they have impacted my life. On my page I typed some of the words from "For Good" from the Broadway play "Wicked" (which I am dying to see!!! ) The song is beautiful, and talks about how we are better people because of those that come in our lives. The second verse says, "It well may be that we will never meet again in this lifetime so let me say before we part, so much of me is made of what I've learned from you, you'll be with me like a handprint on my heart & whatever way our stories end, I know I have you in mine by being my friend." I am so grateful for all of my friends, especially my family, I love you all so much!
I know I already posted these pictures, so I won't explain. ;)

Cute little Hallie. I'm not sure what I think of this page. The blue looks a little too plain, oh well. :)

Morgan's Favorite Dress

Last year, when Brian and I went to Cancun, we bought this dress for Morgan. When we bought it, it went to the middle of her legs, towards the end of the summer, it was getting shorter, and I didn't know if she should wear it anymore, well, I kept it hanging up in her closet, and last Sunday she begged me to wear it to church. It came right to her knees, but I figured it was still long enough, so she put it on with a shirt on underneath, and was beaming all day in church and showing everyone her dolphin dress... funny girl! On Monday, the dress was still on her, and amazingly enough... no stains yet, but of course this time she didn't want to put the shirt on underneath, then comes Tuesday, the dress is still on, & of course no stain, and no shirt, I told her that if she wanted to go to Grandma's house she needed to change into warmer clothes, Tuesday night I saw the dress on the floor & thought, I should put it in the laundry while she's sleeping, but I didn't, so Wednesday morning, she comes bouncing into our room at 7:00, and of course with the dress on... sadly at lunch she spilled a tiny dot of barbeque sauce on it, and it FINALLY went to the laundry... yet to be cleaned. ;) I do love the dress though. At least she's not wanting to stay in her favorite pajamas all day. :) In the bottom pictures she's posing... she kept saying, "mom take a picture of me twirling" So she'd twirl and then pose. I love her so much! Even though our personalities clash sometimes (we're so much alike) she is such a sweetheart, and I love her more than anything in the world!

Morgan's Haircut

I haven't cut Morgan's hair for a year now, and it was getting so long & stragly, I had thought about donating it, but I didn't want to cut it too short, and Morgan loves putting curlers in her hair at night, and with short hair she wouldn't be able to, so after she and Jackson took a bath, we began the haircutting process. Wow... do you have any idea how hard it is to get a 4 year old to hold her head still, while an inexpierenced mom tries to cut the hair??? At one point I wasn't sure how even it was, and I still find little spots that look a little bit longer, but overall, it was a fun experience for both of us, and I LOVE how cute the new look is. She looks gorgeous, & she's only 4!!! Now, if you were to ask me to cut Jackson's hair, I would most likely need to buzz it because I would do a hack job... just ask Brian... words of wisdom... DO NOT have your 5 month pregnant wife (who is pregnant for the first time) cut your hair!!! You will most likely have to wear a hat to work, and your wife will cry because of the terrible cut she gave you. (of course this NEVER happened to us) :) ha ha ha Let's just say, Brian cuts his own hair now, & I do a little trimming in the back. :)
I think I cut 4 to 6 inches off... Brian felt bad because I cut off a lot of her baby blonde hair... his little girl is growing up.
Da Da Da Daaaa.... Isn't she cute!!!! I LOVE her hair!
And the back. I think it looks pretty even...just agree with me, don't look to close. ;)

6 years ago yesterday...

I can't believe it's been that long... 6 years ago yesterday Brian and I had just been married for 4 months. We had both gone to work on a windy and cold day. Brian didn't want to work because of how cold it was, but his boss said they needed to get the house they were building done. (At the time Brian was working as a framer) At 3:45, Brian called me at work and told me something bad had happened to him, and that he couldn't feel his legs. A wall that they were framing had been picked up by the wind, and when Brian saw it coming towards him, he started to run, but the wall knocked him down. The force was so strong, that it caused both femurs to shoot up through the pelvic area causing both balls in the sockets to be crushed, thus needing immediate surgery. The ambulence took Brian to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center, but they felt the job was too hard for them, so he was life flighted to the U of U... meanwhile I was in shock & terrified of what was going on. My parents were in Navoo for meetings & I couldn't get ahold of them, and I have never felt so alone in my entire life. Our really good friends Ben Cook & his wife Darci came to the hospital to give Brian a blessing. I remember my sister coming, and me just sobbing... I had no idea what to expect would happen now. Karen (my mother in law) drove me up to the U of U & we tried to see what would happen. They decided to do surgery the next morning, I don't remember that first night... I didn't sleep or eat, I just cried... in my mind Brian was dying, because to me, I had never been in a hospital, and people only went to the hospital to die. The next morning they did the surgery... 6 hours long... I think the Lord works in mysterious ways. One of my aunts, who I consider most like my dad just happened to be in the area from Texas (i think) to visit her daughter. She was an angel! She dropped everything so she could come and comfort me. She didn't try to tell me what to do, she just hugged me & comforted me & helped pass time during the surgery. 6 hours later the surgery was over, and Brian had done really well through it. The interesting thing is that just before the surgery they took a picture of us together, and gave it to me. Brian thinks it was in case he died, which I honestly don't like to think about. We spent a week at that hospital, and then went back to UVRM for about 5 days, and then we went to live in a nursing home... yep we lived in a nursing home for 6 weeks... as newly weds mind you. ;) We made it our home along with the elderly. ;) Brian improved really well, & got used to watching the Price is Right every morning like the elderly too. :) It was a long summer... but enjoyable because we were able to spend so much time together. I am amazed at how much love our Heavenly Father & Savior have for us. The entire time this was going on, I could feel angels & the Lord around me, and comforting me. One doctor who knows Brian and his family really well, is always amazed each time we have had a child... according to him, we weren't supposed to have kids because of all the trama and radiation to Brian's body... so each child, really is a miracle and a blessing. That time was probably the hardest in my life, but it became our foundation of our relationship, we knew we could conquer anything together. I am so grateful that Brian is alive today & that he can walk & live a normal life. There is the occasional pain or discomfort, & eventually he will need to have a total hip replacement, but overall we have been truly blessed & have been able to continue our life together & with our kids.

Fun Kids

Well, although I am anxiously awaiting my blog stockers to make themselves known to me (thank you to those of you who have let me know... we now consider you our best friends! :) ) I decided to put some more cute pics on here. This is Hallie's 3 month pictures. Isn't she a cutie!!! Her new thing is holding her hands together. She is so much fun, and I don't think there could be an easier baby. She only cries when she wants to eat, and if Morgan & Jackson are loving her a little too much. She is cooing and laughing now, and it is so fun... I'm afraid she will talk a lot, and be our social & happy little bug. She is so much fun, and is growing up too quickly.
My girls, today I noticed as I was watching Morgan's baby movie, that they have the same eyes, but different smiles. Morgan looks a lot like Brian, and Hallie looks a lot like me... kind of fun huh!
Here's Morgan's 4 year old pictures. She was so funny. When I got ready to take her pictures she said, "now where do you want me to sit Mom?" She started singing a song today to Hallie
Patty Cake, Patty Cake, Bakers Man, Bake me a cake as fast as you can, pat it and roll it, and mark it with a 'B' & put it in the oven for 6 minutes!"

This is by far the funniest picture ever, to me anyway, so Jackson was actually quite helpful with his pictures. I kind of let him do whatever he wanted, so he told me he wanted me to take one of him sleeping, why, I don't know, but I did. He curled up on the floor and put his hands together just like this, and then let me know that he was ready. Don't you love how he is concentrating on keeping his eyes closed. ;) He is so funny, and is always making us laugh.