Mackey Family

Crazy Wind

2011-12-01T18:33:00.001-08:00

Wow today has been a CRAZY day. The wind has been doing some damage here in Utah. There are about 40,000 people without power (my parents are one of them). & the expected repair time is 48hours.
As I type this right now the wind is still going strong outside.

This tree used to be at the end of our street. It was completely uprooted.

Parker, our friend Taylor, & Hannah posing with the giant tree.

This was a very typical scene today on every news channel & all along I-15.
I just wanted to document this day, cause it has been interesting.

I am so thankful for my home. For the warmth it is providing me & my family today.

I'm Back!!!

2011-11-21T14:55:00.000-08:00

Welcome back to our Blog!!

I have totally missed blogging. It was kind of a way to get my feelings and frustrations out. It was also a good way to document all of the fun & crazy things we do in our family.

Well I've seen the light & I'm BACK.

We have had a lot of fun since I wrote last in May. Our Summer was BUSY! We went camping several times, spent lots of time at Lagoon, and enjoyed sleeping in almost every morning. (Thank you Mackey Kids, for being AMAZING sleepers!!)

Speaking of our kiddos, they are sure growing up!

Parker is in 3rd Grade this year & is LOVING it. He is a very smart boy. We were able to get him new hearing aids right at the beginning of this school year & he is doing an amazing job with them. I am always amazed and grateful for the technology that is available today. I strongly believe that if Parker would have been born even 10 years earlier than he was, that his life would be significantly different. I am so grateful for My sister in law Melinda & that through her we were able to get top of the line hearing aids at an INCREDIBLE price.

Parker 3rd Grade Age 9

Hannah is a 1st grader this year. She is our little social butterfly. She is ALL girl & loves music, barbies, & playing with friends. When she's not with her friends she can often be found in her room with her door shut (she doesn't like Trevor getting into her things) Rocking out to her radio. I swear she is 6 going on 18. Heaven help me when she gets older.

Hannah 1st grade Age 6 1/2

Trevor is 16 months old and so much fun. He turned 1 in July & continues to amaze me at how fast he learns things. With both kids at school all day Trevor is becoming quite the mommy's boy, which is a new thing for me. He makes us laugh each day & has quite the personality.

Trevor 15 month old.

Well as for Travis & I we are keeping busy. Travis enjoys his job & has been working a bunch of overtime, which we don't mind, cause we like the extra $$. I keep myself busy at home with the kids & This year I am on the PTA board as the Treasurer. (Way more work than what I thought it would be. oh well)

I will hopefully be posting more often. I will try to add some random pics from our summer & fall so far.

Hannah, Trevor, & Parker Nov 2011

Halloween:

Hannah (Zombie Cheerleader), Parker (Ninja)

Zombie Cheerleader Hannah, Froggy Trevor

Our Ninja

Such a cute Froggy!!

I can't believe....

2011-05-11T14:11:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that it has been 2 months since I posted last. I have several posts that I've started but never finished & life just keeps on moving right along.

I can't believe that I never posted my St. Patricks dinner pic's. My kids look forward to our Green dinner every year.

(Green chicken, green potatoes with Green Gravy, Green beans & Green rolls with Green lemonade)

I can't believe that Easter came & went & I didn't post any of my cute Easter pics.

I can't believe that the school year will be over in 16 more days. I have really loved both Hannah & Parker's teacher's this year.

I can't believe that my baby will be 10 months old next Monday. That he weighs over 21lbs. & that has his 2nd double ear infection :(

I can't believe that I didn't post anything about Hannah turning 6 in April. We had a fun family party at the park so nothing too big this year.

I can't believe that it's that time of year again for me to go to work at Lagoon. I start tomorrow & I can't wait for June 3rd so I'll be done. (only 11 days to work)

I can't believe that Soccer season is almost over for this year & that Parker scored his 1st goal last Saturday.

I can't believe that Baseball season has already started & that Parker has his 1st game on Thursday.

I can't believe that this month we will be celebrating our 12th wedding anniversary. Where has the time gone. I am so thankful for my husband & that he has put up with me over the last 12 years. I love him so much!!!

I will try to update my blog more ofter. I can't believe I haven't done better . I will leave with a funny thing that Hannah said the other day.

So we were visiting with Travis's family & as we left to drive home Hannah said,

"Who is the firstborn in our family, me or Parker?" I answered "Parker is."

Then she said, "When the Dr. took him out didn't they notice I was in there too???"

Travis & I were laughing so hard. I love my kids and the joy that they bring into my life each day.

Random updates

2011-03-11T16:04:00.002-08:00

Well it's been forever since I posted so I thought I'd give an update.

We are all doing well. Travis & I both celebrated our birthdays over the last month. It was fun. Especially Travis's. I had a Surprise "40th" Party for him & it was a total Surprise for him.

We're just all doing the same old stuff. I keep busy with 3 kids, volunteering at the elementary school & being the Wolf den leader working with 8yr old boys.

Travis keeps busy at work & with church responsibilities.

Parker is still enjoying school & loves to read & LOVES music. Hannah is still all girl & loves to dress up & play with her barbies.

Trevor has done the most change wise. He is getting so big, it makes me sad, I want him to still be a baby.

Here he is in his cute Elephant outfit. I got this from a friend before he was born & was so excited that he fits in it now (yes it is size 12 months)

He has pretty much got the whole sitting thing down. He's still a little tipsy, but so cute!

Cute Trevor his first time sitting in the shopping cart.

Trevor almost has the crawl thing down. He will get on all fours & rock back & forth. He can get wherever he wants with his army crawl. Before I know it he is going to be all over this place.

Cute Trevor fell asleep in his highchair the other night while I was making dinner. Too cute!

Well sorry all the pics were of Trevor & they were all from my cell phone, cause I am an awful picture taker.

Cute Trevor

2011-02-09T17:44:00.001-08:00

Flu

2011-02-09T17:25:00.000-08:00

Well the Flu has come & hit the Mackey household pretty hard.

Parker woke up pretty sick on Friday morning & we took him in to the Dr thinking it could be Strep. Strep test came back negative & we were sent on our way, with some asthma medicine to help his breathing. By Friday night he was pale, freezing & had a fever. Saturday was a lazy day spent at home & by Saturday night he was even worse. We went back in to the Dr's & this time they did a test & we found out that he had influenza A & that he needed rest, liquids & time to feel better.

By Sunday morning Trevor also started getting sick. We had another lazy day at home on Sunday & missed family dinner at my parents house. By Sunday night Trevor, Parker & I were all sick.

Parker woke up Monday & felt a lot better & actually went to school with Hannah. Monday was the worst day for Trevor & he had a fever of 102.7 & it took forever to break his fever.

Tuesday morning Parker still felt better & went to school again, but Hannah had woken up with a croup like cough & stayed home. Tuesday is when I got it the worst. My cough was awful & I went to the Dr to get some cough medicine & he said I probably had the flu also. Hannah also went to the Dr & had to get a steroid shot to help with the croup.

So today is Wednesday & both kids stayed home today & we are all still pretty sick. Hannah & my voice sounds all scratchy. I think Parker is on the mend & probably could have gone to school but it was nice to have 1 more day to rest.
So today was cleaning day, all the sheets, blankets, dishes washed. The windows opened & the house aired out. Hopefully we are all on the mend & we are feeling back to normal soon.
It's so not fun being sick.

Parker & Me
Parker

Hannah

Trevor

Scissor fun

2011-02-09T17:03:00.000-08:00

You always hear stories about little girls getting a hold of a pair of scissors & cutting their own hair. I thought I was lucky cause Hannah is almost 6 years old & we had never had this experience. Until last Thursday night.

Hannah was downstairs playing & came upstairs crying to tell me she has broken her eyeglass holders.

I of course take one look at her & realize the reason they are broken is because she cut them along with a bunch of her hair. She was so upset and crying that I couldn't get mad. I had her take me down to where she had cut her hair.

Not very happy.

She had hid her hair in our computer garbage can that is full of mostly papers.

side view.
She was not too pleased with taking so many pics. She kept saying, "I made a really bad choice & I am so sorry, I will never do it again."

When I asked her why she cut her hair she said, "I wanted short hair."

I ended up taking her over to a hair school & getting her hair cut. It's shorter than she has ever had it, but she still is a cutie and I really think she won't do this again.

6 months old

2011-01-21T14:06:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it has already been 6 months. Trevor just had his 6 month check up & I wanted to write down some things so I can remember them.

Trevor is the best baby. He sleeps well ( usually from 9pm-8am), He is happy, He is just so much fun. We are all enjoying him so much.

He weighed 17lbs 2 oz. (50th %)

27.2 inches tall (80th %)

his head was 17 inches (30th %)

Trevor is rolling all over the place. He doesn't hold still long enough to learn how to sit. He loves eating rice cereal, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, squash, green beans, apple sauce & any fruit I give him. But he still LOVES his bottle. We have to hide the bottles between feedings cause if he sees a bottle he wants it so bad that he will start to cry until you give it to him.

We sure do love this little man so much!!

Sledding fun

2011-01-21T13:55:00.000-08:00

Wow where has the month of January gone to. It is already the 21st & it feels like time is just passing so quickly.

We are trying to get back to real life after having many late nights & fun during the holidays.

Last Saturday we went with a few of our neighbors to go sledding. A friends parents live right next to a really cool sledding hill & we had lots of fun.

We got there around 12:30 & didn't leave until 4pm. Parker & Hannah have NO FEAR & loved every minute of it. They went of jumps & the hill was WAY steep, but they didn't care. (they so take after Travis in that way.)

The only pics I took were of Trevor. He was such a trooper. Travis even took him down the hill one time & he didn't even cry.

Trevor sitting on one of the tubes.
Trevor & his little friend asleep.

too cute!!

Christmas 2010

2010-12-31T13:42:00.000-08:00

Well since the year is less than 1/2 a day from being over I thought I'd post about our Christmas.
We had such a fun Christmas this year & here are a few pics to show our Christmas morning fun!!

The presents all around the tree on Christmas Eve.

Parker woke up at 5 am & we told him he had to wait till at least 6:00. This pic proves that we were all (even Trevor) out of bed & down stairs a little after 6:0am.

(the rest of the pics are all out of order, but oh well)

Hannah showing off her Legos. (that's Parker's Bumble bee pillow pet in the background)

Travis & Trevor trying out Trevor's new pillow pet after opening all the presents.

I LOVE our Nativity Set.

Parker showing off his Star wars legos.

Me asleep after all the opening of presents. (we were way TIRED!!)

Look at how cute & Happy this little guy is. We love him!!

The whole family in our matching Christmas pj's that I made.

Another cute family pic.

Hannah showing off her Big Time Rush Cd. (she also got a new CD player since her old one no longer plays Cd's.)

Parker showing his Star wars legos & reading lamp.

Hannah with her Unicorn Pillow pet.

Trevor with his puppy pillow pet.

Parker so excited to open presents!!

Waiting to open all their presents.

All 3 kids in their Christmas pj's. So cute!!

We truly had a fun Christmas!!!

Sunday afternoons.

2010-12-31T13:32:00.000-08:00

Sunday afternoons at our house are quite lazy. Travis usually doesn't get home till around 5 or 6 pm, so we try & find things to do to keep us busy.

This particular week Hannah wanted to do my hair. She got all the clips she could find & started putting them all in my hair. Parker decided to join in on the fun. Here's some pics of the finished product.

Trevor looking so cute!!
Parker's work of art.

Hannah's masterpiece.

All of us.

All of us again.

It's great to be "8"

2010-12-14T00:01:00.000-08:00

Parker turned "8" in November & was baptized on December 4th.

(the pics are out of order again, but oh well.)

Here is a pic of Parker building his Lego racer.
His 8th birthday cake thanks to Meemaw. A figure 8 racetrack made with reeses peanut butter cups (or Chocolate Muffins, which is what Parker used to call them)

Our whole family after Parker's Baptism. (Isn't he handsome in his suit!!)

Mom & Parker

Parker with his Primary Teachers Sis. Smith & Sis. Bruce.

Parker with Grandma Great.

Parker with two of his buddies Brigham & Cole.

Parker & Dad Before his baptism.

The Program for his Baptism.

The day was wonderful. The talks given & the spirit that was there that day were amazing. I know that it is a day that we will all remember, especially Parker.

November Thanks!

2010-12-01T12:27:00.001-08:00

Well I can't believe how fast the month of November just flew by. Even though the month is over I am still going to write down all the things that I am Thankful for.

(this is way out of order, but it's the way the pics loaded up. so here it goes)

11. I am Thankful for my younger brother Kevin. Kevin is the best brother in the world. Sometimes we don't have the same views on things, but I Love him so much. He is very caring & always looking for ways to help others. I am so thankful to have Kevin as my brother.

12. I am Thankful for Spending time with my family. I so enjoy going fun places & doing fun things with my husband and kids.

13. I am Thankful for my Dad. I think I have the best Dad in the world. He tends to be quiet, but I know that he loves me & that he is always there to help me. I know that he loves my mom. I am so thankful for my Dad.

14. I am Thankful for Trevor. Trevor is 4 1/2 months old now. At his 4 month checkup in November he weighed 15lbs 2 oz. (60th percentile) 26 1/2 inches long (95th percentile), and his head was 16.2 inches (25th percentile). He started rolling over on November 15th, he is a great sleeper at night & usually sleeps for 10+ hrs, & he is a very happy baby always smiling and laughing. He also is ALWAYS drooling. He usually has a bib on & it is changed multiple times a day. It's hard to imagine what our life was like before having Trevor & we all love him so much. I am so thankful to have Trevor.

15. I know I already said this one, but...

I am thankful for my Mom. She is my best friend and the one I admire so much. I liked this pic of the two of us, so I had to add her again.

I am Thankful for my Mom.

16. I have been blessed to be part of an amazing family. I am Thankful for my older sister Angelee. Angelee is a mother of 4, school secretary, dance/soccer mom, & is so much fun. She is hilarious, fun to be around & always makes me laugh. I don't see her very often now that she works full time, so I enjoy the time that I get to see her each month. I am so thankful to have Angelee as my Sister.

17. I am Thankful for my Grandma. I have the cutest Grandma in the whole world. She is very caring, & is always aware of everyone & their needs. I am so blessed to have her in my life & I need to make the effort to visit with her more often. I am so thankful for my Grandma.

18. I am Thankful for Travis. Travis is my best friend. He is a great provider for our family & works hard so that we can have the things that we have. He is a very funny person & keeps me laughing a lot. I enjoy the time we have together & am so thankful that I get to be with him for Eternity. I am so Thankful to have Travis.

19. I am Thankful for Parker. Parker turned 8 in November & is growing up. He is doing well in school & has just started scouts. (He earned his bobcat last night) He is the best Big Brother & is a good helper. I am so thankful to have Parker.

20. I am Thankful for Hannah. Hannah is going to be 6 in April & she is ALL girl. She loves clothes, dolls, barbies & telling Parker what to do. She is a great Big Sister to Trevor & is always helping. I am so thankful to have Hannah.

21. I am Thankful for Mucinex D.
This past week I have not felt well. I am so thankful for medicines that are available to help when we get sick.
I am thankful for Mucinex D.

22. I am Thankful for black Friday shopping.
Every year for at least the last 13 years I have gone shopping with my Mom & older sister the day after Thanksgiving. It has become one of my favorite days of the year. Not the waiting in lines & pushing & shoving that goes on, but the being together & laughing & having fun that comes along with it. The past few years my Dad has also come with us. We had so much fun & this year it started even earlier. We left for Walmart @ 10:15pm on Thanksgiving & were there until after 5:30am, then off to Shopko, JoAnn's (Fabric store), & Smith's Marketplace. By 10:00am we were WAY tired & went back to my mom & dad's for a nap & then headed into Salt Lake to shop at the Gateway. We ended our night around 10:00pm. We had so many laughs, & got all the stuff we wanted along the way.
I am so thankful for black Friday shopping.

23. I am Thankful to be learning how to Sew.
When my mother-in-law passed away a little over a year ago, I inherited a serger. I am not a sewer nor did I want to be one, so it sat in my basement for almost a year. I finally dusted it off & learned how to use it. I have made a few things. My car seat cover is my favorite & I have just cut out Christmas PJ's for my family that I will be sewing next week. It's such a great feeling to make something & look at the finished product & love it.
I am so thankful to be learning how to sew.

24. I am Thankful for good friends.
I have been blessed throughout my life to have good friends. I have kept in touch with old friends & made new friends throughout the years. I can't imagine my life without all of them. Some I talk with daily, some monthly, some yearly, some I haven't spoken to in years, but I know that each one of them have helped me to become the woman that I am today & for that...
I am so thankful for the good friends I have in my life.

25. I am Thankful for Washing Machines. I HATE laundry. I am so glad that I live in a day & time when we have machines right in our homes that wash our clothes & for that matter our dishes too.
I am thankful for Washing Machines.

26. I am Thankful for flat irons.
I have FRIZZY hair. I am so thankful for flat irons & that I can actually make my hair look decent by using it each day.
I am thankful for flat irons.

27. I am Thankful for Chocolate.
I love chocolate. I could eat it in any form. Ice cream, brownies, candy, or cake. It's all good (except for dark chocolate, not my fav). Some days it is needed to just make it through.
I am Thankful for Chocolate.

28. I am Thankful for my Faith.
I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I am so thankful for the knowledge I have of this gospel. I am thankful for the importance of families. I am thankful for my savior & for the perfect example he has given us. I know that I am far from perfect & I'm thankful for the chance I have to be forgiven & start each day as a fresh start. I know that all of my blessings come from a loving Heavenly Father & I know that he is there to listen & guide me when I need help.
I am thankful for my faith.

29. I am Thankful for Water.
Water & I have a love/hate relationship. One day I love it, the next I hate it. But I'm thankful that I have it readily available to me in my home. I can't imagine life without it. (just writing this makes me realize how much I take for granted all that I have been blessed with.
I am thankful for water.

30. I am Thankful for my younger sister Janae.
Janae is a busy girl. She is a hair stylist in a high end salon & does an amazing job. She is very creative & also fun to be with. We recently started "Sewing Tuesday" each week. It has been so fun to see her & spend time with her each week.
I am so thankful to have Janae as my sister.

(for some reason blogger would NOT let me move these pics around, so I didn't mean for Janae to be last)

I am so Thankful for the chance I've had to think of all the things I have been blessed with. I know that some of these things might seem small, or meaningless but each one has made me who I am today. This has also made me realize that I take a few of these things for granted & assume that they will always be there (friends, grandma, family to name a few). I am taking this time now to commit to being better at showing those people my gratitude for them.
I truly have much to be thankful for.

8-10

2010-11-17T09:44:00.001-08:00

Wow how do the days keep coming & going so quickly!!!

8. I am thankful for Friday night "Date Nights" with my husband.

Almost a year ago a group of neighbors asked us to be part of their "datenight" group. You watch the kids (13 of them) 1 Friday a month & the other 3 you get 3 1/2 hrs with your spouse. I have to tell you that I look forward to friday at least 3 times a month & I enjoy the time I have with Travis. I am so thankful for Friday night "Date Nights".

(photo courtesy of Parker, Sorry it's the only one I have of the 2 of us.)

9. I am thankful for glasses.

Hannah has been wearing glasses since right before she turned 2 years old. I just love how adorable she looks in them. Well we recently went to the eye Dr. & he told us that her Right eye is pretty weak & tends to be LAZY. So we have to patch her left eye every night to strenthen her weaker eye. I'm thankful that she has the opportunity to have glasses to help her see.
Hannah with her patch on.
She also just got new Purple glasses. doesn't she look so cute??

Another look at her new glasses. I am so thankful for glasses.

10. I am thankful for Hearing Aids.

I realized just now that I don't really have pics of Parker's hearing aids. He has his Dad's ears & in most pics you don't even notice them. I am so thankful for hearing aids and how they have helped Parker to hear, learn & communicate. I just had parent teacher conferences for Parker & he is academically right where he needs to be. He is in the top reading group in his class & loves reading. I am thankful for hearing aids which have made this all possible for Parker.

Thanks continued...

2010-11-11T21:45:00.000-08:00

So I'm still behind but I'm up to day 7.

7. I am thankful for our Country & all the Veterans who serve in the Military.

A Veteran is someone, who at one point in their life, wrote a blank check payable to the United States of America for an amount up to and including their life. That is beyond honor, and there are way too many people in this country who no longer remember that fact.

I am so thankful for all those men and women who have fought so that I can be free. Thank you to those who have served our country, and thank you to their families for supporting them while they gave their time, hearts, and often their lives - to people they never knew personally.

Thankful catchup

2010-11-10T13:43:00.000-08:00

Today I'd like to write about a few more of the things I am Thankful for.

4. I am very Thankful for my Mom.

I always have & always will be close with my mom. She is my best friend. She is always there for me & is the best mom in the whole world. She is also the Best Meemaw to my children. They love her so much, and she has a way of making them each feel special & loved. My Mom has had a rough year this past year. She had to be on Chemo meds for Hep C. She was losing her hair by the handfuls & eventually decided to cut it all off. I was there for the cutting & It was a fun & emotional experience. I love my mom so much & appreciate all she does for me & my family. I am so very thankful for my mom.

5. I am thankful for technology.

I really like technology. Blogger & Facebook allows me to keep in touch with friends & family. I'm kind of a nosey person & enjoy reading about every one's lives.

6. I am thankful for Deals!

I am almost done with buying Christmas presents this year all because of Kohls.com. I have waited for deals & bought things on sale & am so glad to go into the holiday season with about 75% of my Christmas gifts bought already.

My friend Jamie told me about the Amazon mom club & let me tell you I love deals & paying less for things. I joined the Amazon mom's club (which is free) & am able to buy diapers for way cheaper than you can buy them at walmart, sams, or costco. I am a huggies diaper fan & getting them cheaper makes for a happy me. Now if I could figure out how to get formula for cheap??? I am thankful for finding Deals.

A Month of Thanks!!

2010-11-09T19:34:00.000-08:00

I saw a blog post on a friends blog today where she has posted something everyday this month so far some of the things she is thankful for. I loved the idea but thought, well it's already the 9th of the month so I guess I can't start now.

I decided it doesn't matter when I start, I have so many things I am thankful for & since I use this blog as a journal I am going to write them all down.

So today I'm going to start this off & hopefully catch up so that by Nov. 30th I've written #30 things I'm Thankful for.

1. I am thankul for my home.

(No this picture isn't recent, it's from 2008, but I haven't taken one since then.) We lived in apartments for 7 years & were thrilled to finally get our home in 2006. It's not our ideal home & it's older than we had hoped, but it is perfect for us & I am so thankful for our home.

2. I am thankful for my Van.

This Van has been a fun vehicle to own. It has tons more room than our other vehicle & gets us to the places we need to go. I am thankful for a my van.

3. I am thankful for my Neighborhood.

I don't have a pic to go with this one, but I am so thankful for the neighborhood that I live in. We have great neighbors all around us & a great ward that we are a part of. Our family has truly been blessed since we moved to Layton a little over 4 years ago & we have met so many friends that I know we will have for many years to come. I am thankful for my neighborhood.

Well thats all for today. I'll catch up more tomorrow.

Fall happenings!!

2010-10-23T21:59:00.000-07:00

My favorite time of year is probably Fall, when the weather gets cooler. It's fun to curl up & read a good book, or make/eat yummy soup, and get into the Halloween Spirit.

We started this month off at a Halloween Carnival held at the kids elementary school.

Here is our cute little Trevor Pumpkin!!
Parker dressed as a "skeleton Jester"

Hannah as a cowgirl with her BFF Amber.

The whole family dressed up (Travis didn't dress up so he took the pics)

This was 2 days after Parker broke his arm, so he still wasn't feeling too well.

Last week was red ribbon week at school & each day had a theme & you could dress up. This is Parker's hair for crazy hair day. we shaved an arrow in his hair.

We have some great neighbors and friends in our area & earlier this year we became part of a "date night" group. There is 4 families and each couple gets to go on a date 3 Fridays a month & then 1 Friday each month you watch all the kids from 6-9:30pm (13 of them to be exact, ranging from 1 1/2-10years). It's been a great way to actually go on dates without kids.(except Trevor he is too young to be a part)

So yesterday was our turn to watch the kids. We had a mini Halloween party & we had tons of fun.

They had to eat donuts hung from a string!

We played ring toss, had a coloring contest & decorated cookies.

We ended the night with a glow stick parade outside. Too bad you can't see the glow sticks glowing in the pics. The kids each had 10 glow sticks & looked awesome outside in the dark.

Here you can see Parker's hard long cast. (he gets his short cast this next week)

These 2 were so cute with the glow sticks.

So we finally went to Lagoon for Frightmares this season.

Parker & Hannah excited to be at Lagoon.
Hannah, Travis & Parker on one of the kiddie rides. (Travis's feet were dragging on the ground.)

Cute Trevor hanging out in the stroller.

Trevor, Hannah & Parker.

Hannah!

Parker!

The whole family!

We had so much fun there today. The weather was very cool & there were no lines on the kiddie rides. We only stayed for about 3 hours, but left right before it started raining.

We are all excited for Halloween coming up next week & will post pics of that later.

Ouch!!

2010-10-11T13:29:00.001-07:00

This past Wednesday was a very CRAZY day at the Mackey house. To start the day off I went to volunteer at the school in Parker's classroom (which I do every Wednesday) from 9:00-10:00am. I left a little early so that I could be home since I was hosting a meeting at my house at 10:00. So I have a house full of 10 ladies and several of their children so I turned my cell phone to silent so that I wouldn't be distracted. around 10:45 my home phone rang & I ignored it cause it's usually a solicitor on the other end of the phone. I'm enjoying my time with these awesome ladies & have totally forgotten that my cell was on silent. A little before 11:00am my home phone rings again & this time I answered it. Travis was on the phone & said, "what are you doing?" "I'm having a meeting you remember." He then says, "the school called & Parker is in the office and you need to go over there. He fell off the monkey bars and might have broken his arm." All of a sudden I think why didn't they call me, oh yeah I ignored the call earlier. then I pick up my cell phone 4 missed calls. AAAGGGGGHHH. I start to panic. I have a house full of people & I'm in the middle of feeding Trevor. I hand Trevor off to one of the women & head to the school. When I get there Parker is back in the nurses room & he is moaning & crying. I asked him what had happened & he told me the bell had just rang to go line up after recess & he was going across the monkey bars. He was trying to skip a bar and missed & landed right on his arm. OUCH!!!

The cute secretary had made a temporary splint for his arm. I look at his arm & yep it looked awful. I get Parker & we head home. I'm still in panic mode & I don't know what to do so I call the Dr's office get an appointment at 12:30. I take Parker inside, get him comfortable & wrap up the meeting & I'm still panicking. When we get to the Dr's his arm looks less swollen & me being a cheap-o thinks, it's probably nothing. We go in to get an x-ray. The tech calls me over to show me the x-ray and says. This doesn't look good & you will need to head up to the hospital.

Now I'm really panicking. I call my mom who heads over to my house to watch Trevor. I then head to the Hospital in Ogden, where my Dr has set up an appt. with an orthopedic surgeon. When we get there we go up to his office & he looks at the x-ray & and then tells me that we will need to go down to the ER & they are going to have to sedate Parker so that they can push the bones back together. We get situated in the ER & Parker does not like the process of getting an IV so he is screaming & I want to cry right along with him. We turn the TV on & the waiting begins. The ER Dr comes in & tells us we'll have to wait until 4:00pm to do the procedure. So we have about an hour to wait.
Parker waiting for the procedure!!

A little past 4pm everyone comes in (there was like 8-9 people surrounding his bed) & they give Parker some medicine to make him sleepy. The whole procedure lasted less then 15 minutes & I got to watch the whole thing. It was a little gross hearing the bones get set back into place & scary to think poor Parker had to go through all of this.We finally got home around 7:00pm & we were both tired & exhausted from our day.

So far he is doing really well. Neither Travis or I have ever broken a bone so we have no clue what it feels like. But he is a trooper. I let him stay home from school Thursday & He insisted on going on Friday & did OK. The bad thing is that it's his left arm that is broken & he is left handed. So he is having to learn to write with his right hand.

We go back to the orthopedic surgeon this Wednesday to get the hard cast & then we will find out how long it will be on for. Hopefully not too long as Parker is supposed to get baptised the 1st Saturday in December.

Hannah told me yesterday that she will not try the monkey bars until she is sixteen so that she won't break her arm. (too funny!!!!)

2 months already!!

2010-09-27T08:32:00.000-07:00

Well this post is about a week overdue, but I wanted to document it anyway.

We went to Trevor's 2month check up on Sept 17th & he is a big boy

Weight: 12lbs 11oz. (90th percentile)

Height: 23.5 inches (90th percentile)

Head size: can't remember the inches (50th percentile).. This is odd for me my other 2 kids had large heads & were always in the 95th percentile.

He is a great baby & I have no complaints. He sleeps very well in fact will sleep from 9pm-about 7am each night. We realize that we are very lucky & we are also very grateful to have him in our family & can't imagine it any other way.

Having 3 kids I have always been told would be difficult. I thought that since I have a 5 year gap that it would be easier. True it's easier in the fact that I don't have other toddlers all wanting my attention, but It's hard in the sense that I have older kids who are involved in older activities & juggling taking them to soccer games/practices & fitting in feeding times & naps, has been an adjustment.

We are so thankful to have Trevor in our family & love him very much.

Back to School

2010-09-12T17:48:00.000-07:00

Back to school this year was a little different for our family. Hannah started Kindergarten this year & the school started this new early start kindergarten program. The Kindergarten kids started attending school August 2nd but only from 9:30-11:30am each day. Then all the other grades started August 23rd & then All day Kindergarten started August 30th. We had 3 different 1st days of school this year, 2 for Hannah & 1 for Parker.

Hannah on her first day of Early start Kindergarten!! She is so grown up.

Hannah, Trevor & Parker.

Hannah with all the other kids.

Parker on his first day of school. He is now a 2nd grader.
Parker & Hannah.

Parker with his buddy Brigham. This year he didn't want a picture in his classroom. It's sad that he is getting older.

Here they are on the official 1st day of Kindergarten.

Parker, Trevor & Hannah.
Parker & Hannah outside of Hannah's classroom.
Hannah with her BFF Amber.

Hannah at her table. I can't believe she is old enough to be in school & to be there ALL DAY!!!

Both kids are loving school so far this year & I have enjoyed having time at home with Trevor. I'm still waiting to have a day where I have nothing to do so I can relax (like that will ever happen).

Here is Parker with his 3rd missing tooth. When I was a kid I didn't loose my teeth early & Parker has followed that pattern. He has only lost 3 of his bottom teeth & one of them had to be pulled out by the dentist. Here's hoping he won't have to have the rest of his baby teeth pulled out when he is a sophomore in high school like I had to. (not fun )

He's here!!

2010-07-27T16:05:00.000-07:00

Introducing Trevor Gordon Mackey

Born Friday July 16th @ 4:54 am.

He weighed 9 lbs & was 21 1/2 inches long.

Trevor with his Mommy.

Trevor with his Daddy.Parker & Hannah seeing Trevor for the first time.
Their faces are PRICELESS!!

Parker holding Trevor.Such cute brothers.
Looking at how tiny he is.Hannah holding Trevor.
Such a cute Big Sister!
Trevor & Mom
The whole Mackey Family!!

The 3 Mackey kids!
Cute Trevor!
Trevor & Mommy (one of my favorite pics)

Today is the day...

2010-07-15T06:57:00.000-07:00

Today is the big day we've been waiting for for the last 9 months. I am scheduled to be induced today which is the good news the bad part is that I am not scheduled to go to the hospital until 8:00pm. This will surely make for a LONG day.

Last night I was talking to my kids about our plan for this weekend and explaining where they would be going & when they would be able to come up & see the baby & so forth. I wanted to document these cute stories so that I will never forget them.

Parker is too cute! He is my child that is very compassionate & caring. He is very worried about me and kept asking if I would be okay having a baby & told me that he saw on TV that I need to breath so it won't hurt. (not sure what he watched, but it made me laugh) It's different having older kids, He doesn't remember me having Hannah obviously, he was only 2 1/2 yrs old then, but this time he's kind of understanding it. He remembers me in the hospital after my thyroid surgery & doesn't like it. He is worried I will look different. Last night when we were putting him to bed he kept hugging me & saying that he hopes I will be OK & then asked if I needed to take a teddy bear with me to the hospital to help me. I thought it was adorable & let me give me one of his teddy bears to take with me. When Travis went in to say good night I heard him say, "Dad will you make sure mom will be okay?" Travis reassured him. I can't wait for Friday morning when they get to come up to the hospital and see us & the baby!

Hannah is also very worried, but more so about the fact that we still don't have a name picked out for this child. She kept saying, "I hope we get a name for him before he is born." It's funny how they worry about different things. Hannah also gave me one of her teddy bears to take with me.

I don't think any of us realize how much our lives are going to change having this baby. We are excited & can't wait to take on this challenge.

Wish us luck & I'll post an update & pics of our little man as soon as possible.

The Countdown is on

2010-07-08T00:55:00.001-07:00

I went in to the Dr today & found out that I will be induced next Thursday July 15th. I am so excited & nervous at the same time.

It's been over 5 years since I had a baby & I am nervous that I won't know what to do.

We are all getting so excited & can't wait for this week to pass.

Getting ready for Baby!

2010-06-28T10:47:00.000-07:00

Well it's almost July which means that this little boy is about to be born. We have been keeping ourselves busy this summer and are trying to be ready for this baby boy to join our family soon.

In my previous post I mentioned that we painted the boys room. This is a sample of what it looks like.

The stripes were NOT fun to paint, but we did it anyway.

This last weekend I went with a friend of mine who is really into garage sales. I was able to find a crib/changing table/dresser/shelf combo, crib mattress (which was much nicer than the one I have saved from my 2 kids), and a few other fun finds. I really think I could get into garage sales. I was on a HIGH all day. It was a lot of fun.

Here's the crib all set up.
Here's the view of the changing table, dresser, & shelves.

One of my favorite finds was these cute shoes and Levis. The blue shoes were only $0.50 & the New balance ones were only $1.00.

Well as my Due date approaches we are all getting anxious. Hannah was helping me organize clothes and diapers the other day & couldn't believe that the baby was gonna be small enough to fit in them. We are so excited . My last appointment the Dr still says he will induce me a week early so July 15th ish.

I'll keep you updated!!

School is almost over

2010-06-01T12:21:00.001-07:00

Wow I can't believe how long it's been since I posted last. May was a crazy busy month, filled with many activities. Parker finished his first season of soccer & started his first season of T-Ball.

As I mentioned in my previous post I have been working at Lagoon. It hasn't been fun, but will hopefully be worth it when my kids get to enjoy the park all summer long. The best part is I only have 2 days left!!
Travis has been busy with Church & work.

Hannah has been enjoying me working at Lagoon since she gets to spend the time I am working with my Mom.

She so loves her meemaw!!

This past weekend we started a project of getting Parker's room ready for the baby. We are in a mess now but their room is gonna look good. I'll post pics soon of the newly painted room (that is when it's completed) We will be starting our living room next. Only about 6weeks left to get it done.

I'll post more once life settles down!

(if that ever happens)

1 of the reasons I'm Crazy

2010-05-06T15:43:00.001-07:00

I may have lost my mind but I'm going to be working at Lagoon again this year. Luckily this year it is only 10 days and they are spread out over 4 weeks. Still I will officially be 30 weeks pregnant on the 1st day & the thought of standing in the heat and dealing with ornery teenagers for 8 hrs a day doesn't sound like fun.

Why am I doing this again you ask??? It's the guilt! My kids so look forward to Lagoon each year and I'll have to find a way to be Supermom so that they can get it.

This year I will be working on the Spider. This is a ride that I haven't been on for at least 10 years. I hate rides that spin in a circle so I've never been a fan.

Well wish me luck I only have a week left before I have to endure it.
(only 10 days, only 10 days, only 10 days!!!!)

Baby #3

2010-04-19T10:11:00.000-07:00

I have already posted these on facebook, but I wanted them to be on my blog also. I had an ultrasound last Tuesday April 13th. I was 25 weeks 5 days, but was measuring over 27 weeks. Hopefully that means I will get to be induced earlier. Everything checked out well.

I loved these ultrasound pics and wanted to post them here for memory sake. It's amazing how technology has changed since I had a baby last.

We are all getting so excited for July to get here. This little guys is moving all the time and keeping me from getting much sleep. I can't wait to be able to sleep on my stomach again.

My due date is officially July 22nd, but I would love to have him on the 17th.
Parker was born Nov 15th, Hannah April 16th, wouldn't it be cool to have a 17th??
I'll have to talk to my Doc about that soon.

Easter 2010

2010-04-14T08:30:00.000-07:00

This Easter we got together with all of the Mechling Family & had Family pictures taken. Here are some of our favorites.

The Mackey Fam!!
Parker

Hannah
The whole Mechling clan!

L to R: Travis, Melinda, Dad, Kevin, Mom, Shaylee, Shane, Jaycee, Angelee, Janae, Mike

Parker, Hannah, Austin & Spencer

Here's another one.
The original Mechling family.
Janae, Kevin, Melinda & Angelee.
Mom & Dad

The boy cousins Austin, Parker & Spencer.
The girl cousins Shaylee, Hannah & Jaycee.

And last but not least the crazy family pic.

I love my family so much & I am so grateful for each one of them & love them all sooo much!!

What a fun time we had getting these pics taken.

Spring Break

2010-04-09T09:54:00.000-07:00

It was Spring Break for us this week & we started off the week with 5 inches of SNOW. I was so glad that the weather warmed up & we were able to get out of the house & play.

On Thursday we went and bought $1 kites and went to the park to play.

Here's both of the kids flying their kites.

Hannah's kite kept falling down & she was not liking that. Finally we got it up to stay.

Concentrating on the kite.

Hannah's Ariel Kite.

Bringing the kite back in.

Parker was having a blast. He ran around the entire Park with his kite at maximum height. He was loving it.

I love this kid so much!!

Parker's Transformer kite.

Bringing in the kite.
Hannah & Parker with their kites.

We then went over to the playground and had fun.

Parker on the monkey bars.
Hannah posing for the camera.
My little Princess on the slide.
Parker trying to be funny.

We had lots of fun & this makes us so excited for warmer weather.

Minute to win it

2010-03-25T17:42:00.001-07:00

So our family has found a new favorite TV show. 2 Sundays ago we watched this show and loved it. We watched it again this past Sunday & all of us especially Parker are hooked.

The other day we were outside playing & Parker disappeared. A few minutes later he came back with this set up.

A table with paper cups & 3 balloons (just like they do on the show) This game is called "This Blows". You use the air from a balloon that you blow up to knock the cups off the table.

Here is Parker trying to teach Hannah to blow up a balloon.
She couldn't do it so Parker stepped in to help her.

Hannah Trying to knock the cups over.

Parker Successfully knocking the cups off the table. He was just too cute!!

So any given Sunday Evening you know what the Mackey's will be watching. If you haven't watched it yet we highly recommend it.

Best Buddies

2010-03-23T12:50:00.000-07:00

The other night I was upstairs and the kids were downstairs watching TV. I went to see what they were doing & this is what I saw. They were so cute!!!

Both kids snuggling up in a blanket together.

They are the best of friends MOST of the time. I'm so glad they have each other. We are so excited to add another baby boy to our family this summer. It doesn't seem real yet, but I know that I already have 2 little helpers that are counting down the months/days to July.

St Patty's day

2010-03-23T12:41:00.000-07:00

Well as tradition would have it we had our annual Green dinner for St. Patrick's Day. I had a really crazy day so I wasn't very creative.

Green meatballs, Green beans, Green rolls, French fries with Green Salt & Green Soda pop.

Hannah Smiling for the camera. (Parker trying to steal her beans)
Parker wasn't too sure about the food, but loved the beans.

Anyway just thought I'd share one of our traditions. The kids asked when we could have a Red day and have everything Red. I'm sure we'll have to do that soon.

Hannah's new haircut

2010-03-23T12:14:00.000-07:00

Hannah has been begging for a haircut lately. So she asked my sister Janae to cut her hair. I totally forgot to get a before pic, but her hair was getting way long!!

Hannah making faces for the camera.

More faces!!

All of her hair on the ground . (those tiles are 12x12 tiles)
The finished product.

Hannah loves her hair cut. She was so excited to show everyone.

She went to preschool the next day and came home & said, "all my friends said that they loved my hair mom." I said, "good I'm glad." She said, "Everyone said something expect for Ben (a boy in her preschool class), Why didn't he say anything?" I had to explain that boys just don't really care about hair like girls do. She couldn't understand why that was, but I sure had a good laugh.

Me and my Girl!

2010-03-12T09:22:00.000-08:00

So this past week I haven't felt that good, probably a combination of being pregnant & my thyroid levels going a little crazy. Hannah has been such a trooper and endured many long days of doing nothing but staying home. Thanks to my digital babysitter (the TV) she hasn't complained much.

So the other day she said she really wanted to take a picture of both of us together. I don't really like taking pictures but how could I say no.

" Say Cheese"
This is Hannah's favorite pic, with her BIG scared eyes.

The other day I was laying on the couch not feeling well and she came over and rubbed my head. too cute!!

I love my girl Hannah!!

Week of Vacation

2010-03-01T10:31:00.000-08:00

This past week Travis had time off work to celebrate both his birthday (which was 2/14) & my birthday (which is 3/2). We started off by going to Wendover Wednesday night with some of Travis's friends. We stayed at the Nugget Hotel (Thanks Brent & Carissa for the room & dinner). It was fun to spend time with friends and to catch up.

Our room was a suite so it had a HUGE jetted tub & I think I spent most of my time there. It was so relaxing & much needed.

While we were in Wendover my Mom & Dad watched our kids for us. (Thanks!) They always have so much fun there. Here's a few pics of the fun they had.

Playing Dress up.

Playing with Legos.

We got home Thursday afternoon & decided that we should live up the rest of our week since Travis will most likely not have vacation again for several months. So Thursday night we went and saw the movie The Tooth Fairy. The kids thought it was cute & Travis tolerated it.

Then on Friday we went & stayed at the Holiday Inn in West valley. This hotel was fun cause they have an indoor swimming pool that is WAY fun.

Our room.
Picture of the entire swimming area.

This picture shows that the water slide goes outside the building & then back in. Parker & Travis really enjoyed it. They both said it was pretty scary at night as the slide was dark inside until you came back in the building.

Well I know we didn't go anywhere extravagant but we truly enjoyed our local vacation & look forward to doing this type of thing again. What a fun way to spend our week & celebrate our birthdays!!

Pink or Blue???

2010-02-23T15:12:00.001-08:00

Well I had my monthly Dr's apppointment today and the news is that we are most likely having a baby......

BOY

The doctor said he wouldn't bet his life on it, but would surely bet some serious $$ that it is a boy.

We are excited especially Parker who informed me that if the baby was a girl he wouldn't like her at all. I convinced him last night that it would be ok if he had a sister. He is much more excited though today knowing that it's probably a boy.

Who really reads my blog???

2010-02-15T19:37:00.000-08:00

Well I haven't been good at updating my blog the past little while & often wonder if anyone really even reads my blog. I enjoy reading blogs of friends and family & get bothered when they don't update for months at a time. Well now I'm that person that isn't updating my blog. (oops!!)

So I wanted to pass along a little bit of news and happenings at our home lately.

Parker is enjoying being a 1st grader. He loves school & has just recently found a true love of reading. His favorite books right now are the Junie B. Jones (series) & The Magic School bus (series). He can't wait for spring to be here so he can start playing soccer again.

Hannah keeps us busy. She is definitely a girl and has the attitude that goes along with it. She enjoys her dance class every week and preschool 2 X's a week. She's finally been convinced to write her name H-a-n-n-a-h instead of H-A-n-n-A-H. This battle took a while cause she insisted that she needed capital A's in her name just like her friend Amber, luckily we are past that battle for now.

Travis is busy with work and church. In October he was called as the 2nd counselor in the bishopric of our ward. So he is gone most Sundays and Tuesday nights. It's also busy season at where he works so he's been picking up as much overtime as he can fit in. The kids miss him when he's gone, but we all enjoy the bigger paychecks.

I have been busy being a mommy & since Travis's new calling in October I was released as YW president & I now work with the 8 yr old scouts. A much different calling than what I am used to, but I think I'm finally liking it. I've also been dealing with not feeling well & being very tired all the time, but the good news that goes along with that is that we are expecting our 3rd child this July. This will be like starting over since Hannah will start Kindergarten in August. We didn't plan on such a space between our kids, but for those that know my past 2 years weren't really expected either.

Anyways we are all very excited and we find out on Feb 23rd if it's a boy or a girl. Travis refers to the baby as Tie since it will be the tiebreaker.

Well there's an update of what is happening around our home lately. I'll update more next week.

Good Reads!!

2010-01-29T09:44:00.001-08:00

Well I haven't blogged in forever & I totally blame it on the books I've been reading.

In October a friend of mine suggested reading this series. I came home & got on the waiting list at the library & forgot about them.

On Dec. 30th I went to the Library with the kids and they said they had a hold for me that had just come in. They gave me the book & I thought I might read it, but it just doesn't sound like something I would like. Well by Jan 1st I had finished the book & could not stop talking about it. So Travis, who never reads, picked it up and finished it within 2 1/2 days. These books are about 400 pages but so addicting.

So mid January all I could think about was wanting to read the 2nd book. So one day I was on Facebook & noticed that one of my neighbors/friends down the street had just finished the 2nd book. The next time I saw her I asked if she owned it & she offered to let me borrow her book. (Thanks Jessica!!)

So the 2nd book was just as good as the first & I have already pre-ordered my copy of the 3rd book which is coming out in August.

So if you are up for a good read I totally suggest Hunger Games & Catching Fire. You will love them!!

Christmas catch up

2010-01-29T09:15:00.001-08:00

Well I really have been meaning to update my blog with our all of our December & Christmas happenings so here is goes..

In Mid December Hannah had a mini-dance recital. I video recorded the whole thing & only took a few pics but She did such a good job & has really enjoyed dance & all her friends there.

The whole gang!

Amber (Hannah's bff) & Hannah.

So on to our Christmas festivities. Christmas at our house was tons of fun. Here is The letter that Parker wrote to Santa. Kind of hard to read but I wanted to keep a copy of it.

Here's what our Tree & Present loot looked like before the kids woke up.

Christmas Eve we all got new PJ's & also kept our tradition of getting Chinese take-out for dinner. The kids did not want to go to bed & kept stalling. They finally were asleep around 11:30pm. We thought for sure they would be up first thing in the morning to open presents, but Travis & I woke up around 8:00am & they were still asleep. By 8:30 I couldn't stand it anymore and I snuck in there rooms & tried to wake then up & then ran back to my room to pretend I was still sleeping. We were all up about 5 minutes later.

Parker's Favorite gift was his Lego Indiana Jones.
Hannah's favorite was her Barbie Bike.

More present pics!
Christmas day Hugs!! So Cute!!

Travis had the camera so he kept taking pics of me (as you can tell I wasn't loving it.) But this pic does show off my new knife set I got for Christmas.

Travis & Parker playing with the loot.

All in all it was a great Christmas & we were very blessed this year.

Black Friday

2009-11-28T17:30:00.000-08:00

Well for the past several years my Mom, Sister Angelee, & I have been into the whole Black Friday shopping. This year was no different except my Dad also came with us. We woke up at 2:30am so that we could go stand outside of Target. We got there a little after 3:00am & stood in the freezing cold with a whole bunch of other crazies until the store opened at 5:00am.

Mom, Dad, & Angelee.

Mom, Angelee, & Me.

This year we shopped until around 10:30am & then went home and slept for about 3hrs. We then met up the the rest of our siblilngs (Kevin & Janae) & went to see New Moon.

This is the most recent pic I have of Kevin. He always makes me smile!Here's the most recent pic I have of Janae. She is so beautiful dreads and all.

It was so fun to be together just the 6 of us. We went to a really good Thai restaurant that Kevin knew about and had so much fun talking and laughing. I am so thankful especially at this time of year for my family. I love each of my siblings and my parents. I am so thankful that I was sent to this family and get to have them as a part of my life. I truly love them all!!

Parker turned "7"

2009-11-23T06:21:00.000-08:00

Parker turned "7" a week ago and we had a Lego birthday party for him. He was so excited and couldn't wait for his friends to arrive.
Here's my attempt at a Lego cake (don't look too close)

7 boys & Hannah. We played all types of games (this was shoot the Lego villains with silly string) and the boys earned Lego's throughout the party.

Championship Tic-tac-toe with Lego's.
Playing Brick-master says.Cake & Ice cream.

Presents!!

And the last thing we did is have a Lego build-off with all the Lego's they earned throughout the party. It was a fun Party & I know that Parker had a blast & appreciated all his friends and the gifts they brought.

Happy Birthday Parker. WE LOVE YOU!!

Halloween

2009-11-04T09:42:00.001-08:00

Halloween this year was so much fun. In fact so much fun that I totally forgot to take pics of all of us dressed up. The festivities started on Friday when I took Hannah & Parker to Travis's work for some games & trick-or-treating. This is the only picture we have from Halloween which was taken at the work party for us. Hannah was a Ballerina & Parker was a Pirate.

We went to our ward Trunk-or-Treat on Saturday afternoon & then headed out to Hooper to go Trick-or-Treating with my sisters kids. We had lots of fun & got WAY too much candy.

New to us Car

2009-10-20T20:32:00.000-07:00

The past year our car situation has been crazy. Travis takes the bus & or front runner train to work each day so a year ago when his car stopped working we just parked it in the driveway and it's sat there ever since. We have been running as a 1 car family. Which hasn't been that big of a deal, but you have to realize we drive a "KIA" which hasn't been the best car. So the car has many issues and we've put way too much money into it to avoid having a car payment. On October 10th I was leaving for church and my foot slipped off the brake and i didn't realize it until I hurt a not so good sound. The rear passenger door was open & it hit the post on our carport and the door bent the wrong way. We were able to get the door jammed shut, but wasn't easy to remember not to open it. So that mixed with the fact that our mechanic friend told us not to invest anymore in the car, we decided to hunt for a car. Well if you know me, you know I am very CHEAP. I hate spending $$ on stuff and I am always looking for a deal.

I have wanted a bigger car so we started our hunt & ended up purchasing a used Mazda MPV. We love it and it was right in our price range.

Parker and Hannah love this bigger vehicle and think it's great to change seats every time they get in the car.

We are excited to enjoy our new purchase!!

2009-10-10T07:36:00.000-07:00

Marilyn Sue Parker Mackey 1939-2009

Our loving and respected mother and grandmother, 70, returned home to her Heavenly Father on October 8, 2009. Marilyn was born August 29, 1939 to Don Carlos and Susie Marlow Parker. She was raised in Rexburg, ID.

Marilyn was an active member of the LDS church and was sealed to Clark S. Mackey in the Logan LDS temple on May 24,1968.

Marilyn enjoyed spending time with her family and was an avid gardener. She also enjoyed reading and scrapbooking. She will be missed greatly by her family & others who were fortunate enough to know her.

Marilyn is survived by her Husband and all 7 of their children: Curtis, Travis (Melinda K.),Charles (Audra), Dennis (Gina),John, Robert (Melinda S.), & Amanda (Andrew) Belnap. Siblings:Luella, Keith, Carlos, & Elaine, & 7 grandchildren.

Preceded in death by her parents and siblings: Eldon & Jeannine.

Funeral Services will be held Monday October 12,2009, 12:00 noon at the Center Third Ward 1955 W 400 N Salt Lake City. A viewing will be held Sunday evening from 6-7:30pm and Monday morning prior to services from 10:30-11:30am.

Interment Redwood Memorial 6500 S. Redwood Rd. West Jordan.

As a mom

2009-10-05T14:23:00.000-07:00

Throughout my lifetime I have never been into politics, in fact I have always been of the mindset that someone else can figure that all out for me. Well over the past few months I have been trying to inform myself more about our Country, our constitution, and the way government is supposed to be working. I heard about this website that was put together for mom's, grandmothers, daughters, & guardians of our nation's children. (see link on my sidebar) It is dedicated to the 9 Principles & 12 Values. (see below)

The Nine Principles
1. America is good.
2. I believe in God and He is the Center of my Life.
3. I must always try to be a more honest person than I was yesterday.
4. The family is sacred. My spouse and I are the ultimate authority, not the government.
5. If you break the law you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it.
6. I have a right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, but there is no guarantee of equal results.
7. I work hard for what I have and I will share it with who I want to. Government cannot force me to be charitable.
8. It is not un-American for me to disagree with authority or to share my personal opinion.
9. The government works for me. I do not answer to them, they answer to me.

The Twelve Values
1-Honesty
2-Reverence
3-Hope
4-Thrift
5-Humility
6-Charity
7-Sincerity
8-Moderation
9-Hard Work
10-Courage
11-Personal Responsibility
12-Gratitude

It has inspired me to get more informed. I believe that if we want change in our country it starts in the home and who better to get things started than Mom's who want change. Regardless of political party, or views, as women & Mom's we can make a difference.

Ok I'll get off my soapbox now!!

Tooth Fairy visits our home.

2009-10-05T14:11:00.000-07:00

Parker has wanted to lose a tooth for years. All of his friends have lost several teeth and he thought this day would never come. Well on 9/23 Parker finally lost his first tooth. It had been loose for a few days and his new tooth was already coming in behind it so we convinced him to pull it out. We tied a piece of dental floss to the tooth and he pulled it out himself. Being brave.Then he realized it hurt.

and that there was gonna be blood.
Here is his tiny little tooth.

His new smile without the tooth.

He was sure excited for the tooth fairy to come and now he wants to lose more teeth so he can get more $$$$.

Funny things kids say

2009-09-07T21:47:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we were driving down the street and were at a stop light. Hannah who loves to have her window down was right next to a man in a jeep that was puffing away on a cigarette. Hannah in her very LOUD voice yells, "Mommy this man is stinky" of course he looked over at us, but I couldn't help but laugh.

One of the other things that we have tried to talk to our kids about is tattoos. My siblings have tattoos and we have tried to tell our kids that they (the tattoos) are not good for our bodies and that we should not get them cause they hurt our bodies. So the other day we were waiting at the train stop for Travis to come home so we could go to Lagoon. We had 10+ minutes to wait and I started doodling with a pen on my hand. Hannah asked me to draw on her, without thinking about our conversation the previous day on Tattoos, I drew a heart on her arm. She quickly pulled her shirt down to cover it and said, "Don't worry Mom I will hide it from Jesus." I felt awful!! Leave it to a child to put you in your place.

On Labor Day we took a ride up to Logan to visit some of Travis's family. While we were driving the kids were fighting over a toy and we told them they needed to take turns. Parker who was trying to be the peacemaker told Hannah. "You can have it for 5 minutes & then I can have to for 5 minutes." to which Hannah replied, "No I want it for 5 minutes you pick your own number."

Back to school

2009-09-07T21:34:00.000-07:00

School started the end of August & Parker was so excited to be a 1st grader. Of course some of the things he was most excited for was eating lunch at school & getting 3 recesses.

Hannah & Parker posing for the back to school pics.

Hannah's not too happy in this pic.

Parker sitting in his desk on the 1st day.

His class learning where to line up each morning & at recess.

Parker has a great teacher this year. He relates well with the kids and is funny. The kids Love him. I'm excited for this year and all that he will be learning.

So far Parker has enjoyed school, but did tell me that he doesn't like that he can't watch TV in the day anymore. (such a hard life).

Girls camp 2009

2009-09-07T21:15:00.001-07:00

The last week in July I had the opportunity to go with the YW in our ward up to girls camp. We had so much fun!

We went up to some our stakes property "Lyman Lake". It was a LONG drive but so remote & beautiful. There was NO cell service and we were truly "Unplugged" from the world for that week.

Our whole ward on the 1st day when we were still kind of clean. (we had 13 girls and 4 leaders)

The beautiful lake. (that is full of leeches. I actually had 6 of my girls that jumped into the lake. Crazy girls!!)Me with 2 of my girls.

The whole ward in front of our cabin on the 2nd to last day.

We had so much fun & also left feeling the amazing spirit that is always present at girls camp. I've been in YW for almost 3 years and it is so awesome to see these girls grow into women. We made memories that will last forever. To any of them that may read this I have 5 things to say:

1. Nani Wahine

2. Mike & Ike's

3. Muddy Buddies

4. Not an adult day

5. All-nighter

What a great week!!

4th of July

2009-08-28T14:01:00.000-07:00

So I am playing catch up & my pictures take me back to the 4th of July so here it goes!!

To start off our 4th of July weekend Parker needed a haircut. Every time I cut Parker's hair he asks me if he can have a Mohawk. I have said "NO" every other time so I thought I'd let him and the rest of us get some laughs out of it for the holiday weekend.Parker with his newly cut Mohawk. (which for the record only lasted until early Sunday morning)

We celebrated the 4th with the Mechling family and went to the parade in Hooper.Spencer, Austin, & Parker Shane, Angelee, & Sixtine (the foreign exchange student they had with them for the summer)

My Mommy!!

Travis & My Dad
Shaylee is a Cheerleader for RMJH (she is the one in the middle)
Jaycee is a SBO for RMJH (she is the one waving)

Our wacky Mackey family in our Ty-dyed shirts.

Photo shoot

2009-08-01T09:54:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I was in taking a shower and I heard Parker and Hannah playing in the hallway. When I came out of the bathroom I saw that they were having their own little photo shoot in the hallway. I just downloaded all of the pics off my camera today and realized that there was pic's of both of them together. Parker had figured out how to set the timer so they could both be in the pics together. So cute!!!

They really do have so much fun together sometimes.

I just think these pics are so cute!!!

Goodbye!!

2009-07-15T06:26:00.000-07:00

Well it is with much sadness that I have to write this post. This has been a very emotional last few days for our family. On Monday we had to get rid of our dog Dewey. Over the last 1 1/2 years we have had the opportunity of having Dewey and we have had fun. Unfortunately Parker has had allergies and asthma as a result of having the dog and we decided that we needed to rid him of that misery.

I have to say that we have talked about doing this for a while and I didn't think it would be as hard as it has been for me. The house seems emptier now and it's sad to come home and not have Dewey inside waiting to greet us. I know we did the right thing it's just sad to have him gone.

Jan 2008

April 2008
Dec 2008
This kids being silly with the dog for the last time on Monday.

We love you Dewey!! You were a great dog!!!

Wedding Ring

2009-07-10T05:12:00.000-07:00

In order to tell this story I have to give a summary of our week up until this point.

Monday: We got the house put back in order from our crazy weekend & went to the park and had a picnic with some friends.

Tuesday: We woke up early to go and get new brakes put on our car, then went and got the car registered, then I went out to lunch with some good friends of mine while the kids went to my mom's house to be watched by my sister Janae, and then that night I went to a YW activity at the church where we painted a flag for girls camp.

Wednesday: Woke up late, then decided to spend the afternoon at Lagoon with some friends. When we got home we were exhausted so we came down to our cool basement and watched TV until dinner time.

So Late Wednesday night around 10:30 pm I realize that I don't have my wedding ring on. I don't usually take my ring off unless it is to put lotion on my dry hands and then it is usually by my nightstand where the lotion is. So I search the house and can't find it anywhere. My first thought is maybe it fell off at Lagoon. So it's late and I'm tired so i say a prayer that I will find it and go to bed.

Thursday morning I wake up and think that I will try to call Lagoon and see if they have it in their lost and found. I try to call them but it's 9 am and no one is there answering, I start to get breakfast ready for my kids when I have the feeling that I need to go to the church to look for my ring. I thought that was a dumb idea cause I hadn't been there since Tuesday so I brushed it aside. Then the thought came back again and again, so I told the kids to get their shoes on and off to the church we went. We go into the room where I had YW and start looking, we search the floor, tables, both rooms I was in and find nothing. I was about to go check the bathroom when the thought came to check the garbage in that room. So I pulled out the mostly empty garbage can liner and started searching through paper towels, plates with dried paint, old sponge brushes and what do you know MY Wedding RING!!! Wow was I so excited. At this moment I think wow what an answer to prayer. The kids and I get down on our knees and say a prayer of Thanks.

Since yesterday I have been playing this situation over in my head and I just have to say how grateful I am for Prayer, and for the Holy Ghost that helped guide me. It still doesn't make sense as to why it was there, (I don't remember ever taking it off) & I would have never thought to look there on my own. There have been times in my life when I didn't listen to those thoughts or feelings, but I am so thankful that I did this time.

Random things I want to remember

2009-07-01T06:20:00.000-07:00

This post is just random stories that I don't want to forget.

When we were at Disneyland Hannah was full of funny sayings. On the first day we were in line for the Matterhorn, when we got to the front of the line the lady measured to make sure Hannah was tall enough to ride (you have to be 40"& Hannah is about 42"). The worker looked at Hannah & said, "You are 40" you can ride." Then Hannah turned around excitedly & yelled,"Meemaw(that's what they call my mom) I am 40 I'm so excited."

The next day we were over at California Adventure and we were on the Grizzly River Run. We were getting a little wet and Hannah said, "I just can't take this anymore, is it over yet." We all thought it sounded hilarious coming from her.

2 weeks ago we were at Lagoon with Travis's brother, his wife, Travis's sister, & her husband. Travis, Charles, & Andrew all decided that they wanted to go on the Skycoaster. So they paid and were waiting in line. Parker (who is our thrill seeker) was sad that he wasn't going on it. The worker measured him and told him he was tall enough to go on it. So he came over and asked if he could. I told him no, but that if he earned the $15 that it costs to ride it that he could do it another time. He asked what he needed to do and I told him, extra jobs at home, cleaning etc. to which he said, " never mind I don't want to go anymore." Fast forward 4 days later, he is downstairs eating breakfast and spills milk all over the floor. I handed him some paper towels and cleaner to clean up the mess. In the middle of wiping it up he says, "Mom is this earning for that ride?" (Sorry Parker it doesn't work like that, but I got a good laugh out of it.)

So another time at lagoon Parker and I were going on rides. As mentioned before he is a thrill seeker in fact "Wicked" is his favorite ride. So we were on the Colossus and once it was over he said, "Mom, lets make the plan that I decide which ride I like and then we go on it over and over." That is a great plan, however, me and dad can only handle the rides so many times.

We went up to Heber last weekend to go to the Heber Valley Railroad (we had 4 free passes that were about to expire), I had just gotten home from Youth conference, so we were only able to go on the short train ride. So the train in going and gets right at the bottom on a small hill, Parker gets excited and says that he can't wait until it goes up the hill. A minute later the train stops and the Engine switches tracks and the train starts heading back to the station. Parker was not happy about this, he turns to me and says, "Mom I am upset." "Why" I asked? "I wanted that train to go up the hill" he said. "Sorry, I guess it's time for the train to go back." I replied. He looks at me and says, "I am upset and I never want to come on this train again, & if you say we are coming here again I won't come cause it makes me upset." Hey at least he knows how to express himself.

Last night the kids talked up into letting them do a few sparklers in our front yard. Hannah has never done one before, cause she has been too afraid. So I hand her a lit sparkler and she starts waving it around and yells, "Mom, Dad I can't believe I am doing this, I never did this before, I am so excited!"

So that's all I can think of right now.

Our Summer happenings

2009-06-23T15:39:00.000-07:00

Well after a month of no posts I thought it was time to post something.

We have had a ton of fun this summer and it has just started. Of course as you all know we went to Disneyland the first week in June & had so much fun. It kind of feels like a dream, like we never really went.

Now we have the classic pic in front of the Mickey Mouse.

We had our fair share of adventures while we were there. We arrived in CA on Saturday afternoon & Parker (who had started to get a cold on Friday) was not feeling well. Whenever he gets a cold it goes right to his lungs and he gets really bad asthma. Luckily we brought his Nebulizer with us, but not enough medicine. I called my Dr's office Sunday morning and they called a refill in to a local Walgreens & we thought that would do the trick. Well by Sunday night Parker was miserable. He had a fever, cough & woke up around 1am complaining that his ears hurt. So we've never been to CA & don't know where to go so I ask the hotels front desk lady if there is an insta care nearby. She said there is an emergency room near but that their wait time is 4-6 hrs. She then told me about a hotel Dr that would come to our room within 1hr & that if our insurance covers insta care they would be able to reimburse us once we get home. So we called the Dr & he came within 45 min. & sure enough Parker had a double ear infection, (plus he was able to remove a large ball of hardened ear wax) & Pneumonia. Luckily he gave him 2 shots & within 1 hr Parker was bouncing off the walls again, so off the Disneyland we went.

The kids loved the rides.

Posing for pictures with meemaw & mom,

Pictures with Dad.

One of the highlights of course was seeing all the characters and getting their autographs. Hannah was in heaven with all of them. Parker on the other hand did not want any of the girl characters to sign his book or to have his picture taken with them. He's still upset that Snow white signed his book.

Hannah with Tinkerbell.

Parker with Buzzlightyear.

Travis with Goofy.

It was so much fun sharing this experience with my parents. We had so much fun together. I love them so much & can't wait for our next trip somewhere, sometime.

Last but not least our picture in front of the Castle.

Our kids keep asking us when we get to go back. Well probably not soon enough if you ask me. We had our fair share of adventures, but all in all we had so much Fun!!!!

The reason Lagoon hires Teenagers

2009-05-23T12:39:00.000-07:00

Well after 6 long, tiring, days I am officially at the 1/2 way mark at Lagoon. I am not sure why I decided to do this again, you'd think I would have remembered how exhausting, and horrible it was last year and not done it again. I think it's kind of like child birth, once it was over and we got to enjoy the season passes last year I forgot all of the horrible details. Well now that I'm in the middle of it again the details are all to clear. I've come to understand why Lagoon hires teenagers to do these jobs. After 1 1/2 weeks and 6 days down, I am exhausted, my house is a mess, we have no groceries in the house and I just plain hurt. As I mentioned previously, this year 6 of my neighbors are also working there with me. They all HATE it and can't wait for it to be over. Hopefully come June 4th (our last day) We will be glad we did it, who knows it might take another fun filled summer of enjoying our season passes to really appreciate all the aches and pains we are putting ourselves through. All we can say is that we only have 6 days left to endure.

Disneyland!!

2009-05-12T20:38:00.000-07:00

Well with this month being a crazy month and also being our 10th Wedding anniversary, Travis and I decided that we need to take a much needed family vacation in June. I am so excited to say that we are taking our first trip to Disneyland. We are so excited. We have not told the kids yet as we want it to be a surprise at least up until the week before (if possible.) Travis and the kids have never been, & I have only been 1 time when I was 18 & don't really remember much. It's gonna be like going for the 1st time all over again. My mom & Dad are also coming along for all the fun. Anyways, this month is going to be crazy with Lagoon & everything but now we have something to look forward to.

It's what fun is!!

2009-04-30T17:56:00.000-07:00

Well it's almost that time of year again. Last year I heard of an opportunity that Lagoon had for mom's to work there during the week on school days when they bring in field trips for Jr high & High school kids. The only thing that makes it worth it is they pay you a small wage of $7.50/hr, but then at the end of the school days as long as you work all of the days you get

5 season passports.

It works out to be 12 days this year Tuesday-Friday and off by no later that 5:00pm. I didn't think I'd do it again, but this year it will be a lot more fun cause I've convinced about 7 of my neighbors to do it with me. We are gonna have fun!!

This year I will be working on the white roller coaster again, with my friend Angie. We start on May 14th & our last day is June 4th.

My kids already have a count down to June 5th when they will be able to go to Lagoon. So if you will be at Lagoon this summer chances are we might be there as well.

Pink Eye!!

2009-04-30T17:47:00.001-07:00

Well this has been quite the last week. Hannah got sick with a barking cough & fever last thursday and was sick through yesterday. Then Parker came home from school yesterday and said his eyes hurt and that he was sick and needed to go to sleep. He fell asleep for a few hours and woke up with a fever of 101. Then to top it all off I woke up today with PINK EYE! I have NEVER had pink eye so we went to the Dr's to confirm what it was and yes both Parker and I have PINK EYE! Well hopefully we are gonna get rid of this sickness. As a mom it is not fun having your kids sick, but even worse is when you are sick along with them.

Mom's shouldn't be allowed to get sick EVER!

Giveaway

2009-04-22T08:59:00.000-07:00

So I really want to win this, my flat iron is so old and I need a new one!

For more info or to enter the giveaway go to: http://www.wezardyflatirons.blogspot.com/
(But I plan on winning this one so sorry).

My baby is "4"

2009-04-19T23:47:00.000-07:00

Wow how time flies. Hannah turned 4 this last week and I can't believe it. She is growing up so fast. So here's a trip down memory lane.... Hannah was born at 4:18pm on April 16th 2005 weighing 7lbs. 4oz.When they brought her in after her 1st bath I could not get over all of her dark hair.

Our 1st family pic.
Hannah at 3 months old. (I loved the curly hair)
5 months old. This is one of my favorite pics of Hannah as a baby! I love the pigtails!!
7 months old with brother Parker.
Hannah on her 1st birthday!
2nd birthday!!
3rd Birthday!!
4th birthday!!

We love Hannah so much. She has brought alot of fun into our family. She is such a girl and loves anything girly ( barbies, babies, pony's, clothes, shoes, etc.) She is so smart and is learning so quickly. She has a great memory & an imagination that keeps us laughing. She is a great sister to Parker and they play very well together (most of the time).

We want her to know how much we love her and how grateful we are to be her parents.

Haircut

2009-04-01T09:11:00.000-07:00

Hannah has been telling me for months that she needs a haircut and that Janae needed to do it. On Sunday afternoon we went to my mom's house and Janae was there to cut Hannah's hair. She told Janae that she wanted a princess haircut.

Here's one of the only before pics I took.
The princess cut in progress. (That is my brother Kevin in the background)
All the hair that was cut off. Drying the hair

Janae & Hannah after the princess cut was done. (So Cute!!!)

Thanks Janae you are so good at what you do.

WE LOVE YOU!!!!

Camera fun!!

2009-03-26T14:18:00.000-07:00

Parker and Hannah love to get a hold of my camera and take as many pictures as they can. The other day while I was busy doing something they were busy taking silly pic's of each other. I didn't even know they had done this until I uploaded my pictures onto the computer. I thought they were cute so enjoy!!

Hannah pulling a silly face.
Parker being crazy!Another silly face!

I'm not sure what this one is supposed to be???
Such a poser!

Oh how cute!!!

I do have to say that I love how much my kids have fun together. They do know how to bother each other too, but they are so cute when they are playing together for hours.

Zoo day

2009-03-17T09:43:00.000-07:00

Well this blog is way late but oh well we had fun so we are posting it anyway. On Feb 25th we along with lots of others took advantage of Free Zoo Day at the Hogle Zoo. We went with Hannah's preschool group. We went in the afternoon so Parker was home from school & got to come with us.

Hannah & Parker sporting their Tiger Ears ( The preschool teacher for this week made cute headband ears for all the kids)

about 1/2 the group, I never got a compete picture of everyone.

Of course we went on the Carousel.

There's Parker's back. ( The best pic I got of him on the Carousel)

Hannah on the Giant Elephant Statue. (she is plugging her ears, cause it makes noise & it was kind of scaring her)

Parker relaxing on the Elephant statue.
Our Favorite Animal was the Elephant.

Hannah & Amber looking at some other animals.

Parker looking at something.

We had a great time and the weather was also very nice for that time of year. Right after we got in the car to leave it started raining, luckily for us we were safe in our cars and heading home by then.

NO more sickness allowed!!

2009-03-17T09:34:00.000-07:00

Well this past week has been full of each one of us being quite sick. Travis Started off the week home from work sick on Monday 3/9. Then early Thursday Morning Parker & I got really sick. We both had fevers, runny nose, cough (Yuck). By Sunday I was feeling much bettter thanks to good medicine, but Parker still wasn't so we took him in to the Dr's & he's been on 3 different prescriptions now & is finally back to school today. Meanwhile Hannah woke up Sunday morning with a Croup cough. She still doesn't have much of a voice today & we are hoping she feels better by tomorrow. Needless to say we are DONE with being sick. If there was a way to boycott getting sick I would do it.

I turned "30"!!!

2009-03-09T18:58:00.000-07:00

I remember back 10 year ago I thought that 30 was so far off. Well on March 2nd I officially turned "30" (ahhhhhhh).

Travis for the past few years takes all of our birthday's off work. So on that Monday morning we woke up and he had a surprise in store for me. He had gone online & reserved tickets for us to attend the taping of Good Things Utah (a local talk show that I like to watch). I even had my first Television apprearance that day. It was fun & funny cuz Travis was the only Man there.

After the show we went up and had our picture taken with the Hosts of the show. One of them even said to Travis, "Wow, you came to the girly show?"

When we went to pick up the kids from being watched by my friend, she and a few other friends were inside her house and surprised me with balloons, birthday hats, & Chocolate covered Strawberries (my fav!)

Here's Parker and Brigham sporting the Birthday hats!

We spent the rest of the day together as a family & had fun. I received many thoughtful gifts from friends and family. I dreaded this birthday for some reason, but It's been ok being 30 (so far).

Thanks to everyone for making "30'" a great birthday for me.

I love technology

2009-02-24T22:34:00.000-08:00

So on Valentines day Travis lost his wedding ring. Here's how it all happened... Travis had just put his wedding ring in his shirt pocket so that he could put lotion on his hands and then walked across the street to the neighbors house to get Parker who was sledding in their front yard. Travis being the grown child that he is decided that he too wanted to sled down this mini hill, so he took the sled & went down to hill. He came home and we were getting ready to go out to dinner for his birthday/Valentines day & he realized his wedding ring was missing. He quickly retraced all of his steps and realized the ring must have fallen out of his pocket in the neighbors yard. We went over to look for it & couldn't find it anywhere. So we left with intentions to come back & look the next day. Well 3 days after this we had the HUGEST snow storm here in Layton & got about 5+ inches of new snow.

So everyday we'd go over to look through the snow to try and find his ring, but we haven't had any luck.

Today one of our other neighbors who heard about our loss came over with his metal detector & believe it or not within no more than 5 minutes we found his Ring!!

So to that I have to say:

I love technology, but not as much as you, you see... But I STILL love technology... Always and forever. ...

Happy Birthday Travis!!

2009-02-13T17:24:00.000-08:00

Well many of you may not know that Travis is a Valentines Baby. When we first got married Travis informed me that his Birthday 2/14 overrides any national holiday and that we didn't get a valentines. Of course he was kidding and has always done an amazing job of making me feel loved on Valentines.
Thanks for being my best Friend & Husband!
For being the best DAD!!

For always making us laugh!!
For being a good sport & always having fun!!
I just want to take this opportunity to say,
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TRAVIS"
I love you so much & agree that you are more important than any national holiday to us.

Valentine cookies

2009-02-13T16:54:00.000-08:00

Earlier this week the kids & I decided since Valentines is almost here that we should make our annual Valentine sugar cookies. We had one of Parker's friends (Levi) over at our house & made our cookies. We have a ton of cookie cutters and the kids decided that we didn't need just hearts.

Levi, Parker & Hannah

The two pics above were taken by Parker & I just thought it was funny how it looks like I was cut in half, while rolling out sugar cookies.

We had snowmen, gingerbreadmen, Superman, Bats, pumpkins, arrows, Icecream cones & I managed to get at least 3 hearts.

Thanks Levi for sharing in our cookie making fun!!

Kids say the funniest things

2009-01-26T22:20:00.000-08:00

So today we had a sick day at the Mackey house. Both Parker & Hannah were not feeling well today so for most of the day we lounged around and watched movies.

Parker on one end of the couch,

Hannah on the other.

By mid afternoon the kids got a burst of energy and they were playing upstairs. I heard the funniest conversation and it went like this:

Parker: "Hannah are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Hannah: "YES" (yelling and following after Parker)

About a minute later I hear:

Hannah: "What are we thinking Parker?"

I was laughing so hard. I love that my kids play very well together, sure they can also fight well, but when they are playing together it is the cutest thing ever.

Rollercoaster

2009-01-15T16:21:00.000-08:00

This post is just a vent that I need to get out. I'm not doing this for sympathy but for my own sanity. So those that read this blog know that I had Thyroid cancer and had my thyroid removed in October. So I thought that this whole process was over, my scar is healing up nice the radiation is all gone, but little did I know it's not. Since the radiation I have been taking Synthroid (a thyroid hormone that I will be on for the rest of my life.) I thought all I had to do was get on the medicine and everything would go back to normal. Little did I know! I've been on a roller coaster and as I've just been informed it's not over yet and probably won't be for a while. I pretty much feel like CRAP! I am exhausted beyond control, my emotions are all over the place, my body aches, my house has NEVER been this disgustingly dirty & my poor husband and kids.

All I can do is endure & it probably won't be fun but what else can I do?

I do need to tell my wonderful husband how much I love and appreciate him. I'm sure he dreads coming home to our messy house and our simple dinners (mac & cheese, sandwiches, etc), but he never complains. In fact if it wasn't for him we wouldn't have had clean clothes over the last 2 months. He is an amazing Dad, Husband and Provider for our family.

Travis I'm sorry for everything and hopefully you'll get your wife back soon. I LOVE YOU!!

Snow Fun!

2009-01-08T22:44:00.000-08:00

Well since we have had so many snow storms and we don't have a snow blower we've managed to make this huge snow mountain in our front yard. Parker has named this mountain, "Mount Moody" (we don't know why??)
Today since it was a rather nice day he had 2 of his friends over to play in the snow and they were trying to sled down our little mountain. They had fun, Hannah tried to join in but after getting snow in her face a few times decided it wasn't that much fun, and came back inside.

Climbing "Mt. Moody"

They decided that they wanted to build an igloo & got all of our shovels out.Sledding down the hill.
Parker, Levi & Brigham inside our mini igloo.

Happy Hannah:) Sad Hannah:(

Later tonight Travis and I were downstairs and we went to check on the kids. Parker had found a container of 50 Glow in the dark bracelets and activated all of them. He thought it would be fun to decorate themselves. They had so much fun.

Here they are all decked out in the bracelets.

Here's Parker in the dark.Here's Hannah in the dark.
Here they both are, Hannah decided to twirl as I took the pic, I thought it looked kind of neat!

Christmas 2008

2009-01-02T10:32:00.001-08:00

Well it's a little late but I have to document our Christmas. We were very blessed this year and had an amazing Christmas.

Here's what it looked like once Santa Claus came to our house.
Parker got Transformer's from Santa.
Hannah got Barbies from Santa.
Parker also got a marble race track.

Hannah also got a Barbie car and from Meemaw she got a Barbie House & 2 more Barbies (I forgot to take a pic of that)
Here's a pic of all 3 kids playing!
Family pic!
Parker's favorite gift was from Meemaw. He got this Robot named Tri-bot. He is a pretty cool toy.

So as I mentioned before we were very blessed this Christmas and we feel very loved and cared for. Thanks to our families for helping make this a great Christmas.

Christmas concert

2008-12-15T20:13:00.000-08:00

Parker participated in his elementary annual Christmas program this past weekend. Each grade performed 2 songs. It was cute, but very loud (the audience was louder than the performance.) Parker loves to sing and has been practicing for weeks around the house.

Parker is the 4th one from the left on the top row.

This was the finale where they had the whole school sing.

I almost got him to look at me.

Later that night we went over to see the lights near the Layton city offices. They decorate 100's of figures and have 1000's of lights. The kids loved it.

Parker's favorite was the spider and spider web.

Snake

Moose

Hannah's favorite was the Mermaid (Ariel is what she called it.)

Parker and Hannah.

(I swear one of these days I WILL get a picture of both of them looking at the camera & smiling)

Is It Okay to Flush??

2008-12-06T16:25:00.001-08:00

So as I stated in my last post we have had some major plumbing issues. I guess one of the joys of having an older home is that things have to be fixed and brought up to date. Over the last months we have had our sewer back up into our laundry room a couple of times. Luckily when it happened the first few times we were there and could keep it from getting onto the carpet in our basement. If we put the liquid plumber foaming snake in, it would fix it and we were good for about a week or so. So last Sunday it did it again but this time it backed up enough to get the perimeter of our carpet wet. So Travis went to get the liquid plumber but this time it didn't work.
So Monday we called a rotor rooter company and they came out to do their thing. The man then sent in a camera to have a look at our pipes and said that we have orange burg pipes. Orange burg pipe is actually a kind of tar paper that's rolled up about 10 layers thick to create a tube. It was used as the sewer pipe that runs from the house to the street in the early 60's when our house was built. The rooter guy said we needed to replace our pipes and quoted us a price of $6,870. I was like WHAT????? Of course with all that I've been through lately the first thing I did once he left was CRY. So Travis called Rod, a friend in our ward, who is a general contractor and asked him for suggestions. To make a long story short he was able to find a friend, Cory,who has a excavator and said that they would dig the hole & Travis's brother is in school to become a plumber so he could do the work.
So yesterday Rod & Cory got here first thing in the morning and began digging up the old pipe. They had the hole dug and then said why don't we just fix it. So within less than 7hrs they dug the hole, replaced the pipe & buried the hole up again & get this the bill will be less than 1/10th of the original bid.

Here's a pic of all the dirt. The excavator in action.

The new pipe.

Connecting to our house.

So while the old pipe was being taken out I told Parker and Hannah that they could not use the sinks, or toilet or anything that drains. I was downstairs and Parker kept asking me questions like, "can we use the sink in the kitchen? bathroom? bathtub? both toilets?" I said"No" to all of them and then later realized that he was asking me because he was putting Yellow post-it notes on everything with the word "NO" written on it to remind us not to use things.

Kitchen sink
Downstairs bathroom

I thought it was funny. Later that night when everything was done he asked, "Is it OK to flush now?"

I just have to say that even though it feels like we have been overwhelmed with our share of trials lately we have also been very blessed. How amazing to have friends and neighbors who are willing to take time out of their lives to help us when we are in need. It has totally strengthened my testimony & has made us really appreciate all that we have.

Tagged Again!!!

2008-12-01T09:14:00.000-08:00

8 Shows I Watch:
1. The Amazing Race
2. Prison Break
3. Hells Kitchen
4. Law & Order (any of them, SVU, CI)
5. Survivor
6. The Office
7. Without a Trace
8. The Biggest Loser

8 Restaurants That I Like To Eat At:
1. Olive Garden
2. Wendy's
3. Applebee's
4. Subway
5. Chili's
6. Garcia's
7. Red Robin
8. Rumbi

8 Things I Did Today:
1. Took Parker to school
2. Fed Hannah Breakfast
3. Posted this blog.
4. Ate breakfast
5. took medicine (I have an awful cold)
6. Called a plumber (We are having some major plumbing issues)
7. Pick up Kindergarten carpool (In 1 Hr)
8. Fed the Dog

8 Things I Am Looking Forward To:
1. Getting rid of this cold
2. Having our plumbing problems fixed
3. Christmas
4. Feeling better
5. lunch with some girl friends tomorrow
6. 10 yr Anniversary in May
7. Watching my kids grow & Learn
8. Summer vacation next year

8 Things On My Wish List:
1. Money
2. Good health
3. Being debt free
4. Getting a new car
5. Continued employment for Travis
6. Fun summer vacation next year
7. have a bigger house
8. a good family picture

8 People I Tag:
Anyone who hasn't blogged in a while and needs something to post.

Tagged

2008-11-24T20:04:00.000-08:00

Thanks Samantha for the tag!

I can honestly say I've never been tagged, but I always enjoy reading what others have written about themselves.

So here goes nothing

10 Years ago I. . . .
1. Was dating Travis (Thanksgiving day 10 yrs ago was the day Travis asked my parents if he could marry me)
2. Was waiting for Travis is pop the question.
3. Was working full time
4. Attending SLCC.
5. Living with a crazy roommate.

5 Things on Today's "To Do" List:
1. Cut my coupons. (I'm a little obsessed, I get 5 copies of the Sunday paper each week just for the coupons)
2. De-Junk Parker's room, We have to get ready for Christmas.
3. Pick up Kindergarten carpool
4. Make dinner.
5. Do laundry.

5 Snacks I Enjoy:
1. Popcorn (home style by pop secret)
2. Grapes
3. Wheat thins
4. Diet Pepsi
5. String Cheese

5 Things I would do if I were a Millionaire:
1. Save for retirement, kids college, etc.
2. Buy my dream house.
3. Give to charity.
4. Help out family.
5. Go back to school.

5 Places I Have Lived:
1. West Jordan, Utah
2. Sugarhouse, Utah
3. Taylorsville, Utah (2 different locations)
4. Holladay, Utah
5. Layton, Utah

5 Jobs that I have had:
1. Daycare @ Lady Fitness
2. Cashier & Line worker @ Hometown Buffet (my least favorite)
3. Customer Service (Directv)
4. Collections Rep (GE Capital)
5. Stay at home mom.

5 People I tag:
1. Marlee
2. Jamie
3. Devon
4. Shaylee
5. Mom

On the mend

2008-11-22T22:11:00.000-08:00

Well I guess I should update and let everyone know how life is going. The Radio-Active Iodine(RAI) was given to me on Tuesday Nov 11th and I stayed in my mom's basement bedroom for 6 long days & 5 long nights. Some would think that alone time would be nice and fun, but I'm kind of a needy person (at least I can admit it) and like to have my husband around and I totally missed my kids. Travis came and saw me Tuesday-Thursday after work. He had to stay 7 ft away from me. Then he went and got the kids on Friday night and I didn't get to see him or the kids until I finally came home late Sunday night.

You learn a lot of things about yourself when you can't really be around anyone else. I must say I got very good at coloring, I decided I don't really like crossword puzzles, watched all the sappy chick flicks I could handle, read many magazines/books, and prayed alot. I know that I grew as a person during that week and have tried to apply some of the lessons I learned to my life since coming home.

I was warned ahead of time from the Dr's & other people who have been through this same process that the RAI would make me feel very sick and drained. I didn't feel as bad as I thought which I guess was a good thing. In fact when I went back in on Nov 18th for a body scan I asked to radiology tech if they really gave me the RAI because I didn't feel any worse than I had been feeling. She confirmed that I did get it and the remnants were still in my body.

So for now I am just waiting for the thyroid hormones to take effect. They say it will take about 3 weeks for them to really start working and then I will have to have some blood work done to make sure they are giving me the right amount. It is amazing how much your thyroid controls. I am FREEZING all the time, I have absolutely no energy, and feel like I've been beat up. I can't wait for the medicine to take that all away (Hopefully)

So there is the boring update. Thanks again to everyone for the phone calls, emails, comments, and words of encouragement. I know that I have been very blessed throughout this whole experience.

Parker is "6"

2008-11-17T08:38:00.000-08:00

Well since I wasn't home this weekend to celebrate Parker's Birthday I thought it would be fun to reminisce about when Parker was born.

November 14th 2002 started much like every other day. I was 3 days overdue and so wanted this to be the day that I would have my baby. I had a midweek RS activity at the church that day and went and didn't stop all day. Someones kid would spill and I was the one to hurry and clean it up. I got home that afternoon around 1 or 2 pm & thought I was exhausted so I would lay down for a nap. After about 20 minutes I realized I wasn't going to sleep and got up. I got online paid all the bills that were due later that month, went to the store to buy last minute things & got home around 5:30 when Travis came home. I was exhausted & hungry. Travis decided we should go get some dinner. I went in to go to the bathroom before we were gonna leave. I was walking back from the bathroom when my water broke in the hallway of our apartment at about 6:45pm. I quickly realized it was time, but had to stop to shave my legs before heading to the hospital. (It was November and I hadn't shaved in at least a week) We arrived at the hospital around 7:30 pm and the contractions were coming quick and very strong. We went to check in and the hospital was RETARDED they wouldn't admit me to a room because I didn't have my insurance card with me (even though I had pre-registered the day before) I had my Dad come to the hospital to get our keys so he could go get my purse. The hospital had me sit in a rocking chair in the hallway until they knew my dad was on his way back. They finally admit me to a room and by now I'm dilated to a 7 and things are going quickly. ( The problem with that is that I was group B strep + and needed antibiotic to treat that while I was labor and as it would turn out I didn't get enough antibiotics in me before Parker was born.) By 11:30pm I was fully dilated and ready to start pushing. I pushed for almost 2 hrs and Parker was born November 15th 2002 @ 2:18am

(not sure of the weight & height at birth, it's an even longer story....)

When Parker was born he was very sick and was rushed off to the nursery before we could see him, but they didn't tell Travis and I anything. We just thought they took him to clean him up. Travis went out to talk to my family and tell them that he was born and they were all crying. They had been in the hallway and had heard the Dr's talking about how sick he was and that he would be sent via Life flight to Primary Children's Hospital ASAP.

This was the first time I saw Parker in the incubator ready to be sent to PCMC.

This was the 2nd time I got to see him. The hospital temp released me to go visit him.
This was when he was 5 days old and finally off the ventilator.

This was about day 10.

Parker remained at PCMC for 2 weeks and was released on Thanksgiving day. The day before Parker was released they performed the newborn hearing screen and he failed. They did a more extensive hearing test and we were told that Parker was Deaf and would never hear. They attributed the hearing loss to the medicine that he had been on to get rid of the infection/save his life. That was hard to take and took a while to really sink in. This was at about 1 1/2 months old.

Our little Man!

Parker started wearing hearing aids at 3 1/2 months old. His hearing fluctuated from Bad to good for the first year of his life. Trying to get a baby to wear hearing aids was very difficult and some days even weeks we were unsuccessful. Parker learned to sign and that was our main way of communication for a while. But Parker loved music and wanted to talk and was always rambling on and on.

So Cute!!

Parker age 2 1/2 meeting his sister Hannah for the first time.

Parker has always loved his sister and has been very protective of her.

When Parker was about 3 years old his hearing stopped fluctuating and he started wearing his hearing aids all the time (FINALLY) He has a mild sloping to profound hearing loss in both ears. He picked up on speech very quickly and doesn't sign much anymore. Don't let him fool you he still has a rather large sign vocab but prefers to talk.

Parker loves anything superhero.

Parker is very creative and has a very big heart. He loves school and learning and is very smart. Parker is very in tune with his feelings and it is amazing to see him grow.

I had parent teacher conference a week ago and Parker is doing very well in school. He is right at grade level and does amazingly well. The one thing his teacher said he needs to work on is that he can be very LOUD at times. (We are still working on that one, how do you explain to a child that he is being too loud when he doesn't hear exactly how LOUD he is??)

I just want to take this opportunity to tell Parker Happy 6th Birthday! I am so glad that I get the opportunity to be your mom. I can't even imagine my life without you.

I Love You!!!!

Caution!

2008-11-10T14:37:00.000-08:00

Well I guess I should update what is going on. I will be going in for a dose of Radio-Active Iodine tomorrow afternoon. Then I will have to stay in isolation (my mom's basement) for 1 week. That is going to be the toughest part. I have to stay 6-10 ft away from people for 5-7 days. My kids will be going up to Pocatello to stay with Travis's Brother Robert & his family. Anyways I am so behind on posting and I will catch up someday.

School Halloween Carnival

2008-10-30T15:48:00.000-07:00

So this past Saturday was Parker's elementary school's Halloween carnival. Since this whole school thing is new to us we didn't know that the kids were supposed to come dressed in their costumes. We found out 2 days before but the bad part is that I've kind of had a crazy month & I couldn't find a Halloween costume for Parker. He wanted to be a Capt. Jack Pirate (he was very specific this year.) So I ordered the costume online & it didn't get here until this week. So I had to make up a costume last Saturday for the carnival. He was a Vampire/Dracula and wasn't loving it. Here's our Cute little Hannah Pirate & Scary Vampire.

Posing in front of our house.

We got the Capt. Jack costume this week so that's what he will be tomorrow for Halloween. I'll post pic's of all of us. We are all being pirates this year. (that is if I can convince Travis to join in on the fun, he's being a poor sport.)

Creative kids!

2008-10-30T15:41:00.000-07:00

So the other day I couldn't figure out what Parker was doing. He was being way to quiet for way to long. I found him in the living room with about 50 Twisty-ties and he said he was making a mask.

Parker working so intently.

This mask of "twisty-ties" went all the way around his head, & looked kind of like glasses. He thought it was quite neat.

Dairy Farm

2008-10-23T11:27:00.000-07:00

Today I went with Hannah and her preschool class on a field trip to a dairy farm. It was more fun than I thought it would be. It was very STINKY, but it was amazing to see all the cows at their varying ages, 1day old to 12yrs old. The new little baby cows were so cute. If you put your hand near them they would suck on it like a binkie, it felt weird but of course I had to try it. Hannah wouldn't do it though, but she loved all the cows.

Amber & Hannah
Hannah looking at all the cows.,

These were some of the baby cows.

All the kids. (This is 2 neighborhood preschool groups combined.)

The milking room.

Hannah loved to pet the cows.

Updates!!

2008-10-14T20:43:00.000-07:00

Well here is a brief update since surgery. I went in on Friday at 8:00am & they wheeled my away to surgery at about 9am. Travis didn't hear anything till a little after 12:00. Surgery went well & I was admitted to the hospital to keep watch on my calcium levels. I was in quite a bit of pain this day & was loving the pain meds & slept a lot. Saturday was a better day, I was still in a lot of pain but was able to get up and walk around, shower and feel somewhat better, but still had low calcium levels. Sunday I was hoping to be told I could go home but my calcium levels still were too low. I have to share a few pics that were taken Sunday.

!!WARNING!! they are kind of yucky!!

This shows the incision/Drain that was in my neck.
Here is a closer view. (it really hurt)

I had to throw in this pic that Travis took as he left our house Sunday morning to come up to the hospital. Yes we had the hugest snowstorm on OCTOBER 12th.

So by Sunday night my calcium levels weren't great but the Doctor released me from the hospital at 9pm & told me to come back to get my blood checked again on Monday. Monday was the worst day yet. I couldn't keep anything down food, water, pain meds, NOTHING! I was miserable & to top it off so was my calcium levels. So today I went in again to get my calcium checked & the Dr was able to take the drain out of my neck

The long white part (which measured about 5 in.) was in my neck. It feels much better to get that out. But here I sit 9:00pm and I just received a call from my Dr. & my calcium levels are still not good. I have to go in again tomorrow. (When I talk about getting my calcium levels being checked it means having blood drawn, which anyone that knows me knows I hate needles. I hate needles even more after this week. Having surgery+IV's+ my calcium levels have been checked at least 2x's a day=Lots of needles.)

So hopefully the worst part is over. Thanks again to everyone for your words of support, your prayers, your meals, flowers, phone calls, emails, messages, everything. I truly have been blessed.

Nervous!!

2008-10-09T05:57:00.000-07:00

So I am getting really nervous for my surgery tomorrow. I haven't been sleeping very well this past week. Those that know me know that I am not a morning person & I love my sleep. Well I've been up since 5:30 this morning. So far I've changed my blog background 5-6 times and looked at anyone & everyone's blogs. I've looked at blogs of people that I don't even know. So I find out this afternoon what time my surgery will be. Now the key is to keep myself busy until tomorrow. I have a ton of things to do today so hopefully I will be successful at forgetting about being nervous.

Well wish me luck! I'll update when I get home from the hospital, which could be as late as next Tuesday or Wednesday.

Now I know my ABC's

2008-10-01T16:15:00.000-07:00

So I have to write the funniest thing down so I won't forget it. So as previously posted Hannah started preschool in Sept. & is loving it. Both of our kids definitely got their memories from their mommy. So after the first day of school she had all the songs memorized and has been singing nonstop. Her favorite song is the days of the week & of course her ABC's. Both of our kids love to sing so years ago I taught Parker how to spell his name using a song. So the other day I attempted to teach Hannah the same song using her name. She said I was spelling it wrong and went on to say it's spelled, "H-A-N-N-O-P" I couldn't help but laugh cuz I thought that was the cutest thing ever.

Hannah playing in her dress-ups

Surgery date scheduled

2008-09-30T12:11:00.000-07:00

Well I went to the Surgeon today & Both nodules are Malignant. He said that the one on the right is the size of a ping pong ball & the other is the size of a olive or a grape. I will be having a total Thyroidectomy on October 10th. It is an inpatient surgery and I will have to stay anywhere from 1-5 days depending on how well my body is handling the situation. About 4 weeks after the surgery I will have to have a radiation treatment. I don't have alot of details on that because I will have to go to a different Dr. for that procedure.

So that's the situation. At least I now have a date and kind of know what to expect. So life as usual for another 1 1/2 weeks I guess.

Thanks again for all the emails, posts, & prayers. It means alot to me and my family that there are so many people thinking about & praying for us. Our lives truly have been blessed & will continue to be blessed. THANKS!!!

The results are in....

2008-09-28T15:49:00.000-07:00

This is a report of the last week.

Wednesday was the day of the biopsy. So I go to the hospital and get taken back to the radiology department/ultrasound room. The tech comes in and explains the process and we get started. They gave me a few shots to numb my neck and then using a needle went into the nodules. They used 3 needles for each nodule. They didn't just stick the needle in, they jabbed it in and out 4-5 times per needle. The worst part was that in order to do the biopsy they had to also do an ultrasound at the same time to see where to put the needle. So not only could I feel the pressure but I could see the needle inside of me at the same time. The lab guy was in the room and after each needle would take the sample to prepare the slides to be read. The process only took about 30 minutes but felt like FOREVER! My neck and throat have been sore ever since.

Thursday-waiting, waiting, waiting....

Friday -I received a call from my Dr. and was told that the nodules were Malignant. I have papillary thyroid cancer. The weirdest part of the whole thing is that I haven't gotten emotional over this. (not yet at least). After I had the original ultrasound I was scared and didn't know what to expect. I had my dad & Travis give me a blessing. After the blessing I really felt like this would be the outcome. So far I am at peace with the diagnosis, but still there is alot of unknown. I meet with a surgeon on Tuesday morning and will know more then. Travis and I decided we needed alone adult time and we got a babysitter and went to dinner. It was good to have a break for a minute and really talk to each other about the situation. We still have so many questions and hopefully Tuesday we will have answers.

Saturday- I went Women's conference with my mom and Angelee. Afterwards we met up with Janae and we all went out the dinner. We haven't had a girl day like this in months. It was so much fun to be with my family and just have fun.

Sunday-I will be going to church in about an hour and I can't believe how fast word gets around this ward. My phone has been ringing off the hook and everyone seems to know my situation. I still haven't cried over the whole thing. Maybe I'm in denial or maybe as my sister Angelee put it, Heavenly Father is helping me stay strong, either way I still feel okay about the situation/diagnosis.
I'm really anxious for my appointment on Tuesday and will hopefully get all my questions answered and know more of what to expect. Anyway I will update again after my appointment on Tuesday.
Thanks again for all the love and support!!

Curly Hair!!

2008-09-23T11:28:00.001-07:00

Well last night I decided to put Hannah's hair in sponge curlers. I'm usually not that ambitious especially late at night when I'm ready for the kids to be in bed.

Parker thought Hannah's hair looked quite cool.
Hannah not too sure about all the "bumpy things" as she called them.
We took them out this morning & this is what we saw.
After we tried to style it.

Hannah loved her curly hair today. She already told me that we can do it again tonight.

Thanks!

2008-09-22T12:29:00.000-07:00

Well I just need to say thank you to everyone that has responded and the out pouring of love that I have felt from so many. I feel lucky to have such great family & friends. I will get through the trials ahead and I know that is because of the great support that I have. Thanks!!

Expressing my feelings.

2008-09-19T15:48:00.000-07:00

So this post has taken me a long time to write. I never thought I was the kind of person that kept things inside, and didn't know how to express my feelings. Usually I confront things before they become an issue, but over the past 2 weeks I haven't known how to express my feelings on a particular situation. So since I think of the whole blogging thing as a form of Journal I thought no better way to get a few things off my mind.

In November of 2007 I had a miscarriage, when I was 10 weeks pregnant. I didn't want anyone to know that I had a miscarriage so I just kept it inside. (I told family of course) Since then I have been unsuccessful in getting pregnant, so two weeks ago I finally went to talk to my Dr. When I was there he did the routine yearly exam and felt that I had a lump (Nodule) on my thyroid. He informed me that this could have been the cause of the miscarriage & why I haven't been able to get pregnant. He suggested that I go the hospital to have a ultrasound done of my thyroid.

Last Friday I went in and they did the ultrasound. It was weird, they used the ultrasound wand on my neck. They said the Radiologist would would review the results and get back to me. So this past Tuesday I got a call from my Dr's office and they said that they found a large nodule on the right side of my Thyroid and a smaller nodule on the left side. The nurse then said that they need me to go in and have a Fine Needle Biopsy done to rule out cancer.

Now I just sit and wait. The appointment for the Biopsy is scheduled for next Wednesday, and the results from that will take a few more days.

This is where I'm having issues. I hate the unknown. I hate waiting for something that I'm not excited for. I also am not sure how to express my feelings. This past week this is all I can think about, so much that I totally forgot a visiting teaching appointment that I made.

Anyway I needed to get my feelings out and maybe this will help me get it out of my mind enough that I will be able to have a good weekend.
Thanks for listening!!

Preschool

2008-09-11T15:45:00.001-07:00

My baby girl is in preschool. It seems like just yesterday Hannah was born now she's 3 years old and just started preschool this week. She is in a neighborhood preschool with 3 other kids (all 3yr olds) and the mom's all take turns teaching.

Hannah & Parker ready for school.
Hannah showing off her princess backpack.
The kids all have little chairs that they bring to school. Hannah's is all decorated with princess and my little pony stickers.
Hannah with her bestest little friend Amber.
Getting ready for class to begin.

Well the first week of preschool went well. Every night Hannah says she has homework and gets out some paper and writes the letter "H" over and over. I've tried explaining that her name has other letters, but she insists that her name is just the letter "H."

Labor Day

2008-09-04T10:26:00.000-07:00

Well I know this is late but over Labor Day weekend we went up to Pocatello ID to spend time with the Mackey Family. We stayed at Travis's brother Robert's house. It was fun to spend time with the Mackey's since it's a rare occasion that everyone gets together. Everyone was there except for Travis's brother Curtis & his wife. On Saturday we all went bowling. I forgot my camera so here's a few pics I took on my phone.

Had to get a pic of us for proof that we were there.

Mandy, Andrew & Audra

Amanda, Melinda & Robert (to the right)

Andrew, Audra & Charlie

Gina & DennisJohn & Grandma MackeyAaron & Hannah

Parker after he got a spare, he was so excited!!

This is my favorite pic, Parker teaching Hannah how to bowl. They were so cute.

Evening with the youth

2008-08-27T21:18:00.000-07:00

Well last night at our combined YM/YW activity we had the opportunity to listen to the Nye family speaking about choices and warning of the dangers of power lines. Here's the link to their story.
http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=1980753

I just want to take the opportunity to say how grateful I am for the gospel in my life and for the knowledge I have of the plan of salvation. I know that I will be with my family for eternity. That is the greatest blessing. Listening to their story, seeing their pain, but also their hope for the day they will be with their son again was very touching. I don't think there was a dry eye in the room. The spirit was so strong and even though the youth were quieter than usual there's no doubt that they too felt the amazing spirit that was there last night.
I am so thankful for the opportunity to work with the youth. Sure there are times that I think why me, & I've even left a few activities in tears. I'm glad that I am able to be a part of their youth and all the choices and decisions they are faced with and pray that they will make the choices that will help them grow strong in the gospel.
I'm thankful for the YW leaders that helped me become who I am today and also for the good friends that I had in my youth. I truly believe that friends make a huge difference in the person you become and to all of you I say, "Thanks for helping me to always Choose the right."
(Sorry this is kind of mushy)

Kindergarten

2008-08-26T20:28:00.000-07:00

Monday was the first day of school (sort of). The kindergarten class came to school for 1 hr with their parents to see the class room & officially meet the teacher(whom I love!!) and get acquainted with the school. Then they have state testing that will happen this week and school will officially start on Tuesday Sept. 2. Here is Parker sitting at his cute little desk.
He would not look at the camera.
Parker with his buddy Brigham.
Outside his classroom.
He was getting sick of all the picture taking, and said, "mom stop it let's go."

So tonight we were talking to him and preparing him for his testing tomorrow and he said that he was scared to talk to his teacher and he told Travis that he needed a blessing so that he wouldn't be scared at school. Why didn't we think about that? So before we put him to bed tonight Travis gave him a blessing. I just love the faith of a child, once the blessing was over Parker said now I won't be scared to talk to Mrs. Erickson tomorrow.

Earmolds!

2008-08-22T21:45:00.001-07:00

Well everyone that knows us knows that Parker has worn hearing aids from the time he was about 3 months old. He's done rather well with them, well let me restate that, from the time he was 3yrs old he has done really well with keeping them on all waking hours. So this last year in preschool Parker went to a combo class which had 5 kids with hearing loss and 8 regular preschool kids. All the girls that had hearing aids all had colorful earmolds. You need to understand that earmolds have to be replaced once the ear grows which when he was younger was quite frequent (about every 2-3 months). Since he's gotten older the earmolds have lasted longer about 5-6 months. So about 6 months ago we went to get new earmolds and Parker noticed that the audiologist had a picture on the wall of all the different colors you could get. Until this point I had always ordered clear less noticeable earmolds, but this time Parker decided that he wanted GREEN earmolds. I was hesitant but since he was begging I gave in.

Since then he has been planning the color of his next set of earmolds. So 2 weeks ago we went to get new ones. I thought that since he is starting Kindergarten next week that we should get something less noticeable. He was not okay with that. He said that he needed BLACK earmolds. I thought that color seemed odd so I asked why? He quickly told me that was the color of earmolds that Batman had and that he wanted to be like Batman.

So we picked them up today and he is so very happy with them. We stopped at the store and a little boy asked him what was in his ear, he just looked at him and said, "It's my black earmolds."

I guess if he's happy with them, then so are we.

He's so cute!!

Davis County Fair

2008-08-16T16:11:00.000-07:00

Some friends of ours invited us to go to the Davis County Fair on Thursday.

Here's Hannah & Parker.

Here are all the kids waiting for the Pony Rides.

(Ronni, Levi, Parker, Bailey &Hannah)

Parker on the pony ride. Hannah on the Pony ride.
Parker holding a snake.
Hannah holding a snake. She was less scared than Parker which really surprised me.
Hannah riding on a huge Turtle.
Parker holding a Tarantula.
Hannah had to give it a try too.

We had so much fun at the Fair Thanks Holt's for inviting us.

In fact we had so much fun that we went again on Friday night with my family (Mom, Dad, Angelee & kids & Us)

Travis was more afraid of the Tarantula than either of the kids were. The man that was in charge of the booth walked away and came back with a Scorpion. Travis wouldn't even dare to hold it. What a Baby!!

Parker milking a dairy goat.

Hannah miking the goat.

Travis having too much fun milking the goat. He was trying to hit my mom with the milk.

We were getting ready to leave and I couldn't find Hannah which was freaking me out and Travis didn't seem worried. He told me to come look at a goat, which I thought was dumb, but I went over and this is what I saw.

He had put Hannah into an empty goat stall. So I got the scare but they all thought it was funny.

Well I promise I was there too. I even held the snake, & the tarantula but couldn't take a pic of myself. Next time I'll have to hand over the camera.

"1st Bee Sting"

2008-08-13T13:36:00.000-07:00

On Saturday afternoon Parker was outside playing and for the most part of this summer we haven't seen too many bees around, until this past week. Parker was out in the back yard playing and the next thing I hear is him screaming and banging on the back door. He then went on to tell me that he saw a bee and that he stepped on him and the bee hurt him. Sure enough the Bee had stung him on the bottom of his foot. I went to get something to clean his foot off and I found Parker taking a picture of his foot. He had to show everyone the picture of his Bee sting.

The bee sting is right below his big toe.

The funny thing about it is that after he took the picture he said it felt better. Who knew digital camera's had that kind of power.

Memory Post

2008-08-06T20:47:00.000-07:00

I found this on a friends blogs, and thought it would be fun.

The Memory Post.
1. As a comment on my blog, leave a memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you know me a little or a lot, anything you remember! If we're only blogging friends, write about a post that is the most memorable for you.
2. Next, if you feel so inclined, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. If you leave a memory about me, I'll be sure to write one about you...!
3. If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. ☺ And please do this on your page, too, so we can all share in the fun times together. :)

I love Comments!!!