When it rains...

So the past six weeks of our lives have been eventful. We had our beautiful baby girl (have I mentioned how cute she is?) after which Ephraim battled kidney stones for 14 days in a row. We were all set to bless baby Kate on February 3rd when his pain started. After 2 ER visits, Ephraim finally had a lithotripsy done on February 16th to remove the stones.

And the latest?...We went snowboarding yesterday up at Brian Head. It was a beautiful day...until I fell and broke my arm. my shoulder. no cast, just a sling for a week until the pain subsides. Then exercises to help it heal faster.

When it rains, it pours. And the medical bills are pouring in. We have met our family's deductible for the year already, so I told my children to get all of their bone-breaking and stitches in now while it will be cheaper. and for those of you who know Andy, you understand.

Ch..Ch..Ch..Changes (and a little Halloween)

We've had a lot of things going on around here lately...most of which seem to involve buying things and moving furniture. We started with getting rid of our "newlywed" table that only seated 4 people. With the 6th arriving in about 2 months, it just wasn't going to work out anymore.

Soooo...here's to the old...

Let's bring on the new...

I love it. It seats several more and is a good use of wasted space. Thanks to Brian Clark at BC Creative for building this!

We're also in the process of transforming the "office" into a baby room. It still has some transforming to go, but it's on its way.

Before...(this is the best pic I could find...which is of the desk and a cute little boy)...

and after... (this baby had better be a girl)

I've been changing a bit. I was hoping that this baby might come out a little smaller than the others (since she's a girl and all), but I seem to be growing just as fast.

And Halloween was great this year, as always. The older boys are really into Star Wars...and Luke, although he wanted to be Yoda, was happy to wear his brother's hand-me-down Indian costume.

My parents came to visit for a week during Halloween and we were able to do lots of fun things (one of them being when my mom made the cushions for the new benches in my kitchen...well, maybe that was just fun for me...thanks so much, mom!)

What we did

Sooooo...this is what we did with all of our fabulous weather last week....











Never mind the fuzzy spot on most of the pictures. Ephraim has now taken over camera duty

Easter 2010

We had a great Easter with the Hanks Family this year. Dying eggs, hunting for them, Easter dinner, General Conference, and great family.

This is the best picture we could get of the 3 boys at one time

Always a good time on Grandma's swingset

One of Luke's many attempts at the Easter baskets


and...breakfast (it's OK once a year, right?)

Love Story

This is a late Valentine love story of sorts. And the condensed version goes something like this...

Boy meets girl.
Girl falls in love with boy.
Boy finally realizes he is in love with girl, also.
Boy and girl get married on July 21st, 2001.
Boy and girl live a great, fun, married life with no kids for 4 years...Pleasant Grove, American Fork, and then onto Louisville, Kentucky for graduate school (boy is getting closer to dream of becoming a marriage therapist).
Boy graduates from grad school in May, 2005 and girl delivers 1st son 2 months later.
Boy and girl leave Louisville in June 2006 and drive across the country to live in good ol' Hurricane, Utah.
Boy starts new job.
Girl delivers 2nd son 14 months and 22 days after the first (no, this was not planned).
Boy and girl purchase a beautiful home in Hurricane.
Girl delivers 3rd son in March, 2009.

We never know, starting out, what life has in store for us. I'm so glad that ours has taken us where it has so far.

Ephraim and I celebrated life last weekend and took a trip up to Salt Lake. We dropped the kids off at Chris and Heidi's (thank you guys) and spent a glorious weekend in the snow. Food, movies, snowboarding, shopping, more food (did I mention that I didn't have to cut up anyone else's food?)



Thank you, honey, for a blessed life. I wouldn't change a thing.

And the winner is...

No, I'm not sponsoring a giveaway on my blog.

We took the kids up to Cedar City to see the Harlem Globetrotters with our friends, the Clarks. And of course, the Globetrotters won!


This was my first time to see them play and it was so entertaining. Ephraim has seen them a couple of times but he said that this was his favorite! (it must have been because I was with him...)

There was dancing...


dunking (ephraim's favorite part)...



crowd-pleasing stunts...


lots of cheering (just look how captivated we all were...)



and some tired kids on the way home...


except for Andy, who runs like the Energizer bunny...


I think we may have to do this again.

Rise and Shout

Am I indoctrinating them too early?
(one of them seems to be soaking it up a little more than the other)

What a great game on Saturday!

A Little...

My parents came to visit for two weeks at the end of October and while they were here, we did a little of everything!

A little bowling...(Go Grandma!)




A little soccer watchin'...(Go Noah!)


A little Staheli Farm Pumpkin Patch...


with a little handwashing afterwards...


A little singing and dancing...(yes, at church)


A little Trick-or-Treating...(my mother makes the costumes every year. I'm a little spoiled)


A little messin' around with Grandpa...


And a little eating out...(OK, a lot of eating out)


Grandma and Grandpa, we miss you! Please come back soon!