Helping Rob Heal

Dave's friend and co resident, Rob, is a walking miracle. Just 6 weeks before they graduated, Rob suffered a brain hemorrhage. The Doctors told Rob and his wife Mercedi, that Rob would probably never be the same, and that he would never walk again. Rob has proved them wrong time and time again. He is now currently out of the hospital, walking, and doing so well.  We are so proud of Rob and Mercedi for all they have accomplished.
Dave and I decided to have a garage sale and donate all proceeds to help this little family.  I was amazed at how generous and loving people in our community were.  I sent out an email to our ward, and so many people donated lots of really good things. We had a bake sale and people brought over lots of yummy things to sell.
We had signs up with pictures of Rob and his family, with his story.  A sweet old man handed me $10 and just said, "Well, we need to help Rob heal." Another lady wouldn't accept her change, which should have been $20. Another lady come by and told us her husband had just been there, and told her about Rob so she brought some items over to donate for us to sell.  It was an amazing garage sale.  People bought just about everything.  Between the garage sale, and some very generous donations, we raised $1,400 to help Rob and Mercedi.  It was amazing to see the love and support come from those who didn't even know them, to see the good in so many people, and to teach our kids the value of service, and helping others, in any way we can.

My sweet Leah. She was a trooper and helped me every step of the way.  She came over with her girls and helped make signs.  She went out the night before with me and hammered signs into the mud, she was at my house before 6:30 am helping set up, and she stayed until the bitter end.  She is an amazing friend, and such a good example of selfless love.

8.26.11 Making the signs

8.27.11

For more information on this amazing family, or to donate to a very good cause, here is the link to her blog.
http://helpingthehales.blogspot.com/

Happy Veterans Day

"A nation that does not honor its heroes will not long endure." President Abraham Lincoln

 

Audrey's note she wrote to my Grandpa at school yesterday.  Her school encouraged all the students to wear red, white or blue and Audrey came home and talked lots about the "armed forces" and about the two veterans who came and spoke to their class.  I am impressed.

 

And since today is 11.11.11...make a wish.
I wish that my littles will always love each other so much.

 

9 Months

Austin is nine months old. I feel sad when by babes turn nine months old...I feel like they aren't officially a "baby" anymore. Austin has now been out of me longer than he was in me, and that means he is getting old. I wish I could freeze this moment in time forever.

 

At nine months Austin:
*loves to laugh
*loves to eat
*has 6 teeth and cutting 2 more on the bottom right now, for a total of 8. He only had his 2 bottom teeth when he was 6 months old, and somehow just exploded with teeth sometime between then and now
*loves to clap his hands
*when on his belly he pushes himself backwards. He gets frustrated because he sees something he wants  but ends up pushing himself under the couch
*gets on all fours and rocks
*today he took his first 3 crawls. Noooooooo!!!! Life is easier when a baby isn't mobile
*loves to play peek a boo.  His favorite is to hold a little blanket over his face and then pull it away
*talks and babbles all day long, and I love it

 

Audrey took this picture.  Hello eyelashes. Sure didn't get them from me.

 

I don't have any red couch pictures from when Austin was 8 months old, or 7 months old either. We were in the middle of moving and living with people, so we didn't even have the red couch.
Austie Boy with his girly friend, Berkley. 8 months

 

8 months.

 

Austin at 7 months.  Joshua's first day of preschool. More on that to come.

 

Big Boy Helper

8.21.11
I love my boys.

Today

Yesterday we played at the park in the sunshine. This morning we woke up to 10 inches of snow. Audrey's school was cancelled, and Dave works half days on Wednesdays, which means we had an awesome afternoon of:
SLEDDING!!!

I am a California girl gone Texan, so I was amazed at the amount of snow.  This was the amount of snow on a slide at the park.

We tried to go sledding by our house, but it wasn't steep enough so we loaded in the car and headed for some hills.  Austie Boy very "Christmas Story" like (love that movie).

Joshua's first run. Of his life. As in ever. He loved it.

Audrey's first run ever.  Is it sad that this is her first time and she is 6?

Going again, and again, and again.

Audrey took a few tumbles, but nothing phased her.

Going backwards.

Joshua loved it. Going down the mogul to get a little extra speed.

Even though Austin was born in the middle of a Texas snow storm, this was his first time touching snow. He even ate a little.

Then it was an hour past Austin's nap time, everyone was cold and poor Dave's feet were officially ice blocks (he was wearing tennis shoes. We need to get him some boots, asap). So we came home, watched a movie, had frozen pizza for dinner, and made homemade snow cones from the supply in our backyard. Today was a great day.

Sevens and Cupcake's Posterity

Dave and I met at a bowling alley. His bowling name was "Sevens" and mine was "Cupcake". I am not much of a bowler, but I will forever be grateful I went bowling that night. To wind up summer, I took the kids bowling. And then I made them listen to the story of how I met their Dad. Audrey loved it (the story) and Joshua seemed bored. Both kids loved bowling though and they each got a strike. Not bad coming from the likes of me.
They each got to choose their bowling names.  Audrey chose "Dolphin" and Joshua chose "Buzz Light Year".  (I am so glad Audrey has such a good memory.  I forgot what their bowling names were and I just asked her and she remembered right away. Maybe I gave all my memory to her and that is why I don't have any left?)

Joshua would jump up and down, slip and fall sometimes and do all sorts of cute things while he waited for the ball to go down the lane. And then he would get so excited when the pins would fall.

Audrey's turn.

Fun, fun day.
8.17.11

Peek A Boo

I see...me! Austin's favorite game while having his diaper changed.

 

Solid Food for the Solid Boy

Monday, August 15th. Austie Boy's first solids. Leah and all her girls were there to witness the awesomeness. Baby food, cute kids and a huge mess...does life get any better?

Audrey mixin it up:

First bite by Audrey.  All the kids took a turn feeding Austin, and taking pictures.

The many faces of Austin:

The verdict? He loves food, just like his mom.

Audrey's Birthday Party

More partying. American Girl Doll store. I planned this before I knew we were going to have to be out of our house 3 weeks later. Brilliant. No mess to clean up, someone else cooked, and everyone had fun. My kind of party!

The girls were able to make birthday hats for their American Girl dolls.

Since Audrey's doll looks just like Audrey, and Audrey just got her ears pierced, then Norie (her doll) got to get her ears pierced too.  Naturally.
Audrey signing Norie up.

All done!

We were so lucky to have so many girls Audrey's age.  She was lucky to have such good friends.  And I was lucky because their moms are pretty awesome too.