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Our Family!

Our Family!
Nate, Jo, C.J. and Aidy

This is Us, our Family!

Nate and I met at USU and were married a year later. We stayed in Logan until Nate finished his degree, then we moved to Davis County. We lived in several different cities in Davis County. While there our family grew also and now we have our 2 handsome little boys. They are our life and we our so very happy to have them! They make everyday fun and exciting! We are now living in Vernal and loving it! Each day is an adventure and full of energy thanks to our boys! I have the blessing to be at home with Corbin and Aidan everyday thanks to my hard working Husband. I love being a Mom and a Wife! I love my family more than anything! This blog is a collection of our lives and our family love story. Happy Blogging!

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Aidan's Trip to the ER!

Yes, Aidan made his first trip to the Emergency Room! It was very traumatic for him, Me, Nate, and Corbin! Aidan took a dive off our couch early, early yesterday Morning. As a result he landed funny on his arm. He had tons of x-rays taken of both arms but they didn't find any breaks. He seemed to favor his left wrist a bit and it looked a little bit swollen, so the Doctor splinted it. Monday we have to go see a Orthopedic Doctor to have a second opinion. They think he may have torn some cartilage or pulled something in his wrist. We feel very blessed that it isn't broken and worse. As a Mother I have never felt worse than when my Children are seriously hurting and I can't make it better or take it away for them. I knew instantly from his screams of pure pain and terror that he was really hurting and scared to death about it. All I could think was he needs a blessing for comfort and then let's get him to the ER as fast as we can so he didn't have to go through any more pain. I knew the ER experience wouldn't be fun but I also knew he would be helped and taken care of. That's what I wanted more than anything was for him to feel better, and be happy, safe and healthy! He didn't appreciate the help of the Nurses and Doctors, he just screamed at them, and cried"ouch, ou, ouwie" if they even attempted to touch his arm or anywhere else on him. It made it kind of hard to determine where the pain was actually coming from for awhile. Aidan was most content being held in my lap wrapped in his blanket and being rocked and read books to. That is the only time he wasn't crying or screaming, so I tried to just hold him as much as possible.
Part of the story I've left out was when this happened Nate had gotten up with the Boys when they came in for our Saturday wake-up call and had been dosing on couch with Corbin and Aidan while they watched Cartoons. Nate had let me sleep in since I'd had lots of late nights during the week getting up with little Boys that wouldn't stay in their beds through the night and canning some vegetables after they went to bed. While watching Cartoons, Corbin took a trip up over the sofa like he does so often when he's doing his stunts and Aidan has figured out it's kind of fun to follow Corbin around and do the same stunts. So they both took a trip up over the couch and apparently Aidan got stuck, so Corbin tried to help him over the top but instead Aidan went crashing to the floor while Corbin was trying too pull him over. Corbin was very sad for Aidan and worried about him and his arm the whole time Aidan was gone. When I started blubbering and bawling 'cause my Baby was hurt Corbin started to cry and asked if Aidan was going to be o.k. Nate started to cry while giving him a Blessing before we rushed off to the ER. And of course Aidan was screaming and crying too! After it all I realized how blessed we are to be a Family and to have each other during scary and traumatic times like this. I truly love my Family and am so happy to have My Nate, My Corbin and My Aidan! I wouldn't be the same with out them that's for sure! I also love all my the rest of My Family and Friends and am grateful for them!

This is after his trip with Mom to the ER. He thought he better stick to the pillows for a while......I don't blame him one bit......pillows are probably the safest thing for him!

Here Aidan is all decked out with a hospital bracelet, stickers and splint. He's happy to be home and have his trusty sipper full of milk! He has learned that his splint can be used as a sword, hammer, and various other good tools. He adapted almost instantly to figuring out how to keep using that arm even with the dang thing bandaged up! I Love You, Aidan and am so Happy You are feeling Better! Thanks for being my Brave Little Man!

Monday, September 15, 2008

Lately......

I feel like I've fallen out of the blog world for awhile. Life has just been going so fast that by the end of the day I'm just counting down minutes till I can fall into bed and to sleep. I just haven't had much time to sit down and blog or even get on a computer to see what's happening on everyone else's blog. But tonight I finally just said I'm going to update my blog even if I have to stay up till midnight to get a chance to.
We had our primer tinted with the same red we finished the kitchen in. It was worse than Barbie pink, but it really helped eliminate tons of extra coats of red paint.
Nate got stuck with the fun job of detailing, trim and high spots! He did Awesome! I just wasn't patient enough to stick with the hard stuff, I did good to roll the walls! Thank you, Honey!
Our Green wall! We really like how this accent wall turned out....it really warmed up the red kitchen!
We did the rest of the house in Tan or Sand or as Nate and my Parents call it "dirt brown," but I rather call it sand or tan. It really warmed up the rest of our house and defined all the different living area. I guess our house looks more like a warm cozy house instead of a long white boring rectangular box.
Corbin was insistent on a red room for his and Aidan' s bedroom. Since I thought it was probably to much red to do his whole room, I came up with this idea. We measured off a invisible wide stripe on their walls and took cups of 2 different sizes and dipped them in paint and made these circles. I saw the idea on a home decorating show on t.v. it's suppose to look like it could be wall paper, only they did the whole wall in interlocking circles. I just made it a bolder pattern, kind of went by the seat of my pants and tried it. After we fixed all the drips from the runny red paint, I think it turned out alright. Corbin is happy about it even though he did try and get us to make a big red stripe to go with the circles. We've talked him out of it for now. Aidan was just excited for the change in scenery in his room!
Anyway.....Corbin and Aidan spent a week up with Grandpa and Grandma Haws while Nate and I attempted to paint our house. We got most of it done and we are pleased with the results! We painted the Kitchen(red), dinning area(green), family room, boys room, hall, and their bathroom(tan). It has really made the house seem warmer and not so much like the model home that was the same floor plan.


We went up and spent the weekend celebrating Peach Days with my family and picked up the boys. They had a wonderful, great time playing and being spoiled rotten all week! I wasn't sure they would want to come home. I was also glad to hear what good boys Corbin and Aidan had been all week! I missed them like crazy! I was happy they were visiting my parents and having such a good time with Grandma and Grandpa and Uncles, Aunts and Cousins! It is just hard for me as their Mom to be away from them that long and not get to see all the fun and cute things they were doing.
Corbin is all siked up for his first day of Tumbling Class! He is rocking with his air guitar. He wanted to do silly things in his pictures so we just went with it! I've been so happy to watch him try something new and am glad he is succeeding at it and enjoying it so much!


Corbin in the middle of a somersault on the air mat. He loves to show off! Sorry the lighting was terrible 'cause they were right in front of this nice sunny window and Aidan was sitting on my lap not budging for anything so I couldn't get closer. Aidan had had a serious melt down in the daycare at the Rec center where we go to Tumbling and wasn't letting me out of his sight. I thought he'd like to go play with some toys and the kids since he didn't exactly like having to sit with Mom and watch Brother last time we went to Tumbling. He had wanted to either join in the Tumbling or run around anywhere he could escape. It turned into Fit Throwing 101 with Aidan as the Instructor when I wouldn't let him.

Luckily they loved their "new" room when we came home. Corbin started Tumbling, Monday after we returned home and he loves it! He is a natural and has been trying out his stunts way before we started the tumbling class. His "no fear of anything" and "let me see if I can do that too" attitude and his stunts is what inspired looking for a Tumbling class in the first place. We figured we should teach him how to do things the right way and how to keep himself safe and protected as he does somersaults and flips on the trampoline and where ever it is convenient for him. He is in the "Tiny Tumblers" class, perfect for the fact that all six kids are 4 year olds and very tiny and seem to have minds of their own when it comes to doing tricks! I was glad to see there were 4 boys(counting Corbin) in the class and not only girls. Since we had such a hard time finding any reasonable Preschools out here this is sort of taking it's place, and I'm working on academics with Corbin at home.


Aidan discovered or figured out how to get out of the play-n-pack(this is were he slept) at Grandma's house. After he did it once he turned into a Master at it and got out anytime he pleased day or night! Well, when we got home he decided to try the same routine on his crib and soon discovered he could scale the crib wall with little problem too! So after several days of having a frequent visitor thru out the night, we decided to change his bed down to the daybed. He is still a frequent visitor and has become our early, early morning wake-up call. He is proud as punch to have this new independence, and absolutely loves his "new big boy bed"! We are just glad that neither Corbin or Aidan has had a bad fall from the top of their Crib walls, since they have both been good climbers since their toddler days! We have since fallen back into the routine of laying on the floor in their room to keep them both in bed(now mostly Aidan) until they finally quit yakking and giggling at each other and have dozed off to sleep. Well I'm sure I'm not the only Mom that has had to do that, right? It's just part of the job of Mom. I can't say I mind too much, I get a much needed break and a little rest too! Mostly it's just fun to hear those cute little Boys of mine yakking back and forth and doing silly things! Corbin is usually asking lots of questions to me and telling Aidan to "Go to Sleep, Aidan! Right Now!, or You're going to go to times-out!" or "That's Enough Aidan! It's time to go to sleep!" " I'm trying to sleep, Aidan.....Be Quiet!" Aidan just laughs at him and makes funny noises just to keep Corbin going! Anyway that's about all we've been up to lately. It doesn't sound like a lot but it sure has keep us busy and that's probably a good thing!

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Going Crazy!


(They seem to be enjoying their enchilada's)

Corbin and Aidan are staying with Grandpa and Grandma Haws this week and have only been gone one night and I'm going crazy without them! I miss them like I'm homesick for them. I have already gotten a lot done while they've been gone, but that's 'cause I have to keep myself busy. Nate and I had a nice morning together getting errands run and work around the house done. I even went to see the movie Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants(good show), planted some flowers and went on a bike ride to keep me busy while Nate is at the Hotel working. Oh, and of couse I've called and checked on my Boys last night and tonight. I love being "Mom" to Corbin and Aidan and even if I don't get all the things I want to accomplished in a day because I'm tending to them it's o.k I'd rather be spending time with them and Nate, and family instead of being by myself. I Love Them sooo much and it's hard being away from them and missing out on all that they are doing and not being the one to see to their every need. Don't get me wrong the little bit of girl time I had tonight was quite fun, but I still would rather have spent it with my Boys. O.k enough of my whining! I know they are having a blast with Grandpa and Grandma, and Cousins! I'm happy they are having such a good time......I'm just missing my Babies like crazy! Only one week I can make it, right? I don't get much time without them so I feel out of place not having them home with me. I'll start counting down my days!

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Wow....10 years!

Yep!....Nate and I just celebrated our big 10 year Anniversary yesterday Aug.20th.
Anyway, late, late, Monday night we got a surprise visit from Grandpa and Grandma Haws(my parents). They were able to go back to Georgia and bring back a school bus. While they were back there, they stopped in Savannah and the beach. They picked up some seashells for Corbin, because we had hoped to be able to go with them but couldn't afford to. Corbin has been dreaming of going to the Ocean for over a year now and he's saving all his money in his piggy bank to take with him when he goes. Thanks Mom and Dad.....it made his day to know you loved him that much to go to the ocean for him! Grandma and Grandpa stayed all day at our house on Tuesday. Grandpa fixed Nate's blue Eclipse and dug up a ton of weeds cleaning up our yard for us, and took us for a fun drive in the school bus. Grandma did my dishes for me 2 times, kept track of my kids and the neighbor kids too, and tended my kids while I went Visiting Teaching . We were spoiled by both of them! Here is some pictures of the boys playing with one of their treasures from Grandpa and Grandma! We miss them already!







This is now becoming their favorite thing to do first thing in the morning......watching the Weasel chase the ball all over the Kitchen floor. At least it's entertaining them while I get their breakfast ready.



Now back to our Anniversary. We had hoped to make big plans to go to San Francisco or something like it, being our big 10 years and all. Well, due to expense, we changed our minds and started looking at a small trip to Snowbird or Park City. That got scratched also. We ended up getting a sitter for half the day and taking a beautiful drive up to the Flaming Gorge area. While we were up there we had a wonderful dinner at the Red Canyon Lodge and spent some time just playing around. By the end of our evening Nate had asked me to marry him again....using a very suspiciously familiar wedding ring that had went missing from my jewelry box. Why was it in my jewelry box? Because I had a couple of broken prongs and was scared I was going to lose my diamond. I've been waiting and trying to get it fixed for about 3 years. Nate had taken the ring into a Jeweler that happens to be in our ward, and had it fixed and cleaned up! It sparks like it's brand new! Thanks again, Babe! I love it! I was so HAPPY and so EXCITED, I think some people(we didn't know we had an audience) thought we were really getting engaged for the first time! Afterward we went home and did what any old married couple does on their big Anniversary......sat down in front of the t.v. and watched the U.S.A Beach Volleyball Women's team beat China for the Olympic Gold Medal! We had a blast up at Flaming Gorge and I couldn't have asked for a better Anniversary! I Love You, Nate! Here's to 10+ more!



Here's My Handsome Man! Thanks, Hubby for a very memorable 10th Anniversary!

At the Red Canyon Lodge they have a beautiful lake and you can rent pedal boats or canoes and take a ride around the lake. So we rented a pedal boat and bought some fish/duck food and were on our way to a nice romantic night on the lake! It was so fun and it was pretty romantic! One of the many highlights of the boat trip was when we happened to see something interesting in the water. So we pedaled over to it and got ourselves stuck for 15 minutes or so over a big patch of seaweed looking weeds. Not a very romantic moment! Nate had to lean over the front and clean out the weeds over and over as we tried to move away from the "interesting" weed patch. While he was doing that I was sitting on the back of the boat trying to keep us from tipping over. Oh what memories we'll have to share with our kids! Let's just say Nate was drenched from sweat and stinky lake water and it took him a few minutes to get back into a good mood. There is so much to do up around the Lodge. There is Cabins, fishing, boating, hiking, scenic drives, camping, and picnicking. The weather right now is just perfect up there, no longer hot, but not cold either....just right!

There is all sorts of ducks and birds out on the lake and in the fish pond(kids 12 and under can catch and release fish for free from the pond) by the Lodge. While out on the lake we were getting followed by all sorts of ducks and coots( the dark grey birds above). We fed them a nice dinner by the time we were back on shore. When we stopped pedaling and were just floating around the ducks would come right up and surround the boat hoping for some good grub.

Big horn sheep! We saw lots of wildlife. We saw all of these: sheep, deer, squirrels, fish, ducks and lots of different kinds of birds. They are so use to seeing hikers and other people that they don't just spook and run away, but they don't bother anyone either. It was pretty neat to watch them.We took a small hike on top of Red Canyon and around the Gorge. This is just one of the awesome pictures Nate took! It was so pretty up there! There is a Visitor Center and a bunch of small walking trails that go all over the top of the canyon with little look out points and signs telling of neat facts about animals and vegetation in the area. If anyone wants to come and visit this is a great place to take your whole family.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Family Fun at the County Fair!

This last weekend was our County Fair, so we took the boys out on Friday night to enjoy some carnival rides and walk around a bit. We all had a great time! We rode all the kiddy rides, got a treat, and walked around a bit. Then we ended our fun night watching some guys doing cool stunts on their dirt bikes. They did all sorts of jumps, summersaults and tricks while doing their jumps at the same time. Corbin and Aidan were amazed and clapped and cheered wildly everytime they did a trick. It was a great night together as a family! Everyone was happy and behaving sooooo good all night!

The City Fire Fighters were putting on a demonstration and letting kids come and squirt the fire hose.....my Boys love anything that involves water.......so they weren't about to pass up a chance to try out the fire hose. And yes, they had a ball!

First pick of the rides was of course the Hotrods and Motorcycles. We were never quite sure if Aidan was loving it or just scared to death being on the rides. He had this same nervous expression on every ride, but he ran with Corbin to get in line for the next thing, so we guess he liked them.




Another favorite was the Flying Saucers! I think this one did make Aidan way nervous!


This was just like the Flying Saucers and went up and down again, and of course this one made lots of noise.....but Corbin was the only kid on the ride that figured out were the button was. So he pushed it enough times to make up for the rest of the kids.



Here we are on the Merry Go Round! Nate and I got a free ride so we could hold on to Corbin and Aidan. It was fun to get to go on something together! Aidan was smiling by the time we got off. I think this one was all our favorite!

Corbin having the time of his life! There is nothing fake about that smile!

Aidan telling his Dad "cheese" for the camera. Aidan was to busy taking it all in to show much excitement, but we know he had a blast because he kept running and pointing to the next ride he wanted to go on.Daddy and his Boys before the ride started going around!


The last ride each we let the Boys choose what they wanted to ride. Corbin went on the Monster Trucks and loved it! Aidan went on the Train and seemed to like it!

After the rides I got the best "Thanks" ever....two big hugs from my cute little Rascals! Ok, Ok they were acting more like Cute Little Angels that night since they were being so cute and nice! I love my Boys all three of them and I'm sooo happy we had such a good night!

Friday, August 15, 2008

Aidan's Birthday Party and Trip Home!

The Boys and I took a trip home and celebrated Aidan's Birthday with Family and stayed a while to see everyone. Nate unfortunately had to stay home in Vernal and work. I came home to a nice clean house and lots of surpises which included some honey-do's finished! Thank you, Honey! I really appreciate all you did while we were gone! To me those kind of surpises are even better than getting a big expensive surprise like a trip or shopping or whatever. Thanks for showing us you care and missed us too!





Aidan on the Morning of his Birthday! Corbin was soooo excited to give him this cute little wheelbarrel and also to try it out himself. Both Boys were up bright and early probably just 'cause they were so excited! Aidan also got a big bucket of building blocks! He loves blocks and can play for hours just putting them together and taking them apart again....he also loves clean-up time with the blocks because he gets to throw the blocks into the bucket! Of course, as soon as we get them picked up it's time to dump them out again and start building!Aidan's Birthday Party was at Barnes Park in Kaysville. It's one of our favorite parks! It has playgrounds, ducks, walking trails, volleyball & basketball courts, and baseball fields....tons of fun stuff to do! Thank you for all our family that came to Aidan's party! We had lots of cousins, Grandparents, Great Grandma P., my Aunt LeAnn & Uncle Sonny, and my 3 Sister-in-laws(thanks for coming even without your hubbies), and brother Corbin. Aidan had a blast being the center of attention! I'm not sure he understood it was all for him, but I know he was sure having fun being in the spotlight!Happy Birthday, Aidan! We had to sing to him with no candles because silly Mom forgot to pack a match or lighter and no one else had anything either....duh Mom, what was I thinking?Here's C.J. at Grandma & Grandpa Haws's house drawing wonderful pictures of his family...he gave us all lots of hair( I think the finished one is Aidan and he's working on Grandpa).


I made them pose for me and they hate that. Every day they were doing something cute either by themselves or with cousins, but by the time I got back with the camera they usually had moved on to something new. So I didn't get a lot pictures of the fun things they were doing but I tried.Corbin and cousin Chloe jumping on the trampoline....one of their favorite things to do at Grandma's house! They wanted their swimsuites on and hardly got in the water because they were too busy jumping!While I went to a Dentist Appt. to see Dr. Haws, my Boys started a good water fight with Grandpa and Grandma. This is what I came home to. Isn't Grandpa cute?Aidan's just paying Grandpa back for squirting Corbin in the ear(above picture). They all were having a blast and had apparently been going at it for a few hours!

We had a wonderful time playing with all our Cousins and Grandparents. We also went to Logan and tried another attempt at fishing with Uncle Jerry, Aunt Katie and Chloe. But as usual we didn't catch anything even though we could see tons of fish in the water....they were even coming up and bumping our lines but not biteing. Thanks Jer, for being so patient with us...sorry for the bad luck we brought. Afterward we went to lunch and Willow Park. We had a Great Day! I went to see Mama Mia with my Best Friend Janae and then to lunch. We had soooo much fun and laughed all through the movie and a lot afterward too! We went as kind of a celebration of our coming up too soon 30th Birthdays....Yikes! It was another Great Day! Thanks Mom and Dad for giving us all your gift certificates for our fun day! Later I went to see Mama Mia again with My Mom, Katie and Aunts Ellen and LeAnn. We had another Great Time and could have went to see it again right after. It was so nice to have some girl outings, I don't get many in Vernal. We were really spoiled and I always had someone to watch my kids wether it was for Dentist appts. or girls outings. I love going home and being with family....it seems to slow things down for me and be more relaxed and peaceful....a lot less stressful than everyday life. Thanks again Mom and Dad for everything, Love You Both.....you are the Best! We miss everybody like crazy and you can all come visit us in Vernal any time!

I just wanted to thank Nate again for all he did for us while we were gone! I even got surprised with a Mama Mia soundtrack CD. He must have been listening at least a little bit as I gushed about how much fun I had seeing it and how much I loved the show! Love you, Honey!

Day out with Our Boys!

Here is a few pictures I took from when we took a trip up to Flaming Gorge to attempt fishing once again. We spent a lot of time driving and seeing some pretty places, but little time fishing which was what we had set out to do in the first place. The reason for all the driving was we were trying to find a friendly fishing spot where the Boys could play safely. We had a great day even if we caught nothing but weeds off the bottom of the Lake. The best part was spending it together and making another fun memory!

Here's My Boys! I love this picture just 'cause it was cute to see Nate keeping track of his little Buddies! Nate loves his Boys and loves to take them on adventures and his Boys love him and going exploring!Corbin and Aidan decided that fishing really isn't their favorite thing, but they sure like the snacking on candy and playing in the dirt while Nate and I attempt to fish!

More snacking and taking a break while we waited for Nate to hike back to the car to get our fishing gear.

Corbin had his first Fun Dip candy and shared w/Aidan(who just ate the candy stick instead of dipping it). Corbin thought he was in Heaven with his new found favorite candy!

As you can see Aidan didn't move very far from his sitting post the whole time we were there. But why did he need too....he had a great spot for playing in the dirt, snacking when need, and sight seeing all in one!