More adventures with Bob & Tiffany

Noah, Malachi, Isaac--cousins!

While the Bob Laney family was here, we had some good times. We even hiked to the dinosaur tracks at Government Canyon.

There were some hilarious times in the back yard, just hanging out and being super silly.

We went to get the giantest pizza you ever saw at Big Lou's. We thought we could take it, but clearly we were mistaken. Even the leftovers' boxes had to be folded to fit into our fridge.

One of the last things we did was get a giant cinnamon roll. Not the best breakfast place, but the size was, again, impressive.

Bob, Tiffany, and Malachi at the Ranch!

We were thrilled to have Bob, Tiffany and Malachi come visit us early in September of 2014. We got to meet Malachi for the first time since his adoption (well, Jared got to visit them for their sealing in July). Lots of fun!

One thing was HAD to do with them was go to Enchanted Springs Ranch.

So there are the usual poses we have to include from the cooky community.

The coffin was especially popular. Malachi is sitting waiting for one of the shows to begin, which has nothing to do with coffins. But I just love his face!

And of course, everybody needs to give some love to Woodrow the Longhorn.

Waiting for the wagon ride, Ellie enjoyed showing off her many expressions.

And then there's the kids' play area!

Puking and Pupils

So, around July 2014 I was in the best shape of my life. I had a running group plus I would go to Easy Fit to train 2-4 times a week. It was awesome. And I felt great. I knew I would be pregnant soon and I thought it was going to be my best pregnancy yet.

I was wrong.

Around August I suddenly got very sick. Like, "oh, I'm shopping. Now I'm puking! I'm so glad I just took Noah to the bathroom here because I know where the water fountain is. Yikes, this is embarrassing!" I spent many daylight hours on the porch trying to not smell anything and eat something that would stay down (and also to warm up and stop the shaking I had from frequent vomiting). I spent even more on the couch trying to listen and be a part of the family during meals, play time, scriptures and FHEs. Sometimes I remember what it was like and I shudder.

Luckily, I had wonderful support from my husband, who took the kids places and spent time with them as much as he could.
   
I wasn't able to see Isaac off on his first day of 3rd grade, but Jared sent him. Sadly, there are no pictures to document this event.


Then Jared took Noah for his first PE class-- a bike ride! I stayed home and languished miserably inside right after I took these pictures.

The first day of school for Ellie was several days later and I was able to drop her at her new preschool with Ms. Yvonne! She was so excited and today she still talks about how she misses it there.

And to make up for Isaac's first day of school being missed, here's some evidence of his awesomeness from August 9, 2014 when he had an entire menu planned, a table set, and even dressed the part of breakfast waiter and cook. It was adorable.

A Fabulous Summer

We enjoyed the summer of 2014 quite a lot! Here are a few collages (unedited in any other way) to illustrate:

 The many faces of Noah Grey

 

 Isaac on the swim team again.

 Isaac at Scout camp

Hanging at the pool at Iron Horse 

And the 4th of July (post bike parade).

One Good Daddy

 Jared has been known to be an awesome dad for...his entire Dad Life.... His family has been known to observe this fact at least on Father's Day every year. Including 2014.

 Of course he has to carefully [and slowly] study each gift from his parents.

Our gifts didn't need much studying to figure out!

 Some well-deserved pictures in front of the SUPERDAD sign (which just finally got taken down last month)...

...and that was our Father's Day! Once.

Little I and His Trauma

There's no question that Isaac's a special guy. I thought this picture exemplified that (He let his siblings decorate him with stickers all the way home from the Lindgrens').

 But the poor guy gets hurt so much! Remember that head-and-door incident in 2nd grade? 

Well, one morning when he and his brother were supposedly "cleaning their room," his teeth came into contact with a giant water-squirting toy. It slipped and broke two teeth in half!

Since then, he has had more appointments with Dr. Vaughn than I can count (bless you, Doctor)! The teeth have been reattached, broken off, swallowed in his sleep, reattached with synthetics, and broken and/or lost some more. Once we waited so long to go back that Isaac had a deep infection that required a root canal.

 

I have to say, he is one of the bravest kids I know. He hardly complains of pain, even with stuff I consider fairly significant trauma. Here's my brave boy at a swim meet, where he'd beaten a personal record:

This was the year he kept getting a head wound reopened by the kids accidentally kicking him at swim practice. Poor fella! I love you, Isaac.

Best Visitors Ever!

You know it's going to be a great time when one Webb (or former Webb) is coming to visit. Well, we had the incredible fortune to have many come on 5-31-2014!

We saw Brady and FINALLY met his soon-to-be wife, Elizabeth!

Also, Branagan drove down from Dallas. His lovely wife, Claire, was working so she couldn't come, but we FINALLY got to meet her previously while playing monster golf together. Yay!

And of course, we had the wonderful Lindgrens! Sweet, perfect Baby Tessa was napping in the car seat behind my leg. Such good times!

The Lindgrens were only in SA for a year, but it was a magnificent, play-filled year. We miss them dearly now. One of the last things we did together was Sam's birthday party in June. It was a blast, so we were unable to take any pictures until after the party when things settled down a little. You can see how "settled" they were:

We love you guys. Broughs and Webbs are BFFs, even through generations!

 

Kindergarten Graduation Luau

Noah's last day of Kindergarten was quite an event. Unfortunately, the parking situation prevented this frantic mama from arriving in time to see the dance the kids performed at the VERY beginning of the party (no mercy-- I got there in time for the last five notes!). Boo. But the party was still fun. Here's my little man being himself throughout the affair.

 He made it to much of the class slideshow.

 Aaaaand the oh-so-important (laminated!) dipoloma...

 Brother, sister, teacher.

Miracles Do Happen

Late on May 31, 2014 we were all leaving a party at a friend's house. The night was dark. The windows of the car were all open so that the gas that had recently been spilled would evaporate faster and not endanger our lungs as much. Everyone seemed to be ready to go...but Noah had not closed his door nor had he buckled his seat belt. As the car moved forward, Noah (6) fell out of the car. What happened next can only be described as a miracle. 

Trying alert Jared that we weren't ready, the sickening bump from under the back wheel caused me to only scream: "You've just run over our SON!" We could hear him crying, a good sign that he was alive...but how bad was he hurt? As we got out to survey the situation in the dark, it appeared that, fortunately, only one of Noah's legs was affected by the SUV's tire. We secured him in the car and, all of us somewhat traumatized, drove home anxiously awaiting the further damage we might discover in the light there. To our utter dismay, all we could find was some road rash. 

No profuse bleeding. No broken bones. No torn ligaments. No damaged tendons. The tire had rolled over the only part of his body possible to do no serious damage whatsoever. Even a little higher or lower on the leg would have caused significant problems do his knee or ankle.

David O. McKay said that if we invite Christ into our homes, "we may know that the angels will be not only willing but eager to protect our boys and girls." I believe angels were protecting Noah. So does he. For over a year he has borne testimony of this.

I learned the following day that my mother had started fasting the evening of the accident. Noah had been struggling with other issues and she and her household had thought to fast for him, not knowing that the blessings began coming right away. We are so very grateful to our loving Heavenly Father.

The Characters at Our House

 

Sometimes you just need to decorate a box and fly it out on the trampoline, dog-fighting style. Of course, if you and your brother are together, then there will be wrestling, eventually. And matching, backwards, inside-out shirts.

And Ellie's anything but boring, too. In May '14 she was captured on camera, perfecting her many amazing looks.

2014 Tri

On May 24, 2014 I completed our neighborhood's version of a triathlon. It was SO fun. Jared snapped some pictures of me during the bike loop (he had missed the running start because I left him with three kids early in the morning!), after biking when my legs felt like jelly, and the last leg: swimming (where you are so tired from running and biking that you're just trying not to drown, but you really want to pass someone...and then when you do, you find out that it was the blind girl). It was totally worth the feeling at the end!

When Ellie Turned Four

Yes, this is from May 2014. But first, to distract you from the fact that this post is over a year late, here is a picture of Noah at the dollar store, wondering why on earth there's a kid inside a potty:

And now, Welcome to Ponyville!

Ellie had SO much fun, it was almost overwhelming. Actually, it was overwhelming...for me. Most moms dropped their darlings off for me to entertain (dress up, paint nails, pin the cutie mark on the pony, etc), so I do recall being relieved when it was all over. Thank goodness for my friends Valarie and Sofy, who not only stayed, but helped a TON!