Friday, January 23, 2009

My top five

Here are the top five things I am thankful for this morning.
1. The snooze button. More time to snuggle with Ashlyn.
2. Pink fuzzy slippers. (Still wearing them.)
3. The rain. Hoping we can clear out all of this gunk in the air.
4. My sweet husband. I am always thankful for him, but I sometimes forget to say it.
5. Naps. Not mine, but Brooklynn's. I have to find some time to shower! (This morning didn't work because of #1)

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Blessed

Okay, so we just go back from a wonderful weekend snowmobiling. I had thought of lots of things to write about the trip.
1. The feeling of flying over the powder at 40 mph feeling much more like "Carol" then "Mom" and loving every minute of it.
2. The fun of seeing my family all together and Brooklynn enjoying her first
Snow outing. Man, she's a great baby!
But I think what I'll tell you about is my gratefulness of a Heavenly Father who watches over us, even when we don't know it. Three times yesterday we totally needed help. Some more than others. The first was when we were checking out of the condo, had everything loaded up in the car, and couldn't find the keys. We totally looked everywhere! My only thought was that they must have been loaded up in the luggage somewhere. After much stress and prayer, we finally found the keys in Will's coat pocket. Not the one he was wearing, but the one he had been wearing, and then packed away. Yeah, if he wasn't so cute I would have strangled him.
The second was when my 14 year old son went missing as we were starting to load the snowmobiles up to drive home. He had taken off to play one last time before we had to leave. Will and our friend Tyler searched everywhere. Places we had been, places we hadn't. I stood on the hill trying not to freak out, crying and hoping no one would see me, but not really caring if they did. I started walking up to complete strangers who were heading out, asking them to look out for my son. In my head I was starting to go through the motions of making arrangements for my other kids. I could imagine the search and rescue vehicle and the news crews. I gathered my children together in the Suburban and we knelt on the seats. I prayed and cried, and cried and prayed. Over an hour had passed when Will pulled up with Brennan on the back of his snowmobile. I held him and cried. He had gotten stuck in deep powder, tried to dig himself out, and finally gave up and started to walk out through waist deep snow. Will found him walking along the tree line on some snowmobile tracks, about a mile away. He was tired and thirsty and fine. I was thrilled.
As we were driving home, we stopped for gas, and went through a drive-thru to get drinks. As Will maneuvered the turn he saw in the rear view mirror one of our trailer tires completely bending. He called his friend who is a mechanic and he advised us to not drive the trailer home. (We were still 70 miles away) Luckily, we were able to drive a couple of miles to a brother of a friend's house and leave the trailer there. I don't even want to think of what would have happened if we had lost the tire on the freeway.
By now it was dark and we were hours behind schedule. Some of the kids complained about what an unlucky day it was. I thought it must be the luckiest day of all. Heavenly Father had watched over us constantly and brought us safely home. I felt blessed.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Diving into the cake

Brooklynn wasn't sure what to do with her Birthday cake at first, but what made it into her mouth, she enjoyed.

Brooklynn's 1st Birthday...how time flies!


My sweet little Brooklynn turned 1 this past week. It was really a week filled with mixed emotion. I've been so excited for her, and I can't believe that a whole year has gone by. On the other hand, she is most likely my last, and the idea of being done having babies is a tough one to handle. I don't know how I could juggle another little one, and yet my heart breaks at the idea of being done. Brooklynn is such a joy, and I am loving every sleepless second with her. Even when I was pregnant, I didn't wish for the time to fly by. (Well at least not that much.) I loved feeling her move, or getting the hickups. I kept track of her progress, and knew what was developing that week or month. I still feel the same way. I love having a new little baby, watching her grow, learn to sit up, crawl and creep around the funiture. But with this first Birthday, I'm reminded that this little baby stage won't last forever. Next year by this time I'll have a two year old, and three years from now I'll have a preschooler. In five years, I'll have an empty house, during the school day. In five short years, I will have a missionary in the field, a Senior in high school, a Sophmore in High school, a sixth grader, and 1st grader. I'm not ready. I wish I could just keep them all little with me. But I guess that's not the point of why we are here. So for now I will just cherish every moment, and make the memories last. Happy Birthday Brooklynn!!













Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Bowl Bliss





What an exciting bowl game! I am such a huge football fan, and even though my loyalties lie elsewhere besides the Running Utes, (GO COUGS!) I totally enjoyed this game. We had our friends the Potter's over, (they were visiting from Georgia) and had a blast watching the carnage. It was almost as if Alabama didn't know what hit them. On a side note, I actually donned a University of Utah sweatshirt in honor of the game. I figure I am their lucky charm, and it might actually be my doing that they won.

Monday, January 5, 2009

A Belated Christmas











We got together with the Cluff side of the family on December 30th. The kids had lots of fun playing together. Everyone was there, except Richard's family and Julia's family- we missed you all very much! (and Kirsten, who was under the weather.) We ate pizza, and played games. Ashlyn and two of her cousins played with her new moon sand. I was under the impression that moon sand was upgraded playdough. Boy was I wrong! It doesn't dry out, but it is even more messy. It's like a colorful beach in your very own house. I highly recomend it, if your looking to make your life a little more tropical.

Saturday, January 3, 2009