Flashback to....Father's Day!

I was looking through all of my pictures on my computer and realized that there are a ton of things this past year that I never blogged about that I really want to be in our blog book. I am in blog book making mode because I found this new site that turns your blog into a book that is so much easier then Blurb click here if you want to find out more about it. So I am going to start doing some flashback posts that have been left out this year. The first one is Fathers Day!

The kids were so excited to make breakfast in bed for Brandon. They picked out everything themselves that they wanted to serve. On the menu was, Fruit Loops, bacon, blueberries, angel food cake, and tang! Actually, the blueberries were my idea. I thought it would be good to add some fruit. Alexis kept insisting that daddy did not like blueberries, but I was sure he did. Turns out she was right! He happily ate everything except the blueberries =)

Daddy was sound asleep when they brought everything in, but quickly woke up to enjoy his feast. The thing that he is holding is a guitar pillow that Alexis designed and sewed for him all by herself. We decided that on fathers day and mothers day we wouldn't buy gifts, but instead have the kids give us things that they make themselves.

I love Brandon's facial expression as he is eating his fruit loops, and I love how excited the kids look too! haha

These kiddos are sure lucky to have such a great daddy. He is just a big kid himself, so he is always making life so much fun for them =)

Party Time!

I feel like I have been in party planning mode for months! Having a birthday close to Halloween makes it pretty easy to plan a party, if you're up for a Halloween themed one! Luckily Levi was game for that, so the planning began there. He had a huge list of friends he wanted to invite, so we invited them all, hoping not everyone would be able to come lol. We ended up with 6 little boys which turned out to be the perfect amount. One thing I learned is that a party with a bunch of boys compared to a party with a bunch of girls will go very differently! For Tori's party last month We had 2 activities planned, and were rushing to fit everything in. With Levi's party, I had 5 activities planned, and we were finished in a little over an hour, including cake and presents! I totally thought I had over planned and then ended up having to think of something to keep the rowdy boys occupied at the end, They just flew through everything! When they first arrived they played for a few minutes outside, and then came in to decorate their treat bags.

After that we headed outside to paint pumpkins! I found a cute idea on pinterest (my newest obsession) for a pumpkin painting party, so used some ideas from that. I was able to find a great deal on pumpkins at Walmart. 2.99 a piece, no matter what size. You sure can't beat that!Everyone loved painting their pumpkins. Luckily we made them all wear paint shirts, because they got paint everywhere!

As they finished with their pumpkins they gravitated towards the ever popular tree swing that Brandon made when we first moved in.

At this point I was still worried about having enough time for everything so I called them all in for our next activity, Musical Ghosts, similar to musical chairs.

This game was a last minute game. Levi had been saying for weeks that he wanted to do the donut on a string game, where you hang donuts from strings and then everyone races to see who can eat theirs first. It sounded easy enough. So I bought the donuts, string, a plastic table cloth to put on the ground to catch the mess, and then got to work setting it all up. Brandon doubted my plan from the beginning, but I was determined that it would be fine. I first hung all of the string on the ceiling with thumb tacks. Then I attached the first donut. Within a few seconds of attaching it, the whole string fell, sending the donut crashing to the ground, covering the carpet with chocolate frosting (I hadn't put the tablecloth down yet). I tried tying a knot at the end of the string in hopes that would help it to stay attached to the ceiling better, but the same thing happened again! I quickly scrapped that idea and then we had a bunch of string just randomly hanging from the ceiling. Alexis came up with the idea to hang ghosts from them and play musical ghosts. She made a bunch of cute little ghosts out of Kleenex, and attached them to the end of each string. Alexis to the rescue! The game turned out to be a hit! =)

Next on the agenda was pumpkin bowling, another idea I found on pinterest. I cut out faces and taped them on some rolls of toilet paper to make them look like ghosts, and found a small pumpkin to use as the ball. They each got three tries to knock all the "pins" down. It was a fun little game to play.

Tori was such a great help with this game. She set up all the toilet paper rolls after each boys turn.

Next we headed to the backyard for some pinata fun. I found a ghost, zombie looking pinata at Walmart, and Levi had a blast filling it full of candy. When Brandon picked it up to take outside to hang up, the hanger on the top snapped right off! I am so grateful to have such a handy husnbad. He finagled a new way to hang it up in no time. It took two rounds of turns before they finally broke it open.

Then it was present time! Here's the cute bunch of boys.

After presents we headed to the kitchen for donuts and ice cream. I saw another cute idea online (what would I do without the internet?!) where you scoop the ice cream into cup cake cups and put them in the freezer, so when it's time to eat you can just take them out of the freezer and serve. I worked out really good! After seeing how messy they got with the donuts I was so glad we didn't end up doing the donut on a string game. It would have been so much messier!

So, one would think that all of those activities would take up all the time right? Well not in this case. It took 1 hour and 25 min from start to end, which left me with 35
minutes with a bunch of sugared up little boys and nothing planned. So we broke out the Halloween party music and played freeze dance for a while. The boys were all so hilarious as they danced.

Notice the hand stand in the background?? lol

After they got tired of dancing we sent them to the backyard to run around. It turned out to be a great very fast paced party. Levi loved it and I hope his friends did too!

After planning three birthday parties, and a baptism within 4 months of eachother I am partied out! I had so much fun planning everything, but it will be glad to have a break for a while (just in time for the holidays, right? haha)

Levi

Today our baby boy turns 6! I have always called him my baby, and I don't think I will ever stop! Little did we know, 6 years ago that this little guy would have such an impact on us! We can not imagine our family without him. Here are some things we want to remember about Levi as he turns 6 this year:

~ He loves to wrestle

~He loves to cuddle.

~He loves to ride his bike, and can ride really fast.

~He loves climbing trees.

~He is very observant about what is going on around him.

~He is very curious.

~Daddy is his hero. When asked what he wants to be when he grows up, he always says a salesman and a dad. In primary one Sunday he was supposed to draw a picture of his family. He drew a great big picture of Daddy with a crown on his head and that's all. This boy loves his dad.

~He is really good at cleaning things up, and loves to organize his shoes and the clothes in his drawers.

~He is really good at coloring and always stays in the lines.

~He loves school and is a little class clown.

~He loves to play video games.

~He is a little trickster. He is always tricking the little kids I do daycare for into thinking there are monsters, snakes or some other scary creature in the basement. (I have to keep a close watch on him!)

~He is so funny. This kiddo has got one sense of humor. He says the funniest things and always has us laughing. Here are some of the funny (and strange) things he has said or asked lately:

"Would you rather get killed by a knife or hot lava?"

"What is inside our bodies that makes us talk?"

ME- "Levi, I really need you to sleep in your own bed tonight. You are making me too squished at nights! If you wake up go cuddle with Tori."

LEVI- tilting his head to the side, "Really? That's all you got for me?"

Levi and I were at Target the other day. I was pushing the cart looking for something and he was walking beside me chattering away. I admit I tuned him out a bit and was focused on finding what I needed. As he would say some thing to me or ask me a questions, I would reply with something like, "yeah", or "uh huh" After a few minutes he turned to me and said, "Mom, stay with me here" Not meaning stay there in that spot with him, but meaning, pay attention to me. LOL, it was so funny

As we were walking into Target (we go there a lot) Levi noticed that they had gotten all new carts. He thought they were pretty cool and said, "Look at the new shopping carts! They are amazing!"

He is constantly saying, "Really?" and "Seriously?" In a sarcastic tone

We sure love this little guy. We had a great time celebrating yesterday with a Halloween Birthday party, dinner at Red Robbin, and the fun at the corn maze. I'll write more about that later, but I just had to get in a Happy Birthday to our boy first. We love you so much Levi!

Tori's Baptism Day

On Saturday October 8, 2011 Our sweet Victoria Lynne was baptized. This is a day that she has waited and waited for. It turned out so wonderfully and was a day that I hope Tori will always remember. A few weeks before Tori's baptism, Brandon and I took her up to the temple to take some pictures of her in her baptism dress. (Well I took her, but forgot the camera, so then Brandon brought it to us and then joined us) Brandon got some great pictures of Tori. We had several people asked if we got them taken by a professional! This one by the tree is my absolute favorite. My good friend Catherine designed some cute photos for us to display at the baptism. I LOVE how they turned out.

She also designed her invitations

The night before her baptism I was putting pictures in frames and getting as many things ready as I could. I decided to give her the baptism keepsake book that we got her. I love the onw I found. She wanted me to read it to her. It has a different word pertaining to baptism and then an explanation, and mixed in are pages to write memories of your baptism. It is quite long, and as I was reading it I worried that she might get bored. Much to my surprise, halfway through she looked up at me and said, "Mom, there is nothing else I would rather being doing then reading this with you." It totally melted my heart =)


On the day of her baptism there was a lot to do to get ready. I really tried not to let everything stress me out. After a near cupcake disaster I almost lost it, but managed to keep my cool. We arrived to the church a half hour early to make sure everything was all set up and ready to go. There were only 2 kids jumpers in the closet. Luckily one fit OK, although it was a tad too big. Here are Brandon and Tori standing in front of the table we set up that was outside the baptism room.

Brandon spent a lot of time making sure the roses were arranged perfectly. Then he came up with a clever way to fill the vase with water without messing up the arrangement, by using a funnel. I had to snap a picture =)

After setting up the little entrance table, the desert table (I forgot to take a picture of that!), and making sure that Brandon and Tori had jumpers to fit, we decided to take some pictures before it started. I wish I had gotten more pictures of everyone there. We are so grateful for all of the people that came to support Tori on her special day. We know that there were a lot of family members that wished so badly to be there, but we know they were there in spirit =)

Tori's primary class sang "I'm Trying to be like Jesus" Here they are practicing before hand. They sounded so sweet, and it added a special spirit to the baptism.

Here's how the program went so we have it written down somewhere:

Conducting- Layne Crowther

Opening Song: "I Pray in Faith"

Chorister- Adena Duffy

Pianist- Stephanie Pollock

Opening Prayer- Jana Bronson (Nana)

Talk on Baptism- Diana (Me!)

Baptism Performed by Brandon (Dad)

Witnesses- Grandpa and Papa

Interlude- Primary songs played by Stephanie Pollock

Special Musical Number- "I'm Trying To Be Like Jesus" sang by The CTR 7 primary class

Talk on the Holy Ghost- Grandma

Confirmation performed by Brandon

Standing in the circle- Grandpa, Papa, Great Grandpa Barker, Kevin Beyerlein and Bishop Duane Duffy

Presentation by the Primary- Gloria Harris

Bishopric Remarks- Layne Crowther

Closing Song- "When I am Baptized"

Closing Prayer- Alexis Bronson

It was so neat to see how happy Tori was, and so touching to watch her feel the spirit. When I was helping her to change into her baptism dress after Brandon Baptized her, I asked her how she felt, and she said "I feel really happy!" The Spirit was so strong and it is something that I will never forget.

After the Baptism we had refreshments in the relief society room. It was fun to visit with everyone. I felt so good about how everything turned out =)

Afterwards, Brandon and I took Tori on a special dinner date, just the three of us to Olive Garden. It was so nice to spend time with just Tori and us to talk about the day. We gave her scriptures to her which she had been anxiously waiting for. She loves them, and has already marked some of her favorite scriptures.

Tori brings us so much joy. It makes us so happy to see her little testimony grow. Her sweet spirit strengthens us, out home and all those that come in contact with her. What a privilege it is to be her mom =)

Cute Conversations

My kids have been saying the funniest things lately. I really want to remember them, so I figured I would record them here!

The other day as we were driving home this is the conversation I heard coming from the back seat:


Tori: "My baptism day is going to be the most special day ever!"


Alexis: "Until your wedding day!"


Tori: "Eww! I don't want to get married!"


Levi: "But Tori, then you won't be able to have any adorable babies!"


LOL This made me laugh =)

WARNING: This post contains emotional and irrational thoughts of an overly exhausted pregnant woman.


On Saturday I went to the general women's broadcast with my mom. My favorite talk was by Dieter F. Uchtdorf. Yesterday morning while I was trying to make time go by quickly I came upon this free printable of a quote from his talk. You can get a copy here.

The reason I was trying to make time go by quickly, is because I was anxious for a doctor's appointment I had scheduled for 9:15. This was not a routine visit, it was one I called and made that morning in a complete panic. The panic began the previous week. 12 days ago on my facebook page I posted that I had felt the baby move a ton, and loved it! Well, since that time I had not felt the baby move at all. I would sit there and try to really focus to feel any type of movement. Nothing came that was even remotely similar to the movement I felt that day. I tried to push the worry aside, convincing myself that I was still not very far along, and that was probably why I didn't feel much. But I could not forget those strong kicks I felt that one day and oh how I longed to feel them again, to get some kind of reassurance. Well, a few nights ago, I was talking to my mom, and we started talking about the Cantaloupe recall because of listeria that had been found in them and had sickened many people. I hadn't been too concerned up to this point, because I knew that I only eaten cantaloupe once this summer (granted it was a whole cantaloupe over the course of a few days) I figured since it was a month ago and I hadn't gotten sick that I was fine. I didn't even think that it was the bend that had been recalled. Well when talking to my mom, she informed me that it had been the brand that had been recalled (she was the one that bought it) and that she was reading that sometimes the listeria strain incubates for a month before you show any symptoms. She was trying not too sound worried, but I could sense a little concern in her voice. Listeria is extremely dangerous for pregnant women. she said just to be on the safe side, if I got a fever, that I should probably call the doctor. So I pushed this to the back of my mind. Then on Sunday night I started thinking about it again, and decided to look it up online to see if I could find out any more info. Well, that was my first mistake. Everything I read left me completely terrified! I called my mom and told her of my worries, and she reassured me that I was OK, and that thousands of people had eaten the cantaloupes and been fine. She also told me to STOP looking online. Well I should have listened. I kept looking a little bit more. I read that the incubation period could be up to 2 months, pregnant women are 20 times more likely to pick it up, and that the baby is the most affected. I freaked out a little, but tried to push the scary thoughts aside so I could sleep. Well at 3 am I woke up. It didn't take long for my thoughts to go back to what I had read. Pretty soon I had worked myself up into a tizzy. I had convinced myself that I had listeria, and had just not noticed the symptoms because they are similar to the symptoms that I was already experiencing with this pregnancy. I was convinced that the infection had reached the baby, and that the baby had died, and that was why I hadn't felt the baby kick lately. (I know this sounds extreme, but these were my thoughts!) I layed there awake with worry until my alarm went off to get up and get the kids up. I had devised a plan. I was going to get up a little earlier then usual so I could shower before I woke the kids up. Then I would call the doctor and see if I could get in. After getting the kids ready I woke up Brandon and informed him of all of my worries and that I was going to take the kids to school, and that he didn't have to get up yet because I needed him to come to the doctor with me. He was so disoriented from just waking up, and I am sure that he was thrown totally off guard. Especially when I told him that something was wrong with the baby and he needed to prepare himself for the worse. I went on to get ready. Brandon came out, and tried to convince me that everything was OK. He was torn, because he really needed to go into work because they had a ton of stuff going on. In the middle of my crazy emotions, I said, "Fine! I will go by myself and be all alone just like last time!" (I feel so bad that I said that!) He then realized how worried I was and tried to get a hold of someone from work. Seeing that he couldn't get a hold of anyone, I told him that I wold just have my mom come with me, because she had told me that she didn't have anything going on already that day. So I sat on the rocking chair trying to hold it together until Brandon and the kids left for school. (I was able to hide how I was feeling from the kids, so they had no idea what was going on) I text my mom, and she told me that she was supposed to give a lady from her ward a ride to work but that she could come with me anytime after 9:30. She also said that she wold try and find someone else to take the lady, all the while trying to convince me that everything was fine. But I had made up my mind that something was wrong and nothing would change it. When the clock changed to 8:00 I called the doctor right away (that's when they open) I told them of my concerns and they said that I could come in at 9:15. I called my mom, and she said that she thought that she would be back right at that time and she could meet me there. When I hung up Brandon called. By this point I was a complete mess and after hearing my voice, he said he was on his way back. He got back just in time for us to leave. While we were driving there he tried to cheer me up. He was so sweet, but I was pretty un cheerable by that point. I again told him to prepare himself for the worse. Well after having to wait forever for them to even check us in because of insurance annoyances, we finally got checked in, and were called back right away. I was seeing a nurse that I had not seen before. She was very sweet, and didn't make me feel bad at all for my worries. She got the doppler out and starting trying to detect the heartbeat. I heard a heartbeat right away, and felt some relief until she informed me that, that was actually my heart beat that it was picking up (it was racing). She moved the doppler around some more, and could still only pick up my heart beat and not the baby's. She then said, "Well let's just got straight to the ultrasound to get a better peak" As she was getting the ultrasound set up I mouthed to Brandon "I told you" Well, as soon as she put the ultrasound wand on my stomach there popped up the baby, wiggling around all over the place. Everything was fine. The heartbeat was strong, and she counted 8 movements in the few minutes she had the ultrasound on. She said they just want to see 10 in 2 hours so that was great to see 8. I felt relieved to see him or her moving around on the screen. We asked her if she could tell what it was, and she said, that she wouldn't be able to tell even if she tried because she wasn't trained for that. Bummer! I told her my concerns about the listeria virus, and she said that if I developed a fever, to come in and they could give me a blood test to see if I had the infection, but that most likely I was just fine.

So we got pictures and headed on our way. I immediately started to feel so silly that I had worked myself up into such an uncontrollable panic. I hate that I let myself get to that point! I really think that my miscarriage last year is still having a huge affect on me. I no longer have a sense of security with my [pregnancies, and suddenly the realization that things can go wrong and do go wrong are at the front of my mind. I am hoping and praying that this is the last episode like this that I have.

This brings me to the quote I posted at the beginning. When I had been praying and praying all night long, I admit that my faith was wavering. I had thoughts, like, 'why would He answer my prayer when there are so many other people praying' Why would He save my baby and not someone elses. I feel terrible for thinking those things, but I did. When I came upon that quote it made me realize that Heavenly Father really does hear ALL of our prayers, and they He cares about ALL of our concerns. For a minute during my crazy thoughts this morning, it brought me some peace. Unfortunately I was so worked up by that point that the peace only lasted a second. But I am going to print up that quote and post it where I can see and remember that I am never alone. No matter how crazy I may get, He is always there.

I hope the rest of this pregnancy can go by quickly with much less drama! =)

Pregnancy Brain Part 2

I figured I should right these things down, so I can remember them later, and find the humor in them once I am functioning like a normal human being again.

Today a few things happened

#1- I went to my bank's drive through ATM to get some cash out. I got the cash out, took the cash and the receipt, but neglected to remember to take my card back. I realized this about ten minutes after the fact. The bank was closed since it was Saturday so I had to put a temporary block on my card until I can go into the bank Monday and see if they have it.

#2- I wanted to take some pictures of Tori in her baptism dress. I got the camera, made sure the battery was charged, and that the sim card was in the camera. We then drove up to the temple. It took twice as long as usual due to some annoying construction traffic. When we finally arrived, there was a huge sign on the gate, saying that it was closed to the public due to construction. Luckily there was a really pretty area right around the corner that would work for taking pictures, and we could even probably get the temple in the background on some of them. Tori was so done riding in the car by this point, so we found a place to park and got out. It was then that I discovered that I had forgotten my camera at home. Brandon could tell I was in a very fragile state when I called, and so he drove it to us =)

I am starting to get a little worried, or rather, annoyed at my absentmindedness! I hope it doesn't get worse. I don't know how much more I can take! LOL