~Ketchup, not just for eating~

~kids, you gotta love em!~

These pics are from My Gym.... a hopekids event. The kids had a blast!




This morning I was sitting on the floor folding laundry. DJ was sitting next to me drawing on a magnadoodle type thing. I crawled across the floor a little ways to grab something, and as I backed up to my original spot, I beeped (because I'm retarded). My beeping inpired DJ to want me to draw him a picture of a bus (this is something that I can draw and have it be semi-recognizable lol). I finished drawing, and DJ was happy as a clam! He then said, "turn it on now please". haha I looked at him confused and said "did you just ask me to turn on the bus?" And he answered, "yes, turn it on". If only I had that much power :)
And yesterday at church I substituted in Lily's class. During Sharing Time the leader asked the Children what the greatest Christmas present of all is (Jesus Christ). She called on a few children. Toby's answer was "love"........ nicely done Toby, good guess! Lily's answer was "A SNOW GLOBE!". haha who knew? Christmas shopping for her should be easy enough then hahaha



Here is a picture of the kids at our ward party Friday night. I braved it alone, because Dave is China for a work again. All was going fairly smoothly, until my dad called me during dinner. He informed me that my suburban was no longer driveable...?? Not to worry because he and mom were ok, or at least so they thought. I felt the stress enter my body at that moment. We lent our suburban to mom and dad so they could help my little brother Devin move. On their return home, they hit a patch of black ice on a hill and lost control. The suv slid out of control and then tipped over onto the passenger side and slid into the median. Fortunately (or unfortunately) there were several other accidents there, so the police and tow truck were already at the scene, ready to help. Mom got a good bump on her head and suffered from some shock, so she was taken by ambulance to the hospital. Dad just had bumps and bruises. The suburban, not so lucky. :( I held it together (well mostly) until the ward party ended, and then drove to the hospital to pick up my parents. I am so glad that they are ok and safe. BUT, I hate all the drama that is happening while my sweet hubby is gone. The first day he was gone (Thurs) the battery in my van died... not because of a light left on or something, but because my battery was de-ead, needing replaced. Thank heavens my parents weren't gone yet, and my dad helped me take care of that. Then when I got home, my fire alarm was beeping.... you know, one of those up at the tippy top of the vaulted cealing? sheesh! Now I have insurance to deal with, ugh. And then yesterday and today it's snowing SO much and my wrists hurt from shoveling all this crap..... well it's not crap, it's quite clean, and beautifully white, but good grief I need some rest! :)
Watch for my next update (I'm hoping to have pics of my totalled suburban.... man my parents are lucky to be ok!)

~Happy day to youuuu Derek!~

Happy Birthday DJ!! It's hard for me to believe that my baby is 2 years old! He's such a big boy! As you can see, DJ is a fan of airplanes, so that was the theme for his party :) We had all 7 kids here, and had a great time!



DJ...... what a blessing you are in our family!!! I love to listen to you sing! I love the way you say "uh huh" and "uh uh". My favoriteeeeeeeee is when you say "Let's DO this, woo hoo"! I love it when you tell me you lub (love) me. :) I also love it when you see me or dad getting ready and ask us if we're going to volleyball. :) Hehe What a cute little man you are! Our favorite monkey! You're excited about life! You're funny! You're busy. You're determined. You're obedient. You make your brothers, sisters and mom and dad so happy! We all love you very much!!!!!



In this picture, you'll see some "books" that Lily, Toby and Lexi made for Derek for his birthday. If you look closely, Toby's book says, "DJ You are Asum"! hehe sooooo cute! :) DJ loved this little airplane he got! He would stand with his legs apart and use the remote to have the plane go through his legs. He'd watch it as it would go under and lean down and rest his forhead on the floor, to be able to keep watching. He was dancing around and kept all of us entertained for a long time!

~Halloween~

Our dear friends Annie, Alex and Jono came over for FHE and pumpkin Carving! I toasted up a bunch of the pumpkin seeds and they were delicious!!!
So it's dangerous to have Lily or DJ using knives or sharp objects to carve a pumpkin, right? My idea was to give them markers instead, much safer! So Dave see's DJ with a Sharpie, permanent marker, and says, "who gave him that marker?" in a concerned voice. I proudly admit that I did, and it's safer.....besides I'm right next to him and...........(as I'm in mid sentence- no lie- DJ slowly, but surely, raises the permanent marker towards his face and places a beautiful "mole" on his cheek. HA the irony! And speaking of moles, Jono carved a mole in the face of his pumpkin because "all witches have moles". To which Kyle replied "Hey, my mom is not a witch" Lovely, I know.



We went with Hopekids up to Bear Lake for the weekend. It was soooooo nice to get away! I just can't express enough how much I love Hopekids and how wonderful it is to be part of this huge understanding family, while getting to do things we just can't do on our own.
Here are the kids Halloween costumes. In case you can't tell
Kyle - Dunkin Donut (verrrrrrrry scary skills putting this together, seriously! Toby - Captain Rex (Clone Trooper)
Lily - Black Kitty Cat
DJ - Airplane Pilot (you've got to hear him say this, it's so cute, although sometimes he'd say he was going to be a pumpkin lol)


Ok so this isn't and never was DJ's costume, but his eyes were so funny to me, I had to post this!! :)



The kids got to ride on this train/wagon thing! In this last picture, Kyle is holding TJ, a fellow hopekid, who was unable to sit upright by himself. His parents couldn't ride, and so Kyle kindly helped so that TJ could ride.... so sweet!




The kids had soooo much fun! Just being in nature.... piling and throwing leaves. We really had a great time!

~I still don't remember, but this one's good too!~

I've wracked my brain trying to remember what Lily said that was so blasted funny! I simply can't remember, BUT, don't fret, she was hilarious again today!!!
So I had a copy of the Relief Society Lesson out today, and she asked me if she could please read it (no, Lily can't read yet lol). I, of course, tell her she can, so she grabs this talk/lesson and starts "reading" aloud. She then states "WE ARE HERE TO DESTROY YOU, by President Monson", totally matter of fact like. hahaha She then added some things like, 'keep the commandments'. So there you have it, you've been warned!! :)

~Congrats Kyle!~

Kyle's flag football team won the "superbowl"! :) The playoff game was really intense..... a close game! Kyle "sacked" the quarterback at a very critical point near the end of the game, which many referred to as 'the play of the game'. He did such a great job!!! The team and coach were great and the games were so much fun to watch! Congratulations Kyle.... you rock!!!



DJ and I went to the pumpkin patch with some friends. They had a lot of fun in the tiny hay maze and just walking freely through the pumpkin patch. Such cute kids!
Kissing a pumpkin! :)


So Lily said something SO funny the other day and I can't for the life of me remember what it was....... sorry! However, I do remember Toby's, since it happened today. The kids were singing this song (to the tune of The Farmer in the Dell), The cows give us milk, the cows give us milk, hi-ho the dairy-oh the cows give us milk. The chickens give us eggs....and so on. Then Toby starts singing "The Devil gives us milk, the devil gives us milk, hi-ho the dairy-oh, the devil gives us milk....again" I was totally caught off guard. I asked him what on earth he was singing and his response was "DAD", like, duh, you should know that. Because dad brought the milk in from the outside fridge....again. We tease dave about being evil sometimes hahahaha

~Leukemia strikes again~

My friend posted this the other day, and of course, having dealt with Leukemia in our lives, I will do what I can to help.

"There is a little girl named Taylie who is 4 years old and recently diagnosed with AML Leukemia. Her family is obviously terrified and drowning in medical bills that are only going to get higher. I came across a link to her blog, and really felt inspired to help out, and any one can do it too. It just takes a minute of your time to help this family. If you want to help all you need to do is write a short introduction about Taylie on your blog with a link to http://www.tayliebug.com/ then go to adashofseason.blogspot.com and leave a comment there indicating you made the link on your blog and you're done! Someone has offered to donate $2 for every blog with her link as long as you indicate you have done so on adashofseason.blogspot.com. So easy for a family that could really use some help."

Sometimes the smallest and simplest things, can mean the world to someone who is going through something like this. I love to see such beautiful acts of love and service.

~I love this time of year~

After living in Michigan for 5 years and going to apple orchards and pumpkin patches as often as we could throughout the entire fall , I have really fallen in love with the crisp cool air, fresh apples off of the tree, hot apple cider, warm cinnamon apple cider doughnuts, and pumpkin patches where we each pick our perfect pumkpin.
(Thank you Heidi, Kristin, Keirste and Julie for the many wonderful, memory filled playdates there!)

Kyle was a bit younger than DJ is now when we first went to an apple orchard/cider mill. I think he was probably wearing this exact sweatshirt we now see on DJ! haha it's lasted through several children :) It was much easier to keep an eye on just one child.....carry only my pumpkin and his....no school so we could go wherever, whenever.....we could fit our friends in the car with us..... no medical drama and outstanding medical bills......Wow things have changed so much! It really makes me see the importance of 'living in the now', appreciating what we have, right when we have it. I thought Kyle was going to be an only child after 4 years of trying and Dr.'s appointments etc.... and now I have 7 kids!!! :) I never understood the easiness of things with just one or two little ones, with time to spend together. I feel like I did take advantage of what I had, but I look back and wish that I had gloried in that time, instead of just abiding in it. Of course I've had life changing experiences since then and have learned how precious life is, and that life can throw curve balls and isn't always easy. I appreciate everything that I get to do with my family. It makes this trip to the pumpkin patch so much more important and meaningful. When DJ and Lily get so excited, and I hear them shouting "pumpkin patch, pumpkin patch!", it makes me happy, it makes me so grateful to be able to build these memories with them.



This time of year also gives me flashbacks of Toby being so ill. It will be 4 years ago (tomorrow), that we spent our entire day and night in the hospital, thinking we only had one night left with our precious son. He would have been about 8 months older than DJ is right now. He was so young, so little. His life changed in one night.......and so did mine. But boy, have we learned a lot!
So I just went scrolling through old pics to find one from about 4 years ago, and I'm not joking you, Toby is smiling in almost every picture....whether in the hospital, hooked up to IV's, taking yucky meds, or excessively overweight with steroids..... man he's a trooper!!!!! This picture was taken on the 14th, so we had been in the hospital a week at this point, but the steroids and chemo hadn't made any visible changes......yet! :)