Hallaluya for Summer!

Here we are at the dunes. It was so dang fun! I have never seen or been in a rail before, but holy cow it was so FUN! Our hubbys bought one about a year, or so ago and it was so AWESOME! We went with our friends Floyd and Amanda, Jeffrey and Shanna, Aaron and Tracey and we also brought our two oldest. It was really fast and pure adrenalin. I think that was more fun than a roller coaster, except I got to be with the man I love and he was driving!
Just one more thing out of the bazillion since the funeral is that we went white water rafting! We hit four or five class five rapids and let me tell ya I realize without a doubt that I am in fact a mortal being. Nothing helps ya realize that like your raft tacoing in the midst of rapids , in 40 degree water. It was absolute blast! We went with My oldest brother, Eric and his wife and friends from their ward, Ed, Erin and Scott, Mom and Dad, A guy named Kim, and woooowwwweee it is something I can now check off my FAMOUS list of things to do before I die.

Hurray for Stinkin Summer! I can't wait for summer to be here already! We have had so much going on that I have had Zero time to even sleep let alone breath! My kiddos have been itchin for it too because summer means they get to go camping with my older brother, who they think is the Stuff, and family vacation and adult time as well!
This summer is going to be a good one. I think we all need a slow down from all the crazy things that have gone on in the past couple of months. I have to say that life definitely gets out of hand REAL
fast if you are not careful.
Does anyone else want summer so bad?

Happy Easter!
So it was Easter and it was so nice to be at our home with our kids and have each other around! This past two weeks really has made me sit back and realize the things that are most important to me.
We went to Taylor on Thursday and had the viewing that evening
and the family dinner afterwards. As hard as it was to see my sweet nephew I am so glad to be a part of my Family. You really realize the meaning of Family after something like this. We had a very
nice funeral service for him and I could feel the spirit so strong.
I think sometimes going to church seems so normal that it gets
tough to feel the spirit. I sat there with my family, and then some,
and my kids were all there and I still was able to listen and to
feel the spirit. I know that my brother and his wife and children
have a long road ahead of them, but I pray that the comforter
will extend his arms around them as often as they need him,
I know that through faith it will be so. I have a knew gratitude
for my brothers and my sisters that I know was there but
maybe a little dusty. My moms family and my dads family
showed so much support to our family, and it was definitely
needed. I saw all my brothers in a completely different
light and I am so grateful for that! My sister and my
parents are so amazing also and I realized
how luck I am after this with them, because you don't realize
that your entire family is morning with them so that they are
not alone. I love this world and I am grateful that my
family is the family I was given.

Til we meet again

Every once in a while something happens in your life that makes you sit back and
re-think the things that you have been taught and the things that we believe.
This past week has definitely been one of those times.
This past Thursday the 13th of March started out pretty normal, a little busy, but not too abnormal. I had parent teacher conference with both of my boys and had asked Paige to watch the girls for me while I went, and of course she was sweet enough to say yes. After we were done I had met her at costco, which is always CRAZY! We were planning to leave the next morning for Mexico so we were getting a bunch of crap to bring with us to keep kids busy in the car. As we were loading up the car my cell rang, and then it rang again, and again until I finally answered it. This phone call changed alot of things for me and my family. It was my dad on the phone and he had told me that my sweet little nephew, who was two years old, had been run over by a car. At this point nobody knew how severe it was and we were just waiting to hear what we needed to do to help. I had Paige's kids from Costco so she could get some things done, just a side note, but as soon as we pulled out of the parking spot I pulled the car over and asked all gazillion little ones in my car to please fold there little arms so that I could say a prayer for my brother and his family. After I said Amen we drove off and for some reason I began to panic. We got home and as the phone calls came in, seemed one after another for the next thirty minutes, I learned that my sweet little nephew had passed away. My brothers friend was at his home in Taylor helping him with a garage, and after he was done he got in his car and had accidentally run over my nephew.I spoke to my mom and asked what to do now and she said all my brother wanted was his brothers and sisters. I didn't even think twice I threw some G's in a bag and grabbed my travel bag and got my kids set up to leave, with the help of Paige, and I drove out of there to meet up with my Siblings. We drove up to Taylor where they live and were embraced my my older brother and his pregnant wife who were in utter shock and emotional wrecks. This was to be expected, although if you have never seen every member of your immediate family, that you thought were so strong, break down in this manner it is pure heartbreak. I have to also mention that in this position that I was in was completely different than I had ever expected. This was, for me, a turning point in my testimony. I can honestly say that although it didn't take this little boy passing for me to know that I will live again, it did make me realize that my sadness and sorrow for these people that I love so much is merely a mortal feeling. I know that one day, if I live up to the covenants that I have made in the temple with my heavenly Father, I will see him and my family again. It has made this so clear to me that I need to be the best mother to my children and the best wife to my loving husband. This week has by far been the most eye opening experience for so many reasons, I am so grateful for all that I have and that I can live again, that I have the gospel to get my family and me through this trial. You never realize how deep your love is for someone like this until it is taken from you unexpectedly. I love everyone of my family members and I am grateful that we have remained close to be able to count on each other in times like these. This has many more details that I believe are to sacred to share with the entire blogging community but I thought that a few people may not know about what had happened. My mom and I had set up and account today for everyone that has asked where to donate, it is the Waylon Ulrich Memorial Fund at B of A. Thanks to all who have been there for my brother and his wife to comfort and for all the service that was done in there behalf, we all really appreciate it.

Great Memory!

Oh WOW!! I can't believe that I have found a picture and posted it as gross as this was! Who lied to you a_ _ ! Seriously who said that this was ever a cute hair cut! I remember driving home from Idaho, with no AC and telling my mom and all she could say was " so take your shirt off nobody knows you are a girl anyway!" Well no kiddin they wouldn't know! I can't see why?

Can we say POTTY TRAINING!!

Holy Cow! I was not expecting this one to happen for a long time! We have
had a crazy week so far, Little Q has had RSV and has been in and out of Dr Apts
and at home and yeah just crazy! So on Monday afternoon Reese came in with her
panties and said " mommy I don't want to wear diapers anymore" so what did
I do, I put the panties on her and took a picture. Why did I not blog about it earlier?
Oh because I was not sure that she really was going to do this. We have had 3 night
times in panties and NO ACCIDENTS in bed! The only ones she has had are when
she needs to poop and can't squeeze enough to get to the potty, but really she only
tinkles a tiny bit! I am so dang excited! She even wears panties to bed without
pullups or anything! Yeah for Reese!

BANG!

So there comes a time when a mamma feels like she needs to
defend her CHICKS, and yes that time has come! I have wanted to get
me concealed weapons license before and had not done anything
about........til now. Oh that is right my mom and I went down and signed
up, and not only did we sign up but we got practically the whole fam
too as well. Dad didn't want to be an influence on us so what did he do?
typical dad thing "you guys go down by yourselves and find a gun
that fits you best and try them out", so that is just what we did. We
went down and shot for a good two hours and have our course
lined up on tues. I am so excited for this! You may think i am crazy
but I have been home alone with a;ll of my kiddos when our home
security was breeched. This was one of the scariest nights ever and
I will not be in the helpless position again. So this is us at the range getting
ready for our first run! It actually went alot better than i had expected!

SURPRISE!

So this was one of the funnest weekends EVER! There have been some AWESOME ones too but this is definitely up there!
For those who don't know, my older sister is 15 months older. The eleventh was her 30th birthday and surprisingly my mom and Erin and I have NEVER EVER gone ANYWHERE by ourselves. Mom and I were on the phone trying to figure out what we were going to do to make it EXTRA special for her and decided to take her out on a TRIP. The options were endless and we talked it over with her HUBBY and decided we were going to NEW ORLEANS! This has actually great history behind this. We have one of my closest FRIENDS that LIVES there and have not seen her since before NUMERO five came along. So We called her up and told her not to get her hopes too high, just in case. All was good and her hubby was so supportive of the whole idea,so we got tickets and started the planning.
The BEST part was that she had ABSOLUTELY no idea that anything was going on. I made sure by not talking to her for two days prior so that I would not SLIP! We hid in her kitchen at ELEVEN at night, told her she had 10 MINUTES to pack for cold whether. She was FREAKING out had no idea what to think of the whole thing.
We got into NEW ORLEANS at 7:30 on Friday morning and immediately started running around! Teddi picked us up and she was so DANG excited
to see us all too! The weekend ended up
to be filled with antique shopping,
boutique shopping, CRAZY people watching, GIGGLING, and all out fun!
I love my sister so much and hope that
she had as much FUN as I did and made
up some HUGE memories that hopefully
will never be forgotten! She means so
much to me! I have felt so much CLOSER
to her, my mom and Teddi. I am truly
grateful for times like these that
help to brig us all closer and create
memories that are PRICELESS!

Wham!

Oh yes it is also again another attempt to find a sport that my boys enjoy. This time I think we have finally found one, oh yea its BASKETBALL! They really seem to enjoy it. Chase came in this morning and asked me if he can always play basketball. Heck yea I told him. Anyways I think they looked pretty dang cute in there uniforms too!

I know it doesn't look like it here but this was the first game and Rhett was still slightly confused at what was going on. I guess you forget that they don't just know they actually have to learn. Well this mornings game was much better than the others they both made a few baskets and were a TON more confident.