Reunited with our favorite girls!

It's been a few years since we have seen these two girls, Leah and Reyanna- and oh how we have missed them! We had so much fun catching up with them, and the kids were just as excited to see them. They have been through so much and have had to rely on each other for everything. I love the strength of these two girls. I only hope I can raise my kids to be as courageous, brave, and smart as these two.  

 

So glad we can be back together with them, and as Leah pointed out, the Family sign in the back is just perfect for this picture<3 p="">

A bee sting = emergency room visit

I got a call from the kids' school saying Evan had been stung by a bee during recess. He was fine, we went to the park later that day, he didn't complain at all.

 

The next morning, however, we woke up to this. He still wasn't complaining much, so I decided to wait and see if the redness got better throughout the day.

 

Unfortunately, by the next day, it was so much worse, and we decided we better take him to the hospital. He couldn't even walk on it by this point.

Bryce was working that day, so he decided he would just come pick him up and take him. That way he could be the one to start his IV and get things going so it wouldn't be so scary for Evan. He was such a tough kid, didn't cry at all. He said the IV dad started didn't even hurt:)

Once at the hospital, the doctor said it was infected and that it happens all the time. I had no idea! So after IV antibiotics, he was sent home to continue taking them for the next 10 days. Thankfully it cleared up pretty quickly. So thankful for my awesome husband who can take our kids to the hospital in his sweet ride! Love my paramedic!

Harlem Shake- Wilcox Style

Because what else do you do on the weekends??

(Make sure you watch it full screen to really get the full effect. You wouldn't want to miss one second of this...) Ok, or maybe you would!

 

Ruptured appendix- SCARY!

In December, Cade got sick after our ward christmas party. Then next day he still wasn't feeling well. That night, I went to work. Bryce called me at 3am and said he was taking Cade to the hospital and that he had been throwing up blood. I left work right away, and met them there. It was scary. He was throwing up blood (lots of it) and in severe pain. After giving him some really strong anti-nausea and pain medication, and then running some tests, they determined his appendix had ruptured, and he needed to be transported via ambulance to Summerlin Hospital for surgery by a pediatric surgeon. Bryce went home to be with the other kids. I stayed and tried to get short intervals of 10-15 minutes of sleep that I could, while sitting up in a chair. It didn't really work. He finally went in for surgery that afternoon. Once he was done, the surgeon had said his abdomen was so full of puss, it had to be washed out really good. They were so worried about infection, he stayed in the hospital for another week on triple IV antibiotics. This was right before christmas, and the week of finals for Bryce. Needless to say, one of the most stressful, scary weeks of our lives! I am so thankful we had so many amazing friends to step in and help with kids and bring us meals. We couldn't have survived that week without them. Thankfully, he fully recovered without any complications. He gave us all a big scare! I love this kid and am so grateful everything turned out ok:)

 

The hardest goodbye

This was the hardest goodbye all of us have had to say. The Hawkins family has turned out to be some of our best friends. Cade and AJ have been in the same class since 2nd grade, Haylee and Amaya were in Drill Team and Tumbling together, and Evan & Kendal - and Dale and Elle, all played together so well. I love Lei, she was such an amazing person and such a great friend. It was so hard to see them go. They moved to Ohio, and while technology is wonderful, and we text almost everyday, it's just not the same:(

 

My Creative Girl

Haylee is always looking for fun crafts to do with Evan and Kendal. On this particular day, she decided to make flags with Evan. She decided she needed someplace to put hers, so she turned it into a hat, and stuck it on her head:)

A Car Accident - A parents' worst Nightmare!

It's a good thing this one was fake! We all went to Bryce's school this weekend to volunteer. The graduating class of Medic's is working on their trauma senarios. We came with both of our cars, and set up an accident scene. Bryce and the boys T-boned my car that us girls were riding in. First, we started with the make-up.

Check out the gun shot wound in the background. They did a good job in the make up dept.

Then it was out to the scene.In the senario, Cade was put on the stretcher first, since he was in the front seat without a seatbelt. His head hit the windshield. I was pregnant, and my stomach hit the steering wheel, so I was freaking out about the baby. Haylee was a fatality in our car (which completely freaked me out each time I heard the different groups say that she was "gone". Not something a mom wants to hear, even if it is just fake. Anyway, my kids learned a lot about safety that day, and will probably never forget to put on a seatbelt again!

Haylee in her role. She liked it because all she had to do was sit like this, and not talk or respond to anyone Lol.

Pedicures!

I loved going with my favorite 8 year old girl to get pampered and get our toes done! She is such an amazingly funny, talented, silly and sweet girl. I love my Haylee Jade!

Tim Tebow

We have always been big Tim Tebow fans, so we were excited to hear he was coming to Vegas to speak. We went with some friends of ours, and had a good time. He spoke at a local christian church, which was a whole new experience in itself, lol, but it was good to hear him speak. He is someone Cade really looks up to, and I love that as a mom:)

Haylee and Cora with their wristbands ready to go in.

We were on the second row, right next to his mom and some of his family.

Bryce was even able to break away from studying for long enough to come, and then we all headed for frozen yogurt afterward. Yum!

The Lightning Theif

For FHE this week, we went to see the new Percy Jackson movie (thanks Kira for the invite:) The kids had a great time with their friends - and so did the parents!

This is where Kendal and I ended up for the last half of the movie. She is still a little too young to sit for that long, so we ended up out in the hallway. She loved this display, as the seat was just her size. You can tell from the look on her face how much fun she was having!

What I do in my (not so) spare time..

Once upon a time, I actually used to be pretty crafty. Over the years, all of the kids have taken away my free time, and I pretty much used the excuse of being too busy to make anything. I would just pay other people to make all of the cute, crafty stuff. However, being a family of 6 with a dad that is in college I no longer have the luxury of paying other people to make things like this. Now I have to find time to make things myself if I want them...so, here they are. My first attempts at some bows and flowers for the girls hair. I think they turned out pretty cute, and were incredibly CHEAP to make:)

This one is my favorite so far-
Kendal has been wearing her valentine bow, and I obviously need to make hers a little stronger to withstand a 2 year old constantly pulling and messing with it!

I have a few other cute bows I want to try out. I'll post them once I get them made (assuming they look half-way decent:)

Warm Fuzzies

This was our FHE a few weeks ago. We decided to do our own warm fuzzy jar, based on the conference talk by President Monson. It turned out to be such a fun one, and for our activity we did a service project. This is what is now sitting on my kitchen counter, and the kids can add to it as they help other people. It's nice to have it out where they can see it, and a good reminder to keep them filling the jar. When they get it filled to the top, they get to pick a fun place for us to go as a family.

Thanks Jan for the lettering - it turned out so cute!

We must be crazy.....

Here is our newest addition to the family. This cute little puppy we named Sparks. Some guy at football practice asked Bryce if he wanted him, as he lives in the apartments across the street and couldn't keep him. So, I got a phone call seeking my approval. I said we would take him for a probationary period. The owner agreed and gave us his phone number. Well, here we are one week later, and he is definately a keeper. He is so sweet, and the kids LOVE him (sometimes too much, especially Kendal when she tries to carry him around by his neck:O

Spirit has been great with him, and patient when Sparks gets a little spunky and tries to mess with him. They are so cute when they play together.

I keep thinking we must be crazy... a house with 4 kids and two dogs can get very loud and very crazy at times, but I know I wouldn't want it any other way:)

Evan+Yukon=Trouble

What does the cute little guy in this picture.....

have to do with the SUV in this picture??? The cute little guy decided to take it for a drive the other day, right into the neighbors yard. Yep, you read that right. A couple of days ago, I decided to go vacuum my car around 8:30 in the morning. I didn't tell the kids because they were all playing so well together, I thought I could get away with just sneaking out. So I grabbed my keys and the vacuum, and out I went.

I remember I just set my keys on the front seat. I finished vacuuming the 3rd row, and climbed out, only to catch a glance of Evan sitting in the drivers seat. As I turned off the vacuum, I heard the radio on and realized he had put my keys into the ignition (but hadn't actually started the car, just turned the key enough to turn on the radio). The next thing I knew he had managed to put my car in reverse, and down the driveway it went. Seriously. My car, down the driveway with Evan in the drivers seat. This would be where I completely started to panic! I guess I should also point out that our driveway is on an incline. That means it was gaining some serious speed as it passed my by. I started screaming, as I was frantically trying to figure out how to stop my car from crashing into the house across the street. I caught up to my car as it was about half way across the street, grabbed the handle to open the door and jumped into the passenger side. I knew I would never be able to reach the brake in time, so I reached over and threw the car into park. My car made a terrible sound, but we had stopped, thankfully. We were halfway up the neighbors yard, with several feet to spare before we hit his house.

I put the car in drive, and drove it back across the street. Evan realized he was in some serious trouble as he climbed out of the car with his eyes covered saying "are you mad at me"? I don't think I stopped shaking for at least 20 minutes. I went to the neighbors house and smoothed out my tire marks in his desert landscaping, and took my car for a drive. It's fine, thankfully no permanent damage.

I love my little Evan, but he is giving us a run for our money every single day. The tough thing is, he will be in so much trouble, and then give us this sweet little smile that just melts your heart. This time the smile didn't go over so well. However, we survived another day, and he officially made it to his 3rd birthday.

The Thoughts of Cade...

Cade is about to turn 9 (I can't believe I'm OLD enough to have a 9 year old). He has occasionally asked about journaling. I haven't bought one yet, for fear of my 2 crazy little tornados that seem to destroy anything they can get their hands on. For example, last month we had 3 piano books, along with their assignment books thrown over the fence into the pool. This seems to be the story of our lives right now. Then, last night as I was blogging, I decided to start a blog for Cade. He loves to look at other people's blogs, and was pretty darn excited when I asked if he would like his own. I am hoping it will be protected from Evan & Kendal (although I don't know that I would be surprised if they figured a way to throw the computer into the pool:)

His blog address is http://thethoughtsofcade.blogspot.com

His goal is to blog at least once a week, more if something really exciting happens. I told him he could take pictures of anything he wanted to go along with his posts. I will print his blog once a year, and put it somewhere safe. This, for us, seems to be the perfect way to journal.

Feel free to check out his blog, and I'm sure he would LOVE any comments anyone would like to leave him.

Mt Charleston

Mt Charleston is a great way to beat the Vegas heat. We headed up one Sunday afternoon and had lunch. The kids, along with Spirit, enjoyed running and exploring. The 85 degree weather and overcast skies were perfect.