Family Scare

We had a little bit of a rough and emotionally draining Sunday afternoon a couple weeks ago.  We had gotten home from church and we were having quiet time.  We were all relaxing in our bedrooms and around 3 in the afternoon, Hayden came to our door with a knock.  We asked him what he needed and he responded with, "Um...I don't know where Hadley is.  I can't find her."

We responded startled with , "What?!  What do you mean?"  

He then responded with, "I think she went outside." 

We went over to the front door and Jared sure enough found it cracked open.  We then reached a panic and Jared went outside and started looking around while I talked to Hayden about it and looked inside.  Jared asked a neighbor who was talking to another, if he had seen our daughter.  He replied, "Yeah, I saw her poke out her head about two minutes ago and then go back inside."

The other neighbor told Jared, "She's probably hiding in her room inside."

Jared didn't believe him because we know our daughter and if the door WAS open, she definitely, didn't stay inside.  Jared then decided to grab the car and start driving around.  I told him, Hayden told me that, "I watched her out my window."

Jared drove down the street and checked at the park strip in the middle just to check since he figured she would go there.  He saw a couple kids moving around here and there, but didn't see her.  Meanwhile, I kept looking around the house and I asked Hayden more about what happened.  He mentioned that he thought, "Hadley went outside to go find grandma."

I kept looking out the window and hoping she didn't go on the main road and wasn't hurt or lost.  I said a quick little prayer in my heart as I continued to search.  Jared kept driving the streets and called me at home saying, "I really hope you have good news for me and that you have found her."

I told him no and while I was on the phone, I heard the words, "I see her."

I was relieved and listened on the phone as Jared threw the car in park and ran up to her and told her he was so worried about her and brought her to the car.  He had found two groups of children with parents a street up from us walking in opposite directions and Hadley was with one of them.  He talked to the lady who was holding her hand and asked if she was ours and then asked where we lived in case she needed to call child protective services on us in the future or something, I don't know.  While they walked to the car, I heard Hadley say, "Look out!  (or Be careful!) Gotta watch out for cars."

At least, I had taught her something good to know.  When we got her back into the house, we scolded her and talked to her about what she did and then she had a time out.  She had been wearing her dress, her diaper was sagging and her feet were black from the street.  I felt so bad.  We gave her lots of hugs and telling her we loved her and to never do that again.  I had no clue how to cope with this, but I knew I definitely needed to send Jared to the hardware store and pick up an additional latch for our door on the top now that she knew how to unlock the front door.  I did not want that happening again so here are the pictures of our new lock to keep our adventurous Hadley inside where she belongs.

and an even closer look

I have never been so concerned before in my life.  I guess all parents have to experience it some time in their life about a child.  If any of my children were to do it, it had to have been Hadley.  I am so very grateful for my daughter and for kids in the neighborhood who were caring enough to see that she was by herself and that was wrong and to go find their parents to help out.  I'm grateful for her safety and realize just how precious she is in our life.

Hot Date Weekend...Sort Of

I admit that Jared and I don't get out much.  The other weekend, we were able to go on not one but two dates.  I also admit, it wasn't the greatest week to go out due to a shortage of available babysitters, but we managed to make things happen.  Jared really wanted to go and see Harry Potter the Friday it came out and so we planned on going in the early morning.  I found a friend to watch the two kids to swap baby-sitting with her and we brought Addison with us since she doesn't take to bottles well.  It was really good to watch.  I really enjoyed it.  I am one of those people who have never been good at reading books.  I am a very slow reader and I guess that discourages me.  If I try to read anything too fast, I don't comprehend it as well and I am the type of person who likes to remember and understand what I read.  One day, I might get around to reading the series, but for now, I enjoy the movies.  The one book I did read was Prisoner of Azkaban and I remember being so disappointed after seeing the movie and didn't want to go through that again.

Then, on Saturday night, we had purchased tickets for cheap to go see the play West Side Story at an outdoor theater.  I was frantic in finding a babysitter because everyone I called was either busy, out of town or didn't want to.  Finally, I found one girl we hadn't tried before.  I was nervous because Hadley sometimes doesn't do well with those she doesn't know, but this proved to work out great.  We again took Addison with us and she slept during most of it.  The play was alright, there were a few pitchy moments here and there which made it hard, but it was still enjoyable.  It was kind of cool too because it was a stormy night all around and while watching the play, we could see thunderstorms all around us.  We were in this pocket of perfect weather for the duration of the play.  On the way home driving, we saw the coolest streaks of lightning across the black sky.  Jared and I had wished we had our cameras to capture them all, but crazy awesome.  They all seemed to go horizontal across the night sky.  It was like the strikes were dancing.  Sooooo beautiful!  Nature is awesome.  

The kids ended up really liking her as a babysitter.  In the morning, Hayden knocked on our door and asked, "Are you my mommy?" and "Where did the girl go?"  I thought it was funny and I was glad that our hot dates worked out pretty good.

Shower For Cami

I got to go to a baby shower a little bit ago and I was so busy, that I didn't get to put together the present I had wanted so I went with half and then decided to make and deliver the rest later.  Most people have seen a trend with me and my present is pretty predictable for the most part.  Always a hooded towel involved and usually blankets.  My husband told me that he thinks I should make a bunch of hooded baby towels to sell on etsy.  I told him there is no way people would pay for even the slightest profit off of them.  He swears he can do sell them so I have bought the appropriate supplies and will start in on that endeavor to see just how it could possibly turn out.  This one for Cami came out so cute.  I loved it.  

(picture to come soon)

Here is also a picture of the receiving blanket I made that has matching burp cloths.

Hadley's 3rd Birthday

Hadley has always seemed older to me appearance wise, but she officially turned 3 a little bit ago and I just wanted to let everyone know about the celebration. We were able to have a play group full of friends for Hadley's birthday which was filled with cupcakes and rice krispy treats and playing with friends. That night, we made a microwave molten chocolate cake and had her blow a candle out and have that for informal celebrating. THe next morning, we ate breakfast and then had her open presents from us as a family. Later on, we had Jared's parents over for her birthday with good food and chocolate cake for dessert.

Hadley loves princesses, Tinker Bell and lots of girly stuff currently so she got a lot of that for her birthday. One of the fun things she received were wall stickers of princesses to put on her white bland walls. Now the girls room looks a whole lot more fun. Here are some pictures above of our multi-day festivities.

I can't believe it was 3 years ago that this strong-willed little firecracker came into our family. She is huge now compared to the little 7 lbs. 5 oz. that she started out as. Pretty crazy. I love her so much and even though times are difficult sometimes, she still knows how to show me love and make me laugh.

My Crown

Everyone remember when I had to get a root canal back in the beginning of February, well, after giving birth and finally getting prepped for my crown, I finally got my permanent crown placed in my mouth.  What a process!  

Back in mid-June, I had dropped the kids off to be baby-sat and went down to the dentist for my pre-crown appointment to make a temporary.  When I got there, they asked my name and then proceeded to tell me that my name wasn't on the schedule.  After looking, they told me I was scheduled for the next week.  I had gotten confused because they called to reschedule me and when I talked to her, I was under the impression that she meant the same week for the new day when she really meant the next week.  As I left, my dentist caught me on the way out while on break and told me to go back in and he'll check his schedule.  He then told me he could fit me in as long as I didn't mind a trainee helping him.  I told him no and we proceeded.  It took them an hour and a half and I walked out with a plastic tooth until the permanent one was made.  

When I went back in the beginning of July, no anesthesia was used and it only took them a half hour to take the plastic tooth out and put in the permanent one.  Super easy and it only hurt once while clearing out the old to put in the new tooth.  I'm still cautious about chewing with it since my parents have had a lot of bad luck with crowns breaking on them, but hopefully, my luck will be for the better.

Sneak Attack of Sickness

I have no clue what caused it but my fourth of July was pretty uneventful.  About halfway through the day, I was sitting with Addison and the kids were getting close to finishing their quiet time and I all of a sudden got this wave of dizziness.  I couldn't sit up or walk because it made me nauseous with the spinning.  I went to lay down and every time I tried to get back up and moving, I'd be dizzy again.  I ended up throwing up once because it was so bad.  I asked Jared what I should do and he suggested that I eat food and slowly try to get back to a vertical position instead of lying dead in the bed, helpless.  I followed his direction and by the time the kids were eating dinner and getting ready for bed, I had eaten an entire pack of crackers and was walking again.  Still not completely better, but more so than before.  We ended up just watching the fireworks outside Hayden's bedroom window for our celebration.  Pretty lame, but the kids enjoyed it.  Quite a few neighbors did their own fireworks for us to watch and enjoy.  No pictures either :0(

Talk In Church

After over 2 1/2 years of laying low, we were finally asked to give a talk in church and it was on one of our most busy weekends.  We both said yes despite having to do a bridal shoot, edit pictures, creating a video montage, family reunion, etc.  I was asked to talk about personal revelation and Jared was asked to talk about the spirit of revelation.  I was a bit worried about how it would all come together, but it worked out good in the end.

We sat in the pew until it was our turn to talk and when I got up to go speak, Hayden turned to us and said, "I have to go potty."  Yeesh.  So Jared left with Hayden and Hadley to the bathroom and Addison stayed in her car seat at the pew while I gave my talk.  Good thing she was content and sleeping for some of it.

I learned a couple new things while writing the talk and if you are interested in reading it, let me know and I'll send it to you.

JamBerry Goodness

I love the summer because berries are soooo cheap and good and I love my berries.  This year, I decided to go on a rampage and I bought a bunch of strawberries and raspberries to make a lot of freezer jam.  I LOVE freezer jam and I'm so glad to have a chance to have it all year round by making so much.  All I can say is freezer jam, whipped cream and waffles.  Mmmmmm :0)

Ice Age 3

We decided to take the family to the movies back on the 3rd of June and we saw Ice Age 3.  The kids did pretty good at it.  Addison slept through it mostly and Hadley got fidgety the last little bit, but I thought it was pretty good.  One part with the gas scene was pretty hilarious.  As usual, a lot of adult comedy that kids might not pick up on.

A Canning We Will Go

I've been trying really hard to stock up more food storage.  It's always been an important part of my life.  I've seen food storage do wonders in times of need and I've always been glad to have it and know how to use it too.  We already have a good supply of things we eat all the time, but I also wanted to bulk up on our wheat supply in particular because I make a lot of bread and other carbs so I need a lot to keep in stock.  It's also nice because the bulk 25 lb. bags are only $5.90 a bag of either hard white or hard red wheat which is down from usual.  I bought 4 more bags and already have another 4 at home.  We went to the cannery as a ward and I bought some more apple slices, oats and canned wheat as well.  I also brought home some mylar pouches and oxygen absorbers so I can bag and tag the wheat I've been buying.  I plan on reserving the machine to seal them in the near future so if anyone wants to have a storage party with sealing mylar pouches of their own, let me know and we can do the process together to make it more entertaining.  It's a great feeling when you are prepared for the storms in life.

Family Reunion

Every two years, Jared's family has a reunion and this year, it was local which was nice since we had been traveling so much already.  It was nice to have a break and even better to be able to leave and go home if the kids got totally out of control and hard to handle.  We didn't get to socialize as much this year, but that's okay.  We still got to talk with quite a few people and enjoy ourselves while learning more stories about Jared's Dad and all his siblings.  There were some fun stories to hear about.

We were asked to put together a video presentation for one of the nights and I had fun creating it.  Jared's Aunt Laurie wrote the verb-age and told me what she was going for, a fairy tale story like theme, and I went from there and apparently did a great job.  I wish I had had more pictures to work with, but it still turned out great. One warning is that since it was a time crunch, I didn't take time to fade out the music at the very end so it may be a little abrupt. Here's the end result.

If it doesn't work, click on the following link.  

1st Indian Bridal Shoot

 I had the opportunity to perform my first bridal shoot for an Indian Muslim Bride.  I was super nervous at first, but once I got going, I had so much fun with the bride and groom too.  I enjoyed the experience and got a lot of wonderful pictures.  This will also be added to slowly, but here are some to give you an idea of all the color and detail involved with Indian Brides.  So cool.

Laura's Married

Jared's slightly younger sister got married in the Manti Temple in the middle of June.  We drove up the day of the wedding and made good timing considering stops to nurse Addison and take care of potty and diaper changes.  We became concerned half way up when we realized we didn't account for the time change, but we still managed to make it.  I also ended up doing the hundred yard dash a couple times before the ceremony.  The temple was busy due to lots of different aersons including the Mormon Miracle Pageant and we ended up parking in the very back spot of the parking lot on the hill there.  Furthest possible one from the temple doors pretty much.  I went in to attend and realized that it was a white wedding and needed to be changed out of what I was wearing.  I hadn't brought my wallet inside to pay to rent clothes, so I had to run all the way down to get my wallet out of the car and then run all the way back up to get back inside. rent clothes and change before the wedding began.  Boy was I out of breath and pretty red.  

Anyways, the ceremony was really good.  I cried quite a bit.  I don't know if the hormones were to blame for some of it since I had a month and a half year old baby.  Jared got to take their pictures for them and I think he did a really good job considering the bride does not like her picture taken.  We weren't given very much time among other things and we're still working on having fun with the images we have, but here are some to look at and they'll be more gradually added.  All of them of course are at the website if you're curious.  I didn't take any because I was helping juggle kids during it.  Hope you enjoy.  She looked beautiful.  Congratulations!