Funny Photos!!

I am sitting here in the hospital next to my mom's bedside. She recently had surgery on her back and the doctor put not one but two metal rods in her back to straighten her up! She was in surgery for 8 (EIGHT) long hours. Now she has a long road to recovery. If anyone will survive and concur it is Mimi! She is such a trooper! A few minutes ago the physical therapy team came in and helped her take a few steps with the walker. As she got back in bed she said "Oh Erica! I have such a long ways to go!" I told her she can do it! Baby-steps! She just took a few baby steps! It's progress.

I wish I could wave a magic wand and make her pain go away and make her all better and able to run around and play again. But I can't...in fact I feel helpless not being able to do anything for her.

I can be here with her....I can hold her hand....I can try to talk to her as she is in and out of sleep....but really I can't make her better.

So I thought while I was sitting here listening to her zzzzzzzzzzz(snore) I would post a few pictures that she could look at that would make her smile! These pictures were ones I had on my phone that were taken within the last few weeks. They are random photos of my goofy and silly kids! I hope seeing their funny faces brightens your day Mimi! We love you! Get better soon!

Caleb loves wearing his football helmet! He wears it every where we go! This picture reminds me of Uncle Blake because when I was younger and Uncle Blake drove us around in his awesome Station Wagon he would make us wear helmets in the car! I felt so wacky driving around with my friends wearing a DI helmet! Caleb doesn't seem to feel silly one bit! He's pretty proud of his helmet.

Let me introduce you to the newest member of our family: Little Boy! Caleb made this paper doll when I taught Mara's preschool. He loves Little Boy. As you can see from the picture he is almost as big as Caleb! Little Boy goes everywhere we go...Grandma's house, the store, playgroup, the library!

In fact...Little Boy sleeps with Caleb every night and nap-time! Caleb loves having his little buddy by his side! I think it's the cutest thing in the world!
I especially love that Mimi helped us make the paper dolls! She helped me cut them out and get them ready for preschool several weeks ago! Thank you Mimi! We love little reminders of you!

Ty looks like a super-strong football player! He put a few balls in his shirt and came running into the house: Look Mom at me!!

Ha! Seeing this picture just makes me want to laugh! I decided one night to put Mara's hair in curlers! First I braided her hair in little braids, then I wrapped each braid around a little sponge curler. She slept all night on them. By morning when we took them out she had the craziest, poofiest, wackiest, curliest hair we had ever seen! I tried holding in my laughter but couldn't! I tried pulling it up in different dos but it was still out of control! There was only one thing to do: flat iron--fast! All that time and effort for nothing! I quickly fixed her 'Shirley Temple' hair and made it darling and we went to church! Remind me never to put rollers in Mara's hair overnight! I should have taken an after shot! It actually looked really beautiful when I was done!

One day we went of to Nate's work and surprised him with a treat and some artwork the kids made for him. (He has a board on his wall with all the kids' art pictures they color for him! It's super cute!) While we where there Caleb saw his helmet and wanted to try it on! It was so heavy I'm surprised he could even hold it on his head! Caleb thought it was pretty funny to wear his dad's ATV helmet!

Ty still loves dinosaurs! He always has...I suppose he always will?!! He loves having battles with his toys. Some times his dinosaurs battle each other, other times his army guys battle different action figures! This battle was dinosaurs vs. army guys! I don't know who won or what the outcome was, but when he had the battle set up he said "Hurry mom, take my picture of my toys!" I don't know if there are other 7 year old boys who love having their picture taken, but Ty often says "Here I am! Take my picture!" Funny Kid!

This is hysterical one! Look at that wacky long horn sheep! Ty found these at a store and tried them on for size!! If that doesn't make you smile I don't know what will!

I sure love these kiddos and all the funny things they say and do! I hope Mimi recovers soon so the kids can see her and play with her! We sure love you Mimi!
Take care.

A very colorful conference!

Between a bag of M&M candies and the fall leaves, our conference weekend was very colorful!

Twice a year-April & October-we have the opportunity to listen to our prophet and church leaders on the radio, internet, and TV. I love conference weekend!

Nate's parents came down and spent the weekend with us. It was sure fun to see Grandma & Grandpa Lewis! We decided to show Grandma & Grandpa the beautiful fall leaves up the Manti La Sal National Forest and listen to General Conference as we drove.

Here is where the M&Ms come in! As we drove we played an M&M game. I had the children draw six pictures on their paper: Jesus, prophet, scriptures, Holy Ghost and temple. Then I asked them to color each word a certain color: red, orange, blue, green, brown! Every time they heard one of the words on their paper they could have that color M&M! It didn't take long for my kids to catch on and boy did they listen!! Just after a few minutes I was down to a half a bag of candy! They listened so well we had to change the rules so that they could have a candy for every 3 words they heard!

I could not believe it! I was so surprised and impressed by my children! Our car was filled with the spirit as we listened to conference and heard the children shout out 'Jesus! Temple!' Every time they heard one of their words! Even Caleb got into the game and it was the sweetest thing to hear a little 2 year old listening and saying "God! Prophet!"

Ty even took it up a notch and as he heard things would say "Nephi was a prophet so I get one for prophet! Or Lord is another name for Jesus!" Wow! What a wonderful experience for me to hear my children listening and learning the inspired words of conference! I can't wait for April! We will definitely be playing the M&M game again!

Here we are at the Crandall Canyon Memorial. We showed Grandma the graves of the miners.
The children had so much fun trying to catch falling leaves! As they shook the tree they would say "It's raining leaves!"
(Grandpa wasn't feeling too well so he stayed home and rested.)

Three sweet and wonderful children! So grateful for them! Love. Love. Love.

The colors we saw in the forest were so vibrant!

It was some of the best fall colors we have ever seen!

This reminded us of a "Mormon Ad" about standing out!

When the sky was bright blue the colors were even more beautiful and bright!

Who knew aspen trees could be so red and orange?! Usually they are bright yellow!

Fall really is a beautiful time of year!

It just looks glowing!

Even the aspen bark is cool!

Now that is golden!

Here comes the storm! As we were sitting and enjoying our lunch we saw a storm just creeping in above us!

So many different shades of color!

I love seeing the entire hillside covered in color!

I also love the dark forest green color so bold!

I'm helping Nate wash his hands before lunch! For some reason they were covered in dirt and nasty!

Cute little faces! They are just such great kids!

We had a delicious picnic lunch with Grandma.

After lunch it was time for fishing!!

We weren't having much luck and it was getting cold so we said to Ty just pull in your line and let's go!

As Ty pulled in his line he thought he felt a tug and sure enough Ty caught a fish!!!

Now that is a grove of aspen trees!

One lonely horse all alone in the field!

I love the distinction in colors here---orange on one side, yellow in the middle, and green on the side!

Picture perfect with the lake and colors!

I think the reds and oranges are my favorite!

Simply amazing! Such an assortment of colors!

The sad part of the day was seeing parts of the forest where the trees had died from the beetle infestation.

The tree stands alone!

It was the perfect day to go! A week later the leaves were gone and snow was on the tips of the mountain tops!

Nate sure does work on a beautiful forest!

It's interesting to see one side of the mountain full of color and the other side bare!

Looks like someone colored with a crayon all the colors!

I just love aspen trees!

After having lunch and fishing we were able to listen to the second half of conference.

All three kids took a nap...it was a peaceful afternoon listening inspiring messages.

What a majestic hill top!

I love the layer colors

I just want to run through the golden trees!

And that concludes our conference autumn color tour!!
It was simply amazing being out in the forest and driving through the colors. I think we might just have to make this a conference family tradition! Can't wait for next year!

Post #500!!

Wowzers! 500!! Really?! Can you believe it?! I can't! This is awesome! I wanted to make the #500 really special...maybe name 500 things I love about my cute family? Nah--boring! How about just a few comments about each member of my family!

Nate the great! That is what I like to call him because he is so GREAT! Last night we were driving home to Price after spending the weekend with my parents. As we were driving back I was telling Nate how with every guy I dated before him I just had a sick nasty feeling every time I went out with someone! I thought something was wrong with me! But when I met Nate I had the wonderful, peaceful feeling that he was the one for me! I'm so glad we are married! I'm so grateful he is my best friend and that we truly can be together forever! Nate is such a hard worker and sacrifices a lot for his family. I love to laugh with Nate! Lately we have been watching The Office together, it is sure fun laughing together!

Ty is one of the coolest kids I know. I could just hang out with him and talk to him forever! He is an awesome boy. I love his imagination and excitement for new things. I love watching his confidence grow. He is a great example to his younger brother and sister. I know there was a reason for him being the first born, he is such a good leader.
Ty is doing great in school. The last two weeks he has gotten 100% on his spelling tests. I enjoy helping Ty learn his words. Sometimes we think of funny songs and dances to remember his words! I also really enjoy reading with Ty. He is such a good little reader and we have been into chapter books lately. It's fun to read a good mystery with Ty and talk about what we think is going to happen at the end.
Ty's latest fascination is Star Wars. We've just pulled out the good old original movies and have had a fun time watching Luke and Darth Vader and the other characters battle.
Ty loves legos, sleeping with a stuffed animal, and playing with his friends.

I couldn't ask for a better little sweetie! She is my friend and sista! She loves to sing and dance and I love twirling her around and making her giggle and laugh! She still likes to sit on her daddy's lap after every meal! He helps her finish eating and someday she will be too big for sitting on her dad's lap but for now that's how she likes to eat!
Mara loves preschool! She loves to read and write and do 2nd grade math with Ty! She loves to help her mom in the kitchen and I love teaching her how to cook and bake! Hopefully my love of cooking will rub off on her and she too will want to be a good cook!
Mara is Caleb's best friend! She loves to watch out and take care of him! She teaches him how to read, talk, count, sing....! She is such a great big and little sister!
Mara loves to dance, sew, and play dress up!

Lately I just can't get enough of this kid! Caleb really is hysterical! He cracks me up on a minute-by-minute basis! He says the cutest things and I just love hearing his sweet voice! One funny thing Caleb says and does is when I say "Good job Caleb! You are such a good boy." His response without fail is "No you're a good boy!" And I respond "No! I'm a good mom! You are a good boy!" And we go back and forth several times saying "No you are a good boy....no you're a good boy!"
Another funny thing is he has started to sing along with songs we hear over and over (such as songs from the soundtrack Tangled) He will sing "I have a dream...I have a dream!" I love to hear Caleb sing! Caleb also loves to hear and sing along with Jack Johnson!
Caleb loves playing outside, doing puzzles, and playing sports.

Words just can't describe the love I have for these 3 sweet children! I'm so glad I'm there mom! They make me smile and laugh every day! They are such good kids. I'm grateful they are such good friends and love being together. I love to cuddle, kiss, snuggle, hug, and tickle these little angels! They really are perfect in every way!!

I just love this little family with every fiber of my being! I'm so grateful for each member of this family! We truly are happy family! What a lucky lady I am!
Here's to 500 more posts!