I DO...............................

I think Ali has officially reached the age when they talk about marriage, pretend play marriage, and everything in between. The other day Kate and Ali were playing and wanted to pretend to get married. Well kate wanted to also pretend so they started planning what to wear and what to say and do. They had invited the boy cousins over to be the grooms, but they hadn't made it yet and so they decided to dress up as the bride and groom. I didn't have a white dress other than my real dress so the girls made do with what they could find. Ali was the handsome groom and Kate was the beautiful bride. They exchanged rings and the whole shebang!! They even played the wedding march off of one of their stuffed animals that plays the song. It was pretty funny.

Garbage Truck

Having a boy in the house is so much different than life with just Ali and I. Our days usually consisted of playing with Polly Pockets, or barbies, but not anymore. Now that it is just Cam and I all day I have a whole new world of fun.
A couple days ago we were down in the basement when Cam started getting really excited and screaming TRUCK, TRUCK. I thought it was something he was playing with or trying to find, so I was looking around for his Truck when all of a sudden he grabbed my fingers and started pulling me up the stairs. At full speed he was off and running up the stairs.(well as fast as his little legs would go.) Then he ran into his room and was looking out the window, and was all excited. It was then that i realized he heard the Garbage truck and wanted to watch it. I let him watch it a few weeks ago and I guess he remembered the sound and was so fascinated by it. It was so cute to watch him watch the truck go around the entire circle and then drive off. I guess this is life with boys!!

The Bramhalls were HERE!

We considered ourselves very lucky last week when we were crammed into Dave and Tracies very busy week of fun. They moved out to NY in October and we were so excited to get to see them while they were here visiting. Dave had planned out his whole week of activities and we made sure we made the list! After they had spent the whole day skiing, had a sick baby, they still managed to make it a super fun night.
We planned ahead to take them to FASTCART in slc. We did it several years back with a group of friends and it was so fun. This time it was pretty much us, and the track to ourselves. We had such a great time and it was so fun realizing that we are all better drivers than DAVE!!
Fro was the fastest, I was the ruthless- hit em as I fly by, and Tracie was the speedy little wizard!! We had a great time and are so glad we have such great friends. The night ended with their car getting hit in the parking lot, but they still just made the most of it. thanks guys for the fun!!We miss ya!!

The Moments that I love

This morning was one of those moments that you just want to capture and never forget. It was one of those moments that makes you truly see what an amazing gift we are given as parents and charrish even more. It is a moment that you are somewhat in awe of. What is that moment.... the moment your daughter breaks down crying from memories of being with her Heavenly Father.
Ali has been very interested in stories of our lives. She loves hearing little facts and tidbits about my life growing up and Fros. This morning she came crawling into bed with me at 7:30 and wanted to cuddle and hear more stories. I was barely awake and asked what kind of stories she wanted to hear. She decided to hear about when she was born and little. She has heard the usuall your dad passed out when you were born, so I decided to branch off in another direction.
I started to tell her about when she was little. I had never told her the story about how she was actually a really hard baby because she had colic. I explained that her tummy was very grumpy and she would cry from one in the afternoon until at least midnight if we were lucky! It was cute to watch her not believe she was grumpy all the time. I told her how we used to play the sound of the vacuum that her grandma sunny made for her because it was the only thing to soothe her. She laughed at that piece of information and said how much she doesn't like the sound of the vaccum anymore! I told her how it was sometimes so hard for me because I would try everything to get her to stop crying and calm down.
I had never told her about the story of going to the lady who specializes in Craniosacral therapy. At this point I was willing to do all I could to help her and my mom heard this lady was amazing with babies. So me and my mom took Ali as a two or three month old to this massage therapist woman. She spent some time rubbing ali and looking at the condition Ali was in. I remember very vividly watching Ali instantly calm down. I looked at my mom as Ali cooed and made little mumbles I had never experienced before. I was truly in amazement at how relaxed this woman made my always irritated daughter. I explained to Ali how as she was relaxing her she stopped and looked at me. This woman who I had never met before in my life said, " I don't know anything about you, or what you believe, but I do know that I need to tell you that your daughter is just really homesick. She was not ready to leave her Heavenly Father."
I continued on telling Ali the rest of the story only to see her look back at me with tears running down her cheeks. I stopped the story and just held her so tight. I didn't know why there were these sudden tears. I just waited as her sobs got louder and louder. Finally after she stopped crying I asked her if she was ok. She looked at me with her tear filled eyes and said, "It was just so hard to leave, I just didn't want to go." I held her in my arms again now tears in my eyes. We both layed in my bed crying at the thought of Heaven. I told her that it all made a lot of sense because the week before she was due she flipped and amazing flip in my stomach so the doctor needed to do a c-section to get her out- she was not ready to come! We just layed for a long time both with tears and thinking about life before coming here. As we layed there I asked her if she remembered leaving Heaven and she told me she did remember leaving and how she just missed being there. She cried some more and said, "Mom it was just so hard for me, I really didn't want to leave I loved Heavenly father so much." I asked what she remembered and she said that she had a hard time, and she remembers seeing Heavenly Father standing there in all white. It was so amazing to me the memories just came across her face, I knew she really did remember it very vividly.
I told her that Heavenly Father really didn't want to let her leave, but knew how much she needed to come here to help me in this life. It was the most special experience I think I have ever had with Ali and it made me see how close she is to her Heavenly Father. She is so special and i know she is such a special gift to me and I am so blessed to have her in my life.

One of my favorite things that my kids are doing right now is reading together. Ali decided that as part of her "jobs" she was going to read to Cam everyday. Well she has done it daily and Cam has loved it!! He has now started requesting books constantly and he has memorized a few to know some words and sounds and can say them clearly!!

Cam has really fallen in love with the Disney Cars movie and anything related to McQueen. I didn't know how much boys really are attracted to boy stuff until I found an advertisment for Disney on Ice and it had a picture of McQueen and he wanted it so bad. So i ripped it out and let him carry it around. The next thing I know he is going down for a nap, but has to have his "CARS" picture to sleep with. I found him in his room like this after taking his nap!! He is such a funny guy!

Dino Museum, Cabellas, Farm, Noahs b-day and valentines cookies

It has been a hard adjustment for me to want to do things during the day simply because ali isn't here to do them with me. I feel like if I take Cam out to play or swim or whatever we do, we are cheating on Ali. I finally just had to deal with the fact that she had her share of Mom time and now it is Cams turn. It isn't easy thought!!
Luckily she has had a couple days off and was able to have some fun with us. the rest of the adventures I just don't tell her about!!
On her day off I decided it had been way to long since we went over the the Thanksgiving point Dinosaur Museum. Since we can walk there I figured I needed to renew my membership so I can go anytime again- so if anyone wants to come with us let me know!!

Ali always loved the Dinosaur Museum and she really loved showing Cam all the cool stuff. she was our expert Dino Girl!!

One of our days I decided to take Cam to see the fish and Animals at Cabellas. Fro took him there over Christmas and he loved all the fish. So of course we invited some cousins and made it a fun trip to cabellas. I took a picture of Brooke and Brittany being the "shopping MOM" - those moms oblivious to thier kids flying through the store! they weren't but it was just a funny moment!

All the kids loved the fish and the animals throughout the whole store.Cam even said the names of some of them. ZEBRA, SNAKE, FISH, BEAR- I was very excited for him!!

THE FARM
We love the farm especially because the animals are ALIVE, and you get a ride on the horses. Ali always wanted to go weekly when she was younger so i decided it was time to get Cam out and enjoy the nice weather and the horses since he calls them YEE HAWS. Well once we actually got up close to one he wasn't as thrilled. especially when he realized I was going to set him on top of the YEE HAW- It quickly became "NO YEE HAW - NO YEE HAW"

He just loved exploring and running free!!

Christian wouldn't give me a smile until I told her she could ride the pony again, and then it was all smiles for her favorite AUNT!!

They loved seeing all the animals and talking to them!

They even ventured to hand feed the goats! Cam ended up throwing the food at them, but Christian stuck her little hand right to the fence and let them lick it out of her hands.

NOAH turned 5
Noah was having a cowboy party that same night so we had to pick up some Cowgirl gear for Ali to wear. The kids had a great time, a guitar pinata, they did a pony timed chase and had a great time!

The kids in thier cowgirl attire!

I have kind of made it a valentines tradition to make valentine sugar cookies with the kids. It has been fun and they love eating and decorating the cookies. This year we had everyone there and it was lots of fun. We first went swimming and then met at my house to decorate the cookies. All my sisters and thier kids came and even my sister in law Camille came for some fun!

but I would have to say that REED always loves the cookies the most!!

Hormones???

A week or so ago I went to pick up Ali from school and she was a little irritated. I asked what was wrong or what happened and NO comment- the silent treatment all the way home. As we got home she didn't speak, didn't want to talk about her day and didn't want to leave the car. So I went inside with Cam and we rocked out to some music, dancing our hearts out trying to make her laugh. She just sat in the car and wanted nothing to do with me or Cam. Finally after locking and unlocking and trying to pry her out of the car i left her alone. I didn't realize that the locking and unlocking caused the car to permanently lock from the inside. She couldn't get out and I was done trying to get my 6 year old out of the car. I went inside only to hear loud SOBS from the garage. She was crying so hard because she was locked in the car. I got her out and tried to console her and she was not having any part of me. I realized this was a battle I didn't want a piece of. I left her alone to cry it out!!
After 15 minutes I went back in to check on her and she was still balling hysterically. I couldn't figure out what it was all about. Finally I got her calmed down to talk a little. She told me she just missed me so much at school that it was so hard. Then she told me a girl told her that school lasts another 4 months not 4 days. The class was doing a countdown to 100 days of being in school, and ali thought it was a countdown to the end of school. Well once i told her that the girl was right Ali cried harder and didn't want any cuddling with me. I went downstairs and hoped she would fall asleep because she obviously was just TIRED.
It was quiet for about 20 minutes and I thought she fell asleep when I heard little footsteps come down the stairs and Ali handed me this note.


I will translate:
Ali not AVAILABLE
Do not talk to me
Please- Thank You period.
If you want to talk to me then
give me fifteen dollars please
put it in this

I was laughing so hard as she was holding her little brothers old cast for me to deposit 15 dollars to talk to her. I asked her if I didn't have 15 dollars could I still talk to her, and she said NO!! It was pretty funny in the end, but enduring an hour of crying for no reason is one thing I am NEVER going to get used to. I don't remember being as emotional as my little Ali, but I am sure it is teaching me more patience!! Gotta love my little entrepenuer!!

My Cam a Bam

I realized that it has been awhile since I have recorded Cams latest and greatest achievments. I usually skim over blogs that go on forever about what peoples kids can do, so feel free, but I wanted to remember what my little Cam a Bam can do!!
He just turned 21 months old (for all the month counters) He is Talking A TON.
and I am not exaggerating. Yesterday Ali and I sat down for breakfast and Cam was saying something over and over. I was hurrying to get their waffles made and didn't realize what he was saying. When I stopped to listen me and ali said," did he just say "we Prayer"? He was folding his arms to his lips like he does and was saying we prayer. It was one of the cutest things EVER. I had to call my mom I was so proud.
-He mimmicks everything we say- Lights On, Lights Off, when zipping his coat he says ZIP UP-
-He loves animals and can say monkey, zebra, dog (he actually calls them all CEDAR- my sisters dog), YEE HAW, Moo Cow, and some others.
-He loves reading books and will pull my finger to his book shelf and lay on the floor and say BOOK.
-He has begun LOVING movies too much. I let him watch one while i work out and now he is a movie monster. He always pulls the same movies out- the grinch, bedtime stories, Monsters Vs Aliens, and Polar EXpress (which he calls the train movie)
- He loves FISH- and points them out everywhere.
- He loves Cars and Trucks and is obsessed with the sound of the Garbage truck.
- He Loves his bottle and says bottle like he is Italian
- He loves seeing pictures of the family and gets so excited he shouts our names
- when ali is at school he says in a sad voice "Ali School"
- he loves trying on everyones shoes and says shoes very well
- he loves being outside and loves running wild (really fast)



One of the most amazing things about Cam is how big he is. I look ridiculous carrying him because he is so big. He is standing with his cousin who is exactly one year older and he is the same size. He is our BIG BOY.!! His little cousin Jamison is two months younger, but he looks like he could knock him over with his finger! ( No offense Jamison or Britt- just painting the picture!!)

He Loves to swing, jump, splash and do what all little kids love doing. He amazes me everyday to all the new words he picks up from us. He is one of the brightest lights in my life, and I am so glad I have my little man!

Making the most with the snow!

I was feeling a little blue since almost everyone I knew was headed up to the ski slopes, and I wasn't. I decided I didn't care what we did, how cold it was, or if there wasn't a lot of snow, we were spending the day outside!! We were supposed to have been pounded with snow, but of course didn't get pounded but got some snow, so we headed to my parents house in Cedar Hills and decided to make it a sledding day! My parents have a small slope in their front yard and it is perfect for the little sledders!

Jamison who is 18 months old loved the snow proabably more than everyone. He even would go down by himself. And he ended up with balls of snow as hands. It was pretty dang cute!!

My nephew Noah tackling the Jump we made. He kept wanting it built bigger, or higher, and half the time he couldn't get over it!

Cam on the other hand loved being the observer! He enjoyed his milk and a chair to watch the fun. He went down a few times and called it quits!

Ali got going so fast on the runs that she kept ending up in the street!
Luckily there wasn't much traffic, but we kept running out of snow for
her to fly down!


some of my favorite memories growing up are of the snow slides my mom would build for us as kids. With 6 kids to take care of she was always out there with us building the best runs and slides, and that is exactly how my parents still are. My dad and mom don't like missing the fun and of course they were out playing with all the grandkids. That has been one of the best examples to me and that is probably why i love so much to play hands on with my kids. thanks mom and dad for the example!

Me and My Ali