Random Happenings

A sample of what's been going on at our place lately:

 With all of my children, I have one precious picture of them asleep as a baby. They are so sweet when they sleep. I realized I didn't have one of Max, so the past week I kept sneaking in take his picture while he was napping, and I kept waking him up. This picture shows how much he appreciates my attempts to capture his cuteness!

Eve got into the KoolAid. 'Nuff said.

Kate decided to give Eve a make-over while I folded laundry. This is the finished product. Kate said to me "Doesn't she look like a movie star?" I guess that depends on what movies you watch, my dear.

Max started eating rice cereal. So far, so good. He's also working on sitting up, and scooting around backwards (imagine a caterpillar on its' back scooting along.)

There's a lot of baby love around here, but Kate is definitely the biggest helper with Max. Every morning she likes to be the one who changes his diaper and picks out his clothes.

We made butterflies out of toilet paper rolls and cereal boxes (via Pinterest). There's so much I love about this picture-- the lighting, the way Evie is so carefully dipping her paintbrush, her enormous paint shirt. But maybe the best part is how even 3 days later she keeps telling me, "Mommy, my butterfly is the very beautifullest."

Max, 6 months

Indulge me...

My name is Max. I have brown hair and brown eyes. And little bubbles that come out of my mouth.

I am six months old now. My favorite person is my mommy. I love her so much that I can't be apart from her for more than two hours, even at night.

 My nicknames are Little Chief and Stinky. Who comes up with these things?

I love my sisters. Even the one who lays on top of me and calls it hugging.

I also love my dog. She takes my toys away, but she doesn't seem to mind when I pull on her ears. And, she licks up my spit-up, so I guess we're pals.

Gluten Free Girls

 When I first found out about my Celiac, I learned that it is a genetic disease. In fact, odds of one of my children having the disease are 25%. Instinctively I knew it would be Kate. She has always complained of tummy aches, had diarrhea, etc. So, when we were in the doctor's office for her the day after Thanksgiving because we thought she had appendicitis, I asked them to test do the Celiac panel when they drew her blood.
That was a crazy, emotional day. The good news was that our little girl didn't need to have surgery. The bad news was that she was traumatized from IVs, ultrasounds, and CT scans. When we found out she was okay to go home, I didn't give a second thought to the Celiac panel.

That is, until I took Max in for his well check in January. Just out of curiosity, I asked the doctor about Kate's results and it turned out her levels were sky high! We immediately scheduled an appointment with a pediatric GI, but were told it would take two months to get in.
In the meantime, Anna and Eve both started complaining of tummy aches. At first I blew it off, thinking they were jealous of the extra attention Kate was getting. But we eventually got their tests done as well. Anna's level was even higher than Kate's, but Eve's was normal. To give you a reference-- Kate's was 150, Anna's was 165, and Eve's was 4. I think anything above 100 indicates Celiac disease.

We met with the GI who advised us to have an endoscopy done on Kate. The reason for this is because if it were not Celiac disease and we imposed a gluten free lifestyle on her, it may not even fix whatever was causing her tummy problems. Plus she'd go her whole life without a creme puff for no reason.
Kate was NOT happy about having to get a scope done, but when the day came, she toughed it out. (No pictures because Trav took her.) The results showed that it is clearly Celiac, and her doctor said it would be safe to assume the same for Anna, even without a scope.
So there you go. Three gluten free girls in this family.
There's only one thing to do in this situation. Stuff yourself full of pizza, then say goodbye to gluten forever. We'd always wanted to take the kids to Pirate Island Pizza, so the Saturday after they were diagnosed, we headed up there. Imagine our surprise to find a lock on the door! Apparently there was a fire in the kitchen a few months ago and it closed down.

We decided to make do with Pizza Pie Cafe. The kids love that place, but I couldn't think of what I would eat there. (I was NOT going to try a gluten binge, thank you very much.) This turned out to be the best thing ever because Pizza Pie Cafe now serves gluten free pizza! I have been searching for gluten free pizza for 4 months and hadn't found it. I was so thrilled to finally know of a place to get some!
Anyway, the kids wanted to do their gluten-glut so they got the regular stuff and enjoyed every last morsel. Especially the Oreo pizza; that does not come in gluten free.

And they had tummy aches the rest of the day to show for it.

2012 Word

Here we are at the beginning of March, and I think I've finally come up with my word for the year. You know, the one word that sums up what I am trying to become this year? In 2010 it was Rejoice. In 2011 it was Bless. And the word for 2012.... Do.

Do. As in

Just Do It.

I will go and do the things which the Lord has commanded....

Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only

I can do hard things

Make it do

I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me

Do what is right

I feel like I have so many aspirations of the kind of person I want to be. I imagine myself being compassionate, educated, confident, kind, righteous, etc. when I am "grown up." The only trouble is, I am grown up! If I want to become those things, then I had better start doing something about it! 

So this is my year. My year to spend more time playing with my kids, more time enjoying the mountains, more time serving in my community, more time loving my husband, more time growing close to the Savior. It is my year to Do.

For me, doing will mean engaging in purposeful activities. I will have to limit my time on Pinterest for sure, because as much as I love it, it only gets me with a longer list of projects I want to do and less time to do them. I will also have to limit the time I waste in other ways, so that I might use my precious minutes to do something productive. 

Do implies action. It implies gumption, pushing yourself through difficult circumstances till you come out on top, or at least finish the race. Do implies getting something done, whether it's a bathroom re-do or calling a long lost friend. Do means actually doing something after you ask your visiting teachee "Is there anything I can do for you?"

Do means the world (at least my world) will be a better place because I'm in it. 

Because I want to be like Grandpa Max, who wholly deserved it when we sang this hymn at his funeral almost eight years ago:

Have I done any good in the world today?

Have I helped anyone in need?

Have I cheered up the sad? 

Or made someone feel glad?

If not, I have failed indeed.

January 2012

It's been so long since I've written because life has been so busy! We've got some crazy stuff going on with Trav's job, I just got put into Young Womens, and the kids are all doing various extracurriculars. So, I have been writing this post for about 2 weeks because I never get more than 5 minutes to work on it. 

Anyway, this year for New Year's Eve we hosted a little party with some friends. Everyone brought their kids, so it ended at 9 pm when the kids got cranky, but we had a fun time. I had 14 children in my house that night. This photo is from the ice cream sundae break we took.

Eve is sure growing up! She turned three in December, so the first Sunday of the year she started Sunbeams. Here she is, ready for church. It turns out that Eve is quite shy, but only when her sisters are not around. She has had a hard time adjusting to Sunbeams, but luckily her teacher Sister Lyman is an Angel on Earth, and Eve is starting to come around. She loves to tell us what they do in Primary and her favorite song is "A Child's Prayer." I sat in with her for the first few minutes of her third week in Sharing Time, and when the kids all stood up to recite the Primary theme, Eve was able to do part of the theme. My heart was so touched when I heard her say that she is a child of God and she can pray to Him anytime, anywhere. I love this girl!

This has been a crazy winter without much snow. We have taken to hiking in the foothills near Spanish Fork. The kids and the dog get a kick out of it.

Even cute little Max snuggles up and hikes with us in the Snugli.. He is such a cute guy!

Finally the snow came! It was only a few inches, but these kids were thrilled to bundle up and get out there and play.

The girls made a snow-couple with our neighbor Callie.

Then inside for some hot cocoa. We love hot cocoa around here. I'm pretty sure it's a big part of the reason they like to play in the snow.

I saw this cute FHE lesson on Sugardoodle while I was preparing a YW lesson. It uses the movie Tangled and talks about how we are royal children separated from our Father, the King. The kids really got into it, and loved decorating their own crowns.

Evie started dance class this month. She has so much energy and we wanted to have something special that was just for her, so she is in a creative dance class. She loves it! She calls it her ballerina class, to which she wears a "leotar-a" and a "flu-flu". So funny.

Little Max is so stinkin' cute. He is a very happy baby and loves all the attention he gets from his big sisters. He just started rolling (Feb. 16) and has already rolled himself into trouble-- once into the bookshelf and once off my bed. Good thing he's a tough guy!

My parents took the kids to Build a Bear to celebrate Eve's bday a little late (because of my dad's accident). This is Eve watching her bear get stuffed.

And Anna giving hers a bath.

They had to give their bear's heart a little kiss before putting it inside.

I wish I had taken a photo of all three girls with their bears. Build a Bear was a lot of fun, even for me. They let the kids try on whatever bear outfits they wanted, and Kate worked on it for about 25 minutes before settling on one outfit. Cute girl!

Christmas

Christmas was wonderful this year. I loved having it on a Sunday. We attended sacrement meeting at Trav's parents' ward and the bishopric passed the sacrament as a special way for them to serve the Savior and that really made the ordinance more meaningful to me. Also, I think that this Christmas season was touching for me because I had my own baby boy to hold and love as I thought of Mary and her dear Son. A mother's love is powerful, but it is nothing compared to the love Christ has for us.

And, on to the more frivolous moments of Christmas.... Trav built a dollhouse for the girls! I've had my eye on this project for a couple years, and this year we finally managed to pull it together. Poor Travis, he says he has no hobbies, he just does whatever I tell him to. It's kind of true. :( Anyway, it turned out super cute and the girls love it.

All dressed up in their new Christmas dresses...

After church we all met at Trav's parents' house for food and presents. The grandkids put together their own nativity play using Grandma Nancy's dress-ups. They were adorable, even if it didn't exactly go with the setting of the story. Like how Anna is wearing a teddy bear nightgown and is playing the part of Mary.

Then we went to my parents' house for more food and presents. Here's my dad and baby Max. My poor dad. I can't wait till he gets feeling better.

My parents gave the girls Pillow Pets this year and they are a major hit! Even Travis and I want one because they are so snuggly!

December 2011

December was a fun and busy month for us.

 We made these sugar cone Christmas trees that I saw on Pinterest for FHE one night. Okay, Kate actually saw them and wanted to do them. My girls love Pinterest almost as much as I do-- they love to scroll through the pictures and tell me what they like. So funny!

 My birthday started with this giant stuffed crocodile on our doorstep. It's being passed around the ward with a note that says "You're CROCtastic!" and you're supposed to pass it along to someone else who has been of service to you. It's a funny idea, and it was especially funny because Daisy was FREAKED OUT by it. So we had to take it upstairs.

 Which led to this. I was trying to take a nap and Eve was playing quietly in her room. Only later did I discover what she had been doing. It was all over the upstairs! Look at her poor sad face when I told her she needed to clean it up!

 So, if you've received the crocodile and noticed the duct tape on the tail, that's from us. Because Eve whacked it pretty hard one time, made tons of beans fall out, and decided to do it over and over again.

Here's me and my birthday cake. I made a GF Apple Cake which was yummy, and my super nice cake-decorator friend also brought over a GF chocolate cake as a surprise. Both were delicious, but especially Kari's. For the rest of the week I snuck a piece every time I walked through the kitchen. And so I hold Kari responsible for the 5 pounds I gained that week. :)
My birthday was lots of fun. I went to lunch with my two good friends from the ward, had a good dinner and FHE with my family, and Trav got me tickets to Wicked next August. Woot!

 Eve's birthday was the next week. We celebrated it during the summer, but had to do something special on her big day. In the morning she went to McDonald's with Trav for breakfast (a bday tradition in our family). We just kind of hung out and played all day, then made her favorite dinner and chocolate cake. And so, another week of eating cake every time I was in the kitchen. My, how I love buttercream frosting!

 Eve chose to go see the Festival of Lights for her birthday activity. It was so great! Each one of our kids was enchanted by the lights, especially the ones that moved. I was sitting in the back of the van with Anna, and she kept saying "Thank you so much for letting us do this." We had a great time. When we got home, some of our friends came caroling to our house (like as soon as we pulled up, so really they caroled to our van). It was sweet but it kind of freaked Eve out. Ever since she has talked about how on her birthday all the people came to see her, but no one sang Happy Birthday. Funny girl.

I did a little photo shoot with Eve on my bed on her birthday. She is so hilarious! She can't sit still to save her life and she makes the funniest faces. My little Eve is spunky, sweet, excited, and smart. I am so glad she is in our family!