June Happenings

Braxton and Kelson got themselves stuck in the ditch and thought it was the greatest. They sloshed around for a while and got out pretty dirty overall.

Braxton had to do a 24 hour test on his heart. He had to wear 4 sticky things all over his chest then put the monitor in the blue pouch. He did so well with it and hardly complained. When it was getting close to time to take it off, he asked about every 15 minutes if it was time, but other than that he was a champion. I am not sure the results, but at his appointment he was doing very well and doesn't have to go back for 3 years, YEAH!! It is amazing what happens with the passage of time. We went to the Oquirrh Mt Temple dedication with Mom, Dad, Tara, Kiley and Carerra. We had a really good time and the boys were surprisingly very good and really enjoyed it too. Afterwards we went to my cousins for a great BBQ and an all around nice day.

Shane's Family goes for a "reunion" every summer. They go Monday through Friday which is hard for us, so we usually make it up for one day. We went fishing and camped in the tent

Strawberries

I love getting wonderful, delicious things out of my own yard. If you know me very well it is mostly because they are FREE, but it is also because I grew them and can have them whenever there are some ready to eat. This is one day of picking my strawberry patch. The raspberries are getting ready and I am SOO excited!!

Fathers Day Questionaire

I asked the boys this Questionaire for Shane for Father's Day:

Dakota’s Answers

1. What is something Dad always says to you? I don’t know
2. What makes Dad happy? When he is home from work and I give him a love
3. What makes Dad sad? When we wrestle and he is too tired and we wrestle him a lot.
4. How does your Dad make you laugh? I don’t know
5. What was your Dad like as a child? He goed to the orange park and goed down the slide and it broke.
6. How old is your Dad? 26.
7. How tall is your Dad? tall
8. What is his favorite thing to do? Play with me and Braxton
9. What does your Dad do when you're not around? Something that we don’t know
10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? I don’t know
11. What is your Dad really good at? Playing
12. What is your Dad not very good at? Playing a game that is very hard (or Haad)13. What does your Dad do for his job? Works on stuff, tests out air planes
14. What is your Dad’s favorite food? Mac and Cheese
15. What makes you proud of your Daddy? When he does stuff with me.
16. If your Dad were a cartoon character, who would he be? On cyberchase
17. What do you and your Dad do together? Play stuff, play with toys, play together
18. How are you and your Dad the same? We both have D’s (in our names)
19. How are you and your Dad different? He can swim without floaties
20. How do you know your Dad loves you? When he plays with me
21. What does your Dad like most about your Mom? Snuggling with her
22. Where is your Dad’s favorite place to go? To soccer, or football games
23. What is your Dad’s favorite thing about you? Going to the park.

I love you more than all the Sharks eating you!!!!



Braxton’s Answers


1. What is something Dad always says to you? I don’t know
2. What makes Dad happy? When we give him kisses
3. What makes Dad sad? I don’t know
4. How does your Dad make you laugh? Tickling me
5. What was your Dad like as a child? Best friends
6. How old is your Dad? 27
7. How tall is your Dad? 8 foot
8. What is his favorite thing to do? swim
9. What does your Dad do when you're not around? He usually plays video games
10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? Don’t know (I don’t even know what that means.)
11. What is your Dad really good at? Scuba diving
12. What is your Dad not very good at? Digging a giant hole13. What does your Dad do for his job? Works on airplane engines, or parts I mean
14. What is your Dad’s favorite food? Pizza
15. What makes you proud of your Daddy? When he helps out with us in the pumpkin patch.
16. If your Dad were a cartoon character, who would he be? Mickey Mouse
17. What do you and your Dad do together? swim
18. How are you and your Dad the same? He plays soccer good like I do
19. How are you and your Dad different? He can swim better than I can
20. How do you know your Dad loves you? Because I can trust him that he loves me
21. What does your Dad like most about your Mom? He said, “I don’t know, what do you like about him.
22. Where is your Dad’s favorite place to go? Work
23. What is your Dad’s favorite thing about you? That he wrestles with us a lot.

You are the best Dad in the whole world!!!! Thank you for all you do!!

Birthday Fun

It was my birthday on the 29th and we decided to head down to the Living Planet Aquarium for the day. We had a really great time. I love to experience those sort of things through the kids eyes for the first time, they are always so fascinated. Shane said it was good for a Utah Aquarium, but not as good as some we've been to. just spending the day together, no yelling or fighting, was the best gift I could have been given.

Today I am feeling very warn out by this motherhood thing. When the disobeying starts at 6:30 in the morning and seems to go on endlessly, blogging seems to help remember how much fun we CAN have together while not having to obey, do chores, listen, and not hit your brother. Maybe that is why every one's blog seems like their life is perfect, because it makes us feel so much better to blog about the good things while the kids run around in the background beating each other up and we don't even care ;). That or we just want to make ourselves look like we're sane when sometimes we're not!! Enough of my soapbox for today, I am sure it is not the end my friends.

*****P.S. (I added this later) I am reading a book called "A Mother's Book of Secrets" that I got for Mother's Day, and by some strange coincidence the next two pages I read in this book were on the only person you can change is yourself and saying "whatever" more often. The change thing is so me--How can I get the fighting to change if I don't choose to change the way I react. How can I get them to listen when I know yelling doesn't work, yet I still choose to yell. So here's to more positive interactions, and saying "whatever" more often--to the small stuff anyway.

Carrera Chelsea Crittenden

We want to welcome the newest edition to our family, Carrera Chelsea Crittenden. She is SO tiny, only 5 lbs. 13 oz.. When I hold her it feels so tiny, but she is very beautiful. She was born on my birthday last Friday, so we get to share our special day together. Congrats Kiley and Tyler, and welcome to parenthood!!

Reflections

A very good friend/cousin of mine had her baby over the weekend six weeks early, 3 lbs. 4 oz., and I went to see them yesterday. She seemed to be doing fairly well, sitting up and chatting with us, and looking good. The baby is in the NICU, so her husband took me back to see the baby. WOW!! It is amazing how quickly all of those feelings came back to me. From the moment we started scrubbing up out in the foyer, I kept thinking of that one month of my life 6 3/4 years ago where I did that exact same thing every day, day in and day out, so I could see my precious little one. My guy was not even close to little compared to him.

When I walked through the door I could smell the same smells, the room looked much the same, the incubators looked the same, and I just about lost it. I had to tell my friends husband to not look at me because I was about to cry. I cant believe how much of it I remember just like it was yesterday. I remember only being able to hold him when they told me and even then for just a few minutes. I remember them giving him my milk through a feeding tube. I remember feeling so lonely sitting in there by myself, but also feeling overwhelmed when I had to take one person at a time back to see him. I remember the nurses telling me he was doing better today and not believing a word they said because no one knew what was wrong with him. I remember the smells every time I smell them. In fact, sometimes at the doctors office I smell that same smell and automatically I feel the same emotions. It is strange the way things like that stay with you forever.

Anyway, not to turn their adventure in life into mine, but I just wanted to write down my feelings and how thankful I am every day (even when he is driving me crazy :) ) that Heavenly Father chose to let me keep him. Sometimes I know I need to feel these feelings more often so I can remember how HARD I prayed for him, and cried for him for those 27 days and how thankful I should feel even on the hard days of disobedience and sassing.

Sorry, I wanted to post a pic, but that was pre-digital days, and I don't get along with my scanner very well! Just imagine a baby in a bed with many, many cords coming out of his arms, nose, and head with about 12 pumps giving him medication and you can see a tiny glimpse of my Braxton.