the larsen gang

going private

2012-01-03T13:51:00.000-08:00

Okay...I think the time has come for me to want this blog private....so....those who wish to still be kept up to date on all our craziness, please leave your email and I will add ya to the "List".

My aim is to have it privatized by Friday Jan 13.

Almost Christmas

2011-12-23T17:16:00.000-08:00

Okay...I think I am finally ready for Christmas. It will be nice to relax for a bit and enjoy baking and christmas music. I took a few pictures the other night of our tree and Mr. Brogan playing with (and at times destroying) our christmas villages. He is so captivated by them.

You would not believe what I had to go through to get these kids to smile....

Here's our tree....somehow they always look better at night!!! Merry Christmas!

Remembering the "Reason for the Season"....

2011-12-14T10:12:00.001-08:00

A big THANK YOU needs to go to my wonderful sister in law, Melanie. She posted over on her blog, this video and it touched me so. It was a quick reminder of the incredible importance of Christmas. It's a new christmas video...and it is amazingly beautiful. I have often wondered how overwhelmed Mary must have felt knowing she would be giving birth to the Son of God.
I was fortunate enought to have had one of my children due on Christmas day (he actually came a few days before), and my thoughts during that pregnancy, ecspecially towards the end turned toward trying to put myself in Mary's position. I was overtaken with emotion when I thought about it.
This short video does a wonderful job of capturing the emotion's Mary may have experienced.
Enjoy!

Thanksgiving in Utah

2011-12-11T17:25:00.000-08:00

Over Thanksgiving break we busted out of here and decided to head down to Utah. We stayed with Brett brothers family and had a blast! It is so fun to see our two families blend so well and the kids always have so much fun together. We were also able to vistit with my brother Caleb and his beautiful wife, Holly and Brett's other brother, David and his cute little family! My apologies to all those we missed, we just don't ever seem to have enough time to do "it all".

We hung out for the most part, but did venture to Temple square to see all the lights! It was so pretty and CrAzY busy!! I forgot how pretty Temple Sqaure is at Christmas time.

This tree had over 7500 light on it! Crazy stuff!!!

We took the kids on the Trax and they had a lot of fun just being kids! Corissa is such a cheese ball lateley....

Here is Brogan checking out his reflection in the mirror, he simply stated, "Hey, thats me". It was very cute.

Here is part of the gang; doesn't Corissa look super excited?? :)

I love these last two pictures. The kids were playing Clue and really getting into it. They interacted this well the whole time! We love our Larsen cousins!!!

Family craft

2011-11-18T08:33:00.000-08:00

I made this plaque with some gals from our craft group and it was pretty simple to do.We just routered the wood with some help from a friend, sized up the vinyl to how we wanted it to fit to the board, bought some small berry vines, painted the boards and then put it all together. (I may change the ribbon color, it's not quite speaking to me, yet) This was really easy and quick. I love it when it my crafts are done in a couple hours! And the extra bonus to this craft was realizing that it just so happened to be right along side the theme that the "wood you like to craft" group was doing". So I am going to link up to their FAMILY linky party. Thanks for all the fun ideas, gals!!

Creative outlet time!

2011-11-17T21:22:00.000-08:00

I don't have many "outlets"....I have not yet achieved free time that would allow me to discover my "outlets" (and honestly don't know if I ever will). However, there is one thing I very much enjoy...that would be making crafts or anything that lets me be a bit more creative than the every day norm. Although, lately it seems I have started many projects and have struggled with the time to finish them all. Most of these were started on well over a month ago and I am just finishing them up. Just in time to put them away and bring out the Christmas decor!
First up, my yard stake...I saw this somewhere on the internet (can't remember where) and got busy gettin me one of them done.

Next up was a bench I gave a makeover to. Here is the before:
It's not bad, just not my style.

So I decided to change it drastically.....

I still need to make some pillows to help "jazz" it up a bit. I love how it turned out and it was fun refinishing it to my taste.

Next project was these:

I saw candy corn all over the blogs last year, but never got around to it....so here they are a year later! The kids liked these!!

Then I was onto figuring out our Super Saturday for our Ward. We have to get creative and usually try to stay in a fairly cheap budget and price range. So I found this great blog, and she made all our vinyl for a super price and then we cut our wood to the sizes we needed. Here is the sample I made:

I plan on embellishing it up a bit, with some ribbons and stuff.

And finally today I finished one of my last projects that has been in the works for the last month or so....Square pumpkins! I love them, my husband gave me a hard time because I didn't round the corners, but the blade on my scroll saw was busted and I was to impatient to go and get some new blades. I still think they turned out cute!

I took 4x6's and cut them into various heights, added bead board and played around with some orange color---then antiqued them up a little with some stain. Added some berries and leaves, tied a raffia bow and called it good! Super easy and cute!
Well I think I am officially taking a break for a while...you should see my house!! :) Here's a peak:

The fun never ends!!!

Photo Shoot!

2011-10-12T16:55:00.000-07:00

Okay, since I have this new camera, I have been dying to go and take the kiddos pictures. Finally we had a free afternoon (a rarity around here) and went down to Mirabeau. Believe it or not the kids were excited and cooperated for the most part. Brogan was NOT one of them, as the pictures will prove. However I was able to snap a few of him, hamming it up!

These are some of my favorites...Brogan did not want to sit on the bench with the kids, he was DONE! But it actually turned out kinda cute!

This was not going to work either, but I LOVE Trevin's face! That kid Cracks me up!

Next I took them to the park and just let them play! Brogan loved it!

It was fun as well to see Corissa lighten up! Poor kid, she has been sooo busy lateley.

Next are some shots I edited:

I love playing with my camera! I hope to take a class soon and get more comfortable with this new toy!

Tree Nuts are not our friends!

2011-09-29T09:38:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, Jarett was eating a brownie my mom made. He was loving every bite of it, until he told me his throat felt funny! So I get him a drink of milk, hoping that solves his problem. He continues to tell me his throat feels funny, and like something is in it. It is then that my mom and I wonder if he could be allergic to the pecans that were in the brownies. Hmmm, so I give him some bendadryl and make a mental note. Thinking nothing much of it. See we have had stuff with pecans in it before and he seemed to be just fine. Well a week later, Grandma and Grandpa bring over some yummy fudge that G-pa picked up on his motorcycle trip through Montana. It was very good and Jarett was loving his piece. Very shortly, in fact within just minutes, he is telling me his throat feels funny again. He says it feels fuzzy and getting tight. I am trying to stay calm, but inside I am starting to freak out. I start getting the milk and am moments away from getting the benadryl when, Jarett throws up! He said he felt much better after that, and didn't want anymore fudge! Turns out he had the fudge with some cashews and pecans in it! (maybe my parents have had it with my children and slowly trying to kill them off! Hee, Hee, just kidding!)
Soooo....... we made an appointment with the allergy doctor. And sure enough, Mr. jarett has a tree nut allergy! Seriously! Ugghhh!!! So now we are label reading and are the lucky recipients of EPI pens! At least he's not allergic to peanuts. Phew! That would have been a tragedy, see, we loovve Peanut Butteriness...and I would hate to have to give up that stuff, just to keep my kid alive!!! (of course I would do it if I absolutely had to, come on I'm not completely heartless!) Anyway, we will just jot this down as one more adventure in parenting! You got love it!

So on the way home I am chatting with Jarett and trying to explain to him what this all means. Basically I tell him, if someone gives him food, he needs to ask me or Brett if it is okay for him to eat. We get home and Grandma was watching the kids. She has cut up celery sticks for the kids to snack on and gives some to Jarett. He then proceeds to ask me if the celery is okay for him to eat! It was very cute and we(my mom and I) both tried very hard not to chuckle to much, because after all, he was doing was he was told to do. funny guy, my jarett is! It didn't stop there, as we are all sitting down eating dinner, my funny guy decides to pull a prank. He takes a bite of his corn bread and goes mom, I feel funny, and starts to gag and touch his throat, saying he can't breath! He almost had me, and then he started laughing!!! Seriously, not funny! We had a little chat after that.

Hopefully he will outgrow this allergy, but the DR. said only 20% of people outgrow, tree nut allergies. WELL....we will be one of those 20%!! We have been before!

It's official, I'm from the "OLD DAYS!"

2011-09-22T09:21:00.000-07:00

I was helping Trevin (my 8 1/2 year old) with his homework last night. He was working on some extra credit spelling and said this to me:

"back in the 'old days' it was spelled like that, Mom"

I looked at him and then just started busting up laughing!!! He just said it so matter of factly, It was a bit unsettling to be grouped in what I used to think of my parents, but It was so funny. I couldn't help but chuckle and I had to write this down, so I would remember.

I guess I am "OLD" now!

I'm spoiled!!!

2011-09-16T10:46:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting this camera for FOREVER!!!

Well, my husband SURPRISED me with this last night!!! I am so excited! I can't believe he did it! What a guy. I love him. And I love that he still spoils me after 16 years!

Now comes the fun part....playing! Wish me luck!

Wedding bells are ringing!

2011-08-24T16:36:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow, Brett and I take off for Sioux City, South Dakota. Just me and Brett, no kids, no unwanted choas, no resposibilities!! OhYeahhh!!!

My baby brother Caleb...15 years younger, is getting married. And we couldn't be more pleased with his chose. She is the beautiful blonde in the picture and is adorable. We already love her and can't wait for these two to be together. Caleb introduced Holly to the church and she was bapized about 4 weeks ago and they are getting married Friday. They are planning on coming out to Spokane next August to be sealed in the Temple. It is really kinda of a neat story and I will post it with wedding pictures when we get back.

2011-08-16T16:11:00.000-07:00

Today was, the first day of school for the BOYS...McKay is in 5th grade, Trevin is in 3rd grade, and Mr. Jarett is in Kindergarten. Holy Cow, how time flies!

Here they are, looking soooo excited (not really)! I actually had them say, "School sucks" , for the picture. They liked that!

So, like I was saying, Jarett stared the big "K" . I wasn't sure how he would do, ie; cry, happy, quiet, or sad. Well he did great. He was a little quiet, but no tears were shed when we said our goodbye's. I was good until, he didn't cry! Sheesh, doesn't this kid know he is suppose to miss me or something! I mean come on, I have sooo worked for it, with him!

Either Jarett is squinting, or giving me the stink eye! Maybe it's both!

And he's off...Bye buddy!

The beautiful lady to the right is our dear friend and fellow ward member, Carrie Wilkinson! She works at the school and I am so thankful for her. The kids loving having a familiar face to greet them!

Well, he did great or so he says, funny thing though-I went to pick him up thinking, he is going to be so excited to see me, maybe then he will miss me! So he comes out and gives a very, very quick hug(if that's what you even call it), and we get in the car. He is being very quiet, which for Jarett is no small feet. Anyways, I turn around and he's crying! Of course, I assume it is because it is finally hitting him, how much he missed me! Well, NO I assume wrong! He is sad because I didn't let him ride the bus home! And because, he didn't see his brothers at recess! I'm thinkin, "really, that is what all the fuss is about?" He's sad, not because, he misses me and can't stand to not be away from me! It is all about what I didn't let him do!!! Go figure. I love this little man! He always keeps me on my toes, and I don't think I will ever have him figured out!

Some fun in the sun!!!

2011-08-12T10:16:00.000-07:00

The last few weeks have been CRAZY! We have had High Adventure(Brett gone), Cub scout day camp(Trevin gone), Young Womens camp(Corissa gone) and then off for a week to the Larsen family reunion, near McCall Idaho, Brett's brother Randy and his family follow us home to visit for a few days, then half my family in town for a few days, because Caleb is home introducing his fiance!!! No wonder we are tired!

I am going to post a bit backwards this time and post about the visit with my family. Brett went in on sharing a boat with a buddy from work last summer. So far it has worked out well, and this summer we have really enjoyed using it. Well, this last weekend with 1/2 my family in town, we met everyone up at Porcupine bay, and had a blast! I finally had someone to have some fun on the tube. (Our kiddos are still a little unsure of the tube and riding behind the boat.)

Melanie and I enjoying being crazy and forgetting we are "moms". Let me just make a note here; Melanie is crazy half the time on the water!(land too for that matter) She was a blast to have on the tube. Thanks for making it fun melanie!!!

Caleb wake boarding and gettin air! (I think he was showing off for his honey)

I love our faces...Holly(Caleb"s gorgeous fiance) and I look like we are in panic mode and Melanie is all smiles! I think at this point all I was thinking about was how bad my face is going to hurt if I go flying off this tube!

Us girls, after Brett was kind enough to flip us...I made sure to thank him later!!!

Melanie, Caleb and Holly going for a ride...this was taken just before they flipped. Unfortunately, Holly hurt her neck and had to take a break. So sorry Holly! I guess all I can say is, "Welcome to the family."

Brett was finally able to got skiing after driving everyone all day!

Next our shots of the rest of my family enjoying the tube:

Gabe, Melanie and Isaac....Isaac LOVED riding the tube! He kept saying faster, faster!

I love this picture: My brother Thad, his son Ben and my Mom; Grandma G! Her face is hilarious. I still can't believe she got on, so glad she did!

Grandma G, Julie and Kaipo!

Holly(caleb's women), Caleb, Me and Brogan

This is Brett and Caleb getting some air....I was driving! It was great!

I think Brett was wanting out after that jump! Sheesh...wuss! :)

Brett, my Mom, Corissa, Brogan in the pink life jacket, Me, Caleb, and Melanie! I love my family!

Enjoying a break from the water! I love Brett in this picture; he looks good, is smiling and having fun with the kids! Yep, he's my man!

My Dad and Caleb, deep in thought! Actually it looks like my Dad is passing on some "advice" and Caleb is politely listening!

Corissa took this video, it's a little shaky but you can see us in action!

I have discovered how young I am not. My poor body was sooo beat up over the next couple of days, but I will do it again! Thanks for all the fun! We had a great time and hope we can do it again next summer!

Brogan is growing like a "caterpillar"!

2011-07-27T16:26:00.000-07:00

I can hardly believe it but our baby is 2! Each kid seems to grow up sooo much quicker than the one before him. Well, we threw him a little party, ( I really just wanted to have friends over, and his birthday was a fun excuse!)....hungry caterpillar style! It was way fun and ohhh so easy.

The food was already planned for us so we just followed along!

One of Brogan's favorite books right now the "The Very Hungry Caterpillar", so it made making thiss cake was so much fun! And he loved it! He kept calling it a kitty though! I think he was tryin to say caterpillar.

Here's my little Brogi Bear! Love ya big guy!

Family Picture Day!

2011-07-11T16:19:00.000-07:00

We had our friend, Tawni, take our pictures about a week ago. She has just started to get a little bit more serious and needed some "Guinea pigs" to practice on. So I signed up our family and off we went! We had our pictures done at Manito park and I think she did an amazing job! Check it out:

This one was fun. Jarett loved that he was taller than his older brother!

Here's our two peas in a pod! They are such good buddies!

Mr. Brogan. He's two, need I say more about trying to get a good picture! We looovvve this little guy though!!

My boys....it still seems crazy that I have four of them!

Ahhh, so cute! I love my man!

I like this picture...I just wish Cori was sitting up.

This last one hast to be one of my favorites! It just captures how crazy and chaotic it is trying to get a good family picture. I love how Corissa is just smiling and posing through it all! Trevin is such a ham, he is always trying to be goofy, and McKay and Jarett are like...."are we done yet?" And poor Brogan, he is just done! And so were we after this picture!

Strawberry Time!

2011-07-11T15:44:00.000-07:00

We finally have a strawberry patch and is it ever thriving! We had some strawberries last year, but nothing like this year. We have been picking every other day for the last 1 1/2 weeks and we are still getting fruit. We love it. And they are so good! The boys are having alot of fun looking for new ones to pick. We have had fun making strawberry shortcake, we have put them in salads and the best eating them rinsed off, straight from the garden, while they are a tad bit warm from the sun.....mmm,mmm Good!

McKay's 11th Birthday!

2011-07-06T17:01:00.000-07:00

McKay celebrated his 11th birthday on June 23. I can't believe he is already that old. He is doing so well, most of the time I forget we were once told he may not survive! Way to prove everyone wrong, buddy!! McKay is such a good kid. He is so willing to please and is so eager to enjoy life. I LOVE this about him. The kids get to pick their dessert for their birthdays, and McKay is always testing my creativity skills. This year he wanted a Tye dye cake with lollipops.(McKay loves, I mean LOVES candy. He wants to open up his own candy store, and he just might one day too!)
Well I think I delivered what he wanted. His cake actually turned out really cool looking and it was very fun to make and was quite yummy as well.

This cake was fun to make and watch how it turned out. I will post the" how to" a little later.

McKay asked for a bike for his birthday and of course we didn't want to disappoint.

Happy Birthday Big Mac!

My Mom's Graduation!

2011-07-06T16:35:00.000-07:00

My mom for the past 2 years has been attending Spokane Community College and has been working very hard to complete her degree...I should know what it is, but I don't. Anyway that is not important. What is important is that she was able to do this while earning honors! I am sooo proud of her. She continues to amaze me. Now she is working on a part-time basis for my Dad's firm as a contract employee. This allows her to still have some freedom and most important, be a grandma!

Way to go, MOM!!!

My Mom and Dad

These picture are a little blurry, but I like them anyway!

My baby doesn't look like a baby anymore....

2011-06-26T09:06:00.000-07:00

So I have been protesting cutting Brogan's hair for sometime now. I just didn't want to see that baby look go away. I wasn't ready to "let go". Well the time finally came and I will be the first to admit, he looks pretty darn on cute....I still miss my "baby" though!
BEFORE: I love this kid...he makes me smile!

AFTER: So What do ya think?

Yep it is the same kid! He just looks so completely different. What a boy, he is growin up so fast, it makes me sad sometimes....sniff, sniff. But then I am so immensely enjoying the freedom that comes with having no more babies :)!

Our Harley Rider!

2011-06-17T15:38:00.000-07:00

We have a new addition at our house....it is a cute adorable puppy. His name is Harley, and he is a Golden Retriever. We picked him up from a breeder in Ellensburg and have had alot of fun playing with him, but MAN, I forgot how much work they are. Seriously, I have asked myself, "What were we thinking?" Obviously we weren't! But we have fallen in love and will keep him! :)
The kids have had some fun getting to know him and interacting with him. This is the first puppy they remembering having. When we got our other dogs, we only had Corissa and McKay and they were so little they don't remember much. All the kids adore him but Mr. Jarett in particular has taken a special liking to him, and I am so impressed, he doesn't let the "puppy biting" scare him off. He helps feed him and gets him out of the kennel all the time to play with him. They are actually very cute together. I have a picture on my phone of the two together, but can't figure how to download to the computer. ( I am not the most computer savy person!) Anyway, We kept him inside the first couple of weeks but he is now outside with Sampson, much of the time. (I am sleeping much better at night now because of this....new puppies are worse than newborns!) Another thing I noted, you have to constantly be watching the puppy when he is in the house, at least with a baby you can put them down in a bouncy seat for awhile and get things done! I don't think a puppy would be to happy about being put in a bouncy seat...and believe me, I gave it some thought! The bright side of having a puppy is they outgrow the puppy stage fairly quickly and the best part....they are trainable! Wish it was that easy with kids! Here is a few pictures with our cute little guy!

My 4th of July Craft...

2011-06-17T10:32:00.000-07:00

My friend, Nicole, from high school is part of this online craft group. This months craft was to make a lantern or something with stars....well I chose stars. I love the 4th of July! So of course I had to link up this month! For my craft I took a 2x4, cut it into a 14" block and drill 3 holes so my dowels would fit in. Next I painted, put on some vinyl lettering and put in my stars. Super easy and lots of fun.

I even made a knock off of Nicole's firecrackers, from Crafty Sisters, for our enrichment activity this month. It was fun and so easy.

Thanks for all the fun ideas and crafts!

Birthday week

2011-04-11T16:12:00.000-07:00

March is always a busy month at our house. It is full of many birthdays. Both immediate and extended family. One of these years I will actaully send out birthday cards to everyone. I think at one point I counted up how many birthdays there were, between my side, Brett's side and our children and it was something like 12 or so. For the time being however my focus is going to be on my own family. First we celebrated Brett and his old age that seems to be setting in. This is the part of growing up that neither one of us enjoys. Few more less hairs, a few more gray hairs and a lot more wrinkles seem to creeping in every year. I failed to get any pictures of his cake this year and our little celebration( I know, I am awful), but I made him his favorite standby...3 layer chocolate decadent cake. MMmm, so good! I have made this for him sense college. I can almost make it with my eyes closed. almost. Next a few weeks later we celebrated our daughter officially becoming a teenager!!! 13 years old.... YIKES! HOLY COW! This happened so fast. It seems so unreal at times. I can't believe my baby girls is this old already. Well, she can and she is in full teenage mode these days! Girls are so emotional, it drives me crazy, somedays. Well okay, most days! But we love her, and feel so lucky to have her.

This year, Cori decided she didn't want a cake. So she picked Dirt Worm Sundaes.

She wanted a new shirt and money...she is trying to save for an Ipod touch. She is almost there. Check out Trevin...he is such a ham! (bty, he is holding a two pack of prewrap...cori uses it for soccer).

Next up is Mr. JareBear!!

He turned the big 5 this year! He wanted a monster truck cake and party and I was all to happy to opblige. Had so much fun making his cake...it actually turned out way better than I thought it would. And he LOVED it!! Yeah, cool mom award!

Next up was Jarett's birthday party at Jump'n'Bounce! He had friends and cousings come. Lots of fun and craziness followed!

Here's the whole gang!

Glad to have March over with, now onto the insanity of soccer season!

"Parenting 505" and "Little Bedlamites"

2011-04-04T12:45:00.000-07:00

I absolutely loved Conference this last weekend! I felt many times, the talks and thoughts shared were geared just for me. What a wonderful blessing it is to have such wonderful leaders who lead and guide us to do and be better. I particularly enjoyed how personable some of our apostles were in sharing such detailed information about their lives. I found it so touching and insightful. Elder Richard G. Scott, showed so much love and admiration when he talked about his dear sweetheart. I loved how he and his wife shared "love notes", and it helped in reminding me of how important it is to continue to nurture and cherish your spouse. I used to leave little notes and such for Brett when we dated and when we first got married. Somehow along the way of having a family this has gotten less of a priority. Not anymore...it is time to start back up again. I think we need it now more than ever to be reminded of each other and how we need to be each others priority. After all, Brett came before the kids!
I also loved Elder Lynn G. Robbins talk. He talked on parenting and disciplining (with love). Both topics I needed to be reminded of as well. He touched on turning negatives into positives. But what hit home the most was this,
"you will be enrolled in parenting "101" if you have a sweet, obedient child. If you are blessed with a child who test your patience to the "nth" degree you will be enrolled in parenting "505". ( I just about died laughing...so so funny, but so very true. I have been blessed to be in both of these courses!) He goes on, "Rather than wonder what you might have done wrong in the premortal life to be so deserving, you might consider the more challenging child, a blessing and an opportunity to become more God like yourself. With which your child will test your patience, long suffering and other Christlike virtues most likely be developed and refined. Could it be possible that you need this child as much as this child needs you? "

I loved it. It hit home and rang so true with everything I go through with my Jarett. He is my most difficult child and tries me in every way! But I had never looked at it quite like Elder Robbins put it. How quickly it put it into perspective for me. Of course I need Jarett as much as he needs me. I have learned so many things with him and realize I am learning in growing in the process. How immensely grateful I am for all my children and the lessons they teach me! Some I would rather do without (the lessons, not the children of course!) But it is all part of the plan and helps us to become better! I think I shall laminate this part of his talk and put it somewhere I can be reminded of on a daily basis!

Another talked I really enjoyed was from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. I have always enjoyed him and feel like the things he says are so relateable(sp?). So I got a good chuckle out of the part of his talk where he said, "So if you are trying to do the best you can, for example, Family Home Evening and in spite of the bedlam that sometimes reigns in a house full of bedlamites, then give yourself high marks." I love it. Of course we have "bedlamites!" Every time, and it seems like such a chore to even get through the opening song with out a fight breaking out, but we still do it and plug along in hopes that one day it won't be so chaotic. He closed with these thoughts, in pertaining to talks given at General Conference. "If we teach by the spirit, and you listen by the spirit, someone of us will touch on your circumstance sending a personal little prophetic epistle just to you." How grated I am for the spirit and that I can live my life worthily, so I can know and feel of those things that I need to here. This conference was wonderful and I hope I can take the things shared and REMEMBER to apply them into my life!

Randomness and some acts of family love!

2011-03-23T10:52:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I have been nonexistent to this here blog for too long! Life has continued at a pace that is too fast for me and I find myself, barely keeping up! My sweet daughter informed me it was time to update the blog, so here I go. Here are some things that have kept us busy over the last few weeks:

Monster Jam... Brett took the boys to the Monster truck show that was in town in February. They loved it! Especially Jarett. He is my truck kid, car kid, motorcycle kid. Basically anything that moves--he LOVES! They had a great time, and Brett even remembered to take some pics!

Job Charts...I am not a big fan of these, but, I think I may have found a system that works! For each job completed with a good attitude the kids get a green check mark. If they don't have a good attitude while doing the job, they get a red check mark. At the end of the week, I tally up all the green marks, and they get 5cents for each one. It may not seem like much, but at the end of the week it adds up. The first week was awful, but each week after that, it has gotten easier. However in the process, of getting this going, Corissa, noticed I didn't have a job chart! I quickly assured her I don't need a job chart, since I am always doing a job. Well she informed me, that sometimes I didn't have a "good attitude" while doing them....thus the reason for this:

Notice the red check...I guess in my leisure wake up time I forgot to make the bed. Of course it has nothing to do with waking up to screaming, fighting children!

This is what they look like, My plan is to eventually laminate, and then use dry erase markers. I can't remember where I got the chart, but I have it saved on my desktop. I think the sight it was originally generated from is no longer there, but someone had kept a copy so she sent one to me. I love it, because I can change and add to my liking.

Brotherly Love...Most of the time Corissa is picking on her brothers. I am constantly telling her, one day, they will be big enough and smart enough to pick on her. Well it is starting to happen, and I can't help but sit back and chuckle a little bit. (Don't worry I won't let them do to much damage, besides it is good for her, a little leveling of the playing field never hurt anyone)

This is the latest installment. Except this time, Trevin used his quick wit instead of his fast flying fists!

In case, you can't read 2nd grade chicken scratch, it says:

"Roses are red

Violets are blue

Sugar is sweet

And so are you Not"

I couldn't help but laugh!

A Man's Best Friend...We have had two dogs for the last 9 years, and even though this may very well be the first time I have mentioned them, they are a part of our family! Well, this last month we lost our Chocolate lab...Callie. She passed away in her sleep, and I just feel awful we didn't know anything was going on. She was a sweet dog, kinda stupid at times, but sweet and loyal, and loved attention. Our Sampson..a very big 90lb golden retriever, has been at a loss without her. They were seriously like a married couple. Callie of course was in charge, and Sampson obeyed her every bark. Hmmm, sounds a little familiar?? :) Hee, Hee, just kidding!

Anyway, we have been trying to pay a bit more attention to Sampson, we have even groomed him up a bit so he can come inside for a little while throughout the day. His spirits have seemed to pick up some. In this process Brogan has become even more attached to our dog(s). He has always loved playing with the dogs, but he is seriously in love with Sampson. It is so cute and adorable, and Sampson is so patient with him. Brogan loves to give him hugs and inspect his face, this include poking, prodding and pulling at the mouth. Never once does Sampson yelp or bark. He is such a good dog.

This isn't the best picture of Sampson, but I loved how cute Brogan was. Sampson is starting to age, thus all the white around his face. He is a little over 10 years...wow, how did that happen?!

Here they are running side by side...I know it looks like Sampson is trying to get away from him, but I promise, he is playing with Brogan!

We are all hoping "Spring has Sprung" as Jarett puts it. And hope to be outside enjoying the sunshine in the weeks to come!

I have been busy creating....

2011-02-15T18:13:00.000-08:00

So lately I have been on this crafting bug....I am always on one, but this time instead of saying, "oh that's cute", I actually was proactive and did some! And had a great time in the process. Now I just wish I had more time, to do all the ideas I come across or think of.

Here's my Jare bear holding my first creation. I go the idea here.

Next, a group of us ladies got together and had a craft day! We made these. So cute! and so easy! Some of the gals did brown instead of black for the letters and someone even did a red heart instead of pink. They turned out way cute. I got the idea for this fun project here. I may redo my I, it seems a bit heavy.

Next up is cute Valentine for Jarett's preschool party. So easy and way fun to make! I can't remember where I got this idea from, but it's all over the craft blogs.

I help run the Relief Society activities in my ward (formaly enrichment) and have been busy trying to get things ready for the upcoming Birthday celebration. Here are the way cute invites we made. LOVE THEM! They turned out pretty cute if I say so myself! Thanks Candis for all your help. :)

Next, are my pretty roses from my sweetheart for Valentines! These are the same kind of roses he gave me when he asked me to marry me....so there is some sentimental memories attached to these. Well happy creating everyone....hmmm what should I do next?

Preschool Program, Volleyball and a Toilet Head!

2011-02-07T15:23:00.000-08:00

This big guy had a Christmas program for preschool and he was so excited for us all to come. He has come so far in his confidence, since starting preschool. I am so proud of him. Anyway it was your typical program. He did great and we loved seeing this fun side of Jarett. Here are some pictures from that day.

Wouldn't quite be Jarett without a little skawl!

Next up is Cori...she played school volleyball this last fall...she made varsity and love every second of it! She did fairly well and it was refreshing to see her try something other than soccer. Currently she is playing school basketball and enjoying that as well. I am so glad she is willing to try new things. She is more like her Dad in that area than me. Way to go kiddo!

Here she just got done spiking it over the net. (she's #11) And below she just served...my camera was a little behind that day!

And another proud moment in our house: CLEANING THE TOILET-- WITH YOUR HEAD!!!

Okay, so here the story. The boys were playing in the basement. All was good. This should have been my first indication, something was not right! Anyhow, after a bit, up comes McKay with Brogan. Here's the conversation:

"Um, Mom"

"Yes, McKay?"

"You might want to look at Brogan"...(my head was turned away, I was trying to multitask!)

"Why?"

"Well, um... (he was a little hesitant, I think he thought I would loose it. What every gave him that idea?) you might want to look"

So I look, I see the wet head, and ask " What happened and why is he wet?"

McKay then just comes out and says it-

"You might be mad, but he was playing in the toilet bowl.......with his head!"

Me--"WHAT!!!" "ARE YOU SERIOUS...was it CLEAN?!"

McKay calmly reassures me..." No, it wasn't, it had pee in it.

This is when you can start to hear mild screaming coming from my mouth....

"This is why you are suppose to flush the toilets!"

WHY DO BOYS HAVE TO BE SO DANG GROSS!!! WHAT PURPOSE DOES IT SERVE? SERIOUSLY?!

As you can tell from the picture, Brogan was having a ball and thought nothing of it.

Many times I wonder if I will survive all these kids, especially boys!!! Good thing they are all so stinkin cute.

Paradise...part 3(the finale)

2011-01-21T16:04:00.000-08:00

With the cold weather of January, I find myself longing to be right in this spot!!! How I miss the warm weather and the lazy days we had.
Here is the last increment of pics from our Maui trip. These first few shots are just some pretty pics.

This was the view from the lobby of our hotel...very luring isn't it?

Here is a whales tail...she was putting on a show for all of us. Lots of fun to see!

Here are the kids on Napili Beach. We ate at the Gazebo restaurant...they have really good macadamia nut pancakes with coconut syrup....Mmmm, Mmmm, GOOD!

Here we are at the blowhole....water comes up from the ocean through a hole in the floor of the rock, really neat, but you definitely get wet!

We found the heart shape, that had been carved into the rock...."Brett Love's Carrie!" Sorry, couldn't resist!

Kids and Brett having fun in the pool, Brogan couldn't get enough of the water!

Here is a black starfish, I guess there were a ton of this right were the kids were snorkeling. They are kinda creepy looking if you ask me!

Brogan being Macho!!! This kid couldn't get enough of just playing in the sand and water.

Thanksgiving night outside Lelani's restaraunt waiting to get in!

Brogan with Addysen and Anzlie...he could totally pass for their brother. I love these two girls, they are so adorable and really good kids.! Corissa, in particular LOVES these cousins! Probably because they totally adore her! And some girls to hang with, instead of her brothers all the time! She always comments on how she wishes they lived closer.

Brett and Trevin completely out of character, goofing off! I love this picture, because this is a very rare side of both of them! But it's also the side I love the most!

Me and my sweetheart! Trev took this, I think he did a good job!

All the gang...well the kids anyway!

Our last day on the beach...is was really hard to leave!

This is the day after we came home....so not liking the snow. The kids, however, loved it I think their comment was, "Wow, in the same 24 hrs we have played in the ocean and now in the snow!"

'till next time, this will have to do!

However, next time, it is so Brett and I without the Kids. Now that would be a real vacation!

What a funny duddy!

2011-01-21T14:57:00.000-08:00

Okay so the other day we were out running errands, I have Jarett and Brogan with me. Wherever we were at the lady at the counter asks Jarett how old is little brother is. Jarett's response was this..."He is 18 months old." We both about died laughing. I guess he really does pay attention to what mom is saying! Be careful moms...you never know when your kids are listening! Love that boy...he cracks me up.

Trevin turns 8!

2010-12-31T19:04:00.000-08:00

Wow, it seems so hard to believe Mr. Trevin man is 8! It seems like yesterday, when he was so little....

In fact it seems so hard to believe any of these 3 use to be this little and adorable! They grow up so much faster than you can even imagine. Anyway enough down memory lane, back to the show! Trevin is our Christmas baby, he was due on Christmas day, but my Dr. took sympathy on me and induced me 5 days early. (We joke that the Dr. did it for his own good, because he didn't want to chance being in the hospital on the holiday, either way, I wasn't going to argue!)

This year, Trev turned the big 8! So it was an extra special birthday for him.

Okay, this looks like it says he is 71, well I didn't have enough candles, but I did have a 7 and 1 plain candle, so what is 7+1... 8 right. I kow a little stretch, but he was good with it!

This picture if fun. Before this fine young man, went off to serve a mission, him and Trevin became buddies. So Tim's mom, cut out a life size picture and brought him to the baptism. Trev thought it was so cool. In fact Elder Anderson, typed a little letter to have Justin(Tim's younger brother) read at the baptism after he finished his talk to Trevin on Baptism.
This is what he said: Hey buddy, it's been a while since I have seen you. Maybe you've even forgotten about me but I haven't forgotten about you. I heard your getting baptized here soon. My mom said that you still like little princesses and dolls.(inside joke) Is that true? Just kidding. I hope you know that I'm super proud and excited for you. I remember my baptism still. You will never forget the good feelings that you will feel today so pay attention to them. Trevin, I love you and I know that Jesus also loves you, so congratulations my little man!
Love, Elder Anderson
Thanks Anderson's for sharing your boys with mine. They love them! And so do we!

Trevin with my brother Kyle and his fun and spunky wife Lisa!

Here is most of the family...a few are actually missing. It was fun having so many there to support Trevin on his special day!

We were fortunate enough to have alot of family around for his baptism...(it was the day after Christmas). Thank you to all of those who came and supported Trev. At the Baptisms in our Stake, one of the parents gets the chance to spotlight their child. It is usually me, and I love having the chance to reminisce about my kids. Well, I thought it would be only fitting to write down what was said...since this is my only way of documenting things right now.

Trevin Robert Larsen was born on Dec. 20 2002. He was a very calm, gentle baby, who LOVED to be held and cuddled. Trevin to this day is very tenderhearted. Before he got "too big"(so he informs me now), he loved sharing hugs and kisses every morning and night. He also was my little guy who knew when I was having a hard time and would frequently tell me I was as "pretty as a princess". I know, every mothers dream! Trevin is also a buddy to his brother McKay, these two on most days are inseparable. They have a very close and special relationship!

Trev has a fun, silly side and a great sense of humor. He also has unbelievable negotiating skills and can and will try to barter himself out of any situation. He can be real quiet at first and tries to hide his emotions. Trevin is a natural at just about anything he tries, and gets very frustrated if he doesn't find success at first. He's a quick learner and very smart. We love Trevin very much, and are so glad he chose us for his family!

Paradise... part 2

2010-12-26T21:47:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I am sitting here waiting for my pumpkin cheesecake to come out of the oven and believe it or not, I actually have a few spare minutes. So what better to do with my time than to finally post the rest of our trip to Maui. (I could think of a lot of others but, I am feeling bad, I haven't posted in a month)
We stayed in Walea(sp?) for the first 3 nights and had a beautiful distant view of the ocean. We spent some time just relaxing on the beach and hanging out with Jen and Randy and their kids.

Corissa and Addysen and the turtle they made in the sand!

Trevin got really good at boogie boarding, he loved it and couldn't get enough! Thanks Makord for showing him how to do it!

This is a crab in a really pretty blue shell...I wanted to keep the shell, not the crab!

The boys had so much fun just sitting in the water and waiting for the waves to wash in...

The three DIVAS!! Corissa loved spending lots of time with her "girl cousins"

Brogan crashed and we made a make shift bed out of a beach chair.

Brogan had a friend hanging out above his head while he was sleeping in the beach chair...We did not discover this until he woke up. Nice huh?

Part 3 will follow, hopefully it won't take me almost a month to post.

Our adventure in paradise part 1

2010-11-30T15:29:00.000-08:00

Because I am limited with how long I can be on here, due to young ones needing their mommy, this will have to be done in parts.
We have been bugged by Brett's older brother and his family to come to Maui with them for years. They go over every other year at Thanksgiving time and we finally caved and joined them over there this year. We had a blast. In fact, I am wondering why we haven't done this sooner. It is a little piece of heaven over there. And the weather...we could totally get used to sunshine every day!(well, just about everyday!)

We got a killer price on Hawaiin Airlines back in September that helped to bring the cost down to where we could afford to go. The only catch was, we had to drive to Seattle to catch our flight. The night before we left we went out to eat at The Rainforest Cafe. This was the most peaceful dinner I think I have ever had with 5 kids in tow. The atmosphere kept all the kids, particularly Brogan completely entertained the whole time. The food wasn't that great, but hey, well worth for the easiness of eating out with the whole gang! I think Brogan was a little uneasy, just check out his facial expressions.

Next morning we were off, and boy were the kids excited. Brett and I on the other hand are starting to question why we were doing this? We started to think about getting a family of 7 through security and surviving the 6 hour plane ride. I know we were quite the sight in the airport. Each of the kids had their own carry-on and they LOVED that they got to wheel in through the airport. It was kinda funny, the looks we would get. I just had to smile and laugh!

I know this is blurry but if you look carefully you can see this young man taking a second look at our boys. This happened every where. What gets me, is I don't think my family is that big. My perspective may be off, I came from a family of 10 though.

Jarett started to go stir crazy and starting to drive us crazy!

Corissa and Trevin keeping themselves occupied with their DS systems. This was one time I was glad they had these!

Well we survived the plan ride, barely, and then we began our vacation. Here is a sneak peek from our first place we stayed: We were in Waliea for 3 nights and then it was off to Kaanapali(sp?) for 7 nights! We liked both areas but the second place had great beach access. More to come later.

HAPPY IN PARADISE!!!

2010-11-24T19:00:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,
We are in Maui right now and LOVING the WARM sunshine and the lazy days! By the time we come home we will have been gone for 10 days. I wish it was more. We are having a blast and can't wait to come back back to this beautiful place. I will post pics and a detailed update next week.
Happy Thanksgiving from Maui!
This place is Heaven!

Parenting tips!

2010-11-03T14:09:00.000-07:00

I had to share this. I feel like this one was made just for me. As my children start to transition into this next phase, I am understanding how important it is to have good, solid and meaningful communication with them. I need to do better. I need to put things aside more often and listen to what they have to say. It is so easy to get caught up and silently listen to them without engaing them back in conversation. I want my children to come to me or their father and know we value them and what they have to say. I so appreciate the leaders of the church and how inspired they are in helping us parents succeed! I love this gospel and am so grateful for its guiding principles that help me in trying to become a better parent and person.

My own Star Wars cast!

2010-11-01T09:38:00.000-07:00

Surprise, Surprise! The boys were Star Wars characters again for Halloween! I think this is the 4th or 5th year they have been something from Star Wars. Brogan was Yoda, he even started to walk like him as his bucket became loaded with candy. He was so cute! Jarett was a Jedi(recycled costume from previous years), and McKay and Trevin were Clone Troopers from Star Wars the Clone Wars! Corissa was to old this year to dress up, but somehow managed to get candy anyway...

We went to our wards Trunk or Treat and got a load of candy in under 30 minutes. So totally the way to do halloween! I don't even miss knockin on doors anymore.

Well now that Halloween is over with, it is time to start getting ready to go to Maui!! Can't wait; 10 days of tropical bliss! (well as much bliss as you can have with 5 kids tagging along)

This kid is driving me crazy!

2010-10-28T14:00:00.000-07:00

This is the scene in my house lately! No Joke!

Mr. Brogan is not even 16 months yet and he is into everything all at the same time! All my kids have gone through this stage, but Brogan takes the cake! As soon as I am done cleaning up one mess, I turn around and there is another one. Somedays I don't even bother cleaning up the messes until the day is through! Which drives me crazy! He is climbing onto everthing including the kitchen table and has even tried reaching for the light that hangs above. Don't get me wrong, this age is alot of fun, because everything is so new and exciting. But it is so exhausting too. Maybe so because I am trying to keep up w/4 other kiddos. However, I am trying really hard to enjoy this, becuase he is our last, and it seems there is a lot of bittersweets that come with that. They seem to grow up so quickly and (most of the time) I don't want them to. I really am starting to understand how precious this time is when they are young, more particularly so since I have a 7th grader now. YIKES! I can hardly believe that one! Sometimes freezing time would be a really great thing!(then I wouldn't age either...) :)
Here are some pictures of Brogan in action:

1st up: Trying to climb into the dishwasher!

Next: Onto the trash can

Hmmm..let see if I can sit on it?

YES! Success!!

Uh, Oh! BUSTED!

This was entirely Brogan, Jarett was trying to help clean up! Brogan was funny when he did this, He was carrying the box around and trying to open it up, once he succeded he dumped it all out, his eyes got real big and he plopped himself down and went at it! It is really hard to be to upset at him, ecspecially when his is having such a good time. Glad someone is!

The Forgotten Man - Jon McNaughton

2010-10-21T09:33:00.000-07:00

I think this painting about sums it up! This artist is amazing. You need to check out his website. He has some beautiful work that has brought me to tears and touched me very deeply. It is nice to see talent being put to a purpose! If you click on the video there will be a link at the end for his website. It is definetly worth the look.

Some Images of fall!

2010-10-19T15:13:00.000-07:00

Trevin pretending to be a girl! With corn silk! I had asked the kids to go outside and shuck some corn this is what happened! I think I will save this picture for future blackmailing! hee, hee, hee! For those of you who don't know, Trevin can't stand ANYTHING girlish. So I was very surprised to him posing for this picture!

Soccer has once again consumed our fall schedule. This year both Cori and Trev are playing.

It has been so much fun to go to the kiddos games. Both of them have shown sooo much improvement! Trevin has really taken a liken to the sport. He even scored a goal last week!

Corissa got a hold of the camera and decided to capture some of the happenings around our yard!

A self taken portrait by my silly girl!

*Note: I did alot of posting today...you may want to take a look at some older post. I have been trying to play catch-up!

McKay's 10th Birthday party....6 months late!

2010-10-19T15:00:00.000-07:00

I had every intention of throwing a birthday party for McKay when it was his birthday(June) but somehow time got away from me...AGAIN(surprise!), and then we decided to wait until school was back in and then that way his friends would be around and not on vacation. So finally we did it and I think it was a success. We headed over to Triple Play's indoor water park and just let the kids play. It was alot of fun and Brett and I even got in the water with the kids. McKay and Trevin are still talkin about the different water slides!

We decided to make it Halloween themed...we had spider cupcakes and then we had goodie tins with a caramel apple and halloween stuff in it. I think they turned out cute and the caramle apples were so much fun to make.

Trip to Greenbluff!

2010-10-19T14:47:00.000-07:00

Over the kids fall break we ventured up to the pumpkin patch. It was a beautiful fall day and a nice break from being couped up in the house.

This is what I wish I could do to these boys somedays!! :)

And this is how high I wish I could hang Brogan somedays! :)

Brogan loved the trip....he was so inquisitive about everything!

And nothing like some yummy donuts and apple cider to end our morning!

Meet Logan, The Sky Angel Cowboy - CBN News

2010-10-15T14:45:00.000-07:00

I have always believed those raised on a farm or ranch are wise beyond their years. This video proves I am right! What a sweet little boy! Brought tears to my eyes.

Sand Dunes and Dune buggies!!!

2010-09-27T09:31:00.000-07:00

Okay, so here is a little back post. I totally forgot to post these this summer, so better late than never right? While we were at the Gillespie family reunion..we decided to venture out with the kids and go to the sand dunes in St. Anthony Idaho. What a blast we had. I was a litte concerned about how it would work with taking Brogan along. But we just strapped him into his carseat, and he had as much fun as the rest of us. We rented two buggies and I am sure people thought we were crazy, hauling around 5 kids, one of which who wasn't even 1 yet, but honestly who cares, and it was so much fun. Everyone had a good time and Corissa and McKay even got to drive for a little bit. I made Brett have the pleasure of being in the buggy with them!!! Lucky guy...lets just say, he is not looking forward to the day they start learning to drive!

Summer Recap!

2010-09-05T14:48:00.000-07:00

Wow...I can hardly believe summer is just about over and school has begun! Where does the time go? I have been really bad at blogging lately and hope with the kiddos back in school I cans stay more caught up. So to start with, I thought I would play catch up from the summer.
We had a short but nice summer, I felt like we were a bit more flexible with the baby being older and all. I actually ventured to the lake and the waterpark with all the kiddos a couple of times! I used to think 5 kids was such a hug amount, I wasn't sure how we would still do all the things we like to do, but it is amazing how you adapt. Actually having older kids has been such a blessing this time around, and truly #5 has been a lot easier than I thought it would be. Don't get me wrong it is still alot of work...but it is easier managed. Anyway on with the show....

First up: OCEANSHORES, WA
We decided to head over to the Washington coast this year...we usually like the Oregon coast better, but since we had never been to the Washington coast off we went! (I've since decided I like the Oregon Coast way better!)

Brogan absolutely LOVED the water...he couldn't get enough!

Strike a POSE! Such sillies!

The next few are of our hike around Lake Quinalt...part of the rainforest and so very pretty! I loved it, this was probably my favorite part of the trip. I love to hike and explore! The kids didn't have as much fun, but were good sports!

We found the promised land! :)

I love Hydrangeas...they are my most favorite flower!

A little camera fun!

Trevin and Brett try to boogie board!

We had to get a picture of SHARKYS!

Next up: The Boat rides!

We had an opportunity come up this summer where we could buy half of a boat, so we(Brett mostly) took it. Basically we can use anytime we want...Brett LOVES IT! I think it is okay, and the kids still would rather drive around in it rather than be drug behind it on a tube or something. Hopefully over time they will get more daring!

Isn't he so cute!

Brett learning to wake board....

Brett getting up....

Brett falling down....He is still trying to learn...good thing we have a boat, he will have plenty of time to practice! :)

A good laugh!

2010-08-26T09:32:00.000-07:00

So funny!! I died laughing...enjoy!

Brogan hamming it up!

2010-08-21T13:36:00.000-07:00

Brogan had his 1 year pictures taken on Friday and they turned out fairly cute. He even gave a few cheesy and flirty grins! What a guy! Check it out below:

https://viewimages.jcpportraits.com/sharealbum/sharealbumlist?rndId=1282422242&uId=859786

I checked the terms and conditions and from what I understand, this is okay to do!

Veggies delite!

2010-08-18T15:16:00.000-07:00

We have veggies. This is our first year doing a garden and it has been a lot of fun. It's quite the feeling to eat something that you have taken care of and grown yourself. This is a picture of our first pickins. Notice we have plenty of zuccinni!! We have corn and more tomatoes gettin ready!! So exciting...the kids are getting into it too!

We just got back from a fun trip over to Ocean Shores. I will be trying to post and catch up here shortly.

Oh Crap(not really, but close enough), it that what I think it is!!

2010-07-30T09:09:00.000-07:00

You know having little boys, you pretty much see it all, whether you want to or not. And this was something I definitely did not expect to see! I discovered that one of my boys have terrible aim...there is PEE in there bathroom trash can. What the HECK? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? What is going on? For crying out loud, it is not hard to aim...! UGGHHH!! I survive this mommy hood of boys it will be a miracle. I love my boys and they are ALOT of fun, but I could do without all the gross, nasty, disgusting habits they all have.

Gillespie Family Reunion

2010-07-27T15:45:00.000-07:00

This past June marked the first time my family (parents, sibling and their families) have ever attempted a family reunion. All 8 of us were there with spouses and kids in tow, Along with Great Grandma & Grandpa Thiessen, making it a total of 34, (15 of which were children) people...under 1 roof!!! Thus the chaos!(can you imagine what it will be like when everyone is married and done having kids..Yikes) It was a good time enjoyed by all. We stayed at a cabin just outside West Yellowstone-Ashton Idaho to be exact. We tried to relax and catch up with each other, but I think we were all ready to venture home when the time arrived.

Here is all the grandkids...I think they are about done, so is Grandpa G!!

Here's my brothers, LOVE these pictures. I think it really captures who they are, complete goof balls!! I love my brothers, they were and still are alot of fun to be around!

And here is all of us sibling with Mom and Dad. Poor Amanda, you can barely see her. (note next time to have her front and center) Pretty good picture...I don't like me in this, my shirt makes me look way fatter than I am!

My two sister Amber, Amanda and I. So thankful for sisters!(that includes my sisters-in-law) Wish I could see them more often!
This next group of pictures are hilarious...it looks as if the kids have had it and are getting ready to throw rocks at each other, but what they were really trying to do was throw them in the river! (Seriously though I wouldn't put it past this group if they did want to throw rocks at each other..:)

Next are just random pictures: Here is Uncle David playing a game with all the kids(they all love their Uncle David)

We celebrated McKay's 10th birthday down there. Brett and I made worm sundaes for everyone per McKay's request. I think they were a big hit with the kids and the adults!

We had a fun time and even thought it was crazy we are glad we were able to go. Oh yeah, the best part was we all took turns cooking the dinners and I will say, we have some fabulous cooks in our family! Thanks everyone for such good food. Good food=Good times, you just can't beat that!

And he's off...kinda like a drunken sailor!

2010-07-25T11:40:00.000-07:00

It finally happened!

Please excuse my voice in these, someday I will learn to tone my voice down...:) Yeah right says my husband!
Brogan started walking about 3 or 4 days ago and is getting better every day. He seems to always have a smile on his face while doing it. He is so proud of himself and will even clap his hands when he succeeds! Such a cutie!
Make sure to scroll down to see the post on his Birthday!

A ONE YEAR OLD!!!

2010-07-25T11:01:00.000-07:00

Can you believe this little guy....

is now this big guy?

Wow!

Where does time go. I can't believe our little caboose is ONE!! It happened so fast. SOOO much faster than I remember any of the others. We are so happy to have this little guys in our family. He is such a GOOD baby and so happy!

What a year it has been. He has already had to deal with so much and what a trooper he is. He seems to round all of us out and it is amazing how complete everything feels. He is adored by us all. Some do a little to much adoring :)

He had a great birthday with yummy cake and family and friends to share it with!

Motherhood: An Eternal Partnership with God

2010-07-01T08:50:00.000-07:00

Motherhood: An Eternal Partnership with God

I needed this! Oh did I ever need this.
Click on the title to see what I am talking about. You don't want to miss it!

Dump truck fun and a lazy saturday afternoon

2010-06-29T15:32:00.000-07:00

A couple of Saturdays ago it was the first day of warm sunshine we had had in a while. We finally had no baseball or soccer games so we decided to just hang out in the back yard and enjoy it!!

Here is Brogan realizing he can use the dump truck as a walker. He had such a blast!

Here is the rest of the gang just enjoying the sunshine and finally being able to be outside!!! I love summertime, and can't wait to be outside everyday with my kids!!

Way over due!!

2010-06-15T11:30:00.000-07:00

Wow! Don't quite know where to start, I'm not even sure I should play catch up, however I figure I better start posting something, before I get so far behind, I don't even feel like doing this anymore!

WARNING: long post

Soccer is finally over...for a few weeks anyway! Corissa's team did fairly well this spring. They moved up to a tougher division and held their own. I think it was a great learning experience and they all know each other alot better, so watch out later this summer and fall. I think these girls have great potential and will do very well.

Brett and Brogan just chilling, watching Cori's game. Trevin is in the background with the bunny ears! Brogan below, just chillin. He's so flipping cute, I just love him! Corissa with her head looking up, tracking the ball. She had such a good game, it's too bad they lost this one!Cori is near the left, her teamate behind with the ball. This girl is one heck of a player! She gives every game her all!

The girls faired okay at this tournament(Viking Cup in Poulsbo, WA). This was their first away tournament as a team, and they learned alot. They dug down deep and played really hard in their last game and ended up winning! Way to go SWAT!

We were lucky enough to stay in a hotel, that was right on the beach. The weather was awful, but we still found time in between the rain, to go check it out. We had fun showing the kids all the crabs under the rocks...and there were tons!
Brett always seems to be at ease near the water. It has a way of calming him, so much that I have many pictures of all our various trips near water, with him in this similar pose. I often wonder what he is thinking. Maybe one day I will ask him.

Me with my little man! He was such a good boy during the whole trip.
We took the fairy home, and the kids enjoyed the boat ride and the skyline. We love visiting Seattle, however, next time we want nice sunny weather. I know, I know...good luck with that one, right?!

One final game, before a 6 week break:

Parents VS Players

Parents-6 Players-2

Cori showing off some fancy moves.

This was alot of fun. The whole family got in on the action and I wish I had a picture of it. Brett of course was right in the middle of all the action and even scored a few times. He also would of scored if he was a place kicker for a football team. It was kinda funny. I labeled him an over achiever! He claims he just would get excited and it definetly showed in some of his attempts at scoring. I played along with the boys and we had a good time.

2010-06-04T09:06:00.000-07:00

We are alive and doing fine....I will try to update very soon. I made it through the month of May and now have a smile on my face. I am such a home body, and look forward to a nice couple lazy months of summer!! Corissa is done with soccer and soon the boys will be done with baseball and then the laziness can truly set in...hey, we deserve it!!! Pics coming soon of our trip to Poulsbo for Cori's soccer tournament.

Our life lately in pictures!

2010-05-20T16:02:00.000-07:00

The month of May is always a whirlwind around here. I feel as if I am in survival mode most days. I will be so glad when this May is over with. I will so be ready for summer break. Because my time is so limited right now enjoy the pictures. I will try to play catchup in a few more weeks or as time allows me.

Corissa with a few teammates before their soccer game in Tri-cities. We drove down for a part day trip and had a good time. It was just Cori, Brogan and I. Best part of course was the win these girls took with them on the road!

Brogan chilling with his cousins in Tri-Cities, Gabe, Cael, and Issac. Thanks for coming to Cori's game guys!

Jarett taking a power nap...he total deserved this, we have missed more nap times this month and he has been a real trooper!

Garden time...Cori and Trev working real hard trying to get our garden in...:)! Brogan enjoying his first swing ride...Trevin and McKay playing baseball. This year they are on the same team, making it so much easier to shuttle around!

A little friendly competition involving push-ups, kiddos and my husband and brothers egos at stake. No one won...it was a three way tie!

My 9 month....Already?

2010-04-23T15:43:00.000-07:00

Time flies so fast! Brogan is already 9 months old. I can hardly believe it. And he is starting to become so independent. We are all in love with this special little man. He continues to charm us with his infectious giggles and endearing smiles! He is scooting around in every way possible, except crawling. He will do anything except crawl. He is so close though, he will get up on all 4's and then kinda go ..."hmmm, maybe not". Once he finally decides to try it I have a feeling we are in trouble. He is already getting into everything and I am finding myself "baby proofing" once again.

We have started to see some success in the sleeping category. He will finally go to sleep on his own, and without being nursed. YEAH! And it was so much easier than I anticipated. He is still waking up about once at night...but I'm not feeding him to go back to sleep, he is going back to sleep on his own. So I know it's just a matter of time before he starts to sleep all night. Let me tell ya, I am sooo ready to start getting caught up on some much needed zzzz's. And wouldn't ya know, Brogan is so much happier now that he is sleeping better. He is recovering very well from his surgery and seems to feel better all around since the surgery...we are even trying to wean the reflux medicine now.

His 9 month Stats: weight: 22# 9 oz, Height: 29 1/2 " putting him in the 75th to 90 th percentile...way to go Brogan.

Here is some recent pictures of Mr. BroMO!

I thought this way funny...he was trying not to touch the grass, notice all 4 limbs are being held so as not to touch the grass. Soon after he figured it wasn't too bad. Here he is discovery rocks...ALL BOY!
See what I mean about "babyproofing"? Hey there big guy, what ya doing? Such determination! I feel so blessed to have such a happy baby. Probably more so, after experiencing Jarett. Brogan is my reward in so many ways...oh but wait, all my children are! (sorry a little sappy)

Being spoiled!

2010-04-16T16:18:00.000-07:00

I finally got them.....

Custom Built-Ins surrounding the fireplace!

Take a look....

Aren't they beautiful? I L-O-V-E them!

Now comes the fun part....putting stuff into them. I can't WAIT to go shopping!! I feel like a giddy school girl. Silly isn't it. Seriously though, I sat down on my sofa and just stared at them for awhile. Happy Day!!

Hmmm, maybe I should get out more! :)

I feel like I finally have some functionality in this room now.

Thanks sweetie, for indulging my in this! Youv'e spoiled me! Now to start saving for the rock that will go on the entire fireplace. It is gonna look so nice when it is done. Sorry honey, I am so expensive, but definetly worth it, right? "Of course" better be what you say! :)

Birthday time!

2010-04-06T16:06:00.000-07:00

We have a had two more birthdays in our house. First up was Corissa turning the big 12!!! Can you believe it? She is finally have an official Young Women. Holy Cow, where does time go? I remember being her age, such a fun and exciting time. She is growing up into such a beautiful person and am so proud to be her MOM!! I had a scary thought the other day...she will only be here for another 6 years before heading off to college. Sniff, Sniff, I already miss her, just thinking about it. I just have to make sure I enjoy every moment with her now. Not sure if every moment will be completely enjoyable...she can be quite the drama queen! Nonetheless, fun times are sure to await!love this picture...look at the effort behind the breathCorissa wanted LIME GREEN converse for her birthday....crazy girl!Her yummy Birthday dessert...Oreo's layered with mint ice cream and cool whip with hot fudge sauce....so very yummy!

We celebrated Jarett's birthday the day after Corissa's. He turned a whopping 4 years. And he has done so much growing up. It seems hard to believe he will start Kindergarten in a little over a year. He is such a character and keeps me on my feet constantly. Just as I think I have him figured out...he throws me a curve ball. He keeps life exciting for us...sometimes a bit exhausting as well. HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEAR BEAR!!!

Here is his Dino cake!

I love this picture...he was totally surprised! Brett had him close his eyes and we surprised him. He was so cute, he asked if it was just for him. :) He couldn't believe that it was!
Trevin and Jarett...gettin ready to take it for a ride!
driving like a pro already

Brogan is home!

2010-03-26T15:25:00.000-07:00

Our little guy is home and doing so well. He is a little fussy and not quite 100%, but given the fact that he just had open heart surgery on Monday, he is doing great. I feel like I can finally take a big breath of relief. We are so very grateful for all the wonderful Dr.s and nurses who took great care of him and feel very fortunate to have such unbelievable medical care so close to us. What a wonderful blessing. Here are some pictures of the last few days:

You may have noticed in some of the pictures, Brogan's face is really beat up.(looks like he was in a dog fight or something) It turned out that he had an allergic reaction to the pain medicine and started to completely scratch up his face. Poor kid...his face looks worse than his incision on his chest. Brogan was a trooper and most of the time was quite happy. The nurses often commented on how cute he was. I of course totally agree. Brogan also would always light up as soon as a familiar face would walk into the room. It was fun to see him recognize everyone. So one big task behind us, now back to normalcy...for a while anyway!

A very special thank-you to EVERYONE who helped to take care of our family during this trying time. We are surrounded by many wonderful people, and feel so very blessed to have you ALL in our lives. I am truly amazed at the concern and love for our little guy and the rest of our family. Heavenly Father does work through others to help take care of his children!

Brogan's Surgery

2010-03-22T14:16:00.000-07:00

Brogan's surgery went well. He went in about 7 am and came out around 10:30. The surgeon and doctors are very well pleased with how he is doing! He was extubated about 1:30 and is now napping with some good pain medicine. (wish we could have some to go home with...). Thank you for your prayers - there is a lot of wonderful people praying for our son. We truly feel blessed and loved!

2010-03-20T10:19:00.000-07:00

This last week seems to have been such a blurr. I have been busily trying to get things ready for this next week. Organizing...so others besides me know where things are(I will be at the hospital, probably most of the week with Brogan). Meeting... with the Surgeon who is to do Brogan's heart surgery(I like him, and feel very confidant in having him perform the surgery). Scrambling...trying to help get things ready for my brothers open house(he just got married, congrats, Kyle and Lisa!), which was in our home last night. And then finally yesterday, Pre-op Surgery stuff at the hospital....for 4 1/2 hours! They took blood, had a chest x-ray taken, met with cardiology getting the official green light for surgery, and going over what to expect to see after surgery. UGGHH! Monday morning is coming way to soon. But it is time...my poor little guy is starting to show signs of some struggling. We are anxious for this to get going and just be over with. I think I will be completely relaxed once surgery is over and we are home and recovery.

During this crazy busy week life has continued to go on, as it should for the rest of us. Corissa is busy with soccer getting ready for her first game next Saturday, the boys finished up science projects for the science fair at school and Jarett enjoyed being attached to Grandma G's hip for a good part of the week. And of course, can't forget we celebrated Brett's birthday. For his dessert I made my first completely homemade cheesecake...New York style, w/raspberries on top. Oh so YUMMY!!

Soccer practice....cori in the green jersey.

Brogan just chillin in his crib one morningScience projects for both boys. Trevin's pic I could get to turn around, so just turn your head instead. Brett's yummy birthday dessert...it was so good!

My Little Man

2010-03-09T12:07:00.000-08:00

Check him out...isn't he so darn cute? He looks like a little prepster! I love, love, love this little dude!! He is so happy and cuddly! I could seriously eat him up.
He has settled into a normal routine, now that he is finally healthy (no colds or ear infections for 3 weeks now). He has cut two bottom teeth and is sleeping so much better...that means I am too :). He is starting to interact so much more and thoroughly enjoys all his siblings. We are so happy he is part of our family. We can't imagine life without him.

Love you tons Mr. Brogan!

Caleb's homecoming!

2010-03-09T11:32:00.000-08:00

This is about 1 1/2 weeks late, but so goes the story of my life.

Caleb came home from serving a 2 year mission to Mexico City and then rather quickly rushed off to spring training for football down at Snow College in south central Utah. Hopefully we will see more of him this summer, when school gets out.

Welcome home little brother. We are so very proud of you!

My mom hugging her baby!! She was so excited to finally see him. Below is my Dad, he was just as excited...just contained himself a little bit more than my mom! Here is Kyle and Caleb...my two little big brothers.

Surgery Date

2010-03-01T08:33:00.000-08:00

Okay, I think we have finally nailed down a date for Brogan's surgery. It is sooner than I had hoped. It looks like we will be going in on Monday March 22. We have to be there at 5:15am and surgery will start around 7:15. That is only 3 weeks from today. UUGGHH! My poor little baby! I hate to have to put him through this. Please keep him in your prayers. We need him to stay healthy so the surgery doesn't get postponed. We meet with the surgeon the week before the surgery and we will then know, how long and what to expect with the surgery and recovery. Thanks to everyone for the thoughts and prayers we have already received. It means so much to have such a wonderful supports system!

Less than 48 hrs

2010-02-22T13:36:00.000-08:00

And the count down has begun.On Wednesday night my baby brother Caleb is coming home from his mission to Mexico City!! (I'm the oldest, he's the baby)We are going to meet him along with my parents and my brother Kyle, at the airport. We are so excited to see him. He has served such a fantastic mission it will be good to catch up with him. He will only be home for 5 days before he is wisked away to spring football training down at Snow college in Utah.
My Brother Kyle and him are such good friends and it has been over 3 years since they saw each other. (thier missions overlapped each other) I know Kyle is bursting with excitement as well. And my mom...this is her baby, I know she is bursting at the seams in anticipation of seeing her BABY come home. It should be alot of fun at the airport on Wednesday. He gets in a little late, but we are letting the kiddos come anyway. How many times does your uncle come home from a mission? I will let them sleep in the next day and just take them to school a little late. WOW! I can't believe how fast two years go by.

SURGERY...sooner than we had hoped

2010-02-12T11:06:00.000-08:00

We were at the cardiologist office this week and they did an echo on Brogan's little heart. They do this every time to track how his heart is functioning and to help in determining when to do surgery. Well a couple months ago the cardiologists was optimistic in being able to wait until he is closer to 2 or 3 years old to do the surgery. She now believes he can't wait that long...so the dreaded surgery is going to be done sometime in the next few months, possibly as soon as the end of march. SIGH... (big one), I had a feeling this was going to happen. And the closer we got to the visit, the feelings were stronger. Even though I had a hunch this would happen you still somehow tuck it away and try not to think about it. Now we are thrown back into reality, and now I am dealing with these emotions that I thought I would not have to deal with again. UUGGHH! (For those who don't know, our son McKay has heart problems and we have been through 3 open heart surgeries with him.)

I know everything will be okay, it just really stinks sometimes. It is so hard to be a parent and not be able to fix things. I would trade places with him in a heart beat if I could. I know we will get through this, we have done it once before, I know we can do it again. Already Heavenly Father has shown many tender mercies with shows me how much he is aware of our thoughts and prayers. With support from family and friends and the love of our Heavenly Father we will be blessed and our little guy with be watched over through all of this.

We will know a more specific date in a few weeks once all the surgeons have a chance to look over his case and set a date. We will keep everyone posted.

Now...enjoy some pictures of our Brogan...I love this little guy!

He is so cute, lately he has discovered his toes, and will even chomp on them from time to time.

Bath time giggles

2010-02-12T10:58:00.001-08:00

Okay, so the other day the two little boys were taking a bath, and Jarett found simple pleasures in making his baby brother giggle. I love Brogan's laugh, so cute!

Birthday Party Time

2010-02-12T10:49:00.000-08:00

Trevin finally had his Birthday party...only a month after his actual birthday. Hey at least we got one in. He wanted to go to Triple Play. They make entertaining 9 kids very easy. I think they had a lot of fun. They played arcade games and laser tag, had pizza and some yummy Star Wars cake.

Hope you had a great time, TREVIN!!

LIFE

2010-01-30T14:54:00.000-08:00

This post will have lots of updates, recent fun pics and just some plain randomness that have made up our life lately.

We are all on the mend. Brogan is pretty much over his RSV junk, thank heavens. I tell ya, that stuff is nasty and scary!! I felt so bad for our little guy. He was so miserable, but finally seems back to his normal self. He has just a little bit of a runny nose and will hack out a cough every once in a while. Brett is feeling so much better and every one else seemed to fair pretty well and we are all pretty much recovered. Thanks to everyone for their well wishes and yummy foods that were brought over to us. :) Maybe there is a upside to all being sick!! This is a picture of my kitchen counter this past week and a half. I could have opened up a drug store!

BROGAN'S 6 MONTH CHECKUP

Brogan had his 6 month check up during all this and is growin like a weed. It is so hard to believe he is already 6 months. He weighed in at 19 lbs 3 oz., length 26 1/2 in long and I can't remember the head, but it was in the 90th percentile. Poor kid(lots of brains, right :)) He is sitting up great and is in the mode of discovery right now. Loves to put things in his mouth and is a snuggle monster. We love him and adore him! He still is not sleeping through the night, but that is the next obstacle I will challenge. I wanted to wait until he was over the RSV first. Wish me luck in this what may become exhausting endeavor. Below are just some random pictures of Brogan. Here is Brogan helping me with the dishes! I like to start training them early :)These next two pictures are me desperately trying to keep these two crazies occupied so I could clean up my kitchen and front room. I needed to sanitize everything after we were sick. It worked well, they were both in heaven. It was funny, Jarett kept asking, "can I rip this paper too mommy?" To which I would reply, "YOU BET" He couldn't believe his mom was letting him get away with this.

"Oh, YEAH, mine all mine!"

HOOPS!

Trevin has been in Basketball for the first time this winter and I think he has been enjoying it. Trevin is my kid that doesn't say much either way, so I am assuming he is enjoying it :)! Anyway, it has been fun to see him improve with each week. The games are very interesting, just imagine, 10 6 and 7 year old running up and down the court, some going the right way, some others not. It proves to be very entertaining and never a dull moment. Check him out below. He got a couple fast breaks and dribbled down the court and took a shot. Way to go Trevin.

He Cracks me up!

2010-01-27T10:04:00.000-08:00

I just had to post this, my little Jarett man, says some of the funniest things sometimes. One was this morning while taking his antibiotic for his ear infections.
Jarett can't stand the antibiotic the Dr. has him on, so I have been telling him he needs to take it so his ear doesn't hurt. Well this morning he informed me his ear didn't hurt anymore. This is how our conversation went:

me- Jarett you need to finish it until it is all gone, so your ear infection doesn't come back."
Jarett- "but It doesn't hurt anymore"
me- "But the Dr. said we need to finish it all even after our ear feels better, so the ear infection doesn't come back"
I then proceeded to put the medicine into his mouth while saying this.
Jarett- "The Dr. said no more monkies jumping on the bed" he was saying this as I was putting the medicine into his mouth.
me- "your right the Dr. said that too!!

The way this little guys mind works, cracks me up. I love him, he makes me laugh...everyday! He is definitely not the same kid he was when he was really little. I think I will keep him!:)

Welcome to the "sick ward"

2010-01-21T15:34:00.000-08:00

UGGHH!!! I have a sick household. We got the GUNK!! and then some. Jarett was sick first, then it turned into an ear infection, then he lovingly passed it onto Brogan, it has turned into RSV for the poor little guy. (Dr. was border line wanting to hospitalize him. So I pleaded my case and promised to be a vigilant mom...he is sleeping with us right now) On top of this, he has a double ear infection...again, and his teeth are trying to break through. To say the least he is miserable. Brett is sick, sinus infection and the beginnings of pneumonia and now Trevin is getting this GUNK. I HATE sick kids and even more so having a sick husband. I feel so helpless and wish I could wave a magic wand making them all better!! But that would be too easy.....dang it though really wish it was an option!
So we are hanging in there and really hoping we can surface soon. Hopefully I won't get this and can continue to be DR. MOM! You know if we mom's got paid for all we did, I swear we would be filthy rich. But I'm rich in other ways...Ha, sounds so sappy, but true. I love being a mom and wouldn't trade it!

Where's Mr. Sandman?

2010-01-14T09:21:00.000-08:00

Okay...I am EXHAUSTED! I have been getting only about 4-6 hours of sleep each night. Brogan's sleeping habits have gotten worse over the last few months and I have had enough!!! He is waking up about every 2 hours at night, and I just can't do it anymore. I am hesitant to try the cry it out routine, but I am about to that point where I'm desperate enough to try anything. He is 6 months old and should be sleeping better than what he is. I also think he is trying to cut his first teeth, so should I wait until those break through, or should I just start now? You would think with my 5th kid I would have this system down. HAH!! Each kid is so different. And the same thing that worked with one kids, might not work with the other. Anyway, I am all ears on anyone who wants to give me some great advice and ideas. So bring them on people!!!

Trevin's 7th birthday and Christmas Pics!

2010-01-04T15:27:00.000-08:00

Okay, so life as been crazy for a little while with Trevin's birthday right before christmas and the kids home for a couple weeks, I have completely neglected blogging. Brogan and Jarett are sleeping right now, so now is my chance to quickly put up some posts.

We had a wonderful break and christmas. Brett actually took some time off work and we got him all to ourselves for almost two whole weeks. I thought I would maybe go crazy with him home for so long, but I enjoyed every minute of him here. We never get enough time with him, nor him with us.

First off, we celebrated Trevin's birthday on Dec. 20. We went to Red Robin with Grandma, Grandpa, and Kyle on Saturday night (his birthday was Sun), and then Sun they came over for dessert and presents. This year Trevin didn't want a cake, so we had a giant sundae instead.

after we had dessert we enjoyed watching him have some fun with his new Vulcan nerf gun. This thing is insanely fun.

check out how excited he is...love the eyes!!!

Check out the Vulcan in action

Next came Christmas:

McKay and Trevin getting excited!

Corisaa checking out her loot!

Jarett tearing into one of his gifts

Brogan gettin in on the action, he enjoyed the wrapping paper more than the gifts :)

After the gift giving was over, we enjoyed a nice relaxing day, we were able to talk with my brother Caleb, who is serving a mission for our church in Mexico City. And then my brother Robbie and his family came over, along with Kyle and his fiance, Lisa, my other brother Andrew, and my parents all came over for dinner and dessert. It was a nice Christmas. Now back to the rat race :)

Baby Brogan update!

2010-01-03T15:00:00.000-08:00

I will post more later, but I did want to let everyone know how Brogan was doing. He had a visit to the cardiologist a few weeks ago and she said she is very pleased with how he is doing. She can't believe how big he is...(he weighed 18lbs. 3 oz last week) and is pleased with his development. From a heart standpoint, he is thriving. We may not need to do his surgery until he is closer to two years old. YEAH!! We go back in Feb. and will recheck everything then. So keep your fingers crossed. We feel very blessed that he is thriving. We would much rather wait as long as possible on his surgery. The older he is the easier it is for him to recover and understand what is going on. It will still be very hard, on him and his parents...:(

Brogan is almost 6 months old and is starting to be alot of fun. He is giggling and interacting with all the kids and we love having this little caboose. He is so happy all the time and we feel very luck to have him in our family.

Vogue and GQ here we come...

2009-12-16T22:18:00.000-08:00

We had family pictures taken in November and I finally got around to getting them developed. I think they turned out so well. We had Randi Brunt take them and she did an awesome job. It was alot of fun and we will definetly use her again.

Playing catch up!

2009-12-10T08:51:00.000-08:00

This post is about two weeks overdue, but I am posting it anyway. Finding time to keep up this blog is getting harder and harder. Ecspecially with Christmas sneeking up on us.

We spent thanksgiving down in Riverton this year(about 20 miles south of SLC). Brett's older brother Randy and his wife Jen live down there. We decided to take a break (much overdue) and drive 12 hours down to Utah. We had a great time and the kids had a blast playing with their cousins. We never get to see them enough, so it was alot of gun getting together. Thanks guys, for puttin up with us for 5 days. While down there we also were able to visit with our good friends Jason and Sara...we miss you guys a ton!! Brett and McKay went to the BYU/UTAH football game and was just thrilled that BYU pulled out the win in overtime. They definetly got their money worth, going to that game. And McKay had a blast going with his dad. Here are some pics of our break.

Here are the boys having some fun with the wii.

Here is Corissa with her cousing Adysen...the camera was cold and foggy at the time of the picture.

While there, Brett got coarsed into helping his brother put up their christmas lights. Thats okay, Brett has always been a christmas elf, and loves to help get things ready for christmas. This was good practice dear, because next year we are putting lights up on our house. I say we, but I really mean YOU!!

At one point the kids decided they wanted to go stair surfing with the sleeping mats...at the time Jen and I saw no harm in that and said sure, just be careful. Well it didn't take long to get a bloody lip and a few tears. They had fun in the process.

Check out the look on Jarett's face. He is not sure what to think.

Love the is picture of Trevin and Adysen. Completely captures how much fun they were having. Not sure why Trevin's tongue is so pink though. Probably candy.

We stopped in Idaho Falls on the way home from SLC and took a picture of Trevin in front of his favorite temple. All in all in was a good trip and a lot of fun. Now for Christmas.........

This is a test...

2009-11-18T08:30:00.001-08:00

For some reason when I post it is not showing up on some blogs...so this is a test. If you happen to get this post, be sure to scroll down for two other posts. And if anybody out there knows how to fix it so my post show up...please let me in on the secret. I can't seem to figure it out! Dang technology, it comes in handy most of the time, but other times it can be so frustrating.... :(!!!

Our Chunky Monkey!!!

2009-11-17T10:42:00.001-08:00

Well Brogan is officially 4 months old. It seems so crazy how fast our little guy is growing up. He is doing very well and growing quite nicely. Here are his current stats:

16 lbs

26" long

Can't remember head circumference, I can tell ya this much, it is definitely a Larsen head!! With his measurements and weight it puts him in the 75th percentile. Way to go Brogan! You would never guess this kid has reflux. Speaking of the reflux...he is doing so well, we are going to start weaning his meds, very slowly though.

Brogan is so happy, and for that I am very grateful. He adores all the kids and is very attached to his mommy. The separation anxiety is already starting to set in. It seems a little early for that to start, but oh well, what do you do? He is our last so I am happy to oblige him.

We got the okay to start solids, especially since he loves to eat so much. We tried it out the other morning and he is not quiet sure what to think. We will keep trying! Brogan experiencing rice cereal!! Quite the messy eater right now :)

Flashback moment

2009-11-16T08:26:00.000-08:00

Okay, so every time we have had a little baby, Corissa and I are a little curious of what they would of looked like had they been a girl. Sooo....we put the bows on their heads and take a look. Corissa one time went as far as even dressing McKay up as a little girl! (it was very funny, and I have a picture of it. I am saving this for blackmail use in the teenage years :)!) Most of the the boys have not been anywhere as cute as little girls, so we quickly take off the bows, before Dad finds out, and don't give much more thought to it. Well, this time we put the bow on Brogan and it was like we were looking at Corissa all those years ago. Granted Brogan is very boyish with a bow, but it was enough similar that it brought back tons of memories. I wish I had a picture of Corissa I could post and you could judge for yourself. But check out Brogan anyway.

Brogan as a girl...looking a lot like Corissa when she was little. Cori was of course a cuter girl than Brogan is trying to be..:) And here he is as the cute little boy HE IS!!

He definitely is way cuter as my little man!!!

Fall Soccer and a lime green cast

2009-11-06T18:08:00.000-08:00

Okay, finally soccer for the fall has come to a close. Corissa's team: SWAT, did very well, loosing only one game all season long. They are such a fun group of girls. It was alot of fun watching the games this fall. Corissa played mostly defense this season and has continued to develop her skills. Next it is on to indoor season...this is her favorite as it is a much more fast paced and quicker game.
However she may have to put indoor on hold, you see, she broke her wrist during warm up for her last game last Saturday. Poor girl, she didn't even get to play. She will be wearing it for about 3 weeks...so I guess it could be worse. Let me tell you, I fell like I have 5 children under the age of 5 lately. She can't hardly do anything. She has a hard time holding the baby, can't get dressed in the mornings with out help, definetly needs help showering and has a hard time fixing her own food. I can't wait for the cast to be off just as bad as she can't wait either!!! I miss my little mother hen. :(

Jarett's idea of playing with his baby brother

2009-11-04T13:03:00.000-08:00

So the other day, I asked Jarett to "play" with Brogan while I was trying to clean up. Brogan hates being left alone and often does just fine as long as someone is beside him. So Jarett of course jumped at the chance to be a good big brother. This is what I found next to Brogan when Jarett told me he was being a good brother.
I thought it was just to cute. Jarett had so much fun lining up the cars for him to play with!!Here is Brogan looking cross eyed. He is changing so much and is starting to be a lot of fun to play with.

Halloween

2009-11-02T12:42:00.000-08:00

Okay, so this year for Halloween, I just wasn't getting into the spirit very well. We didn't make it up to green bluff to pick out pumpkins and carve. And we are recycling costumes this year. I think this will be the third year that Trevin is Obi Wan Knobi. We just have been so busy and tired it just seemed to be one more thing to do on our list of things to do. I know I won't be getting any mother of the year award, but right now, I don't really care. Anyway, I was feeling a little bit sad that we haven't done much with the kids, so I decided to make a Halloween lunch and I must say, I had a lot of fun putting it together. The kids got a little bit of a kick out of it as well. The menu included: Mummy Dogs, Ooey Gooey Green monster mouths, and some Halloween jello jigglers and brain cupcakes. I wanted to be really creative and get some dry ice and orange drink as well, but ran out of time(surprise, surprise).

Here are the kiddos: Corissa outfit was a Hippie, McKay a clown, Jarett, obviously a skeleton, Trevin, star wars, and Brogan is a bunting outfit just keeping him warm. We didn't have a baby costumes to put him in and I was too tired to deal with trying to find one. Notice Corissa's busted arm? I will go into that later when I have more time.

What a character!!

2009-10-19T10:30:00.000-07:00

Most of you know what a character Jarett is. Well over the last few days he has said some pretty funny stuff. He constantly is cracking us up. The other night Brett was putting Jarett to bed and most nights Jarett has to have something to sleep with. It is usually the toy he has been playing with throughout the day. Well this particularly day I had bought him a new Lightning McQeen car set and he had not let it go from the moment we bought it. So of course this is what he wanted to sleep with. Well as Brett was tucking Jarett in, Jarett begins to exclaim:

"I have to find my car!"

"It cost me $7 bucks!" and frantically starts looking in his bed for the car.

Brett just started cracking up...not believing what this 3 1/2 year little boy just said. Way funny!!

And then last night when we were putting the kids to bed(We all gather in one of the kids' room, to say family prayer) and Jarett once again, had us all cracking up. We for some reason were talking about coyotes(nice thing to plant in the kids head, just before bedtime, HUH?). And Jarett called them Caryotes. We were all like what did you say, and he said "Caryotes not get me," or something similar. Once we figured out that he was talking about coyotes, we just all started laughing. Well Jarett wasn't to happy that the whole family was laughing at him, so says:

"Stop laughing at me!"

And then Corissa says, "We aren't laughing at you Jarett, we are laughing with you."

Jarett then says, "But I'm not laughing!"

This of course made us all laugh even harder. Poor kid he was pretty upset with all of us.

I love you Jarett. You are such a funny little kid!!

Two cutie pies!!

2009-10-05T16:38:00.000-07:00

I had to post this picture of my oldest and youngest. It was way to adorable to pass up. I can't believe how fast my kids are growing up. It seems just like yesterday Corissa was Brogan's age. Ahhh how time truly does fly!! I feel so luck to be the mom of 5 beautiful children. What a blessing and priveledge. Most days :).

I SAID WHAT?

2009-09-30T09:04:00.000-07:00

Okay, so saturday night I was drugged up with some pretty good medicine that made me fall asleep (read the prior post and you will now why) and I guess made me a little loopy and according to Brett I was saying some pretty funny stuff. One of the things he said I said went something like this:

"This must be what it is like to have some margaritas, lets go get some."

Hah, Hah, I couldn't believe I said that and then I remembered the nurses saying something just before they gave me the drugs. I think it went something like this:

"You will feel better in just a little bit sweetie. It will be like having a margarita." And I remember thinking, "yeah, like I know what that is like."(sarcastically) Guess my mind was thinking I must of had some. I just about died laughing when Brett filled me in on this. Way funny. And a little embarrassing! Thought I would share and make someone else get a good chuckle.

"If it is not one thing, it is another"

2009-09-28T15:58:00.000-07:00

That is so how life has been lately.

Ever since Jarett was born I have had really bad reflux. Sometimes it gets better and sometimes it gets worse. Well, lately it has been really bad. I'm sure it is in relation to all the extra stress around here. Anyhow, it has been getting so bad, I have been having a hard time swallowing. I have to make sure I drink a glass of water with just about every bite of food. Saturday night we went out to dinner with my parents, my brother, and his girlfriend Lisa to Mexican food. I decided to order the Carne Asada. (I always get this, it is my favorite) Well, lets just say I didn't get past the first bit. I seriously started to choke. I had to run to the restroom and tried to throw it up, but that didn't work. I tried to swollow water to help it go down. That didn't work either. I of course at this point start to panic, making the reflux even worse. I felt like I couldn't breathe. By now half the restaurant is staring at our table and the employees of the restaurant in a panic, asking if they need to call an ambulance. Nice!!! Talk about casting a spotlight. Didn't need that or want that. So we (my dad and Brett and I ) decided to go to the car and sit for awhile and try to relax to see if the food can pass down. In the meantime my mom and Kyle and Lisa, take my kids home. I could totally tell my esophagus was swollen, and wasn't getting any better. We eventually ended up in the ER. After the Dr. tried a couple of things to get my esophagus to relax, and it wasn't working....the call to the GI Dr. finally happened at about 1:30 in the morning. I was trying to avoid this, because I knew this next step would not be pleasant. They needed to do an upper GI, this is where they put a scope down your throat and either push the food through or pull it out. Sound pleasant doesn't it? Actually it wasn't too bad, they gave me some great drugs, that put me to sleep and then did the procedure. I was out like a light and pretty loopy when I woke up. The Dr. thought he would maybe try to dilate my esophagus while he was in there. But my throat was to swollen. So he wanted to wait a few days and is dilating my esophagus tomorrow.
The kicker to this is it could've been avoided, had I actually taken the time to take care of myself, and get in sooner to the Dr. So a lesson learned and for those of you who put off your own health issue...don't!! It will come back and bite you.

Enjoying some lighter moments

2009-09-17T15:28:00.001-07:00

Here is some fun lighthearted moments we have enjoyed over the past few weeks on top of everything else that has been going on.
1) Jarett being so incredibly self sufficient and insisting he can dress himself in his PJ's..."these do to match mommy" (okay Jarett!)2) Being silly at the dinner table with some silly smiles

3) A lake Chelan getaway...where it rained most of the time! It was still nice to getaway in spite of the weather. We tried to swim in the lake, but it was just to cold and rainy...poor kids.Trevin and Jarett being crazy with the golf clubs...watch out they were a little dangerous to themselves and others!
Do I have to smile Mom? Corissa and I sharing a mother/daughter moments....ahhh :)Here is Trevin swatting bugs, while on the putting course. The were everywhere...YUCK!Brett giving Trevin a little heart attack...It just about did too. This was taken at the dam visitors center near Wenatchee. Brotherly love...ya gotta love it! 4)Brogan turning 2 months old...already?!
I love his cute little smile and just look at those cheeks. Brogan seems to be doing well and for the most part is happy. I am anxious to see how much he weighs next week at his appointment.

Surgery......eventually

2009-09-09T15:29:00.001-07:00

Here is an update for those who have been following the drama in our lives right now. First let me clarify what is exactly wrong with Brogan. He has what is called Cor Triatriatum. His left atrium is being divided in half by a membrane that is not suppose to be there. His heart looks like a 5 chamber heart instead of 4 chambers. Right now his membrane has some fenestrations in it, allowing the blood to flow through. But over time they(Dr.s)fear it will close off completely. They can fix this by going in and removing the membrane. We had a sedated echo done today on Brogan to get a better picture and outlook on how to proceed. Some good news and news that definitely feels like dejavue. (not sure if spelled right) Brogan will need to have open heart surgery, but not as soon as originally thought. It is hard to say exactly when but most likely within the next 6months to 2 years. It will all depend on how well his heart does. In the mean time, it looks like we will be having monthly or every other month visits to the cardiologist, so they can follow him and determine when he will need the surgery. I am somewhat relieved to not have to do this right away, it is less risky and kids typically do better the older they are. But the other part hates this looming overhead, and would just like it to be over with. Then the Big part of me, would like to not even have to put my poor little guy through this. But at least it is a easy fix and should be a fairly simple procedure. Ha, listen to me, we are talking about OPEN HEART SURGERY, and I am calling it simple!! Man, what is wrong with me. I guess it is all in your perspective. How blessed we are to live in a day and age where medicine and technology can fix our kids and give them a healthy outlook.

An early morning call from the Pediatric Cardiologist

2009-09-02T14:24:00.000-07:00

Okay, so all last night I was a little on edge because of the visit to the pc yesterday. I couldn't shake the feeling that this was a little bit more serious than the cardiologist had let on. Sure enough around 9:00 am this morning I get a personal phone call from the Cardiologist. Typically they have their nurses call. So I knew it was a bit more serious than was originally let on. Anyway she proceeds to tell me she would like to move up his echo to next week and then come in today to do a chest xray and some blood work. She also proceeded to tell me he does seem to have a membrane going across his two chambers that have a few fenestration's(holes) in them. This, remember, is not good. We want no obstruction. So for now, she wants us to watch him for signs of heart failure and follow him closely. (talk about nerve racking) She also said we may be looking at open heart surgery within a month or two. She feels instead of him getting better as he gets older he may actually get worse. So they will need to go in and cut out that membrane that is blocking the flow of blood between the two chambers and then go ahead and close up his ASD at the same time. Man, I just can't believe we are going down this road...AGAIN. But at least I am familiar with it and can arm myself with knowledge and power and KNOW what to look for and how to best help my precious little guy. I knew something was going on, I wasn't sure what, but I knew their was something more. I am so grateful for the power of pray and the guidance of the holy ghost. I have had to rely on these this last week and feel so blessed to have a Heavenly Father who loves me. I know we will get through this...we have been through worse and we came out stronger. I know the same will happen here.

On a little bit more upbeat note: Brett will probably be home late tonight. They were able to take an earlier flight. YEAH!! I can't wait!! I have missed him sooo MUCH.

Many blessings and a few Dr. visits

2009-09-01T13:48:00.000-07:00

I am not sure where to start with this post...I have so many things running through my head right now, I don't even know if I will make sense trying to write them down. But I will try. I guess first off will start with a very big THANK YOU!!! This thank you goes out to all of you who have been mindful of my family and I while my better half has been globetrotting. (he comes home in 2 days, by the way:)) We have been truly blessed while Brett has been gone. I had no idea so many people cared. Heavenly Father has truly been watching over us and I am so incredibly grateful for that. What a comfort it has brought to me, especially while I am emotionally and physically spent from dealing with Brogan and all his issues. ( I will fill you in, in a moment) Definitely lots of Bishops Blessings over these last 12 days.

Okay now the update of our little Brogan. He has reflux and had been getting worse, to the point of not even wanting to nurse because it hurt so bad. So Saturday night, my mom and I took him in to the pediatric ER at Sacred Heart, because he had only ate 3 0z of milk all day. ( I finally got him to drink from a bottle) It turns out on top of his reflux he has the silent reflux going on. Which I think is even worse. Because it comes up and goes back down...burning his poor throat twice. Poor baby!! So the Doc. put him back on Zantac..3 x's a day and kept him on Prevacid 2x's a day. He also gave me some great pointers on how to get him to eat more comfortably and how to position him when burping and sleeping. He is doing much better now and finally seems to be comfortable. Yeahhh!!

Okay, so first issued solved.

Now, the next thing that has been occupying my time is this heart murmur he has.

Most kids have some sort of innocent heart murmur, but because of what we have been through with McKay I don't down play anything anymore. So this morning was our visit with the Pediatric Cardiologist. It turns out his heart murmur is something more than just innocent. I think I kinda knew this all along. Brogan has a ASD (Atrium septum defect) It is where there is a hole in his atrium...his right atrium to be exact. This can close in time and if it doesn't the PC will close it for him either through a heart catheter lab or surgery. This is a the most common heart defect in children so I was not to concerned until they filled me on the next abnormality he has. The PC is not even sure what to make of this- she has seen it in it's true form, but not the way Brogan's looks. He basically has a membrane that is flapping between the Left Atrium and Left Ventricle. Nothing is suppose to be there. If something is there it can cause blockage of the blood flow through the body. In some cases...very very rare...there can be a membrane that doesn't flap and is solid and acts like a wall between the two chambers. This is very serious and requires immediate surgery to prevent death. But his flaps, so no real threat right now. The PC is a little concerned because it is in conjunction with the ASD defect. So for now, we go back next month for another ultra sound to see if it is still there and then we will move forward. Sighhh...hopefully we won't need to go down the road of more open heart surgeries. Been there done that, don't want to go back :(. So we will see. I will keep everyone posted.

Around the world in 12 days...Seriously!!!

2009-08-28T23:08:00.000-07:00

Brett called today from Indonesia...where he has been at all week. A very long week at that. (for both of us) and informed me he would now, not be home until next Thursday. I was so sad...my heart just sank. All week I have been counting down the days until Saturday and now he is going to be gone almost a whole week more. I just lost it and broke down. You see, this has been a very hard week, with trying to figure out what is going on with Brogan and Jarett being Jarett, and still trying to be a mom to my kids. It's just been tough and I have really missed my emotional support from my husband. But, I will survive it could be worse. Anyway the reason he will be gone even longer now is, he will be making a stop in Finland(hopefully securing a job for his company) and then Copenhagen to visit the corporate offices for his company. But this is the killer...listen to this, His Entire trip will literally put him traveling around the world. He first left Spokane traveling to Salt Lake then on to San Fransisco and then to Hong Kong, down to Indonesia. Then they are off to Singapore, then Germany and finally Finland. Then from Finland to Copenhagen and finally heading back to the States to Chicago and then Seattle and finally Home. He will be so flippin exhausted. He is excited to have these opportunities but misses us very much, as do we him. Hopefully we will score some air miles out of this!!:)

A favorite picture of my Sweetheart...who I miss terribly!! We haven't been apart for this long since McKay was a baby, and I was in LA with McKay and Brett was back home with Corissa. I can't wait for him to come home.

Update with Brogan: He went into the Dr. on Thursday because he was not eating very much and his reflux is still causes him alot of pain. Dr. sent us to have a ultrasound to rule out a condition called pyloric stenosis. It is where something is basically blocking the stomach and not allowing food to come through. We did the ultra sound and is came back for the most part from what they could see, negative for it. Well, so now what, what is causing my poor sweet little baby to have trouble eating and to be so miserable? Still not sure. He does have reflux, but now I am wondering if there is something else going on. We see the pediatric cardiologist on Tuesday to rule out a heart murmur he has had and has not gone away. I refuse to stress too much about this until Tuesday. I can't deal with the emotional stress without my husband here. But, I am starting to worry a little. (We have been through heart problems with McKay and I really don't want to go down that road again, I really really don't!) I just would like some answers so I can help my little guy, and be a happy mommy again, and so mybaby can be happy again. And then after the cardiologist, if it is nothing to worry about we are going to see a pediatric GI specialist. I 'm not messing around...something tells me there is something going on and I WILL figure it out. I learned this much from going through issues with McKay. Wish me luck and lots of prayers are nice too.

frazzled, exhausted, and no time for anything!

2009-08-24T16:54:00.000-07:00

Because of the above title, I don't have time to say much. So enjoy the pictures. We are surviving...most of the time :) Brogan finally enjoying a bath! This is McKay's idea of watching the baby :)!! Jarett is enthralled with this little guy and loves to lay by him.Trevin has lost his first tooth...thanks to a candy wrapper he was trying to open with his teeth! Brogan trying to smile for his Mommy...what a cutie!

Brett ran in the Spokane to Sandpoint relay a couple weekends ago. He is so glad it is over with. His work ran as a team and I think they did pretty alright. The day it ended Brett came home to this sign our daughter had made for him!! I never did tell you Brett, but, good job and I am way proud of you for doing something you might not of done had your Boss not wrangled you into it! Next year...maybe a half marathon?

We are adjusting to our new life with a newborn, it's harder than I remember with a little one around. It's like everything is planned around him and at times it feels like I am not getting anything done. But I know everything has a season and right now this is mine. It will pass sooner than I want it too, so I will try very hard to enjoy this time, since he is our last. Brogan is getting bigger everyday and for the most part doing well. It has been taking zantac for his reflux but it's not quite getting the job done, so we have switched him to prevacid. I sure hope this kicks in and helps him, the poor little guy has such a frustrating time eating and then it seems as soon as he does eat well, he throws it up 30 minutes later. Poor baby...

Brett is traveling to Indonesia this week for work. He will be gone a full 7 almost 8 days. This will be the longest we have gone without him home. He will be missed very much. I hope I can survive this week. And I am sure he is thinking the same thing. He will be traveling a total of 22 hours to get there. Crazy!! I love you sweetie and be careful, PLEASE!!

Oh yea...I go called as the new enrichment leader for our ward. Not sure why! But I will give it my best effort. So if any of you have some great ideas, I am all ears.