Say Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh

I have been blessed with a fairly healthy body. It is not lost on me that this is truly a blessing. I have pretty much only been in the hospital in the days following the birth of each of my four children. Most of my immediate and extended family members are also blessed with good physical health. Jared tells me one of the reasons he married me is for my great genes. How romantic?
Anyway, other than having babies, I have had four or five minor hospital-related incidents.  I had my adenoids removed and tubes put in my ears when I was approximately five years old. I have no recollection of this experience.  At 14, I broke my pinky toe while chasing my sister around the house.  A dining room chair wasn't quite all the way in and that little toe just hooked on and didn't let go. Wore a funny shoe for a few weeks and that was that. Another toe-related incident occurred at 14 when I had done so much damage to my big toe during dance classes, it had to be removed. This was actually quite traumatic. I knew I had a doctor's appointment and my granddaddy took me. In fact, he dropped me off so I was all alone when the doctor came in with a needle the size of my forearm to numb up that toe in order to remove the toenail. It hurt like nobody's business. Not a lot of fat to absorb a needle in your toe. I think there may have also been an ulcer-related incident around age 7. Not enough A's on report card. Man, I was a high-strung child. Oh, and I broke my nose in college during a gymnastics class.
I share all this because in less than two weeks I am having a minor surgery to have my tonsils removed. I am sooooooooooooo very nervous about this. I don't like the idea of being put to sleep, even for a little bit. I also have been hearing horror stories from others who had tonsils removed. So, that's freaking me out. The doctor assures me that the pain will be a "cakewalk" (his words) given that I've had multiple abscesses on the offending tonsil which were definitely painful. I hope he's right. Jared's taking the week off and I'm hoping to recover easily with a stack of books and Italian ice in the fridge. Hey, maybe my limited diet will even help me lose this last five pounds of baby weight. Also, the tonsils are always swollen. Seriously, I go to the dentist and I'm not sick and he is talking about my swollen tonsils. I'm hoping that having them gone, I will feel was 100% really feels like.

Our Savior's Love

Twice a year our local congregations gather together for what we call a Stake Conference. This weekend, we held one of those conferences. We were informed it would be a broadcasted conference, which isn't out of the ordinary. That is done from time to time. Jared and I weren't up for the 30 minute drive to our current church building (our regular church building which is only 7 minutes away is being renovated), so we drove to another building that happens to be closer. To our surprise the actual live conference was being broadcast from that very building! This means we were able to be in the presence of an apostle of the Lord. What a powerful experience it was.  Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and others were there to address us, along with stakes throughout Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. It was pretty cool to be so close to all the action. 
The messages were inspiring and reminded me of my important role in helping others, especially those in my own family to come unto Christ. Sometimes I struggle to share my testimony with those I care about the most. I worry about offending them or annoying them, but I need to be better about it because of my great love for my family. One of my greatest desires is to be sealed for time and all eternity to my dear family. I have faith that one day, we will dress in white and kneel at the alter in the temple to be sealed together as a family. That will be a glorious day. 
Here's a video featuring Elder Nelson. I hope he inspires you as much as he does me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMwKxmTLaCs&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Standing

Miriam has started pulling herself up to stand. Cruising is just around the corner. Doubt she'll be walking by her first birthday next month, but I'm okay with that. My baby girl is growing up way too fast!

Grayson's hobby

I think Grayson is a budding photographer. He actually takes some pretty good photos. Here are some I found when I uploaded photos earlier this week.

 I am trying to get everyone out of the house on time for 9 AM church (30 minutes away). This is my "take the picture so I can move on" face.

 This is Ethan's "mom is crazy" face.

 Shoe on road carpet.

 This is Ethan's "I'm going to shoot you with my Transformer's dart" face.

Camera case, Wallet, and Laundry Basket on Ottoman.

Sea World

My parents are super cool and purchased Sea World annual passes for all of us for Christmas. When I say all of us, I mean ALL of us. My family, Stacey's family, Mom, Dad, and Tony. We went for our very first visit last weekend. It was very cold, but the park wasn't very busy. We were able to see most of the things the children wanted to see. And, the things we didn't see, we'll see next time because we can go back whenever we want.
You know I have to admit that I watched the documentary "Blackfish" and almost called my mom to tell her not to get the passes. I just felt terrible after that film. In the end, I let my children's fascination and all the good Sea World does win out and I'm so glad we did. It was a lot of fun and I look forward to using those passes all year long.

 Orcas!

 By the end of the year, Miriam will be running around the park with her big brothers. For now, she stayed cozy in the stroller.

 And, those are all the photos I took. Just got busy with the parenting.

Wise Counsel

17 years ago as a 16 year old girl, I received my patriarchal blessing. In the LDS Church patriarchal blessings are given to individuals to serve as a guide throughout their lives. You can find more detailed information on patriarchal blessings HERE.
My patriarchal blessing counseled me to read the message from the First Presidency each month in the Church magazine, The Ensign, throughout my life. This is a simple thing I can do and I have done my best to hold true to this counsel.
Lately, I've been feeling discouraged, frustrated, inadequate in a few areas of my life. I can't even really put my finger on it. Just a general feeling of unease and uncertainty. Today, I remembered the counsel given me 17 years ago in my patriarchal blessing and read the message from President Dieter F. Uchtdorf in this month's Ensign. It was a boon to my soul. It restored my confidence. I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who knows me and is aware of my needs and loves me and wants to see me find peace, comfort, and joy. If you'd like to read the article, HERE is a link.

Girl's Weekend

One of my dear friends, Trista, moved to Boca Raton over the summer. Somehow she and a few of our other friends, roped me into experiencing The Bachelorette over the summer. I know, it's horrible isn't it. I couldn't stop watching. When she moved, we decided to do The Bachelor premiere party at her new home. Well, the big day finally arrived and Bethany, JoAnn, and I headed out. We had a blast catching up and eating Trista's delicious food. It took us five hours to watch the show because we kept pausing to have side conversations. We stayed up until 3 AM! I felt like a teenager. (Did I mention that Jared kept all four of our children? I missed my family, but it was awesome to have no responsibilities for 24 hours.) I love these girls. They are wonderful and are truly a gift to me. Thanks for a great weekend, friends!

 

Bethany, Trista, Me, JoAnn

Uh-oh

I may have some future heartbreakers on my hands. These are two conversations my boys have had in the last two weeks.

Waiting in car line at school to pick Ethan up, I hear Grayson having the following conversation with Landon (albeit was a little bit one-sided).

G: Hey, Landon. You think her's pretty? (A girl about 10 is walking by the car.)
L: (No response)
G: Me thinks her's pretty. I like pretty girls.

Grayson also likes to identify pretty girls when he is watching television. Oh my.

Today, Ethan and I had this conversation.

E: My friend, Christian, married his girlfriend.
Me: Don't you think he's a little young to get married?
E: (Incredulously) Mom, he's SIX!
Me: Do you have any girlfriends?
E: Yeah, I have more than Christian.
Me: Oh, yeah. What are their names?
E: I don't know, but I have lots.

Hehehehehehe.

New year, new things

Ethan is trying something new this year: Basketball! I am so glad because it is so fun. At his age level, the refs do not worry so much about traveling, double dribbling, etc. Dribbling is a tough skill and most are still mastering it. Others, like Ethan, hardly try. When Ethan got the ball, he held on tight and ran full speed to his team's basket down court. So cute and hilarious. Ethan scored two baskets. I only saw one, but he insists there were two. I was proud of Ethan for trying something new. It's going to be a fun season.

He did not want his picture taken. Can you tell?

 

Each child wore colored wristbands that matched a player from the other team. Their job was to guard their match. Ethan took this part of the game very seriously. He was able to steal the ball a couple of times and create scoring opportunities for his team. After he made the shot I saw, he ran back down court with his arm raised in the air. It was awesome.

Elevensies

Our sweet girl is 11 months. Here she is getting her clean on in the tub. She is so small compared to the boys, but she's not small at all! She is 24ish pounds and I can't squeeze her into 18 month pants. Miriam is so sweet. She continues to be very social and loves to talk to people. If I lay on the ground, she'll crawl over and give me hugs. I just love her. Daddy is wrapped around her finger and she loves her brothers. Miriam has pulled up a couple of times, but probably won't be walking independently for at least another month, maybe two. We'll see. She may just wake up and decide to do it one day. We love our girl!

 

 

Babies + Crochet = Love

I've been crocheting up a storm this year. I had 5 dear friends and 1 sister have babies this year. One of those friends had twin boys, so I made 5 car seat blankets and 2 regular size blankets. I had hoped to give everyone regular size blankets, but after the time it took to do JoAnn and Stacey's blankets I just wasn't going to make it in time. I have really grown to enjoy this hobby and am working on something for another dear friend of mine (Brooke, I'm talking to you) and will post that once she receives it. I got photos of some, but not all the blankets I made. Here they are.

 

 I made this one for JoAnn's daughter, Georgia. It really turned out beautifully. I was pretty proud of myself.  The other full-size blanket was for Stacey's Noah. It is pretty cute too, but I never got a photo of it. 

 

These are three of the car seat blankets (The slots in the middle of the blanket allow you to thread the car seat buckle through the blanket). Above is my favorite one, maybe because of the girliness of it all. It was for India's daughter Matilda. Below: These were given to Elisabeth's twin boys. I made two additional boy colored car seat blankets for Monica's Max and Gena's Brooks. I hope all my sweet babies are cozy in their car seats this winter.

Photos from New Year's

Lois also got some great shots at the Fort on our picnic/kite flying day.

 A beautiful day at the Castillo de San Marcos! I love this place.

 

 Kite flying fun!

 

  

 Landon, always with peanut butter on his face.  The older he gets the more he looks like Jared.

 

 Grayson.

 Jared and our sweet girl, Miriam.

Photos from Christmas

I forgot my camera on Christmas. Lucky for me, Lois (Stacey's Mother-in-law) took some shots. Here are some of my favorites.

 

 Lois cut out snowflakes, put them on the fan blades, and then turned the fans on! It snowed in Winter Garden on Christmas Day. Lucky us!

 

 Me, Mom and Stacey with the gift we gave Mom for Christmas.

Handprints from Left to Right: Landon, Ethan, Noah, Lyla, Logan, Grayson, and Miriam

 

 

 Playing baseball in the backyard. Could this be a new family tradition?

 

 

 Oops! Forgot to drop the bat after my out of the yard homerun.

 

 Run, Ethan, Run!

 

 Lyla

 Logan

Noah

 

Christmas with cousins is the best!

Ch-Ch-Ch-Chia!

Uncle Tony (my brother) gave the boys Chia Pets for Christmas. He went the extra mile and hand-painted them. Then he went two extra miles and gave each of the boys the Ninja Turtle that best represents their personality. I was really touched by this gift and the thought Tony put into it. Turtle Power!

Before Shots

 

Leonardo-Ethan/Donatello-Grayson/Michelangelo-Landon

 

 

After Shots

Happy New Year!

We spent New Year's on the road this year! The week was split between St. Augustine and Naples, FL. New Year's Eve was spent in St. Augustine where we enjoyed the Hesson Family Pizza Party at the Cheese Wheel. It was delicious as ever. Jared and I even got to go on a date thanks to Papa and Gigi who are awesome-sauce. We enjoyed the Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug, but missed the memo that there is to be a third movie. I think Emily is right, Peter Jackson is just having fun at this point. This trip the children also enjoyed their first trip to the Fort and got to see the cannons go off. Very exciting. We also got a lot of cousin time in.  Perfection.

On Friday, I got some courage and drove the children to Naples, FL. Jared had to work so he stayed home. Honestly, though, I think he would have hated it. I love him, but he's boring. Being boring is actually one of the things I love about him; it just means I have to force adventure upon him. This time we adventured without him and though things didn't go as planned (it rained and was freezing cold), we had a great time visiting with the Ernst family.

 

 Grayson playing at Can U Dig It? Park. So fun. They had this huge excavation area with things to dig up. My children had a blast just running around barefoot and making "snow" angels.

 

 

Emily and Darren are finishing up CRNA school and will be moving soon. I HAD to see them before they go. I really love these guys and am so excited for the new adventure looming in their not-so-distant future. Emily and I got to enjoy a quiet dinner together (thanks, Darren for hanging out with all 8 children alone) and just talked as much as we could. We go years between visits, but it feels like no time has passed. That is a sign of a true friendship.

 

Although it was raining and freezing cold, we went to the beach anyway. We were able to dip our toes in the water, get a some shells, and fly a kite. It was so beautiful!

 

 

 My sweet children. They were such troopers on our adventure. Mom made them drive in the car for 3.5 hours and sleep in a strange place.

 

 

 Ethan was the bravest one. I think he would have gone in the water if I'd been willing to go too.

 

 Miriam got at least one handful of sand in her mouth. She enjoyed the beach very much.

 

 

Darren was able to get the kite up in the air. It was super cool.

 

 

 Grayson felt bad for this tree that had "died".

 

 Ellie found some awesome starfish.

 

 

 Snuggling with my girl. I wore a bathing suit, but definitely didn't need to.

 

 

 Kyle flying the kite. Emily and Darren have amazing children.

 

 All of us minus Emily. Emily is taking the picture. From left to right: Paul, Grayson, Andrea, Miriam, Ethan, Kyle, Darren, Landon, Ellie, and Gabe (in front).

 

 Gabe! He is a ball of energy. Emily is a terrific mother. I hope my children turn out like hers. She is one of my heroes.

 

Emily, Grayson, Andrea, and Miriam

Emily and I are pretty similar in build. She said looking at me was like looking in the mirror. If that's the case, we're both pretty cute! I love you Emily. Thanks for having us this weekend.