Flower Garden

beauty

in the form of flowers

chosen and planted

by three boys

with much care

and attention

lining the path

beauty

Mother's Day

Kidnapped.

Trying to get ready for 9am church 

when I was blindfolded and kidnapped

by two handsome boys

and their father.

Biscuits and gifts.
A coupon book (can't wait to cash in on my back rub) from Kacin,
Sweet cards about how I give the best hugs and make the best burritos,
and lavender bath salts and a portrait from Kyler.

Thanks for making this mom feel loved, my boys.

And even though my little ones did not join us at our breakfast
they gave me an awesome present--
I got to stay through all of sacrament meeting for once.
Well, it helped that I was speaking,
but I think this was the first time that D made it the whole time
without a trip into the halls.

Happy Mother's Day!

Fun Run

Our 2nd family 5K.
(Last year)
Getting all ready . . .

Somebody would rather be in the car . . .

Stretch . . .

We split up a little bit this year.

I stayed with the boys while Eric took the stroller.

Kacin was a little running monster

and finished the race in 29 minutes!

He got second place out of the boys (kids).

Kyler and I came in at 34 minutes.

And Eric was just a few minutes behind us

(the stroller up the big hill was a doozy).

the Iphone knows

Even my phone knows why I love motherhood.

The Airplane

Well, it could've been worse.

I guess.

No one yelled at us at least.

Not even the lady in front of us

when D realized the tray tables go up and down.

And up and down.

And up and down.

I tried to distract him,

but I gave up and decided

him shaking her seat

was a whole heap better

than screaming, flailing D.

Kyler and Kacin are pros at traveling.

We used a Christmas giftcard to B&N

and they each picked out a new book just for the plane.

And Kyler found one of our old walkmans

and brought that along to listen to tunes.

Ahh, cassette tapes.

If I were to name

the two best things we brought on the plane

to help with the littlest ones

it would be

silly putty and jelly beans.

I do not suggest bringing a broken dvd player

because that was no good.

Check those dvd players first.

Lesson learned.

Sealing Day and a Scare

We recently celebrated four years since becoming a forever family.

Four years since our sealing in the Mesa AZ temple.

Happy!

We had some grand plans to celebrate.

On a whim the night before

Kacin and I bought a cake from the grocery store.

We never go and buy our cakes,

but thank goodness we did

because those grand plans were quickly changed 

due to the events of Sunday morning.

So having that cake already made 

was a lifesaver 

and ended up being the only piece of our celebration.

You see,

we went to church in the morning.

And Eric passed out there.

He's going to love that I'm sharing this story.

(Sorry, E!)

But this blog becomes our family book of history

and I need to record 

why all we have from our Fourth adoption/sealing anniversary

is this terrible picture of everyone.  

Seriously, I shouldn't even post it here.
It makes me wish I knew how to edit pictures.

Here's what happened on Sunday.

I was subbing with Eric in nursery.

Around 11 am, he started feeling dizzy.

By 11:30, he was nauseous 

and so he left for the bathroom.

He got stopped in the hall by someone

and started talking.

And that's when he fell to the floor.

The lady he was talking to ran to get me.

Some others in the hall

saw what happened and thought he was having a seizure.

When I got there, 

he was passed out and shaking and started to throw up.

We got him on his side and that's when he came to.

He tried to tell everyone he was fine.

But we needed to be sure.

Thank goodness for kind people

who helped with kids

gave a priesthood blessing

put dinner in the oven

and hung out with me at our house until we knew what to do.
I took him to the walk in clinic
and we concluded
it was just a crazy stomach flu.
It just came on so suddenly
and gave everyone a little scare.
By Tuesday, he was one hundred percent better
except for a little headache from hitting the floor.
It was the weirdest thing,
but how grateful we are that it was nothing serious.

Though the possibility that it was something serious
really does put things in perspective
and makes you want to love those around you a little more
and be a little better.
I love my Eric and my boys and my two littles with us now
and I am so glad to be part of this eternal family.

Letters of Apology

I fear

my blog has lost all chronological order.

I jump from AZ a month ago

to yesterday

to last week
to half a year or more ago.

Well, from the clues of the letter
this is from Nov. 25, 2012.

It was a time
when the boys were in the backseat of the car
arguing and, apparently, hitting with ties
after church one Sunday.

Eric told them to go home and write notes of apology,
including three nice things about the other person.
And so write they did.

"Dear Kyler,
Sorry for hitting the tie at you and not listening to you. I like when on Thanksgiving you ate your whole plate. And I like that at Nov. 25 you were nice because when I was writing this you said you would turn on your radio. Then I like when you said on Nov. 24 that you would share your birthday presents.
Love,
Kacin"
(spelling and grammar somewhat fixed)

"Dear Kacin,
I'm sorry for hitting you with my tie. I know I shouldn't have done it, but I thought it was going to be funny, but it hurt you.
I like you because you have really good lego building skills. You help me build my new lego sets.
I also like you because you have great writing skill. I can read your writing without asking what it is.
I also like you because you are nice to me because you share your toys with me.
Sincerely,
Kyler Allred"
(spelling and grammar somewhat fixed)


Ohhhh, boys.
You make me laugh.
I like you because you ate your whole plate on thanksgiving?!
Lego building skills?!
I can read your writing without asking what it is?!
My oh my.
Now those are quite the compliments.
All contention was long gone after these notes.