Brad and Tracey's Family!

Hot Air for the Kramers

2011-11-13T18:17:00.005-05:00

We had the chance to go on a hot air balloon here on campus a few weeks ago. Here's a lot of pics from that night.

Here's Brad, Isaac, and Samara. Can you believe they wouldn't let all 7 of us on at once...? so strict ;)...

Then, here's me, Hyrum, and Asher. No ride for Harper. She's not quite steady enough on her feet on her own. And she has no idea she missed anything.

I'm gonna try to do better re: updating more often, but I make no promises.

Our recent trip to DC

2010-11-19T10:13:00.019-05:00

So Brad had a Conference in Baltimore on Halloween, and then there was this rally announced in DC for the day before, so we stayed with a friend in DC and went to both. AND Brad's mom came to Ann Arbor and stayed with the kids (except Harper, we took her), so it was just the 3 of us!!!

Us on the Orange Metro line. It was incredibly packed. People were in each other's 'personal space.' Every stop, when the doors would open to let more folks in, we would hold up Harper and shout, "There's a child. Don't push us! Next train!" She became the mascot of our Metro car for that 45 minute ride.

So before you look at the pics of the rally, this is them setting up for the rally the day before. Nice, wide open field...

THIS was as close as I could physically get to that same spot.

It was very well attended (duh, obviously)! And it wasn't at all contentious. At all! It was a nice respectful showing of all different viewpoints coming together showing that it is possible to be in the same space and get along. I mean, there were even Mormons there, I hear. There were tons of signs, some political, some hilarious, but I did not see one that was hateful or that cursed. It was refreshing. You never know in a crowd... I would've taken my other children there except that the crowd was just enormous. I was proud of our country that day. There was sanity and kindness in the air. It wasn't Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Green, etc. It was just people, not even sure all were American, and I don't really care. It was literally *awe*some. Enough of that. Some of my favorite signs... I apologize for the quality and angle of some of these shots, but it was kinda crowded and I was just holdin' the camera up and hittin' the button!

This one says "Anyone for Scrabble later?"

If you are a House fan (as we are):

If you are an Arrested Development fan (as we are also):

If you are a fan of Stephen Colbert (as, of course, we are), he's Eagle guy:

And this, *might* be considered a bit sac-religious, but a guy dressed as Jesus was there. (I can't say 'Jesus was there', 'cause that just feels weird, but I guess He was since we are supposed to treat everyone as if they are Jesus...)Btw, the sign says "Jesus 'hearts' Obama! Of course he does, Jesus loves everyone!

We all cheered this girl on as she climbed up the light!

I found him!! What do I get!?!?

So when all was said and done, this was as close as we got. And the sign there says, "I may not agree with what you say, but I'm not going to stomp on your head for saying it."

Oh, and the Conference went fine too. ;)

2010-10-27T15:53:00.003-04:00

Ha! We only thought we'd find out about Samara's arm today. But no. More tests ordered. We'll know eventually.

2010-10-27T15:53:00.001-04:00

Ha! We only thought we'd find out about Samara's arm today. But no. More tests ordered. We'll know eventually.

2010-10-27T14:34:00.001-04:00

Harper is in the 1% for weight. Ha.

Wow.

2010-10-14T13:51:00.002-04:00

This whole buying girly stuff is just so, um, different. I just put together a new pink princess scooter for Samara's birthday. It comes with a clutch bag to hang from the handlebars!!! I don't have a clutch bag, and I'm not complaining, but why, oh, why does my 3 year old need a clutch bag, and especially one that attaches to the handlebars of her scooter!?!? ¡Ay, caramba!

FHE Monday

2010-10-06T09:03:00.001-04:00

For Family Home Evening, Isaac gave a lesson on talents. For his game we went around the room and said what everyone else's talents are. When it got to my family describing my talents, it got interesting. Here are 2 that stand out:
Isaac: "You hold Harper and you don't even drop her."
Asher: "You're nice to Grandma and stuff." (not sure which grandma or why this is so note-worthy...)
My kids really do crack me up sometimes.

A question I've been waiting for.

2010-10-03T20:07:00.002-04:00

So this weekend was our Mormon General Conference. It's a time for all the members of our faith to hear the same message from the leaders of our church about things that they are concerned about and things they want to encourage us to do in the world today. There is only so much that scriptures can tell you about some of the things we go through in these times.

Anyway, one of the things that one of them talked about was addictions. The guy mentioned p0rn0graphy (written like that on purpose - so your internet filters will still let you read this.) Hyrum asked what p0rn0graphy is. It was a question that I was sure was going to be asked eventually during one of these Conferences because the topic is usually brought up. Plus, having 3 boys, it was a topic I wanted to bring up with them, but, there's not ONE great way to do this. When I thought about it before today, I had no idea what I would say or how I would handle it exactly. But today, when he asked, it wasn't awkward or anything, and this is what I told him:

P0rn0graphy is looking or watching naked people, mostly, but it's anything that makes you feel like you want to have sex besides your wife. The point of sex is to create life. P0rn0graphy makes fun of that power. It makes it seem like something you can do alone just to feel good. It eventually destroys your soul and your other relationships, especially with your wife. Then Brad and I told him it was something that he wouldn't really understand for a few more years, but that he can talk to us about it anytime. I finished the conversation being quite satisfied with my answer and wanted to share it with anyone else who may be thinking about how to handle that question.

2010-10-03T09:41:00.001-04:00

Making about 80 cinnamon rolls for our traditional Conference brunch. Come over if you can get here in the next hour or so. Sorry everyone else. :(

Harper's All Done

2010-10-02T18:45:00.002-04:00

We do the baby sign language that is so popular to use these days. Why? Because it works!

2010-09-28T15:27:00.001-04:00

Locked out of my house. It's cold and rainy. We - Harper, Samara, and I - are sitting on our patio and I just started a fire in our grill.

Finish my sentence

2010-09-22T10:11:00.000-04:00

Brad is an anthropologist. This semester I am taking Anth101. The material so far has been stuff that Brad and I have talked about for years. If I don't get an A...

2010-09-18T13:07:00.001-04:00

Asher just said, 'My favorite grandma is both of them.'

2010-09-16T14:40:00.001-04:00

So I can blog from my phone now - look out!

First Day of School

2010-09-07T09:03:00.003-04:00

They were so happy to hop on the bus and get back to school. I try not to take it personally... ;) Samara isn't quite sure what to do with herself. And Harper keeps looking around for the boys. It's eerily quiet here.

How Samara Thinks

2010-07-01T12:41:00.000-04:00

Samara exclaimed to me this morning, "Mom, I have hair on my arm. Now I can get a watch!"

She recently turned two and a half and is such a joy to have around and talk to. She quite often will study her body carefully and say things like, "I have great shoulders, look!" or "Look at my beautiful chins - [pointing] 1, 2." She also went through the stage recently of asking everyone she encountered if they had a bum. And they all did!! She is trying so hard to be big and go potty in the toilet. We also just passed the one year anniversary of her breaking her arm. She still claims to remember it, but she always points to the wrong arm. I'm glad she doesn't remember actually. She loves being a big sister and is almost always gentle. She usually is singing any song that she can kind of remember the words to, some are better then others. We love our Samara and we're glad she's around to brighten our lives.

With the depression lately, she has been trying to help more around the house.

Her loading the dishwasher! She was so proud!

Postpartum Depression

2010-06-26T23:20:00.002-04:00

If you cry because there's cereal on the table after breakfast. If you cry with every diaper change whether poop is involved or not. If your kids are eating cereal for breakfast, toast for lunch and frozen pizza for dinner every day. If you become increasingly fond of the fetal position, you might have post postpartum depression.

So, I fit all these criteria and called my doctor and they put me on Zoloft. I had been on it once before after Asher was born and had done fine. But this time, oh, my friends, THIS time, it was not okay! First of all, I started taking it 2 days before a surprise trip to Salt Lake to visit Brad's mom for her birthday. We got to SL, all 7 of us, with all our luggage (nothing checked!) and successfully pulled off the surprise party for his mom. I was sleeping only 3-4 hours at night. Then the shaking started, trembling constantly. Then the rocking back and forth. Then the rubbing my palms together and on my pants and really anything. Then came the wailing. The kind of crying that I have NEVER experienced in my life! Combine all those and it equals a mental breakdown. I remember about 15 minutes of it. Brad says it lasted 5 hours! I called the doctor here in Michigan and explained what happened. The nice nurse told me that shaking, rocking and feeling more anxious is common and to keep taking the Zoloft. We came back to Michigan, all 7 of us, with all luggage, and I went to the doctor. She couldn't believe how I was!! So now I am on Klonopin, which knocks me out a good deal of the time which is why there has been such a hiatus from posting. They also changed me to Paxil. It seems to be working. I can see glimpses of myself coming back.

So the short version, I'm numb, feel very little in terms of love and connection to anyone. It's weird to feel so lonely in a house of 7 people. But I am getting better and can see light, but I can't tell how far away it is.

Harper lately

2010-04-04T21:45:00.006-04:00

She has a new boyfriend only a few days older than her and they were found laying on the couch together snuggling.

BUSTED!

"I wasn't touching her, I swear!"

And she laughs!!

Our night tonight

2010-04-03T21:01:00.004-04:00

So Asher ate the corner of a magnetic Bakugon card tonight. (why? I don't know, but he did.) Hyrum and Isaac being the big brothers that they are told him he was going to die because of it. He came down into the living room sobbing. I asked what was wrong and he said he didn't want to die. Isaac came around the corner and said, "But if you die and go to Heaven, Jesus will be there and He will protect you." Asher said, "I don't want Jesus. I want you guys," then gushed with more tears. He kept repeating over and over that he wants to stay in Michigan, he wants to be with us, he doesn't want Jesus. It was heartbreaking! We held each other for a long time. He finally calmed down. Gosh, I love that kid.

And for the record, he did not get any of the magnetic part of the card down, just the paper cover. Never got to the bottom of why...

30 things about me for my 30th birthday

2010-03-13T00:01:00.000-05:00

1.I grew up in Arlington, Texas.
2.I am the 3rd of 4 kids.
3.My favorite color is ORANGE!!!
4.I love road trips.
5.I have never had a passport.
6.I have traveled by car, train, and plane, but not ship.
7.I have put almost 100,000 miles on our car in the last 5 years, and we don’t drive that much around the city.
8.I used to be a model – but trying to figure out that line of what I was and wasn’t OK with was not worth it to me.
9.I had a baby for every odd year of my 20s – 21, 23, 25, 27, and 29.
10.Cadbury eggs are magical to me.
11.I have come close to dying twice – once as a teenager and once after childbirth.
12.I have been to 37 of the 50 states and Mexico.
13.My husband truly is my best friend.
14.I have changed over 12,000 diapers.
15.I have been cliff jumping.
16.I sell Mary Kay mainly for the discount for myself (because I don’t like being pushy).
17.I am still working toward my Bachelor’s degree in Psychology, slowly, but surely.
18.I have moved 9 times since being married (9 years ago).
19.I sang karaoke “Endless Love” with my husband.
20.I love throwing parties/ dinners/ brunches.
21.I have 2 clothes dryers – makes laundry days sooo much easier and faster.
22.I used to be a good listener, now I’m a better talker. Still trying to find that middle ground.
23.There’s not much I wouldn’t do for some Taco Bell.
24.I have been parasailing.
25.I am good with numbers and remembering things like birthdays and phone numbers.
26.I always wanted to be a mom and thoroughly love it – almost always :) .
27.I have worked 120 hours in one week before (there are only 168 hours IN a week).
28.I have more Halloween decorations than Christmas decorations (or any other holiday for that matter)
29.I have tasted poop...not my own...in the last year :(.
30.I am a freakishly good budgeter.

Wow, having 5 is busy, busy, busy!!

2010-02-18T15:34:00.014-05:00

It wouldn't be so bad if we all weren't so sick and we didn't plan so much so quickly!!

Samara was diagnosed with impetigo the week after Harper was born. This picture was taken before it got really bad. She has infected spots on each side of her mouth and then she has red bumps all over the lower half of her face, especially her chin. So we quarantined her.

Then all the family members arrived for Hyrum's baptism and Harper's blessing. Luckily we were all freakishly healthy while family was here. Hy was baptized and it was really great! Hyrum realized how many people love and support him from all over. We had family and friends from near and far who came to see him baptized. Every seat was filled and there were many people standing. It was a perfect day for him.

We blessed Harper the next day. Once again, lots of people. The blessing gown is the same one we used for Samara. My mom made it with fabric left over from when she made my wedding dress. It's absolutely gorgeous!!

Right after Harper was born, we noticed that there was a part of our kitchen ceiling that had some water damage. (We were lucky enough to not have to leave the house for the repairs.) Then our fridge broke and we had to get a new one. Then our bathroom sink backed up. Then they came and checked our furnace. Now our kitchen light is out. Seriously, we have had more maintenance in our house in the last month than the 2.5 years before.

The day the last family member left, while Brad was taking her to the airport, I fell down the stairs and bruised my tailbone. It's been 4 days now and it still hurts, but it's improving. The day after that, Asher started throwing up and continued to vomit all through the night. We went through 3 sets of sheets, 2 quilts, 8 towels, and a sleeping bag. One of the quilts was Samara's and it was on her at the time... (He leaned over the side of the top bunk and threw up. It landed on her bed below him.) The next day, I was diagnosed with cellulitis. It's a skin infection deep in the skin and it's not contagious. Not sure where I got it, but the antibiotics seem to be working, but they have wiped me out! And today, Samara started throwing up.

Having 5 kids is busy, but so amazing at the same time. I love it! Harper is a great baby. She is happy and content. She lets her siblings hold her and is patient with them if she gets a bit bobbled or bumped. She is a pretty good sleeper and consistently goes 6 hours at night without needing anything.

At 5 days with Isaac holding her 'so gently.'

At 2 weeks, 2 days with Samara watching closely.

At 2 weeks, 3 days looking at her daddy-o!

At 3 weeks.

It's a GIRL!!

2010-01-28T20:27:00.004-05:00

Many of you were right about gender, but none of you guessed the right day! She was born at 5:26am on the 23rd. 7 lbs. 2 oz. 18.5" Perfect!!

P.S. Her name is Harper Zoe. (Thanks Mama Bear!)

Vote for when the baby will be born (and what it is)

2010-01-14T19:32:00.002-05:00

Vote and leave a comment with what you voted. If you are correct, you will be entered into a drawing and win something. Not sure what yet, but somethin'! (I'm due the 22nd) Isaac was our earliest at 6 days early and Hyrum was our latest - induced 6 days late.

The Heaping Belly

2010-01-09T19:30:00.000-05:00

This was at 35 weeks.

Why do we buy actual presents...

2009-12-22T16:21:00.001-05:00

...when they love the boxes so much?!?!

Goodies and Handsome

2009-12-12T15:05:00.000-05:00

These are things Samara is always saying. If I watch the weather, she says, "Goodies, sunny day!" or "Goodies, rainy day!" Also when we call that it's time for dinner, she'll run to the table shouting, "Goodies, dinner time!" It's just great!

Also, every day when I get her dressed she says, "Oh, I'm so handsome!" It's hard to know what to say to that because she obviously knows that we call the boys handsome when they get dressed, so we don't want to say, "No, Samara you're not handsome." So we just tell her she's handsome and pretty. She does think that her hair is pretty and that shoes are pretty, but getting dressed is handsome.

Some Christmas Cheer

2009-12-11T10:54:00.001-05:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Halloween 09

2009-11-03T20:33:00.003-05:00

It was sooo cold, but lots of fun!

Following the Yellow Brick Road.

Summer Vacation Part 4 - Beach time

2009-10-07T14:53:00.000-04:00

Part of my family reunion was spent at the beach at Pineview Reservoir.
Hy caught a guppy.

And a snake (gasp).

Summer Vacation Part 3 - Grandpa's Cabin

2009-10-03T19:38:00.000-04:00

We spent a week at Brad's Grandpa's Cabin in Star Valley, WY.

Brad went golfing almost every day. (Don't you love the black socks with shorts? Who dresses this guy?)

We dusted off the ATV and took it out several times. These pics are all from the same day though.

And I spent the week putting a 1000 piece puzzle together and staying inside like a good little prego.

Summer Vacation Part 2-Who knew bowling could be so dangerous?

2009-09-29T15:03:00.000-04:00

It's a family tradition to go BYU bowling whenever the parents are in Utah and this year was no exception. Asher had bowled maybe 4 frames. We had a ramp and bumpers for them, but the adults still assisted in the process. It was Asher's turn. He picked up his ball and started walking it over to me by the ramp. He tripped, dropped the ball and landed with his chin against the ball. Lots of blood and 4 stitches later, he doesn't like bowling anymore. We'll give it a few months and take him again. Thank heavens for forgetting - especially about all the stuff that happens to you when you're 3.

Summer Vacation Part 1

2009-09-28T13:42:00.000-04:00

So there I was, camping at Flaming Gorge, minding my own business, taking pics of my baby girl with her 'cousin' Olive...
when all of a sudden I was ambushed by HYRUM!!! - With a 6 foot snake draped around him.
WELCOME TO MY LIFE!!!

Springfield, IL

2009-09-25T15:20:00.012-04:00

We went to Springfield after Nauvoo and had a great time there too. This was Lincoln's home.

We also went to the Lincoln Memorial and all rubbed Lincoln's nose for good luck (and probably a germ or two).

We found a park to play at while Brad was at his conference.

And of course, the vacation was finally complete with a little critter joining the show. Hy caught a frog, loved it, and let it go 10 minutes later.

Nauvoo

2009-09-24T14:05:00.001-04:00

We went with a group to Nauvoo, IL in May. It was fantastic! Here's the pic of all of us in our pioneer garb. I promise Samara was not choking on the bonnet, she just didn't like it.

This is one handsome pioneer boy!

Samara loves animals, even/especially wooden ones.

We stayed in the Nauvoo House run by the Community of Christ. They were great to us. This is how close we were to the river - literally 40 feet or so.

About 100 feet in the other direction are the graves of Joseph, Hyrum and Emma.

The turtles in the Mississippi River would climb up on these logs and bask in the sun. My boys thought that was the coolest thing ever...until they saw something else cooler...

The weather was perfect and we absolutely fell in love with the ambiance of the little town.

I'm still alive and breathing

2009-09-08T14:55:00.008-04:00

No, I have not had ear problems for months. I lost my hearing in my left ear but got it back about 3 weeks later.

It has been too long of a hiatus from blogging. Today is the first day of school though so hopefully I can use some of my time to play catch-up. We had a great summer and were lucky enough to see most of our families and a lot of friends. If we didn't get to see you this time, your time's comin'.

I also had an ultrasound today. I am 20+ weeks and everything looks great. For those who remember Samara's placental (?) problems, you can probably guess that I was overly interested in where the placenta is this time. Well, it's high and looks good and will not interfere with the delivery. My due date is the same - January 22nd. As for gender, all we asked is that the technician be sure that it is either a girl or a boy, but we opted not to know. He gave us some of those 3D pictures. We had never had them done before - they are awesome! This is the closest we got to seeing the face.
What you see here is the hands grabbing the feet with the head in the lower right-hand corner.Flexible little one, huh?

Here's the more traditional view.

Everything looks great! It's amazing that they can see so much.

I will try to get on here soon and update everyone on the other happenings of our little (and growing) family.

bull-a-who-what-huh?

2009-06-16T19:59:00.004-04:00

Bullous Myringitis. It's in my ear. Every doctor that has heard what I have looks at me and says, "Oh, that's pretty rare!" Then they ask to look. I don't feel like a freak or anything... Or they look at me like I think I have that but they really know I don't. It's awesome! They don't know how I got it, which stinks, but I am not contagious, which is good. They did say if I took some of the infection out of my ear and shoved it far enough into someone else's ear, they might get it. Nice, huh? And it's called bullous myringitis. Here's another. It's as awful as it sounds. Ear infection with blisters on your eardrum. The only symptom is severe ear pain. I got it Wednesday, the 10th, at 4am, and their only treatment at that point was pain control with Vicodin. I got to the ER at 4:45am and left at 3:15pm. I waited pretty much all that time for an ENT to be available. I lost my hearing around 11am. The ENTs are certain that I have the viral strain despite the websites suggesting that the hearing loss is caused by the bacterial strain. I had ear drainage on Wednesday night and I thought I was all better. Thursday I went to my Primary Care Doc and she found 2 more blisters. Friday was much worse. So I decided to have a 'procedure.' During said procedure, they deadened the ear with drops which caused what the doctor described as "excruciating pain for 5-10 seconds." Check. Then he popped one blister. Didn't feel it. Then he put a small hole in my eardrum, smaller than if they had put tubes in even, but big enough to get the tip of a little vacuum in there. Doctor said, "You might feel some pressure and hear a whooshing sound." Check and check. He had sucked out all the infection!! He looked in my ear and found another blister that the infection on the inside of the eardrum had been pushing against the wall of my ear canal. It had not been deadened, but he needed to pop it. He said, "Unfortunately, you're going to feel this." CHECK!

Today, I have no ear pain, but I am constantly exhausted. I have little hearing in my ear, but the doctors have done a few tricks using tuning forks and discovered that I have not lost the hearing altogether, I just can't hear right now. It should return in a few weeks. But honestly, I don't really mind. If I lay with my good ear down, I hear almost nothing and can rest beautifully. Oh, and BTW, I'm 8 weeks pregnant. :) Due Jan 22nd. Been feeling fine up until this.

FREEDOM!!!

2009-05-15T21:45:00.004-04:00

Samara's cast came off today.

Independence, MO

2009-05-14T22:05:00.002-04:00

About a month ago over the kids' Spring Break, we drove to Independence, MO. It was an 11 hour drive each way, but nothin' we couldn't handle. Our kids love music (who doesn't?) and we listen to everything - Elton John, Air Supply, Queen, Bonnie Tyler, Elliott Smith, A Perfect Circle, Tool... you get the idea! Here's Ash singing Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody. Just hang in there. It starts getting good about 35 seconds into it. (I still don't know how to edit videos... Anyone volunteer walking me through it?) This would have been about 10pm Michigan time.

We got there late and checked in a went straight to sleep. Sooo, on every vacation I go on, I forget something! Usually it's something either cheaply replaceable or something I can live without. Examples of recently forgotten items are contact solution, glasses, hairbrush, toothpaste and/or toothbrush, razor, etc. This trip... I forgot pants!! I just made good use of the laundry facilities at our hotel. I did somehow remember jammie pants. I also managed to pack all of everyone else's clothes. sigh.

On Thursday, Brad had research at the Community of Christ Temple. We drove over there to pick him up. We didn't go inside there, but we went across the street to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Visitor's Center. They had a lot for the kids to do to keep them busy while learning about time in the late 1830s.

Hy looks thrilled, huh?

Driving the covered wagon.

Getting water from the well.

Going into the house.

For dinner, we went to a famous BBQ place called Arthur Bryant's. It is in the bad part of town and was an interesting dining experience. The food was outstanding, some of the best smoked brisket I've ever had. Part way through our meal though the police came and addressed a situation outside. I didn't know what was going on (and my imagination can run quite wild) so I just tried to distract the kids for the rest of the time. We got out and realized that they were taking care of a woman who was publicly intoxicated. Hy's version - "She was pulling faces through the window at a restaurant and that is inappropriate."

Friday, we drove up to Adam-Ondi-Ahman. There is actually no address for it, so finding it on google maps/ mapquest was pretty tricky. We finally got a rough idea of where it was and started driving. About an hour later, we saw an itty bitty sign that said "Adam-Ondi-Ahman take exit" whatever. I looked up and the exit was right there!! That's how all the signs were - small and sudden. On the way there we talked to the kids about how this place is dedicated to Adam and Eve and how when we got there we would think about them and their family playing on the fields and such. We pulled in and got our picnic out and all the fields were black!! They had just burned the fields to re-nitrogenate (?) them. It was rather disappointing. We hiked around and tried to enjoy any beauty we could find. We realized that that must have been how Adam and Eve felt after being cast out of the Garden... kinda disappointed by the ugliness. We took the family picture above with a timer because NO ONE else was there. There was an occasional missionary sighting, but they all seemed busy.

After we left Adam-Ondi-Ahman, we drove to Liberty Jail. Hyrum said, "Doesn't 'liberty' mean freedom? It doesn't make sense." Asher and Samara were, let's say 'tired' (melted down messes), so I stayed in the car with them while Brad took the older boys in.

Saturday Brad was in the Conference, so I took the kids to downtown Kansas City and we went to Science City. It was the Earth Day Festival, so the kids planted seeds and got a tree to plant - everything died and/or spilled in the car on the way home. :(

In a helicopter.

In a colon.

Making cloth fly.

A dark slide that was supposed to be a sewer playground (?)

Making a cloud.

Digging for dinosaur bones.

Sunday we drove home and I can honestly say it was the worst day weather-wise of driving for me ever. It rained from the moment we left our hotel in the morning until the time we got to our house in Michigan. The 11 hour drive took almost 14 hours! We got home around 1am. I couldn't fall asleep for at least another hour because my senses were so heightened. Honestly, the lights and the glare of the road and everything else was just too much!

Fun fact: I found what has to be the longest name for a street anywhere - Higashimurayama Drive. The sign was twice as long as it usually is. It's in Independece, close to the corner of Noland Road and Truman Road.

I LOVE...

2009-04-25T20:57:00.000-04:00

April showers!!

Broken Arm

2009-04-22T15:08:00.004-04:00

I bet you can't guess which member of our family broke their arm today!!

IT

WAS

SAMARA!!!!

How is it that with 3 boys, my girl is the one that breaks a bone (other than a nose) first?!?! And none of the brothers had anything to do with it. She fell off of Asher's bed. No amazing story or anything, she just fell off.

I'm pretty sure we could blame the whole thing on Lightening McQueen. She was looking at Asher's stickers when it all happened. I was in the room going through winter and summer clothes, so I know Asher was not a part of it. Hyrum and Isaac were at school. It happened at 9:30am. I didn't think anything was wrong, I mean, she was crying and stuff, even harder than usual, but I really downplayed the whole thing, until around 10:30 I noticed that she was not using her arm at all and was just letting it dangle there. She would not give 'fives' or clap her hands. She also screamed when we tried to get her dressed and her arm through her shirt. Her arm was not swollen or discolored and I had heard that broken bones always cause that, so I just thought it was sore. I called the doctor and she said to take her to the ER. My dear neighbor took Asher and I went with Samara. Brad was home when it initially happened, but he had to go teach, so I dropped him off on the way to U of M Hospital. Samara and I got there and the Resident and Med Student were probably thinking the same thing I had been...this arm isn't broken, this little girl's just a baby and doesn't want to use her arm, but my gut now said there was something wrong. They did x-rays and concluded that she has a buckle fracture in both bones of her forearm (radius and ulna). She fell asleep as we were waiting for the results of the x-ray and she slept throughout the entire splinting process. We will see a Pediatric Orthopedic doctor in the next few days and she will likely be in a cast after that for a few weeks.

Easter and Robot

2009-04-20T13:18:00.000-04:00

I have not posted in a long time!!! Isaac made a robot for school and he did it all by himself. All the other kids had their parents help wrap theirs in foil, but Isaac wanted his to stay like it was!! It was 100% recyclable!
Our Easter was eventful. We had a passover meal on Thursday night of lamb, veggies, flatbread, and baked beans. The beans have nothing to do with passover, but they sounded so good and we made them from scratch. We had lessons all weekend on the last week of Christ's life, His death and resurrection. On Easter Sunday, Asher got so sick. He had repeated 'explosions' during the night and was just exhausted all day. We took him to church, but only for the first part. We usually do a formal family picture on Easter, but with Ash being sick, it just wasn't worth it. I did snap a few pics of Samara though.

The Saturday before, though, we did go to the Big House for a Spring Scrimmage. It was free, so we all went. It was fun to go to something like that all together and even though we had to leave after 45 minutes, we didn't feel like we had wasted money.

Hair and sleeping

2009-03-20T13:10:00.001-04:00

So, we finally cut our boys' hair. This happened because Asher was mistaken for a girl at Wendy's a few weeks ago, but that lady was a little crazy... Anyway, here are the before and afters.

This is how I found Asher at 9pm the other night when I rounded the corner to go to the bathroom. I'm so glad he didn't roll in his sleep! I'm also so glad I had to go potty when I did. From the looks of it all, he went potty after bedtime and took the top of his jams off. The sleeves went inside out, so he couldn't get them back on by himself. He was probably on his way down to ask for help and just got tired.

Our February

2009-03-12T15:09:00.001-04:00

We are all pretty sick for most of February. I neglected a lot of things...including the blog. :( There were some fun parts too though.

Brad and I celebrated our 8th anniversary in February! He surprised me with a trip to Chicago!!! He got babysitters for the kids (thanks Katie, Steve, Janel, and Derek) and we drove the 4 hours and had a really good relaxing weekend. We went to the Second City Comedy Group. We didn't take the camera anywhere around town with us, go figure, but here is a pic in our hotel. (Sorry Brad, not your best pic.)

We came back and most of us were sick for a lot of the month. But then, the kids and Brad got out of school for the last week for Mid-Winter Break and we were all healthy enough that we decided to drive the whole fam to Boston! The drive was about 13-14 hours each way. It was quick - we were only there for a few days. And we forgot our camera and had to settle for the pictures our video camera took (no flash, very pixel-y). We stayed with dear friends who took really good care of us. We walked around hung out at the house, had meals with other good friends, Brad and I walked around Salem, we all went to the Aquarium and saw downtown and the Atlantic Ocean, we walked around Harvard and Cambridge Commons. The weather was quite cooperative and we missed that huge storm by hours. We drove back and all is well.

Asher downtown.

A very windy day in Cambridge.

How to hide a full-grown adult in your basement for 37 hours without your husband knowing

2009-01-28T21:01:00.000-05:00

1) Gently force your husband to go to his Wednesday night Temple shift AND make him find a ride to and from.
2) Tell him you need the car for a special errand that can only be run that night.
3) After your kids are in bed, call a friend (thanks Katie) to come over.
4) Take the car and go pick up an adult at the airport.
5) Make sure that it's a really stormy night and that the weather is awful enough to delay the flight so long that you wonder if you're even going to beat your husband home. It only adds to the over all drama, so why not?
6) After you get yourself and the adult home, have the adult go potty one last time for the night since there IS only 1 bathroom in this house and you have to walk right by yours and hubby's room to get there.
7) Inform the adult that there is a utility sink in the basement just in case of emergency, but only for #1. (#2? - you're outta luck!)
8) Then banish the adult to the basement until the next morning (10:45pm - not that bad...)
9) Welcome husband home in a normal fashion.
10) Tell him you got a present for his Bday for him and it's in the basement and that he can't go down there until his Bday (Friday).
11) Go to bed and wake up normally.
12) Send hubby out the door with a good breakfast. Check on the web that a shuttle has come and gone and hubby has not returned to announce that he missed the bus.
13) Call adult upstairs and grant access to the bathroom (!!!!) and kids.
14) Play all day with adult.
15) Now that the kids have seen the adult, they will not keep it a secret from dad, so you have to keep hubby from the kids now too...
16) Have adult watch the kids and go and pick up hubby from school and tell him you got a babysitter for the whole night.
17) Have a great night out with your hubby.
18) While out on your date become physically ill from all the lies and deceiving.
19) Tell him it's just your hormones.
20) When your date is done pretend to call home, but really call a neighbor (thanks Janel) and have him/her come and pretend like they've watched the kids all night.
21) Go to bed and wake up. Today is hubby's birthday, so let him sleep in until after the kids leave for school, so they don't say anything.
22) Wake hubby up and send him off to work.
23) Call adult up and get ready to go on the shuttle to campus.
24) Have everyone (close friends and adult) meet at hubby's favorite restaurant.
25) Go pick him up from his class and embarrass him in front of his students a little.
26) Walk to the restaurant and go in.
27) Hubby sees friends yell "Surprise!!!!!"
28) Hubby scans the crowd only to notice that his MOM, BROTHER and SISTER in law are also there.
29) Tell him you've been hiding mom in our basement!!!!
30) Let the knots in your stomach start to untie as you then confess everything that you've lied about for 2 days!!

Happy Birthday Brad! I'm glad it was a surprise! This was a few weeks ago...sorry it took so long to get it on here. :(

Kid qoutes from 2008

2009-01-27T19:13:00.000-05:00

Hryum: "Mom, you didn't lie!!"

Hyrum: "Asher is so strong...he gave Isaac a whole concussion!"

Isaac: "D says 'du' in darnit."

Isaac: "Mom, my Spider Bear doesn't like breast milk. Every time I give him breast milk he just spits it out all over the floor. He really just likes yogurt, ketchup and fish sticks."

Isaac: "Can I drink the [spinach] juice?"...I said no.

Isaac: "Mom, are you a mom?"

Asher: "I had a bad dream...a mountain pinched my finger!"

Asher: [whispering]"Daddy, do you want to come eat breakfast with us? Do you want to have some Rice Krispies with us? They have so much scrumptious in them!"

Asher: "You are a penguin, frog, cow, duck, dog, aardvark, bunny, monkey!" Or just "bunny monkey" for short.

Asher: "Actually, I didn't make a snow angel, I just laid down."

Asher: "Samara was whispering 'We need help.' so I came in and helped her."

Giving or Taking Away?

2009-01-27T01:15:00.000-05:00

Samara is the one in pink. So what do you think?

It's stinkin' cold!!!

2009-01-16T13:38:00.000-05:00

Yes, it's that cold!!! School was canceled today because of the windchill. In that temperature, one could get frostbite in less than 3 minutes on any exposed body part. So they cancel school because the kids can't safely wait at the bus stop. So we're just hanging out inside all day playing games in jammies. Come on over if you dare! LOL!

We are so glad we don't pay for heat!!

Our December and New Year

2009-01-06T16:26:00.000-05:00

So, yes it's almost a week into the New Year and I'm just getting around to posting about the rest of our December.

Hyrum's birthday was going to be while we were gone, so we had his party the week before. He gave me no clue about what he wanted his party to be like, so I came up with a scavenger hunt around the neighborhood. So we had 8 kids running all around in 15 degree weather having a great time. Part of the hunt was to pop balloons hung in our courtyard and find a clue.There were 44 balloons, 22 had papers in them, but only 1 of the papers actually had a clue on it (the other 21 said 'Not a clue.') It was so fun to see these kids popping the balloons and a paper would fall and they would shout, "I found a clue!" They would all run over just in time to all read together that it was 'not a clue.' They did such a great job working together and rooting for each other. It was a day for all of the mothers of those kids to be proud!! We had no problems at all, which is saying something for this particular bunch! After the scavenger hunt, my sweet hubby did a magic show for the kids. They LOVED it!! Then we had dinner - pizza, opened presents, and then had cake. It was so fun and I know the kids were talking about it days later.

Driving to Texas was a frustrating feat this time because Samara was throwing up the whole time. There are few things worse than your baby throwing up unannounced repeatedly throughout a 2 day drive. It was bad. Our car smelled so bad by the time we got there, but we FINALLY got it all out! Samara ended up being really sick most of the time we were there and was even in the hospital for 2 days on the Monday and Tuesday before Christmas. Those of you who know Samara can see that she's a little thing anyway, but add to that 5 days of vomiting and 4 days of explosive diarrhea and you have one little dehydrated little babe. She had no wetness in her eyes or mouth. It was spooky. We took her to the ER and they put an IV in her hand, but hours later there was no improvement, so they admitted her.
Brad noticed after we moved upstairs that her fingers on the hand where the IV was were purple. They started removing the tape. Then we noticed that the bandage seemed really tight for her hand and arm. That's when the nurse noticed that the IV had infiltrated and the fluid had just been pumping in just under the skin. Her arm and hand were twice their regular size!They said it would feel like a huge bruise for the next 24 hours (it really lasted over 48 before we could touch it without here screaming).

We had a very Merry Christmas in Arlington, Texas with my parents, brother and grandmother. The kids all got lots of stuff and you know how kids love stuff. Brad got books, shocker, huh? But then there's me - I got a Cricut Expression!!! If you don't know what that is, then come over and I'll show you. Heck, even if you do know what it is, come on over! I love this thing. It can cut vinyl and I already have and am working on my first order. My mom has generously provided enough product for me to make it into a little money making venture. Thanks Mom!!The kids lining up to go into the living room where Santa left the loot! Asher was so grumpy. Maybe something to do with his lack of sleep and mounds of sugar intake...Samara with her new favorite toy.

Also while we were there Brad's grandmother passed away on the 21st in Salt Lake. She had been battling cancer for several years and she is finally at peace. The doctors told her she had 4 weeks if she could stay healthy, but less than a week if she got pneumonia. She commented that, "pneumonia is now my new best friend." She did get it. And she didn't want any treatment, only pain management. She died peacefully with her family around her in Brad's parent's home. Brad flew out to SLC for the funeral which was on the 29th.

My cousin got married the day we left Texas, so we stopped by the Dallas Temple on the way out of town so I could be there. Congrats Susanna!!

We got back to Ann Arbor in time to spend New Year's with some of our dear friends. It was an eventful December for us! But I'm starting to think that everyone's December is always super busy.

O Holy Night

2008-12-14T22:05:00.000-05:00

Probably the worst, I mean, (ahem) best, version I've ever heard. Just when you think it can't get any worse (or better) it does. He goes there.

Our Christams Prep

2008-12-03T16:17:00.000-05:00

So...Brad and I have been trying to figure out how to teach our young children about the real meaning of Christmas while still trying to make it fun. I remember Christmas feeling kind of two-faced as a kid, all the fun of Santa and gifts, but all the seriousness of Christ and reverence. So we decided that we would have a birthday party for Jesus. I've seen the Oriental Trading Company ads and that they have banners, plates, cups, etc for such events, but ours is going to be a bit different. We are having our party this coming Monday, the 8th. We decided that the thing that Jesus wants most for us is to be happy. He cannot just make us happy though. He respects our free agency. It is up to us to choose to be happy and to choose to help those around us be happy. So, for our party our kids have to come up with a goal of service or something else that could make someone happy and then make sure that they perform that act before Christmas and that's their gift to Jesus.

So we were at Target yesterday and I stopped on the party isle to look at party favors for Hy's party next week and Asher picked up some pirate plates and said, "He wants pirate plates." I said, "No, Hyrum doesn't want pirate plates. Put them back." He said, "No, Jesus needs pirate plates!"

Then completely off subject, but still cute, last night I pulled Samara's shirt off to get her jammies on and her skirt was covering her belly button a little. Asher said, "Oh no Mom, we left her belly button at Target!"

And randomly, here's a picture of Brad's turkey on Thanksgiving. We fed over 40 people at our church. It was delicious!

And lastly, this squirrel was outside my front door today. They are huge this time of year!

A Whole New Somethin'

2008-11-30T22:04:00.000-05:00

This is for REAL!! Check out some of his other stuff on youtube. His Mariah Carey/Boyz II Men Duet is rather impressive also. And Somewhere Over The Rainbow. It's quite amazing. Or somethin'.

Halloween 08

2008-11-08T18:12:00.000-05:00

I love Halloween!!! We decorated the house, we got the costumes and we got/ ate tons of candy. This year, Brad stuck with the same costume that he made several years ago. Here he is feeding Samara peaches with his costume.

Oh, and BTW it was 70 degrees on Halloween. Hello?!?!?! This is Michigan!! But it was great!

Hyrum was Batman and Isaac was Spiderman (again) - my little super heroes. Asher was Pablo (again) and Samara was a frog.
And then there's me. Brad had a bunch of old-ish underwear that needed to be disposed of so I cut it all up and made a mummy costume.
The kids look thrilled, huh? They were a little T.O.-ed that we wanted to take another picture, especially when there was candy to be handed out, just for being cute!

When night came, we turned on the black light and really became the place to be. There were some kids that saw us though and said, "I don't want to go over there." The worst part was I had lost my voice due to allergies, so I couldn't reassure kids that it was just me. I told most kids that it was my spooky Halloween voice.
The only sad part was when it was over. Brad's parents were here for it and took our kids Trick-or-Treating. They pooped out pretty soon - the kids AND the grandparents. :)

Lou'ville

2008-11-07T16:56:00.000-05:00

Brad had a conference in Louisville, KY a few weeks ago. Since they were paying and we had a sitter for the kids, I decided to tag along. We drove the 5 1/2 hours and stayed in downtown Louisville. It was so much fun. We ate at a place called Bootleg BBQ. It was pretty good.We also ate at Lynn's Paradise Cafe, a place that was featured on Throwdown with Bobby Flay on Food Network. It was so good that we ate there for dinner (I got a fried green tomato BLT) and then 2 days later for breakfast. It was honestly some of the best food I've ever had. And since Brad is my personal chef, that's really saying something! The decor was crazy. If I could look inside Isaac's head and create a room, I would create this restaurant. If you're ever in Louisville, it's worth it!!

This stuff was inside the store part of Lynn's. Such silly stuff.

Samara is 1!!!!

2008-11-05T16:37:00.000-05:00

Hello all. Sorry the long respite from blogging. Samara turned 1 a few weeks ago.

Cupcake #1.

Cupcake #2.

Cupcake #3.

After three, she was finally done!!. So of course we put her down and let her play in the fall leaves.

Oh, this girl melts my heart!!!

It was a great day and all a 1 year old could want - sugar and dirt.

Now on to Texas

2008-10-01T18:25:00.000-04:00

We left Utah on August 5th and drove to Texas. These are 2 of the rock formations in Southern Utah that were my favorites as a kid. The one on the left, I called The Turtle, and the one on the right, my family always lovingly referred to as The Fat Lady.These were always so exciting to see on the way to Utah because that meant we only had 4 hours left!!! How pathetic, huh? Of course, I didn't even stop long enough to get a good picture. These are from my cell phone...

THE BORDER!!!! And yes, it says Drive Friendly, the Texas Way!

We arrived. And what else is there to do in Texas other than spend all your time cooling off in the pool!!
We spent literally hours in the pool. We went swimming every day (except Sundays and rainy days). It was delightful! I taught myself how to do a back dive. It's not great, but I don't flop.

When you swim that much, you kind of get creative in the games you play. My brother, Bryan, and I would try and be 'like Ariel.' We're dumb...and we know it...that's just the tip of the iceburg.

He was so good at it. That was his first try!! Not so much for me.

Wow, I give that an F!!!!!

D+

D-, worse than before!

AWFUL!!!

I had to go to the shallow end to finally get close.

The favorite other thing that is always memorable is going to Six Flags!!!
This is a face that Samara started pulling while we were in Texas. She did it TONS while we were at Six Flags.Us on a ride in Kiddy Land.

Finally...our trip

2008-09-30T13:48:00.000-04:00

OK so I finally uploaded all the videos and pics from our vacation. Today I will do our Utah part, then next time, hopefully tomorrow, I will do the Texas part.

Brad's parents thought that we were arriving on July 17th, but we arrived on the 13th. We told Brad's brother and his wife, but no one else. We just asked that they get all the family there on that Sunday night. Here's the video of us leaving Samara on the doorstep to surprise them.

We spent the 24th of July there. We went to the parade. My Aunt Bev went downtown around 4am to get our spot. Then we had a BBQ at Brad's grandma's house. That's where Samara discovered ice.

Then we went to fireworks at Liberty Park.

We also went and spent time at the Valley Home that my mom's cousin owns and it's become the family cabin. Of course Hy found tons of bugs.And we could always find Samara playing by the mirror.Oh, that smile melts my heart!!
AAhhhh, kisses.Uhhhh...

Hy's choice

2008-09-21T22:55:00.000-04:00

So today after church, Hyrum was playing the Nintendo DS and Isaac was watching. I asked Hyrum to stop, but Isaac told him to keep playing. When I checked on the boys a few minutes later, Hyrum was still playing.

I said to Hyrum, "So is Isaac your boss now?"

Hyrum said, "Yes, I want Isaac to be my boss for the rest of the day!!"

I didn't really care if they kept playing as long as they weren't fighting, so I said, "OK, for the rest of the day, Isaac is your boss."

About 10 minutes later I said that it was time for someone to set the table. Isaac piped up and said, "Hyrum will do it."

I turned to Hy and said, "Well you did choose to have Isaac be your boss for the rest of the day."

Hyrum was a good sport about it and set the table. We ate a yummy dinner - Brad made borscht, a Russian beet soup that everyone in our family loves and I made homemade bread.

After dinner it was time to clear the table and clean up, so I asked, "Who's gonna clean up dinner?"

Isaac again piped up and volunteered Hyrum. At this point, Hy burst into tears and said that Brad and I were just sitting there letting Isaac be mean to him. We said that all this was because he decided to make a choice to have a 5 year be his boss instead of his parents who at least try to make things fair(ish). He said he was done having Isaac be his boss, but we still made him clear the table.

I don't think he'll want any other bosses for a while, except for the ones he's used to.