3 Marias and a Christmas Promise

This is a true story told by Dr. Rex Head, the founder of Orpahanage Support Service Organization (OSSO). The 4 months I spent down in Ecuador with this organization were some of the most humbling, amazing months of my life. Those children have been through so much in their short lives, but have so much love to give and are truly choice children of our Heavenly Father. I first read this story in an email I receive from the organization, and I bawled my eyes out. Normally, pictures, information about the kids and orphanages are not to be given out, but since the director put this on youtube and changed some of the names for privacy (probably just the second name since half of the population down there has the first name Maria), I figured it was okay to post it on here! It is kind of long, but worth it! May we not take the love of our family for granted!
Merry Christmas!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fx1IseQeo6g

Family Pictures

Picture overload...but I just couldn't decide which ones to put on here! We finally had family pictures taken in October. Scott's cousin's wife Nikki took them for us and she did a great job! www.nykelecrandallphotography.com

Busy much?

We are still alive, and thankfully, things are FINALLY starting to slow down! Things have been INSANE the last 2 months and we have been running wild! Between McKenzie and Brayden's soccer games (always on the same night and Saturdays), soccer practices on different nights, scouts, me playing in 2 different volleyball leagues and subbing in a 3rd, and then the normal every day stuff that needs to be done. Then throw in Preschool for Brayden and we've had field trips (they've been talking about ways to travel) to the West Bountiful Airport, Hill Air Force Base Museum, we took Front Runner, took the bus, had a Shetland pony come that the kids could ride, went to the pumpkin patch, had a bike parade and I'm sure I'm missing some in there as well. On top of that, we picked pears from Scott's grandparents trees, so what seems like every morning I haven't had to drive carpool or we haven' done a field trip for preschool, I've been bottling & drying pears! Since it's been so crazy, Scott and I have felt like some days, we only see each other in passing and needed to spend some time together! My cousin was getting married today up in the Idaho Falls Temple, so Scott's mom and sister watched the kids for us and we headed up Thursday afternoon, enjoyed an evening without kids, went to the ceremony and luncheon, and came back after that! It was so much fun to get away for an day and just be able to spend some time together! Thanks Cathy and Christy!
The Happy Couple!

Fun day with friends

Today we spent the day 4wheeling with some friends! They have 3 adorable little girls pretty close to the same age of our kids, and so it was really fun to just let the kids ride around on the 4wheelers, play in the sand and eat lots of food! We had so much fun, and we all came home filthy and exhausted....what more can you ask for! Unfortunately, I didn't get tons of pictures, but I did get a couple!

Lexie and her favorite friend Hazel.

Scott and Skylar took Lexie and Sally on rides and this is how they came back....think they were tired?

My Preschool Boy

Brayden started preschool this past week! My mom teaches so he goes to her and he LOVES it and is doing very well! He is going with 2 of his little "buddies" from our ward and it is fun to see their little friendships developing! He's just growing up so fast!!!

Lexie wanted a picture with Brayden. She totally thought she was going to preschool too! I was shocked there wasn't some epic meltdown when she realized she wasn't going!

Lexie's 3!!!!

I can't believe my baby's 3!!! It seems just like yesterday I was being wheeled into the OR for our C-Section, getting ready to meet my sweet baby for the first time! She is such a joy and we love her to pieces! Happy Birthday to my cuddle bug!!

School Days!

Where on earth did the summer go! This summer FLEW by and was so busy and we had so much fun, but all good things must come to an end. Today was McKenzie's first day of school. She was so excited! Her teacher is one of our old neighbors when we lived in West Bountiful, and she is still good friends with their daughter, so she is very excited to already know her teacher, and we are excited because we have heard so many WONDERFUL things about him as a teacher! Here's to a fabulous year in 2nd grade!!
She really wanted a picture with "Kit". The only thing she wanted for her birthday was Kit, the American Girl Doll, and they have been inseparable ever since she opened it!

Happy Birthday to my sweet McKenzie

Happy 7th Birthday to my sweet girl!

Ecuador Reunion

10 years ago (from June til October) I was doing one of the best things I have ever done in my whole entire life! I was down in Cuenca Ecuador, doing volunteer work in orphanages! That experience has changed my life in so many ways and there is not a day that goes by that I don't think about those precious children whom we grew to love more than ourselves! Not only were we able to serve some amazing children, but we also became very close to the other volunteers. We served with each other, cried with each other over the kids, experienced 9/11 in a foreign country together, not knowing what was truly going on, laughed together, traveled together, shared rooms together, and experienced a whole new part of life together! This morning we were able to get 6 of us together for a little reunion of our own! It was great to see everyone again!

L to R: Heather, Loni, ShaeMarie, Lani, me, Brooke

Happy late birthday to.....ME!

Last week, I turned the big 30! It was a great and fun filled week of celebrations! My actual birthday (Friday) was wonderful. My mom took the kids that morning to let me do whatever I wanted, without kids! So, I dropped the kids at my moms, and came home and actually got a good workout in without having to stop at what seems like every 10 minutes for something. I know, it sounds pathetic, but it was what I wanted! I went and picked up the kids around lunch time, put the younger 2 down for naps and got ready for a fun filled weekend! Some of our good friends invited us up to their family's cabin up by Strawberry Reservoir! Nothing like spending time with great friends, playing games, and laughing so hard you're crying and feeling like you're going to double over! Sunday night was dinner with my family, then I got to go have a girls night of shopping and dinner at the Gateway with one of my really good friends this past week! It was a fabulous birthday and I am so blessed with so many wonderful people in my life! One of the gifts my wonderful Mother-in-law gave me was a book titled "The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt", and it is going to be my next project! It might take me a while to finish, but I am so excited to start it! It is a patchwork quilt, with 111 quilt blocks, but every single block is a different pattern! So the book just goes through each individual block in detail and with the stories that inspired the quilt block! I can't wait!

Allred Family Reunion

Just a preview of this past weekend! We went down to the Clear Creek Family Ranch for the Allred Family Reunion (My Grandma & Grandpa Allred, my family, and my dad's 3 sisters and their families). It was about 2 miles from Zion's National Park, and it was beautiful! We had so much fun, and I will post more pictures, once I get them from everyone else since my camera battery died in the middle of the second day, so stay tuned!
The back of the "Lodge" since I didn't get around to taking a picture of the front of it before the batteries died....this is where we all slept....all 57 of us!

The pond at the bottom of the "back yard" that we got to go canoeing in

The kids had a blast playing with all of their second cousins! Brayden and his "new friend" Mason. They are only a few months apart in age and Brayden thought it was so cool that they had the same pajamas!

4th of July

And here we are to July already! Where is time going! Our 4th of July weekend was busy (and I don't have pictures...DOH!), but the kids had fun and that's what it's all about right? We started off Friday night going up to the "B" for a little bit of 4-wheeling, then going to West Bountiful's fireworks. Then Saturday afternoon we went down to my Grandpa Sagers house. He lives RIGHT next to BYU's stadium (just to the north), and since he passed away in December, my mom and her siblings have been sorting through the belongings in the house and getting the house ready to put on the market. Well, it's almost ready, and since we grew up always going down to Provo for the 4th of July and listening to the Stadium of Fire performances in the backyard (you can see the screen from his backyard) and watching the fireworks, we decided to have a "last hurrah" with the extended family. We went down, cleaned a little bit, had tons of food, played games, and were going to stay for the fireworks, but then my cousin decided to show up with their kids that had all been throwing up all night the night before (don't ask me why....I was TICKED they showed up and weren't considerate enough to keep the kids home AWAY from everyone else!) So, needless to say, as soon as they showed up, we packed up and left since I didn't really want to take my chances and we had to miss the fireworks. Luckily we got home in time to see Eaglewood's fireworks, so we went out to our back deck and had a perfect view! The kids had fun watching the fireworks all over the valley! Sunday, we went to church, put the kids down for naps and packed! When the kids woke up, we went out the Scott's parents house for dinner and another night of fireworks and a sleepover. Brayden started his infamous "cough" (see previous post) about 7:00 that night, and was coughing all night. All 5 of us were in one room at his parents house, and with Brayden coughing, none of us were sleeping well, so Scott finally got up at 3:30am and drove home to get his inhaler. Needless to say, we were all very tired the next morning! Monday morning we went to Scott's parent's ward's breakfast, then the boys went back and started packing to go camping/4-wheeling for the night. The boys took off, and us girls stayed for a "girls night". Tuesday was spent at the Discovery Gateway Museum and outside, while the boys had fun 4-wheeling and getting rained on! All in all, the kids were absolutely EXHAUSTED, but enjoyed the weekend! This is going to be one CRAZY busy month!

Illness Induced Asthma

This is long, but I wanted to document it for "journaling" purposes. Last Wednesday morning, when Brayden got up, he was coughing and it started out sounding a little "croupy", but then went to a normal but forceful, dry sounding cough. We know the croup cough very well since he got it ALL THE TIME when he was little, but he "outgrew" it and hasn't really had a problem with it in about 18 months or so. By Thursday, the coughing was NON STOP! He wasn't fevered, and didn't have any other "symptoms" other than a cough, but the girls had just gotten over colds, so I just had him do what we normally do when he gets a cold....rest and drink! Now for him, the coughing isn't uncommon. It seems like every time he gets a cold, he always gets a cough that lasts for a week or two (even though the girls won't get the cough) and it is always so forceful that he can't sleep well, and even gags/throws up a little because he coughs so hard. By Thursday evening, he was complaining that his stomach hurt (I just figured his abs were sore from coughing non stop) and that his chest was hurting. We were watching a movie and had him lift up his shirt so I could watch his breathing and I didn't really like what I saw (again, because of the croup, our doctor gave me things to watch out for with his breathing). So, since Scott was at Scout camp all week, I put the girls down for bed and called my family and my sister came over to sit at the house while I took him to the doctor. We got there and they took his vitals, listened to why I was there, and then watched him breathe. He was retracting quite a bit (he actually sounded pretty normal when he breathed, just a little more shallow, but he was really struggling to breathe) and when the doctor listened to him breathe, she said he wasn't moving hardly any air on the left side of his lungs and the right side was better, but wasn't where it should be either. She informed me that in her opinion, with his history I had shared and questions she had asked, she thought he was an "asthmatic that we weren't aware of yet". They quickly gave him a breathing treatment, did chest X-rays to check for pneumonia or other things that could be causing him to not be able to move air out of the left lung (luckily that came back clean) gave him steroids, watched him for quite a while, and sent us home with an inhaler to give him 4 times a day throughout the weekend. From what the doctor thinks (it was the Kids Care/InstaCare doctor, not our normal Pediatrician)he has "illness induced asthma". We made an appointment with our regular Pediatrician on Friday, and discussed things with her and she agrees, so for now, we just have to watch him when he gets colds or other illnesses and starts getting that dang forceful cough! Hopefully it won't progress into any more severe forms of asthma later in life! It was AMAZING to see the difference in a short amount of time after the breathing treatment at the doctors. He went from being lethargic and tired/weak (but it was also bedtime and he didn't have a nap since he had been coughing all day long and couldn't sleep) to back to his normal joking, silly self by the time we left! Not to mention the coughing basically went away (with the exception of just the occasional one here and there)! Hopefully this knowledge will make things so much easier for him when he gets colds, and then we can just give him the inhaler, and he won't have to suffer through weeks of coughing all day and night! It always broke our hearts listening to him cough his little heart out and nothing we did ever helped (humidifiers, drinks, elevating his head, and so on....) It is so nice to have my active little boy back!

Last day of school!!!

Between 4-wheeling on Memorial Day, the Pirate Party, (see posts below) and the last day of school/class program, it's been a busy week! McKenzie's class did an adorable little program on Friday. The kids put on 3 little "plays", sang a bunch of cute songs they've learned throughout the year, and had cake & punch. McKenzie has had a great year and has learned so much! Her teacher was wonderful and focused SO much on reading! I've been able to go volunteer in her classroom every Monday morning for their reading groups (thanks to my mom for watching the other 2 kids so I could go!)and it is amazing how far all the kids in her class have come this past year! It is crazy to see how fast she is growing up! We love her and are so proud of all she is learning and how hard she has worked! She can't wait for 2nd Grade!

The "Hattie Rabbit" cast. McKenzie was the Mother Hen

singing songs

McKenzie and her friend Mady
McKenzie and her teacher, Ms. Taylor (who is wearing sunglasses because she lost her regular glasses the day before and the sunglasses were the only other "prescription glasses" she had)

Pirate Party

so my sister Kelli is a big fan of Pirates (not just the movies....pirates in general), and my kids are way into pirates right now, so Kelli and Jim (and Ashley for a little while before she had to leave) came over on Thursday and had a Pirate Party with my kids! They dressed up, got pirate tattoo's, had a treasure hunt (with a real treasure map), ate dinner, had Pirate pudding and even watched a little bit of "the Pirates movie" as it is known in my house.
A pirate party wouldn't be complete without "Miss Elizabeth Swan", so McKenzie decided she would dress up like her!

Memorial Day

We spent Memorial Day 4-wheeling. It was cold and windy, but the kids had a blast! Sorry Christy, I didn't get any pictures of you and Ben!! Maybe next time!


No these pictures are not edited....Wayne is actually smiling in the pictures!!! (that doesn't happen too often)



We've got to keep our eye's on Brayden....this kid is a MANIAC on the 4-wheelers now that we have little one's he can drive by himself!

Someone's just a little tired by the end of the day!!! Too much fun!

He's Home!!!!

Well, after finding out Wed afternoon that he was being re-routed due to tornado warnings in Dallas Texas (he was supposed to fly from Sao Paulo Brazil to Dallas/Fort Worth Texas, then Dallas to SLC) to Miami FL, then to LA, then finally to Salt Lake, my "little" brother finally made it home from his mission! He served in the Brazil, Londrina Mission and had a great 2 years, but we are glad to have him back!
To me, this pictures is nothing but PURE HAPPINESS!!!
Jim with the girls....Brayden was being silly and wouldn't come get in the picture.
We took this picture because we have one just like it from Stacy's wedding although we were all huddled around a "fake" Jim in that one since he was gone.
I took some treats to occupy the kids if needed while we waited, and McKenzie shared some with Jim. The first thing out of his mouth when he saw them was "AMERICAN CANDY!!!" He said the box of whoppers we had cost about $15 down in Brazil! We also used it to try to bribe Lexie to go to Jim, but it kind of didn't work so well!

Newest member of our family....

A guy Scott does some computer work for (and his parents good friends) wasn't using this little 4-wheeler anymore, so he approached Scott about doing a trade for it. So now, Scott will do some computer work for him, and in turn, our kids get this fun toy to take on our trips! As you can tell, Brayden doesn't like it one bit!!! Needless to say, they are quite excited! Scott's parents have one, but now both Kenzie and Brayden can ride at the same time!

Glad it's you...not me!

So today, my mom and I went to a baby shower of one of my closest friends in high school. First, can I just say, she makes a very cute pregnant girl, and I am so stinking excited for her!!! Since it has been over 2 years since I've bought any "baby/newborn" stuff, it was fun looking at all of the adorable baby stuff for her gift, and I loved watching her open all of the dang cute baby things she got...but the thing I couldn't help but think the whole time I was watching her open her presents was "I am so glad that's Jody, and not me". It was just funny to see my reaction and what was going through my head! After I had McKenzie and Brayden, when we knew we were still going to have more kids, I was always excited at the thought of having another baby, and going through all the stages again (well, except the actual pregnancy since my pregnancies are absolutely awful), but since Lexie joined our family, I feel complete...that's the only way I can describe it. All I can say is that I love being a mom, I love my children dearly, and I loved the newborn/baby stages (we had VERY good babies), but honestly, I have absolutely NO desire to go through pregnancy or the baby stages again any time soon...if not ever again! I love having my kids independent enough to be able to do things for themselves and for each other and me not having to do absolutely everything for them. And just for the record, Scott is 100% on the same page as well! I'm not saying we're definitely 100% done having kids, and if we feel like we're supposed to have another one, we'll do it, but for now....I'll just stick to watching and holding my friends babies when they need a night out...then I can give them back to their parents and go enjoy my kids at the ages and stages they are in! So Jody, anytime you and Brett need a night out, you know who to call!

Disneyland

Last week my 2 older sisters, my sister-in-law and I went for a "sisters" trip to the Happiest Place on Earth! It was a blast, and we had a great time just doing whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted! The lines were great (I have only ever been during the summer, so the lines were MUCH better than I'm used to!) They had the world premiere of the new Pirates movie on Saturday night (our last day at Disneyland was Friday)and so it was fun to see it all set up for that! A huge thanks to my wonderful hubby for letting me go and for being Mr. Mom while I was away, and to our mom's for all their help! I really appreciate it! Thanks girls...it was a blast!

Fireworks show
We were very excited to have our picture taken with none other than Jack Sparrow!
Getting ready for the world premiere of the New Pirates movie!
World of color
Main Street!

Snow White's wishing well
Matterhorn


Toy Story ride...one of our favorites! Gotta beat our old scores!