Easter Greetings Everyone!

We hope this finds all of you in the joy of Spring!
This Utah Winter has been a long and brutal one, especially for the kids. They are greatly anticipating the warmer weather and can’t wait to get out and ride their bikes, blow bubbles, and run and play! The kids and I planted tons of bulbs in our new yard last Fall. It is fun to see our Crocus, Tulips and Daffodils starting to peek through the soil. It has been a great goal of mine to have a yard with an abundance of flowers and our own vegetable garden. We plan on planting Peony bushes and a great garden this Spring in memory of two of our grandmothers that have passed away this year. I remember as a child, my great-grandmother would always have a mason jar with peonies in the middle of the dining room table. To her dismay, there would occasionally be a parade of ants marching across the table. This is a fond and funny memory to me. Our family is doing well. Abby is adjusting to her new glasses and enjoying the ability to see out of her left eye again. She loves her new room and sleeping in her “big girl” bed. Isaac and Ethan are finishing up this year of Pre-school and eager to be the “Boys of Summer” once more! I am enjoying the calling as a Sunday School teacher to the 3-4 year olds. Justin has been a great helper on all of our many house projects and recently enjoyed a trip to the Google Campus in California. Happy Easter to all of you. We love each of you very much and thank our lucky stars daily that we are surrounded by such amazing people in our life!

Justin~Mindy~Isaac~Ethan~Abby
The Silly Hills

A new look

Check it out! Those of you who frequent our blog may notice some changes! I have been playing around and have learned a few new tricks. Now if I can just figure out how to put one of those cool custom backgrounds in....Rebecca, you are the savvy one at all things cool...any pointers? i have some new pics to upload soon too. Hope all is well! Pray for me, as Justin is on a buisness trip to Google in Cali this week. I'm sure I'll survive but it will be lonely and hectic without my better half around this week. Have a fun and safe trip babe! XOXOXOXO

SADNESS

Okay, yeah it is nearly 2 am and I can't sleep...all worked up after a traumatic day. I got the call at noon while I was in with a patient and rushed right home. She fell off her bike and her glasses had broken and the arm of her glasses was sticking out of her forehead. This is the second set of broken glasses this week, and second set of stiches in a month. Some of this is due to her difficulty seeing I believe. The first episode, she simply had walked into the corner of a table. We had to get a plastic surgeon this time, no ER doc or pediatrician would do. Took us about 6 hours to find and available surgeon and that took me calling in some major professional favors in a personal way. We finally found this awesome guy and they put her out and took great care. Good news is that it is right along her natural brow line and with all the great silicon products out there, he says you will hardly see it! She will now add regular plastic surgeon visits to her list of monthly visits! Maybe he can fix me up too! Thank goodness for insurance and cafateria plans to this already stressed out budget (paying for her lens transplant and glasses aren't CHEAP)! But alls well that ends well and it could have been so much worse. Now the nanny is totally freaked out. Isaac told me that she was right there when it happend, you know how it goes...you can be right there and stuff still happens. There are constant reminders of what we have to be thankful for and today was one of those days. I will tell you that we were also blessed with an intoxicated little girl when we returned home. It gave us all a good laugh to see how much she was enjoying the drugs still...the laughter was good medicine for the emotional pain we had endured today. I would upload a photo or two but it's still a tender subject....maybe later we'll be laughing but not until she feels better. Nighto you, I'm going to go eat a bowl of kiddie cereal and flip the channels until I can convince my racing mind to get some zzzzz's! M

ARRRGGGGGHHHH!

This is Ethan's best pirate face. Poor little guy fell about a year ago and killed his two front teeth. It became evident last week that one of them needed to go. I took him to the denist where he sat right up in the chair and (with the silly gas and a promise of a new Wii game) agreed to let the dentist get rid of the "yucky" tooth. To my surprise, he did not even cry...unlike Isaac who bit the dentist on our last visit. I was dumbfouned by this because Isaac is usually so even mannered and kind. He wore it around his neck in a little necklace they gave him the entire day and then put it under his pillow before bed that night. I can't believe the tooth fairy paid him $2 for that yucko tooth. Times have really changed! We are now enjoying his toothless grin which seems to fit his personality just great!

Abby's new Big Girl Room

Well, I am kind of sad to say that after nearly 6 years of having a nursery in our home, we have traded it in for big kids rooms! The good news is that Abby is no longer in our bed (most nights) and has taken to falling asleep in her new bed. I re-painted the room all on my own, with much help from daddy who played babysitter! We purchased all the furnishings from IKEA and re-did the entire room for around $300 (new bed and bedding included). The flowers on the wall are actually these awesome night lights from IKEA ($7) that make the room glow at night. She just loves them! All I have left to do is sew some curtains out of an extra bedspread. I asked Justin if Abby and I could trade rooms so that I could be a little girl for awhile again but he declined. We are enjoying the added independance to stay up at night and read or watch television. Our room hasn't belonged to us and we haven't sleep without a baby between us for nearly 6 years. We are enjoying the time together. I have gotten such a great sense of accomplishment from this that I am moving on to the kitchen this weekend! Enjoy the masterpiece!

I've been tagged!

Well, it's my turn...Bekah Byron tagged me! Here we go, I hope too many dark secrets don't come out he, he!



TEN YEARS AGO: I was 21 and living in Kansas City . MO and totally unaware that in just a year and a half I would re-connect with someone I knew in high school, get married and move to Utah. I was working two jobs and going to school full time, and dating someone who was TOTALLY wrong for me. I am just happy and grateful that I figured that one out! I spent this time with some amazing friends and had a blast soing fun things around Kansas City with them. I am so thankful to still be in touch with everyone!



5 PLACES I HAVE LIVED: Clinton, Mo...Springfield, MO...Kansas City, MO....Orem, UT but an interesting fact is that I lived in Orlando the Summer of 1995 selling t-shirts for a company called Sportswon when the Magic won the NBA Championship.



FIVE THINGS ON MY TO-DO LIST: 1. Go to Culinary School 2. Learn to sew (better) 3. Run a Marathon (St. George Oct. 2008) 4. Backpack Europe with my hubby 5. Have my adult children say that I was the best mother they could have ever wanted



FIVE THINGS YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT ME: 1. I'm an open book :) so this one may be a little more difficult to complete 2. I refuse to watch horror movies or go to haunted houses which is a curse because those are some of Justin's favorite things to do. believe me, I have TRIED to get over this one! 3. My adult siblings call me "Mindy Duck" because I spent so much time "quacking" as a child 4. When I first moved to UT 9 years ago I wrecked my own car twice in a year. The first time I backed into the neighbor's car and the second I backed into our other car! 5. I flunked out of college my first semester due to severe depression over the loss of my step-father...but I was able to sweet talk my way into a second chance!



FIVE JOBS THAT I HAVE HAD: 1. Worked as a "bagel" girl at Einstein's Bagels 2. Respite provider for parents who have children with disabilities (I LOVED this job) 3. I worked in a video store and tanning salon during high school 4. Waitress at ON THE BORDER mexican Grill in KC 5. Catering Coordinator for The American Resturaunt (Five star resturaunt) in KC



2 BAD HABITS: 1. Yelling at my children (something I am trying to rid myself of!) 2. Nail biting 3. Hostess Chocolate doughnuts 4. SHOPPING SHOPPING SHOPPING...those of you who know me well, know that if you are looking for ANYTHING I can certainly find it 5. I am obsessive compulsive about laundry and having a clean home. I know this annoys my family at times. When I get on a roll, I can stay up till 4 a.m. cleaning!

I tag Rebecca Walters and Amy Oscarson! You're IT!

Old People Snowboarding!

Justin and I went on a recent date snowboarding. We are feeling very old now! It was a total blast but we were so sore. The last time we went was about 5 years ago just after Isaac was born! it was a great day to appreciate this beautiful place we live. We are most grateful for our friend Rick who went along with us and gave us some much needed pointers.

GLASSES!

Here are a few photos of our little cutie and her new shades. She is recovering from her surgery well and regaining sight in her left eye. We continue to count our blessings that with modern medecine, there were options for her sight to be re-stored. Remarkably, she quite likes her glasses and doesn't seem to mind having them on. We will start the patching process next week to strengthen her left eye. Wish us luck with that! :)

Binge Blogger

Hello all! I have come to the realization that I am a binge blogger......but I promise there is more to come I PROMISE!

More Winter Fun!

Winter Fun!

We've had so much snow this year and with Abby being old enough to enjoy the snow as well, we have had a ton of opportunties to get out into the white stuff! Last Saturday we joined some friends for sledding, hot chocolate, hot tubbing & SMORES. It was a great Saturday of lots of fun stuff to do. Justin and I look forward to some skiing at Sundance before the end of the season. It has been nearly 4 years since we last hit the slopes! That's unbelievable to me considering they are 10 minutes away! We've either been pregnant, nursing a baby or have had a newborn. We're looking forward to getting out there again!

Holiday Family Photo

Christmas Eve

Playing Santa was especially fun for Justin and I this year. The children were sooooo excited for the big guy to come down the chimney. The kids had fun writing their letters to Santa (although Abby wrote most of hers on her tummy :), putting out cookies for Santa and reading "The Night Before Christmas". They enjoyed a fun Christmas Eve bath with their new bath toys and then snuggled into their new pjs.

Dogpile on DAD!

Everyone knows what a great dad Justin is, but here's MORE proof!

Gardener Villiage

After nearly 8 1/2 years of marriage we finally made it to a desired desination that has been on our list for sometime. Just outside of Salt Lake there is this little place called Gardner Villiage. It is filled with tons of quaint little shops and places to eat. During Christmas there are mischevious little elves scattered throughout the villiage so our little elves blended right in!

Christmas Cookies!

Our kiddos had a lot of fun making and decorating cookies for Santa!

Abby's Christmas Sucker

BUBBLE!

BIG HILL NEWS FLASH! Isaac finally (after years of practice) blew his first bubble!

Santa Fun!

Once again, we attended the annual Santa Helicopter Adventure where the big guy actually lands on the golf course via heli in front of the children. The kids had a blast with their friends!