Dear Spring...

Please hurry!

Ethan's First (and hopefully last) Trip To The ER

It's after 10pm and I just tucked Ethan in after a trip to the Emergency Room. He was racing Jeff up the stairs and put his arm sideways between Jeff's calves when Jeff took his next step without realizing where Ethan's arm was, twisting it. I debated weather or not it was serious enough to take him to the hospital but when Ethan (who doesn't like going to the doctor) started saying "I just wanna go to the doctor" I figured we'd better go. He'd been holding his arm and would cry in pain if I touched it. He could bend his wrist and wiggle his fingers but said from his shoulder to below his elbow hurt "really, really bad."
Since Kamden was already asleep, Jeff waited at home while I took Ethan in. They did x-rays but his arm hurt too bad to turn it the way the technician wanted him to and since I'm pregnant I had to stay behind the wall and couldn't stay beside Ethan, I felt so bad for him and hope he never has to go to an Emergency Room again though I'm greatful for the doctors and nurses who took care of him. On the drive home Ethan said he "Only liked the doctor with the white shoes because he gave me stickers."
It ended up that he'd just bruised it really bad and they sent us home with his arm wrapped up and said it shouldn't be bothering him within a few days. It's a horrible feeling when you have to decide if you should take your child to the emergency room or not and I hope I don't find myself in that position again but I'm so thankful it wasn't anything too serious and that he's going to be up and running (probably jumping off the couch and racing up the stairs) in no time.

2008 Recap

Since 2008 seemed to go as fast as it came, I looked through our pictures and found the ones that best captured the last year of what went on with our little family. Jeff and I were able to take trips to Seattle, Denver, and Las Vegas and we were also able to be with his older brother and his family in Bountiful, Utah as they were sealed. Another favorite memory from 2008 was being able to take Ethan and Kamden through the Twin Falls temple open house. We also visited my sister and her family twice last year (yes, Kristen, I'll try to do better in 2009!) I was able to reconnect with a good friend from High School and we also made some great new friends who we are very thankful for! We also found out our little family is continuing to grow and we're all excited to meet our new addition in July 2009.
I think my most favorite memories are just the little, every-day occurances like pictures of the boys in the garden, playing in the backyard on lazy summer days, walks and bikerides...just the small moments that make up our lives. The pictures really made me miss the sunny weather! (And they made me realize how much the boys have grown-especially Kamden!)
We made lots of trips to visit Jeff's family, though I don't think we'll ever make enough trips to satisfy Ethan. He just loves going to see his cousins and keeps asking when he gets to play in Great-Grandma Hurst's ditch again!
We went to the zoo about 4 or 5 times this year, I lost track but the boys loved it each time and it was fun watching them run around being kids and seeing all of the new animals.
Several projects around the house were completed in 2008 and what a blessing to be able to cross more off of our To-Do List! (Though it seems like once you cross something off, three more projects get added to it) Jeff has done such a great job on all of the work he's done from installing a stair railing to replacing the ancient porches and we can't tell those who've helped us how grateful we are!
One of my favorite days in 2008 was the 4th of July, it was just a really fun, relaxing day and you can read more about it here.
We gained a new sister-in-law on Jeff's side in 2008 and my youngest brother got engaged so we're excited to add another sister to our family in the coming year. Besides a wedding and the birth of our 3rd child, we are also looking forward to a visit from my brother and his family who live out East and we haven't seen them in 2 years, we can't wait!
Our lives are so blessed, I've really been mindful of that lately. How no matter what comes our way we always seem to get through it and everything works out. It's funny how the things we stress and worry about the most usually turn out not to matter as much as we'd thought they would. I'm not one for doing New Years Resolutions because I don't even make it through January with them, but I hope this year I can be more grateful and appreciative than I was last year and try to always be mindful of how blessed I truly am.
So have a happy, safe, and grateful 2009!

Happy New Year!

For New Years we visited Jeff's family and drove down on Wednesday and stayed through Sunday. It was great to spend time with them and we did fun things like go to the movies New Years Day-it was Ethan and Kamden's first time in a movie theatre and it'll be awhile before they get to go back! They did pretty good for the first half hour or so but then all they wanted to do was run around and go out in the halls.



We also went bowling, spent time lounging around in our pajamas, watching movies and football, and the boys had a blast playing with cousins and staying at Grandma & Grandpas. It was really nice having Wade and Lauren staying there with us, the boys just love them and they are so good to play with Ethan and Kamden. Ethan really didn't want to leave and Kamden is wandering around looking for "BaaMa".
2008 was a great year filled with so many blessings and fun times, we can't wait to see what 2009 holds for us!
Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

So I'm finally blogging Christmas! We had a great holiday season this year and enjoyed all of the time we were able to spend with our friends and family. We spent Christmas Eve at my grandparents' house but had to get home before it got too late so we could get ready for Santa.
Christmas morning the boys woke up around 8 (I refrained this year from waking everyone up early) and they wandered downstairs to see what Santa had been left behind. After the gift-opening frenzy, we had my parents and brothers over for breakfast and just spent the afternoon relaxing before going to my parents house for Christmas dinner. And, I must say, my husband made some yummy scalloped potatoes...so he can cook!

Playing In The Snow With Bear

I'm behind on my blogging, these pictures are from before Christmas when the boys played out in the snow at my parents' house with their Uncle Jeff, their daddy, and grandpa's dog.