Happy Valentines...

I thought this shirt was so appropriate for Valentine's Day.

Crew's Stitches...

This is what our little Crew boy looks like with his stitches in his cheek.

ER Visit...

Colton and Cannon passing the time by watching Cartoons.

Crew before he got his stitches.  He was all over the place.  Of course he didn't want to lay on the bed with his brothers and watch Cartoons.  

Our little Crew was walking around last night with a pen in his hand and fell.  Then pen cut his cheek when he fell and off we went to the Emergency Room.  The nurse took us back to our little cubicle and said, "Wow, you have 3 boys and this is only your first visit here."  I guess we are really lucky that this was our first visit.   It took 2 hours to get a plastic surgeon called and then it took another 2 1/2 hours before we were able to come home.  They had to put Crew under sedation while they were stitching his face so he would stay still.  Only minutes after he had fallen asleep, his oxygen levels plummeted.  They asked us to leave the room and the nurse was yelling to another nurse to call respiratory and to get there fast.  It was really scary to be standing outside of the room and hearing Crew struggle to breath.  They were able to get his oxygen levels under control and started to stitch his face.  It took him one hour to wake up from the sedation.  It was a stressful night.  I was not expecting that just to get a few stitches.  After Crew woke up, he was sick to his stomach from all the medicine.  After throwing up a couple times, we were ready to come home.  He had a rough night, but has been fine today.

Sisters...

Monday my Mom and Sisters came to visit.  We went to Johnny Carino's and then came home and my sisters and I all watched the Bachelor together.  So fun.  

Wii

The boys love to play the Wii.  We try to limit the amount of time they play on Sundays, but tonight we played the Wii as a family.  Wii Fit is our new favorite game.  Crew loves to carry the controllers around and pretend he is playing with the rest of the family. 

Basketball Again...

Cannon and his best friend Payton after the basketball game

Today we spent the day at basketball games.  It is fun to watch the boys and their excitement when they make a basket.  It makes for some busy Saturday mornings though.  After the 3 basketball games, Cannon chose to go to IHop for Breakfast/Lunch.  He has been asking us for months to go out to eat there.  He was so happy to get his silver dollar pancakes and ate all 5 of them.  Then we came home and took naps and I am embarrassed to say that we went out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse.  The boys had the best day.  2 of their favorite restaurants in one day.

I Am So Glad When Daddy Comes Home...

Last night Greg had to stay the night in Twin Falls for work.  We all miss Greg when he is gone. But, tonight he got home and Colton treated us to pizza at Pizza Hut from his school coupons.  It was a good night!

Rub-A-Dub-Dub

I love bedtime.  At our house, bedtime means clean bodies and clean PJ's.  It also means a little quite time for Mom and Dad.

Haircut & School Project...

I love when my boys have a fresh haircut.  They look so handsome and their hair stays combed so much better.  So here is a picture of Colton with his haircut.  

Colton had to do a project for school.  He had to come up with anything to do with 100 things. Colton takes a water bottle to school everyday with a flavor packet to add to the water.  Colton came up with the idea to do 100 kinds of flavor packets to add to water.  Here is the finished project ready to go to school.

By the way, why do we comb his hair for school just for him to put on a hat and mess it up?

Pop-A-Sot

To my surprise, one day last week Greg came home from Target with a Pop-A-Shot.  The reason I was surprised is because Greg usually never buys anything without telling me first.  He probably didn't tell me because I would have said no.  It took him and Ryan the whole evening to set up this big contraption.  But, the kids love it, Greg loves it, and I even like to play a game every now and then.  Last night after our FHE lesson, we had a family friendly tournament on Pop-A-Shot. 

Saturday...

During the winter months, our Saturdays are spent watching Colton and Cannon play basketball. Colton is playing in two leagues this winter and he has two games every Saturday.  Cannon has one game every Saturday.  So, our Saturdays are spent going back and forth to games.  The boys really enjoy playing.  Greg coaches both of Colton's teams and Cannon is on a neighborhood team. I enjoy watching and cheering my boys on!  

Colton's Tooth...

Colton has been really slow at loosing his teeth.  He just barely lost his 3rd tooth.  I love this picture because you can see the little hole where his tooth use to be.  

Laundry...

Laundry is one chore that I haven't quite figured out a good system for.  I end up doing a ton of laundry twice a week.  Every time laundry day rolls around I tell myself that I need to do one load everyday.  Then it never seems to happen.  This is what my dining room table looks like on laundry day.

Cannon's Asthma Attack...

Monday night Cannon came up to our room in the middle of the night because he couldn't breath.  It always seems to happen in the middle of the night and always scares me to death.  After a few puffs of his inhaler, he was breathing better and ready to go back to bed.  Cannon's asthma is viral induced, every time he gets a cold or a cough he struggles with his breathing.

Crew...

After seeing this on a few of my friends' blogs, I decided it was such a great idea.  I am starting a little late, but better late than never right.  How it works...Try to take one photo a day to document life on a day to day basis and journal about it.  I love blogging about all the fun things we do, but I thought it would be great to do this and be able to remember what we do day to day.  

Crew

Crew is 14 months right now.  He is so fun, but also requires a lot of  time picking up after him.  He is always into something.  The past few weeks he finds bigger things and puts them in his mouth and walks around the house and shows everyone.  He is always so proud of what he has fit into his mouth.  In one of the pictures it shows Crew playing with the computer.  He loves to play with the computer and push the mouse around the mouse pad.

Time Out For Women...

Thursday and Friday I was able to go to Time Out For Women with my Mom, my Grandma, my sister Laurel and her baby Paisley.  We had such a great time being together and being spiritually uplifted.  We were able to laugh, cry, listen to some great music, and hear some amazing stories.  I sure needed it.  It was nice to be able to feel rejuvenated and recommit to doing all I can to keep the commandments.  Thanks Mom for the great idea and for putting it together.  Time Out For Woman is coming to Pocatello in June.  If anyone wants to go let me know.  I would love to go again.

Happy Birthday Dad...

Today is my Dad's birthday and we are so happy to be in Utah to spend the day with him!  I love that you are such a great grandpa to my kids and that they love their Pa W.  I love that you are so fun to be around and that you always make us laugh.  I love that you are interested in our life and take time to come and support us.  I love that we have a good relationship.  I love that you mean the world to me!  Happy Birthday to the best Dad in the whole wide world!

Funny Boy...

Crew is constantly making us laugh around our house.  Last Sunday after we got home from church, Crew was obsessed with these bottle cap glasses.  Aren't we lucky to have such a cute little guy running around our house everyday!

Paisley Jane...

I was able to experience the miracle of child birth this week with my sister and her husband as they brought their beautiful baby girl into the world.  I was able to be in the room during labor and delivery.  It was another reminder to me of the perfect plan our Heavenly Father has for us. Paisley Jane was 6lbs. 2 oz. and absolutely beautiful and perfect.  Thanks again Laurel and Brady for allowing me to be a part of your special day!  I can't wait to see her and hold her again!  

Christmas in Utah

Temple Square

Exhausted after shopping

Such a pretty picture of my sis Jocelyn

Uncle Steve pulling Colton and Cannon behind the snowmobile

Grandpa D & Crew watching the boys on the tubes-Crew and Grandpa are such good buddies!

Such a cute picture of Crew

Us & Grandma Grandma

Grandma H. is going to be 97 years old and we cherish the time we get to spend with her.  

(look at that flawless skin)

Mom & Dad on Christmas Morning

We had a fun but busy time in Utah this Christmas.  We got to Utah on the 24th and surprised my family.  They did not think we were coming until Christmas day, so we rang the doorbell and when they answered we sang "We Wish You A Merry Christmas."  Then we spent Christmas Eve with Greg's family playing games and eating pizza.  Christmas Day started early and ended late.  We opened presents with my family, went to visit Greg's family, and rounded off the night at my Grandma's house.  On the 26th my sister and her husband and my brother and his wife flew into town.  Greg's brothers' from Portland and North Carolina were also in town.  The rest of the time we were in Utah was spent going back and forth trying to spend equal time with each family.  Some highlights of our trip are...PF. Chang & Temple Square, Colton & Greg went to the Jazz Game, Family Parties, Cards & Cafe Rio, Basketball Pick Up Game with the Boys, Shopping with the Girls, Greg's skiing trip, Kids being pulled behind the snowmobile on tubes, etc.  After all the fun and parties we were happy to come home and relax for a few days before Greg had to go back to work!

Our Christmas...

Colton and Cannon were so excited about their Webkinz

All Crew cared about Christmas morning was the candy canes

They loved their new Utah State shirts

and their new WII games

Dinner

Crew loved Santa and would not take his eyes off of him

Even though we don't celebrate Christmas on the 25th of December, we still have traditions that we do as our own little family that we look forward to and hold dear to our heart.  Every year on the 23rd we go out to a steak dinner, visit Santa, and get ready for Santa to come to our house. We open presents on the morning of the 24th and then head to Utah to spend Christmas with family.  Christmas to us is not a specific date, but the time we get to spend with family and reflect on the true meaning of Christmas.  Here are some pictures of our own Christmas traditions before we headed to Utah.

Christmas Card that didn't get done...

2008...

 It is amazing to think that another year has come and gone, but this year we are especially thankful for our Testimony of Jesus Christ, Family & Friends, and Health & Happiness.

We hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and Happy, Successful, and Healthy 2009.

 

Did That Really Just Happen?

On Tuesday morning before school, Colton asked if he could stay home all day from school and just play the WII.  I said no because he needed to go to school.  He said ok and went about his morning routine to get ready for school.  He had only been at school one hour and the phone rang and it was the Secretary from the school.   She said that Colton felt sick and felt like he was going to throw up.  I asked if she really thought he was sick and she said yes you need to come pick him up.  When I get Colton in the car, I ask him if he is really sick or if he just didn't want to go to school today.  He starts to cry and tells me that I never believe him.  I keep asking questions trying to figure out why he didn't want to stay at school.  He tells me that his stomach kind of hurts but he thinks he just needs to go to the bathroom.  We get home and he runs in the house and is jumping around acting perfectly fine.  He goes to the bathroom and runs out and says he feels fine.  Grrrr, I knew that he just didn't want to be at school.  I call Greg and he says he is coming home right now and taking him right back to school.  I am laughing and tell Greg that I faked sick quite a bit when I was going to school and to just give Colton the day off.  For some reason, he must have needed it because he doesn't do things like this.  If you know Colton at all, this is not his personality.  Colton stayed home the rest of the day, but every time Greg would walk into the house he would say -Hi faker how are you doing?Colton soon learned that it wasn't so fun staying home from school because he got invited to play after school and was so sad that he couldn't play.  Hopefully this doesn't happen again any time soon.  

We call Crew "The Tornado" because he never wants to play with toys and just gets into everything.  My house always looks so messy because Crew is constantly getting into messes and getting everything out.  Yesterday, I was in my room and I hear and huge crash.  I don't hear him crying, but I still run to find out what that noise was.  He is just sitting on the floor in the doorway of the office holding a cord.  I look and sure enough, my $130.00 lamp is sitting on the floor completely broken.  My stomach just sinks, I am so mad because the lamp was so expensive.  I lightly spank his bum all the while my neighbor sees me do this through our glass front door.  I am feeling really stupid by now.  Anyways, I put Crew in his bed and try to calm down.  I am thankful that the lamp didn't land on his head.  He really would have been hurt.  Greg fixed the lamp so it looks great, but no longer works.  After Crew's nap I go into his room and he has pulled his quilt off the wall.  I think to myself, I am glad it didn't fall on him and suffocate him while he was sleeping.  MY mom than calls me and tells me about all my blessings I have received today.  I did receive a blessing that Crew was not hurt, but on days like this I have to keep telling myself I love being a stay at home Mom.

Camera For Sale...

I am selling my Nixon D40X camera that I bought exactly one year ago.  Looks like new and works great.  It comes with 2 lenses, a 18-55 mm lens and a 55-200 mm lens.  You can email me at gedevries@mac.com or leave a comment if you might be interested.

Buddies

The last few times we have been in Utah, Cannon really has spent a lot of time hanging out with his Grandpa W.  He likes to play cards, read books, and watch T.V. with him.  This is a cute picture that was taken of Cannon hanging out with Grandpa.

"Ghosts"

Tonight during family home evening, I asked Colton, Cannon, and Greg if they wanted to give me a present for Christmas.  They all said yes, and then they asked me what I wanted.  I said that I wanted the spirit to dwell within our home everyday and throughout the year.  The funny thing is Cannon didn't really understand what I was talking about and started to cry and said that he didn't want the Holy Ghost living in our walls and watching him all the time.  Then we told him the Holy Ghost is like having Jesus and Heavenly Father living with us all the time and how special that would make our home feel.  He still didn't understand, and was still crying that a Ghost was going to be watching him and living in our house.  I thought it was a really great FHE to do to go along with the holiday season.  Huh, I guess I need to polish up my teaching skills.

Thanksgiving 2008

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year at Greg's parent's home.  The company was wonderful and so was the food.  Crew was napping during the beginning of dinner, so we didn't get any pictures of him.  We spent 6 fun filled days in Utah and came home completely exhausted.  On Tuesday we went and did the Polar Express in Heber City.  Wednesday we woke up and went shopping to Tai Pan and hung out for the night.  Colton and Greg went to the Jazz game. Thursday we woke up early and I made 2 pies and then we spent the day eating, eating, and eating again.  We also played a few games too.  Friday we ventured out shopping around 10 a.m. and then we went to see Twilight.  We went to Texas Roadhouse and then played the game Loaded Questions and laughed the night away.  It is such a fun game!  Greg and Colton went to the Jazz game again.  Saturday we went shopping again and then we spent the evening at the Jazz game with our friends Clint and Amber.  Thanks for sharing your tickets with us.  Greg's dad took Colton to the Jazz game Saturday night.  Greg and Colton were in heaven attending 3 Jazz games while we were in Utah.  Thank you Mom and Dad for sharing your tickets with them.  We enjoyed our crazy busy time in Utah and were reminded of how very blessed we are.