5 year anniversary

I meant to do this post on my birthday, but obviously I didn't, so I decided I would do it now. February this year, on my birthday, was the 5 year anniversary of when they found out that I had a brain tumor. I can't believe it has been that long! When I take the time to look back on the many miracles in my life, this one is near or at the top. It was quite a scary time, but thanks to all you great friends and family out there, we made it through, and continue to make it. Today I went to the neurologist to find out that everything continues to go well. It is sad that sometimes we tend to forget about these times in our lives, and the blessings that we have. So as a tribute to my five year anniversary I thought I would try to pull up some pictures of what has happened, or what I looked like each birthday these last five years!! :)

Here I am sporting my lovely staples! I don't remember how many I had. I do remember that when the surgeon came in to ask me if I had any question before surgery, my only question was how much hair they were going to shave off. :)

So here we are the next year, my 30th birthday. We went on a cruise with our good friends Rebecca and Curtis. It was the best 30th birthday present you could get!!

Here we are the four of us! We had a great time together playing cards, soaking up the sun, and eating eating eating!!

For my 31st birthday Gene surprised me and sent me to NYC with Holly and Amber!! It was a blast.

We never did make it out to the real statue of liberty, but we did a lot of shopping and a few tourist things!! It was a blast, no kids and no schedule. Yet another great birthday!!

While we were in NYC we did make it to a show. None of the good shows were at the discount tickets, so we went to one called the drowsy chaperon. Not the greatest of shows, but it did have one awesome actor in it, the one and only Gilbert from Anne of green gables!! ♥♥My first crush♥♥♥♥ You better believe we went to the backstage door and waited to see him. I freaked out and we took a bunch of pictures with him!!

And for my 32nd birthday another miracle happened and I found out that I was pregnant with Isaac. After the brain incident I was told not to have any more children. Isaac wasn't planned but he was a pleasant surprise!

And best of all he was born perfect!!!!

For my 33rd birthday my mom flew me to Utah to meet my newest niece Maggie and My nephew Dylan. And I got to introduce Isaac to the family too!!!

AND for my 34th birthday Maryland had a record breaking snow storm, and the kids and Gene had the week off from school. So I took advantage of having them all home and had myself a birthday week!!! It was great!!

So there you go, that is my last five years, and what a great time we have had!!! It's amazing the way you learn and grow from the trials in your life. Thanks again for the great friends and family that you all are!!!!

Happy Birthday Isabelle

Once again I am behind on my posts! :) Isabelle turned 7 on February 24th, I can't believe she will get baptized next year. She is growing up too fast, I want her to slow down and be my little girl!! This year Isabelle wasn't suppose to get a friends party, but this great couple from church do a magic show, and they wanted to give Isabelle a magic show birthday party. Isabelle is one of their biggest fans. The best part about this birthday party was that it wasn't held at our house, we did it at the church. It was a really fun party. I don't think we are going to be able to do better, so maybe we should stop having b-day parties now! ;)



Uncle Nate and Aunt Katie gave her skittles and $5.00. After Isabelle opened she sang the "five dollar foot long" and decided she could go buy a subway. I think she watches too much tv!!


Next presents from mom and dad. This is a furreal pet. She really wants a real dog, but that isn't happening, so this will have to do!


This is here prebirthday party cake, so we decided to do brownies, b/c they are fast, easy, and yummy!

The Birthday party!!! We had a ton of kids turn out! It was fun and crazy all at the same time. The kids kicked balloons around until everyone got there, so we could start the magic show. Notice, Isabelle is a head or two shorter than all of her friends! :)

Cousins!!! What would a birthday party be without your cousins. These two are the best of friends, it is so cute to see them play together.



The older kids goofing off! I am afraid of what trouble they caused while I was taking care of the birthday party.


Here are all the kids sitting waiting for the magic show to begin!

Here is the magician and his first helper Jayden.

Towards the end of the show he called on Isabelle to be a helper!


They even had a special magic hat for the birthday girl! I am bummed b/c the color is bad in some of these pictures!!

Thanks to our great magician and his lovely assistant Pookie!!! :D

Here is the birthday party cake. We decided a rabbit fit the theme well. This year I decided to try a cupcake cake. I figured it would be easier to serve, and it was. I have to say I was pretty impressed at our finished product. Thanks to my awesome husband for helping!!

Isabelle blowing out the candles! And then we opened the presents and finished up!!

Snow Storm Feb. 2010

It all started on February 2 and 3rd 2010! We only got 3-5" but in Maryland that was enough to cancel school. It was a nice warm day after the snow fell and so we all bundled up to go and play out in the snow. This was Isaac's first time that he could actually walk in his snow boots, so it really was his first official time "playing in the snow." He actually loved being out with the kids, and cried when I took him inside. Unlike the snow storm in December, this one was a wetter one, which made it easier to make snowmen.


Here's Isaac trying to decide if he can walk on this crazy white stuff!

Isabelle and Victoria made this cute little snowman :)

Brianna and Brenden made this snow thing, I have no idea what it was, but they were proud of it!

Isabelle and Isaac playing in the snow.

I made them all stop playing and let me take a picture.



On Friday Feb. 5th and Saturday Feb. 6th, the BIG snow storm came! They were calling for 20 to 30" of snow. We were pretty excited. Some people in Maryland were freaking out, they don't know how to deal with the snow! :) The flakes started to fall around 6:00p.m. on Friday night. It took awhile for them to start sticking, but they finally started sticking around 8:00. We were constantly looking out the window to make sure it was still snowing. It snowed all night Friday night, and continued most of the day on Saturday. I think it finally stopped snowing Saturday around 5:00. I think we ended up with about 24 to 28 inches. It is really heavy snow, great for building and playing in. Not so fun to shovel. Gene was out shoveling for 3 1/2 hours on Sunday. I watched him from the front window! We only have one shovel, so I couldn't help. But all the neighbors got together and helped each other out!!

Here is Isabelle on our front porch, at this time it was still snowing! I took this picture through the front window, b/c I was to much of a wimp to go out at this point. The wind did blow through most of the snow storm, in fact we not only had a winter storm warning, but we also had a blizzard warning b/c of the high winds.

Brenden, Brianna, and Isabelle playing out in the snow, before the storm was over!

Here is Isabelle in the middle of the snow, notice the snow is almost up to her bum! :)

These next pictures are taken two days after the snow storm. Sunday everyone spent the day shoveling out, so on Monday I took Isaac out to check out the snow. Plus I wanted to see how high the snow was. So I took a whole bunch of pictures for those of you who aren't in Maryland so that you picture how much snow we got!

These pictures are the exact amount of snow!! They aren't what has been piled up b/c of shoveling.

From the street you can barely see the top of his head above the snow! :)

Brianna, Brenden, and Isaac on a mound of snow, and if you close enough behind them is a car that is buried in snow. This is pretty much what most of our street looks like!

Victoria, Brianna, Isabelle, Amy, and Isaac in front of another car buried in snow! I don't think they are going anywhere for a while! :-) I'm glad we weren't parked on the street!!

YES! Christmas did come to our house! :-)

This posting is for you Aimee, now you can quit bugging me about updating my blog! ;) Christmas really did happen at our house, it has just taken me a month and a half to get it on our blog! We had a good Christmas, we just stayed in Maryland and had Gene's parents come to our house. We were lucky enough to have a white Christmas, that doesn't happen much here on the east coast! Next year we hope to spend Christmas in Utah!!!!


Here are the kids sporting their new Christmas PJs

I don't have many other pics of Tori on Christmas morning so I thought I would throw this one in of her opening her pajamas on Christmas Eve. The girls showing off there jammiesThe boys! Brenden is always happy to have a brother around!

Isaac showing off like he always does!

Brenden got his real NFL football just like he wanted!! Now I just have to stop him from throwing it in the house!!

Gene got me a snuggie, and I love it!!

Isabelle in another pair of pajamas, and these ones came with matching pjs for her baby

Isaac is kissing the baby on the book! It is his baby book that I made for him!

This is the rocking horse that santa brought Isaac, he isn't quite sure what to think of it.It didn't take Isaac long to learn how to rip the paper. Next year we might be in a little bit of trouble with presents under the tree before Christmas.

I finally made Isabelle a baby book!! She has been begging me to do it for quite sometime, and I finally got one together for her this year. I still have a lot more to do for her. Luckily I found this great deal through photoworks that the first 25,000 people to make a book got it free! I got two, one for Isaac, and one for Isabelle! Actually I did 3 b/c I made one for my mother in law! :) I love a good deal!!!