Tuesday January 19

It wasn't a very exciting day today.

Got up and ready and kids off to school.

I helped in Port's class.

Then made a trip to the Distribution center to get some stuff for YW.

And also went to the Guitar center to get Cass's guitar strings fixed.

We have missed hearing her play!!!!

It was time to do something about it!

After lunchtime, I had a YW meeting.

And by the time that was over, it was time to go and get the kiddos from school.

Then dinner and homework.....

I did go to the RS activity tonight.

It was a friend-shipping thing.

We all sit at a long table and rotate every 2 minutes, asking questions and getting to know each other better.

It was nice to get out and talk with the ladies :)

Monday January 18 (more picture)

It was such a great little get away we had.

Even though we still fought,

And for being a short weekend, we probably fought more than we should have......

But it was still amazing and just what we needed for our little family.

I feel like stress levels have been boiling over recently.

We just needed a breather.

And it was so great of Bubbles and Eldon to let us stay at their cabin.

It is such a fun cabin and we always enjoy our time there :)

This morning we got up and us 4 girls all braided each others hair the same.

We were way more excited about it than the boys were!

Anyway, got the braids done and then we went to The Pancake House for breakfast.

Got way too much food there, like always!

Plate sized pancakes.....that NEVER get finished!!!!

After breakfast, we went back and cleaned up the cabin and got our things packed up.

Then we got all bundled and headed to the golf course to do some sledding.

Um....it took us a while to find the golf course.

We know the way there.......but there was so much snow! 

We (Dad) kept getting turned around!

Oh well, we found it and had a fun time finding it to :)

Lots of fun sledding and making snow sculptures.

Elsie and I made a snow buffalo!!!

Pretty darn cute!

Oh, and Dussy boy, Dad and Port made a cougar, then pulled it's head off and smashed it :)

That was not my idea.....just for the record!

After that we went back and made some hot cocoa and got changed into our swim suits and then packed everything in the car.

We stopped and got some groceries for lunch and then drove to Goldfork Hot springs.

We all had so much fun and it was so relaxing and nice.

There was a ton of people there which isn't always fun....but it wasn't too bad.

And guess what Elsie and I made????

A sand buffalo!!!

Yep!

Pretty fun.

After a couple hours we got changed and back in the car for the ride home.

Once we got home, we had some homework to finish up.

But everyone was very worn out and ready for bed!

It was a good get-away!

Pictures will be added.

I can't say when.

Maybe never to the blog....but they do get added in the book.

So if you are that desperate, come to my house when I get the book printed ;)

But I will try to add them tomorrow, because there are some fun ones!

Sunday January 17 (more pictures)

Having some family time together in McCall. 

Exactly what we needed. 

Dad got a fox to eat out of his hand! 

Fun stuff!

More fun stuff planned for tomorrow too!

(Blogging from the phone isn't easy, by the way! )

Saturday January 16 (add pictures)

Nothing too exciting today.

The normal Saturday chores around the house.

The Cass had some friends over.

I took some cute pictures of them, but I can't get the computer to read the camera....so, oh well.

Elsie had Kyra over and Porter went to Cannon's to play.

Then later on in the day, Madi went to Cam's house.

Tomorrow we made a plan.

After church we are going to drive to Bubbles cabin.

They are there this weekend, but coming home tomorrow afternoon.

They said we could borrow their cabin over night.

Then Monday we want to do some sledding and then stop at the hot springs on the way home.

I hope it will be a nice relaxing time for our little family.

There is no school on Monday, and we wanted to get out and do something fun.

I think this is just the ticket :)

Friday January 15

Today was a fun day.

Dad and I did some cleaning up.

Then Joel came over, Jalena's Joel :)

He is here for a business trip.

He came over to see the house and then we went to eat at the Boise Fry Company.

It was super yummy.

Then Joel drove us to the fire station because One of Doug's Deputy's, Rowdy, drove our car (that rent drove to Wyoming) all the way to Boise for us.

He was coming here to fish with his Grandpa, and he drove our car here for us.

Talk about super nice!!!!!

He dropped it off at the fire station when Dad was at work.

Anyway......so Joel took us there so we could drive it back home.

Then he went to the airport from there to catch his flight.

It was a fun time talking with him.

He got Brent all excited about poisonous frogs!!!!

That took up a good chunk of the day.

The kids came home and I made some dinner.

After dinner, Mom and Dad went out for the rest of our Anniversary date.

We went to see Joy at the movie theater.

We both enjoyed it.

But it ended too early and we weren't ready to go home yet.

So we ran to Kneaders for some dessert.

Actually, we were on a hunt for cheesecake and stopped at 3 different places before stopping at Kneaders :)

But it did the trick.

We got a teat for each of the kids too, and they were pretty excited about that :)

After prayer and scriptures I went and put the little ones to bed.

And this is what I find when I came back down :)

They sure know how to par-tay!

Thursday January 14

Happy 16th Anniversary to us!!!!

Dad worked today :(

But he took the evening hours off so he could take me out!

What a good guy!

I spent my day taking the rest of the Christmas tree and stuff down.

I didn't do much else.

I did take a nap.

I kinda felt lousy this morning, kind of nauseous.....so I laid down and I felt much better.

And ready to go for the day.

Dad sent me a picture of his finger.

He got his ring smashed on him!!!!!

I told him that is not very good luck on his anniversary!!!!!

Well, he got it off.

So, his anniversary gift is on it's way, coming from Amazon.com.....

A silicone ring :)

Got the kids home from school and working on homework.

Dad got home a around 5:30.

After he got ready, we were off.

We are gonna go out to a movie tomorrow.

I didn't want the kids to be up too late, again!

So tonight we just went out to dinner.

But it was nice to sit and talk.

There have been some stressful things going on in our lives, and sometimes just sitting and talking is just what is needed.

And some bread pudding of course!

In the middle of our potato skins, I found the cutest little heart :)

My fav <3 p="">

It was a nice night.

We sure have had some crazy roller coaster rides in our 16 years.

But I am thankful for him to be by my side.

We need each other.

This is the bridge where he proposed to me 16 years, and a few weeks ago ;)

Wednesday January 13

I almost got all the Christmas tree stuff taken down.

Those lights take forever to unwind off the tree!!!!

I also did laundry today.

And I helped in Elsie's art smart class.

She drew a buffalo, and it was the cutest thing!

I forgot to take a picture!!!!!

But we will get to take it home after Art Gallery night.

It will go in a frame in her room for sure :)

After school, I planned to take Elsie to Activity days, but right before we left, she was walking with a globe in her hands.

Don't ask me why.

But she fell back on her bum and raised her hands above her head and held onto the globe.

I went around to tell her good job to keeping hold of the globe, but then I noticed she was trying to cry, but couldn't breathe.

I held her close and tried to calm her down so she could get a good breathe.

She finally could breathe and started crying.

I asked if her bum hurt, cause that is usually what it is,

Her poor tailbone.

But she said it hurt up her back :(

That didn't sound good to me.

But it must have sent some kind of shock waves up her back, and knocked the air out of her too.

It was so sad to see her like that.

I talked to Dad.

He said have her rest, so that's what we did.

We watched a Fixer Upper together.

After that, she could get up and walk, but even when she went to bed she still said it hurt a little bit.

Darn-it!

Breaks my heart!!!!

At 7, it was tie for YW.

The Morgan's took the little ones for me so I could go be with the YW.

Madi made a cute wooden arrow for her room.

And Cassi, the beehives and I went and played some volleyball.

One of our Beehives, who will be a Miamaid next week, wanted to teach the girls Volleyball.

It worked out nice and the girls had fun!

*****

Baby update.

Kaiya is a feisty little fighter, April says :)

The gave her some milk in the feeding tube today and swabbed some in her mouth.

She is a tiny little thing.

Still don;t know much about any challenges she faces, but so far so good.

Little Cole had to get the breathing tube put back in today.

He wasn't doing so good so they put him on a CPAP, which he did not like!

Then they checked him and one lung had collapsed.

So they put the tube in and he started doing much better.

Brookie said the the doc said the little Cole was working so hard to breathe, it was the equivalent to an all day workout!

Poor baby :(

But he is such a little champ and he is doing so good!!!!

Still lots of prayers needed for these little ones!!!

Tuesday January 12

Got some stuff done around the house.

Still didn't get the Christmas tree down :(

I hope to get to that tomorrow......

Dad went and took down a swing set/playhouse thing that we got from some friends.

Porter has been so excited about it!!!!

I think it will be so great for the kiddos, mainly the boys running around here, to have a place to play on!

The Youngs brought us dinner tonight.

They stayed for a little bit and the kids got to hang out.

It was nice to talk to them for a bit.

But we really need to actually hang out sometime soon!!!!

Madi has been kinda stressed all day.

She has been doing tons of homework since she got home from school.

She has a test in every one of her classes tomorrow, and missing the last few days hasn't been helpful for her stress level!!!!!

*****

My sister April delivered her little one today about 1:06.

She is 2 lbs. 6.5 oz. and 15 inches long!

Just tiny.

And from what we know as of now, things seem to be going okay.

They had to restart the baby's (Kaiya) heart just after she was born, but I don't think there have been any other complications since.

Poor little thing is pretty bruised up :(

I hope to hear more soon about how things are going.

And little Cole just keep doing awesome!

Such a fighter!

His mama got to hold him today and he got to facetime with his big bro, Bridger :)

Both these babies still need lots of prayers!

Monday January 11

The kids got off to school today fine.

Then Dad and I.

Well, we just took it easy.

We cuddled on the couch and watched a movie.

Should have been doing a million other things, but I think we just both needed to take a breathe and be close to each other.

Cheesy?

Sorry :)

After lunch I made a grocery list and then went shopping.

After getting the stuff all put away and organized, Madi came home.

I had an appointment to take Madi to.

He back is still hurting her, so I think we will be getting her back into PT.

And she has also had this lingering cough.....

Hopefully we can get a hold of that!

Came home and made dinner.

Then some of the Morgans came over to hang out and watch the National championships.

Really the big boys were watching it :)
But it was fun to hang out for a bit.

Update on Cole....

He got his breathing tube out today.

He is doing well :)

He still needs prayers.

The first 72 hours are the most critical.

And an update on April and Kaiya.....

Looks like they may have to deliver her tomorrow or the next day.

They say that the placenta is so damaged that it would be better for Kaiya to be out then to stay in.

So they are getting things prepped for that.

Kaiya weighs 2.9 lbs right now. 

Prayers for them too please!!!

Sunday January 10

 We left for home today around lunchtime.

It was kind of a quiet morning with Gramps today.

It is hard leaving him :(

He was so sweet today.

He pulled Cassi aside, with tears in his eyes, and told her how much she reminded him of Grandma.

She looks like her, but their personalities and spunk are very much the same too :)

It was a tender moment.

We will go back up soon to visit with him, but it was hard leaving him.

We stopped and played with Dussy boys Drone, and Andy came over with his.

Andy's is much much cooler with a camera attached and all and Dussy boy should really up his game if he wants to be int he cool crowd ;)

The kids had a lot of fun with it.

And for some reason they think we need one!

Ya, that's all we need!

A $1300 toy!!!!!

On the way out of town, we stopped by grandma's grave.

A new tradition for our visits to Evanston.

Then to see the buffalos.

They were waiting right by the fence for Elsie!

Like they knew she was coming ;)

The drive was a pretty good drive.

The weather was just perfect.

We all drove in the suburban together, and left the little car at Gramps.

We will bring it back sometime :)

We got home just in tie for me to jump in the shower and take Port to his 'Great to be 8' thing tonight.

He thought that was pretty cool.

He is super excited for scouts and thinks I need to go buy the wolf book ASAP!

I told him he still had quite a while before he turns 8 :)

Silly cute boy.

And an amazing day for little Cole.

They started surgery at about 3:30 a.m.

It was about a 10 hour surgery.

They got it all placed and put together.

Then once he was done, they had to take him back into surgery because they accidentally punctured a hole in his lung.

They got that fixed.

He is resting comfortably thanks to some pain meds.

He is such a strong little boy.

This new liver will mean a whole new life for him.

It has been such a miracle.

The way the whole thing happened.....

Just a huge miracle!

Please pray for him and his recovery, and for rest and comfort for their family.

My sister April was also just put on hospital bed rest.

She is 30 weeks along and just found out she has pre-clampsia.

Baby Kaiya is only 2 lbs and she needs to stay in there for a few more weeks.

So that is what we are hoping and praying for!

Madi, sneaking a hug from the sheriff :)

It's his favorite thing ever!

Ha ha....

This is Dussy boy, being shunned cause his drone is not that cool ;)