FOR ALL WHO ARE STILL GRIEVING ELECTION DAY

As I know that election day was hard for many, I want to share my sweet memories of the day my princess was born:

JOCELYN WAS BORN ON ELECTION DAY 4 YEARS AGO.
Adam loves to tell the story of her birth, but he's out building me a bed so I guess I will retell it: I remember being totally bummed the Sunday before, because I wanted to have her that day. I remember telling myself it was because I didn't vote early, and I was supposed to vote. So you can imagine that when I woke up with contractions about 4am, Tuesday (election day) morning I knew I was right. I remember laying in bed planning out the morning: I'd wait until 6am to let Adam sleep, (he looked so tired) then I'd get dress and go vote, find someone to take Braydon and finally head to the hospital!

Of course when I finally woke Adam up, He was a shocked and nervous about my whole plan. "You don't need to vote, you're going to have a baby!" But I was convinced that the baby wasn't coming until I voted, so off we went. 7:30am waited in line, contractions 11 minutes apart, cast my vote. 9:00am we met Adam's mom and gave her Braydon. 9:15am pull up to hospital, but I make Adam go home. I wasn't ready to be there yet. 11:30am Adam's mom kicks me outta the house, after watching me double over in pain, claiming she wasn't going to deliver my baby. 12:00pm check into hospital. 1:00pm get epidural, water breaks, 3 contractions later at 1:15pm Jocelyn was born. First thing I think I said, "Look she has your double chin!"

Thanks to the epidural I can say that I was not just happy, but relaxed and peaceful when she came out, without feeling at all overwhelmed, tired or in pain, which did accompany my other natural births. What a happy day, and it had nothing to do with George Bush. (that is all that we watched while in the hospital that night, it drove me crazy!) For me election day will always be sweet no mater who wins or looses!

HALLOWEEN 2008

The kids had decided what they wanted to be months ago. Braydon was dead set on Indiana Jones and I thought for sure Jocelyn would want to be sleeping beauty this year, but I was wrong. She insisted on Marion Ravenwood from Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark! I tried to tell her no one would know who she was, but she insisted offering only to change if Braydon wasn't going to be Indiana Jones. Despite my efforts to convince her to be a pretty princess, I was stuck making her costume, as no one sells a Marion Ravenwood costume. And although it served its purpose I would be mortified if anyone with real sewing experience ever looked closely at it!!

Our cute litttle monkey-Makenna!

Introducing Marion Ravenwood and Indiana Jones!!

Here we are. In case you are wondering: Adam-Indiana Jones, Me-Disco Diva!

HOPE YOU HAD A HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Pumpkin carving

Braydon's Birthday

I know it’s almost Halloween, but these pictures are from Braydon’s 6th Birthday, which was Sept. 18th. Of course he wanted an Indiana Jones Cake. With the help of some pictures online and the use of one of his lego sets, Adam and I pulled it off. He was super excited when he saw his cake. We had family and friends over for cake and icecream, and once again he received too many presents. Most all of them centered around the two loves of his life: Indiana Jones and Star Wars.

Too many presents for sure!

Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark Cake

Enjoying Braydon's cupcakes he took to school!

Eyelashes, Eyelashes, Eyelashes!

I'm a sucker for contests, these are the photos I entered in the gap kids casting call. Whether the judges pick them or not, Adam and I definitely think they are the most adorable kids ever!!! Not to mention their eyelashes blow the Mabeline chicks in the water!

4th of July weekend

Blue popscicles, and carnival fun, just no pictures






Chairlift ride to the top of sunrise mountain thanks to the Schroders

What a beautiful view!!

We're on top of the world!!

Oh to be little again!

Jocelyn's dance recital

In June Jocelyn had her first recital. She was a doll!!! And ofcourse very excited that her costume was pink!! What a pretty little lady!

 

 

 

My memory card is too big!!!

Well I know summer is long gone, but we have finally downloaded all 900 of our pictures, and I can finally blog. So take a deep breath, cause you are about to be overloaded with our crazy family!!!

Motorhome Adventure

This past summer we took a Motorhome trip to visit my sister Nicole in Montana. We drove through Yellowstone and made lots of fun stops. Grandma and Grandpa Nichols plus my two nieces Vannessa and Allison joined us. We had a few mishaps with the motorhome, but all in all an awesome time!

 

Should've Been A Cowboy!

We all had fun pretending to be cowboys/girls! Braydon and Dad were naturals, Jocelyn Makenna and Mom a little scared! However I'm pretty proud of myself as the last picture was taken on a 8 mile horseback overnighter along switchbacks!

Can I really do this?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME YESTERDAY! 31, It's been a depressing week, but finally I think I'm snapping out of it. Thanks to my awesome hubby who threw me a little bash last night with friends and family. He even bought a pinata to let me smash, how thoughtful. I guess he's trying to assure me that I'm still young at heart, eventhough my chiropractor keeps comparing me to a 30 yr old car!

Last night Amy and Kathy resurrected my blog from the dead. Last blog, 9 months ago. We'll see if I can do any better! I'm not promising anything though, but thanks for the encouragement guys! love ya both.

Right now I gotta go, kids are napping and its my only shot to clean up all the styrofoam they've crushed all over the house this morning! You can expect my next post in a few months! j/k

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAKENNA!!!

Jan. 5th Makenna turned ONE!!!! Can't believe how fast the year has gone by. She is a definite cutie with a very real personality. We had a family party, and I made a frog cake that turned out fine as long as you didn't look to close. It took forever, and at the end I gave up and just started squirting the frosting out in blobs. My hand was soo tired! At first she was very unsure, but once she tasted the frosting she was a goner!! She wanted to feed us all.

She was a pro at opening her gifts, all the practice at Christmas paid off. I think she begun her terrible twos already, as she is very possessive of HER toys. She knows what hers and I'm not kidding. She is walking now, that is when she wants to. What a year its been. We love you to death Makenna!!! Happy Birthday!!!

CHRISTMAS 2007

CHRISTMAS WAS GREAT, BUT ITS BEEN OVER AND DONE WITH FOR AWHILE, SO I'M GOING TO KEEP THIS SHORT. WE WENT TO ST. GEORGE AND HAD ALMOST ALL OF MY FAMILY THERE. WE MISSED WADE AND NICOLE AND THEIR FAMILIES. BELIEVE ME THOUGH WHEN I SAY THERE WAS EVEN CHAOS! 25 PEOPLE PLUS A DOG IN ONE HOUSE, ITS AS CRAZY AS IT SOUNDS!!! WE DID HAVE FUN THOUGH, WITH MOVIES, GAMES AND EATING, YES LOTS OF EATING!!!

CHRISTMAS WAS HUGE. THE PRESENT PILE WAS HIGH AND ENDLESS. I THINK ALL THE KIDS WERE QUITE IMPRESSED!!! JOCY AND BRAYDON BOTH RECEIVED NEW BIKES, WHICH THEY HAVE HAD FUN RIDING IN THE GARAGE AND EVEN A LITTLE IN THE SNOW ALL BUNDLED UP.


WE SPENT NEW YEARS WITH THE HORNES DOWN IN CHANDLER. WE HAD THE TRADITIONAL HAMBURGERS AND HOMEMADE FRIES. THE PARTY WAS PRETTY LOW KEY, AS EVERYONE I THINK HAD HAD ENOUGH OF THE HOLIDAYS. WE DID PLAY A FEW GAMES AND RAN BEHIND ADAM'S GRANDMA AS SHE RAN AROUND THE HOUSE BANGING HER PAN WITH A WOODEN SPOON. ITS FUN TO WATCH HER. HOWEVER DESPITE ALL THE FUN WE HAD, 2 WEEKS AWAY FROM HOME WAS MORE THAN WE COULD ALL HANDLE, AND WERE VERY HAPPY TO SLEEP IN OUR OWN BEDS. THE NEXT MORNING THE BILLION LOADS OF LAUNDRY HIT ME AND I WISHED I COULD GO AWAY FOREVER. IT LITERALLY TOOK ME 2 WEEKS TO GET BACK ON TOP OF EVERYTHING!! HOPE YOUR HOLIDAYS WERE JUST AS FUN!