Messy Child

This is my dear, sweet baby who is not such a baby anymore. Paysli will be one next week and it's obvious. She is getting into everything- and I mean everything. She doesn't understand the word "no" so she just smiles while she gets in trouble. This is what she looks like at every meal. It has become my ongoing project to keep her high chair clean (I would try for her but that would be impossible). I love you, Paysli! Thanks for keeping me on my toes.

Happy Birthday Husky!

It's amazing how fast time goes. My dear Scott is 31 today. For a brief month we are 3 years apart and I get to tease him about how old he is. He doesn't think I'm as funny as I do! I have the most amazing husband in the world and want to tell him how much I appreciate, adore, and love him (no matter how old he is)!

Shaersti took this picture- isn't it great?

Lake Powell

We were lucky enough to be invited to Lake Powell with our friends, the Richins. We stayed for a whole week and had an awesome time, What made it even better is that my parents kept Anne and Paysli, which left us with only Shaersti. How lucky can you be?

Shaersti was loving riding thewater weinee- until we hit a wave. She stayed on but she was done!

Her favorite thing was the wave runner. We took her on a few rides a day and she loved to drive.
Although I'm not nearly as tricky as Scott, I had a ton of fun wakeboarding and even jumped for the first time ever (of course that's not the picture we got!)

Scott wakeboarding. This is just about his favorite thing in the world.

We found this cool little canal. We could drive into it until it got too shallow then turn around and ski out of it. It was pretty cool.

What cute little girls- Shaersti, Jessi, and YaYa (Julianna). They never quit playing.

It must be hard to be a 5 year old and get mom and dad's undivided attention for a full week!

Jessi Richins used to live next door to us and moved to Draper. We have really missed them! We just happened to have the same swim suits, life jackets. and towels.

A huge thanks to th Richins for taking us along with their whole family, for the swims Heather forced me to go on, and for all the great company and food! We love you!

Kolby's Mission Call

Kolby received his mission call the day after he graduated high school. He was on a senior trip so he tormented my mom by waiting almost 4 days to open it. He is leaving our little quiet St. George in October for a new adventure in Lima, Peru with a city population of almost 8.2 million. He is really excited and we are missing him already!

Family Pictures

Every year I have to give Scott a HUGE heads-up then push and prod my family so that I can have updated pictures of them. And every year it's just not as bad as they make it out to be.

Shaersti Jill- 5

Anneliese Renae- 3

Paysli Kate- just about one

My favorite girls!

Our Own Little Piggy Bank!

Anneliese- don't you know that a bank will save that nickel for you? You don't need to swallow it!

That's one of the many, many jokes we have heard today.

We were putting our kids to bed late last night when Anne threw a nickel and a quarter into her mouth. She choked on it and the quarter came up but the nickel went down. We just figured she would poop it out... right? After 5 minutes of Anne crying that the money was stuck in her throat and a call to poison control (who told us to get her immediately to the ER), we dumped our other kids at grandma's and headed to the hospital.

At 2 am we were headed home with this awesome x-ray and plans to check it again in the morning.

This morning we made plans with grandma to meet her at lunch after the x-ray. Hah... that's funny. A 2nd x-ray proved that it had lodged into her esophogus and had to be fished out.

After hours of waiting (Scott and Anne snuggled and slept while I tried to read), they finally took her in. She threw a kicking and screaming fit from heck but the anesthesiologist was so awesome. He took her right down the hall and calmed her down before she got the laughing gas. She was given a breathing tube, an IV and some meds. They stuck a scope down her throat and fished it out. The surgery itself was all of 4 minutes and a proud doctor walked out with the most expensive nickel I've ever seen!!!

This is Anne right before surgery (and before the fit).

This is the "after" picture. She got her own pink "cast" to keep her from removing her IV. She was so calm and easy-going while the sedation wore off. Everyone told us how cute and easy she had been!

And last but not least... here is the actual nickel itself, pulled from her insides. Pretty crazy!

This little experience has sure made me stop to think about how fragile life is and how important it is to keep my priorities in order all the time. It also made me realize even more how much I love my little girls!

Awesome Dad

I had to do a quick shout-out to the most awesome dad in the world. Our little girls love their dad so much and they get so excited to see him and to spend time with him. It's so much fun for me to watch the girls bond with their dad as they get older and start to realize how much more fun he is than mom.

We never get to take naps at our house and this was one of those glorious exceptions. They each fell asleep scattered around the family room so I went and got in bed. An hour later this is what I found. They slept snuggled like this for a long time... so cute!