DEAR BLOG...

...so lately every time I sit down to upload pictures or update our adventurous children decide to :
A: Start World War 3 Over A Beloved LEGO
B: Make Their Own Lunch With TONS OF HONEY!!!
C. Fill The Toilet With a WHOLE ROLL OF TP
D. Stand Right Next To Me and say MOM, MOM,MOM, CAN I, CAN I, CAN I...until I don't even remember what I was trying to do in the first place.
E. ALL OF THE ABOVE PLUS SOME!!!

We had an AWESOME Thanksgiving Vacation. We packed the whole crew up and headed to Grapevine Texas were we enjoyed THE GREAT WOLF LODGE http://www.greatwolf.com/ ...if you live close to one I highly recommend going. It was fun to be in a water park in the middle of winter. A few days after arriving home, December 3rd, Benson was finally weighing enough and old enough to undergo his bi-lateral inguinal hernia repair. He flirted with the nurses and was a pretty happy baby considering he didn't get to eat 12 hours prior to surgery. THANK GOODNESS FOR OUR SWING!!! The swing kept him lulled to sleep until we needed to head to the hospital. He was his normal happy self within 24 hours post-op!

Christmas was enjoyable! We ATE WAY TOO MUCH!!! I've never stepped on a scale after the holidays until this year...I think it's crazy how one can gain 6 pounds in a day. YES...6 POUNDS!!! However, I've never been one to care about weight management but seriously 6 pounds in one day is ridiculous and I will be more careful when the holidays roll around again!

The rest of our time is filled with work and church callings. In fact in the next 12 weeks we have 1 weekend to ourselves and the rest is filled with Youth Activities, Temple Trips, Primary Activities, and Practice for The 10 Virgin Performance I've been asked to sing in (which I'm way excited for, the music is FANTASTIC!!!)

I do have pictures to post but they were all downloaded to our PC Tower and I don't want to wake Ryan to link the laptop up...so those will have to wait for another day...

Here are the boys' statistics, kinda fun to see where they all are:

Caden: is 5 (almost 6) weighing in at 52 lbs and is 4 feet 5 inches (He'll be taller than me soon)
Levi : is 3 weighs in at 41 lbs and is 3 feet 8 inches (NOT far behind his brother)
Benson: is 7 months and weighs 17 lbs 14 oz and is 2 feet 4 inches
Ryan is...just kidding...


Goodnight, I must sleep before Benson wakes for his night feeding!!!

Family Pictures 2009

As I said in the post before our sweet friend Tonya Peterson http://www.tonyapeterson.com/blog/ took our family pictures this year. She brought along another friend/photographer, Shillawna Ruffnerhttp://www.shillawnaruffnerphotography.com/ and daughter, to help the boys focus and got our photos done in record time for our rowdy bunch. Those of you in the San Diego area looking for a good friend and great photographer check our Shillawna's website and book her. She is fantastic at what she does and passionate as is Tonya, those of you in the New Mexico area...she's AWESOME!!! Thank you both for helping pictures be fun. I didn't feel stressed and the boys didn't cry and whine!!!






Caden and Benson having a moment...

Yep we are excited...

Classic Levi smile...

Best Buds...

What a lucky girl I am...all these protectors and studs...

Benson 3 months...

Our 3 MUSKETEERS...

Levi is such a good big brother...

Our sweet Caden and his broken arm...

Like I said BEST BUDS!!!

We have been so blessed with 3 handsome sons to raise. I am so thankful for Tonya's willingness to capture these moments that will be gone with a blink of an eye.

I've never known any photographers on a personal basis until this year and now I know 3. Those of you in the Seattle area check our Courtney Roah Bowldin, http://courtneybowlden.com/blog/, she is a sweetie and is also very good at what she does.

Precious Moments

A sweet friend of ours did some family pictures for us. Check some of them out on her blog, http://www.tonyapeterson.com/blog/!

DEAR HEAVENLY FATHER...

I have been very overwhelmed lately due to all the medical problems of our little family. So for those of you who do not know here's the scoop:

June 29th 2009 Benson was born
July 9th Benson was circumcised
July 10th Benson had a STAPH infection on his Circ.
July 17th Staph too strong needed stronger meds
July 24th THRUSH...due to the killing of all the Good bacteria
July 26th Mommy gets THRUSH from breastfeeding OUCH!
July 30th Benson goes in for 2nd hep B vaccine, nurse doesn't secure his leg and bends needle when he kicks... ouch
August 2nd Found out nurse gave WRONG vaccine (hep A instead of hep B) have to start Hep B series ALL OVER!
August 3rd Meds not working THRUSH taking over ( really considering to Stop nursing!)
August 10th Thrush gone...YEAH
August 12th THRUST BACK...Mommy and Benson keep sharing...seriously thinking about stopping nursing
August 17th Thrush gone...HOORAY
August 22nd NEVER MIND...It's BACK...will this fungal infection EVER LEAVE?
September 9th Mommy ends up in E.R. KIDNEY STONES...WORSE THAN LABOR
September 16th Caden falls out of the tree, brakes his arm!
September 22nd swelling finally down get the cast on
September 22nd Hey when did the Thrush leave??? Oh well...still haven't passed any kidney stones though...
October 1st Passed a 6 mm kidney stone two more to go
October 5th Benson is has a Inguinal Hernia (like his daddy had as a baby) will need surgery to correct it.

...I feel physically and emotionally exhausted. I feel like I LIVE in the DR. office! We have a plaque on the wall that states, "When life gets to hard to stand KNEEL!" I that is what I've been doing A TON actually. But I got to thinking today...if I prayed this way ALWAYS not just when things are tough then how would my relationship change with my Father in Heaven? Don't I try to encourage Caden to share his favorite things with me? Don't I enjoy the happy times of my children? Why is it when things are tough, when life is "too hard" that is when we start praying "hard"? So I am posting this and putting it out there for all of you to call me on if I forget again...I want the same relationship with my Heavenly Father that I yearn to have with my boys. I want to share the joys in my life as well as my sorrow and hardships. So although Caden's arm is still healing, Benson has a surgery in the near future, and I still have two stubborn kidney stones procrastinating the day of their apperance...I am joyful that the THRUSH hasn't made a return. I am happy that when Benson cries his brothers rush to his side to make silly faces and sing. I am blessed to be married to a wonderful, loving, priesthood holding, man. I am so thankful to be sealed to my family in this life and the next. Come what may...my Heavenly Father LOVES ME!

Cast Day...

6 days after the BIG fall the swelling had finally gone down enough for a cast to be put on Caden's arm. I asked him to smile and this is what I got.

Then I told him to show me his "Get a happy meal after the cast is on" Smile
a much better smile, don't you think???

The color of the day was..."HURT YOUR EYES" orange!

Mommy was the first to sign since I had to sit through 2 hours in the Dr. office waiting!

With any luck the cast will be off before Halloween and the bone healed completely.

What are BROTHERS for???

The other day I was making dinner, which just so happens to be Benson's fussy time, when all of a sudden I heard Caden's sweet voice telling a story that we had read earlier in the day. I walked around the corner to find this...

...Benson was listening intently...
and watching Caden turn pages...
what a sweet moment!~

Then Benson heard mommy's voice and started all over again!

What GREAT BROTHERS Benson has been blessed with though...

~I love my boys~

A rather blustery day...

So here in the good ol Land of Enchantment a blustery day entails sunshine and LOTS of WIND. So we decided to take advantage and fly some kites.

Levi was afraid to let the string get any longer in fear of losing his kite to the wind!

Caden scored this SWEET Kite at a yard sale this summer

$2.00= hours of fun (when the wind is strong enough)

It took about twenty minutes to get this bad boy to fly


Can you see Caden???
He kind of blends in with the swing set
We had fun and can't wait for the next windy day...