Ode to my Camry...

Definitely not the best morning to take a picture!


Tomorrow my awesome parents are flying down to Phoenix to get my new car. I am so excited, and so grateful that they are doing this for me. Before I get my new car I thought I would pay tribute to my Camry. Here are some of my memories of this awesome car:

• I got my drivers license in this car
• I drove to all three of my graduations in this car (high school, Ricks and BYU)
• I drove up to Ricks my freshman year in this car with my parents. One of the tires blew on the freeway, I was sure we were going to die :)
• I drove to get married in this car, and we paid my parents a dollar for the car so my parents could say they "sold" it to us. So nice of them.
• We got new tires on the car and not a week later two got slashed. I cried.
• Drove to the hospital in the middle of night in labor
• Brought Blake home from the hospital after 6 days in the NICU
• Drove to all my doctors appointments for my kids
• When I was 8 months pregnant with Blake I managed to lock BOTH sets of keys in the car. in the middle of no where, near Moab. That was interesting.
• Drove to law school in this car
• Drove back from law school completely heart broken. My Dad and I had drove down to Vegas to pack up the kids and my stuff. I was the only one in the car following my Dad in the Uhaul. I bawled the whole way back. I remember just barely being able to see the red lights of the Uhaul. My radio in the car doesn't work, but while I was trying to get it to work the only song I heard was Taylor Swift's "White Horse." So grateful, the Lord has healed my heart. I never want to feel that kind of heartache again.
• Drove to get divorced in the car
• Drove Blake to his first days of preschool and kindergarten

My kids and I have had great memories in this car. This car has been so good to me. It has 231,000 miles on it. It drinks oil like a champ, going through one of those 5 quart jugs in a month. I am grateful it has held up for this long and has not given me any major problems. I hope my CR-V will hold up for 17 years like this Camry did. :)

Happy 6th Birthday Blake

Blake is 6 today! Yeah! He is very happily playing on the floor with his new Hot Wheels Criss Cross Crash.

It was 6 years ago today that I became a Mom for the very first time. After a 21 hour labor, I just got to give Blake a quick kiss and he was wisked off to the NICU. Finally, after two hours I was wheeled down to the NICU to see Blake. When we entered the NICU there was this woman who met us at the door, and very excitedly asked, "Is Blake your baby?" "Yes," I replied. "He is so cute, and he even has dimples." she said. Come to find out she was the new mother of the other baby in the NICU who was being adopted. Blake and Hayson were the only two babies in the NICU at the time.

As I was wheeled to Blake's bedside he was sleeping under a oxygen bubble thing and seemed so peaceful. I started talking to him, and his eyes started to flutter open and he was leaning to the side where he could hear my voice. What the doctor said next I will never forget. "He knows your voice, he is looking for his Mom." Those words pierced my heart. I know newborn babies can't see very well, but as Blake opened his eyes and my eyes met his, it was like he was saying I am yours, and you are mine. It was so touching. I just stroked his little hand. Well, they weren't that little. One of the doctors said while looking at Blake, "look at those paws on that boy, he is going to be a ball player."

I am so grateful Heavenly Father sent Blake to our family. He is such a joy. He is such a good boy and he is wise beyond his years.

We love you Blakey Baby!

Catching Up

Blake and Ashley having fun with the Halloween costumes Grandma got at the after Halloween sale.

Ashley loves sunglasses.

This wig is the same color of Ashley's hair and I wanted to see what Blake would look like with it on. :)

I laughed and laughed. :)

The kids making "barf." A mixture of yogurt, grapes, some kind of seeds and other nasty things. Ashley said, " Mom, do you want to try some of our barf?" Yeah, no thanks.

Ashley got her first hair cut. It was a TINY trim.

Last month I came home and found Gilbert like this. I bawled. We had had him for 16 months. I took a picture because my kids were with Eric. I ended up just leaving Gil in the bowl until they got home (only a day later). I cried again when we flushed him. My kids were sad, but I definitely cried the most.

Blake wrote me a cute note. "I love Mom."

Ashley got into some old makeup. Do you see it even in her teeth? :)

Blake, Ashley, Lucy and Clay. Ready for church. They came out for Thanksgiving and "Thismas." Christmas at Thanksgiving. The exteneded family gift exchange. I couldn't find my camera that day, but found it the very next day. I hate that when that happens.

Ashley and my sweet white elephant gift I got from Mindy. Now Uncle Spencer says I have no excuse not to run in the rain. Hahaha.

Cute, cute baby Henry. He looked so much like Blake did when he was little, I had to take a picture.

My little buddy.

Lucy and Henry.

Ashley wanted her pic taken too.

She pulls the funniest faces.

Blake opening up an early birthday present from G&G Livingstone. They may be still in Canada on his birthday.

He was so excited to get a Woody doll with a string. Thanks G&G!

Grandma is so nice and let Ashley open one of her birthday presents early.

The puffy skirt Ashley wanted!! Thank you G& G!

Jessica and I at Cyndi's. Cyndi is the hostess with the mostest. She did not want me to take her pic. Cyndi you always look great!!

Getting ready to decorate cookies.

One cookie decorated. Ashley has not been letting me do her hair lately. Its driving me nuts. She swirls her finger around her hair and makes serious snarlies. And she wonders why it hurts so bad when I brush her hair?

All kiddos busy at work.

Mindy Gledhill - Hourglass

I went to a Mindy Gledhill concert this past summer and loved it. I love this song. With my baby boy turning six this week, I really want time to slow down. I love love love my sweet kids.

Denver and the Soup and Scoop

This is my nephew Henry. I hope it's okay that I took this from your blog Hon. I just want to eat him up. Last weekend we went to Denver for Clay's baptism and Henry's baby blessing. He is such a snuggly baby. He has a very "familiar" look to me. He kind of looks like my kids did when they were babies. Henry is a big boy. He is 3 months old, but he looks at least 6. He is so cute. While we were out there I got him to do a belly laugh. It was so cute and he was cooing a lot. I loved holding him and having him snuggle me with his cute little baby head. Can you tell I am a bit baby hungry?

Blake lost his second tooth while we were in Denver. Thanks Honey for encouraging him to pull it out.

Blake, Henry and I.

The kids with their faces painted. I LOVE Kaycee's expression. Those are play earrings Ashley has on. :)

My pretty girl.

Ashley coloring her pumpkin at the soup and scoop.

Getting the guts out.

Jeannie don't kill me! This is my oldest sister Jeannie. She can still fit in her 9th grade graduation dress after 6 kids. That is AWESOME!!!

Ashley posing for some pics. Ashley told Uncle Spencer that she wanted a mustache so he gave her one!!

Blake and I carving his pumpkin. I was so dead tired, we had gotten in from denver at 12:30am the night before.

Ashley and my niece Cassy with her Lady Gaga wig and glasses on.

Two Gagas.

Ashley's pumpkin on the right. Grandpa Allen grew Blake and Ashley's pumpkins in his garden.

All done! Thanks Micki for the pictures.

Now I am all caught up on my blog. While I was typing this Blake and Ashley are sitting on the floor of the living room sorting halloween candy. Ashley said, "Wow Blake that candy (bottleheads) looks like medicine." Blake replied, "Ashley we never take medicine unless we need it, if you do, that is called doing drugs. Miss Hansen taught us that." My kids make me laugh every single day!!

Halloween, Block Tutorial and Random Stuff

Optimus Prime and Tinkerbell. I was so glad the rain let up so we could go trick or treating. The kids and I were in the car during the day and it was just raining and raining. Blake asked if the rain would stop before trick or treating and I said I hope so, and then Blake said if not we might not be able to trick or treat. After hearing that Ashley put her fist in the air and looked out the window of the car and said, " Curse you rain!!" It was hiliarious!

Ashley tired of taking pics, so she is pulling faces. :)

Blake before school with his face painted, masks weren't allowed. I am grateful my mom is such a good face painter. Ashley with a puppy face.

BLOCK TUTORIAL:

I have had lots of people ask me how to make the vinyl blocks and they are super easy. Buy a 8 foot 2x4 at a hardware store. I got mine for free thanks to my parents shed. I made the "Give Thanks" and "Believe" from 8 feet of wood. Next you cut them into segments. The first block is 8", second 6", third 5", fourth 6", fifth 8", sixth 7". For the "e" for the end of believe that was 5".

Next you sand and paint the blocks, leaving one side not painted where the craft paper will go. Leave them to dry on the non painted side (obviously :)). Next, once they are dry, trace your block on the chosen craft papers. Hobby Lobby has really cute paper that is usually40% off. Helpful Hint: trace the block on the back of the printed paper that way you don't have to erase lines. Once the paper is traced and cut, glue it on the block with a glue stick make sure the sides are well glued. I then sanded my edges, this is optional. My mom has a great vinyl letter machine that made the letters. The font is Font Sparkly. Then for the "believe" I used a sparkly glue, you can use sparkly modge podge. For the "give thanks" I used matte modge podge. These are super easy. I am telling you, if I can do it, anyone can.

Ashley is now in a booster seat with a back. This is her old car seat. When I made the change I almost cried. Good thing my sister Micki was there or I would have. My kids are growing up way too fast.

Ashley didn't want to brush her teeth one night so she hid under her bed. This is what she looked like when I found her. I just put the camera below her bed and pressed the button. I love this picture!

Reverse Trick or Treating. The YM and YW of our ward are awsome. Matt (far left) even took my garbage out for me. Such a nice kid!

Blake's pumpkin. A spider. Ashley's pumpkin is on my sisters camera.

I was going through pictures and found this one that I had missed. The kids and I on Blake's first day of kindergarten.

This is Shirley. I forgot to mention that we had Shirley for a week and then she ran home. (I hope.) She was in heat so who knows where she went. :)

The kids feeding her cheetos. We miss her.