Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

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Some Camping Video

The video is of Adlen, Jaxon, and Finley. Apparently Justin was in the background filling up his air mattress. Sorry for the noise.
Here's another pic. It looks like my arm is around Justin, but it's actually Mark's.
Not that I need to explain myself.

A funny camping story:
Saturday night, we got the kids ready for bed early (they'd been up since 5) and Adlen wanted to sleep in the tent with her cousins. So, she walked over to climb in and Jaxon opens the tent flap, takes one look at her and says, "Sorry, you can't come in here, you don't have your pajamas on." and zips the flap closed.
Justin (who thinks Jaxon is hilarious) laughs and says imitating Jaxon, "Didn't you know there's a dress code to get in here, you freak show!"
I laughed so hard I cried.
We did let her in the tent, when we convinced Jaxon that her day clothes were also her night clothes. Then she promptly crawled out the doggy door.

The Longest Day of the Year

 
 
 


We celebrated the Summer Solstice by camping with Katie (Mark's sister), her husband Justin, and their 2 yo Adlen. Despite extreme temperatures, few trees, and crazy kids, we managed to have a good time. Unfortunately, Jaxon and I got strep throat while we were there, so we're hoping no one else will get it.
Saturday morning began at 5 am when the kids were up before the sun. All day we kept looking at the clock, "Is it really only 10 am?" etc. The evening went until we could no longer handle the children and put them in front of whatever media we could, ipod, dvd, books.
We did give our nephew Josh a quick call because he was baptized on Saturday (amazing that we had cell phone reception) but it wasn't too long before my phone battery died.
In the end it was fun, especially to see our kids play with Katie and Justin's dog, Buster. Jaxon had a great time fishing with his dad and even caught 6 little fish with his Spiderman fishing pole.
Although we were and are exhausted and still haven't unpacked the car, we are glad that we took this trip out of the 114 degree heat up to the cool (well cooler) high country.
There are more pics on my webalbum.

The Gift of Friendship

 I don't remember when I met Brittany. I think it was in junior high. She was a cheerleader (but, I didn't like them too much) and I think she wore glasses, but I'm not sure.
During the summer after junior high, Brittany was involved in a terrible car accident. She was the passenger and was seriously injured. Her face was really cut up from the windshield and she spent a fair amount of time in the hospital.

Our friendship blossomed during HS, where we shared crazy-hard AP classes and made trips to Dairy Queen when we should have been studying. Brittany had the best of both worlds, she was cute and popular, but also smart and down-to-earth. Even though she had it all, I still remember watching her squeeze small pieces of glass from the scars on her face years after her car accident. She never made a big deal about it, but I know it was a very traumatic event that was difficult to overcome.

Fast forward 2 years. The summer of 2000, Britt are friends from a distance, because she went to Ricks when I went to BYU. Still, we're delighted to find that we're both getting married, in the same temple, 2 weeks apart (in the same room!) She looks great on her wedding day, cute curly hair and a slightly tilted tiara (which I tried to 'fix,' much to her dismay.) She is so happy. She snagged a great guy, an engineer named Doug.

After that, we're both at BYU, Britt and I hang out with our husbands as newlywed couples to play Rook and learn how to be married. Before too long, Britt is pregnant. Savannah is born in November of 2001 and she has some difficulties. The diagnosis is Russell Silver Syndrome, a very rare congenital disorder. Savannah won't breastfeed or take a bottle, and her severe reflux means she has to be fed through a tube in her nose. When we were both at Wyview, Mark and I babysat Savannah once or twice. We learned a lot and really enjoyed her cute babyness (I also got prepped for my kids who had projectile vomiting.)

The next July, Jaxon was born and diagnosed with severe hemophilia. Brittany was one of the first people I called. She cried with me as we talked about our special kids. I remember how comforting it was to have a friend how knew first-hand the disappointment and fear that I felt.

The years have passed and we have both moved back to Arizona and have our second babies: Brittany had Mikenna in 2003 and I had Asher in 2006.

While she was pregnant with her third child and first boy, Britt was finishing up nursing school. She asked me to watch her girls while she did her last semester. So, her girls and my boys played a few times a week. I enjoyed watching them grow and play together. In March I found out I was pregnant with Finley just as Britt was in her 3rd trimester with Daxton. He was born May 31st 2007, just before she took and passed her nursing licensing test.

A year later, it's harder to get together as much because we have six kids between the two of us and Brittany works part-time at a hospital's NICU. We still get go on double dates or family picnics occasionally, but not as often as we'd like.

One week ago today, Brittany sent out an email that broke my heart.
While she and her husband were hiking back from a weekend at Havasupai, her 12 month old baby Daxton was killed in a household accident. Four hours later they came to the hospital to say goodbye to their little boy who just turned one. In the days that have followed, I have thought about her and her family, and how much I love them.
I visited Brittany and hugged her. She cried. I cried. I held her hand while she told me about the casket she'd just picked out, "It's so small," she wept.
But, I can't comfort her in the way that she comforted me nearly 6 years ago. I don't know how it feels to lose a child.

I just know how much it hurts to watch a friend I love lose her child.

It's terrible. Even now, exactly a week later, I don't feel better. The funeral was intense, but the highlight was when Brittany and Doug shared their memories of baby Daxton. Although the chapel was full of united sobs and sniffles, there was a spirit of hope and healing.

So, tonight I wanted to write about my friendship with Brittany. Our lives have been entwined, and strangely parallel. And although I don't know if I'll ever stop grieving for her loss, I know that I'll never stop being her friend. She's gone through so many difficult trials, and she always comes away stronger. Everybody needs a friend like that.

Ode to a Toad

We have three little toadlets
who love their Dad.
When he wrestles and tickles
they're happy and glad.

From dawn until dusk
These toadlets will beg
for a chance to be cuddled
or just hang on his leg.

Jaxon loves to play chess
Asher's happy to sing
And Finley's full of smiles
Doing any old thing

But the best part of all
Is the love that they share
Whether Dad's near or far
They always know that he cares

 
 
 

If my boys don't like ballroom, maybe this?

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Vinegar: My New Best Friend

So, a few years ago I bought this little book at the grocery check-out called "102 Ingenious Uses for Vinegar" or something like that. It reminded me of my grandma, who uses vinegar to wash windows.
Anyway, I stuffed it in a drawer when Mark made fun of it, but pulled it out tonight while trying to find our pool key. (we had a great FHE at the pool, btw).
While eating my banana-brownie split I flipped through this booklet and found an entry for unclogging drains. "Pour 1/2 cup baking soda then 1 cup vinegar into drain, wait till foaming stops, then rinse with hot water."
That helped my yucky kitchen drain run a little faster.
The next recipe was for speeding up slow drains. "Pour 1/2 cup salt followed by 2 cups boiling vinegar. Then rinse with hot and cold water. Hmm, I tried this one next. Unfortunately, the good work done by the first treatment was undone as the sink re-clogged filling with nasty water.
But, I thought it might be working slowly, so I waited, then got my plunger and voila! The best draining sink I have ever seen! Hooray!
This may seem like a small accomplishment, but I've tried a bottle of Draino, which is expensive and doesn't work, and is not "green." So, vinegar is my new best friend and I will keep my little booklet out and share my good news with everyone!

Home again, home again!

So I spent the weekend in the beautiful Colorado Rockies on a Mormon Feminist Retreat. (I blogged about it here.)



Even though it was nice to get away, it was certainly nice to come home.

I had my camera in my purse when I got to the car, so I snapped a few pictures of my sweet family, who was so excited to see me!

If you look closely, you will see that Jaxon lost another tooth, and we think he swallowed this one as well.


Mark had the kids for 2 days straight and did a wonderful job. The kitchen was clean and he even scrubbed our toilet (which is more than I do!)

I'm planning to travel the weekend of Father's Day, so I know that the kids will be fine while I'm out of town. (although Finley missed me most, I guess, and the breast pumping was a pain)

Still, I'm really lucky to have such a great children and a wonderful husband!