GRANDMA's SIXTITH BIRTHDAY PARTY

We missed my grandmother's birthday by a few days. I was so intent on getting home. I am not sure why now. I was suppose to be moving by Saturday, but it got postponed to this coming Saturday. Madison wasn't a hundred percent well and so we left her with my sister to nurture back to health while I packed and moved with my baby sister Tamara. We are suppose to trade them back soon.

 

I miss my Madison. She has called everyday. Frankly, I always thought she was too shy to talk on the phone but I can't get her off the phone. She must love to gab just like her mommy.

 

Grandma,

 

I am sorry I missed your birthday. I am sure it was fabulous. I love you so much. I am so glad I had the opportunity to grow up right next door to you. I will cherish every memory we have created together through my whole of life. I have always loved and admired that you have lived the philosophy that there is always enough to share. Even though you have had plenty of mouth's to feed over the years, you have never turned anyone away from your table. You have nurtured all of us. We have felt your love and been uplifted and encouraged by it.

 

Love your favorite granddaughter,

 

Lisa

 

For those of you who don't know, this is my grandmother who gave birth to seventeen children and has been married to her sweetheart since she was eighteen. They have such a sweet love for each other. I am inspired by them both.

BABY BLESSING

 

All the delays would have allowed us to witness this precious angels baby blessing; however, Madison was so sick I couldn't go. Sad. He was so handsome.

It was fun to spend time with my brother and his wife and re-remember how much I love them and what an amazing couple they are.

4th of JULY

 

After Chris, Nate's friend, drove the Camry he told Nate to get rid of it. There is no way he would trust putting his family in that car. Nate told me to take it out to a field and shoot it. He was going to get us a new car. I will admit I was smiling from ear to ear. I hate driving a standard. I have had to drive one for the last ten years of my life. I was hoping for something different. Selling the Camry and finding something to replace it meant staying in Utah for another week. I will admit I was ready to come home, it had already been two weeks, but I didn't want to make the trip back across the desert in without air conditioning, so I stayed. My poor parents, they never once complained, but I did plenty of complaining. I feel bad about it now. They made a very stressful situation easy.

 

Sadly, Madison got really sick. She vomited, no exaggeration, every twenty minutes for eighteen hours. If she wasn't sucking down liquid as much as she was vomiting I would have been very concerned. She would throw up and immediately beg for a drink and suck down eight ounces or more and then twenty minutes later she would throw it all up. She continued to throw up for two more full days. Then on Sunday she threw up twice and then it was gone. My dad stayed up with her all night that first night. He was so kind. I woke up at 4:00am and told him I would take over. He insisted on staying with her.

 

Madison, didn't feel good enough to participate in the fourth of July celebration. Sierra loved it though. She lite most of our firework stash. Then we climbed on to the roof and watched the neighbors lite theirs. I was overwhelmed watching all the neighbors out on the road participating in our countries birthday. I read someone claiming that Utah was the most patriotic state in the union. I have to say, I think they might be right.

RANCH 2014

My family's reunion was the following weekend. I and my kids climbed in my parent's car and got a ride to my brother-in-laws family ranch. It was dark by the time we arrived, my sweet sister had already set up our tent. My father filled our air mattress.  I and my three children climbed into our family size sleeping bag and feel asleep. James was restless, he was missing his crib. At 2:00am he finally fell asleep in my arms. I laid there just soaking in the fresh air and looking into the night with all my babies cuddled up close to me thinking it was quite possibly one of the most beautiful moments I had experienced with my sweet babies.

Then Sierra got up on her hands and knees. I looked over at her and she said, "I think I am going to throw up." I got out of the sleeping bag. James started screaming. I frantically searched for the zipper to the tent. I couldn't find it in the dark. Then I heard her vomiting once and then twice. Madison started crying. I finally found the zipper but it was too late. Sierra stepped out of the tent. I assessed the damage and knew there was no way we were going to back to sleep in that sleeping bag. I told Sierra to head for the ranch house where Grandma and Grandpa were sleeping. I grabbed James and Madison was running behind me. She tripped over Uncle Derrick's tent stakes and started to cry. I just said, "Get up! Come on!" She just laid in the grass and screamed. I scooped her up in my empty arm and walked to the ranch house with both Madison and James screaming. When I got inside I realized James diaper was full and immediately started to change it. He peed all over me and him. (I am not sure why the diaper had to be changed that very minute other than I was completely out of my mind by that point.) I just threw my hands in the air and went into my parents room and asked my mom to come and help. She got Sierra bathed and settled, while I got James and Madison settled. We ended up on the floor and endured until the morning.

Sierra ended up being sick most of the trip. Madison woke up with throw up in her hair. I didn't fully realize what bad shape she was in. (Again, I was out of my mind.) I gave her a bath first thing in the morning. She played with her cousins all week and I think between James's unending fussiness and Sierra's sickness had the most fun.

On the last day Sierra was feeling well and while I was sleeping she snuck off with her Aunts and swam in the pond. She rode the horse she was dying to ride, and rode on a four-wheeler with her cousin Emma driving. She packed a lot into that last day.

Madison's favorite part I am sure was being on the tire swing with her cousin Kate and Tessie. She had fun on the slip-and-slide and riding Sunny, the horse.

James just wanted his mom but was content on the Rhino riding around the ranch.

Uncle Derrick summed the experience up well when he asked me, "So, same time next week." I sighed and said, "No." I think it will take time to get me to camp alone again with all three kids.

Although, I love my family dearly and it was fun being with them.

GRANDPA TIME

We got stuck at my parent's house for two and a half weeks. I am sure they thought we were never going to leave. My father is literally the best father anyone could ever ask for and the very best grandfather in the world. I am pretty sure I took advantage of his kindness while I was there. He babysat the kiddos while I and my mother and my Auntie Ruth went to the temple. I was so grateful. He helped me sale my clunker car. He cleaned up after me and my kids, yes I was a lazy daughter and I feel really bad about it now.  He made me dinner. He turned the house over for two days including picking through the trash to help me find my keys, when I lost them. He stayed up all night with my sick Madison while she puked every twenty minutes, while I slept, because I wasn't feeling well either. He spoiled me.

COUSIN LOVE

James was born a month after this little man, Wyatt. His sweet cousin Charlotte was born about six weeks after him. He also has a cousin Ryder who was born this same year too, not pictured. (He is just an infant.) My sister will have another little baby in January. We have hit a baby explosion. I don't think it is going to stop any time soon. We love all this little ones.

TARZAN

 

I am so sorry I haven't blogged. I haven't really hardly taken a picture. I am starting to understand the advantage of point and shoot camera's. James is at an age where he grabs everything I am holding and he never wants me to put him down, which makes picture taking impossible.

Nate's friend Chris was hitching a ride from California to Utah. He needed a way to get to Colorado. Nate and Chris came up with a plan for me to drive out to Utah and spend the week while Chris took my car to Colorado hung out with Nate. I told Nate, I don't know if the car will make it to Utah once and you are asking it to make the trip twice. (If your only interaction with me is the blogging sphere you don't know that I drive a 1991 Toyota Camry. Nate bought it for me as our graduation present from Dental school. I was so grateful to finally have a second car, but it really had seen its day. Every time I make a trip to Utah, it breaks down and my dad has fixed it, so I can get back to Colorado.) He said, "You know you want to visit your family, so go."

 

We went and luckily the kids were good during the drive. We had to leave early in the morning because there is no air conditioning in the car and the drive across the desert in the summer is ridiculously hot.  

 

We spent two days with Nate's family. They were so sweet to us and the girls had a blast playing with the fountain in the backyard, marble runs, and jump roping. Grandpa took us to the splash pad in Spanish Fork, the girls got to run around with their cousins and had a blast. Grandma and Grandpa took the girls on a picnic with their cousins. The girls got to see their cousin Jarom play ice hockey. Spending the night in Grandma and Grandpa's new house was so fun. Their basement is nice and cool and so comfortable.  

 

Then we left for my parents. My sister Michelle and her children were up for the weekend. Sierra begged to go and spend time in St. George with her cousins. She left for St. George. (We were meeting back up later at our family reunion.) It left me and Madison and James. Madison and I decided to have a girls night, just the two of us. We went to see Tarzan at the Scera Outdoor Theater. We bought snacks at the grocery store and packed them away in my purse. It was her first time seeing a play. She loved every minute of it. I loved being there with just her.