Refugee/Humanitarian Involvement

I will be brief, but just wanted to document my starting with some humanitarian work. It's a small beginning, but a beginning nonetheless.

Last October I ran into someone up American Fork Canyon who was also there with her family. Jennifer (her name) was taking pictures of nature for a photography class and asked if she could take pictures of our girls. After she took some pictures of them she asked if she could have my email so she could email me the pictures. On the bottom of the email Jennifer said she was starting a refugee/humanitarian group on FB if I waned to check it out. Ever since the call in April at the LDS General Conference to get involved with refugee work I had the desire to help but didn't know exactly how.

Anyway, now I am a collection point for this humanitarian collections group and I love having a small part in the  big work happening! What happens is we have periodic meetings at Jennifer's house and talk about organizations who need help and how we can help them. We each work with different organizations so we can be involved in many areas. Currently we are working with the IRC (International Rescue Committee), the URC (Utah Refugee Center), Lifting Hands International (helping refugees in other countries), and my group I have been working with is Days for Girls (helping women/girls in Africa and India continue through school on their period with reusable feminine hygiene kits).

People from all over can bring their donations to our homes (the collection points) and we get them to the appropriate organization. We also help get the word out about how others can help. It has been a great way to allow my girls to see how we can have a small part in giving. We receive SO many "gifts" on our porch (AKA Amazon shopping) and we have SO much. I want to always be involved in giving and not just receiving. Our family has been truly blessed and being involved just allows you to see what you have and the amount of blessings in your life. We are BLESSED.

The pictures jennifer took up the canyon :):

First Family ER trip...on Valentines Day :(

Well, this wasn't was we had planned for our Valentine's Celebration...spending if in the ER with Nora Boo. Poor thing! She and Reese were running around the house holding onto a blanket. Reese held onto one end and Nora onto the other and was pulling Nora around and whipping her around. Sounds like a good idea right? Definitely a recipe for a disaster...and no I had no idea this was going on at the time. Emma and I were sitting at the piano for her piano practicing when I heard a HUGE "bang" and Nora start screaming. I turn around and Nora had her hand on her head. I thought "oh, no...I'm afraid to move her hand." And sure enough I moved her hand and blood was gushing out of this huge, extremely deep cut. She had tripped and fell and banged her head on the baseboard really hard. I starting panicking. I didn't really know what to do and I wasn't thinking clearly.

I called my next door neighbor, Jill and she luckily had her head on straight for me! She took the older two to her house, took Lucy to our other neighbor's house and took me and Nora to the ER. I sat in the back seat with Nora and held a cloth on her head the whole time. Jill dropped us off and went back to her house. I am so grateful for her and always dropping everything when she is needed.

Cade came to the ER about 10 minutes after we got there. Nora got some "medicine" that put her in what the doctor called a "twilight stage" so she wouldn't remember everything going on from that horrible experience. She ended up getting 9 stitches and a pretty good bandage.

That was our first experience with stitches. I never had any as a kid but Daddy had to get some in his forehead too when he was 4. Almost the same as Nora. She was definitely a tough little thing. Hopefully there won't be another time!

Lucy Turns 1!

My little Lucy Lu is 1 year old! Some times the days went really slow but this past year sped by!!! She is such a joy in our lives and her sisters can't ever get enough of her!

Stats at her 1 year appointment:
Weight: 18 lbs 15 oz (pretty much 19), 33%ile
Height: I don't remember exact height but still was 94%ile

Some facts about Lucy:
- Lucy started walking ON her actual birthday! She decided it was the perfect day to take her first steps!
- She still doesn't care for her car seat and definitely takes a miracle for her to nap in it. She'd rather scream for hours :)
- Lucy has gotten ear infections a lot and so every time she starts sleeping through the night, she gets set back again by her poor infections :(. We are still working on getting her to be a good sleeper.
- She is very independent and walks around the house like she owns it!
-She loves her sisters and following them around all the time. She doesn't always love the wrestling and snuggles if she isn't in the mood :).
-Lucy doesn't always like to take naps and going to bed for baby sitters is stressful, but I think she is starting to get better?
-She LOVES stuffed animals of every kind! She hugs them and makes high pitched-squeeky sounds all the time. It's super cute.
-She still doesn't like being in her car seat. It's hard because being the 4th, some days she has to be buckled in her car seat a lot!
-At one year old she can say: dada, dog, mama, more, hi, "woof", uh-oh (my favorite). She especially LOVES to growl all the time. It's especially wonderful during church when all is quiet and everyone around us wonders who is growling like crazy!


[UPDATE at 14 months: Lucy is over her ear infections, but still wakes up screaming sometimes. And she can scream for hours the middle of the night and there isn't anything we can try that helps her get through it :(. It's been very stressful for me. She is saying a lot more now: kitty, thank you, all done (by signing), please. She is still a fairly good eater and still LOVES baby food packets. She eats those before nap time and bedtime every day. We love her!]

Nora's Potty Trained...Wahoo!!

Yay! Nora is potty trained! And since we waited until she was ready (3 years old) and not completely afraid of underwear anymore and she pretty much potty trained herself. SOOOOO much less painful than the last two times we had to do this :/. We set up a chart and every day she went without an accident, then she got to put a sticker on for that day. Five days in a row and she got the surprise listed at the end. She was so excited for her dates and treats. We are proud of her and her choice to finally be done with diapers! Cheers to only having ONE child in diapers!!!!

Daughter Dates and Family Activities!

We LOVE spending one-on-one time with each of our girls. The more kids we have the harder it gets, but the more important it becomes. And the girls look SO forward to them! Last December I was so excited to take Reesie to her first Nutcracker Ballet. It was very well done and Reese just kept saying the whole time that she wants to be a ballerina when she grows up. She got her very own princess nutcracker and we had a great time.

I've also taken Emma to kangaroo zoo, to the mall to buy her beloved "scepter" from the Disney store. Nora I've taken to the swimming pool and another time out for ice cream.

Daddy has gone to the "carousel" with Nora and got ice cream there. He also took Emma to her first BYU basketball game. I think she liked it...she got a free t-shirt and snacks :).

We love spending time with our beautiful girls.

Good Penny Dog :)

Our Penny Penny. As Cade always says, "BEST. DOG EVER." And she really is. Even though I don't always have the best attitude about having a dog, she is really great and I am really learning to love her. She is so good with kids and puts up with a lot. Lucy loves to crawl all over her and Penny just takes it :). Also, this first picture is so great. Penny knows she can't eat anything unless baby is out of the night chair. Then she can go crazy :). So she just sits by the high chair and waits so patiently until she is allowed to eat to her hearts content! Penny turns 5 this August and is finally where I never thought possible 4 and even 3 years ago. Good Dog, Penny. Good dog.