New website

Once again I have run out of storage space here on blogger. Let's be honest, it sucks! I am sick of running out of space and having to start a new blog, so I just decided to start a website instead. I have unlimited storage and more options. I am excited about it, so please check it out.

www.welivelifeoutloud.net

I will no longer be posting on this blog.

November 9

Our first snow storm of the year! The boys were so excited and had fun playing in it!!

Pictures

Grant 8 years

Grayson 2 year

I'm not even sure where to start with this post.. I guess I could start here.. Jen Roper's Blog. Jen is the sister of a friend named Jessica, whom I went to high school with and also played softball with in middle school. In high school I knew of Jen, but I didn't really KNOW her. From what I have read on her blog, it is obvious that Jen is an AMAZING woman and a wonderful mother. Her and her husband live in AZ and they have 5 cute-as-can-be kiddos, ranging in age from 10 yrs all the way down to 6mo. They have 4 boys and one little red headed princess! 6 weeks ago Jen found out she had a brain tumor...............

OMG!!

Can you even imagine??

Because I cant!!

It is the unthinkable, right?

Like I said Jen seems like such an AMAZING woman and I cant believe how she is handling this news. She is so strong and brave, and has such an strong faith in God! If you need a little inspiration just go read her blog. I have been following her blog every step of the way and EVERY post makes me cry. On September 5 doctors went in and removed as much as they could of the tumor. This week Jen started chemo and radiation. I, like many others I'm sure, have been waiting for an update on her blog. And today there was this..... A dose of reality. Doctors have told Jen that patients with her diagnosis usually only have 3-5 years.....

WHAT???

Are you kidding me right now?

In 5 years her oldest will only be 15 and her baby will only be 5. But Jen is so determined to beat this cancer's butt! I agree, she can beat it!! In her post today she talks about how she is living a "new life". She is now looking at things so differently. Her whole way of thinking has changed.

It got me really thinking. What would I do? How would I handle it? How would my thinking change? How would my priorities shift? What plans would I make for the future of my kids? What memories would I make with them now? What legacy would I leave behind?

I think it's something we should all think about...

Football and family

Our past weekend consisted of football and family time!

A perfect combination if you ask me! It would have been even better if we could have won our football game against Cyprus. Oh well we had a lot of fun anyway.

When I take Grayson to the games with me it is a hard balance between watching Grant play and keeping Grayson occupied for the 2.5-3 hours we are there. I try to keep him in his stroller as long as possible and occupy him with snacks and toys. Sometimes I give him my phone to play with. We had been telling him that we were going to go to the mountains with Maama and Papa all week, so he was pretend talking to Maama saying things like, "see you later" , "mountains", "papa too?", "have a good day", "probly" It was so stinking cute! 

After awhile he gets super ornery and I let him get out of his stroller if he promises to stay close to mommy (which he NEVER does) Then I end up chasing him around the rest of the game, or if I happen to pay attention to Grant's game for a minute he gets sneaky and runs off without me. He really is sneaky and he knows exactly what he is doing. He is being naughty!! He will wait until he knows I am not looking and then take a dash for the playground. When he sees me coming after him he will take off in a dead run and not look back. He really is so naughty!

Unfortunately we lost our game, but Grant played great! I am so proud of Grant and Jared both!!

We went straight from the game up to Snowbird to celebrate Brock's birthday! As always it was a lot of fun! Papa bought this cool bingo game for Grant, so we all played. Grayson kept getting into the chips and the bingo balls, no matter how many times we told him no or tried to distract him. Jared tried distracting him with his phone a couple times, but he just kept coming back for more. Little stinker!

These boys are the best brothers! Of course Grant likes to tease Grayson. And Grayson likes to annoy Grant, but for the most part they get along great! Grant is usually a big help and Grayson definitely looks up to him!!

Enjoying the beautiful view!

Maama playing around with the boys!!

Jared told us not to do this, so we did it anyway! I ran down the hall pushing them fast and they giggled the entire time! Jared was afraid we were making too much noise and I didn't care! I remember my dad pushing me on the cart when I was little and it was always so much fun! My kids were laughing and enjoying themselves! That's all that matters!!

The Oktoberfest has changed a bit. It is kinda sad really. I think it would make Opa sad too. We still had fun but it definitely wasn't the same without Opa there. At one point I broke down and cried. I miss him so much and I have so many regrets. I love you Opa, you are always in my thoughts and in my heart! XOXO

Utah State Fair 2012

It is a tradition that we go to the fair every year, so this year we went on opening day! It was a lot of fun with Grayson this year because he was in awe of everything. He kept saying "it's coool"  Silly little boy!

He was not too sure about riding the pony, but we told him it was Bullseye from Toy Story!

He got a kick out of milking the cow and he was actually pretty good at it!

Of course we always have to visit the farm every year!

And all three of my boys love the big yellow slide!!

Grant got some major air!

Grayson loved it so much he wanted to go over and over again. Here he is running to go do it again!

And who doesn't love local ice cream from the fair!!

We always have such a fun time at the fair together!

Grayson's 2nd birthday party

Grayson is just obsessed with Toy Story! He asks several times a day to watch Woody and Buzz. So for his birthday, of course we had to do a Toy Story party! It was actually a lot of fun to put together and I had some help from a good friend!! Thanks Lenz! I was even lucky enough to find a place that had a Toy Story bounce house to rent!!

How cute is this little guy!! He was so excited to have a bounce house for his big day!

And once he discovered that he could go up the stairs and down the slide he went over and over. I seriously think he went about 50 times throughout the night. He just kept going and going. It was so funny!

There he goes!!

Thank you so much to Jill at Sprinklebelle Cake for Gray's fabulous Toy Story themed cake! Jill was wonderful to work with and the cake was amazing! It tasted great too!

As you can see Grayson was thrilled with it as well! He loved every minute of Maama's cake!!

Thanks to Maama for sharing her cake with her little Booboo while mommy was trying to dish it up for everyone else!

Of course Gray got super spoiled.

And he had lots of helpers to help him open his gifts!

Bentley was so cute. He stood back and watched Gray opening presents, but he got so excited to see what was inside! It was so funny!

Thank you so so much to all of our awesome family and friends who love our little booboo. It means the world to us that you were all there to celebrate with us.

 

We also had a fun photo booth and some themed props! Here are a couple of my favorite. 

Cody and Meaghan

Morgan and Cassie

Brock and CJ

My cute little family

Gray and his friends Zoey and Kooper