"A Day In The Life Of Our Little SUPERhero"

My little nephew Logan is my very special SUPERhero. You see....being a full-time SUPERhero really is quite the difficult job, and one that must be taken VERY seriously at all times! Not everyone can take on such a remarkable job, and do it so well. In order to be a true SUPERhero you must be willing to wear your costume at ALL times so that others will recognize you for the HERO that you truly are!





















You MUST be willing to flex those muscles, ESPECIALLY the elbow muscles, so that they are in fine working order at ALL times. (You may never know when you will need them!)



You MUST be willing to comfort those that stand in need of comforting, and always have COMPASSION for those that you serve and rescue.





















And as tender as this little SUPERhero is, there are those times when you must show your enemies (or brothers, for a better word) just how much you mean BUSINESS!



A good SUPERhero will always "Lift" another and yet he will ALWAYS make it look so easy and effortless:)





















This little SUPERhero will always make sure that he keeps up his SUPERhero strength, and will always SAMPLE everyone's food, you know.....just in case there just might be something wrong with it. Such a selfless little hero!!!!!!
(Wait a minute.....I DO THAT! LOL!)



And as the day winds down, a true SUPERhero knows when he has done a great job, and knows EXACTLY how to wind down after a VERY busy day. I love you little man, thank you for being my little SUPERhero!~

Braces and Head Gear and Wonderful Friends, OH MY!!!!

This Friday was a big day for my little ladies! I know that this may sound odd but my daughters absolutely LOVE going to the Orthodontist! Well, and how could they not! We go to Dr. Payne (isn't that an AWESOME name for an Orthodontist, lol) at Orthodontics at Bridgetower, and both he and his staff are absolutely amazing! You would think that we were going to Disneyland with how excited my little ladies are every time that we go, LOL! (If you are ever in need of any Orthodontics, YOU HAVE to go and see these great people! They have become such wonderful friends, and we really do love them all!)

Emee was so excited that she was finally getting on her own braces, and my cute Hannah was absolutely ECSTATIC about getting her brand new head gear!!!! LOL! (I love their enthusiasm!)

Here is my little lady right before the braces went on. (She brought her trusty bat, properly named ALICE, after her very favorite vampire, for support of course)


Here they come! Yipee! (This is by far Emee's most favorite picture)


Tah-Dah!!!!!! I love that little bit of extra sparkle, lol! (She choose her favorite color, GREEN, and her best friends favorite color, PURPLE, for her rubber bands. I think that the combination was just PERFECT)


And this is one of our favorite ladies there! She has helped us so many times and we absolutely adore her!


Introducing the world's CUTEST LITTLE LADIES!!! I LOVE that amazing head gear my love! You ladies are GORGEOUS!!!!

Our Vacation In Our OWN Home Town

This week was my little ladies Spring Break, HOORAY!!! (I absolutely LOVE it when my ladies are home, so we have really been looking forward to this vacation) We were all really wanting to go on a vacation, but felt like we needed to be close to our hospital. Sooooo... we did the next best thing! We booked a room at the Marriott in Boise for a few days, and had the FUNNEST time! Everyone of us has been really sick so we had to keep the partying to a minimum, but check out some of the fun things that we did!


We took our ladies to Build-A-Bear, thanks to our sweet friend Selina and our Grandma Auntie. My girls knew that we were planning on going, so both girls brought ALL their Build-A-Bears with them in order to introduce them to our newest family members:)

















I think that their favorite part though was the swimming. The girls SWAM, and swam, and swam, and did I mention that they SWAM! LOL! Oh my lands, they were in heaven!!!! Even as sick as they were, Eric had to DRAG them out every time! LOL!







They explored the hotel....


and we spent a TON of time reading together and watching movies! It was so much fun, and a great little adventure! Nothing like hanging out together in your own backyard, lol!

Sweet Moments

Lately, I have really come to appreciate how precious time is. It seems like just yesterday that both of my little ladies were brand new, and just coming home from the hospital. I used to think that it was so cliche when people would say how quickly time flies, but I have come to realize that it truly does. I realized the other night when I was snuggling with one of my sick little ladies, that the things I love the most about spending time with them are really the most mundane of things. Giving them baths with Popsicles when they are sick or just watching their faces light up when they have accomplished something that is difficult for them. Little things, I know, but precious nonetheless. Today, as I woke up from another day long nap, I looked out my front window and saw the sweetest sight.



My sweet husband works all day all the while taking care of me and all of my needs. He takes care of the house work (with the help of my sweet angel friends) cooks us dinner, does homework with the girls, and still finds time to have an after school picnic and card game......

He makes pancake Birthday Cakes for my little ladies stuffed animals' birthdays...

























And makes the coolest castles for our little Wickett:)













As I watch my sweet husband with my little girls, I can't help but feel grateful to have a husband that truly understands how precious these few moments are. I feel infinitely blessed that these sweet girls are so lucky to have the most amazing man as their father. I love you Eric.

Our Little Soloist

Our cute little Emee was chosen to be one of the soloists for her third grade singing program. (Emee is the one on the far left in the brown shirt, she is the last little soloist of the group)It has been something that she has been so excited for, and could hardly wait to do. She has never sung by herself before and I was so proud of her I could hardly stand it! Her song was so darn tender, and I think that I cried the entire time, lol. All of the kids were so darling and it was awesome to see her buddy Katie and Zach sing as well, their voices were so sweet! (Thanks so much for the video Beverly, you are AWESOME!)



Look at my little singer:)



Emee's cute class.



Emee and her bestest friend Anna.



Emee, Anna, and Katie's cheering section. Everyone at their school was so kind to us and had a little seating section reserved for us up close so that we could see Emee. In fact Mrs. Crawley the Principal was so kind to come over and grab our camera from us so that we could get a good picture of my little lady in action.



Emee's greatest fan! Can you feel the love?

Let the MATING Ceremony begin !?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

My Little Ladies have always been TOTALLY and COMPLETELY obsessed with animals. In fact up until a couple of years ago if you asked Emee what she wanted to be when she grew up she would proudly tell you, "A Horse, of course". Both girls can rattle off the most obscure animal facts and can tell you just about anything about any animal at any given time. They absolutely love anything having to do with National Geographic, and the majority of the things that they play have to do with animals.

With that said, the other day I was walking down the hall past the toy room, and I heard Hannah yell (super loudly), "Let The MATING Ceremony Begin". LOL! So I VERY quickly went in the toy room to see what in the WORLD was going on, especially during a "Mating Ceremony". Luckily all the animals were just lined up in a row, with no "mating" actually happening, phewwwww, LOL!

These are a few of my favorite things:)

This past week, my sweet and very dear friends gave me the funnest and most special surprise that I think that I have ever had. We were all planning on going on a special road trip at the end of March to Vancouver, Canada (where they are filming the next installment of the Twilight series) to meet the cast of Twilight. It was supposed to a fun little road trip, and something that I have been so looking forward to since December. Unfortunately, my health has become so fragile lately that I am even more limited in where I can go or what I can do. So these AMAZING women brought Edward to me, lol:)



So my buddies had all come over and got set up on our front porch for the big surprise! Eric answered the door and got a wonderful SURPRISE, himself! (I am sure he was so overcome with joy when he saw Edward standing there,lol) Unfortunately, my sister and I had not yet gotten back from the store. So Eric, had all of them come into the Living Room and get set up there. Then they all left to park their cars down the street so I would not notice when we came home.



Look how cute my two favorite men are! LOL! The one on the left is by far my most handsome and favorite man. (Oh just as a funny side note, a couple weeks back Eric told me the funniest thing. He said, "Well you know, I am totally like Edward". "Oh yeah, how", I said, super curious what he was thinking. He said, "I love you more than anything, and I constantly have to restrain myself from killing you"! LOL!!!! Oh, Love At Home,lol~ )



Just another funny side note, before I continue on with my story, (I do have a tendency to get a little sidetracked don't I, lol) the other night my little ladies were feeling a little down, so as I was talking to them and painting their nails, rainbow colors of course, my little Sassy had the wonderful idea that Dad's toe nails needed a little extra "sparkle". Eric is so easy going that he said that was O.K. What was sad though, was that day he and my brother-in-law Marc were taking all the kids to go swimming at the YMCA. He wanted to take off the nail polish before they went swimming, but I told him that the chlorine in the water would probably take it off for him,no problem! Needless to say it has been over a week and his toes are as sparkly as ever! So the night that my buddies came over, they could not help taking a picture of those MARVELOUS toes! What that man won't do for us, lol!



O.K. moving on! So my sister and I got home, and Eric comes out and meets us in the garage. He tells me that a big package came for me and is waiting in the living room. So as I walked in all of my buddies yelled surprise!!!! It scared me to death, and then........(I am pausing for dramatic effect.....ahhhhhhh) there was Edward, full size and in all his glory!!!!! I was so surprised! (Look at my sweet husbands cute face) I was totally and completely overwhelmed and so excited! I LOVED IT!!!!!



So on top of meeting Edward for the first time, lol, they put together this amazing basket of a few of my favorite things, in fact the basket even came with a song, properly titled "A Few Of April's Favorite Things", lol, thanks Annie~ This basket had all the yummiest smelling lotions and bubblebath, my most favorite gossip magazines (I know pretty pathetic, but I just LOVE THEM), the most beautiful picture of our family and one of my sweet little ladies, my favorite Tic Tacs, a Twilight bracelet that says "I love boys who sparkle" (and with my husbands beautiful bald head, I truly do, lol), this awesome Unofficial guide of ALL things Twilight, a sweet picture of the Savior, butterfly gardens for my little ladies, Mama Mia DVD (a movie that we all loved and went to for a girls night out) the cutest earrings ever, oh my heavens, I could go on and on. It was amazing, and now for the very BEST part......( another pause for dramatic effect) my VERY OWN SNUGGIE, yup the one that is "as seen on T.V." I LOVE IT!



















And for all of you "Magical Snuggie" haters out there, I must say that this little snuggie is a wonderful piece of heaven! LOL! And........ look at how easy it is for me to use the phone now! LOL!


















So I just wanted to say thank you to these very special ladies that for the past two years have been such a blessing and support to my family and I. Thank you all for every amazing memory and for the joy of laughing so hard it hurts, lol! I love you!



My crazy partner in crime, and all things Edward, Chris.



My nutty buddy Selina, a.k.a. Rose.



Our most revered leader Annie, a.k.a. "The Chosen One", lol!



Two of the most beautiful and funny ladies, Natalie and Kelli. Can you believe that both of these ladies just had their fourth babies!!!!!!!!!! Yes I know, there really is no justice in this world:)



My sweet friend Angie, her sweet smile tells you everything about her~



My crazy buddy Kim, a.k.a. Kim Bo Slice, lol!



Our good buddy Pat, Selina's very own Brad Pitt, lol! He just could not stay away from so many beautiful ladies all gathered together in one spot, lol!



So in closing I have to tell you one more funny story! After everyone left, Eric quietly put our Edward in the corner of my room. (His reasoning was that it is what Edward does with Bella,he watches her sleep. Sound reasoning, if not a little bit freaky, lol) So, I had no idea that he was there. Off I went to wash my face, and I think that I had the biggest scare of my life. I screamed so loud that my sister and husband came running. I was faint and nauseous, the works! Now that I think about it, that really is an appropriate response to having a vampire in your room! LOL:) Thanks again ladies, love you!

Where are the Miracles?

I have unfortunately had a bit of a set back once again with my health this past week. My poor heart, darn it. It sure is trying but it is just getting so tired. Needless to say my little ladies have really been struggling. I was able to come home from the hospital today, hooray, but my sweet girls have been so discouraged. In fact, one of my little ladies told her Dad last night that she really does not think that miracles still exist. "How can things be so hard, and where are these miracles that you keep talking about", she asked with tears streaming down her face. My sweet husband, being the tender man that he is just held her and let her cry. It is difficult to explain to such a little one that all of these experiences in this life, either trying or wonderful, really are for our good, even when you have a sick mama. I have been thinking about her question a lot today and I started to think about what a "Miracle" really is. I guess what a "miracle" means to me. As I was looking through our photo albums today, I was reminded of a time when my little son was almost a year old.



We were going back to one of the NICU follow-up appointments that we were required to go to every few months. It was always such a fun and exciting time. Some of our most favorite nurses and Doctors who we had fallen in love with were there, some of my most special and dear friends, and other mama's with their sweet little ones were there. It really was such a fun reunion! Most of the children were sitting, some were making fun noises and looking into their mama's eyes, some were playing with toys, and some were even walking. They were all growing and changing so much and it was such a joy to see. These were little ones that had overcome tremendous odds, and were just, well, just PERFECT. Truly a "miracle", each one of them. But... for a brief moment my heart just broke. As I looked around at all these little ones I knew that my son would never have the ability to sit like they could, or look into my eyes and smile. He would never crawl, would never run into our arms, and would probably not live for a great deal longer, and I felt so discouraged. But within that same moment, as I looked at my little peanut, I was so touched by this beautiful sense of peace, and the wonderful knowledge that there were so many wonderful things that my little man could do.



He could smile, the best and most perfect smile, he loved so perfectly, he could giggle and snuggle like the best of them. His accomplishments were not the same as the others, and probably not very noticeable to anyone else but me, but they were amazing "miracles" in their own right. To me, he was and will always be just "Perfect" .That day was a huge lesson to me. Sometimes I have found in my life that I get so caught up in the looking for the "HUGE" accomplishments or "Huge" miracles, that I forget to recognize the small and precious miracles that happen everyday. I guess that sometimes it is easy to look at others and see how wonderful their life is, just as my little lady is doing. But the more that I thought about it, I realized that MY son was a true miracle in every way, just as each of my little ladies are. But I truly believe that these "Miracles" that we are so often searching for can be found in the most seemingly mundane of things. So my sweet little daughter who will read this tomorrow I am sure,lol,(she loves blogs) here are a couple of my most favorite "miracles" that have happened just today.



1. You! Every smile, every giggle, every tender hug, and compassionate thought is a "miracle" to me! Just being able to come home to your sweet hugs and kisses is one of my most special "miracles":) I love you.



2. Your Dad! Your kind Dad is my most favorite "Happy Thought". His love for me and you little ladies is still such a tender miracle to me. With little to no sleep, he still laughs and smiles and puts every one's needs before his own. A pretty darn great "miracle".



3. Chocolate, well just because! Isn't it a "Miracle" that it tastes SO DARN YUMMY! lol:) They would NEVER give it to me in the hospital, sooooo what a "miracle" to come home and find some, lol!





















4. Family! A Sister who will drop everything to drive hundreds of miles just to be a comfort to me. A "miracle" especially when it also involves several hours of screaming and starving children, lol!



5. Amazingly tender, giving, and loving friends who perform such incredible acts of kindness and will serve at any moments notice. They secretly do all my laundry and clean my house, and then bring the most yummy "heart healthy" meal. (A "miracle" that heart healthy food can taste so good:)LOL! (If you had to eat it, you would agree with my MIRACLE,lol) They continue to love me in spite of my many weaknesses, and crazy plans, and are always there to make me laugh.



6. A visit from such an amazingly compassionate and tender Relief Society President who loves with her whole soul and will sacrifice all that she has for all of these dear ladies whom she loves and serves. Thank you so much, it was a "miracle" that you showed up when you did, and an answer to my husbands prayers. I love you!





















7. Well......LOL, a "Miracle":)

I could go on for hours, really, I could, lol! But I was reminded of a scripture that I recently read. It is in Moroni 7:27 it says: Wherefore, my beloved brethren, have miracles ceased because Christ hath ascended into heaven... and in verse 37 it says: Behold I say unto you, Nay; for it is by faith that miracles are wrought; and it is by faith that angels appear and minister unto men....

So many of you have been ANGELS to us and my life has been so blessed by your willingness to "minister" unto me and my sweet little family. I have been blessed by so many miracles and continue to see them in your kind messages, your loving acts of service and in my little ladies tender smiles. They are found in the selflessness of a family member or in the memories of our little man. So my little one, I do believe that "Miracles" do happen everyday, and will continue to happen, we just need to have faith and the ability to recognize them. Thank you for reminding me to always look for those things that may seem mundane, but are true and wonderful "Miracles". I love you!