Family Picture Day!

So I decided that I could show off my cute family a little! I was looking on facebook a while back and noticed that our Bishop's daughter had done some wonderful photography and checked out her blog. She was amazing so I wrote her and asked her to take our pictures. I fell in love with the photos. Despite the fact that Anna didn't want much to do with posing in pictures, we got some nice pics. Jen, our photographer, was so patient and captured the kid's personalities perfectly. So, today I have bragging rights because I have the most beautiful children and family in the world!!!

Hello again!!!

So I decided that it was time to join the blog race again! Sorry for the missing months! Life is good but busy at our home and of course a lot has happened over the last few months. I will give just a brief recap of the events.

First: Soccer!!! Need I say more. I life revolves around the boys soccer games but we are currently in hiatis and I am loving every minute of it! They did great in their regular seasons and Braeden's team went to the quarter finals in the State cup on their first year attending. It was really exciting! We will be going to St. George for a soccer tournament and Brinton has a tournament in St. George later in the year!

School: Maybe this topic should have come first but oh well! Braeden is in 6th grade and loves his teacher Ms. Allred. He just performed yesterday in a Veteran's Day program and he learned to lead the Star Spangled Banner! Brinton is in 4th grade and has Ms. Horne for a teacher. He loves being able to care for two bunnies in their classroom and asked if we could buy some! Heck No!  Sara is in Kindergarten this year and is as social as ever. She is definatly loving it!  And Anna is at home with me which is the reason why I am yawning all day long. Man is she busy!! I never thought that she would be related to the energizer bunny but here we are. She is so cute though and tells me everyday that she loves me lots and lots and lots! Dave is finishing his last two semesters at the U and we can't wait until he graduates!!!!!!!!! (notice the exclamations)

Halloween: We had so much fun on Halloween! Sara was Cinderella, Anna was Minnie Mouse, Brinton was some sort of demon with a rib cage and Braeden was a skinny army dude!! Why do we do it? Because we make awesome memories!

Family: This fall was an exciting yet sad time for Dave's family. They finally were able to sell his mom's home. What a bitter-sweet moment when we had our last family party at the home.

The Lord has blessed us with this sell but it certainly won't take away the memories for me!

Lastly, we just had family pictures taken and I realize just how much my family has grown. My kids are getting big! I guess I need to accept that I am getting older! We are blessed though and we are happy which is what it's all about right?

Soccer and Surgery

This past couple of weeks has been a crazy one for our family. Our life seems to revolve around soccer and it's fun to see the hard work go into a fun win. On May 8-9th, Dave took Braeden up to Pocatello to the Friendship Cup Soccer Tournament. He had the 'games of a lifetime' in his own words. He scored 5 goals over the course of the tournament and their team came in 1st place. Braeden was so excited to be able to spend the weekend with Dave and had such a great time with his team. His coaches are awesome to say the least!!!

Another busy week entailed Sara and Anna both getting their tonsils out. Sara was somewhat prepared for what was going to happen. I took her to a Panda Party class at the hospital and they showed her where everything was going to take place, and even gave her her own pair of gloves and a face mask which she promptly threw away when we got home because no girl would ever wear those things!!! I guess her career as a doctor or nurse is out. Anyway, we spent a long Wednesday at Primary Children's waiting for two surgeries. You can probably tell which photos are the before and after. Considering the fact that they are dancing around and are happy, that would be the before picture. The girls were having sleep apnia problems and the doctor decided not to wait. Dave and I decided that it would be better to just get it over with than to spend 10 days inside the house for each girl. We are on day two of the post-tonsil surgeries. So far it looks good. The girls are eating and drinking okay and they are excited that they could choose bubble gum flavor for their medicine. Yummm! We'll keep you posted on how the recovery goes.

Needless to say, our life is crazy busy but what fun would it be to not have these little adventures!!!

Sara's Dance Performance

Let me start by saying that there is a lot to see this post. I need to keep up on the blog. We have had such a crazy month! On March 27th, we celebrated Brinton's 9th birthday. Holy crow, he's getting so old. We went to dinner and had cake and ice cream. Brinton is so easy to please. He was able to go to lunch and bowling with his buddy Joseph. Dave informs me that we will probably not be welcomed back into Wingers any time soon. I don't know what went on, but I am fairly certain I don't want to know.

Anna's birthday was on April 16th. We invited our friends Steve and Lisa over for cake and ice cream. I was mopping up chocolate cake all the next day! I can't believe she is 2 years old, not that her personality doesn't fit the bill. She is definately very busy, loud and throws many tantrums. She's so cute though that it's tough to get mad at her.
Sara had her last dance class for the summer and the parents were able to see what they had learned. She was at least a full head taller than the rest of the class. She seems so big!
Last night, Becky and Josh had us to their home for FHE and we were able to sing Happy Birthday to Sara. She was so excited to have her Little Mermaid birthday cupcakes and loved the attention. It was fun to see all the grandkids together. The only bummer is that Laurel and Bill couldn't be there to celebrate with us. But, I know they are watching over us.
In two weeks, we will be celebrating Braeden's birthday! What were Dave and I thinking having four kids within three months of each other. The birthday party season is definately upon us! Yikes! Braeden will be 11 years old. How time flies.
We were so excited for Dave's brother Tim and his cute wife Shiloh. They had a little boy on Thursday. It's their first and he is so stinkin' cute! I can't wait to actually hold him. I wish them good luck. They'll need it!
Adding to all the birthday fun, we have mixed in our fair share of soccer games, school finals, piano lessons and we will be adding a surgery.
Sara is having her tonsils out on the 13th. Anna will be soon to follow. They are having sleep apnia because their tonsils are too big. So on Wednesday, we will be attending a Panda Party at Primary Children's Hospital. They will be showing Sara around the operating room and waiting areas and helping her to feel comfortable going to have surgery. Hopefully I will be able to have coupons for popcicles, ice cream and smoothies. We promised her a lot of yummy things to help her feel better.
As you can tell, life is crazy and wonderful and stressful all at the same time and we are blessed beyond measure with our growing family.

March madness

It's been a while since I have placed an entry here. I can't believe it's been a month already. How time flies. Since there's a lot of catching up to do, here goes...
Brinton had a very big month. First, we attended the Murray Max soccer awards ceremony where his team presented him with the outstanding player award. He was so excited to receive a trophy and he was able to get his picture in the local paper. We also celebrated his 9th birthday! Holy cow, I feel old. He took a friend to go bowling and to lunch at Wingers. He had such a great time but according to Dave, he doesn't think they will ever be allowed back into the restaurant. Brinton also wanted to go see the temple really close!! I'm not sure why, but okay. So we all took a drive, got ice cream and took pictures in front of the Jordan River Temple. It could be that his interest started because we attended the Draper Temple Open House last month and he knew the closest he could get now to a temple was on the outside. Anyway, we had fun and got some cute pictures!

We also had a couple of nice days in March, hence the picture with the shades on the girls. We had a girls shopping day where we bought all of their spring outfits, not that we are going to be able to wear them for a while, but we had a fun time. They each wanted some sunglasses. They insisted on Hello Kitty! Also, Sara decided on her future career. She wants to be a hair stylist. She attempted to cut her own bangs and part of Anna's hair. This resulted in a trip to Cookie Cutters Kids Cuts for an emergency hair fix!! I have to say, I was fuming! I love the girls hair and it didn't make it better that Dave started laughing. Needless to say, all is fine now and the bangs will just have to grow out. Anna's blended well.

The funnest night I had this month was when we were able to go to dinner with our friends Josh and Meg. They came up to Salt Lake for their visit to Huntsman's Cancer Hospital where she is getting treated. We all decided to go out and have a fun time at Joe's Crab Shack. It was so fun to see Dave in a bib!!! He apparantly had the messiest meal. We went for shakes after and had such a great time! They are awesome friends!

March is over now and I am looking out the window to see that it didn't take the snow with it! Darn! Maybe this is my own personal April Fools joke from the weather!!! LOL

Injured Children

So I knew that life with kids was always eventful but holy cow! Yesterday, I decided that it was time for me to take a quick shower and the boys were out of school so I asked Braeden and Brinton if they would please keep an eye on Anna and Sara until I got out. I barely got out of the shower when the kids came screaming up the stairs with blood dripping all down Anna's hand. Apparantly the boys were fighting and Brinton went to shut Braeden out of the house and Anna's finger was in the crossfire. Her finger was so mangled and I could see the bone so I thought for sure we were in for a long night with a broken bone or surgery. I met Dave at the ER and checked her in and the man who checked us in said "weren't you here just a couple of months ago with your other daughter?" (Sara had hit her head and cut it open) It didn't help that Anna had taken a tumble on Thursday and had a huge bruise covering the left side of her face. I am sure that they think I am an abusive mother. Anyway, we had x-rays and thank heavens it wasn't broken but she did need two layers of stitches that totaled 20. Her fingernail was shoved into her finger and they had to pry it out and reset it so that her new cuticel could grow correctly. I'm sitting holding Anna while she's crying and Dave is over in the chair about to pass out. The nurse was little and she said she wasn't sure she could lift him up off the ground so he should just sit. I thought it was fascinating. Needless to say, the boys are being punished until further notice and they've been sucking up to me all day. I think I will make the most out of it. I gave Anna her pain medicine and it makes her so funny. She acts like she's drunk and starts singing. It's hilarious. As for the excitement, I am ready to have a little less of it.

New Changes!

So I figure that it's time I write again on our blog. January was a fun but busy month. The big news in our girls life was that their Aunt Jenn and Uncle Rex gave them bunkbeds. No more crib for Anna! I was hopeful that she was ready and we definately needed space in their room. So, we took down the crib and put up the beds. They were so excited, especially Anna, until nightime came and she realized that she had someone above her. I think it made her uncomfortable because she didn't sleep the entire night. It was not fun for mom. But, each night became easier and easier. There are still some nights when I will hear something and go into her room to find her trying on her sister's shoes. She is so cute that you can't get mad at her, you just give her a hug and hope you don't have to go in her room again and trip on a pair of boots. As you can tell from the photos, she thinks that she can do everything that her brothers and sister can do. I was cleaning up milk for 5 minutes. Oh well! I think Sara feels all grown up. Which she is definately getting bigger. I can't believe how time flies. I also took a leap this month and decided to 'chop the locks' so to speak. I know that Dave isn't fond of short hair but I figured that it was time for a change. I needed to feel like I could look okay throughout the day. It took me only 10 minutes to do my hair this morning. Yeah!!!!!! I love it and hope it grows on Dave. In the meantime, I told him he would feel like he was living with another woman. What guy doesn't want that?

Holiday Catch Up

Happy late Christmas and New Years. I thought I would get caught up on all of the events of our Christmas. We had such a great holiday season this year. We were able to go to Temple Square with Grandma and Grandpa and it just happened to be the coldest night of the year. Woohoo!! I was freezing but we had such a great time. The kids decided to go to Chuck a Rama for dinner which is my favorite place. (Not!) The kids were happy though which made it all worth it. Christmas Eve we had a chance to go to Dave's sister's house where we had dinner and exchanged gifts including our White Elephant gift. We received the best white elephant gift we have ever gotten. Dave's sister had made slippers out of industrial strength maxi pads and they were decorated and she had included the instructions for making them. I thought I was going to laugh my way into a stomach ache. We had a wonderful night.
The kids were obviously excited about Christmas morning because at 2:00am Braeden came in to our room to inform us that he was ready. Dave basically told him that if he wanted to live he would go back to his room. It apparantly didn't work because every hour on the hour they were in our room. Finally at 7:00am Dave agreed to get up. We have a tradition that before we go see the gifts. We read Luke 2 together and say a family prayer. This year was a really tight one like many other people. We felt like we hadn't gotten the kids a lot but our kids were so grateful for what they have. We are blessed for sure. The kids got a WII and their uncle Tim sent us Rock band and about 8 other games for them. I got a memory foam mattress topper which is awesome. My shoulder has felt so awesome since Christmas. Dave got a sweater, CD and watch and some shoes. He also got Tiger woods golf which he loves. The girls got dolls, stuffed animals, clothes and really fun movies. My mom and Dad came over for breakfast and gave us some 72 hour kit stuff which we really needed. It was awesome watching my mom play guitar hero. Well worth having Santa bring the WII.
That afternoon, we went to Dave's sister's house to talk to Taylor who is serving in Mexico right now. It was so much fun to hear him. He's doing awesome and we are so impressed with him. That night we went to my brother's house for dinner and games. The only bummer of the day was driving home in a blizzard past the point of the mountain. We made it home though and were able to sleep in the next day. Yeah!!!!!!
It seems that the year went by so fast. We have had a difficult year but the blessings far outweigh the trials.

A picture perfect weekend!

Gotta love my girls! I had so much fun on Friday. The girls and I went to Gardiner Village to take some pictures. I was trying out our new camera that we needed to get because our other one was stolen. I like it a lot! Anna was so busy though and it was difficult to take her picture but Sara was loving the attention. According to my mom, she is exactly like I was at that age. Oh joy!

Today, we went to our ward christmas brunch at the ward building. We at croissants, ham, hash browns and fruit. Not to mention lots of goodies. I am going to gain 10 pounds if I eat this kind of stuff a lot. We had such a great day!

Thanksgiving

I just realized that it has been a long time since I have written so this entry will probably be a long one. It has been an eventful couple of weeks. We all had the chance to go to Arizona for Thanksgiving. We left on the Tuesday before and stayed until the next Monday. Dave has a lot of family in and around the Phoenix area. So, we headed off... We drove to Page, Arizona and spent the night there and hooked up with Dave's brothers and sisters to drive the rest of the way to Arizona. We all stayed close to each other either at a hotel or at family's. On Thanksgiving Day, we spent the day with Dave's mom side of the family at Grandma Stapley's church. The last time we had seen a lot of family was for Laurel's funeral so it was nice to have a fun occasion to get together at. I ate alot!!!!! Grandma is getting older and it seemed that she was struggling to keep her strength to associate with everyone but I am so glad we saw her. Who knows how long she might be around. On Friday, we decided to just hang out and spend time swimming, yes swimming in November, and eating at In n Out burger. Yummmm!!!!! Saturday morning was really eventful. The reason I don't have pictures posted on this page is because our car was broken into on Saturday morning and someone stole our digital camera. Braeden ran in to inform us that our diaper bag along with our camera was taken. We had a huge family reunion that day and needless to say, we were late. We had to replace the passenger side window and call the cops. I had to admit that I cried. We didn't have a lot of pictures on our memory card but enough of Thanksgiving Day that I wish I had. I was so sad until we arrived at the Gooch Family Circus Reunion 2008! Our family was in matching red T-Shirts that said the previous line and the other families were in other colors that matched. We had such an awesome time. I know Bill would have loved to be there with his brothers and families. We went to a beautiful park in Fountain Hills Arizona. Such a beautiful place. Even though we didn't have a camera, Dave's cousins were all nice enough to send us their pictures that they took. We played games, ate, did activities, launched rockets, had relay races and watched our little family win at football. It was awesome to see all that red runnin' around.
I was so sad to leave on Sunday. We spent some more time with Grandma and then Dave's brother gave us a parting gift. An entire cooler full of elk meat. Today we actually ate it for Sunday dinner. It was good!
We decided to stay in Las Vegas on Sunday night. Dave said that we should let the kids look at all the cool lights and buildings. So we drove down Las Vegas boulevard. It was not a great idea on our part. We proceeded to hit every red light where a truck with not so clothed women were on the side. Brinton was laughing in the back seat while Sara was telling us that those girls aren't modest. Braeden was semi-closing his eyes trying really hard not to look. Yeah right. We got down to the Treasure Island hotel and the pirate show was going on. We thought , alright, something that the kids will enjoy. Oh my gosh! No longer are there mean looking pirates blowing each other up, that would have been awesome. Again, there were scantily clad women who were singing and yelling to the druling men on the boat across the way. We are terrible parents! We finally arrived at our destination. The Stratasphere hotel and it was a little more family friendly. We decided that we better stick to Disneyland. Minnie Mouse might wear a little skirt but she has bloomers on underneath!
As we were coming home, we got to stop off in St. George and spend some time with our good friends Josh and Meg. We went to dinner and hung out at their home. I had such a great time. All I hope is that she gets through her trials and can move on. We love them!
If all these adventures weren't enough, on Dec. 4th, I had my 5th surgery on my shoulder. I hope it works as well as it has in the past. I woke up that morning with a major migraine from not eating the night before so the nurse at the hospital decided to give me Zophran for nausea and Demeral for the pain. Oh my gosh, it hit me like a truck. I threw up four times and passed out all within thirty seconds. I came through it all in one piece so far. Anyway, I will cut this entry so I don't bore anyone. I will have more info soon I am sure.