So very grateful...

I just had to take a minute and 'BLOG' about how very blessed my little family has been this last week! I am so grateful that we have been blessed, protected and watched over. On the way to work last week Richard hit a mixture of frost and gravel on a curve and flipped our car. The top of the car and windshield were crushed in so far toward the seats that I can not figure out how Richards head did not go through it. My car is destroyed but my husband walked away with a sore back and a scratch- WE WERE SO BLESSED! Thankfully none of the children were in the car and there were no other cars involved- if it had happened the day before or the day after Rick would have had one of the kids in the car. WE ARE SO BLESSED! We have a wonderful Insurance company that covers medical expenses to a certain point so my husband was able to go to the hospital and get checked over- bringing peace of mind to me and to his mother. Again- WE ARE SO BLESSED! Being out here on my own with the kids for the past two years, having to handle everything on my own has led me to feel immensly grateful for the support and help of family in general- but especially when in crisis. Richards parents came running to assist him in any way they could and got him to the hospital. My father came running to look after me, help me with Insurance stuff and got Gabriel and I to the hospital to see Rick. Tiffany took the day off of work to tend to Gabriel so Richard could rest and so I could take care of things like Insurance, getting a rental car and not being too overly stressed myself. I can not even begin to explain the gratititude in my heart for a loving, supportive and helpful family- NOT going through and having to deal with things alone has been an amazing gift. WE ARE SO BLESSED! Once again thanks to my Insurance company we were able to get into a rental car and have not had to worry and stress over getting to and from appointments, church, the grocery store and work. WE ARE SO BLESSED! My brother and sister are here and my family has been able to spend time together for the first time in 2 years- we are all healthy and so happy to have one another around. WE ARE SO BLESSED! On Saturday I received a letter in the mail letting me know that the state has taken all things into consideration and has decided that I do qualify for medical coverage through the state- I feel so much relief knowing that the baby and I are covered and if something goes wrong I can get the baby the help that he or she will need. WE ARE SO BLESSED! We got to spend yesterday at church worshipping and thanking our Lord and Savior for our many blessings this week, which was a blessing in and of itself considering I felt awful Saturday and spent most of the day in bed. WE ARE SO BLESSED! My husband is back to work, my children are strong and healthy, I will get to see my family today and the baby is kicking away- I know who is looking over me and my loved ones and I know where these blessings are coming from... I AM SO GRATEFUL! I AM SO BLESSED!!!

Elder Andrus' return!!!!

My baby brother is finally home! He has been serving an L.D.S. Mission in the Independence, Missouri area for the past 2 years.


My kid sister and I have VERY anxiously been awaiting his return home. We spent our first day with him last Friday- our first day in TWO YEARS!!! Needless to say we have missed him. We are excited to have him home and can't wait to see what he decides to do with his life from here. He has always been the best out of us kids and my sister and I can not stop hugging him.

My mother is not usually an emotional person but the minute my brother sat down to play the piano she teared up- her only kid that stuck with lessons. Poor mom! The girls are a little scared of him because his voice is so deep and because he has gotten so tall- but they are excited that he is home and keep asking to go and hang out with him. Gabriel does not remember him at all but thinks it is great to have another person with video games around. We love you Bubby and we are so glad that you are finally home!!!!!!!

AMY IS HERE!!!!!

My baby sister is finally here for a visit!!!! These are pictures of Amy with the kids on her last visit- we LOVED it!I pulled out my camera to get pictures of the kids charging her and smothering her to death when she got here last night- but of course- the batteries in my camera were dead! We are so glad that 'The Bunny' is here... I have been waiting-waiting- waiting! She is the most fun ever... and soooooo cute!

Funny Kids...

We have had a fun week and the kids have added lots of creative moments. Gabriel has dressed up quite a bit in his 'fighting' gear and loves to race around the house shooting us all in it. He takes off all of his clothes or puts on his 'Superman' costume... grabs his weapons and charges at us! It does not matte the time of day, what is going on or who is over- when the mood hits... he gears up. It cracks the girls and I up every time.





Rachel and Sarah still love to play 'dress up' with their friends. They often get into the costumes that they create. They dress up as princess', witches, fashion designers, teachers, fairies and punk rockers... not to mention just piling on the clothes to look as crazy as possible! Rachel and Sarah had a few friends over playing dress up and they had a good time when Rachel played the 'Grouchy old Granny' role. The girls got quite a kick out of Rachel's Grannie voice.








Sarah has spent the past couple of weeks with her nose in a book, totally unavailable to us and whatever is going on. Well- that is not entirely true- it has been 3 specific books- the Twilight series. She is at the end of the 3rd book 'Eclipse' as we speak. She is on the couch ignoring all of us pounding her feet back and forth on the pillows with excitement. I will be glad when she finishes and I have my daughter back... oh yeah... there is one more- UGH! Gotta love a Vampire love story!

Gabriel's Family Birthday!

Have I mentioned how spoiled- er- LOVED my kids are?!? Gabriel turned 3 on the 7th of January and had 2 parties full of presents and family. His father flew out to spend his birthday with him and the two of them were impossible to pull apart. Gabe wanted nothing- and I can not stress 'nothing' enough- to do with Richard or me. He would look at us and yell at us to stay away- he only wanted his dad. We understand that he was being that way because he does not get to see his father all that often- so it was cute to all of us, especially his father.













We had a party over the weekend with aunts, uncles and grandparents. I have never seen so many gifts- and they were ALL right on with his favorite things. The boy was in heaven. He had Aunt Tiffany opening one thing and Grandma opening another while Uncle Bobby was figuring how to put together and take apart one of his Transformers for him. The kid was on cloud nine! He would look at a gift bag and yell, 'FOR ME!' It was so much fun to watch him and he had us all in giggles. His Aunt Tiffy and Uncle Wes gave him tools and a tool box- Gabe went around half of the night with his toy drills in his ears. He immediately wanted to play ball with the mit and ball that his Poppa and Grandma gave him- of course we had to put on the Spiderman shirt from Grammie Bev and Grammpie Bill the minute that he saw it.













It was a fun night and I am so grateful to everyone that made it a priority to come and celebrate with us. My kids are so loved and adored in this family- it is everything I have prayed for for them and I am so grateful for all of the time, attention and effort everyone puts forth in showing them how special they are. Thank you Family!!!!

We are so blessed!

We felt so blessed to be able to spend this Christmas with family and loved ones. I must admit that the kids and I have had some lonely holidays just us- so being surrounded by family in every direction was an answer to prayers!







We had our GREAT 'new' family- the Wilcox's... who have taken us right in and have made us their own.


My parents are back from a year and a half in Russia and are living 30 minutes away- HOORAY!!!





The girls father- Rob- flew in to spend the holidays with the girls and even took them to Nebraska to visit with his Grandmother and Aunt.

We could not have had a better Christmas and hope you were all surrounded by family and loved ones!!!

Rachel's Awards and Sarah's Concert!

January 8th was a fun night for me as a mom.

Rachel has won numerous awards for all of the reading that she has done and the great scores that she has received when tested on those books. Rachel has read most of the 'Magic Treehouse' books, all of the 'Junie B. Jones' series, most if not all of the 'Ramona Cleary' books, all of the 'Pippi Longstocking books', and quite a few others that I can't think of right now. Some nights I have to pull her nose out of a book to get her to come and eat. I am so happy that my girls love reading and hope it will open up creative thought, adventure and lots of fun ideas for them. She won awards to Pizza Hut for personal pan pizza's and had enough to take us all out to dinner.It was all the 'yummier' because it was free and I didn't have to do the dishes! YAY RACHEL!!!!After dinner we got to go to Sarah's band and Choir concert. She performed in both! It was great to hear Sarah play with the band and to see all of her practicing pay off. She did a really good job and I am still so proud of my girls! They sang some fun Christmas songs and were pleased that they were able to make the audience laugh. I thought she looked so pretty... and WAY to grown up! I even got to meet the little boy that has been after Sarah to 'go out' with him since her first day of school. His name is Cajun and sarah said that he rushes every day to get his things put away in band class so that he can come over and take her stand down for her, he walks her to classes and has told her that she had better 'get used to him being around and doing nice things for her'. The poor kid was nervous as heck when she pulled him over to meet us (my parents, Rachel and myself)... but he shook our hands, looked us in the eyes and was very polite. I must say that my mother and I were impressed- not many boys his age behave that way. I told Sarah and Cajun's mother as much.I also told Sarah as long as they stay friends and he keeps his nose clean, that she can go on a date with him when she is 16. Then I told her to invite him to church- she did! Guess we will see huh! Isn't life funny. I am not sure I am ready for this!!!!

I can't believe I didn't mention...

I think pregnancy is really messing with my mind. I can't believe that I forgot to tell about one of our favorite things that Gabriel does... I am so glad that my good friend Dee reminded me. Gabriel went around calling everything and everyone 'stupid' for a while. We told him that it was a 'bad' word and that he was not to say it. Somehow, Gabriel got it into his head that a good replacement for this 'bad' word would be the words 'bubble gum'. He spends a good amount of his days correcting everyone on their 'bad' language. He will catch us saying that something is 'stupid' and will tell us... "don't say that- that a bad word- say bubble gum!" Then we have to respond and tell him we are sorry, he is right and make the appropriate correction in our language. It does not matter where we are or who he hears say it- a stranger- in laws- aunts- friends- anyone that he hears say 'stupid' will get an immediate correction. We will be in another room and not even realize that we have said it and he will come running from wherever he is in the house, from nowhere it seems at times, to make his favorite correction. We still think it is cute and have been VERY surprised at how often we use that word without even knowing it. Sadly... I have to admit that I am going to be in BIG TROUBLE when he learns what 'bad words' really are and starts making those corrections. I may say nothing but 'bubble gum' anymore!

HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY GABRIEL!!!!!

I am so excited that you are 3 years old today! I love having you for a son- I love all of the 'boy' things that you do... even when you pretend to burp. I love that you want to wrestle and fight with swords and shoot blocks with your NERF gun. I love that you manage to get absolutely filthy every time that we go outside. I love that you race around after your sisters and think that they are your own personal entertainment committee. I love that you are grumpy and that you throw HUGE fits when you do not immediately get your way. I love that you say 'please' and 'thank you' all of the time on your own and that you so easily share what you have or what you are playing with. I love that you are a happy little guy and that you are so excited just to have someone sing with or read a book to you. I love that you drag around your 'blankie' and can not stand it if we go somewhere without it. I love that you want to say prayers 'all by mysef' and that you always pray for the food and your sisters.I love that you always have hugs and kisses for us and that you will let me snuggle with you when you are tired. I love that you are always saying funny things and making us laugh! You are 'MY BABY GABE' and I love you so very much!!!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY!