With good intentions but didn't quite make it.....

What a year this has been! I had every intention of getting cards out but then it just wasn't meant to be. This year has been quite a roller coaster so hopefully that means that things will calm down a bit next year but I am not holding my breath! I thought that maybe this year I would tell you the highlights that happened with each of us during this eventful year.

Coulton: Our Coulton has had such a big year this year! He turned 12 February 1st and he was ordained a deacon by his dad. This was huge to him! He has been very diligent in learning how to pass the sacrament and learning how to honor his priesthood. He was even the 1st counselor in the deacons Quorum over the summer, and got to do baptisms for the dead for the first time in October. In school he also reached a milestone and started 7th grade at Lehi Junior high school, he has loved going to school, but with 8 classes it's a bit more challenging that he expected. He attended his first school dance in October and even danced with a girl to a fast song (and he asked her!).

When Coulton turned 12 he also got to advance from 11 year old scout to being a full fledged scout! Coulton loves scouting and has made tons of progress since February. He has made 3 rank advancements from Scout to tenderfoot to 2nd class. He has 10 merit badges already with another 4 in progress, and most of them are ones required for his Eagle Scout.

In October Coulton passed another milestone when he broke a bone! Believe it or not he is the first one in our family to break a bone (not even Mom and Dad have done that one). He broke his pinky finger on his right had playing football with his friend across the street. He was really funny in the ER and almost was completely giddy when they told him it was broken. He reveled in his status until they put a cast on it- and it was no longer a fun thing! Of course he was able to get a camouflaged cast which has helped to make up for the fact that it itches and he can't write! The brace that replaced the stinky cast only has to be worn for 1 more week and then he will actually have the use of his entire hand back- I can't wait!

Taylor: Our Taylor has been so fun this year. She is getting old enough to really help Mom and start to learn how to do so many fun things! She is to the point where she can even cook some things by herself! She has also started learning how to baby sit and has been able to go over to her Aunt Heather's and watch Spencer and Rachel while their parents (who work from home) get some work done. Taylor loves going to Achievement days and has been learning so much about so many things that are helping her to become an amazing daughter of our Heavenly Father.

Taylor turned 10 in April, and it’s hard to believe that she is getting so big! She is starting to be able to use her creativity to make a difference in her world. She is always making up fun things to do for her and her sisters, whether they are making paper dolls or playing wizard you know that Taylors mind is working in over drive! Taylor started 5th grade this year and was so excited that her 2 best friends are in her class! She also ran for Student Counsel and MADE it! She has been so excited to be able to join the student counsel meetings and plan things for the school. They have recently been planning things such as a food drive and Christmas activities! She always comes home brimming with news of all of the stuff that they got to do for student counsel!

Taylor has also been really excited that this year the girls get to walk to and from school every day with her best friend Ashley. Plus Ashley's mom has been helping us in the mornings only have to drive the kids in to town once, by letting the kids come to her house to wait for it to be time to walk to school.

Mara: Mara is our ray of sunshine, and constantly amazes us with the way that she cares for others. Mara turned 8 in January and she was baptized by her dad and confirmed by her grandpa. This happened the same weekend that Coulton was ordained so it was only fitting that we had a big party. We where able to get the church and Grammie helped us get all of the food together (she is the catering wiz now!) we all ate until we couldn't eat any more and still had too much food! 8 is a great birthday because Mara got to start going to Achievement days! She has been so excited to be able to go and learn how to do things with Taylor and the other girls.

In school Mara started 3rd grade this year. She loves her teacher and the other students in her class. She loves to run and her favorite past time is chasing boys, the bad part for the boys is that she is faster than they are so she is always able to catch them. Mara also has a really tender heart and when she sees someone in need of a hug she usually doesn't hold back. Unfortunately, needing a hug does not necessarily make the other students comfortable with getting one and she has had to learn to hold her hugs back and give things like high 5's instead.

Mara is also our child that tends to feel things more than others. When Andy started getting sick in October she was the first one to be really concerned for him. She also had a harder time understanding our move to Grammies and Papa's house because she really just wanted us to be in our own house! Not to mention Mara had a really hard time leaving her friends, but she is so glad that she gets to stay in the same school for the rest of the year so that she can still play with them there.

Lexia: Well my baby is not really a baby anymore! After graduating from Kindergarten in May, Lexi turned 6 this summer and started 1st grade! She is doing amazing in school and is constantly amazing me with how fast that she is learning. She is really starting to get the hang of reading and even better spelling! She has brought home quite a few 100% spelling tests which are also helping her with her reading. Our Lexi has been doing amazing with all of the changes that we have made the last couple of months and seems to be more able to adapt to the changes than the rest of them. We are not sure if it’s her age or her resilience that keeps her optimism up!

Lexi is really into her American girl dolls and you can find her making sure that Alice's hair is done in the latest style and that Baby Ann is well cared for. I think that she is definitely going to be our little mother around here. Lexi loves trying to steal any alone time that she can with Mom and Dad whether it’s just a trip to the store for milk or sneaking into bed with Dad when Mom is tucking the other kids in!

Lexi is also our artistically inclined child. She loves anything to do with drawing or writing stories and loves anything to do with crayons or markers, and glue. Lexi is also our cuddle bug and has been right there when both her parents have needed a little extra sunshine when we have been sick this year.

Andy: What a year this has been! Andy is still working at Cabela's and was promoted to a training manager in the spring. He completely loves being able to work with and around guns and it has been a lot of fun for him. Andy has also been going to school this year, online, and will have his associates degree by the middle of January! He spent most of October sick and we couldn't figure out why but after a barrage of tests we finally where able to determine that his gall bladder was not functioning much as was making him incredibly ill. He had surgery to remove it in November and is starting to feel 100% better! They even let him go back to work just before Christmas so that he wasn't going crazy just being at home.

Tammy: Well this year has been a year of doctors for us! In May I started having anaphylactic reactions that they couldn't stop and they put me in the hospital for a week. After tons of steroids they finally let me go home but I was a very sick person. This however, led me to Cheryl, my wonderful therapist that has been helping me to work through all of the things that I have ignored in my life and has helped me to become a much better and happier person. Not to mention healthier. I have started really working on self improvement this year (and I have even gotten Andy to do it with me) and it has made it a better year for me. I am still working at 1-800 CONTACTS and even though it gets a bit repetitive I am so glad that I work for such great company!

The end of this year has been a bit of a trial. Our landlord decided that he was going to have all of the properties that he owns vacated and sold. We ended up having to be out by November 7th and with Andy down sick with his Gallbladder and us trying to be able to buy a house we loaded up all of our stuff into PODS and moved in with Andy's parents for a while as we finished repairing our credit and Andy had surgery. We are so grateful to have such wonderful parents that are willing to take us and 4 kids in for several months.

I am sure that the next year is going to bring its share of changes- and hopefully it won’t be to long before we are able to look at houses again. When ever it is we know that the lord has a plan for us we just need to have the faith to be able to see things through to the end. We are so grateful that the lord has lead us to have so many great friends that have touched our lives in so many ways. Thank you for being a part of our lives.

Sometimes its hard to see the good~

So I am trying to be more thankful especially as we near Christmas.....

I am thankful for wonderful In-Laws that would take all 6 of us in when we had no where else to go.

I am thankful that even though we are spending about $800 in gas a month its less than my rent was.

I am greatful that when Andy had to be out of work for 2 months and it could have ruined us financially it hasn't.

I am greatful that I was able to take time off work to help Andy get to all his appointments.

I am greatful that I passed my kidney stone and that they gave me a shot for the strep so I dont have to take 10 days of pills.

I am greatful that my kids are handleing living with their grandparents even though sometimes its not easy.

I am greatful that I followed the promptings that told me to get my christmas shopping done before we moved.

I am greatful that the lord has a plan for us even if he wont tell me what it is yet.

I am greatful that we have health insurance becuase we almost canceled it back in May.

I am so greatful that I have 4 wonderful loving children

I am so greatful to have my husband of almost 17 years- it hasn't always been easy but it has always been worth it

I know that there are more I just can't name them all right now

Well We have been having a bad day- of course its a really long day

We have almost gotten over the broken finger (he is just in a splint now and only has 3 more weeks in it!) Taylor is to the end of having to tape her toe up (Yea!) Andy gets to go back to work on the 19th (double yea!) And then I had to go and get a kidney stone. Of course it would be me that throws a wrench into the whole enchilada. Tuesday at about midnight I kindof felt like someone had stabbed me in the back on my right side. Now I have had 4 kids and I will have to say that kidney stones are worse than labor. The pain in labor comes and goes but not so with a kidney stone, also you know that when you are in labor it is going to end and you get a bonus at the end of it, not so with a kidney stone. It still hasn't ended and the only bonus is that it will be gone. But here we are now on Friday and the stupid stone is still hanging around, which means another doctors office (like we haven't seen enough doctors in the last 2 months) So yep we are just having a bad day- of course its a REALLY long day.

Are we there yet?

So I have been a little stressed lately- I think that it’s totally understandable but it has left me a bit witchy lately. Between moving, surgery, broken fingers and fractured toes (yep that was Taylor and her run in with the leg on the coffee table). Not to mention trying to shop for Christmas, driving the kids to Lehi for school, trying not to make ourselves nuisances for Andy's parents, its been a lot overwhelming. So here is to hoping that life will settle into a routine here in the very near future. But until then I would like to say I am sorry for being short tempered, to tired, having a headache, and just downright stressed. But then I know that you understand :)

YEA its over!

just an update for those who are wanting to know. Andy's surgery went well on Thursday. They removed his gall bladder and took a look around and didn't find anything else. Which is a good thing :) He is slowly coming out of all the drugs and isn't feeling too bad, but of course the pain pills are helping with that. But today was better than yesterday so tomorrow should be better than today. We are still not sure if it took care of the entire problem, but our fingers are crossed!

Update

Just thought that I would update everyone on Andy. He is scheduled for surgery on Thursday but we won't know what time until Wednesday. They will be taking his gallbladder out at St Marks and it should just be outpatient barring complications.

New this week!

Well the last week has been a busy one for us first Coulton went back to the hand surgeon and they x-rayed his hand again adn replaced his cast. Thank Heavens we really are not going to need to have surgery on his hand!!

Also Taylor entered reflections this year for the first time. She is definatly our creative one! She did a post of drawings of each of the four seasons for the theme of Beauty is.. We will post a picture of it when we get it back BUT.. She won 2nd place in the 5th grade!

If you can't tell she is really proud of her accomplishment!

OK I maybe spoke to soon....

Well after talking with the surgeon yesterday, he is very concerned that while Andy's gallbladder is definately causing problems he is not sure that its the only thing wrong. He has symptoms of gallbladder disease but he also has symptoms that are not consistent with the disease. So they are going to go in tomorrow and do an upper scope to make sure that there isn't anythign wrong with his small intestines that they will need to fix while they are in taking out his gallbladder. So I will let you know tomorrow how it goes!

Eureka!!!!

Well for once all of the tests and doctors appointments have been worth it! We just found out today that Andy's gallbladder is only working at 9% of normal- so it might as well not be working at all! In other words it has joined the other side. So they are going to take it out! We see the surgeon tomorrow and they will schedule a date hopefully not to far from now. But Yea!! we finally know what is making him so sick - now maybe he will be able to regain the 20 lbs that he lost in the last 4 weeks :)

Moving Day is finally here

Moving Day is Officially Saturday November 7th! That is just a couple of days away. We are starting at about 8:30 am and can use all of the help we can get! The next question that you are all going to ask is where are you going.... Its a really good question but we really don't know the answer. For now we are putting all of our stuff in storage (oh I hope that 2 -16 foot PODS are enough) And are going to go and stay with Andy's parents for hopefully just about 4-6 weeks. We are still trying to buy a house but our credit score is just not going up as fast as we want it to. Not that it has very far to go but we have to make it to 620. So if you can come and help PLEASE do so, you can never have to many people helping.

Moving Date

So we finally heard back from the landlord. He is able to give us an extra week but that is all. So we have to be out by November 7th. The good news is that he isn't even going to charge us rent for the extra week. The Bad news is that we don't have a loan yet. I wish that I could say that I was really panicked about this but the truth is that I really am not. Maybe my faith is finally kicking in and I know that everything is going to be ok. Keep your fingers crossed that when everything reports at the first of the month our credit scores will come back high enough. By the way we will need help moving that day even if we don't get the loan so who ever can we would be grateful!

Its just a flesh wound......

When you are 12 years old and playing football you don't really pay attention to where ALL of your fingers are right?????

I just spend a couple of delightful hours in the ER with a 12 year old boy almost giddy that he was the first one to break a bone! Thank heavens its a small bone in his PINKY! But none the less its still a bone and its still broken. We do have to go and see a surgeon because of course he had to break it into a joint. Notice the smile in this picture... sure the pain is about an 8 but hey they gave him copies of the x-ray, put a splint on his finger, and he tried to talk the doctor into letting him still play softball in PE. Nothing like a night in the ER!

Is it over yet?

I keep asking myself this over and over lately. But no its not over yet. We did put in a call to our landlord to see if he will let us stay through the month of November but we still have yet to hear back from him. We are continuing to work with the credit repair place and our scores are coming up, it will be interesting to see what happens at the beginning of the month. Our house is starting to look pretty empty as we continue to pack up. We are stacking all of the boxes in the garage so they don't take over the house. Its been hard to figure out what to pack, because we don't know if we are staying here a week or another month. We are still praying ALOT and trying to keep our faith up. We will keep you posted!

Sometimes life just sucks-

Yep now is one of those times.

I need to vent-

VENT

ok Now I think I feel better

Maybe-

Nope didn't work, Better luck next time I guess......

I hate this!

So our chicken landlord finally decided to call us, after we have been trying to get ahold of him for over a month now. He left me a voicemail saying that he called us in the middle of August and told us that we had 45 days to vacate because he was selling. Yep- I hit the roof! Not only did we not get a call we certainly didn't get anything in writing! Its not like he doesn't have our address! So I of course called him back and left him a voicemail that said in a nice but (well I used my mom voice) firm tone that we never got his stupid message and that I would be glad to move my the end of October but if he thought I was moving by the end of September (6 days away) that he could either change his mind or be mad at us because we weren't leaving.
To his credit he called me back in about 90 min (of course it was 90 min of me getting angrier by the second). He didn't have a problem with us being out by the end of October (good thing!) and that he was sorry that he had to sell but he was having financial troubles and had to sell the properties that he owned. Now he was calling me from Arizona, and I am pretty sure that he didn't own the house when I moved in. So I asked him if he had ever been in my house, of course he had never seen it, so I let him know just what the condition of this house was when we moved into it! I also let him know what we had done to it! Needless to say he didn't know any of it. I also told him that there was a slim to none chance that he was going to get what he was asking out of the house and that he might want to think about lowering the price if he ever wanted to sell it! Yep I felt better and I actually got what I wanted and made sure that I was NOT liable for anything that those horrible people who lived here before us did! (I want my deposit back!) So all in all I survived the encounter.
Now I just need to find a house to move into! We have found a complex that we are kindof stuck on. we have looked in EVERY available townhouse (about 14!) but are still not sure IF we are supposed to buy one and then WHICH one. We have narrowed it down to 6 (which is quite a ways) but there is no yard (Yea! no yard work, Boo! no dog or trampoline or swing set, you get the picture). I think its time to break out the industrial knee pads!

Family Pictures

I know that not everyone can have a professional photographer for a sister... but I do! I just love it when she says "I need to go and test some equipment can I take pictures of you guys while I do it??". Nothing like getting them done for free! Plus she is an amazing photographer :)

She even makes me look good!

My Cute family!

Not that she had to do much to make these 3 look Marvelous!

Careful He is starting to look like a teenager....

Future breaker of Boy's Hearts~

Have you ever seen a cuter 8 year old??

6 is starting to look pretty grown up

As you can see she does a wonderful job! And my kids are getting huge!

A tale of Green toes

Of all the colors that you could possibly paint your toe nails.... Green? My brother in law Tony got remarried on Saturday, to a wonderful girl that he dated in high school named Andree. I am so excited! We get along extremely well which is a relief as the last girl he dated I couldn't stand. He has 4 kids and she has 2 so together they have 6 kids! The thought of having to buy not only clothes for the wedding but new shoes for 6 kids was enough to make your wallet have a heart attack. So we decided that since the wedding was going to be just family and out in my in-laws back yard we would just let the kids go barefoot, because that's the way they would rather be anyway. Her colors where lime, silver and black so we thought that it would be really cute to paint all of the girls toenails to match the wedding colors. We were not going to do black or silver so they ended up green. As we were painting their 3 girls toes, my girls had to get theirs painted as well, and then they talked me into it. After there was 7 people with green toes my Mother-in-law decided that she needed to have her toes match her grandkids, and then Great Grandma Zaelit got in on the action too! It was such a hit that they had to have the photographer take a picture of our 4 generation's of lime green toes. We are so happy to welcome Andree, Staylee and Krayton into our family!

Again

Well there comes a time (OK well lots of times) in our life when we have to move. Unfortunately we just found out that this is one of those times. Our Landlord has decided to sell the house that we are living in so now we have to find a new one. Not that I will mind a new house so much its the packing and unpacking that I am NOT looking forward to!

Being a Mom is HARD!

I thought that this Mom stuff was supposed to get a little bit easier as the years have gone on. Yes I get more sleep, and I can actually go to the bathroom by myself. However, When you get up very early in the morning (well I do that anyway) but then you have to take you 12 year old and drop him off with a couple of well more of less strangers and say goodbye to him for an entire week just so he can go to scout camp and be a boy, its just to much. Who knew that scout camp at 12 would be harder than preschool at 3, kindergarten at 5, and first grade at 6 all put together. Compounding the situation is that 1 week from Wednesday my baby boy starts Junior high! I feel to old or maybe its young to have a child in Junior High, and to have my my other baby start first grade. I guess my kids just aren't little anymore. Who Knew!

Is summer over yet???

I was finally getting a moment to catch up on all of the blogs that I have missed, when I noticed that I have not posted 1 thing in 2 months! Well you are just going to have to deal with it! This summer has been excruciating for me. With both Andy and I trying to work and the kids trying to be at home (and not kill eachother) it has been almost more than I can handle. If you come to my house please make sure that you notice that it has not really been clean all summer. It took me several weeks just to come to terms with the fact that for the first summer ever my kids would not have a parent around with them. We were however able to find a wonderful babysitter (I refer to him as Micheal the angel) He comes in for 2 days a week, and without him the summer would have gone up in smoke (or the house, I don't want to speculate on which one would have gone up first!). I cannot wait for the next 17 days and my kids go back to school so that I don't have to sit at work and worry about them anymore. Once school starts I will hopefully be able to find my house, get my laundry done and stop going insane~ of course these are just goals you never know if they will actually happen! For now I am just going to be ecstatic that Grandma and Grandpa are being brave enough to take all 4 kids to the family reunion with them because Andy and I can't get the time off to go, so maybe I will get a kids vacation too even if its only 4 days!

Time to Graduate~

Graduation- the act of moving from one milestone to another, usually done in education.

OK well this isn't Webster its me but like every mother I dreamed of getting the perfect picture of my child getting their diploma and looking at me and smiling and me getting the best shot. Ha ha ha the universe has a sense of humor. I had 2 graduations Thursday, I had 2 chances to get it right. I got it wrong both times. Lexi graduated from Kindergarten in a cute ceremony befitting the attention span of a kindergartner short and sweet. They still all got called up by their teacher (stood on a stool) and then got their certificate. Well most of the kindergartners weren't sure what was really going on or that all of us crazy parents had been waiting to get that perfect picture. At our school you have to be there at least 30 min early if you want a parking space where you don't have to hike and you actually want to see what is going on. I was there a perfect 30 min early (good thing cause I don't walk fast and far isn't even a thought yet) got a great seat on the second row, a picture that is so blurry that I kept it for posterity even though its not really that obvious that its really Lexi. I am including the next best picture ....

Admit it she is in very cute form and she matched her black hat it style. Papa Henrie got to come to this graduation she was very excited to see him. She got even more excited when we got to her classroom and she got all sorts of treats from her teacher and all her old work that showed how she had progressed through the year (of course the candy was the most important).
Coulton's 6th grade class had a great celebration befitting their oldness. They had a great slide show (which had a bunch of pictures of our "Cole") . It also presented a great opportunity to get it right---right, to many kids all coming up to the stage at the same time, and standing in front of the teachers and well at least this is him with his diploma.
So in 2 years I will have another opportunity to get the perfect shot. I hope to have this perfected sometime in the next 5 years before Coulton really graduates. Wish me luck!

Lets Dance!

Well at the kids new school they do an end of year dance festival! All the kids get to learn a dance and dance for the parents. They held the dance festival out on the playground, and it was very warm sitting on the blacktop but it was great to see everybody dance!

Mara and the entire second grade danced to "We're all in this together" from High School musical 3. She did such a great job but kept hiding behind the kid next to her or facing away from me so pictures of her face where hard to come by!Coulton and the entire 6th grade did the "Cha Cha Slide" he was towards the back and had some really cute girls that where dancing around him, but he actually was a pretty great dancer!

Taylor and the 4th grade did the Virginia reel to "Turkey in the straw" which is a lot of coordination for 4th graders! They did so great and looked like they were having tons of fun doing it! Of course when it cam to what she was going to wear she was worried that Mom didn't know what was "Western" wear, But seriously we lived in Wyoming for almost 7 years I think I know what is western, and she looked very cute in her western wear if I do say so myself!

Lexi and the afternoon Kindergarten did "Splish, Splash" which was perfect for kindergartners! They must have practiced a TON (or maybe it was their teachers sitting in from on them helping) but they were excellent dancers. She of course was her adorable cute self for the entire dance!

Possiblities

Well after 6 continuous days of having these severe allergy attacks, I have gone one full 24 hour period without one! Which means that they will finally be discharging me from the hospital today! I am pretty sure that this will not be the end of this especially as they still don't know what causes it and they have to slowly take me off all of the medications. But not only will I get to go home I will get to help my kids have a bit more normal life as they go into their last week of school. I am so glad that it happened this close to the end of school, because there wasn't much homework to make sure got done and this close to the end it wont affect their grades. But only being able to talk to them on the phone because we didn't want them here when I had an attack was really hard on all of us. Andy has been so wonderful, as well as trying to work he is also trying to hold the kids together and write an excruciating Final paper on the brain and how it reacts to different mental diseases. I hope that I will be able to regain my strength quickly but as of yesterday 4 laps around the nurses station was my limit so we will have to see. I would like to thank everyone for all of your prayers and for those who have offered to help it really means alot to me. I am sure that the next couple of weeks are not going to be normal, but they will be exciting!

Just Breathe~

Breathing, Its something that I must admit that before this week I really just took it for granted. The fact that they had drugs out there to help you breath never really entered my consciousness. But today after my 5th severe allergy attack, my 5th shot of epinephrine, and my 5th recovery, its amazing how much I like to breathe. I am sitting here in my hospital bed (cause I keep trying to go home but I keep having to come back), I just survived another attack, and I am so grateful for the fact that they have drugs out there that make your throat stop closing up, your lungs release their tightness and the hives go away. On Friday night, my hands started feeling funny I thought that it was nothing I had just given the kids a bath got to warm, something, I was sure that it wasn't a big thing. Then I started to itch on my legs, I had just shaved the day before and I figured it was just razor burn until I looked, and saw the welts of tons of hives. Andy was at Father and Sons with his dad and brothers so I called Heather to see if I was just being a hypochondriac, took some benedryl, and then my throat started to close up on me. Heather came and drove me to the hospital and Peter woke up and came over to sleep on my couch to be with the girls ( and yes Pete I noticed that you picked up my house and I really can't thank you enough for it!). Saturday night however would prove more exciting, we went to family dinner and by the end of it I was starting to break out in hives again. We went out and got my prescriptions and took them home, Andy got the kids in bed, and I started to feel like I was going to die. The itching of the hives was so intense, and then my throat started closing off, and then I scared my husband to death by having my eyes roll back up into my head and passing out. I am sure that it also scared the neighbors as the Fire engine, ambulance, and police care pulled up in front of our house with their lights flashing. They took me to the hospital and they gave me another epee shot, and checked me into the ICU. Sunday night I was still in the hospital and I had yet another attack, I was so glad that i was where they could take care of me immediately, and that I could breathe again. Monday we found out that the hospital that I had been going to was not a preferred hospital on my insurance so, I checked out and Heather picked me up and took me to her house, which turned out to be a good thing as just 3 hours after I left the hospital I had another attack (yes this is #4), we went to the hospital that would take my insurance and got yet another shot of epee, and all of the trimmings that go with it. They released me from the ER 5 hours later only for me to return 5 hours later with my first double attack. Thanks to the work that they had done just a scant 4 hours earlier they were able to calm things down with an albuteral treatment and not more epinephrine. They also checked me in and had an allergist come in and examine me and give me another form of treatment. Its nice to know that I am somewhere where they are going to take care of me. My attack tonight was another bad one but there where on top of it so quickly and I got alburterol and Epinephrine at the same time (which for those of you reading this you will be grateful for spell check as you cannot read the way I have typed it with my heart doing a marathon) . i hope that they will be able to find what is causing this or at least find a way to turn this off but I have to go at least 24 hours without having an attack before they will send me home. But I am so grateful that I can breathe and it is going to be sometime before I can go past 8pm without giving thanks for the opportunity to do so. So if you are looking for me in the next couple of days I am not going anywhere but Timpanogos hospital, but they are taking very good care of me. I love you all

Aunt Jennie's Wedding

Well I might have captured a bit of the family photgraphy prowess. But then when you have a canvas such as my kids and the Temple its not to hard! We had a wonderful Saturday celebrating Jennie and Sean getting married. The kids love being able to be "in" the temple while they wait for all of the grownups.

Being on the Temple grounds is really an amazing experiance, there of course where tons of brides (but none as beautiful as Aunt Jennie!) lots of color from all of the spring flowers, and the bright Saturday morning sun!

This is the first glimpse they got of the newly weds! They were both glowing, as well they should the ceremony was beautiful and they had the most wonderful sealer.

One of the best things about the Salt Lake Temple is that you get to go right up to the doors (Lexi wanted to open them and go in!) But there is something magical about being able to go up and put your hand on the doorknob that our pioneer ancestors sacrificed so much to make sure that it was there for us.

They whole day was such a whirlwind after we left the temple we got to go to the luncheon. And then we got to take a short break at Grammies until it was time to go to the wedding! At the Wedding Coulton got to help take the presents, Taylor and Mara got to help clear the Tables, and Lexi passed out napkins. Mom was in teh kitchen helping Grammie make sure that the Dessert table was full, and Dad was out makeing sure that no Monkey business happened! We didn't get home until after 10 pm but it was worth it for such a wonderful day!

Shades of the past

If you look closely at this picture you will see the little girl who is pouting in her closet. Mad at the world, everyone hates her, you know the drill. We couldn't find her but had to take a picture when we did! I say shades of the past because not to long ago another little girl (who looks surprisingly similar to this little girl) Did the same thing.

In a closet, no cleaner than this one, my little sister Amanda would hide in the closet to escape, and all of us "old kids" who didn't understand and who where ruining her world. Maybe its a youngest thing (after all she is my baby) or maybe when you are mad at the world it just helps to go to where everything is all about you (because well that is all that fits!). Not to mention when you are this small no one else could fit in there, so its just a you spot!

Needless to say it didn't last very long but I guess that there is something to say for getting all of the pout out!

Picture Tag

1. Go to My Documents/Pictures

2. Go to your fifth folder

3. Go to your fifth picture

4. Blog about it

5. Tag five people

OK I have so many pictures on so many folders in

sticks and CD's and so on and so forth but this is the 5/5 picture that I have on this computer at this time! :)

This is my Lexi opening her Christmas PJ's at Papa and Nana's house on Christmas eve. We have a great tradition of the kids getting new PJ's on Christmas eve. The last couple of years we have combined our tradition with our New Nana Lauraine who has the same tradition but hers is so much better and includes modeling and its very fun because the grownups get in on it too.

And since I don't know how to tag people here I will just leave it to you to post your own wonderful pictures!

Easter Traditions

Well Easter is one of my most favorite holidays and we have some really great traditions that have helped us be closer to our extended family. First on Easter morning the Easter Bunny hides the Easter baskets that always have some of the same things in them like Peeps and Chocolate bunnies. The girls for the last couple of years have also gotten Littlest Petshops which Taylor informed me that they "ALWAYS" get them.

Mara requested pink peeps this year as she normally gets blue ones which are her favorite color but they must taste different because they did taste different! Lexi was very excited about the Barbie Peek-a-Boo's that were in the basket which were a big hit (but I haven't seen them since?).

Coulton got things a bit more suitable for someone of such advanced age, like a new football and a yo-yo (which he is starting to master, must have more coordination than his mother). After Easter morning we put a turkey in the smoker to take to the gun club. Now this is a bit of a change from the normal KFC that usually accompanies this outing but we decided to be a bit different this year and have a bird of a different kind. It turned out wonderful and we got tons of compliments, making it well worth letting the kids wake us up at 5:30 am to get it in the smoker.

The gun club is also a great place to have the annual Easter egg hunt and like always we made huge haul! And of course the sugar high that comes with eating that much candy made an appearance soon after. After the egg hunt there is always the sacrificing of clay pigeons and Andy got to try out a automatic clay pigeon thrower that he got to borrow and try out from work. It worked great and many clay pigeons were sacrificed in the name of fun :) All in all it was a wonderful Easter and we are so glad that we got to spend it with our family!

Cookies!

So what do you do on a Spring afternoon when you are BORED! Well you make cookies of course! It all started when Taylor and her friends Bethany had had enough of riding bikes and jumping on the trampoline and where bored! After some thought the brilliant mother that I am suggested that they make cookies. They took all of the best cook books for cookie recipes and started the nearly impossible task of trying to figure out which cookie to make! In the end they settled on thumbprint cookies, which I only make on special occasions as they take SOOO much time! But with the girls doing all of the hard work of rolling all of the cookies and covering them with the nuts we could make this kind of cookies more often! After these cookies where safely in the oven Mara and Lexi didn't want to be left out of the cookie making so they decided to make chocolate chip cookies. These normally take some time to dish out and bake however the girls scooped all of the cookies out and all I had to do was take things in and out of the oven! I think that I now have more excuses to make cookies because i don't have to do all of the work any more~

Mail

I must admit that I usually don't like to get the mail- my kids do- but there isn't usually anything good in it. I get ads and bills, so its not usually an event. Except for yesterday~

This very large and stiff envelope showed up on my doorstep. As soon as I saw the return address my hands almost started to shake! I have never been so excited to open up the mail before~ if I have I certainly don't remember when! The contents of the envelope equaled 2 years of hard work and endless hours.

I am so excited! its not just a diploma its a DEGREE! I am now the proud owner of an Associates degree. Getting the actual piece of paper makes it so much more real than just knowing that I had earned it. I can go through the actual ceremony if I want to in May, though I have not made up my mind about it yet. But for now its made me love MAIL! (of course that may change tomorrow)

The funny thing about age~

My sister noted that this blog thing is good because it lets you just ramble. Well I am having one of those days so ramble I must. You know it always seemed to be that I was young, or at least younger than most of those that I interacted with or at least the same age. Today I found out that I am OLD! I was in a committee meeting with my boss and well we got off topic and where talking about high school and a lot of other things and I asked what year he graduated. Now he looks like he should be my age or at least close to it but I found out that he graduated in 1997! So that makes him the same age as my little brother (sorry Peter I only have "little" brothers) not that I guess that is to young- but it really made me feel old that the assistant director of our department is younger, by 5 years no less, than I am. I guess that every one gets to that point where you are officially old, and I guess that I am there, the problem is that my head just can't comprehend it! I don't feel old in fact despite the fact that I have been married for 16 years and my oldest is 12 I really feel like I haven't really lived at all. I certainly haven't learned enough to be old and wise although I have had experiences that others haven't, I don't think that it makes me wise. I am old enough to say "hey remember when" and really have to strain to remember. So what really makes a person old is it the number or whats in their head? I know this... I don't know yet, maybe when I am really old and wise I will but not yet-

Rights of Passage

Every Henrie girl knows that you can't get your ears pierced until you turn 8.

So if you will look close Saturday was the day. She got a little scared at first and almost didn't do it. but the want to have her ears pierced over rid the worry and the ears got pierced! The earrings are very cute little flowers and she likes them a lot. This means that I only have one little girl left that hasn't technically gotten "big", stuff like that can be hard on a Mom. I am sure that will survive but it might be by the skin of my teeth. As for Daddy it might be harder on him~ I can't be sure that he will survive yet.

Blessings that come in unusual packages

Wow what a weekend! Sometimes its hard to see the blessings that are coming your way. The Lord doesn't always pout them in packages that you can pickup. This week was one of those rare exceptions. When Andy got his job with Cabela's it was an answer to so many prayers that he would actually have a job at all. It was only part time but right around Christmas they made him a full time employee. He has loved arming our corner of the world and has never had this much fun at work (he even asked me once if it was ok to have that much fun at work). A couple of weeks ago a position for a trainer/mentor for the department came open and he decided that it might be fun and it would give him a bit of a challenge at work so he decided to apply. He had an interview with the department head and we waited about a week and never heard anything . On Saturday we finally heard that he was going to get the position, and that there was a raise that went with it. We expected a little something around the $0.25 range but were totally caught off guard by the $2.00 range of the raise. The lord works in mysterious ways and he doesn't always give you big outright blessings but this week ours is out of this world~

My first blog

Well I have actually given into the pressure to "have a blog" and so far it's not as hard as I thought! (good news huh) we will see if I can keep this up :). At 34 years of age I am finally trying to get up to date and come out of the 90's. Its amazing how you really can get stuck in a decade, I thought that it was just for old people but I guess that it fit into the category now. My wardrobe is slowly coming up to date and and I have a cell phone, a face book and now even a blog. My kids will never know what its like to live without cell phones and the Internet. My 12 year old couldn't live without video games, and I am sure that my girls will be cell phone freaks in the not to distant future. My kids are growing up and way too fast for this Mom to keep up. Before I know it they will be leaving me and all of the drama that goes on about chores and homework will be over, OUCH! Lets not go there :) Now that we are back in Utah the ranch part of our title is to remind me of the simpler things and even simpler times. Its amazing what living in the middle of nowhere will teach you. So here is to me being able to keep this up~