Found!

So there is a funny story to this one, Carli was crawling around content and happy and I sat down to type up a bill for Jeremy real quick. A minute later I hear happy baby sounds, talking, giggles, squeeling. It lasts a while so I become curious about why she is so happy!
This is what I found : Carli playing with Bodee's under-roos! silly girl

Found the camera!

Where - you ask did I find it?

Jeremy took it and forgot he took it

and I found it in one of his coat pockets, thankfully.

So glad to have it back, especially before christmas.

Anyone know where i could find my camera?

I am so sad.
I can't find my camera any where
and there are some great pictures on it.
Bummer!

Has it really been a year...

One year ago... October 28, 2008

After weeks of bed rest, tons and tons of help and prayers from family and friends

our little miracle was born (15 weeks early, weighing 1 lb 11 oz)only as long as a ruler... we weren't sure

what kind of a future was in store for us all but look at her now.

I can hardly believe it has been a whole year.

What a year!

What an amazing blessing she has been to our family and lives. Through this experience our testimonies have grown so much. Carli Brings such joy to us all. She is 16 pounds already, crawling all over and pulling her self up to standing.

Happy 1st Birthday Car!

this is what we get...

So we made an old family recipe (Butter Cookies) a few days ago. It is from J's side of the family and it came from his great great grandpa who owned the Arapaho Bakery in Salt Lake City. Yeah, so the boys and I sat down to roll and cut the cookies out. Then Jer decided to join in the fun. This is what we get. Can you tell what it is? I think great great grandpa would be proud! Ok, so if you couldn't tell what he created... an egg and baccon. the little thing at the top is Avery's idea of scrambled eggs!

Yeah! Jeremy is home

Autumn is my favorite season. I get to pull out all of my cozy sweaters, and i just love the color in the trees. The crisp fall air that makes my nose cool and crunch of leaves beneath my feet make me so happy. There is nothing better than to play with the family on a cool fall day at the Finch Arboretum. And what makes it even more special is that we have been missing Jeremy for weeks now. It was nice to have him home for one day and not deal with the business. The boys raked up several piles of leaves to jump into and throw all over.

Lots of giggles, Carli especially enjoyed the leaf throwing.

I wish I had a video of that action.

Of course there was football involved.

And tree climbing...

more tree climbing...

and more tree climbing!

To end our wonderful family fall day we drove to Coeur d'Alene and had dessert at the dockside.

Yeah you know it. You love it. The way over sized desserts, yum!

Jer had the large Butterfinger dessert to himself (well Carli helped a little) and the boys had one to share. Me of course (being the lactose intolerant one) had huckleberry cobbler.
What a treat!

Happy Fall Everyone!

Greenbluff fun with Nana

Carli and Nana sat together while the boys and I did the corn maze up in Greenbluff. I am surprised that this picture turned out so well considering they were running around crazy, it was a little challenging to keep them together. We had to take turns deciding which way to go. We made it to the end ... eventually! What fun the boys had. I think their favorite part was the pirate ship you could climb on at the end.
This was the train ride, I absolutely think this is the cutest picture of Nana and Ave!

Oh yeah, i was there really!

Of course we had to get a pumpkin for each of the kids. I told Ave he could get any pumpkin he wanted but he had to be able to put it into the barrel. So he got this huge one in, and then like 5 minutes later he changed his mind, so i helped to get it out and he picked a different one, (about the same size) but because he put the first one in and he was SOOOOOOOOOOO tired, I helped with the second one.

This is Bo's selection, a little bit more modest in his selection!

They picked out a pumpkin for Carli together, with out any arguing either!

We ended the day with caramel apples, yum, then hurried home to prepare for Jake and Matts surprise party!
What a fun day we had and I am so glad Nana got to come with us and share in the fun!

What have we been up to?

Earlier this summer...

we took a vacation because Jeremy had a business meeting out of town.

It was so fun to tag along and get away from all the stress for a short while.

We got to see my sister and her new LITTLE baby boy Jack! So cute! I wish I had some pictures of our visit but Jeremy had the camera at his business meeting.

But here are some of the other highlights of our trip!

We always have to have a hike in there somewhere... My favorite part, smores on the beach at night! Yum

Jeremy skim boarding...


Oh no... what happened?

What a climb... but we did make it.

Silly bones...

My fire fighters...

After the climb up the tower.

Legal battle and light sabers

So I was talking to Avery tonight and I was telling him that we have a big day tomorrow and he needed to head off to bed. He asked why and I said that I needed to support Daddy in the Labor and Industries battle we are fighting tomorrow and it was important that I be there.and he asked how I supported Daddy which i explained and he said. "Oh a battle, like you fight in" "I'm gonna ask Pa J to help me make a light saber and a lazer gun and I'll go attack them with my friends!" talk about support eh!

Ave's Star Wars birthday

So because I was running the party I didn't get hardly any pictures but the grandma's got more so I'll post those when i get them but of the photos i got : This is one of the two cakes, yes i said two cakes. Ave couldn't decide on which one he'd rather have so i did both (to make up for him not really having a party last year) this is R2-D2
And this is the 2nd cake i just did a round one with happy birthday written on top then he wanted to put the action figures on the cake like they were fighting because the way i had them "wasn't very good" lol then he stuck all their guns around the cake. I'm glad he got into it and when he told his friends that he put them on top they all thought that was cool!

We did a rain gutter regatta boat race. Ave and I delivered all the invitations with a boat for the kids to race (they were all very excited to race their boats) and some of the parents even stayed just to watch the races. Then we had lunch and everyone put on their Padawan (Jedi in training) uniforms and the Jedi master (me lol) taught them the Jedi creed, some Jedi moves with their light sabers and showed them how to go through the training obstacle course. The obstacle course was so fun. They crossed hot lava on some floating stones and crawled under tree roots, threw Gungan water bombs at Ventress, Count Duku, Darth Vader, Darth Mol and a number of bad droids, rolled under some more obstacle and drew out their light sabers to disable some traps in the trees, then climbed up the ladder to ring some bells then they swung through the trees on some vines and raced home. This i wish i got on video cause they all had a blast, even the shy girls loved doing this. After that we opened presents and had cake and ice cream. The the Jedi in training demolished a death star pinata with their light sabers. Just before the Jedi went home they were all made Jedi Knights and awarded certificates. Ave had a blast and i have to say, i had just as much fun if not more!

July in a nut shell or among a bunch of trees!

So we went golfing on my birthday and Jer got stuck in the trees! Every time he tried to get out he hit another tree. 3rd time was a charm though! I think this was the most enjoyable part (for me anyway)! Shade and a good chuckle, though I had my fair share of mishaps and bad swings, they just didn't get caught on video!

What happened to this blog?

July is almost over and there may be those that are wondering what happened to our forgotten blog, well we've been busy both with fun and not so fun activities the last couple months. We wont bore you with the not so fun things and just show you the fun ones.

to start: Our friends the Jones family invited us up to their family cabin for the Memorial weekend (SO FUN) the water was cold but that didn't stop the kids from swimming. While we were up there we went to a museum that had cars and airplanes in it. As we were walking around we stopped to look at these military uniforms, and we happened to notice that one of the name tags read "Tassie" which is Jeremy's great-uncles last name and since he lives just down the road from the museum we thought it might be his tag. After speaking to a worker at the museum we found out that it was his uniform not just his tag and that he volunteers at the museum. Fancy that!

The boys spent lots of time in the water! and lots of time getting into water fights! some of which leaked through the back door and into the kitchen!

At the end of the school year they had a farm day (remember this is a farm school), and the dad and grandpa of one of the boys brought some huge farm equipment for the kids to climb up in and play on. This is Ave all decked out in his boots and hat.

And of course Bo had to join in! You can't see it in this small picture but he has a smile from ear to ear on his face!

We enjoyed 7 weeks of baseball which Ave just loved. Catcher was his favorite position to play. I was just amazed at all the kids on his team. They could all hit so well and their throwing wasn't too bad either.

Last week Disney had a train in town to advertise for a movie "A Christmas Carol." On the train they showed how the movie was made and at the end you could morph your face into one of the characters faces (so neat). The boys loved it. Then they were showing a 15 minute clip from the finished movie. Bo and i sat out on that one but Nana and Ave went in. They had 3-D glasses to wear and Ave said he jumped in a couple parts but he still wants to see it when it comes out.

This is a picture of Bo and the outside of the train.

Then that same weekend we took a one day trip to North Bend and took a ride on Thomas the train! It was so hot but we still had fun. There were many booths around the train depot that had fun things for the kids to do. This is Carli durring the train ride.

And here we are with Thomas after our ride.
This was a little open car that a small train was pushing around. It was faster than Thomas and a lot cooler too! Sad to say, they all liked this ride more than Thomas.

After eating dinner in a diner, we did a hike on Mt Sai. I think this was Jer's and my favorite part. The boys: got dirty, picked some blackberries, found great walking sticks, climbed some rocks and trees, saw a black snake, added more dirt to their existing dirt, and did a light saber fight with the walking sticks. Best of all they both slept the whole way home all 4 hours and 10 minutes! I think Carli liked it too cause she was talkin and droolin the whole way.

I just had to put this in because i was just feeding Carli dinner and she would have rather chewed on her toes than eat peaches. I would pull her foot out and give her a bite and as soon as the spoon left her mouth her leg would shoot up and in would go her toes. She is just fascinated with those toes! Neither one of the boys ever really played with their feet the way Carli does. Silly girl.

So that's the end for now. I'll try not to wait so long to make the next post.

LAUGHING!

so carli has been laughing for a week now but this is the first time caught on video. Just ignore the silly boys and dogs in the background that act like they are strving for attention. It seems they act like that when ever we shoot video! lol

march, what happened to march?

Um... i'm not sure where march went. What did we ever do?
My rockin sisters threw Carli a baby shower, it was so fun to see so many friends!
Carli had 6 dr apts, yikes!
Bodee turned the big 3! he had a batman cake (made by mommy) and a small party with family.
We all got colds, yuck! and I thought i was supper mom, immune to things like that, he he he!
Ave had parent teacher conf. He's doing so well. He is still my biggest helper around the house and usually he is really willing, especially if it has to do with Carli. He just loves her, and she him. She gives him the best smiles.
so that was ou march in a nut shell...

Do you remember?

This was Carli's first time to go to church. Thanks to Nana, Carli has been able to stay home durring this really bad rsv season. I think she likes her dress. She gave me a big smile when i put it over her head! So you can't tell very well but their shirts and carli's dress are made of orange gingham. love it

So one of my favorite memories of easter when i was growing up was the matching easter dresses mom would make. We have picts of them, green and purple etc... i'm sure many of you can relate... some like it and some don't. Me i love it, i don't do matching christmas... just easter. As for Jeremy on the other hand, he is one that doesn't like to match (anyone), but for me just this one day he tried! what a guy!

For Aunti Mindy - this was the best smile i could get, and yes Bo had to be in the picture. he he
Thanks for the cute quilt from Gma Freedman. The little foot prints on the quilt are the same size as carli's.

I feel very busy but at the end of the day i think to my self what did I do... i'm not sure! So it has been just over two weeks since Carli came home an life is a little crazy at times. But thanks to wonderful family and friends we are surviving. Thanks to mom who knows how to work the apnea monitor and care for Carli I have been able step out and get away a couple of times which was so wonderful.

Ave colored some pictures for carli to look at when she is in her bed. One is a pict of Ave, Bo and Carli (not a baby carli of course) wearing cowboy hats, shirts, jeans and boots walkin in the mud and another is of him and carli on a horse going for a ride! so cute

Bo is just a boy... that should explain everything.

After 3 months...

Carli came home on Thursday the 29th. We are so excited she is home. Ave and Bo are such BIG helpers. They run in and check on her when she fusses to make sure she's ok. Ave likes to pick out her outfits and Bo wants to hold her all the time. The last few nights Ave told her bed time stories with stuffed animals, he even did different voices for the different animals.

She came home on an apnea monitor which is actually a relief to me, if she wasn't on the monitor i don't think i could sleep or get anything done.

I just love this pict of Ave and Carli. He's such a great big brother!

Home already?

So Carli is doing so well. She is 4lbs 11 oz and now she is eating all of her full feeds through a bottle, and today she pulled her feeding tube out so they aren't going to put it back in. Yippie and to top it off she isn't on the canula either ( the little nose oxygen thing). She got to go to the Intermediate NICU too. this pict was taken on the 4th. You can see how her legs, arms and tummy are getting fuller, i was going to write chunky but they aren't quite there yet.

Another Surgery

Carli had another eye surgery today. We'll find out how it went in the weeks to come. she is doing well right now. Last night she was 4 1/2 pounds and this morning when I went to see her before surgery she looked soooo big! She has really grown.
School is closed today because of snow on the roof of the school. Ave said there was a leak and water damage in the gym yesterday. No school days are so fun!