Ten Year Anniversary!

This is a BIG deal! TEN flippin' years! I feel like that is a HUGE accomplishment...so I tried to be creative. Granted my creative juices are limited, but I think it turned out to be a very fun night. We have talked about going on a big trip, but since the baby is still so little (and breast feeding, sorry TMI) we are going to have to push it off for a while.

I created somewhat of a scavenger hunt, reenacting some things from our wedding day, or adventures from our honeymoon. Little fun memories! So enjoy my elementary level poetic abilities :)

On the front door he found:

Clue 1.

"This evening is going to begin,

Are you ready, ready for a spin?"

Next in the entry way:

Clue 2.

"First stop is a place where we rest,

After a good long day has put us to the test."

Clue 3.

"Here you will find a few things,

That will remind you of that special day we got our rings."

(I put out lots of notes, pictures, gifts, memorabilia that we have kept over the years...)

There are several 'toilet paper notes' that I have kept from our dating days. I think Andy either spent a lot of time on the toilet, or was too poor to buy paper...but they are CLASSIC.

Clue 4.

"Next stop will be fun so make sure you're ready,

Your next clue is under a pink teddy."

Struggled a little hear, obviously! But I made it work!

(Also, please note my super model daughter. I swear she looks 20 int hat picture...oh the teenage years will be fun! Why does she have to be so pretty?)

Clue 5.

"5000 Katy Mills Cir, Katy TX"

Clue 6.

"Does this bring back memories of old?

Come on hurry lets go, I don't want you to worry about things getting cold"

Anyone that came to our wedding reception will recall that our car was STUFFED with balloons. I wasn't about the blow up enough balloons to stuff our van (that would have taken years), but we did get the front two seats pretty crammed! The kids had a BLAST helping me!

Clue 7.

"When you go in I want you to think what you wore,

After our wedding as we walked out the door."

In those VERY poor days Andy bought himself an outfit from Banana Republic, in which he looked mighty fine and spent a mighty dollar. So I told him once he got in the store he was to find something similar to what he wore then. It was a black button up with white cargo type dress pants...

...this is the closest thing we could come up with. Um. Yea. Styles have changed and not to our liking, he could barely get those pants on the legs were so tight. So I let him pick something else out, thank heavens.

Little Sammy had to come with due to the limited babysitting resources, so we had a little fun while waiting!

I made him change in the bathroom into his new digs, handsome eh?

Clue 8.

"If you recall a place called Park City,

You might just remember some first nights of giddy!

But this was the place we went out to eat,

Because we were poor it couldn't be beat!"

In the meantime we had a few mishaps with the car doors, wind and balloons...sorry everyone, but I guess the celebration needed to be shared! Balloons EVERYWHERE!

Clue 9.

"5304 Bell Patina Dr, Katy TX"

Clue 10.

"I love you sweet man, more than you know,

Because each passing year our love continues to grow.

Please always be near and never let go.

I don't think I could ever live without you ya'know!"

The kids helped decorate the car similar to our 'get away' from the reception, minus the oreo's and gummy bears! Supposedly this is what Kaylee wanted written, but due to Tyler's misspelling it came out a bit different than intended. It's supposed to say "Parents Rock!" But we will take "parots" too...hahaha.

From Ty.

From Audrie.

Poolside FUN!

As Mom, Dad and Katie were driving to Ohio they drove through Oklahoma City, so we met them there. It was quick, but oh so fun! Everyone had a lot of fun despite the quick turn around. I forgot my camera half the time so I didn't get many shots, but here are a few :)

Grandma and Audrie

G'ma and Kaylee...of course KK is being her "ham it up" self.

Then G'ma with little Samantha. I loved this shot!

This was actually a different day at the pool, but little Sammy looked so cute that I had to include it!

Tender Moments

Most of you know of my dear sweet sister Katie. She changed our lives 15.5 years ago; all of our lives, for the better. She has taught us and many untold lessons as she entered our family circle, lesson's I'm sure she doesn't even know she has taught. Well, today was yet another surgery for her...a repeat of a surgery attempted 7 years ago. The worst surgery I can think of anyone having. A lower jaw distraction. Horrible. Painful and heart wrenching to watch. I tell people that during the last attempt, it was the only time I was GLAD I didn't live close to home.

As I sit about a thousand miles away I have those same emotions, those same feelings of helplessness and complete sympathy for her. I YURN to take the pain away. I can't help but this of Heavenly Father knowingly letting his Son suffer because it needed to be done. The reality of that hit me pretty hard this time. Katie needs this done so she can eat and breath on her own, without medical intervention as she has her entire life.

The hardest part is knowing as they took her back she begged Mom and Dad not to go through with it. She knows what pain is like. She knows what this surgery is like and what person in their right mind would want to go through with something like that again? What courageous and valiant parents I have! My Dad mentioned how he could completely empathize this time, due to his own experience having to get his leg amputated. He could feel her fear and he couldn't contain his emotions.

This picture captures that tender moment as Katie clings onto our Daddy's arm. If you'd like to follow along her blog is here.

Please include her in your prayers. This is the first of several surgeries this one being the easier of the distractions. LOVE and prayers!!

Tie- dying Easter Eggs

Instead of doing the traditional dying of eggs we took a little bit more of a creative route this year. I've started following this blog. They had this GREAT idea and we thought we'd give it a try. I had Andy go to the thrift store and by some old, 100% silk ties. We cut them apart, wrapped them up with the right side of the fabric facing the eggs and then boiled them in some vinegar water. It was super fun and SO MUCH less messy!

We wrappped them up with the tie and the with a plain piece of fabric. Then the boiled for 20 minutes.

We opened them up after they cooled.

And voila! Very unique, beautiful eggs!

Easter Fun!

I TRIED so hard to get some cute shots of my kiddos in their Easter attire before the camera died. These are the shots I got every single one of them showing their personality to a "T."

Mr. Tyler cool as a cucumber and quite handsome if you ask me!

Miss Samantha so sweet, all smiles as long as you're giving her the one on one attention she demands :)

Miss Kaylee, aka Drama Queen, dancing and singing in the wind with her sashes gracefully blowing behind her.

Miss Audrie, trying her hardest to be as cute as can be and pretty successful don't ya think?

Samantha's Surgery

We survived the surgery! I'm tellin' ya that was one tough decision. Anything that has to do with my children (particularly when they are so small) I worry until I have a SURE answer that it is the right thing to do.

First off I felt like we were led to the decision we did regarding her surgery. But that didn't stop me from wondering if we were doing the right thing. So the day before the scheduled surgery I decided I better say one final prayer regarding the matter. I had been praying all along, but hadn't really put my heart and soul into it. I couldn't help but recall once in a Book of Mormon class at BYU I remember a teacher saying she had NEVER not received an answer when she asked for that answer to be given to her via the Book of Mormon. I can attest to that same thing, I've ALWAYS gotten direct, clear answers through those words. This moment was no different. I was told through the words of the scriptures that I had been guided to this decision, led to where we were at and that I knew it was the right way to go. Answer number one. End of fretting. Next issue. Part of Samantha's problems have included eating (nursing) ALL THE TIME. Literally around the clock, simply because she couldn't fill up her little tummy and with reflux it feels better to nurse so food is going down instead of up. After going through the motions of what was going to have to happen before surgery it dawned on me that from past experience you are not supposed to eat/drink anything after midnight the night before. With surgery scheduled for 8:15am I FREAKED. How in the world would this little baby going to handle that? I got right on the phone and asked if breast milk followed the same rules...they said it didn't, but she still had to go four hours without eating. I took a deep breath realizing how much better that would be than going all night, BUT was still concerned about the four hours looming ahead.

The night came with much anxiety. She went to bed as normal and slept really well. At four AM my alarm went off and I got up to feed her. She fed HORRIBLY. I started to get really anxious at that point because I knew that if she didn't eat well it was inevitably going to be the LONGEST four hours of my life! She went back to sleep, Andy and I got ready to go to the hospital. Once in the car she slept for a about 10 minutes and then woke up screaming as normal (she absolutely HATES the car). She cried for a good 20 minutes until we arrived at the hospital. One hour down 3 more to go. We parked the car, went into the hospital and got all situated in the room we were supposed to wait. Andy took Samantha because she was still crying and started walking her around. She fell asleep...and stayed asleep for the next 3 hours. Answer number two. Andy kept looking over at me and saying there must be an angel standing behind him because this was truly miraculous. And it was. She slept until we passed her over to the nurses to take her to the OR. (Note picture above)

There were several other small miracles but this one was a direct answer as it was my biggest concern. I know that we are watched over and I believe Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have a tender place for small children. I see prayers answered ALL the time regarding my children and I know it's because of His love for them.

Post surgery has to be the absolute WORST part. Any of you mothers that have experienced this know exactly what I mean. It's a feeling of absolute helplessness and as a mother that is Not fun.

So swollen with all those IV fluids in her little body.

She was so sleepy afterwards, which was a good thing.

Utah Trip

Katie showing Kaylee and I her new puppy that she is going to get after all her surgeries this summer.

Ali and Perris glowing with their happy baby bump. I believe she was 36 weeks here, she looks good huh?

As many of you know this new baby has kind of given me a run for my money. She's very needy and has been a bit of a challenge. I've had to do A LOT of sitting, nursing and just simply not going anywhere at all. It gets old fast. So one day I decided I needed to visit my sisters in Utah. Ali was having a baby shower for her soon to be first born and that seemed to be the perfect excuse. I found some straight through flights and off Kaylee, Samantha and I went. Going from 88 degrees to 32 degrees...I loved every second of it. I of course left my camera in the car as we hurried to get to the airport, so my phone was second best, thus the poor picture quality :0)