These kids...

These kids can make me feel crazy, but I am so overwhelmed and lucky to have them. Seriously, could they be any cuter:)

Halloween 2011

I MAY have forgotten how to post on a blog for a minute there:) I guess I'll start off with Halloween. I know that was a long time ago, but since I do this blog for my family and I to print off in a book, I don't want to leave out Halloween:) Jocelyn was a cute bumblebee, Kellen was Plo Koon, a star wars guy, and Kason was Savage Opress, another star wars guy. Both boys pretty much only wanted their costumes so they could have the freaky masks that came with it, which I knew in the end they wouldn't end up wearing. Cam used his mad face painting skills and painted up their faces.

Happy Birthday Jocelyn!

Happy Birthday to my baby girl! I know it's so silly to say, but I can't believe how fast this year has gone. I can't believe it was a year ago I met this perfect little girl for the first time. LOVE HER!!





At 1 year,
-She walks around on furniture or with the help of push toys.
-She made the switch from formula to whole milk without any problems
-She puts EVERYTHING in her mouth, I seriously mean everything.
-Kason is the only person who has made her outright laugh. We can all make her giggle, but it's really rare for her to belly laugh.
-She can clap, wave, blow kisses, and will imitate any noise you make.
-She moves around SOOOO much when she sleeps. She is all over her crib, and usually falls asleep with her bum in the air.
-When someone makes her smile, a lot of the time she will bury her head a giggle. It's almost like she gets shy.
-She makes my heart melt just by looking at her. She is PERFECT!

Remember that one time....

That I thought it would be a good idea to draw on our faces, and then it wouldn't come off. Yeah, that's happening as we speak. I SWEAR I tested it on me before we did it, and it came off just fine, however Kason and Kellen will be colorful all day long! SOOO worth it, because the boys were laughing hysterically.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!

Cam and I have been married for 9 years! Here are 9 facts you may or may not know about us...

1. When I was in Junior High and High School, I had an obsession with argyle socks. I don't know why. I can't explain it, but I didn't feel complete unless I had my argyle socks on that I pulled all the way up to my knees. I had to buy most of them in the men's dressy department at JC Penney. If I wanted to wear shorts, I didn't wear my argyle socks, but I always had on biker/spandex shorts under my shorts. Weird, I know, but that's how I roll:)

2. Cam went by the name Kato growing up, so a lot of people don't know him by any other name. It still sometimes catches me off guard when we are hanging out with his friends and they keep talking to someone named "kato", but since writing this, I have the sudden urge to only call him Kato...

3. Our first date was to the Manti Pagent. This could have potentially been the worlds worst date. It is, for sure, the worlds worst first date idea because you have a 3 hour drive there, and a 3 hour drive back. That is A LOT of small talk:) Luckily for us, we hit it off and had no problem filling the 6 hour drive time with good conversation. I can't say the same for the couple doubling with us. Too bad for them, Cam and I were too caught up in each other to notice how horribly awkward, and awful their date was going.

4. Since we have been married we have owned several cars. We have had a Camry, Civic, Xterra, Altima, Montero, and last but not least, our Quest. Despite how others feel about minivans, I absolutely LOVE ours.

5. I used to laugh when people found out I was marrying an Asian, because SEVERAL people asked if we just ate sushi all the time. Come on people, just because he's Asian, doesn't mean we eat sushi all the time, and sumo wrestle. However, when we were first married, I hated shrimp, sushi, seafood of any variety, and was terrified to try new things. I came from a home that ate roasts, and casseroles all the time. I just put myself out there, tried EVERYTHING, even if it looked and smelled terrible. I have tried some crazy foods, really crazy stuff, and definitely haven't loved everything I tried, but now I love seafood, sushi, and shrimp. I could seriously eat seafood and sushi every single day!

6. When Cam and I got married, we both shared a love for owning CD's. Between the two of us, we had hundreds of CD's. What is interesting about this is we had several of the same CD's. There were a lot that were not surprising that we both had, such as U2, green day, smashing pumpkins, counting crows, etc, but there were a lot that may come as a surprise to all of you; Backstreet Boys, Nsync, Britney Spears, Garth Brooks, Tim Mcgraw, Faith Hill, etc. Cam really likes all types of music, as do I, so just another of the million reasons why we are perfect for each other. FYI, Cam used to go line dancing all the time. Feel free to spend a minute picturing that for those of you who know Cam now. He is also known to sing his heart out to Nsync or any other teeny bopper band on karaoke. I LOVE THAT GUY!

7. We have NEVER been on a vacation, just Cam and I, for fun, since we've been married. To clarify, we have been on several "vacations" for baby blessings, baptisms, and family functions without the kids, but I'm talking about Cam and I, without kids, going somewhere with no other agenda than having fun and spending time together alone. Hopefully this will change next year for our 10 year anniversary!

8. Since we have been married my parents have gone on 2 missions. They moved to Hawaii a few months after we were married for my dad to finish his last couple of years of work for the church, and have gone on a mission as the Visitor Center president for the Washington D.C. temple for 2 years, and they also went to Greece for 2 more years on another mission. They are also preparing to go on another mission at the beginning of the year. I realize this fact isn't necessarily about Cam and I, but it has made it easier in our married life to not have to split the time and holiday's between his family and mine. (for what it's worth, I would've loved to have to "split" the time between our family's to have my parents around more, but am happy that they are such a good example in missionary work:)

9. Do you guys ever have those days where you need something to eat or snack on, but there isn't anything quick and easy. Cam's go to lunch/dinner/snack idea is always chips and cheese, and he seems to never get sick of it. If I need something to eat, I always go for cereal. I love cereal, and I will pretty much eat any variety of cereal and I could literally eat it for every meal.


Nine years ago, we sat in the beautiful Salt Lake Temple, and Cecil O. Samuelson married us for time and all eternity. WORLDS BEST DECISION! I love you Cam and can't wait to spend eternity with you!

Kellen

DISCLAIMER: What you are about to read is just my thoughts and feelings, and it's going to be REALLY LONG. I really wanted to write them down, because I will be printing my blog into books, so I wanted to remember what I was feeling since I'm not super awesome at keeping a journal. I realize that there are so many people out there struggling with things that are truly unbearable. For me, this has been a particularly hard trial, but I truly know we are so lucky and blessed that we don't have anything more serious. It may seem a little dramatic to some, but it is/was hard for me to go through. Heavenly father KNOWS I cannot handle anything harder, so I guess I will be a drama queen through this particular trial:)

A few weeks ago, Kellen's asthma kicked it really bad. He has been hospitalized 10 times in the past, really 10. It seems weird even writing that. Kason has only been hospitalized once for his asthma, and I remember how incredibly scary it was when he was hospitalized. We just took Kason into an instacare, because he just seemed so sick, and next thing you know, I am in an ambulance with him and we are off the Primary Childrens where I was told that he would probably be hospitalized anywhere around 5-10 days. I could NOT get my tears under control. At that point in my life I thought kids were only hospitalized if they were in critical condition or dying. It was terrifying. I got through it seriously thinking I would never have to do it again, because now I was more informed and aware of what asthma can do to these little bodies. Fast forward to Kellen, and for a while there, he was hospitalized about every 3 months. Every time was extremely exhausting emotionally, physically, and financially, but I had learned to almost expect it. He was too little for a long time, so the medicines weren't as effective as they are now that he is a little older. Basically every time he got sick, he was hospitalized, because the medicine just couldn't keep him breathing well enough. The 9th time he was hospitalized was the easiest on me. I can't remember exactly what happened, but I do remember this overwhelming sense that it would be OK. I had such a strong feeling that it was going to be the last time I had to do that with him. I just remember feeling so calm compared to all of the other times. During this time, we were trying to get pregnant. I really wanted a baby, but was terrified about taking care of a newborn while going through a hospitalization with Kellen. It just seemed impossible. So, when I felt so calm, I just KNEW I was going to get pregnant right away, but I didn't for a long time after that, which is totally OK. Then, hospitalization #10 came along. It was a long time after #9 and I really thought we were done with all of that so it was sooooooo hard. I think I cried for a week straight. I don't know why. I just wasn't expecting it, and I had forgotten how much it takes out of you to see your helpless child so sick, hooked up to all sorts of wires, and being constantly monitored. Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago: Kellen was really sick. I took him into the Dr, where I was told he probably needed to be hospitalized, and I told them I wanted to wait it out a little bit, so the medicine (steroids) they had just given him, had time to start working. I waited and waited, and he was struggling so hard to breathe. The hardest part was watching him have these little "panic attacks." All of the sudden he would grab his throat and start kicking and screaming (literally) and saying "I can't breathe. I think I'm going to die right now." Words cannot express how scary and sad it is to see your child in such a state of panic. I knew he was going to have to go to the hospital. When we got to the hospital, it was back and forth, over and over again, whether or not to hospitalize him. They couldn't figure out why he was having such terrible retractions (when your whole body sucks in every time you breathe, because it's so difficult to breathe) and his oxygen wasn't worse off, so they were doing a lot of tests to figure out if something bigger was going on. Earlier, on our way to the hospital, Kellen was freaking out over my choice of hospital, because we had to take Jocelyn to get her blood drawn at that hospital and it was a horrible experience for everyone. There was blood and tears EVERYWHERE. Of course, being the "expert" I am on what they would do at the hospital, I told him he, for sure, would not have to have his blood taken. In the 10 times he's been hospitalized, and the million other times in the ER, they have never taken his blood. Guess what, they had to take his blood. They did it through an IV, so it was even worse, because he had a needle stuck in his hand, and watched his blood in the tube. Luckily after they were done I got them to wrap up his hand so he couldn't see the needle sticking out of it, since they wouldn't take the IV out. From that point forth in the night, he cried, and cried, and wouldn't stop crying. When midnight came rolling around, the Dr said it was up to me whether he should be hospitalized. Apparently since I had dealt with this illness so much, I would be able to monitor him, and know if I had to bring him back right away. He also said there was a good chance he would get drastically worse during the night, and we would probably have to come back anyway. After being so tired, and having had listened to him cry for the last 2 hours straight, I opted to take him home. I don't know why. When a Dr says he needs to be in a hospital, why wouldn't I listen? I can't begin to explain how hard the next day was. He was so sick still, but I kept telling myself he would get better. The day was spent with lots of tears, lots of medicine, and LOTS of worry. I feel like a terrible mom for taking him home in the first place just because I felt like we were both so tired and we both needed our own bed, but I felt like an even terrible mother for letting him suffer all the next day, and for not taking him back to the hospital. In retrospect, I don't know why I took him home, and I don't know why I didn't take him back, because he was SO SICK. I just spent the entire day crying because he was struggling and he was so sick, so WHY didn't I take him back to the hospital? In reality, I felt like I couldn't handle hospitalization #11. I hate that I let my mind tell me that I couldn't handle it, when I KNOW, without a doubt, the lord doesn't give you anything you can't handle. It's silly that I forgot that HUGE detail about life, when I really needed to remember it. I learned my lesson, and will NEVER take him home again if he is that sick. EVER. The moral of this incredibly long story is.... Kellen survived. I survived, kind of. I need to rely more on my Heavenly Father to get me through these trials. I need to not worry about it anymore, so I figure if I wrote it down I could stop analyzing what I should have done different. The end. If you actually made it through the entire post, I will give you a dollar:) j/k

Girls weekend

Last month, my family got together for a little girls weekend. We were missing 5 girls, and they were missed A LOT, but we still had fun with the 5 of us that were able to make it. We went to Boise, Idaho, because my fabulous sister, Jenny, is 7 months pregnant, so we thought we wouldn't make her do any traveling. We spent our time shopping, eating, laughing, playing games, staying up late, NOT HAVING ANY KIDS WITH US, and just being together. I am super fortunate to have such a great relationship with my family, and it is so much fun to get together. I wish we all lived closer together, and that we could see each other on a regular basis. LOVE YOU GIRLS! Hopefully next year, more of us will be able to make it:)