Wheeler Farm and I should have stayed in bed...

A couple weeks ago I met up with my BFF (that's for you Stace) and we took the kids to Wheeler Farm. It was one of those days that nothing was going right and I kept telling Stacey I should have just stayed in bed! We met Stacey, Tanner, Lulu, and Jackson and the kids got their faces painted, jumped on a huge blow-up jumper thing, went on a train ride and then we wandered around to see the animals for a while. The kids were all being so good and had such a fun time!

My Sweet Coop

The Boyz...these cuties are only 3 days apart!

They got to share the stroller because I was a space cadet and forgot my stroller. Thanks for saving me Stace!

The girls showing off their painted faces

Tanner and Syd on the train

Mr. Jackson

I hope you don't mind me posting this Stace, but I just thought this was the cutest evah!

Brook is ALWAYS posing for pictures....I try to get candid shots of her and the minute she sees the camera she instantly poses. Too funny!

My sweet Syd

So I mentioned before that I really was feeling like I should have have stayed in bed before we even got to the farm and my luck didn't change once we got there....The stuff that was supposed to be "free" wasn't, so I ran to the gas station across the street to get some cash and left Stace with all 6 kids. The gas station didn't have an ATM so I ran to the store down the road and had to wait in the longest line! I was feeling bad for taking so long, so once I got back I was running across the parking lot in platforms and totally biffed it!! Luckily, no one was watching! I scraped up my knee really bad and could tell I had hurt my foot, but I was still able to hobble along on it. Stace totally laughed at me because anyone that knows me knows I am a total klutz! I was able to walk on my foot and I didn't want to ruin the kids day so I tried to ignore it. Once we got back to the car and I stood and talked to Stace for a minute with my shoe off and by the time I got in the car it was totally swollen and I couldn't put any pressure on it. I ended up driving home with my left foot...lol. We ended up at the ER that night and luckily it wasn't broken, but I was supposed to stay off it for 48 hours. The next morning Mark had to go to work and brought up our old umbrella stroller so that I could put Cooper in it and then Syd would push him around for me while I followed on my crutches! It was too funny! I was stuck on the couch for most of the day and took these pictures because the whole thing was so sad it was cracking me up! My poor kids!

"View from the shoe"

Syd LOVED playing Mom for the day!

Brook maxin' and relaxin' in the stroller

Syd almost dropping Coop while trying to put him the swing. She was too busy watching TV.

The mess that was my house. Notice the dirty plate.

Coop eating my shoe, cause I am a good Mom like that..:)

The Color Purple.....

My poor Coop has thrush for the 4th time and hasn't had much luck with the medications that we have tried. Coop's doctor told us to try an over-the-counter medicine called gentian violet. It seems to be working, but the stuff is crazy purple and totally stains Cooper's mouth purple for a few hours. It is hilarious! The girls think it's the greatest and sit around and giggle at him!

I love to see the temple!

Monday, Mark and I celebrated our 7 year sealing anniversary! The day we were sealed is a day I know I will never forget! Unfortunately, I don't think that any of the temple workers there that day will forget either!

When Syd was a baby, she was what you would call "High Maintenance." And that is putting it mildly! While we were preparing to go through the temple we would drop our 9 month old off at one of the Grandparents houses to go to a temple prep class and she would scream for the entire hour we were gone. When it came to planning when we would take out our endowments, we just couldn't bear to leave her so Mark and I decided that we would do them on different days. Our poor families...I can't imagine asking them to come to two separate dates now, but they must really love us, because they never said a thing!

When our sealing date finally arrived, we were VERY nervous because we were going to have to leave Syd in the Temple nursery while we were sealed and then they would bring her in to be sealed to us. My Mom volunteered to stay down in the nursery with her to make sure she was OK, and much to our surprise Syd did great and loved the toys! My Mom came up once they were ready to start our sealing and Syd was fine when she left. Our wonderful sealer started and within a couple of minutes we started hearing SCREAMING from just outside the room. Apparently, she wasn't very happy they had taken her away from the toys! I remember looking at Mark with terror...we both knew it wasn't going to get better! The sealer continued and the screaming continued and I tried so hard to concentrate on what the sealer was saying. Many people have told me that it was one of the neatest sealings they had ever been to, but honestly I remember very little of what was said....sad hu?! Once we were sealed it was time to bring Syd into the room. The poor little thing was so worked up that we could not get her calmed down. I took her out into the hall and tried to stop her crying, but nothing helped so we were sealed for time and all eternity while Syd screamed!

After we were finished, I took Syd down to the dressing room to change and she was still freaking out. The temple workers were trying to take her out to the foyer while I changed because she was so loud but I wouldn't let them take her. I got changed as fast as possible and finally got her calmed down and then we went out to take some pictures. Wouldn't you know it, the minute we went out she was the picture-perfect smiling baby!

Despite things not going exactly as we had hoped, it was such an amazing beautiful day! I will never forget it! I am so grateful to know that I am sealed to my amazing husband and my family forever!

Brook at 5

Name: Brooklyn Elizabeth Wilson
Birthday: June, 17 2003
Favorite Color: Blue
Favorite Food: Chicken Nuggets
Favorite Animal: Dolphin
Favorite Place: Disneyland
Favorite Ride at Disneyland: Soarin Over California & Jellyfish
Favorite Ice Cream: Bubble Gum
Favorite Treat: Mints, cause they aren't spicy like pepperoni
Favorite Music: Kelly Clarkson & Hannah Montana
Favorite Song: Nobody's Perfect
Favorite TV show: Hannah Montana
Favorite Movie: Mary Poppins
Favorite Webkinz: Collie like Shasta
Favorite Drink: Lemonade
Favorite Fruit: Bananas
Favorite Vegetable: Carrots
Favorite Pizza Topping: Olives
Favorite Church Song: I Love to See the Temple
Favorite Sport: Dance
Favorite Flowers: Lilies
Bike or Scooter: Bike
Favorite Princess: Belle
What do you want to be when you grow up? Artist
Favorite Temple: Manti
Favorite Cereal: Honey Comb
Favorite Chips: The normal kind that are yellow, with a sunflower on the bag, that are very yummy. (Lay's Potato Chips)
Best Friend: Syd

5...4...3...2...1...Happy Birthday Brooklyn!

Well the wait is over! My Brookie Cookie is 5! Brook has been counting down to her Birthday since she still had 47 days left, so needless so say she has been very excited for this day. She has also known what she wanted to do for her Birthday for the last 8 or so months ever since we went to see a movie and saw the previews for Wall-e. It said it was coming out in June which she knows is her Birthday month and ever since then every time she hears the little robot talk (you know what I am talking about.....wwwaaaaaaaaalllllll-eee) she gets this little mischievous look on her face an giggles. We started a thing last year that on even years we would have a big Birthday blowout, and on odd years they get to take a couple of friends to do something special. So this year we are taking a few of Brook's little buddies to see Wall-e! It's all she talks about! On Brook's Birthday we had a family party and Brook picked the menu and all the decor. My favorite thing about Brook's planning is that even the food was picked because of it's color, she had strawberry Jello and cake because they were pink! She is such a planner! She got spoiled by her Grandparents and got a new bike from Mom and Dad! Happy #5 Brooker-Bee!

My Mr. Jingles

I just wanted to wish my sweet Hubby Happy Father's Day. It is one thing to pick a husband that you love and want to be with forever, but I feel like it's an even bigger responsibility to pick a father for your children. I am such a lucky girl, because I lucked out in both departments! Mark is such a sweet and kind Dad and is such a softie when it comes to our kids. He loves them with his whole soul and they KNOW IT! He tells them several times a day how much he loves them. I love this about him! He also loves to be involved in what the kids are doing. He never misses a school or dance program. Mark always keeps them laughing! He loves to tease the girls and they both completely believe that before Mark and I got married that he worked as a clown. Mark calls himself Mr. Jingles, so now the girls call me Mrs Jingles, Syd is Junior Jingle, Brook is Mini Jingle, and Coop is Baby Jingles. The other day I was outside with the kids while they were playing and Mark pulled into the garage. When the neighbor kids saw him they all started yelling, "There's Mr Jingles!!" I was dying. The kids are so proud of this that they have told the whole neighborhood! What a fun Dad! Marky, we love you and appreciate all that you do for our family. We love you!

Happy Father's Day!

I just wanted to wish my dear old Dad a Happy Father's Day! He is such a wonderful Dad and Grandpa. I have been genuinely blessed to have a Dad that, quite frankly, still loves me in spite of me...lol. He is infinitely patient and kind. I know this because if I had had to deal with me as a teenager, I would have been sleeping on the street. He has always been interested in what I was into at the time; whether it was music, friends, school, interests, or worries. He is willing to do anything to help his kids and has always been such a hands-on Dad. He even picks out clothes for my kids sometimes...it is too cute! I am also so proud of the commitment and time he puts into being a member of the Mo-Tabs. It has been so neat to watch my Dad achieve an important goal and to set such a great example for my family! Plus, the kids love seeing him on TV! I am such a lucky girl! I LOVE YOU DAD! I also want to wish my wonderful Father-In-Law a Happy Father's Day! I totally lucked out when it comes to in-laws. Jim is such a great Dad and Grandpa. He loves to tell jokes and tease and he always has a treat for the Grandkids when they leave. He is so knowledgable about the gospel and loves this country we live in. He also helped raise my wonderful Hubby, so he is a-ok by me. Thanks Dad, we love you!

Way to "Grow" Coop!

Well I am a bit late in posting this, but my baby Coop is 6 months! I can hardly believe it! We took him to the Dr on the 29th of May and he was 18 lbs 4 oz (70th percentile) and 29 in (off the charts!) The nurse that measured him sat and looked at the chart before finally figuring out that there was a reason that she couldn't find his height on the chart. It was too funny! Mark is very proud of this and is already planning his football/basketball/baseball career. In fact, the other day I noticed that Cooper was reaching for things clear over on his right side with his left hand and I mentioned it to Mark. He told me he had already noticed this and that even average left-handed pitchers can make a lot of money! I just shook my head....lol. Brook is a lefty so my Mom and Grandpa would be so proud if Cooper was also!

Coop is rolling like crazy and scoots like an inchworm. He gets his knees up under him and then pushes and uses his head to help him along. He hasn't quite figured out the whole arm thing. He can sit, but ends up spitting up all over, so he isn't a huge fan. Besides Coop's cuddles; his laughing, shrieking and babbling are my favorite things. He is SUCH a loud kid! I have no idea where he gets this! (ok...maybe one...)

I also love Coop's hair, sorta. I love his big head of hair, but it honestly has a mind if it's own. The back of his hair sticks up like Alfalfa, so he wears it in a little faux-hawk. You should see the looks I get. Most people think it's really cool and cute, but there are others that will just stare or give me funny looks. Sometimes when he wakes up and is sweaty it curls and looks a little like Kenickie from Grease.....

And I have to admit that every time I think this, I also think,"A Hickey from Kenickie's like a Hallmark card"! I know! Horrible...lol.

Coop's new favorite thing is food. You can hardly blame the kid, his formula is so nasty and STINKS! We think it smells like turnips. Emily came out and had dinner with us the other night and it was time for Coop to eat, so I gave him a cup of pears. When he had finished this off he sat and grunted for more, so I made him some rice cereal. He still cried when he was done with that so I made him some more! We were all laughing so hard! The kid can put it away!

When they call dogs man's best friend, they totally knew what they were talking about! Cooper loves Shasta and laughs every time Shasta runs past him. It is so cute. I also haven't needed to buy a baby monitor because the minute Cooper makes a peep Shasta runs to his room and then back to me to make sure I am going to get him. If I ever let him fuss to see if he is going to go back to sleep, I swear Shasta gives me a "look"!

Sorry this is so fuzzy....I took this with my phone while walking through Wal-Mart. Syd was hopping up so that Cooper could see her and saying, "Boo" and he would just laugh and laugh. People were staring at us as we walked through the store. It was too cute!

P.S. Push pause on the music thing at the bottom of the page before viewing!

Hello Friend...

WELCOME BACK!

Well Summer is officially back! I know this because I have already been through a bottle and a half of this stuff since the kids have been out of school! Honestly, I am not sure how such girly girls end up so dirty, but it's something I truly love about them. They love to have their fingernails painted, but don't mind a little dirt under them also! I love it! ;)

Blessed......

Well the last couple of weeks have been very eventful around our house! On Memorial Day, Mark started feeling like he was getting an eye infection and it kept bugging him. By Wednesday, people at work were asking him if I was beating up on him because it looked like someone had knocked him a good one. He also had these huge goose egg like things on his head and behind his ear. Wednesday afternoon he went to the Dr which was his first visit to the Dr in like 7 years. The guy just told him it was totally normal and that he just had some swollen glands and gave him a prescription for some eye drops to help his eye. Thursday it is just getting worse and I had to take Cooper to the Dr for his 6 month check-up and asked his Dr about it. She told me to tell him to leave work immediately and head straight for the Dr's office. At this point I was a bit worried, to say the least, and I could tell Mark was worried also because I kept getting picture messages from him as it got worse! He called the Dr and they said that they couldn't see him that day and Mark pretty much had to demand some antibiotics. Friday morning he was looking worse and we were both feeling like it was important for him to be seen, so Mark went to see a different Dr in the clinic. She looked at him for like 25 minutes and told him he had cellulitis. Cellulitis is a skin infection that can get into your lymph nodes and then into your blood and can be very serious, even deadly. Mark's had gotten into his lymph nodes so they stuck him on one of the strongest antibiotics and told us we couldn't go on the camping trip we had planned for that weekend. They said he was hours from a long hospital stay! Luckily, he is getting better now but he is still getting headaches and feels kind of wiped out.

Then this last week we found our basement, that has only been finished for 2 months, flooding! We had like 2 solid days of rain and got like 2.5 inches out by our house. There were several other houses in our neighborhood that also flooded!

So you may be asking what this has to do with feeling blessed? But honestly, we have had some wonderful experiences through these trials. First, we feel very luck Mark is recovering so well, but I am also so grateful that Mark and I both really felt like we were being prompted to continue seeking treatment for him. And that we were able to find someone that could help him get better before it turned into something more serious than it already was. We also had an amazing experience with our basement. Mark couldn't sleep the night this happened because the rain was hitting the windows in our room so hard and ended up out in our family room on the couch trying to sleep. Then, Cooper woke up at 4 which is earlier than he normally wakes up. I went into the family room to feed him and found Mark in there. I offered to feed Coop in our room and he told me he would just go down to the basement because the couches down there were more comfortable. I went down at 5 to wake Mark up for work and then went to bed. Mark didn't come in to our room to get ready and I heard Mark go out into the backyard and then into the garage. I finally got up to see what was going on and found Mark looking for a bucket to get rid of the water that had filled up our window well and was pouring in through our window! Mark was able to get all the water out of the window well and I headed to my Mom's to get her carpet cleaner so we could try to extract the water from the carpet. We were able to get about 9 gallons of water out with the carpet cleaner. It was still pretty wet when Mark got home from work that night, so we called the carpet company that had installed the carpet and they told us we could just cut out the wet pad and replace it and lay the carpet back down once it has dried all the way. Honestly, I don't know what we would have done if all of that water from the window well had had time to spill into the basement! We know now that there was a reason Mark ended up in the basement and was able to catch it so quickly! He has never slept down there unless you count that one time when I was mad and it was unbelievable that he would be down there the night it just happens to flood!

So I know these are totally weird things to be blogging about. And if you are still reading this, bless you! But I just didn't want to forget how truly blessed we have felt the last couple of weeks! I know my Heavenly Father loves me and wants the best for me and I feel like I am really learning to listen to the promptings that I receive from him!

Way more than you wanted to know About Me

Thanks for the tag Alice! I know, it's taken me long enough! ;)

A- Attached or Single? Married, 8 1/2 years
B-Best Friend? Mark, my Mom, and I am lucky to have some great girl friends!
C- Cake or Pie? Sour Cream Lemon Pie
D- Day of choice? Before school got out it was Tuesday. It was the only day of the week that we didn't have dance or other things going on. My self proclaimed "Homebody" day! I used to hate being home, but as life gets busier and busier, I truly LOVE it!
E- Essential Item? My laptop or a good book
F- Favorite Color? Brown-weird, I know!
G- Gummy bears or worms? Worms
H- Home town? I grew up in Sandy, Utah. But I call Stansbury Park home now! I love it here!
I- Favorite Indulgence? Cafe Rio Pork Salad
J- January or July? Although my birthday is in January, I love July. 2 excuses to party in one month?! Awesome! Plus, fireworks are my favorite!
K- Kids? Sydney (7) Brooklyn (4) Cooper (6 months)
L- Life isn't complete without; So You Think You Can Dance My Hubby, my kiddos, family & friends
M- Marriage date? December 6, 2000
N- Number of brothers and sisters? one sister, two brothers
O- Oranges or apples? Apples
P- Phobias? Spiders...if fact, my poor neighbor Robbie had to come over and kill a huge one in my house this week!!
Q- Quote? "Making the decision to have a child is Momentous...It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body."~Elizabeth Stone
R- Reasons to smile? My kids laughter, smiles and hugs!
S- Season of choice? FALL! Mark and I met during the fall so it reminds me of that time, BYU football games, Halloween, falling leaves, cute house decorations(lame....I know)
T- Tag three people? Christy, Emily & Stacey
U- Unknown fact about me? I'm a pretty open book, I can't really think of things people don't know about me!
V- Vegetable? Broccoli, I love it.
W- Worst habit? Being too OCD about things....
X- X-ray or ultrasound? Well, considering the amount of broken bones I've had I would definitely say ultrasound. Plus, ultrasounds are such a fun thing to look forward to during the bleak life I lead while I am pregnant.
Y- Your favorite food? Anything Mexican
Z- Zodiac sign? Aquarius

Memorial Day

We had a wonderful memorial day this year. We met at Grandpa Farmers grave with my parents, Em, Bry and my Grandma. The girls made cute little paper flowers to put in the vases and found pine cones to decorate the grave. It was so sweet to see them taking such care to make it nice. We took some pictures with the fam, but unfortunately my battery was dying so they are totally blurry-weird!
We were planning on heading over to Bookdock's, but just as we were getting ready to leave the cemetery the wind started blowing and it started to POUR! Luckily, we were super close to "Pizza". My family has been going to Rock Creek Pizza since I was 4 (do I have to admit how long that has been?!) and it is the best! It's the only place that the girls will eat more than a piece of pizza and Mark says he lost count of how many he had. We have so many memories there and it was the perfect place to be on Memorial Day. After lunch, we went back to my parents and played Ticket to Ride....super fun game! Em and Bry let the girls be on their teams and put the little trains on the board-what lucky girls!
That night we ended up at Mark's Parent's house for a BBQ with the whole fam! It was a blast and the girls had so much fun with their cousins! They were down in the basement for most of the night and we were able to just hang out with the adults for a bit. I also got to hold my sweet new niece Sadi! I love Mark's family because we all laugh a ton!
Our one picture that turned out!