Two Years ago

Memorial weekend two years ago is when John decided our lives weren't exciting enough and he opted to spend his holiday weekend in the hospital. As I'm writing this I still cannot believe it happened. So here's a brief flashback of how our Memorial weekend went down two years ago.
Friday
10 PM - We arrive at Gilbert ER - John's symptoms: vomiting blood
11 PM - First blood transfusion
Saturday
1 AM - Second blood transfusion
2 AM - Nurse tells me I need to contact family members - reality hits that I may become a single mother
5 AM - Third blood transfusion - obviously still losing lots of blood
8 AM - Ambulance transport to Maryvale Hospital ICU - We still have no idea what's causing the bleeding
10 AM - John has a violent reaction to a sedative, punches a nurse, and is restrained to his bed
12 PM - Finally sedated, receives an endoscopy to reveal a tear in his esophagus, it is glued and then clamped
1 PM - Fourth blood transfusion
Sunday
9 AM - Fifth blood transfusion
Monday
10 AM - Moves out of ICU to a regular room
Tuesday
1 PM - Goes home
What a long and crazy weekend! So for now and for forever my Memorial Day Weekend will be when I remember the mercy of my Heavenly Father who spared the life of my incredible husband.

Tate Says....

So here's the latest and greatest from the mouth of Tate.

Yesterday it was a bit stormy, and there were a couple of really loud bursts of thunder. Tate came out of his room and asked what it was. I told him that it was thunder, and that I love the sound of thunder. He replied that he did NOT like the thunder. He went back into his room, and the next time he came out he told me that the thunder had stopped, and asked if I wanted to know why it had stopped. Intrigued I replied, "Yes." He explained, "I said a prayer and asked Heavenly Father to turn it off and He did." To which I responded, "Well I like thunder." Without missing a beat he replied, "Do you want me to turn it back on? I can just say another prayer and turn it back on." We should all have that much faith!

A few nights ago in his bedtime prayer Tate said, "Bless me that when I turn 8 I can get bathtubbed." Normally he says bathtized, but bathtubbed is much funnier. John and I started cracking up, and the reverence was gone quite quickly. I sure hope Heavenly Father has a sense of humor.

Tate is responsible for cleaning his room and doing one other chore each day before he watches TV or plays video game. His favorite job is dusting because he can get it done in under two minutes. The other day I asked him to vacuum the tile downstairs - which he's done several times before. He whined and complained for about 20 minutes before he finally said, "Mom, I can't vacuum, it's exhausting!" I asked him if he even knew what exhausting meant. He replied, "Yes. It means tiring and I can't do it!" Call CPS on me now! I'm giving my 5 year old "exhausting" chores.

We are so dang cute!!!

Ok - so first I get to brag about what a cute husband and cute boys I have, and then I get to brag on my wonderful photographer. One of my bestest friends Ashley Rogers took our family pics for us, and these are just a few of the awesome shots she got. Thanks Ashley for making us look so good!!!

Tate is 5!!!

I've been holding off on doing a birthday post for Tate until we were finally done celebrating. His birthday was the 22nd of April. He opened presents that morning, went to In and Out Burger for lunch, and then Red Robin with both sets of grandparents for dinner - quite a busy day! On Sunday we celebrated again with birthday dinner at our house, more presents and a fabulous Star Wars cake made by Aunt Katie. We finally wrapped up the celebrating just this last Saturday with another party for Tate's friends. We played Star Wars games, hit eachother with homemade wrapping paper light sabers, ate pizza and cupcakes and had way too much fun. Needless to say, I am glad all of the festivities are finally over!

I am so grateful for my sweet boy and I really cannot believe he is five. He is such a good boy. He is so kind to his brother and they play so good together. He has a complete obsession with Star Wars right now, but loves to watch all movies. He says he wants to be a Star Wars guy when he grows up so he can be in a Star Wars movie. I really wouldn't be surprised if he does wind up doing something in the film industry, because he really is obsessed! My favorite thing about Tate is that he will tell me several times a day "I sure love you mom". I love him so much and am so glad he's mine!


When he first woke up he wanted me to measure him to see if he was taller because he's 5.





That night we had to measure again just to make sure.


Pictures of the kids party are still coming - stay tuned.

Human? Alien? Adult?

So the other day we were on our way to my sister-in-law Rachel's house for her to give Jack a hair cut. Tate's friend Jackson was coming along with us and Tate was explaining to Jackson who would be at Rachel's house. He told Jackson, "The baby is Carsyn, and the human is my Aunt." I'm pretty sure he meant to say adult, but human works too!

Tate's Journal Entry

Last night Tate decided that he wanted me to help him write in his journal because it was his last night being four years old. It's usually torture to get him to give me even a few words to write down, but last night was a different story. Here's what he had me write.

"I hope that I will have fun at my birthday and um, I hope my grandma that she will have fun tomorrow night. And bless Chayden that he will come home safely. And I hope that Gage, that he will have fun at preschool. And I think when I was 3 or 4 we went to Disneyland. And I hope that daddy can go to church next week. And I hope that Chayden, that he will play with me when he gets back from his trip, in the driveway. And I like the zoo. And I hope Hailey that she will come home safely. And we bless her that she might be 6 or older than me when she comes back from her trip. And I hope that mommy and daddy, that they will sleep well tonight. Bless Jack and me. And I hope that Maisy sleep well tonight. And I hope daddy, and I hope me, that I will feel better. Bless my cough to go away (forced cough, cough). And I hope that my ball doesn't get in the street. And I hope that the still small voice will tell me "Don't go in the street." I hope he will tell me that if I don't look both ways. And I like my toys. And I hope we will have a good birthday for me. And that's all."

Conference Camping

We enjoyed watching conference in the mountains so much last October that we decided to go for round two last weekend. We camped just 13 miles east of Payson so it was a nice quick drive, but the ride home was a completely different story. The B-line was closed at the Bush Hwy turn off, so the back up was horrendous!!! It took us two hours to go about 30 miles - totally ridiculous. Despite the long ride home, the runny noses and coughs the boys developed, the sunburns, overeating, excessive dirt, and my nephew falling in the fire pit and being rushed to Payson ER - it was a great trip. The boys had so much fun getting filthy dirty, riding the quads, and playing with their cousins.

Notice the TV to the left of Tate. You can vaguely make out the MOTAB - see we really did watch conference!

Cute dirty face kid!

Play time.

Nap Time.


Time out is never fun - not even in the mountains.

Jack and cousin Max in the hammock

Max, Jack, Matthew and Tate watching Elmo's world in Aunt Sara's trailer

Jack likes to pucker his lips when he says words that end with a ch or sh. In this picture he's saying "lunch".

Are these my true feelings about camping?

New hair style called too much fun on the quad!



The best part of camping? Non-stop eating!!!