happy birthday kirk!

i just wanted to wish one of my best friends a very happy birthday, my brother kirk! i think the world of my brother & i love that we are so close. he is the one person i have been close to my entire life. he has always looked out for me & always been there for me. the relationship that we have means the world to me! not only the relationship that we have, but also the relationship that he has with todd & the kids. my kids adore him & love him so much. talk about an amazing uncle...he is always there to support my kids. he takes time out of his busy life to be there & be a part of their lives. my kids know they can always count on him. one of their favorite things to do is call him on tyson's phone, super cute! thanks kirk for being such a wonderful part of our lives. we hope you have the best birthday ever!

*this picture is courtesy of baylie so sorry it's a little blurry. it's hard to find pictures of the photographer because he's always behind the camera. this made me realize we need to take more pictures of him.

*i just want to thank kirk & sweet susan for last night. they had us over for a bbq before the jazz game & then watched our kids for us so we could go to the game. these 2 are the most generous & giving people i know, always thinking of others.

*thanks babe for a fun night at the game, wish they would have won. it was fun hanging out with my sweet husband. seems like life has been so busy & we haven't been out for a while. you're the best & i love you!

the nursery

oh man i'm loving crew's nursery! it is turning out better than i even expected. thanks to my fabulous husband for working so hard on it. it's almost done, well besides the bedding & decorating. i'm still looking for the perfect bedding. i want something kind of different. i would love something that had a darker orange, brown, & some blue or something along those lines. if any of you know of any stores or websites that sell the less traditional stuff please leave a post. i was so bummed yesterday when i got the new pottery barn kids. there wasn't anything i liked. i haven't been to thrilled with their stuff lately. i have some fun ideas in my head of decorations for the shelves in his room & can't wait to put it all together. can you tell i like to be prepared, getting his room done 4 1/2 months early? lol! i can't believe that next week i will be half way there. yeah!

the story that made me cry!

my dear friend amy b. sent this to me today and said try not to cry, yeah right. amazing story, but i can almost guarantee it will make you cry.


She jumped up as soon as she saw the surgeon come out of the operating room. She said: 'How is my little boy? Is he going to be all right? When can I see him?'
The surgeon said, 'I'm sorry. We did all we could, but your boy didn't make it.'
Sally said, 'Why do little children get cancer? Doesn't God care any more? Where were you, God, when my son needed you?'
The surgeon asked, 'Would you like some time alone with your son? One of the nurses will be out in a few minutes, before he's transported to the university.'
Sally asked the nurse to stay with her while she said good bye to son. She ran her fingers lovingly through his thick red curly hair. 'Would you like a lock of his hair?' the nurse asked. Sally nodded yes. The nurse cut a lock of the boy's hair, put it in a plastic bag and handed it to Sally.
The mother said, 'It was Jimmy's idea to donate his body to the University for Study. He said it might help somebody else. 'I said no at first, but Jimmy said, 'Mom, I won't be using it after I die. Maybe it will help some other little boy spend one more day with his Mom.' She went on, 'My Jimmy had a heart of gold. Always thinking of someone else. Always wanting to help others if he could.'
Sally walked out of Children's Mercy Hospital for the last time, after spending most of the last six months there. She put the bag with Jimmy's belongings on the seat beside her in the car.
The drive home was difficult. It was even harder to enter the empty house. She carried Jimmy's belongings, and the plastic bag with the lock of his hair to her son's room.
She started placing the model cars and other personal things back in his room exactly where he had always kept them. She lay down across his bed and, hugging his pillow, cried herself to sleep.
It was around midnight when Sally awoke. Lying beside her on the bed was a folded letter. The letter said:
'Dear Mom,
I know you're going to miss me; but don't think that I will ever forget you, or stop loving you, just 'cause I'm not around to say 'I Love You'. I will always love you, Mom, even more with each day. Someday we will see each other again. Until then, if you want to adopt a little boy so you won't be so lonely, that's okay with me. He can have my room and old stuff to play with. But, if you decide to get a girl instead, she probably wouldn't like the same things us boys do. You'll have to buy her dolls and stuff girls like, you know.
Don't be sad thinking about me. This really is a neat place. Grandma and Grandpa met me as soon as I got here and showed me around some, but it will take a long time to see everything. The angels are so cool. I love to watch them fly. And, you know what? Jesus doesn't look like any of his pictures. Yet, when I saw Him, I knew it was Him. Jesus himself took me to see GOD! And guess what, Mom? I got to sit on God's knee and talk to Him, like I was somebody important. That's when I told Him that I wanted to write you a letter, to tell you good bye and everything. But I already knew that wasn't allowed. Well, you know what Mom? God handed me some paper and His own personal pen to write you this letter I think Gabriel is the name of the angel who is going to drop this letter off to you. God said for me to give you the answer to one of the questions you asked Him where was He when I needed him?' 'God said He was in the same place with me, as when His son Jesus was on the cross. He was right there, as He always is with all His children.
Oh, by the way, Mom, no one else can see what I've written except you. To everyone else this is just a blank piece of paper. Isn't that cool? I have to give God His pen back now He needs it to write some more names in the Book of Life. Tonight I get to sit at the table with Jesus for supper. I'm sure the food will be great.
Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. I don't hurt anymore the cancer is all gone.. I'm glad because I couldn't stand that pain anymore and God couldn't stand to see me hurt so much, either. That's when He sent The Angel of Mercy to come get me. The Angel said I was a Special Delivery! How about that?
Signed with Love from God, Jesus & Me.

remembering the simple & small things

i first have to thank my sweet friend melissa for the post on her blog this morning. she posted about the little things this morning that made her happy.
we woke up to snow this morning, nice way to start the day! needless to say i was a little irritated. oh & then the drive to work made me even more irritated. if the weather ever changes even the slightest in utah the majority of people forget how to drive. it kills me! after reading lissa's blog it made me realize i have so much to be grateful & happy about. winston churchill once said, "attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference!" so here's to a good, happy attitude today.

here are some things i'm grateful for this cold winter/spring morning: :0)
*todd working so hard on crew's room, i am loving it. i promise i will post pictures.
*a patient & loving husband that works so hard for our family.
*my 2 sweet kids & the 1 on the way.
*ultrasounds, love seeing the little crew man.
*good friends, the ones that are always there for you no matter what.
*sunshine, i haven't really seen it today, but man do i love it!
*my camera, a way to capture the lives of my children & family.

i hope you all have a wonderful thursday & that you can find the sunshine in the snow!

happy birthday tif w!

i just wanted to wish my sweet sister-in-law tif a happy birthday! she is the amazing mother of 4 cute kids & is very talented. she keeps our family together & does so much for everyone else. she is always thinking of others & has never once put herself first. she's so tiny & cute & we just love her. tif is hardworking & always on the go with her kids. even though she has her own little family to take care of she is an amazing care taker of my sweet mother-in-law. i admire tif & all her amazing qualities. we love you tif & hope that you have a wonderful birthday, you deserve it!

easter 2008...long post, but worth the read

i couldn't believe how early easter was this year. we went to the syracuse city easter egg hunt, my sister-in-law lives there. my kids didn't do so hot on picking up the eggs. todd told them this coming year we were going to have easter egg hunt training. lol! so at this egg hunt you empty out all of your eggs before you leave & give the eggs back. i noticed that tys had a few with coupons in them. i didn't think much of it when todd said you can redeem the coupons at the west bowery. that's a store i've never heard of, that's what i was thinking as he said it. duh! so we get in the car & leave. we are driving home & todd & i are both frustrated that our kids didn't do so well. can you tell we're competitive? i start looking through their baskets & read one of the coupons..."redeem at the west bowery the day of the easter egg hunt". light bulb moment!!! duh, bowery! it finally clicked with the brain dead pregnant lady. these coupons were good too, easter basket filled with prizes, grab bags, full size candy bars, etc. tys had 4 i believe & bay had 1 or 2. so todd turns the car around & we go back to redeem their coupons. now it's all making sense...no wonder we were the 1st ones out of the parking lot everyone else was redeeming their coupons. needless to say by the time we got there all the baskets were gone, but we made out with a way cute stuffed chick from target, some candy bars, & fun grab bags that were filled with fun easter prizes. all in all the kids did pretty good & we apologized.
on to the next egg hunt. 2 fabulous families in our neighborhood started this egg hunt in their yards 9 years ago. 1 of the families has moved, we miss you guys, but the new family has continued with the other family with the fun tradition. my sister-in-law carrie & her two girls joined us again this year. well it was hilarious because it's divided into sections & baylie & saige were not letting anyone in front of them. they held hands until the start & then they were off. holy cow those 2 did good. baylie's basket was completely filled! i guess our little talk paid off or maybe the other one was a warm up. poor tyson was sick! he was acting a little funny, but i just thought he was tired. as soon as we got home todd took him to his room because he said he didn't feel good & not even 2 min. later he was yelling that he just threw up! fabulous!! you know i've always loved hot chocolate until i was cleaning hot chocolate throw up from his bedroom carpet & trying not to lose it myself. poor little dude, i felt horrible for him. he was so sick that he cancelled his "special date" with todd & some friends for the jazz game that night.
we woke to fun easter baskets that the kids enjoyed & a yummy easter breakfast, thanks todd. that afternoon we took a picnic to this awesome park in kaysville/fruit heights. the weather was perfect & the kids had so much fun. this was our first easter ever that we didn't spend it with family. wow, that's a crazy thought. we enjoyed our relaxing day & we're looking forward to another easter celebration this weekend with the denning side.
sorry for the long post, congratulations if you made it through the whole thing. lol!
here is a link to our fun easter pictures. i hope you all had a fabulous easter too!

playing catch up

last week i went to dallas for work & man i feel really out of it now. i have so much to get caught up on.
i had to post these pictures i took last night of the princess. i was taking some pictures of a craft that i made for a craft group & of course she wanted some pictures taken of her, such a poser! the first one is my favorite! there were some others, but blogger is being a pain & i can't get them to upload correctly. maybe later. happy tuesday everyone!

*please note, we don't usually go around our house topless, but bay wanted to wear a specific night shirt to bed & she couldn't find it & i hadn't made it that far. you know how it is if you have kids. lol!