He's HOME!!

My brother returned on the 20th of June from his LDS mission in Dallas, TX. What a great family reunion! It has been almost 3 years since my whole family has all been together!

Here is the gang waiting at the airport.

 THERE HE IS!!!

 Hugs from the parents....

 What a good lookin kid!

 The guys....

The gals

And two new neices he hasn't met yet and 2 nephews that are much bigger than when he left.

So proud of my brothers for serving so faithfully. You truly are an example to my and to my children. Thank you!

JUNE 2012

June started out as a drag! I have been really sick with constant sinus infections and I have been told for years that I would need surgery to correct it. After the last few months I decided I am done suffering! I decided to have a surgery and get it takend care of once and for all!

 I had a septoplasty, turbinate reduction, concha bullosa resection and an edoscopic sinus surgery of 4 sinuses. Also a bone spur was removed. The worst part was getting blood and the IV. If you know me, you know I have a fear of needles and since I had been fasting for 12+ hours my blood was slow and veins were thin. It took 5 nurses and 6 pokes and 1 blown vein before they got what they needed. It was pure torture!

Now this pic I normally wouldnt show, but I find it pretty humerous. I was very drugged and wanted to see how much swelling i had. As far as recovery though, it wasnt too bad. Tiny bits of bleeding and a little swelling and two tiny black eyes. What was miserable was the two splints the size of my pinky that they stuffed up each nostril and I had to keep in for a week! Once they removed those, I was healed!

 Not totaly and completely, but I was able to feel well enough to go to the Hymas reunion 1 week later and have a pretty good time.

 This is Chad's dog Goofy. This is the last picture taken of them together. She is so old and will be put to sleep this week. She has been such a good dog and we love her so much and will miss her.

 We also celebrated Father's Day at the reunion and got all the men matching superman shirts, pop and candybar since they are super heros in our eyes. This is Chet, Clyde and Chad. All these men I look up to, respect, and adore.

 Carter was in heaven riding motorcycles, eating popsicles, and running free from mom and dad. Mollie too.

After the reunion we rushed back for Carter's first day of swimming lessons. He and his buddy Jace do everything together and were both so excited. In just 3 short days Carter was swimming! I was totaly impressed by the instructors. We are doing more of a private session although there are 10 kids in the class. 3 days ago I could barley wash Carters hair in the tub. Now he is swimming under water!! AMAZING!

I love summer. Its so busy but we have many fun things to do.

MAY

I am SO behind on blogging so Im playing catch up durring nap time although I have a million other things I SHOULD be doing!! May was a fun month. We got a new park right in front of our house! It has been a work in progress for atleast a year and finally the toys arrived! We spend many hours there and the kids love it. And as far as parks go, its a pretty great one! A pavillion, swings, and restrooms will be coming soon!

In other May news, my baby brother Adam graduated from High School. Myself and all 4 of my brothers graduated from there and so we all share a little spartan pride! Love this pic of him. If you look close he is raising his arms and facing the camara right in the middle. Love ya Ad! You're such a great kid and Im proud of you accomplishments!

On we go to June.....

Viva Las Vegas.....

....Almost became our new slogan for life! The last month has been very stressful in deciding if we could move our little family 8 hours south to this crazy big city. Chad was offered a great job at Therma Systems just across the border of California. But we would live in las vegas. He flew out for 2 days for interviews and then a week later me and him drove out to look at housing options. I have to say while in Las Vegas I felt completely sick to my stomach, although we both love the city for a vacation its not completely ideal in my book for a place to raise a family.  But when we got to Henderson where we would have lived, I was surprised at how quickly I fell in love with it.

To make a really long story short, the cost of living there is so high (#3 in the US) even with the raise and crazy awesome benefits they would have given us to move there,  it still wouldnt have been enough to better our current situation. We sadly declined the job and the lights of Las Vegas. Lots of prayers and preisthood blessings have gone into this decision. It has been an emotional rollercoaster for quite a while and I was surprised at how upset I was after we decided not to go. I think I was just ready for a change although we have been happy in Twin Falls. We all get stuck in a rut at one time or another in life and we are definantly there.

So for now...the job search continues. Chad has been very happy with his job and we have great benefits that are hard to beat anywhere else. But the shift work is super hard on our family and our marriage and we both strongly feel it is time for a change. And in the wonderful words of Rafiki I have found myself remembering, "Change is GOOD."

EASTER 2012

We celebrated Easter saturday morning at G & G Reeds house. The kids were very excited. We did a little less candy this year with a few more gifts. I sometimes forget they are small and dont eat much candy. This year I remembered (becasue I am the one who eats it all!)
But with our annual family egg hunt, we came home with TONS of candy anyway. Mollie loved gathering eggs. I told her to "clean them up" and she obeyed and put all the eggs in her bag. So cute.

Carter was very into it this year. He found gobs of egss and candy.

That evening we headed out to Moore to be with more family. As soon as i got Mollie dressed in her Easter dress sunday morning I turned my back for 1 minute and the next thing i knew she was covered in chocolate!

We quickly cleaned her up and here is the best picture I could get of them in their easter clothes.

We ended the trip with colds for all of us. YUCK! And mine happened to turn into pluerisy (a painful lung infection) and I am STILL suffering from it. Wish I could have enjoyed the day more, but it was still great to see family. I love Easter!

27 & a sleepover

At the begining of April, I turned the fabulous age of 27! This year has been a hard one to accept, especially since I have lost track of time over the years and thought I was turning 26. Chad had to convince me i was really turning 27! Him & Carter started my day out by making me cupcakes!

They showered me with gifts

and then we ate cupcakes.

And YES I blew out all 27 candles in 1 breath. (If you know me, you know this is a big deal for me!)

Chad actually was on night shift the night of my birthday so a good friend set up a girls night at my favorite diner and her husband generously watched my kiddos. It was so refreshing and really nice to chat with my friends. When we returned home, we found two VERY excited little boys.

My friend pushed me out the door insisting that it would be fine if he stayed the night! She is a true champ to take on a 3-year old sleepover! But eventually they tired and crashed. LOVE these sweet little boys!

All in all, despite turning 27, it was a great day! Thanks everyone who made it happen!

Mollie-O

Dear Mollie,
Please don't grow up.
You are almost 18 months old. You are learning so much so fast. I want to keep you as my baby forever. You went to nursery today for the first time and I felt a little lost. I've looked forward to this day, but it surprised me how hard it was. You are learning to fold your arms for prayers, and to make unbelievable messes. I like to call you my little tornado. You love books and we could sit there for hours reading them...unfortunatley, you also destroy most of them.

Your hair is crazy. And curly! (where did that come from?!) And I can't get enough of those curls. Im amazed at how girly you are already. Wanting to wear "prettys" in your hair (although you pull them out in 2 seconds). And for the first time the other day, you wanted your nails painted and you held still for it!

Piggy tails were a first this month too! Your hair is growing and chaning as quick as you are.

You love to be like mom and wear your sunglasses.

And you are often found wearing a tutu while playing with cars.

You HATE to shop, although you love to push around this cart and fill it with things that I have to clean up later.

You LOVE zuzs (shoes). I am constantly helping you put on shoes and they usualy arent yours.

And you discoved one of your favorite hiding spots - the dryer. I can't keep you out of it! I am amazed at how different you are than Carter. You keep me on my toes constantly and are very good at letting me know when I need to slow down and spend some time with you. Never let me forget that. I love you so much Mollie. You are a miracle in my life.

LOVE MOM

Some fun new words Mollie is saying at 18 months:

bebe - baby

bebe - puppy

bebe - pretty

Mommy

Daddy

Papa

CaTee - Carter

syses - eyes

tat tat tat - quack quack quack

sus - Jesus

naa - snack

suice - Juice

book

men - Amen

BAAAAA - sound for a sheep