PRESCHOOL!

My little baby has started Preschool! His first day was Sept 20, 2013. He goes to Northlake Elementary for 4 days a week and two hours each day.

I only teared up a little when I dropped him off. :) How do they get so big so quick?!

His teacher is Mrs. Christensen and she is phenomenal!  He has loved every minute of it.

On his first day they did playdough and had a snack and did computers and played outside.

Little Mol says she misses Carer every day while he's at school. So do I!

I'm not the waffle maker at our house but I attempted waffles and bacon for his first day of school breakfast. He sure was excited!

An afternoon on Temple Square

We spent one Sunday afternoon walking around temple square. The only time we usually go is when its 15 degrees out and the Christmas lights are up. We walk as quickly as we can through all the lights trying to keep kids happy and warm as we bump past the millions of others who are doing the same. Then we jet to our cars and get the closest hot chocolate we can find. Sound familiar?

Well this trip was nothing like that. I HIGHLY reccomend vistiting on a Sunday summer afternoon. It was so quiet and peaceful. The flowers were in full bloom and the small crowds of people were talking quietly gazing at the temple. You could REALLY feel you were on sacred ground.

As I walked with Carter he said mom will you hug me and take a picture? I think he could feel something special. I hope so anyway!

The kids loved all the fountains and pretty flowers.

Not sure whats happening here, but it made me laugh.

As we stood and looked into this reflection pond, Mollie brought tears to my eyes as she said, "Mom I'm going to be married in the temple." Carter soon chimed in saying the same thing. I love that they know the importance of the temple already. In all that I do wrong as a Mom, maybe I'm doing a few things right.

And I truly hope with all of my heart they will both be sealed there some day.

Hymas Reunion and other happenings

The highlight of the Hymas reunion this year was watching Uncle Clark fly his RC airplanes that he made! They were incredible to watch! He spends lots of time (and even more money) on these babies!

The kids were in heaven watching the planes but all the parents were on edge worrying their kids might destroy the expensive planes!



And the only other picture I took was of the kids crashed out hard after a long weekend of playing hard! Carter had barely gotten his cast on before the reunion and was very cautious with everything he did. It made me so sad while he sat and watched everyone on the trampoline, swimming or riding motorcycles. But it didnt slow him down for long. I asked him if it made him sad he couldnt do everything the cousins were doing and he said, "No Mom, Im strong."

The other major thing at the reunion this year was cousin Steffan rolling Uncle Chris' 4 wheeler down a mountain about 20 times. Steffan was pretty banged up and the 4 wheeler didn't look like a 4 wheeler at all but a big ball of plastic, metal and rubber. We were so glad he was ok! 




On our SIXTH weekend trip to Idaho, we had an extended family camping trip at Antelope. Its always hard to get there and a very dirty spot to camp. But my grandpa loves it and its tradition. So we went and I didnt take any pictures! But I was glad we did because my grandpa spent the next several weeks in the hospital.

On Monday, Carter had his pins pulled out! I was so nervous and worried at how he would react because he doesnt like his pins messed with at all. But he told me he would be brave and he just sat and watched as the doctor pulled them right out! UGH! Me and Chad were a little queasy and Carter looked up and said "Look at my pins!"
Dr. L said he was the best kid patient he had ever had when it came to pulling the pins out. We have an incredible special little boy who can handle ALOT!



Here he is smiling after the procedure! Nothing phases him!
We headed home and went to see Planes that night for being so brave!

Wedding weekend = a new sister!

Being born with 4 brothers i was always disapointed I never had a sister. But I never thought about the fact that someday I would get 4 brand new sisters that I loved! On July 13th, my second youngest brother Jordan, married his sweetheart Taylor Ruth in the Rexburg temple. She is a wonderful girl and a perfect fit for Jordan. And she is from Arco, ID where Chad is also from!

The kids had a ball getting dressed up and dancing, and eating all the goodies they could steal off the refreshment table.

The ceremony was really beautiful and this is the first pose they struck after being husband and wife.

And it wouldnt be a Reed wedding if we weren't missing a missionary. Here is baby brother Adam's appearance since he is in Romania.

Love my brothers, but I was feeling a little left out of the picture so I photo bombed!

Even the littles got involved in destroying the get away car. Complete with oreos, condoms, shave gel, silly string, saran wrap, 2 bags of bean bag foam and dead fish! YUCK! (not my doing)

Yes he's my little brother by 6 years but there is nothing little about him. He is the tallest in our family and he has the biggest heart. Taylor is lucky to have such a good man!

And despite the broken arm drama the night before and a pretty much sleepless night, we all made it and managed to look semi decent and really enjoy the weekend.

Broken arm, surgery, & pins



The second weekend of July we headed to Idaho (again!) for my brother Jordan's wedding. We stayed with G&G Hymas and decided to get out for some fresh air. We found a park and were letting the kids play. Tony, ny other brother, was in town for the wedding and was helping Carter learn to swing his legs to get momentum to cross the monkey bars. He swung too hard and fell off landing on his arm. I watched from behind and saw his elbow bend the opposite way of which an elbow should bend! UGH! We got him to a small clinic in Rigby for some x rays. They tried to tell me only his wrist was broken, but i requested another x ray of his arm and lo and behold.....



It was cracked right in half! If you look close you can see about a half inch gap right above his elbow.

In his wrist, he had a buckle fracture in his ulna and radius. They assured us the wrist fracture was nothing to worry about, but were pretty sure that his elbow would need surgery....and pins!

They called Idaho Falls ER and told them we were on the way. This is shortly after we arrived in Idaho Falls and he had gotten some morphine. Kids are funny on drugs!

By 6 pm he was in surgery. What should have been a 15 minute surgery turned into an hour surgery. I was going bazurk! Finally the doc immerged with the above picture. He explained that while he was setting it the rest of the bone broke and it made it much harder to set.

By 8 he was settled in his room and very groggy. Poor little guy! I think I shed more tears than anyone that day, including him. Everyone kept saying how tough he was because he never flinched in pain or cried!

We made it out of the hospital by midnight and here is our little man at the wedding reception next day! What a trooper he was! He had a soft splint on for 2 weeks.

Then we made another trip to Idaho Falls to get his cast. He was smiling at first...

but got a little nervous when he saw his pins

Here he is in his new cast!

There is a little window cut in his cast for the pins that we have to clean every day. They look so gross! But they will come out in 2 weeks and I cant wait! (Neither can he)
Overall he's been a trooper for everything! He hasnt needed pain meds and it hasnt slowed him down hardly at all. It's amazing how kids can bounce back so quick from anything.

TEN year



Has 10 years really already passed?! How was I sitting in the above picture TEN YEARS AGO? Can it be true?!
Yes it can.



We had 17 of the 250 members show up for up for dinner at Moreys Steak house. I really was dreading going just for fear of how it would be, but I really ended up enjoying myself!

Later that night we met up with a bunch more classmates at a sports bar and it was good to catch up!
The next day a handful more came to the family picnic.



Keep it classy '03!