SUMMERHAYS

Overheard at our House

2011-12-21T08:37:00.002-07:00

setting:

We're eating some homemade vegetable soup with a tomato broth. Christian wanted to be done, but hadn't eaten much.

"mom, I don't like the birth."

"the what?"

"the birth. It's yuck. "

After some big smiles, Patrick informed him it was called BROTH. Christian informed him he just calls it BIRTH.

Later that night we were filling out a spotlight sheet for Christian's primary class-

patrick: "Christian, whats one food you don't like?"

Christian: "BARTH! I don't like Barth. and Onions."

Man, bud. I wouldn't want to eat anything called birth OR barth. Can't blame you there!

10.22.2011

2011-10-30T11:13:00.003-06:00

Happy SIX years!!!

Our family celebrated our 6-year birthday-

(Seeing as we were fresh out of the hospital and it was mildly painful to walk... P and I will have a fabulously romantical evening later... :) )

We watched Patrick and I's wedding video- the boys loved seeing daddy and mommy (but mostly daddy) as little kids. Daddy was the big hit of the show because he had all the cool toys and costumes: TMNT, He-man, Ninjas, Pirates, etc. Mommy just had crazy hair and a cat. (oh man. Hopefully that's not foretelling of my future...)

The kids helped make and decorate a birthday cake, then we sang happy birthday to our family, blew out candles, and looked forward to another 6 amazing years. :)

From this:

To This:

Best Six Years of My Life.

INTRODUCING

2011-10-26T10:19:00.003-06:00

Skyler Elliot Summerhays

October 19th, 2011

10lbs 4 oz

20.5 inches long

SO glad you're here little buddy! (er...little?)

Welcome to the Summerhays Zoo! :D

Overheard at Our House

2011-10-18T12:55:00.003-06:00

The boys (and now Anna) love to war against the vacuum whenever I use it. This morning they had out the makeshift swords and lasers and other such ninja weaponry, their lowest, toughest, manliest voices (and Anna's most impressive grunts)- and talked rough with the vacuum cleaner. They like to lay their weapons in front of it, trying to stop it. However, mama never stops when she's on a vacuuming mission- and today was no exception.

After the vacuum kept pressing forward Chan cries out:

"Quick!! Run from our lives!!!"

Just now at lunch:

Chan:

Mom- I call Anna a lady. You and Anna are ladies. Me and Christian are MANS!

Can't wait to get even More testosterone pumping through this house! :)

Pregnant.

2011-10-16T16:53:00.005-06:00

Still pregnant. Still. sigh.

In other news.... my two dearest girlfriends out here and I have all been pregnant at the same time. It's been super fun (though I'd be totally okay if my 'fun' ended here any minute...) to watch our bellies grow and talk baby together.

Sunday (three weeks ago..) they both indulged me in a quick photo of our bellies while our husbands and 7 kids clammored anxiously to go home. Becky was due on Friday (5 days later) myself, 2 weeks after that- so we knew we didn't have many more opportunities for such a fabulous photo.
Ruth (due Jan) Becky (due sept 30) Me (due Oct. 13)
Good thing we did, b/c Becky went into labor that night. :)

Myself? well..

here I am 2.5 weeks later....

39.5 weeks...

P and I snuck in a 'final' date pre-baby. (Newish mexican restaurant in Ephriam and Wal-mart errands- we live life on the edge! :P)

I say 'final' because last night we snuck in another 'final' date pre-baby. 3 days overdue. (We split a pumpkin pie shake (so good!) and then cruised the aisles of Family Dollar. I know. We're wild things!

Don't misunderstand. I LOVE dating my husband. LOVE.
But. I would REALLY be okay if we didn't get another date opportunity.... (today is sunday- tomorrow is FHE night....)

BABY?!? ARE YOU HEARING THIS???

sighhh.

This morning..

2011-10-12T08:11:00.002-06:00

So, we are all anxiously waiting the arrival of our newest buddy. But he really needs to come quickly before daddy joins the ranks of sickies in the house. All 3 kids have had runny noses and coughs the last several days and I have finally joined in the fun. It's awesome. (blah.) But seriously- is it pathetic that I am totally looking forward to the 24-48 hours of no cleaning/cooking/trying to get things ready just lying in a hospital bed? *sighhhhhh* sounds so relaxing right now. :)

Anyways. This morning, as usual, Christian was the first of the kids awake. I had a bad headache and wasn't super eager to jump out of bed. Little Miss woke up and was banging on her door (she can't open doors yet)- so I sent Christian to go let her out. Anna currently loves carrying around loads of treasures. This morning, she came to my bedside with her blankie, her brothers' Cars 2 book, her stuffed piglet, her doll, and a little bear snuggle toy. She and Christian came to say hi and give me loves and then went off to play. But first, Anna gave her brother each treasure one by one to have him carry them for her. Ever the obliging big brother, Christian indulged her saying "oh boy, Miss! How am I going to carry all this??" and then Anna happily toddled out of the room with her bus boy following close behind her. :)

Moments later I hear Christian tell her- "oh no, sweetie. We can't go downstairs, Channing is still sleeping."

"Oh Hey there, buddy Channing!! Good morning! Did you have a great sleep??"

Moments later Chan comes running into my room, climbs up on my bed and tells me "Gooood morning, mommy! I slept for 62 minutes!"

sigh. These kids. This is why I go through the madness of motherhood. This is why I exist.

Tribute to my Grandma

2011-09-26T10:05:00.012-06:00

Dear Grandma-

First off, congrats on your new and improved living quarters! I am confident you are happy beyond belief- and that you have had a wonderful reunion with your siblings, parents, and husband. I imagine there was a big banquet held in your honor- with loved ones surrounding you, telling you how much they've missed you and how glad they are to have you with them. I imagine you enjoyed some delicious rhubarb pie and maybe a close version of JoDee's Taco soup. :) Did you favor everyone with your delightful retelling of The Happy Prince?

I imagine how beautiful you must look. Your spirit free from the confines of your earthly body. Hands able to move, energy to walk, no more oxygen tubes. I bet your hair looks beautiful, too. ;)

Oh Grandma. How glad I am for you to finally be able to rest from the cares and pains of this world. How excited I am for you to finally be able to continue your mission with Grandpa. How thrilled I am for you and the joy you must be experiencing.

But, I must confess. I miss you terribly. I am selfishly miserable that you are gone. Grandma- I don't think you know how very, very much you mean to me.

When I was engaged to your incredibly handsome grandson, I was so excited to have grandmas again. I loved visiting you at Jamestown. Patrick and I brought you your favorite- rhubarb pie- made greatly with the help of Mom. You were so excited! Remember that strawberry pie we brought? Yeah, the one that was so runny we had to eat it in bowls? It was a joke, but you were so kind. :)

Patrick and I played Pass the Pigs last night in your memory. Pretty sure you were on my team. Thanks for the dominating wins. ;) Yes, we played with the game you gave us. Thanks. :)

We're missing our BYU buddy this season. As I'm sure you're now aware, our Cougs have been a bit disappointing. Maybe you could send them some 'improvement' vibes? We had such fun watching the games at your place- even that time you insisted Patrick must be freezing and gave him all the blankets (I was pregnant with Christian, and you said I had my own internal 'hotbox')- and really I was the one freezing. :)

The kids sure love their Grandma Great. Christian started calling you that when he was tiny, and the name stuck. Oh, Christian. You and he shared such a special bond. We stopped to visit you before he was even a week old, and you loved holding him. A few weeks later, we came to visit again- and working your magic, you got him to coo and smile and giggle- which he had never done before and didn't repeat until much later. You loved to remind us of that special time. I've always believed Heavenly Father granted us all that small miracle- a treasured moment for each of us.

Grandma Great and Christian, 6 days old

I remember Christian grabbing your finger and squeezing- and you laughing that he could 'milk a cow with that grip!'.

Milking a cow

Channing loved his Grandma Great kisses- and a few times would insist we go back to your room so he could give Grandma Great some loves.

Channing and Grandma Great

We've been fortunate to inherit your little brass chair lamp. That simple lamp makes me smile each time I see it. You would hold my boys on your lap and flick that light on and off. It was magical to them. And magical to me to watch you with them. It will have a treasured place in our home. And I will think of you and your inner light every time I see it.

Jan 14th, 2010 was a special day for our little family. We welcomed a tiny, beautiful baby girl to our lives. Thanks for letting us use your name. We hope to frequently tell her all about the amazing woman whose name she carries- and that she lives it up well.

Anna Marie Summerhays b. Jan 14th 2010 and Anna Laura Summerhays b. Jan 14, 1917.

Grandma, thank you for welcoming me so readily. You immediately took me in as one of your own- loved me and cared for me. I truly felt like part of your family. That has meant so very, very much to me. Thank you for your continual praise and support. Every time I left your presence I felt like I was a pretty great person. You never judged or criticized- just loved. The world needs more people like you. :)

I smile remembering the funny stories you would tell us- about your wedding ring, about your brothers, about life. I loved how supportive and admiring you were about Patrick and his teaching career and musicianship. You loved to hear him play his saxophone. He played for you several times when we would visit. Remember that night we came and sang and played for you at Beehive? You were pretty proud to have our little 'musical' be there just for you. :) Thanks for appreciating our talents. It was so fun to play for you. Remember singing some hymns together? That was special, too.

Patrick and I have always felt that music can reach to the soul when nothing else can- and that's why I really wanted him to play for you the last night we saw you. I knew that you would appreciate music. I have a small confession. My Grandma Spong had severe Alzheimers- and lived with us the last few years of her life. I remember gathering in her bedroom with my family and singing I am a Child of God as she took her final breaths. Even as a young girl, I was so touched by that- and I could sense the peace her spirit felt as her room filled with our simple singing and as her spirit left this mortal existence. I remember feeling that that song was a little pathway between earth and heaven- as she left us to enter eternity.

That's why I wanted to sing that song for you that last night.

I am self-conscious of my public mourning of your absence. After all, I didn't grow up with you. I'm just an 'in-law'. I don't have memories of your camping trailer. Of your home. I only know you from nursing homes and the Gardines. I only know the you that used a walker, that laid in bed. I only know you with gray hair and troubled hands. But I love you.

I am grateful for our final embrace- I looked at you and said, with the my deepest sincerity and fighting the tears in my eyes:

'Thanks for being my Grandma'.

And I will ever hold dear your response- looking directly into my eyes:

"Thanks for being my granddaughter".

I Love You.

I Miss You.

I Thank You.

Till next time, Grandma.

Love,
Me.

P.S. Give our little guy a squeeze, would you?

Thoughts

2011-08-21T22:05:00.002-06:00

much to post about, many pictures to place. But for now...

Thoughts.

-Tomorrow is the first day back from school. I've always loved 'beginning' dates- it helps me feel motivated to implement change and try to improve myself and my life. P and I are going to try our best to change our lives- one day at a time. We've worked up a schedule/daily routine and tomorrow we start! We both know (and frequently say) that it. will. be. hard. Tough. Lots of tough and hard. but! We both know it will be so good and really improve our lives/family/selves if we push through. All good things take work, right?

-I am so in love with my kids. It makes my heart sad to think this is my last year home with Christian. He is so ridiculously sweet and good- and I KNOW I am going to be one of 'those moms' who sobs on the first day of kindergarten.

-We took brownies over to our friends tonight. Their son (I posted about him earlier) is such a good, good kid. He played "Cars 2 Tag" tonight with our boys- as the great Finn McMissile. Tomorrow we'll be bbqing with them. So grateful to their family and their friendship. So grateful.

-Basement is SO. CLOSE. It doesn't seem possible that we could actually finish and be able to use it. What?? ahh! So excited.

-32 weeks. <8 to go. What?! ahh! so much to do! Sigh.

-the boys played Tag with their baby brother the other night. They would run around, then come lightly tag my tummy and say "Tag brother! You're it!". So I did what any respectable mother would do- shoved out my belly and acted like it was chasing them. I only made it a few yards each time, but the boys were having a blast. Pretty fun for all three brothers to be playing tag. :)

Oop- its almost lights out time for out new schedule. Lots of thoughts. Lots of Blessings.

Gnight all.

Overheard at Our House

2011-07-07T14:46:00.002-06:00

We had our friends, the Reynolds, over last night to pay up for having lost Racko. (we wagered hosting an ice-cream night).

Christian and Chan LOVE Jim and Wendy. And Drake. All day they were excited for Jim and Wendy. Chan kept asking me if he could show various things to them when they came.

When they did arrive, the boys couldn't leave them alone. :) Pretty cute.

At one point, Chan was chattering away to Wendy. Midst conversation....

Chan: Can I call you Wend?
Wendy: *chuckles* Sure, you can call me Wend.
Chan (nonchalantly, with a tip of his head): Oh hey, Wend.

It.was.hilarious.

love these kids.

Christian's Birthday!

2011-06-07T15:00:00.000-06:00

Christian's birthday was a huge cause for celebration this year. He has been talking about his Buzz Party since the summer. And thinking forward to his Buzz Party was a big help of getting us through the hospital. And for him to take his medicine. And be brave for his blood work. And everything else.

He has also talked big about last years "Lightening McQueen Birthday When I was Three"- the only Lightening thing of it was his cake- but for the little man, the Cake made the Birthday.

Turning four needed a BUZZ PARTY!

birthday invitations- Christian carried his around for DAYS- and still insists it remains on his bulletin board

I felt mildly pressured to create a fabulous Buzz cake- since I knew that was the most exciting thing for him- My first attempt at fondant- and he Loved it! *happy sigh*

When the guest arrived, first thing was to create individual Space Ranger Utility Belts with their initials.

Throughout the party, there were various tasks to complete so the little Space Rangers could collect special buttons for the belts.

Bowling- knocking down the Zurg Pins

Coloring pictures of Buzz, which we taped around the house to help defeat Zurg
We also played a fun balloon toss game that was somehow incorporated into the Buzz/Zurg theme. :)

In between each activity/task all the boys got in a line and performed the necessary "attention! Show me your muscles! Stand up straight!" routine. Then we marched into the "space station" (laundry room) which was fabulously decked out. Of course there are no pictures. flurb. But the doorway was covered in various colored crepe-paper strands, the washer/dryer and window covered in black fabric and funky psychedelic fabric. The dual multi-colored disco-light balls we spinning and rotating around- trust me. It was awesome. :)

Once everyone was in the Space Station, we shut the door and then worked on charging our new power button. Such a feat was achieved by spinning in circles, counting to 10, blasting off, and pressing the new button to charge it. The kids loved it. :)

While it took tons of energy and was a bit chaotic at times (with out-of-town family visiting plus our basement helpers, the house was packed) it was a total blast. Christian loved it- and seeing his excitement and smiles made everything worth it. Yes, some may say/think we(I) go over-the-top for these little kid birthdays- but honestly- I love it. It doesn't stress me out at all- and it's just a fun outlet for me. And it's fun when the boys talk for months before and after about their party.
Sigh. I love this time of life!

one excited little boy to open some birthday loot! Thanks everybody!

christian was excited about getting fun square plates and RED utensils. Mama made the Space ranger cups (just for the kids- adults got boring ones. :P)

Uncle Nate and Anna (dressed as a little green alien. She played the part well by expertly saying "ooooooo")

Grandma and Papa S drove down for the festivities- Papa demonstrating his mad skillz on the little woody guitar they gave Christian.

Blowing out his 4 candles. Finally!! :D

Happy Birthday, bubbies!! Love you so much and we are so thankful to be your parents! You are the best big brother and the sweetest son.
Happy 4th!

Disneyland Extravaganza of Awesomeness

2011-05-25T10:25:00.000-06:00

(I started this post waaaay back the end of aug/early sept before our world fell apart. It was a big special trip that I'm so so SO glad we went on- to have such a great time with our kiddos, to relax and just have a blast- and I wouldn't trade it for anything- especially now, knowing the hell we we were about to go through. )

Aug 9-14th we spent on a MUCH anticipated (...5 years for P and I) trip to Disneyland. We went with my brother, Nate and fam (which conveniently includes 2 of Christian and Channing's best friends- Cannon and Noah. And an awesome big brother. And a fabulous SIL.)

it. was. awesome.

With 3 kids 3 and under in the backseat, we knew we had to make the ride fairly enjoyable. No DVD player, (no CD or tape player, either...) meant other measures had to be taken. I do have to give my kids major credit- they are Awesome travelers. We have driven around long distances (though never this long) since the time Christian was an infant, and we honestly haven't ever really had issues. Yes, blessed.

Anyways- they each have a toy story backpack that they got to fill with a few favorite toys and books. I purchased some knick-nacks and wrapped them in totally classy/upscale wrapping paper (er...newspaper ads..) and passed out a new 'present' every so often.

We stopped in NV for the night- and as we pulled up near a hotel shaped kinda like a castle- Christian so excitedly exclaimed: We're here!!! It's disneyland!!!
oh kid. Just you wait. :D

The first night in NV- unwrapping their special gifts :) I made each boy a matching shirts for each day in the park- buzz, lightening mcqueen, and mickey. super fun. :)

DAY ONE:

Waiting to check-in at the hotel- wearing their matching Buzz Lightyear t-shirts- haven't even stepped into the park, and already the kids are in heaven. :)

Love.

The boys' favorite ride. We rode this like 4 times. :)

DAY TWO:

The pixar parade- one of my most favorite parts! And I don't have the picture (nate? Molly?) but the boys got their picture taken with Lightening mcQueen himself. Christian touched him and it was like he was totally starstruck at meeting and seeing LQ in the FLESH. so stinking cute. :)

Day 3:
We got to enjoy a Character Breakfast at a cute little cafe inside the park. The food was amazing- and we got to see tons of characters: Hook, Fairy Godmother, Chip&Dale, Eeyore, Pooh, Minnie, and a few others- it was awesome. Definitely a favorite part. :)

matchies! :)

I love their concentration, focus, and determination.

anna checking out It's a Small World- another favorite
Anna sleeping perfectly

Christian saying goodbye with Mickey outside our hotel

On the way back, we stopped at the beach (the kids have never been)- the water was frigid, but the sand was awesome. :)

It was such a fabulous trip- the kids were completely awesome, the weather lovely, and the memories treasured.

Till next time!

Christian's Story/ Update

2011-05-19T15:45:00.002-06:00

:: I don't actually expect or imagine anyone to read this whole post- it is long and detailed.::

I just received an email from one of my dearest friends asking again about the going-ons with Christian. She lovingly informed me that even though she has asked/written several times, I have failed to really explain.

I realized there are many who have expressed love, concern, and prayers in our behalf, that never really understood what was going on. And I fear we (I) may have come across as ungrateful to all of you by not personally responding, though I truly hope that, under the circumstances, you will be forgiving. :)

So- here is our story. It is long. It is detailed. But I want to remember everything.

Friday morning, Oct. 1st, 2010- Christian came into bed with me to snuggle a bit while daddy got ready for work. Suddenly, eyes wide, he cried out in terror that he was "falling".
"Help! Help me!! I'm falling! I'm falling!!" Then it was "wheee! I'm falling! I'm falling!" in a very strange way.
For a few minutes things were 'off'. I cradled him in my arms, terrified as to what had come over my son. The only thing that came to mind was to sing "I am a child of God" and hold him close.

It passed. Minutes later he was laying by me again and said "Mom, (chuckle) I wasn't falling!"

It was all very, very strange.

He had another 'episode' that same day as he awoke from his nap. He had wet the bed (which never happens), thrown up, and was completely distraught. He couldn't use his legs at all. I carried him to the tub and sat with him on my lap in the bath and washed his little body. The whole time he laid completely still. I was terrified. P came home, helped me get him out of the tub, and we took him to the Doctor. Our regular doctor wasn't in so we saw someone else. By the time we got to the office, Christian could walk okay, and was back to being perky and upbeat.

The doctor chalked it up to having the stomach virus.

I knew that wasn't right. At. all.

Saturday and Sunday were totally uneventful.

Monday he went to the dentist. While he was on the laughing gas, he suddenly acted very (extra) strange/hyper. And then it passed. The assistant said that a few kids respond completely differently to the gas and it hypes them up. That almost made sense, except that it was only for about 3 min that he seemed to act extra strange.

Later monday afternoon, we had swimming lessons with my dear friend and her boy. As Christian went to climb up the ladder and get out of the pool, he suddenly collapsed and could no longer stand or use his legs. He was giggling, saying "wheee!", and just..off. The lifeguard came over to check on things- and then came back with his manual, describing a few of Christian's symptoms and said it looked like a micro-seizure. Conveniently my friend, the swim teacher, was also a nurse. (seriously. Jane-of-all-trades. Very handy friend to have. :) )
She agreed that it was definitely a seizure.

And then life turned completely upside down.

He started falling off chairs, bashing his head on our wood floor. He would fall off the couch. He would collapse suddenly while walking. He was never safe. I had to keep a constant eye on him. His episodes changed- his left side would paralyze completely. It would happen instantly, without warning. And when it was over, he was totally normal.

We got an appointment up at Primary Childrens. I had video-recorded an 'episode' and showed the doctor. While in the office, he had another. The doc said it was definitely some kind of a seizure, but unlike anything he had ever seen. Ever.

We were given a prescription. We administered the pills. Regularly. Was told in a week we should see a drastic improvement. Nothing. Couldn't ever get a hold of the doctor or the assistant. Finally got communication- Assistant shocked that there was no improvement. Upped the dosage.
Nothing.

Seizures increased in frequency. 15+ a day.
Christian's balance worsened. Couldn't Run. Living in fear of seizure.
Seizures changed again- now they frightened him and he was fearful of 'falling'.

Halloween fell amidst all of this. We went as the Peter Pan clan- Christian as Peter, Chan as Michael, Me as Wendy, P as John, and Anna was the perfect Tinker Bell.

It was rainy and wet. The boys napped and we ended up missing the trunk-or-treat (which lasted approx. 7 min). We went out to our friends house and trick-or-treated on their street. Except Christian was stumbling. constantly. And had several seizures. And anna had to be carried. so after about 30 min, we called it quits. (we happened to trick-or-treat at our Dr.'s house- and he recommended going to the ER at PCMC if we couldn't get seen as a last resort. )
Halloween was depressing.

Tried to get another appt. at PCMC. I left a message on the nurses phone line. On a Monday, I finally got through to the schedule-lady. Was told May 3(!!!!!!!) was the earliest we could be seen. We couldn't get on the 'fast track' because we'd already gotten one appointment that way. I was completely and totally beside myself. On the verge of tears, I told her that was completely unacceptable. My son is having 20+ seizures a DAY. The same boy that a MONTH ago was running, kicking a soccer ball with perfect coordination could now hardly walk. The gal told me to leave another message on the nurses line and then they would determine if our situation was 'urgent enough'.

So I did. Now in tears, and with the fierceness of a mother who is watching her young child suffer immensely, I left a message. Telling them we needed to be seen immediately. That this was an incredibly urgent situation. And again, that my perfectly capable, soccer loving boy could barely walk.

I was home alone. Trying to care for my 3 little children. My oldest (not even 4) was deteriorating before my eyes. I felt so, so alone. I was so frustrated. So angry. So hurt. So confused. I prayed desperately to God. Begging for His help. Pleading to feel His hand.

Sobbing in hysterics, I called my father. My son was suffering. He could do nothing any more. How did no one understand the seriousness of the situation??? What was wrong with these people?? My dear dad was furious. My mother was furious. She cried with me on the phone. In fact, she cried with me numerous times.

About 3 hours later, I received a call from a nurse. She told me she agreed it sounded very urgent- and that we could get an appt in about 3 days, but that she recommended we come to the ER at PCMC that evening. She said that by doing so we would for sure be seen by those we needed to see and that Christian would be able to get the care he needed. She said there was a chance they would check us in overnight but she wasn't sure.

So we packed our back and a suitcase for the kids for one night.

After school, we drove up to AF, dropped the kids off to Mom S, with the "possibility of staying overnight".

We checked in to the ER at PCMC- and after Christian had 3 seizures in the ER room alone- (one of which I was able to record on camera for reference to the other doctors)- We were admitted to the neurology dept.

Daddy and son waiting in the ER

Patrick headed back home as he still had to teach the next day, leaving Christian and I in our little hospital room that was to be (unbeknownst to us) our home for the next 2 weeks.
The first night there, the nurses wanted me to push to call button every. time. Christian seized. I had to sleep in the hospital bed with him so I would be aware of his seizures. (He no longer called out during them. In fact, he would hardly breathe. Just clench his mouth and tense up. It was scary.) Each time I pushed the button, about 5 nurses would rush into the room, Flip on the lights, grabbing the oxygen mask and several other various items. After about 7 times of this- and the outcome being exactly the same, they lightened up a bit.

I was also to track the time/duration/symptoms of each seizure.

Simply put, I got no. sleep.

First night at the hospital

Christian was hooked up to IVs, oxygen, and heart rate monitors. If he moved too much, the oxygen monitor would come off and we were subjected to a steady 'BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP" until someone came in and refitted the monitor. This happened about 3-4 times (at least) an hour. Sometimes the nurses would let him be off the oxygen monitor- the boy wanted to move!

during one of 2 very extensive EEG scans.
When he woke up, he HATED the thing on his head. Hated it.

We ended up staying in our room for 2 weeks- seeing the entire team of Neurologists every few days and at least one neurologist 1-2x a day. They pumped my boy full of drugs.
Nothing worked. No improvement. at. all. He was now having 70+ seizures/day.

I would wheel him around in a little wheelchair- just to get out. For a change of scenery.
Christian loved to go see this Spiderman statue on our walks

Cousin Michael came all the way from WA to visit and help. Christian almost 4, michael almost 5. Christian is holding his little Ironing Man toy (thanks N&M) and his Buzz rocketship (thanks Tia)- he carried these with him constantly.

PCMC has a play room on another floor- and we went there several times. Christian would try to walk around and play, but he was so unsteady we tried to get him to just sit and play with some toys. It was a wonderful place- full of toys- and Christian loved it.

Needing help to walk in the playroom

One day I hit a low. My brother and his wife and their 5 kids all came to visit. They brought christian some books and cards. Christian was walking around our room with the boys, and suddenly seized and fell face down on the hard hospital floor. It gave him a bad bloody nose.
Later that evening we went up to the play room. I was trying to follow right behind him with my hand on his back- but again, he seized, fell face front, and got another bloody nose. This time his nose was swollen and bruised.
Broke. My. Heart.

One of several distractions available- this beautiful huge lab/retriever- Christian loved her :)

Eventually, 3 days before we left, the magic combination and dosage of medication was found. His seizure drastically reduced- and in the end we were able to go nearly an entire day with only 2-3 seizures. It was a miracle.

My boy is home now. He's playing on a soccer team. We are totally seize-free. He has to take his medications every morning and night- but he has gotten incredibly good and obedient with it. He comes immediately when we call him to take his medicine.

We witnessed a huge miracle with our boy.

It was a horrific experience. A mother's nightmare. It was totally traumatic for us- for me. Even now, over half a year later, writing this brings such clear images to my mind and crushes my heart yet again. But I'm not sure if I would trade it. The closeness I felt to my Savior during some of the hours of lying in bed with my little boy- the Spirit that was in our room-the testimony I had strengthened that I have a Heavenly Father who knows me, knows my boy, and loves us.

I did feel like I aged immensely. It's amazing how going through something like this helps you put things in perspective. And how silly some of my 'cares' seemed to be. It's good for me to go back and remember- remember how THIS- my boy, my kids, my husband, my family, my God- these are the important things in life.

I am finally ready and able to move on. I will never forget this- nor the love we felt from family and friends who came to visit us and showed us immense support. Huge thanks goes out to Mom S.- who watched Anna and Channing and brought them up to visit. They brought up cupcakes and pizza to celebrate P's birthday (in the hospital).
Huge thanks to my brothers and their families for their visits and gifts. Huge thanks to my sister who drove all the way out from WA to support me during this time.
Thanks to our friends and ward family who held a fast in Christian's behalf.
Thanks to P's schools and principals for being so understanding and supportive. Thank you for the teddy bear. Thank you for the incredibly thoughtful card.
Thanks to my dearly beloved husband. He traveled long hours and many miles during the two weeks to be with us as much as possible. He is the Best daddy. And I fell in love with him all over again seeing the pain in his eyes for his son. He hurt. He hurt a lot but focused on Christian and I instead. I love you, darling.

Thanks for the prayers and love.
Thanks for the hugs.

Thanks.

With Uncle Nate and BFF Cannon- thanks for the visits guys.

Overheard at Our House

2011-02-25T20:00:00.002-07:00

Channing and Christian are sitting on my bed. Channing is 'reading' his Bob the Builder book to Christian.

"One day Bob the Builder gave Wendy a big hug. It was a Perfect Day."

The End.

I agree. Hugs make for a perfect day.
:)

Gratitude

2011-01-12T22:26:00.000-07:00

NOTE: I wrote this up back during our stay in the hospital. I never got around to posting it, but reading through it again brings such strong emotions to the surface- I wanted to share my testimony of God's love with any who might read this.

*******

I have felt such an overwhelming sense of gratitude during this whole ordeal with Christian. Sunday we attended a very brief sacrament meeting at the hospital. It was an amazing experience.
Upon walking in, I felt such a strong, special spirit there. Only those presiding/conducting/presenting were in Sunday dress. The rest of us were in casual street clothes and hospital gowns. Its likely that very few of the attendees had spent more than 5 min 'prepping' themselves. Some of us hadn't even looked in a mirror for a few days. All of us felt heavy burdens.
We looked exhausted, beaten, needing the uplifting we had faith we would receive. All of us were so concerned, so focused on the little ones we were there for that our personal selves simply faded away. The lucky ones of us had our little ones sitting beside us. Several of us didn't.

As I sat there with my sweet boy, the prelude music played sweet primary songs. I looked around- seeing the remarkable, humble people- I felt privileged to be in their company. A few kids were hooked up to IVs, a few in wheelchairs.

I felt so strongly the purity of children. It was as if the Savior was to be anywhere, he would be here. Here with his younger brothers and sisters. Here with the suffering, the weak.

As I looked around, I wondered at the stories of each person there. What circumstances brought us here together. And I felt strongly that Heavenly Father knows. He knows each of us, what we're going through- and He cares. He cares so much. He knows EACH of us. Individually. Personally. He loves us.

I am full of such tremendous gratitude for my life- this very point of time. While I would not wish the pain and agony on anyone, I am grateful for it. I am grateful for my husband, for his love and support. I am so very, very grateful for his job and for his incredible employers- for their loving understanding- that he is able to take off so much time to come up and be with us.
I am grateful that he loves me, that he is in such pain over our son- because he loves him.

I am grateful for a huge family support system. For a mother in law who, without question is watching Chan and anna- for what was 'possibly going to be an overnighter'- which has now lasted nearly 2 weeks. I am grateful for my parents- their huge concern, their prayers.

I am so, so grateful for a sister who dropped everything and DROVE ALONE with 2 kids from Washington state to be a support to me. Who has come to visit me every day that Patrick has been gone. I am grateful for a sister in Texas who was wanting to do the same.

I am grateful for brothers and their families who have come to visit- to cheer Christian and I. Who are doing their best to love and comfort.

I am grateful for a ward who has united in a fast for our little boy.

I am grateful for so many friends who are letting us know of their love. Who are offering prayers in our behalf.

I am so grateful to be alive now. Today. For the medical and technological advances which have been made that allow my son to be helped.

I am grateful for my Savior. That he died for me. For my baby. That because of Him- because of His love- regardless of how this all turns/ed out- I will have my baby with me forever. I will always be able to be his mama. That one day Christian's body will return to its perfected state. That he will walk again, play again. That he will be completely seizure free- because he will be perfected. As Christ is.

I am grateful especially that God has blessed me to be able to feel gratitude at this time. Things could be so, so much worse. I am grateful for the closeness to heaven that I have been able to experience here in this white, hospital room. For the closeness of my Savior. For his arm around me. Around my boy.

I am grateful.

FAST

2010-11-06T10:26:00.003-06:00

Dear friends/family/any other random people that may happen to read this Blog-

We would like to invite anyone/everyone to join us in a special fast on Christian's behalf this Sunday, Nov. 7th.

Our ward had the very special opportunity to fast for a little baby (the grandson of a member of our ward)- as one Priesthood leader stated- it was a "special opportunity to be a part of a miracle"- I love the faith that that shows. And I loved being a part of the miracle of the boy's healing. It was such a special experience, and I felt such a love for this baby that I had never met.

I hope and pray for such a miracle with our own sweet boy.

Update

2010-11-02T07:35:00.002-06:00

We took Christian in to the ER at PMCH last night, thanks to them being booked till March 3rd, (yes, March) and "Urgent Needs Only" booked for several days out. Things have gone downhill so much and so fast, with no medications working, that they wanted us to come in immediately.

We were admitted overnight, and P took the drive between "Up North" and Gunnison for the 3rd time in 24 hours. rough. :(

(thanks Mom S for watching our younger babes for us!)

Christian had a really rough night again. He was completely drugged up: dose of Pheno, dose of keppa(?), dose of ativan. Kept having seizures. Much talk with the neurologists and the dr. gal working with us overnight said the neuro was like "what?? He's STILL having them??"....comforting. :/

He's to have another MRI, which they were hoping to do this morning (poor kid hasn't eaten in a long time.- little kids need to fast for 8 hrs prior to and MRI so they can be sedated) BUT, the first MRI opening is for 5pm today. They ppl working with us are going to see if they can get it bumped up at all, so we'll find out about that here in a bit.

Kid is the sweetest, sweetest guy. He's totally exhausted (and drugged up) so he goes back to sleep right after a seizure. He finally was 'seize-free' from about 3:30-7, and I was able to sleep from about 4:10-7, my extent of rest for the night.

A funny thing: he's all dressed in this cute little mini-hospital-getup. It's pretty dang cute. (and brings out the blue in his eyes! :P) He wanted a bag to put some of his treasures in. I told him we needed to wait 'til the nurse came and then he could ask her. So he was kneeling, playing on his bed and would call out in a goofy voice "nuuuuuurse. nuuuuuuurrrrrrse!" It was super cute. The gal sitting at the desk outside our door was quite enamored, told him she wasn't his nurse, but that she would be happy to do anything for him. :)
He got his bag.

They've been really good to us here and I'm so glad we finally took the ER route, were admitted, and have been able to have him monitored so extensively. We'll be meeting with a team of Neurologists and even the Supervisor to the neurologists later. They're set on helping us get things under control and our little guy the help he needs. Yesterday I was quite the wreck, but its really good to be here and to be getting the help we need.

UPDATE: He'll be having an EEG here within the hour (hopefully) and the dr. I just spoke with said we'll be here definitely another night.

hm. Stinky underwear much? :S

So. This is jumbled, gargled, and completely un-worthy of any literary-feelings-of-pride, but its an update. And I haven't slept. In many nights. So there.

Where we've been

2010-10-18T10:51:00.003-06:00

Running. Lasers. Blast off.

Singing. Scripture memorizing. Speaking into the Microwavephone.

Sweetest Sunbeam I know.

Best big brother. Snuggling with Anna.

Lightning McQueen. Sally. Doc.

Ironing Man.

Mr. Concredible Hulk Glubs.

Wanting a Dunk Tank for birthday.

Soccer Star. Football Player. BYU blue through and through.

Picnics in the living room.

Alphabet airplane.

"Who's coming for dinner?" "Who can I eat dinner with?"
Social Man.

Tents on the bunk bed.

Lightning McQueen Boots.

Yellow Car Pottery Barn Designer.

Buzz Lightyear, HeMan, Sword in shirt.

To the Rescue!
-------

Wake up. Crying. Trembling. Pupils dialated.

Help me, help me! I'm Falling!

Left side paralysis.

Loss of balance.

2 days fine.

Trouble again.

Head to Primary Children's Hospital.

Seizures of some sort.

CT scan good.
Sigh of relief.

EEG- abnormal.

Medications not working.

Increase dosage.

No improvement.

Increase in frequency. 12+ in one day?

No sleep.

Afraid to fall.

Playing with cousins, Soccer field. Race between Ironing Man and Buzz.
Face on the ground. Body tremors.

Cousin asks "Does your brain hurt?"
"I don't think so."

At the zoo with Papa and Grandma.

Need to Potty.

Seizure.

Get to bathroom.

Doesn't go.

Head back.

I hear him whine that he needs to potty. I'm frustrated. Kneel down to talk to him.

"It's bumpy, mama. My walk is bumpy."

Can't walk well as a result of seizure.

Heart breaks.

2 weeks.

Prayers.

Pleading.

Feeling Weak. Trying to be strong.
It's a front.

Sleepover in Mommy and Daddy's bed.

4 seizures.

5 seizures this morning.

Waiting for the doctor's call.
MRI result.

Waiting.

Playing with sister. Playing with brother.

My angel boy.

My Christmas Gift.

4th Bi-Annual (but-sometimes-we-get-off-schedule-and-its-annual+semiannual) Hadfield Family Reunion

2010-09-30T12:08:00.006-06:00

(yes, that is how they slept every night)

This year we had our Hadfield Family Reunion at Zion's Nat'l Park.

It was pretty awesome.

Highlights/Lowlights:
-Flash Flood/thunderstorm
-Mudpit in the middle of our campsite
-sweating so much you can't sleep
-our ridiculously-small-tent-not-meant-for-2-adults-and-3-kids-even-if-it's-called-a-3-4-man-tent
-being able to see the stars perfectly under the netting of our tiny tent
-FINALLY getting some rest/coolness on a blissful tram ride
-escaping for an hour+drive around the canyon in my dream mini-van w/ 4 zonked out little boys. (no, I wasn't driving. I came along for the AC.)
-incredible sacrament meeting with my amazing, amazing family. And a wonderful testimony meeting. and loving my family with my whole guts.
-thoroughly rockin' Variety Show. And my brother(mildly shocking us all) in a hulu- skirt- wig and skirt. (no coconuts, though. Maybe next time?)
-hearing my niece belt it out at said talent show
-doing skits with my nephews/niece.
-Giant Family Birthday Party
-Amaaaazing food. Seriously. Yum.

-Coming in full agreement that next reunion needs to be AC'd? Priceless. :)

Grandkids #s 11 & 14. (anna is 18)

Hello, GQ

Thanks, fam. Glad we're in this thing forever. :)

What Kind of a Mother....

2010-09-27T10:57:00.002-06:00

finishes up a preschool party with 3 boys running around unstringing yarn ALL over the house, lets the 2 year old run around with JUST (and yes, I mean JUST) his Curious George pj shirt, goes outside to chat with a mom(and dear friend) , while the 3 year old and 4 year old friend ride bikes, and the 2 year old is now running up and down the sidewalk wearing 2 different sized Buzz-Lightyear-tennis-shoes (on the wrong feet) and still JUST his pj shirt- all while saying how bad it probably is to allow the 2 year old to be streaking, yet loving it all the same- for about 15 minutes...and then only regrets not getting a picture of the crazily adorable 2 year old?

sighhhh

2010-09-05T20:57:00.004-06:00

Okay. So much to catch up on.
1)family reunion. and our fabulous take on the old spice commercial. ;)
2)FABULOUS, AMAZING, and all things spectacular Disneyland trip (prepare for photo overload. :) )
3)Our ridiculously cute kids.
4)our ONE YEAR mark of being gunnisonites. (!!!!)
5)house updates
6)etc. etc. etc.

buuut.....

As I was uploading a batch of pictures, I came across these two. And they seriously turned me into a melted puddle. (its a miracle I can even type right now)

Seriously.

Seriously.

(anyone else needing a mop now?)

Patrick's Post: Oh Zion, Dear Zion...

2010-08-08T20:57:00.006-06:00

I'm sure Tawna will post about our recent Hadfield Reunion in Zion National Park, so I will not go into the details of that event, but feast your eyes on this:

Pictured here is a portion of the "trail" to the summit of Angel's Landing (no, my leg is not pictured here).

All that is keeping you from plummeting to your doom is your balance, your fear, and that chain right there to the left of you. The fear is key; if you had none, you would choose to walk closer to the edge and not hold on to the chain as often and then you would end up like the many hikers who have died falling off this cliff. Hmm... reminds me of a certain scriptural passage involving a rod and a tree...

I hiked up these:

(called Walter's Wiggles)

To get to this:

Pretty breath taking, no?

(as a side note to my other activities this summer, it feels like I have moved this much rock and dirt around my yard trying to tame the landscape. I'm still working on my sprinklers. The only thing that looks done is my tan--don't worry Mom and Dad, I'm using sunscreen!)

Our True Self

2010-07-24T15:14:00.004-06:00

A friend posted this video.
In trying to use my time better, and enjoy and live life a little more, I want to share this with each of you.

Sometimes, things seem to crash all around. Sometimes its completely out of our control. And sometimes, we (I) just drop the ball. Everywhere. I screw up. Big time. In multiple situations. And it seems like everyone else has it so much more together than I. No one else would be such a fool.

So here's to any of us who may have felt totally out of place, not as wanted as another, not a part of a group- here's to any of us who have some time felt like 'everyone else' is cuter, funnier, prettier, stronger, more talented, nicer, better cooks, w/e it may be- Here's to us who have ever felt down and despairing.

You (and I) are children of the Most High. When I think of how much I love my own kids, and I realize that God loves me even more than that-
I am of Worth.
Infinite Worth.

And so are you.

Time

2010-07-22T22:20:00.002-06:00

Seriously. Where does it go?

I remember when I was younger, the year seemed to drag by. It was forever between my birthdays, Christmas, the school year starting again- and it makes sense. I mean, when you're 5, a year is a whopping 1/5 of your life. So birthdays ARE really far apart. But, the older you get, the smaller the fraction of your life a particular time segment is- thus the time starts whizzing by.

Are we seriously about to hit August? And another school year? Have we been here in good ol' Gunnison for almost a YEAR?

How did Anna get to be close to 6.5 months?

How did I get to be ALMOST TWENTY-FIVE??? (yes. Kinda freaking out about this one)

How is Christian going to be 4??

How can it be Friday tomorrow? Where did this week GO?

I seem to start each day with a few things that I really must get done.
problem is, I start many days needing to get the same thing done. But before I know it, the day is gone. And I'm waking up again thinking that today I really must get it done. And suddenly an entire week has gone by. eek.

I love my life. I am so grateful for it. I am grateful for my incredible husband, amazing kids, wonderful family, fabulous friends, beautiful home, feel-good community, free country, my testimony of the restored gospel, my talents, my abilities, the support of my hubbins to keep trying new things-

I have been trying to be a little more in the here and now in life and it seems like now it's on turbo speed. Stop! Slow down! I am enjoying myself and this life I am living! I certainly don't want to wish it away, pining for the future or the next big thing, or the dreaded yet oh-so-easy 'I'll be happy when' trap.

I need to work on my time management skills a little more. While there's not time to get it all done, I can certainly work on using the precious time that I do have a little more...resourcefully.

Hm. Speaking of which. I have a man sitting here (er, on the couch reading)who could use some good companionship time. Heaven knows I could too.

Adieu!

6 Months

2010-07-16T20:56:00.004-06:00

Anna is 6 months old.

How?

How is this possible?

She is my baby. My sweet, sweet baby.

When we told people that we were having a girl, the reaction was usually relief for us. "Oh, good! I bet you're SO excited to have GIRL! After 2 Boys!!" sort of thing.

Truthfully? I wanted another boy. I really, really wanted another boy. It was going to be Perfect. 3 boys- 2 in the bunk bed, the 3rd would eventually get a trundle under the bunk. 3 boys, then maybe 3 girls. (ha!) I had it all planned out.

But no, 'it' was a girl. All 9 months of pregnancy I had the teeniest, tiniest doubt on my new babe's gender. When she was born, I asked "so, is she still a girl?" before they handed her over.

Now. Do NOT misunderstand me. I love my boys. I. Love. My. Boys. Any fly on our walls will tell you that I can hardly let go of them. I kiss them embarrassingly much. (embarrassing to Mr. Summerhays, I guess. They don't mind...yet.. :) ) Christian and Mommy: "Christian- how much does Mommy Love you?" C: "To Infinity, and Beyond!" I can't get enough of them. I ask daily if I can eat them. Or kiss their faces off. I have yet to receive permission. :/

but Anna. My sweet, sweet Anna. My boys love me. They always have. As babies, they loved me. A lot. I could tell. So could everyone else.

But Anna. Anna loves me. More than I feel I could possibly deserve. The way she looks at me. The way she always wants me. Mama can make everything better in her eyes.

In high school, I loved the song "In my Daughter's Eyes". When I was pregnant with each of the 3 kids, I loved it, and would just kinda think of it in a boy-related manner. But with Anna- I feel that song so true, so strongly.

In my daughter's eyes I am a hero
I am strong and wise
And I know no fear
But the truth is plain to see
She was sent to rescue me
I see who I want to be
In my daughter's eyes

In my daughter's eyes
Everyone is equal
Darkness turns to light
And the world is at peace
This miracle God gave to me
Gives me strength when I am weak
I find reason to believe
In my daughter's eyes

And when she wraps her hand around my finger
Oh, It puts a smile in my heart
Everything becomes a little clearer
I realize what life is all about
It's hanging on when your heart
Has had enough
It's giving more when you feel
Like giving up
I've seen the light
It's in my daughter's eyes

In my daughter's eyes
I can see the future
A reflection of who I am
And what will be
And though she'll grow
And someday leave
Maybe raise a family
When I'm gone I hope you see
How happy she made me
For I'll be there
In my daughter's eyes

Anna. I simply cannot express to you how much I love you. It was a scary ride getting you here to earth, to our family. You were in my constant prayers. Heavenly Father blessed me with a very special experience about a week or two before you were born, and I hope one day you'll understand it.

Sweet girl. I am so imperfect. In so many ways I am not the person I want to be. (I am working on it!) But, I love you. Dear, I Love you. Grandma Summerhays told me many times while we were waiting for you to come to just take time and enjoy you. That it was the 3rd child (daddy himself!) that made her finally slow down a little bit. I've really tried to take that to heart. I have rocked you a little more, held you closer, tighter, and longer. I have let the laundry and the dishes sit. I have wept many tears of joy that I am allowed to be your mama.

Why is it that we never understand our parents' love for us until we become parents ourselves? Honestly, even now, I think- surely my parents can't love me as much as I love my kids. (Or maybe they could, when I was a sweet baby, or a cute little kid. But now that I'm a full-fledged adult? Maybe the love weans a little bit? I have no idea. Urgh. Why is it that the wisdom doesn't come until the time has passed?)

Anna- I want you to know I am honestly trying my best. I want to be the best mama I possibly can for you. for your brothers. How grateful I am to the three of you- sometimes when it seems like I just can't do anything right to anyone else, and that everyone just sees my imperfections out on a neon billboard, I can turn to you- and you love me. You smile at me. You give me a kiss. You just love. No hesitations. No reservations. No conditions, qualifications, limitations, or exceptions. I think your love, the love of a child, is given to us to help us understand our Savior's love. He doesn't love us less when we mess up, make a mistake, or just do something downright dumb. We don't have to try all our lives to 'earn' his love. He just Loves.

Thank you. Thank you for your simple, true love. Thank you for making me feel worthwhile, needed, wanted, and irreplaceable.

I love you. Happy 6 months. :)

-Mama

Things I love about Little Kids

2010-06-23T09:02:00.002-06:00

......they don't know 'weird' and 'normal', so they don't think anything you do is weird, just funny and awesome.

I can kiss their faces off, wrestle like crazy, bust out in dance or song (or both), change my voice, and just go nuts- and they think I am awesome.

thank you, boys. :)

Chan Turns Two, Too!

2010-06-13T18:17:00.005-06:00

This weekend Channing turned two. Because of his older brother, Channing usually asks for things followed by 'too!' . ex: Christian asks for Milk. Channing says : Milk, Too! However, since Channing is so used to requesting things after his brother, he usually adds 'too!' to any request he makes solo.

Super cute.

Chan has snuck into a very, very special place in P and I's hearts. He is so sweet, so helpful.

-He is awesome at helping. In fact, for a really long time now, he gets upset if you don't let him help clean. (I'm okay with that... )
-He still sucks his two fingers. Since day 1. :)
-He loves his blankie.
-He "wants to hold you" when he feels sad, tired, or snuggly.
-He loves to sing the ABCs and does suprisingly well. Granted, he does leave out big chunks, but considering he just turned two, we're impressed.
-Only in the last 2 months or so has he been able to say 'Christian'. This was a favorite of ours- to hear him calling after his brother "Channing! Come here!" or "No, Channing! Stop!"
-He is a really good speaker and has a very large vocabulary.
-He can carry on a legitimate 5+ min. phone conversation. Love it.
-He loves to pray.
-He loves pushing things around. His lawnmower outside, laundry baskets inside- he loves it.
-His loves right now: Cars, Lightning McQueen, Buzz and Woody, He-man, playing outside, balls, books, bubble baths, coloring, being a lion and dancing.
-He can't jump. And its hilarious to watch him try. :)
-His dancing is like a lopsided-frankenstein-going-in-circles. It, too, is awesome.
-he loves going 'peep' on the toilet. and is pretty good at telling us when he needs to go. (for a just-barely-turned-2-boy)

Oh chan. ChanMan. Channing. We love you so much!

(pictures: cookie monster invite, cookie jar to hold the cookie bean bags for the cookie monster bean bag toss, party favors of playdoh, cake, chan and his new big truck and uh..others :) )

p.s. Thanks family for celebrating with us! :)

Overheard at Our House

2010-06-06T22:19:00.002-06:00

Christian loves his He-man sword. He is back to carrying it around everywhere, all day long, in the back of his shirt.

He also knows we don't use swords on people.

A week or so ago it was super windy. We were outside and he told me he was just going to use his sword to fight the wind.

Today he wanted to go outside:

"Mom, can I have a fight with the Wind for a little bit? Just a second, please mom? Please can I have a fight with the wind? "

Awesome. And what good manners! :)

4 Months

2010-05-27T12:14:00.004-06:00

Look who's 4 months old!

Anna's Stats:

12lbs 5 oz. Sweet and Petite

26 in long

I dont get how people make chunky babies! I feed this girl, I do!

But, really, we wouldn't change a single ounce of her.

Activities:

-Laughs

-Is pretty dang tough. (has to be w/ 2 very loving older brothers...)

-Rolls All. Over. The. Place.

Its ridiculous. She rolled for the 1st time at 14 weeks, front to back, back to front. Then she stopped for a little bit. Then she rolled for a little bit.

And for the last several weeks she has been All. Over. I put her down in the living room, and a few minutes later, found her in the kitchen. Me. No. Likey. I want her to stay my tiny baby.

On that note- Christian often tells us "I want to keep Anna. I want to keep my baby sister. I want her to be our baby."

Hear, Hear!

ANNOUNCING.....

2010-05-25T20:36:00.005-06:00

Little Sprouts Preschool

thelittlesproutspreschool.blogspot.com

I am totally excited about this! Especially for Christian- I once asked him what his favorite thing to do with Mommy was:

"Preschool!!"

So, this is for you, little buddy!

Check out the site and feel free to tell me what you think!

(thank you to cynthia brown for my fabulous header and my awesome business cards!!)

Overheard at Our House

2010-05-24T17:05:00.002-06:00

A few cute things that keep us smiling:

After putting on his Lightening McQueen boots, Christian stood admiring them:

'These boots are really Appetizing for me!"

At dinner whenever Channing sees a lid to the ketchup or mustard bottle open:

"Shut the Door!"

After spinning around in circles on Daddy's back, Christian asks:

"Dad, are you busy?"

love these kids!

Cry for Help solved. :)

2010-05-22T09:36:00.003-06:00

Just a little update on my 'help' post-( i had previously requested help for a name for my preschool)

I decided on a name, and thus deleted that post- thanks for the feedback!

I am currently working on a site for the preschool, and hope to present it for public viewing monday- at least it needs to be ready by then b/c I'll start advertising around town then.

Its actually about ready, but i have a dear and beautiful friend helping me with a header- (THANK YOU, CYNTHIA!) so...yeah. :)

anyways- Im getting excited!

Reading

2010-05-13T13:36:00.004-06:00

you may or may not have noticed my ever-growing list of books over there to the side.

I may or may not be working on a list of 24 things to do while Im 24, and reading a set goal may or may not be a part of that list.

Along those lines, we love the library. We miss the beautiful Provo library, but we love our library nonetheless.

Yesterday P took the boys to the library to return/check out some books.

Along with some good Arthur, Berenstein Bears, Dinosaur, and other good-looking children's books,

my boys may or may not have selected this lesser-known children's classic book:

P and I may or may not have died laughing.

Mama-Sons(and Anna) Campin' Time

2010-05-13T09:57:00.005-06:00

The following is a post that I never finished from last month...lovely... but still wanted to post about:

Friday night P went on his first going-as-a-leader-not-as-a-scout Scout Camping Trip.

I felt like a Mom. I sewed all his patches on his shirt. (they look pretty good!) And I finally figured out (re-figured out...I know my mom taught my when I was little...) how to blind-hem his pants. On my sewing machine. huzzah!

I knew the boys were NOT going to be happy to have their best buddy gone over night, so I tried to be a good mom (for once) and make it a special weekend for us, too.

We had a Mama-Sons Pretend-Campin'-Trip-Inside! (I had to make sure that when I first presented the idea to Christian that he had a clear idea of what to expect. Otherwise, I knew there would be sadness/disappointment when we didn't use our ginormous tent and when we didn't camp outside. Gotta have those bases covered! )

I was pretty pooped by the time we got P out the door- and really just felt like plopping the kids in front of a movie and relaxing for the night- but Im really glad I didn't. (pardon if I'm tooting my own horn here.. )

Anyways- We had a lot of fun.

First, there were So Special Campin' Dinners Like Daddy's (which the boys both actually loved and ate all of it....and minimal cleanup? hmm....yes please. )

Then we went on a Hike. We ended up at our Bishop's house- and got to tour their mini-golf course, see some fish, and best of all, hold tiny, baby kitties. The boys Loved it!

Then we came home for some of my most-favorite-ever treats: Shmarshmellow Smores. Seriously. I can eat a bajillion of these. (hehe- becky c. ... :) )

(channing kept getting his hand stuck to his plate. :) )

then it was bathtime.

(sweet sister watching the action nearby)

Then Storytime

(it is Toasty in that tent!)

Then Sleeping in their tent.

I was pleasantly surprised that the boys actually went to sleep- together, in close quarters, not in their room, in a new/exciting/fun environment... etc. yes. It was a pleasant surprise.

anyways. We had a blast and this is going to be our new tradition each month when daddy is out on scout camps. Can't wait! :D

Morning!

2010-05-06T07:43:00.003-06:00

Good Morning, everyone!

Hope ya'll have a fabulous day!

Loves.

2010-04-29T17:46:00.003-06:00

14 weeks

2010-04-26T20:47:00.002-06:00

Two posts in One day?? I know. Insanity. (edit: I wrote this yesterday, but then couldn't find the camera to upload the pictures marking the event 'till this morning...)

but i can't NOT mark this milestone.

Anna rolled over! She has mastered both front-to-back and back-to-front today.

14 weeks old.

Look how proud she is of herself. The stinker.

p.s. Thanks N&M for letting us borrow the playmat- she LOVES it!

She seriously needs to stop growing up.

For awhile now she has been trying to stand up on my lap.

She's just barely supposed to be able to keep her head up.

Stop, Anna. Stop. Right now.

You are my BABY.

Don't get me wrong. I love watching you learn new things and take in your surroundings. I love that you giggle a lot these days. I love that you coo so sweetly. I love that you 'sing' to me and smile and just melt my heart all over the place.

I love these things.

But please. Stop growing up.

Pretty please?

Overheard at Our House

2010-04-26T17:25:00.001-06:00

At Ace Hardware w/ Christian, looking at toilet seats.

Christian sees one of the padded kinds-

"Look mom! A COUCH toilet! A Couch toilet! That's funny!"

hahaha. Yes it is, son.

3 months!!

2010-04-14T21:05:00.006-06:00

Today Anna turned 3 months old. *sigh*

-She's been laughing for over a month now. They are small, but oh-so-cute little laughs.

-She coos quite a bit- love it.

-Very attentive.

-Pushes on her legs to stand up for brief periods of time

-the sweetest little snuggler

I love this girl.

the traditional rocking-chair-monthly-photo:

The photo session was very limited b/c of the loving and excited audience:

I took this picture yesterday- after blow-drying her hair for kicks-

Curly McCurlyson gone straight:

In other news- This is how I caught Christian outside:

At least he was wearing shoes.....:)

Anna's Blessing

2010-04-13T13:04:00.003-06:00

Sunday was Anna's baby blessing. And yes, thankfully her name is still Anna Marie Summerhays. (Patrick had been warning me that he may be 'inspired' to change her name to Barthuzala or something- and i told him I might be 'inspired' to whack him if that happened.)

It was wonderful. My parents were able to fly out for the event, which was so, SO special for me! (we had no idea they would be able to make it- thank you my-mom's-piano-student's-mom-who-gives-them-free-standby-tickets!!!

Anna wore the blessing dress my mom made for me. The one my older brothers teased her about because it was so long.

Saturday night Mom, Dad, me, P, and Ev stayed up till 1am watching 1776- (the musical- with Mr. FEENY! Do you people remember him? From Boy Meets World- the principal? Yeah. He plays john adams. He SINGS! and DANCES! MR. FEENY!!!! crazy. and awesome. and no one besides Patrick remembers who Im even talking about...)

Anyways- mom was adding new elastic to the sleeves (24 yr old elastic isn't very elastic-y...)while we were watching the show- and it was pretty neat to imagine her doing the same thing 24 years ago for me. :) (sans the 1776 watching part.)

So many of our family members were able to come out for the event- and we so appreciate the long drive that you all made to be there! Patrick did a fabulous job, (which he rightfully takes no credit for) and it was so special to see all the men in the circle representing all the people who love our baby girl.

*sigh* This little girl is such a sweetheart. She looked so beautiful. I had seriously considered making each of my girls (we hope there are more!) their own blessing dresses- but seeing Anna in hers, and seeing how much it meant to my Mom- I think it was the perfect choice. I DID make her little hairbow....so that counts, right? :)

Molly took some gorgeous pictures which I am super excited to see, and will share those later- but in the meantime:

(uh, these were all actually taken Monday afternoon- we couldn't find our camera Sunday...)

(okay- really need to get a 'nice' picture of the boys with their sister- but i love this one. LOVE that all these are MINE! And it totally makes me look forward to the future and the fun times these little cuties are going to have together. *sigh* Feeling Lucky.)

Thanks SO MUCH for coming mom and dad!! It was so wonderful to have you here! (mom and dad S came too- and it was so wonderful to have them here, too- but I don't have any pics with them...)

It's a looong dress.

Three Generations. Love it.

Today.

2010-04-09T09:16:00.005-06:00

Today I am home with just these two:

because this one:

Is at his very first 'real' sleepover.

With this one.:

Right now this one:

is sleeping peacefully.

And this one:

woke up so cheerfully and is eating a Bana.

I have big plans for today.

Playing. Laughing. Snuggling. Sto-Wee-ing. (story-ing)

Its 9:32am. I miss my Bubbies.

but it's gonna be a great day.

Overheard at Our House

2010-03-10T13:17:00.003-07:00

These are all Christian:

After breakfast one morning:

C: I'm all doooone!

Me: You sure? Are you still hungry? (these boys will eat a full breakfast, but then 5 min later ask for a snack.)

C: Nope. I'm all full. My Full makes me BIGGER and STRONGER!

While I was wrestling him on the floor- I was kneeling over him-

my 'bangs' kept falling forward out of my ponytail.

C: Mom. Your hair keeps flocking.

Today at breakfast:

C: Mom- what happens if Im dead? What if I die? (not sure where this death talk is coming from...he mentioned it a few days ago, too)

Me: If you die you get to go live with Heavenly Father and Jesus.

C: Yes. I want those guys.

Me too, son, me too.

Because Its Cute

2010-03-08T12:48:00.004-07:00

Obviously have the need for serious updating.

However- I wanted to stick these pics up here b/c a) its a quick post, b) it will help me break through my updating-mental-blockage and mostly c) because she's dang cute.

first smile caught on camera.

i am so in love with this quilt my amazing mom-in-law made. and with this amazing girl P & I made. :)

getting ready for a family walk. (thanks for the super cute bear suit- marianne and austin!)

loving this. loving it.

month of lovin'....oops. :)

2010-02-11T11:49:00.002-07:00

So much for my daily posts of lovin'ness. Oh well. :)

I HAVE however, been very mindful lately of my blessings and of various things that I love/am so grateful for.

So here's a catch up. Let's see- Feb 3-11th... Here goes

3rd-loving good friends that so, SO kindly agreed to watch our boys so I could go to St. George w/ Mr. Summerhays and Anna.

4th- Love that our stake (group of congregations in the area) has "Old Man Ball"- Basketball on thursday nights. And that P could go. And that he loves playing ball.

5th- Loving that the school district not only provided a hotel room (very nice!) but also a car for us to drive to st. george. Loving the fabulous conversation with my beloved on the way down. Loving that Anna was so good. (why is it when our children are completely silent, they are "being so good" ? ) Loving Summerhays Music for taking us out to a super delicious dinner. Way delicious. and LOVING the great people we were in attendance with. Loving the Fullmers. (too bad they dont read this- DAVE AND NATALIE- Through the vastness of cyberworld we shout out some major loving!)

6th- Loving the classes on children's music i was able to attend. Loving my (and P's) appreciation of music. And that it is an important part of our family's life. Loving the fact that although I totally resented her at times for it- my mom insisted i was active in music. And that she made it such a big part of my life. And now i want to pass that on.

7th- Loving my good man who takes both boys to church like a total hero. Even though he really didn't get to pay attention, b/c a certain toddler was totally exhausted and causing a great commotion...

8th- Loving the wonderful Family Home Evening we had about love and then building a candy Heartbreak Hotel/Love Shack/Manti Temple. :)
LOVING that the night was topped off with the exchange of V-day-ness. And that Mr. Summerhays brought me home flowers. And gave me my FIRST ever Real (nice) box of chocolates. Very Fancy. And that we watched our beloved Sherlock Holmes episodes.

9th- Loving our awesome house. And the peace we have here. Loving that I am able to be home with our kiddos. To play with them, build a tent, make dinner (and actually have it ready and waiting for once). To be our own little family. Loving that the boys have SO MUCH FUN with their daddy.

10th- Loving Mr. Summerhays. Big Time. I got to go to (wow- that looks cool, eh?) a relief society activity. By. My.Self. No children. And I spent the evening chatting it up with two totally fantastic ladies. We are going to be Great Friends. And we are starting a preschool swap this month. Totally excited. My throat hurt a little from talking so much. All the other ladies were smiling at us- (the 3 of us all have little kiddos at home)- they new how much women need women and moms need social interaction. So Fun.

AND- Loving that anna slept from like 8ish-4:30am. And went right back to sleep after i nursed her. And then woke up at 8am. And channing only woke up once. Yes. It was glorious.

11th- Loving the internet. And emails. Particularly the ability to archive old emails. I spent (okay, this was yesterday) an hour or so reading all the emails P sent me throughout our courtship. He was totally crushing on me. :P And then in love with me. :) It was good to read all those fun/loving/sweet emails and to reminisce. Plus, it makes me feel very loving towards him. And Isnt that what this month is all about??

(side note: I am completely shocked if anyone (besides Tia/tam? maybe) actually read all this...)

What are you, dear reader who actually read this, loving right now? share the love!

May the lovin' ensue!

Month of Lovin' Day Dos

2010-02-02T20:33:00.002-07:00

Today I am lovin' :

1) My Dear, dear, Daddy-O. It is his xxth* birthday today. Dad- we left you a message on your cell- no one answered at the house. Did you get my card? I sent you one. It better get there.
We love you tons. Thanks for being the best. and for being the only dad I know that wears long-sleeve dress shirts at the beach. With swim trunks. and for catching me off guard everytime i hear you say 'cool' or 'awesome'. Dad- I love you. WE love you. Tons. Hope this year is even better than your xyth* year.

2)A quiet street. Today (and yesterday) my boys got out their bikes and rode along our driveway and the sidewalk while I nursed Anna and watched out the front window. I am so grateful we dont live on a busy road- and that I feel totally safe doing this. I also love the smiles those that did drive by had on their faces watching 2 little boys in bright yellow coats pedal along the sidewalk. They make me smile, too.

* dad's age coded not due to his potential embarassment for how old he's getting, (frankly, I dont think he even cares about the number- just about how well he's living it) but b/c I forget....

Wait- DUH. Dad- You turned sixty. SIXTY??!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?! Holy SMOKES. That's a BIG ONE!!!!! I cant believe i just NOW realized this. (dad's age is easy to remember- he's the only one in our family born on an Even year. He used to joke that he's the only one that's not Odd. so true, so true.)

BUT SIXTY????? Smokes. Ill have to do another post.

Month of Lovin'

2010-02-01T12:27:00.000-07:00

Dear FebRuary, (why do you have that random R? Really. It has cause countless misspellings and NO one actually pronounces it. Is it because you feel jipped in your shortness? So you thought you needed to give the world a little something to remember you by? Just wondering..)

Anyways. You are the Month Of Lovin'. And I can't believe you are here already. (does ALL time fly by when you're getting older?? Im not THAT old... sheesh.)

Again, ANYWAYS. In celebration of your lovin'ness, I have decided to (along with the regular posts) to post a Loved Thing of the day for each of your brief 28 days.

So. Today, FebRuary, I salute two things.
1) Modern Medication. My throat is so swollen that its giving me a killer ear ache, and making my TEETH hurt. But. Thanks to some pain meds, I am actually able to survive the day.

2) An awesome husband. While I slept in bed he played paper-towel bowling (thanks P&K for the idea!) and had a Family Home Evening Sans Mommy. About reverence. And the boys thought it was awesome. What a GOOD man.

So, FebRuary- till tomorrow.

-Tawna

p.s. If you have ANY say in the matter- could you please make my throat better? Seeing as how it IS the Month of Lovin'- i would REALLY like to be able to give the extremely attractive man I live with some good smoochin'....

NOT RECOMMENDED...

2010-01-30T12:06:00.002-07:00

How to take off the 'baby weight'....and FAST!!

Just Follow this simple, step-by-step plan

NOTE: Its important to start this within the first 7 days of giving birth to your 3rd child

Have your 2 toddlers get sick.

Get sick yourself.
Have your throat swell up so much you can't really eat.
End up in the ER (due to lack of urgent care centers, or any other doctor open on Saturday)-
Get a shot in the hip and some intensive antibiotics.

Keep this regime up and in a few short days you'll be amazed at the numbers dropping from the scale!

NOTE: In order to not wither away and perish, be sure you are living in an area with extremely generous and loving people who provide the most delectible dinners for post-baby-delivering. You can really 'stock' up on the good food/desserts/calories in the days prior to beginning this exclusive diet.

Editors Note: Funny how this happens when I really and truly don't care about rushing back to 'pre-baby' size. When I was totally content to take it easy and my body have a rest. Oh well.

My Boy is Three!!

2010-01-24T06:15:00.000-07:00

My sweet, sweet Bubbies turned three. Not really sure how I feel about this.

He was born on Christmas Day, so celebrating his birthday has been quite the trick. We still aren't sure how to go about it (and will happily take ANY suggestions), but we're doing our best to help our little guy feel special.

This year we decided to join with Nate, Molly, Cannon, and Noah (and Evie) for a 'So Special Lightening McQueen Birthday Party With Cannon and Nate and Molly and Baby Newah and Uncle Evan and Mommy and Daddy and Baby Channing' (so named by Christian himself. And yes, he used the entire title nearly every time we referred to said birthday party).

At his request, I made a 'Red Lightening McQueen Birthday Party Cake That's Red Like Lightening McQueen' (he's into big titles.. :) )

He was pretty dang excited to see the finished product the next morning. I was pretty proud of it myself. (and no cake molds were used. :) ) Makes me excited to have a kid old enough to appreciate and actually get excited about birthday stuff.

We drove up to Provo on Sat. (mid December) and started the birthday festivities by playing cars in cannon's basement and running around without pants, (okay, that was just the little kids) dancing to loud music, and making candy houses. Later we went to Pirate Island Pizza (a better-tasting, cooler atmosphere, pirate-themed version of Chuckie Cheese) with N&M & fam and Ev.

We topped off the night with the Lightening McQueen cake and some presents from Cannon.

We really tried to emphasize to Christian that this was for his birthday, it was a special birthday party just for him, etc. I think he got it. (Here's some more cake pictures just for fun.) :)

(He still talks about this cake. Just tonight he requested a Chick cake and a King cake for a partybration. (celebration AND a party..) He even suggested we could 'borrow' them.

Love it. :)

Curly Sue Summerhays is ONE WEEK OLD!!!

2010-01-23T16:21:00.003-07:00

so, this is standard mom-talk, but...

I cant belive our angel is one week! Thursday afternoon i watched the clock, thinking: 'it was one week ago right now that i was calling the grocery store trying to get P to come home...'

'it was one week ago right now they were hooking me up in the bed..'

'it was one week ago right now...'

and of course bawling the whole time.

I simply cant believe how very, very blessed we are. Two of the sweetest boys are now two of the best big brothers to one of the most perfect little girls. A little girl who so many times we didn't know if she would make it here okay. But she did. And she is perfect. I find myself so often in awe of our blessings. Our beautiful home. My wonderful husband who is such an awesome daddy. My sweet boys who giggle and run around non-stop, and are best friends. My perfect new baby girl.

Well, im not quite up for the emotions that would present themselves were I to continue on in this manner- so...I shall cease for now, and with further ado, Present:

One week Summerhays Curly McSue

SHE'S HERE!!!

2010-01-16T15:54:00.005-07:00

Anna Marie Summerhays

Born: January 14, 2010, 8:14 pm
Height: 19.5"
Weight: 7 lbs. 6 oz.

Well, it has been an eventful week for us as you can see. Tawna began having contractions in the middle of the night on Wednesday. They were not frequent or regular, but they were strong enough to keep her awake. At about 4 o'clock am, she decided enough was enough, it was time to pack the bags. Meanwhile, I rolled over and tried to get some more sleep so I would be fresh for the 2 minute drive to the hospital. :) By 6 am, the contractions came to a halt and only 2 or 3 more came during the day.

At 3 pm the engine revved back up and contractions were coming harder and faster, but not too bad yet. I was on the way home and stopped off at the market to hit up the breakfast sale. Thanks to my notoriously poor cell phone reception, Tawna became very nervous when things were progressing and she couldn't contact me at the store. She called the store to have them page me so I could hurry home, but I was already gone by the time the message came. We packed the car as soon as I got home and dropped the kids off with our friends in the ward the Hatch family (THANK YOU AGAIN Jake and Becky!).

We got to the hospital minutes later and everything was a go. There was no turning back. Tawna's doctor is the one who administered the epidural, and it was a slow process due to his care and thoroughness. He made sure to talk Tawna and I through the whole process, much to the annoyance of Tawna: "Will you just do it already!"

After she was hooked up, she was in better spirits and made sure to bear her testimony about Heavenly Father's hand in the developments of science and modern medicine. She progressed to the pushing stages without further incident and then it was on! It was time to push for Tawna, and for me it was time to count--yes! I am quite proficient in counting and was anxious to play my role well. After some great pushes and some superb counting, Anna came. She was born posterior, but it didn't slow labor much. I cut the cord and then the photo shoot was began. Without further ado:

Are we Ready?

2010-01-14T06:55:00.007-07:00

Going through some pictures this morning caused me to pause and ask myself: Are we ready to bring another sweet little baby home to....

This?

And this?

And This?

And this?

(note- these are only a SMALL sampling...)

And then I answered myself:

Yes.

Because I love moments like

This:
And This:
And This:

And This:

And This:

Baby Sister- Your brothers are SO excited to meet you and have you come play with them! Christian tells me daily the things he's going to teach you (namely, "how to watch Lightening McQueen on the TV" ...lovely...)

Life is going to change drastically in the next few days. Things will be a handful. Our house will probably be destroyed during nursing sessions. P and I will be outnumbered. We can no longer simply Divide and Conquer. Heaven only knows how we will survive Sacrament meetings. Our car will be packed. We'll have 2 in diapers again. It will take close to forever to get ready to actually go anywhere. People will probably be more hesitant to invite us (along with 3 kids) to do stuff. Sleep will be limited. Life will be more expensive. We've been 'warned' by loads of people that this will be rough.

And you know what? Im Thrilled. I kept meaning to post about this, but never did- This pregnancy has had quite a few scares. Critically low amniotic fluid, measuring super small, low heart rates, minimal fetal movement, etc. I received a blessing a while back and things have improved. A few days ago, after a tearful plea to my Heavenly Father, I finally felt at peace. I was blessed with a deep love for this little girl- and peace that everything will be alright.

We are so happy to have the opportunity to bring another babe into our home, chaotic as it may be. I love watching my boys play together. I love hearing their giggles turn into hysterical laughter behind closed doors. I love the hugs they give one another (and to me and daddy). I love the way they are each so eager and excited for the other one to wake up from a nap. I love our Kiss Sandwiches. I love the way Christian sticks up for Channing if ever anyone picks on him. I love their water messes during Bubble Baths. I love the way Christian can get Channing to say almost anything, and the way he calls him ChanMan.

I love they way they are excited about mommy's projects for Baby Sister. And how they have waited so patiently for her to grow Bigger and Bigger in mommy's tummy so that she could come play.

We know life will change. We know times will be hard.

And we couldn't feel more blessed.

Ramblings/thoughts

2010-01-11T10:58:00.003-07:00

Random, No-pictures-included-post-of-a-few-thoughts-i-want-to-remember:

Saturday P and I went out on a hot date. He took me to a fantastic(!) chinese restaurant in Richfield (the biggest city nearby) and then we went bowling.

Faithful readers may recall that the last time i went bowling I did AWESOME. as in...22 points AWESOME. (blah).

I am pleased to announce that while not a shining score, i bowled a 94 the first game. And felt like i was pulling my tooshie muscles by the 7th roll...

I think Baby Sister was trying to make up for the last game before she makes her big debut.

Then we went to walmart and got some CURTAIN RODS!!! Yes, I am totally thrilled. (It doesn't take much to make this girl happy. :) )

-Today Christian and I started Special Christian School. He knows all his letters and their sounds (the Uppercase ones) and almost has all the lowercase ones down, too. He's pretty fantastic at counting, too. I have a few workbooks that we started on today, and he was super excited. I plan on starting up a preschool this fall- and today got me pretty excited. Hopefully we can keep this up every day during Channing's naptime.... (famous last words....)

-P and I stayed up till 1 am last night finishing our 500+page book we've been reading forever now. It was fantastic. I love reading with him. Its been a great time-passer as we travel to and from civilization in the car. But, I was counting on the excitement of this last book to get us through labor...oh well...

-Channing is a total parrot. He can say almost anything now, especially when Christian tell him too. Love it. Christian has also been calling him ChanMan (which we call Channing sometimes) which is Super Cute. Love It.

-In other news, despite the lack of stores and closeness of family, I am really starting to love our town. The people are amazing and we've made some great friends. I love that a nurse from the hospital will stop me in walmart (true story- happened saturday) and remember my due date. (I don't even remember seeing this nurse before! She may have helped me like ONCE on a non-stress-test..) I love the quiet, the space, the contentment.

Lucky Girl

2010-01-06T10:39:00.003-07:00

Lots to post about: Christmas, Christian's birthday, Blessings, Thoughts on the New Year, and baby update (still pregnant...)

but- those will all take a little more time than I have at the moment.

This past sunday was Christian's first day of Primary and Sunbeams! (the church class for 3 year olds) It was pretty hard on his mama- (he just wanted to go to nursery with his little brother)- My sweet angel is growing up!!

We got a couple of pictures before we headed out for church- My handsome boys in their suits. (Thanks mom and dad for Christian's suit!)

Annnnd- they kiss me ANYtime i ask. *sigh*

Talk about one lucky girl!

Stuffs

2009-12-15T08:37:00.004-07:00

This is a semi-random post in which i attempt to get semi-updated.

Just before Thanksgiving Day, we set up our tree. The boys love it and inevitably, when the tree lights get plugged in, Channing says "ohhhhhhh". Very cute. Its the perfect place to read bedtime stories. :)

We had my parents and lil bro over for our first-ever-hosted-by-us Turkey Dinner. It was actually fun and I am no longer deathly intimidated by cooking lots of good food for Thanksgiving. (Prior to this I always told Patrick that I'm Sorry, but Im just not going to slave away in the kitchen all day long while the men sit around gabbing sports. I would prefer to just buy the stuff premade and call it a day. I think this caused P to question our marriage... ) But no more! While I am still about embracing this glorious day of modern technology (and preservatives) in the form of boxed stuffing and canned cranberry sauce, Im okay with baking rolls, making pies, mashed potatoes, jello, and other good trimmings. :) And, I didn't even destroy the turkey.
I love the Leaning Men picture. :)

Dad spent the morning hanging up curtain rods for us. Good, good man. Its amazing how wonderful a bit of privacy is!

Dad and Channing practicing their Tuba Lips.
Chan enjoying his Chocolate Mousse Pie

The day after Thanksgiving, Santa comes to Gunnison. Our boys (well, Christian) were super excited to go see santa. The whole set up was neat. While waiting in line, you were given a ginormous cookie. There were painted mailboxes in which you could put your letter to santa. And Santa actually took his time with each kid. After you were done with santa you got to choose a fruit, a chocolate, and a candy cane.
Yes. It was awesome.
Christian very politely asked for some Lightning McQueen Slippers, Please.
And Channing enjoyed his cookie. :)

And to wrap up this jumbled post...
What happens when a jar of jam is left on the counter along with a loaf of bread:

2009-12-03T11:56:00.002-07:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Listening in to Christian

2009-12-01T09:12:00.003-07:00

Christian LOVES Disney's Cars right now.
We make versions of each character out of his legos. (very, very crude versions...)

He will play Cars for HOURS every day.
I love listening to his sweet voice as he brings his toys to life.

Here are a few moments verbatim as I listen to him playing now:

'Thanks for moving me out of the way" "oh, You're welcome".
"Are you okay doc?" "Yes, I am okay."

Christian Coughs
"You okay Christian?" "Yes, I am okay."

"You gotta get out of my way!" "Hey! Don't say 'get out of my way'!" "Okay, I won't say that word."

"We only say Ka-Chow words, Sally."

"Don't Crash me, Chick." "Oh, I'm so sorry. Are you okay?"

"Oh, be careful! Mater is just a little guy. Doc is a big guy."

"Oh! You can't leave your friend! You can't leave your friends. We can't leave Mater and Sally and Doc and King and Chick and those guys. We can't leave them!"

"Thanks guys." "You're welcome."

Hm. We must be doing something right. Or else he must be hanging around nice people or something. I Love, love, LOVE listening to him play. He often adds "(insert name) said" after he says something. Like- "hey stickers! Let's go! Sally said." Must be all those books....

I also love that his pretend play is so sweet and kind. Those familiar with the movie CARS will recall that Chick Hicks is actually, well, a jerk. He's the guy that crashes into everybody and nearly destroys King at the end. When Patrick started to play Cars with the boys he would play Chick Hicks in his real character. I had to inform him that Christian isn't aware that C.H. is actually mean, and that in his play, everybody is nice to everybody. :)

I am loving this age.

And this boy. :)

Patrickness

2009-11-23T11:15:00.006-07:00

okay- i know some of you are males, some of you are married, and some of you are our relatives, but seriously people- I think we can all admit-
This is ONE GOOD LOOKING DUDE.

Patrick is pretty dang awesome. He is totally loved here in Gunnison/Centerfield/our house.

A few of his recent 'accomplishments':
-the last few weeks he has been really involved in the high school musical: Footloose. He conducted the live band and also soloed a lot on the sax. He was AWESOME. seriously. this man can PLAY. Afterwards, several of the band members (adults from the community) came to me and told me how much they enjoyed working with him, that he 'really knows his stuff', how they realllly hope he sticks around awhile, etc.

-A sister in our church congregation dropped by a few weeks ago to ask Patrick to sing a solo in our church meeting. She said she had heard several people comment on what a fantastic voice he has. He sang 'Abide with Me Tis Eventide' and was awesome. During Relief Society (the portion of our church meeting when just the adult women meet together) I had no less than 15 sisters tell me what an amazing voice Patrick has and how wonderful he did. I could only agree. :)
I even had one elderly sister pull me down to where she was sitting and say with a sigh, "I can see why you fell in love with him!"

Yes, now all the women in our congregation are in love with my husband.

-Patrick had a birthday on the 6th. We went to Wingers (a 35 min drive both ways) to celebrate. The boys were thrilled to go for a 'so special dinner'.

nevermind the extra-big hair...

enjoying the birthday asphalt pie

This Sunday we each spoke in church. His talk on Self Mastery was absolutely incredible. Even his in-laws were totally impressed. ;)

A few more reasons this man is awesome:
-constantly has to listen to all my home-decor ideas/plans/dreams. And rarely complains about it.

-he's so excited to have a baby girl

-he's both Channing and Christian's best friend. Seriously. Those boys ADORE him

-he NEVER complains when i have failed to even get dressed for the day...and its 5:30 pm.

-Even though I feel like the size of an elephant right now, he calls me a Mouse.

-He didn't even hesitate about missing a guaranteed delicious thanksgiving dinner at his parents house in exchange for hosting my parents who are in town visiting at our house...and a potentially disasterously tasting dinner cooked by me.

Yeah. I think that last one sums it up pretty good. :)

I love you, babes.

A Rant. a completely complaining post. In which I count NOT my blessings. At all.

2009-11-10T20:50:00.004-07:00

This is a total whining post.

You have been forewarned. (in my defense, i don't think i've ever done one of these before.)

I WANT A CITY.

I WANT STORES.

Gunnison/centerfield, UT, our new residence is a small place. I could go on for awhile on the perks of said place. But as previously stated, I will only complain and be overly dramatic in this post.

I need stores. I have SO MANY projects i really want to work on to set up our house (oh yes, we have a house. more on that later. That would be discussing a blessing. But this is a strictly ranting post)

Paint, sewing, curtain rods, curtains, fabric, paper, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.

BUT WE HAVE NO STORES.

I want a Joanns.

I want a Walmart/Home Depot close enough that its not a huge gas expenditure/weekend excursion to go there.

I want a costco. So i can buy wipes. and huge bags of chocolate chips. (oh wait. no i don't. because then I wouldn't be able to mooch such things off said awesome brother and wife when they come down to visit..)

whine whine whine.

But seriously, people.

A thrift store would be nice. Then I could make my cheap-purchase-awesome-transformation purchases there.

ALAS. here I sit. Wasting away. Searching every possible online store for things like bright pink fabric, night stands, lamps, ribbon, tissue paper, cardstock, etc. etc. etc.

AND I CANT BUY ANY OF IT. b/c I'm obnoxious like that. Surely there must be a better deal somewhere. Or, what if its not the right shade? Texture? etc. BECAUSE I CANT SEE IT IN PERSON. and because paying 4.95 shipping is lame. (and i could use the opportunity here to thank my lucky stars that my awesome brother has hooked us up with amazon prime, but that would be showing gratitude. AND AMAZON DOESN'T SELL EVERYTHING. Almost, but not quite.)

And so i do drastic things like using the power drill on home projects I'm mildly clueless about while Patrick is at work so that i feel like SOMETHING is getting done... (and no, this did not turn out well....)

grumble grumble grumble.

I even dreamed about contacting Joanns and signing a petition to get them to open a store out here.

Its that pathetic.

WHY DIDNT I PURCHASE ALL CRAFTING/HOME IMPROVEMENT ITEMS I WOULD EVER NEED EVER WHEN THEY WERE SO CLOSE! SO VERY VERY CLOSE!!! NOW THEY ARE ALL SO FAR AWAY! ( i felt this way after each kid was born- 'why didn't i run all the errands I would ever have to run before 'fillintheblank' was born?? It was so much EASIER then! How Naive I was!!')

Anyways. I hope you get my jist. And are full of sympathy. And want to bring me large batches of awesome fabric and cardstock and ikea items. Immediately.

And I've decided to write a memoir: So Many Ideas, So Much Time, Nowhere to Purchase.

But then I'll need a store to sell it in.

This is Halloweeng! This is halloweeng!

2009-11-01T14:25:00.005-07:00

I must confess.

I. Love. Halloween.

No- I do not support gross, creepy, satanic, actually SCARY things on Halloween.

I DO support getting to dress up like something extra fun and wandering around and loading up on goods. :)

This year we even had 2 totally legit trick-or-treaters. :)

Patrick is the best. sport. ever.

(he actually enjoys it, too. :) )

We(I) had these costumes planned before Halloween last year. Pathetic? I prefer Prepared. :P

Let me present to you

THE DR. SEUSS FAMILY:

(you cant see it in this picture, but I have a blue star on my belly. 10 points if you know what I am...) (and really- click on the picture to make it bigger, b/c we don't want you missing out on ANY of the extreme cuteness.)

We had such a fun time (despite the lack of evidence in the form of smiles in the picture above)! After every single house, Christian would exclaim, "Let's Do it Again, mommy!! I want to trick-or-treat AGAIN!" He was LOVING it.

We carved some pumpkins (finally) Saturday afternoon- Ernie, Cookie Monster, and Grover. They are pretty awesome, but our pictures didn't turn out so hot. We'll try and take some more tonight.

It was a wonderful day.
Now what to be next year....? ( Patrick wants to be the TMNT gang (teenage mutant ninja turtles) and for me to be April. However, I am not so keen on dressing my 9 month old GIRL as a TMNT. To that he says that SHE could be April, and I could be a TMNT. Hmmm. Any other ideas? )

Why Small Towns are Awesome:

2009-10-28T10:03:00.001-06:00

Several weeks ago, patrick came home early Friday afternoon and took us all to see the homecoming parade.

It was Awesome.

a) Lots of the high schoolers recognized Mr. Summerhays and thus pelted us with extra candy. Yes- this was a good thing. No- it was not done out of dislike.

b) We stood by no other kids and thus got to retrieve all the excess candy for ourselves. Ehm. I mean our kids.

c)What do you do when your homecoming theme is about The Jungle? and you have no zoo? and you are a small town?

Why, spray paint a local donkey, of course!!

Halloweeng!!

2009-10-19T16:22:00.005-06:00

Several weekends ago, our faithful visitors (you too can earn this title by visiting us >1 times.... :) ) Nate, Molly, Cannon, Noah, and Ev came down for our first ever Summerhays Halloween Party.

It wasn't so much of a 'party', but it was still so fun.

Both Christian and Cannon are crazy excited for "Halloweeng". Associate ANYTHING with Halloween, and Christian is immediately excited about it. Lentil Soup, Carrots, the wind blowing...etc. Its great.

Anyways. Our weekend:
Guests arrived at about 8:30 pm.

Chatting and crazy-almost-3yr-olds go rampaging.

Decorate Punkin cookies. (thus satisfying the almost-3yr-olds dreams of a Halloween Party)

Patrick comes home from the Gunnison Homecoming Football game. (at which they had FIREWORKS during halftime. Now, I came from a pretty well-off school district, but i certainly don't remember fireworks...ever. Hopefully all the build-a-bathroom-at-the-stadium funds are still in existence...)

Patrick expresses disgust that all the party foods have not been 'busted out' yet.

Chips/Nacho Cheese/Pop appear.

Everyone settles down for the you-tube showing of Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin and Disney's the Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Half-way through the Legend, christian and patrick seem to be the only ones awake.

We persevere.

Guests sleep over.

Chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast. (delish!)

Then a wonderful Hike to the G.

And by 'hike' we mean 'walk'.

it was a Lovely, Lovely weekend.

Thanks guys!!!!!!

27 weeks

2009-10-19T15:48:00.004-06:00

Friday we were going to have our first date in a LONG time.

But the sitter got sick.

So...we took the kids.

To a sweet bowling alley. Which had to date from the 70s. or earlier. With little-to-no updates. :)

It was fun.

I bowled a 24. Or something. A very far cry from the 178s of my bowling league days. (little known fact: I was a member of the Plano East Bowling Team).

I blame it on the belly.

Here is the glorious belly of 27 weeks.

I post this to remind my husband that I can, in fact, look decent when the prospect of a date is before me.

And to remind him that I DO (sometimes) shower and dress.

(sick. and pathetic.)

Life Lesson #47

2009-10-14T18:55:00.003-06:00

Never, ever, EVER, under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES- no matter HOW great and totally reasonable and perfect it may seem at the time..

NEVER EVER move into your hopefully future home before closing. It doesnt matter if you are just going to rent for a month until you can close because you suddenly got a job 2 hours away from your current living location and would really like to actually live together with you spouse/kids. It doesnt matter that the home is under contract. That is is brand new and you are the only people to have ever occupied it and are in the middle of trying to make it officially yours.

These things dont matter.

Never ever EVER move into a home before you officially close. Dont rent it. Just stay in a scary apartment on the main highway. Even if you have 2 adventurous kids 2 and under who have been known to escape and run into the middle of the street. And you reallllly dont want to live off the highway. Just Do it.

Trust me.

Life Lesson # 47 learned?

Check.

Double Check.

Livin the Good Life

2009-10-05T08:25:00.002-06:00

Just a few glimpses of why I love waking up each day:

Beloved Drake

2009-10-03T16:29:00.003-06:00

Patrick's friend from his AF single's ward days, Landry',-'s parents live in Centerfield (the town we now occupy). Jim and Wendy. They are whom Patrick lived with while I was back in Provo frantically trying to pack.

Jim and Wendy have another son, Drake, age 14. (okay, they actually have 4 sons and a daughter, but Drake is the focus of this post. The other 4 kids are out of the house).

You with me?

(Don't worry- I wont try and complete a 4-generation genealogy chart on you..)

Anyways.

The Point is...

Christian LOVES Drake. Love, Love, LOVES.

Channing's pretty fond of him, too.

Drake. is. Awesome.

Drake plays football and is totally not above tackling, punting, fumbling, hiking, rebounding, and all other football/random sporting plays with Christian.

We go over to Jim and Wendy's to watch BYU football. Drake, who obviously loves football and is all about the cougars, runs around the house playing with Christian.

Christian has inherited my childhood repulsion to cooked peas. Or at least yesterday he did.

He was literally gagging on his last spoonfuls of peas- but kept trying to wash them down so that he could go to Drake's House. ( As he would gag a little, he would look up at me and ask- "mommy- what's happening??" and up came the peas. At this point I decided he had tried hard enough and was done with his peas for the night.)

These pictures don't depict the Love in it's fullness, but the boys (at least Christian) were constantly with Drake. When Drake sat on the banana chair, christian immediately went over and snuggled next to him.

Seriously. This kid is awesome. He doesn't have younger siblings, no nephews/nieces, no real reason to be so amazing with toddlers. But he is.

Heres some blog-snaps to Drake. *snap* *snap*

Where to Begin?

2009-09-29T12:03:00.006-06:00

Oh where, oh WHERE to begin? Again, I have fallen in the 'so much to say, it's easier to never start' trap.

Welp, gotta start somewhere. :)

We are official residents of Centerfield, UT- basically an extension of Gunnison. We are slowly getting used to the VERY small-town life. People here have been great. In about one week we received corn and tomatoes from one family, peaches and corn from another, and squash and zuchinni from a third. We even had our first dinner guests a week or so ago for Sunday dinner. They are a young couple with a boy Christian's age and a 3 month old girl. It was good times.

Patrick is doing so well with teaching!! With the old director leaving, a few kids didn't sign up for band b/c they were iffy on what the new director would be like- but he's had a few come begging to let them be back in band b/c they heard he was so great. How's that for a compliment? :)

Our boys LOVE their new house. I think it's b/c they actually have SPACE to PLAY. They are amazing playmates- and crack Patrick and I up daily.

There is a church kiddy-corner to our house with a huge lawn that we visit often to kick a ball and run around. (Our lawn is just dirt...for now) There is also a nice little park about 1.5 blocks away that we go to when Daddy comes home from work.

One of my most favorite things out here is the stars. Our bedroom window has had an incredible view of the big dipper the last few weeks. Its pretty great to be able to 'sleep under the stars' inside in a comfy and warm bed.

Somehow I lost several pictures in the process of downloading them on the compy...which is pretty depressing. Maybe they'll turn up somewhere.

A sweet lady in our ward came over and showed me how to bottle chicken. I think we'll try it out tonight...I'll let you people know how it goes... :) It sure smelled good.

Our new friends invited us to the park- (the ones we had over for dinner) And there was a huge Lab/Golden Retriever which Christian LOVED. One day... :)

Life is Good. We'll Keep you posted with updates and pictures.

We are blessed. :)

Oh BOY.....

2009-09-15T12:36:00.002-06:00

It's a GIRL!!!!!!

(We JUST got our internet hooked up about 3.4 minutes ago, so prepare for blog post overload...)

2 weeks ago my dear brother took me and the boys to my ultrasound. After forever, the doc finally announced we are the lucky recipients of a beautiful baby girl!!

Super excited. But no, I wasn't 'hoping' for a girl at all.

We're working on getting the nursery all set up. SO EXCITED.

My sweet neighbor brought over our first little girl outfits to get us started before we moved. Thanks, amy!!

Christian is realllly excited about his baby sister. :) So are we. :)

ANNOUNCING.....

2009-08-13T08:11:00.005-06:00

For Our Dear Readers' Information:

We Would Like to Announce the New Headquarters of the Summerhays Family, Inc.

Gunnison, UT. Pop. 2,500.

AWESOME.

Our Story:

Tuesday Patrick drove the 1 hr 45 min to interview at Gunnison Valley High School. He did a terrific job, but there were also SIX OTHER INTERVIEWEES.

SIX!!!!!!

I couldn't believe it. SCHOOL STARTS IN TWO WEEKS, and its a BOONIE-TOWN, and there were SIX OTHER PEOPLE VYING FOR THIS JOB?????? What is WRONG with these people?? Why Don't they have jobs? What is wrong with them?

(oh, right, we were number 7......)

ANYWAYS. He gets home about 5:30 pm. At 7 pm the phone rings. 7:10 he hangs up and informs me by standing silent with open arms and a big smile, and "wanna go to Gunnison?"

Of course I cheer, run, jump in his arms, and he spins me. Just like the movies. :) Except I start bawling. (well, maybe that IS just like the movies..)

7:15 we give a prayer of Gratitude and request confirmation about our acceptance... No bad feelings ensue, so...
7:20 he calls and officially accepts the position.

7:30pm. Patrick and I call our families.

This is Tuesday the 11th. New teacher training starts Wednesday the 12th. Thankfully, he's not expected to attend. His first teacher day is Wednesday the 19th. ONE WEEK. Students start the 24th. 1.5 WEEKS.

good grief.

Needless to say, our lives are now a complete whirlwind. We have now 5 days to find housing for at least Patrick while we look for housing for all of us. Tomorrow we head out there to: 1) Meet with the assistant superintendent who needs to give p. the low down. 2) Introduce me (per request) to the principal of the high school (and get a set of keys to the school). 3) Have Patrick check out his inventory and see what he has to work with. 4) Look for housing.

Annnnnnd....amidst all this, my dear sister and her 3 kids, my mom, dad, and little brother are all arriving between Tomorrow night and Tuesday. And we have to suddenly book it. :(

But Mostly:

WE ARE SO GRATEFUL. AND SO EXCITED. And i have finally stopped crying. :)

So! We're only 2 hours away from our UT friends. Come visit us!! I hear there's an amazing pizza place and candy store in Manti, which is only about 19 min from Gunnison.

Gunnison, UT. The New Rockingest Place on Earth.

Heck Yes.

Handsome Devil

2009-08-10T23:36:00.002-06:00

(okay, off topic, but i just uploaded these pictures, and they were uploaded in like 1.2 seconds. I LOVE GOOD INTERNET!!! At our house it take at LEAST 10 min. per picture... but the internet is free...so no complaints...)

ANYWAYS.

Okay. Channing is ridiculously good looking. Seriously people.

We've been dog-sitting for my brother and SIL, ( a job I personally LOVE) and having a blast here. Christian and channing love having SPACE to play and run, and doggies to chase and pet. I love the amazing kitchen and delicious foods. All of us love the sweet tv, and esp. getting to play rock-band every night. N&M- we love and miss you, but feel free to keep going on vacations! :P

Ill post a few pictures of our activities soon, but for now, the CUTEST 1 year old EVER.

Told you so.

perks of this life

2009-07-30T08:50:00.004-06:00

I find myself so often just thinking of the 'days ahead', our 'glorious future'. You know, the days when i can PAINT MY HOUSE, or not wonder where food enough for the week is going to come from, or not stress about finding sitters for our kids while P & I are in classes. Or staying up super late trying to study for a ridiculously extensive essay final. Or ...well, yeah. etc. (and yes, I know every stage has its struggles, etc, etc-)

I so often find myself looking ahead to the days of a 'real job' and moving on to the next step of life, that i struggle to see the perks of 'this life'.

Last night I realized a big one.

We attend a BYU married student ward (our church congregation), and we love it. Last week a gal in our ward called and asked if she and her husband could babysit for us Wednesday (last night), as they had a free night. Totally made my week. This awesome couple came over and thoroughly entertained our kids all evening while Patrick and I were able to catch a delicious dinner (thanks to Magleby's 1979 celebration) and a fabulous show (thanks to Timpview HS Band giving us movie tickets). We came home and the boys were sleeping peacefully. What fantastic sitters.

This made me recollect all the wonderful couples (and even singles) who have so readily watched our kids for us throughout the years. (wow. YEARS?? sick. I feel old. :P)

Never again will we live in an area full of childless, young couples who are happy to babysit weekends, weeknights, for free- b/c they can do it together, as a service to a friend, to get good karma for their future babysitting-needing days, or as practice for their future kiddos.

So here's a shout-out to all those who have watched our kids and given us a much needed break from the stresses of life. Here's to those who eagerly offer to watch our crazies and either call and insist or happily agree when we get up the courage to ask. Thank you for your kindness, your bravery, your amazing parenting skills. (seriously. you people put our kids to sleep better than we can.) Thank you for being Free! Not to mention better sitters than anyone we could pay. :)

Yes. This is something we will truly miss. You good people and the ample number of dates we are able to have because of you.

Thank you!!!

(I have a feeling we'll be preaching to our children the needed service of babysitting, esp. when they get to college. We'll tell them how their parents would not have survived school, and they may not have survived infant/toddlerhood with out nice, fellow-schooling babysitters. We may even threaten to not let them come home for Christmas unless they have sufficiently fulfilled their babysitting quotas for the semester. Who knows. But some how we will pass on the good of you people!)(and by we, I mean me. Patrick is clearly the nicer parent.) :)

Overheard at our house

2009-07-22T21:12:00.002-06:00

A few funny things from life with 2 boys...

#1
Warning: the Following may be very inappropriate and completely unsuitable to post publicly on a family-oriented blog:

Background: We are trying to potty-train Christian.
Setting: He's wearing his new big-boy underwear (little briefs. and no, there is NOTHING cuter than a little boy bum in tiny seasame street briefs. I'll have to photo document later.)

He's using his underwear's 'pocket' to store his 'food for his picnic' (all pretend. well, the ''pocket' is real...)

He later offers his daddy a carrot.

C: Daddy, you want to eat a carrot?
P: Oh, yes! Thank you for that carrot! That's a yummy carrot.
C: Daddy, do you want a pee pee?
P: A what?
C: A pee pee, daddy!
P, still unsure of what he's hearing...: What are you saying?
C: A pee pee! Do you want some pee pees?

....

...

P: Oh! You mean PEAS??
C: Yeah! pee pee!
P: The little green balls?
C: Yeah!
P: Those are PEAS, buddy. :)

haha. AWKWARD.
(and no, we don't even use that term..)

#2 Like Father, Like Son.

Background: Patrick is of the school of thought that all forms of wounds require neosporin, which is the Cure-all. (think windex and My Big Fat Greek Wedding)

Today, I started to randomly smell Desitin.

Christian came up to me covered in a clear slime, smelling very strongly of desitin. He proudly informs me he had an Owie on his knee and put 'sunscreen' on it.

Yes. Moments earlier, he had climbed on top of the changing table and emptied an ENTIRE, LARGE tube of A&D ointment (like clear desitin). All over his legs. All over his arms. All over the changing table. All over his hands. And yes, on his nose.

lovely.

#3. Channing today said "Walk" and...

"HEMAN!"

awesome.

Big Stuff. (though not quite Baby Big)

2009-07-16T13:36:00.003-06:00

So. I've been wanting to do this for sometime and finally just got everything together.

I am opening my own 'shop'!

I'm pretty darn excited about it. I started making hoodie towels about 3 years ago. I made one for my SIL baby shower and some for my boys and a nephew. After numerous comments and compliments, I decided to open a shop and sell my towels. I also plan on selling other misc. crafts that I put together. Another SIL showed me how to make little girl hair bows (thanks, aly!), and I LOVE it! So fun! I just bought a bunch of ribbon and such for that today and want to start making those.

The picture quality on the site is not the greatest. Another SIL (man- these gals are coming in handy!) is going to take more 'professional' shots of my crafts, so hopefully people will get a better idea of how they really look. Personally, I think they all look much cuter in person. :)

The towels are thick, 100% cotton, quality towels. The hairbows are each attached to an alligator clip to be used directly in hair and also to clip on a headband.

I would love and appreciate it IMMENSELY if any of you spread the word and even linked to me on your blogs.

Also, as this project is in its infancy, please feel free to leave suggestions/comments on things you'd like to see, ways I could improve it, sentences of mine that just sound stupid, etc. I could use the help, people!!

Oh. Hello. The Shop: myredhotdesigns.blogspot.com. Please check it out and let me know your thoughts. (even if they aren't the nicest... but not super mean. I dont want any super-mean thoughts, people... :P)

Blog Updates

2009-07-15T09:51:00.001-06:00

So- I have been made aware that several of our faithful readers subscribe to our blog via RSS feed- and thus don't see our ACTUAL blog. (aren't you people just high-tech and fancy).

Anyways. We've undergone some pretty drastic changes. You know- big stuff: New background, new pictures, new side bar info, new links...

A NEW BABY......

....

....

...

yup. It's true. Our 4 will soon be 5. We will soon no longer be a disneyland family pass. (which we never took advantage of anyways being 2 adults and 2 kids...but there's STILL TIME!!! *fingers crossed*)

We are crazy excited and uber happy to welcome this new tyke to our family. Like- ridiculously excited. Seriously. :)

Anyways. Just thought we'd make an official post with our news... As I only had ONE person notice our subtle telling in the sidebar ( Mandy T..uh..forgot the married last name.. you win the observant prize :) )

Hooray!

Overheard at our house

2009-07-14T15:44:00.006-06:00

So- Christian is totally Obsessed with He-Man. I found all the episodes on DVD for ridiculously cheap last year and thus gave them to P as a birthday present. Now Christian is totally obsessed with all things He-Man. (I really like the show, too, I must confess...)

Anyways. The other day, as usual, Christian was playing He-Man.

Me: Can Mommy be Teela? (the obvious choice as she the red headed, female character...

Christian: No. You can't be Teela! (said with a little laugh)

Me: Hm. Okay. Can mommy be the Sorceress? (the second most obvious choice as she is the second main female character..)

C: No! You can't be the Sorceress! (again said with a smile)

Me: Then who can mommy be?

C gets very excited: You can be BEASTMAN!!!!

Lovely.

After I relayed the story to Patrick he said, "well, Beast man does have the Most red hair.."

True....

Thanks, anyway, dear... :)

Lovin' the Summer

2009-07-13T09:50:00.005-06:00

First- this may be a 'dull' post in that it is lacking in pictures. Our camera is MIA- very sad. I'm very much hoping it's somewhere in the mess that is our apt. (UPDATE: miraculously found the camera- now my phone is missing.. I can HEAR it, but thanks to my deaf ear, I can't locate it anywhere. Thoroughly aggravating..) So- Here comes a picture overload. Probably should have made this multiple posts..oh well..

We have been LOVING this summer!!

A recap of our past 2 weeks:

Monday, we went to 7 peaks (again) with our little family. The kids Love that place!
Thursday: Nate (very generously) watched our kiddos so Patrick and I could have a MUCH needed date. With housesitting, kidsitting, schooling, and desperately seeking employment, we needed a night out. Goodwood BBQ did NOT disappoint. I Love me my Steak and Potatoes. Thanks again, nate!!!
Friday: Patrick had off work. We started the morning off bright and early with the Freedom Fest Balloon..fest. Christian thought the super huge balloons and FIRE were awesome.
Then we drove out to Hogle Zoo- as we haven't been there before. Christian also loved saying hi to all the animals. (We do have pictures of these events, but...they are on our camera still...)

Saturday: EARLY morning to save seats for the 4th of July Parade. Total insanity. Remind me to not live on a parade route... (how's this for an awkward teeth picture? Have no idea how it turned out like that..definitely NOT intentional. :) )

-parade, naps, then the annual G&G Hyde dinner/lunch...dunch? Linner? DE-licious. Then Fireworks at PG. Christian would 'act out' the fireworks. He'd crouch down, the jump up and stomp all around saying "pop! Pop! Pop!". Pretty dang stinking Cute.
Sunday: Nate and Molly's for leftover 4th of July food goodness
Monday: Nate, Molly, Cannon, and Noah over for delicious homemade pizza- then Nate and Cannon joined us for some more 7peaks goodness.
Tuesday: Intramural Ultimate Frisbee.
Wednesday: Up American Fork Canyon to the Cabin w/ the Summerhays family. Christian saw a deer and thought that was pretty spectacular.
Thursday: Picnic with our friends Arianna and Yuko Wolf. Sweet Lubka watched our kiddos so P & I could go enjoy the intense rides at 7 peaks. Such a fun date!!
Friday: CAMPING!!! Christian has been BEGGING to go camping all week. He'll put blankets over his head and pretend he's in a tent. He gets out his little camping chair and sits in various 'tents' and pretends to have a picnic and roast Shmarshmallows. Every day he would head to the door with his camping chair and inform us he was ready to go camping. Finallllly friday came around and we got to go for REAL.
It was such a fun time. Christian thought the tent, the fire, the food, his LQ sleeping bag- everything was just perfect. He cried saturday when we took down the tent. And in the car, begged us to go camping again. Pretty cute. And heart breaking.
Sunday: dinner at mom and dad S. to celebrate Jon's birthday. We made the cake (awesome) and christian finally decided Jon could share it with him. :)

Needless to say, we have been living it up and Loving life. Every day has been so wonderful and fun. Our house is a bit of a mess, but our boys are happy and healthy. :) This time passes too quickly to worry constantly about keeping everything perfectly clean. This I am finally starting to learn.

It's crazy to think summer is already over halfway over! We have a LOT more to do- more adventures to have, more laughs, more excitement, more FUN!

What am I sitting here for?!?

Patrick's Post: A Nervous Father

2009-07-07T13:41:00.002-06:00

Christian is a constant source of anxiety for me. Is he going to like the sports that I like? Is he going to be tough enough to stand up to bullies? Is he going to make responsible decisions? Is he going to be obsessed with girls and cars? The answers to these questions have the potential to keep me up at night if not for moments like these:

Scene: Interior bedroom, day

Christian and Channing sit in the tent built by Mommy and Daddy that also doubles as a car (how Christian discovered this dual nature of tent-cars, we will never know). Channing is perched in Christian's blue camping chair. I hear them talking from the other room and peer in.

Christian: OK Channing, now buckle your seat belt!

Channing: Dah! Dodle odle odle. Maaaaaahhh...

Concerned, Christian turns to go for help at which point I am discovered.

Christian: Dad, Channing is in the car. He needs to put on his seat belt. Help him. Help him, Daddy!

Even with Christian's premature fixation with cars, undoubtedly brought on by Pixar, and his desire to have a turn driving WITH keys (he understands their importance in the process unfortunately), it is comforting to know that safety is not forgotten in the foray of automobile hysteria. Ka-chow!

Chan-guy is ONE!!!

2009-07-07T11:50:00.011-06:00

Our sweet Guy Smiley turned one on June 11th. We had planned to do a super fun BBQ w/ outdoor games and a kiddie pool, but alas, June was not cooperating. It saw 75% more rainfall than average--lovely.

Thankfully, Patrick's fantastic parents came to the rescue and let us use their house. The party was nothing exciting, but Channing was sure cute. :)

Mama and son (Patrick says: What a hot mama!)

He's really into pointing with his finger, especially when he's excited.

His Grandma and Papa S. gave him this super cute jack-in-the-box. He LOVES it!

G&G Hyde attached helium balloons to their sweet gift and Channing was loving them too.

The cake: definitely NOT as imagined in my brain, but Christian was thrilled with M&M's and Channing was thrilled to be tasting cake and ice-cream for the first time! My boys are what really matter anyway. :)

(Patrick matches the table cloth) :)

Some remembrances of Channing:

-When he was brand-new, every time his eyes were open, I thought he looked like a little woodland critter.
-He was born with LONG red hair that stuck straight up. The nurses LOVED it, and on 2 separate occasions, found an excuse just to wash his hair.
-He has always been SUPER smiley, from a crazy early age too.
-He loves the first 2 fingers on his right-hand . They are his comfort.
-He almost yodels with his voice. He gurgles and babbles, and talks very intensely, Often using grand arm-motions to emphasize his point.
-He is like a mini parrot. He often repeats some odd word you say. 2 examples : Body Odor, and Get up!
-His first word: Dad
-First phrase: Hi Dad! Hi Daddy!
-He LOVES to talk on the phone. He can tell when I'm on the phone with his daddy, even if we're on opposite sides of our apartment. He fusses until i present the phone to him on speaker phone so he can talk to his daddy. Also, he can be super upset/sad/hurt, and the second the phone is handed to him (with daddy on speaker) he IMMEDIATELY stops crying and starts smiling, whilst the tears are rolling down his cheeks.
-He folds his arms for prayers. While Patrick is helping Christian with his prayers, Channing will stand up in his crib, fold his arms, and babble--saying his own prayers.
-He LOVES to 'walk', but only by holding on to your fingers with BOTH hands.
-He loves bath time with his brother.
-He has the cutest laugh and will often laugh hysterically.
-He finds his big brother the most hilarious person on the planet.
-He tries to hang with the 'big guys', Christian and Cannon--one day he'll be able to without getting pushed over...
-He gives fantastic kisses, and does so very willingly.
-His teeth are growing in in an odd order. For the longest time he had the greatest jack-o-lantern grin: two on bottom and just one big one on top. Then came 2 back molars, and THEN the second top front one followed by a third.
-He has an amazing arm. Of which he exercises by throwing miscellaneous objects great distances in sacrament meeting...
-He is SO SMILEY

Channing! We Love having you in our family! We are so excited and grateful to get to be your parents and watch you learn and grow. You have brought so much joy to our lives in the short year you've been with us. You have such a sweet, happy, spirit and can light up a room with your smile as many people have mentioned to us.

We love you so much and are excited to watch you through this next year.

WE LOVE YOU, CHANNING BECKHAM SUMMERHAYS!!!

Day with Daddy

2009-07-01T10:35:00.003-06:00

Yesterday while I took Channing to the doctor, Christian got to visit his daddy at work.

The following is Patrick's recollection to me on the morning:

Christian had a great time! We went over to the pond where we had our pictures taken.
When we came to the stream, I suggested to Christian that we follow it and sure enough, it led us to the ducks. We fed the ducks with the old pancakes and Christian would throw the pieces I handed him into the water. I made sure not to give him any more because he wanted to eat the pancakes himself. I had to remind him several times not to touch the ducks because they would walk right up to us expecting a meal (you know how Christian is--"I want to hold them!")

When Christian tired of feeding the ducks, he began throwing rocks in the water. I tried to maintain the border of rocks along the pond and stream by limiting him to throwing smaller rocks only every 10 yards or so. I pointed out the best rocks to throw next, until I accidentally suggested he throw what I thought was a rock, but turned out to be a dead baby duck. Luckily, I stopped him before he got near it. :) In between each throw, Christian would romp and frolic over the grassy hills, laughing all the while. You can imagine the happy feelings that instills in anyone privileged to watch.

Christians incessant pleas for a pancake would not relent, so I revealed to Christian that I had brought a treat to eat instead. Much to his delight, I whipped out a small piece of licorice for him to devour as we walked from the pond to the library. We said hi to "uncle Bard" when we chanced to see him on his way to work. When we got to the library there was a puddle of water out front, so we splashed in a few puddles. This was great fun, but when he started to use his hands it was time to stop.

Once inside the library, we headed to the fourth floor for the juvenile section. Christian got to push the buttons for the elevator and once inside he would cling to my legs and bury his face to ward off the attention of the strangers only inches away. What a shy guy. :) In the stacks, Christian was up and down each aisle of books, climbing on the stools, and hiding from his daddy. I casually followed after him, browsing for books and finding the ones I looked up in the library catalog. My main targets were a potty book and He-man book, but they didn't have He-man and I forgot to look for a potty book.

My attentions were turned away from the books and back to Christian when he started yelling out "Daddy!" and began to be loud in general. Apparently there were too many stacks of books between us for his comfort. What a little turkey. Before leaving, we made sure to get a "Cat in the Hat" book (his latest favorite) and some other Dr. Seuss classics. After a diaper change and checking out the books it was time to meet mommy at the car. On the way out, I offered Christian another licorice and he insisted on "a big one!" His sly daddy gave him the other 2/3's piece left from his first treat and it looked much bigger, thus satisfying his demands. :)

With mommy in sight and being prompted to recount the best part of the outing, Christian recalled "I changed my diaper, Mom!" What a great time. :)

I tell you--he is the greatest dad a kid could hope for. Christian came home with pink
lips, big smiles, and told me all about his day many, many times. He asked several times to go back to visit Daddy.

What a GREAT dad.

2009-06-30T07:51:00.006-06:00

after our 'mostly graduated' graduation, I had a wonderful time scratching my crafty-itch. I completed all of these projects quite a while back...and haven't done a whole lot (crafty-wise) since. It's been back to the grindstone for us over here, but soon I shall craft again! :D

A picture we got for our wedding that was nice, but not really our style. So, I created a new version on the other side and painted the frame.

The frog hoodie towel I made for swimming. The fish will be pictured after i figure out how to sew its lips on..

A bread box i bought a the thrift store for $3. I painted and sanded it- the after picture really doesn't do it justice. :)

Cards I made with my new craft machine :)

5 kids and a minivan...

2009-06-25T08:51:00.004-06:00

Heads Up: This may be a boring read and is more for my memory than anything else (i.e. your entertainment..)

Since saturday, we have been getting a little preview of life down the road.

My oldest brother and his wife are taking a much deserved break and are spending the week in honor of Becky's parents' 40th anniversary in Puerto Vallarta.

After shipping the 7 and 9 yr olds off to cousins in Idaho, we are tending the 12 yr old, Robbie, the 5 yr old, Alaina, and the 2.5 yr old, Timmy. Thus, we are currently the 'parents' of 5.

It has been an adventure! (our camera is dead, we dont have the charge, thus there are no pictures..)

Rob has been the BIGGEST helper- I honestly don't know if I could handle it without him. I haven't had to change a single poopy diaper of Tim's, and Rob reads stories to Alaina and Tim before bed. He helps watch them (when he's home), does loads of chores, and is very cooperative and agreeable. He's be a total champ.

Another sanity-saver is that the upstairs room is just a big playroom. Right now, the 3 youngest (Rob is off to soccer) are up there playing. The room can become a huge and total disaster, but hopefully after our hour-long session of cleaning it to the point of being vacuumed (this is big stuff, people), it can stay relatively clean.

Rob has just started learning the tuba and it's been lots of fun giving him lessons and playing along with him. I brought my own tuba over and it's been so nice to get reacquainted with it. It's pretty amazing to hear how much he has improved since last Thursday, when honestly, you couldn't tell if he was playing notes or not. He sounds pretty darn good now. I think he could be great!

We have been: making fun Father's Day cards, eating lots of fruits, playing outside, dinner outside, the park with Nate & Molly, coloring, working on sharing, trading off a nasty bug- 1st Timmy, then Channing, now Christian..., movie nights, pizza nights, putting way more cheese on quesadillas and sugar on cereals than Mom (Becky) would ever allow... :P , reading stories, playing upstairs, cleaning bathrooms, vacuuming, watering gardens, and lots of singing.

We also spent Father's Day in American Fork with Mom and Dad S--thank you so much for letting us all come over and join in the family festivities. We had a great time being with you and really appreciate the extra work you went through to accommodate us all.

In store: backyard fire pit and hot dogs, game night, soccer with Uncle Patrick, and whatever else we can come up with.

In other news: both P and I REALLY like their mini-van. It drives beautifully. :D

Groceries:

2009-06-24T15:19:00.002-06:00

Last night at approximately 11:15 pm I had a fabulous shopping trip.

The goods are as follows:

4 cans Manwich sloppy joe sauce
1 bottle Hunts Ketchup
6 boxes Smart Pasta
1 4-pack tapioca pudding
4 Healthy Choice All-natural dinner entrees
3 Marie Callendar Al-Dente dinner entrees
1 box Apple Jacks
1 box Kellogs Rasin Bran
1 box chocolate mini-wheats
2 boxes Eskimo ice-cream bars
1 box dreyers all-fruit bars
1 tub of Dibs ice-cream
4 cans Hunts Spaghetti Sauce
4 something-i-cant-remember-right-now...

34 items.
For a whopping total of : $23 plus tax.

That's about .76/item.

( I could have gone slightly cheaper w/ different flavors of cereal, but these were more exciting! :D )

Thank you thank you to my dear friend Michelle J. (if you ever read this blog anymore...) for showing me the Light! :D

( i have to record things like this to remind me that it's worth the extra effort to get the good 'dills' ( Love ya, Becky!)- otherwise I poop out. )

Seven Peaks, BABY!!

2009-06-22T14:35:00.004-06:00

So- We're staying at my brother and s.i.l.'s house watching their kiddos. and I have no pics on their compy to be able to post.

But..... I found some pics of a recent adventure on our sis and b.i.l's blog- so I'm stealing them, since i didn't have a camera to document the occasion anyway. (thanks, aly!)

WE ARE EMBRACING SUMMA SUMMA SUMMMMMMMATIME!!

last fall, P & I bought ourselves 7 peaks passes (on killer discount) as our birthday/christmas presents to ourselves. Our apt. is about a 10 min walk to the waterpark, plus kids 3 and under are free.

I am SO, SO glad we did!

We also bought the boys matching swim suits, swim shoes, and swim shirts for about $3 each last fall. yes, I do love matching.
I also sewed the boys special hoodie beach towels (pics are on other compy). The 1st time we told Christian we were going, he was so excited and wanted to get himself and channing dressed about 2hours before go time.

Man. Those boys are so STINKING CUTE. I will have to remember to photograph them in all their swim-gear glory. Trust me- it is AWESOME. :)

Anyways- the 1st time we only stayed for about an hour- channing was pretty much just sleeping in my arms in the water. poor kid was so tired.

2nd time Jon and Alyson (who also bought passes) came with us. We started the eve off with probably the BEST homemade pizza I have had. seriously. awesome. We stayed this time for only about 40 min, since the water was pretty chilly (it had been raining all week)- and Christian had a blast, though purple and trembling. :(

We went again last friday- and it was awesome. the water was a little warmer and christian was in kid-heaven. Channing had tons of fun splashing in the water and going down the slides. It was so fun to be together with our little family. Again, we didn't stay terribly long, but that is one of the hugest perks of the passes- no stress or pressure to stay longer than the kids body temps can stand, and we can just get out for an hour or so.

(these pics are from our 2nd trip which was freezing cold...)

Poor kid just laid on my arm clinging to my swimsuit. :(
Nevermind the Alfalfa 'do..:)

Happy at last!

Chopping Block

2009-06-17T14:16:00.004-06:00

So- I chopped off my hair. My beautiful, wonderful hair. :)

I thought it would be a fun summer 'do. But it ended up NOT AT ALL how I was planning. Aka many many INCHES shorter than desired.

Yes. I cried. Many times.

At least enough got chopped off to donate. So that's happy.

Patrick likes it. But he didnt like that his wife was so distressed about it all.

Anyways. Im over it now. Mostly. :) And it IS a 'fun' haircut. SO, we officially dubbed this the Summer of Fun 2009.

Just before:

After:
(so, i was waiting to post this post until i had a picture I actually liked of myself and my hair- but...I'm too lazy/forgetful to actually take a picture when Im looking decent- and this one is already uploaded...and I realized: It's easier to let go of vanity than to cease being lazy. :) )

...Okay- actually- the front view pic is pretty awful. and not a good rep. of what it actually looks like- so i promise to have P. take a pic tonight on our hot date for a front shot. maybe vanity wins SOMEtimes... BUT- you can see the drastic shortness still;

Maybe while I'm at it, I can finally photograph the long red braids currently being housed in our little white vases.... (yes, it IS a bit creepy...)

p.s. Im really not as distressed as it sounds. And yes it will grow back, and it is a change- and no it is not easier to take care of, nor does it feel lighter or cooler. but it DOES take much less shampoo and esp. conditioner. And I am not as cranky as it sounds. or as negative. :D

Mother's Day/Collage

2009-05-05T13:33:00.003-06:00

So, my mom got this great idea awhile back to have each of her kids create a collage representing their families. She bought these beautiful matching frames and we were all supposed to make our collages during our awesome family reunion last Thanksgiving. Well, nothing ever goes quite as planned, and the mats from the frames went home with each of us kids. With school and all, I never had the chance to work on ours, but with mom and dad H here for graduation, the timing was perfect. (plus, we wouldnt have to pay postage to mail it out... :P)

My sisters each made terrific ones and after seeing theirs, i wanted to copy them exactly. But ours took on a spin of its own. and i like it!

here's the summerhays stupendous collage.

(p.s. I love the mat. I wanted to keep it. :) )

We are excited to see the others!!

I want to do this in my own house one day... Great idea, mom. And Happy Mothers Day present! :D

Wisdom

2009-04-30T11:25:00.004-06:00

I have aquired much wisdom this morning. Before 9:20 am, even.

Here is what I have learned (and re-learned):

That no matter how much you want to think the best of your children, no matter how much you want to believe that they are finally playing peacefully with each other and behaving themselves, no matter how much you want to believe that the 2 yr old is not picking on the 11 month old and is just playing nicely.....

No matter how much you want to believe these things....

they are simply not true.

This morning I desperately needed a shower. Both boys got up earlier than I anticipated and thus before i had a chance to bathe. Since we are going to be around other people tonight, a shower was a MUST.

So, i confined the boys to the little hallway and their room. For like 10 min. I jumped in the shower and almost immediately heard channing cry out in pain. This is normal, poor kid. At least I knew (basically) that they were both alive.

About 3/4 into my shower, I realize its quiet. Wanting to think the best of my kids, I think: hey! Wow! They're finally playing nicely together! yay! what wonderful and completely stellar children I have raised. I must be a GREAT mom! My children are perfect!

4 minutes later...

I step out of the shower, wrap my towel around me, and go to peek in on my perfect angels.

........

I was partially right- they were playing nicely and quietly together....

but with THIS:

Yes. That is a giant, costco sized tub of cocoa powder COMPLETELY emptied on the floor. Please note the chocolate foot prints going in and out of the mess.

After I took this photo, Christian announced: "Oh, that's so cuuuute!"

No son, that adorable smile, the ridiculous way you have no idea you're in trouble, the chocolate covered lips... It is not. cute.

After my attempt to scrape it all up. (I managed to get almost 4/5ths of the powder back into the container. So next time you eat something chocolatey made by me: ask me no questions and Ill tell you no lies...(hey! that stuffs expensive!)

The vacuum. Wow.

Please remember I am still just in my towel. So. I strip christian down, shoo everyone out, shut the door, and call it a morning.

Wouldn't you?

EDIT: At least it smells really good. and cocoa has lots of antioxidants. So my kids will be extra healthy for the next...35384 days it takes to get all of the cocoa cleaned up. What perks!

flurb.

Graduation Luncheon

2009-04-27T09:48:00.005-06:00

Friday afternoon we had a luncheon.

It was so nice to gather with our family and eat good food and just enjoy the moment of peace and accomplishment.

Thanks everybody for your food contributions- it was delicious!! Thanks tams for the emotional support. :P

Our family was also extremely generous in gifts. Thank you thank you thank you!!! It seems the theme of the day was 'crafting for tawna'. I like that theme. A lot. :)

Our celebratory cake

Awesome AlumY t-shirts from Mom and Dad S.

During all this there was a mystery gift set against a wall. Patrick asked if it was for us, and I didn't know. He told me to go see if it was for us, but I felt tacky doing so. Finally, after much prodding, I casually walked by the gift. Sure enough, there was a plain index card with "Tawna" printed on it. Pretty sure there were no other Tawna's appearing in the pavillion that day. (It's a good thing my name isn't sara or something- if it says tawna, it pretty much must be for me...)

Noticing there was no card, I asked several people if it was from them. No one had a clue. So, since it CLEARLY must be for me. I started opening it.

Here's how it went:

It's my ultimate crafting/paper cutter machine!!!!

My sweetest husband got this for me a few months ago, right after a few of my dear friends got one on a killer sale. He had it sent to our sis/b.i.l's house and had them store it all this time. I had NO. IDEA.

It was amazing.

Thank you, sweetest. :)

Thank you everyone for your gifts and kindness. You are all amazing!! And yes, I will be making fabulous things to make you all proud. :)

WE LOVE YOU!

2009-04-27T09:38:00.000-06:00

Picture explosion to follow...

We did it!!! the Summerhays Class of 2009 celebrated graduation April 24-25th, 2009.

I want to write and better reflect my thoughts and feelings on this, but I want to get these pictures posted. So, relections will come later.

Without further ado...

THE SUMMERHAYS CLASS OF 2009!!!!!!

Thank you so much to all of you who supported us on our special days in person and in spirit. :)

Thanks for our amazing family who got us (and are still getting us) through this intense journey.

We love you!!

Senior Night

2009-04-26T21:41:00.004-06:00

P & I were excited to attend Senior Night at BYU. Since volunteering to pass out bags of chips a few years ago we were anxious to attend as real, official guests.

It was pretty darn cool and just one more testament to how awesome and unique BYU is. The door we walked in had a sign-up sheet to play the newlywed game, so we signed up. Then we headed over for our free pizza and hamburgers, chips, pop, & BYU creamery ice-cream. After chowing down, we went to the terrace to check out the booths and games there. Then lines were pretty long and after we went through one, we realized it was time for our newlywed game. (Newlywed was defined as 10 years or less...to accommodate more students.. :)) We ended up missing all but one question in the first round, but won since we got the BIG question of the 2nd. (What is your husband's comfort food? ....CHEETOS.) We almost felt bad since another couple got every single question right except a little one and the BIG one. But not too bad. After all, we have 2 kids. We needed the prize (they agreed :P): A cinemark giftcard and a giftcard to Chillis/Macaroni Grill. WOOOOOOOOOT. awe.some.

At the end of the night they did a big drawing for tons of prizes like..blenders, camping gear, picture frames, coolers w/ picnic gear, crockpots, dishes, movies, etc. I was hoping for a blender (we STILL don't have one)...but, we won an ipod speaker dock! yessss! It was awesome. I think i may be lucky. Like really. Patrick and I discussed this on our way home. During a music conference in Norway, I was featured in a front page, giant colored photo in the city paper. And I was interviewed at Notre Dame Cathedral for tv about Catholic Youth Days. And sometimes I just start to get this feeling that Im going to win. Like at evan's jazz night. I knew I was going to win. and I did. and the senior night. I was pretty sure I was going to win. and I did. And Patrick. I was pretty sure I was going to win him. and I did. See? LUCKY, i tell ya.

Oh, and why was the whole thing a testament to BYU's uniqueness/awesomeness? Where else would a whole school celebrate have a senior party with no alcohol, no skankiness, lots of kids, newlywed games, and give out G and PG movies, blenders, crockpots, gamping gear, picnic sets, frames that say FAMILY, etc.? exactly. It was awesome. and everybody had a blast. sober. Perfect. I love BYU.

Anyways. It was a super fun night and a great way to celebrate seniordom. Thanks SO MUCH Theodore's for watching our kiddos!! It was a great break for us.

Cecil is our homeboy! (yes, he approved the Cecil is my homeboy t-shirts, asked for one, wore it around, and thumbs-upped some guy who yelled such statement..)

the pizza boxes in the dumpster. It takes a lot of pizza to feed starving seniors and their families...
href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HfPU1RfS7AY/SfUuA-PUZjI/AAAAAAAAA9U/P-xoS_4UKjc/s1600-h/CIMG5892.JPG">

We're so excited! We won! Wooot!

true...good point.

2009-04-14T16:23:00.001-06:00

we have some great pics to post of our rocking weekend, but until they get uploaded...

Last night at my in-laws, my bro.in.law, Jon, was chasing Christian. He threatened to eat his nose:

J:Im going to eat your nose!
C:No! Dont Eat it! It's MY nose!
J:But Im going to eat it!

C: No! Don't eat my nose! It's got boogers in it!

J:......good point....

bahahaha. Lovely.

boonies...

2009-04-07T08:51:00.005-06:00

tomorrow we will be taking a long trek to interview for a job in a town with a total population nearly half the population of my 11/12 high school.

Woah.

and for cuteness sakes....

guy smiley

christian lined some of his cars up so they could watch their fellow counterparts star in 'cars'.

christian eating previously mentioned ice cream cupcake

We must be doing SOMETHING right...

2009-04-06T09:37:00.003-06:00

(pictures will be coming soon- promise!)

Yesterday we had the opportunity to watch General Conference at my brother's house. (for more info on conference and for what mormons believe, visit lds.org- all the talks are available to listen to and will be available to read shortly)

I was trying to get Christian to stay downstairs with us and we were having a small disagreement over the placement of a little basketball hoop. In frustration, Christian waved his hand at me and said, "You need to go watch the prophet over there together!"

hahaha. Smart kid.

This morning, we were playing on mommy's bed. I dont remember how it came about, but I mentioned that Jesus loves Christian.
C: And the prophet!
T: Yes! The prophet loves Christian.
C: President Monson loves me! (wraps his arms around himself) And president Eyring loves Christian! and President Uchtdorff loves Christian! And the Prophet!

Christian also proceeded to say that president Eyring was an apostle. And president Thomas S. Monson was the prophet.

It was a pretty deep conversation for a 2 year old.

Today's movie request: 'The temple movie! ooorrrr Joseph Smith Show!'

We must be doing SOMETHING right. :)

Heard upon the changing table...

2009-03-31T20:29:00.004-06:00

okay- so I may be going overboard with these posts lately, but i don't even care. :)

"Ooo! Those are my pantalones!"

While Patrick was getting ready to change Christian's diaper:

'you need help?' "Oh! You're changing my diaper? That's so cute! '

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

(in case you were wondering, Im pretty sure neither patrick or I have ever called either boys' diapers 'cute'...)

Overheard at our Church

2009-03-29T18:00:00.004-06:00

Today during church I started crying.

I would like to say it was because of my extreme spiritualness.... but that would be a lie. (and I think it might be extra-bad to lie about spirituality...)

Christian, as you know, LOVES nursery. L.O.V.E.S.

And during sacrament meeting (our 80ish minute first block) he gets very impatient.

Today was our testimony meeting. (Once a month, the members of the congregation are invited to come up and bear testimony of Christ and the gospel)

After each testimony, Christian called out a big 'AMEN!'. This was cute, but also fairly normal.

During the last speaker, Christian was ready to be done. About 1 minute into what would be about a 5-8min testimony, Christian called out 'AMEN!'

The speaker didn't stop.

'AMEN!' 'AMEN!!'

The speaker kept going.

'HEY! DON'T SAY THAT!! I SAID AAAAMMEN!!!!"

:Bursts of laughter from all around us:

'I SAID AAAMMEENN!!!!'

This exchange continued for the remainder of the talk.

It was Hilarious.

and thus, I cried.

*Right now, Christian is shooting baskets and missed.
"That's Terrible!"

hahaha.

This kid cracks. me. up.

Overheard at Our House

2009-03-25T23:36:00.002-06:00

The other night at the dinner table, Christian started singing:

Im not dead! Im not dead! Im not dead!

...Im dead!

No! :laughs: Im not dead! silly!

what a lovely, lovely song. :)

Last night we stopped by coldstone to use our 2 years worth of Valentine's gift cards (Thanks, G&G!) I ran inside to scout out the flavors. Now, some of you know, I REALLY struggle when it comes to making decisions where other people would be affected. About dumb things. Like ice cream flavors.

So I come back out to the car and present several options.
Patrick: "i don't care, honey. Just go in and choose something'
Me: 'oh, but what do you want? Do you not like such and such? would you prefer such and such? What about ice cream cupcakes instead?"
P: Babe- I really dont care. just go choose something for us
Me: (more of the same)
P:Honey! Really! Just go get something!
Me: (more of the same)

A truly exasperated little voice from the back seat:

"JUST GO!"

bahahahahaha! When the 2 year old is annoyed, you know you're annoying. :)

(we got the cupcakes.)

Warning: Bathroom Talk Below

2009-03-24T12:00:00.004-06:00

I think it's a hadfield thing.

Call us practical. Call us productive. Call us Resourceful. Call us Multi-taskers.
Call us educational.

We like to read. In the bathroom.

I knew it wasn't just from me when, after my parents stayed with us for a few days, we found several Church History books in the bathroom. ....Dad? :)

I can't stand not reading while doing my thing. In fact, my freshman year at BYU, I made magazine holders and taped them to each stall door, with a great quote about reading from one of the leaders of the church. Then I put one of my church magazines in each holder. It was great. Everyone loved it and thought it was brilliant. (It was. :) )

Lately, I like to look at various home decor magazines and dream about the house i will someday live in. (meaning...a house. any house. just a house. with kitchen floors that can actually get clean.)

Like Father, like daughter. Like Mother, like son.

My Personal Roomba

2009-03-24T11:43:00.003-06:00

So, here at our house with 2 little boys, things get messy.

But, they are sweet, and they do all they can to help mommy out. Christian is great at putting his toys away.

And Channing is my personal Roomba.

Why spend $200 when I can get a much more efficient (not to mention cuter) robot vaccuum?

Scouring Out Christian's many dropped Cheerios.

Thanks, buddy!!

(gross.)

Clapping...

2009-03-21T23:59:00.002-06:00

Channing has thrilled us today with his ability to do 'patty cake'. He claps, tries to roll his hands, and TOSSes it in the oven. SO CUTE.

Christian and Patrick were working on 'Peas Porridge Hot'.

P: Some like it...
C: Hot!
P: Some like it...
C: Cold!
P: Some like it...
C: Warm!

hehehe.

Awesome.

p.s. our boys have been crazy sick as of late. let's just say we have done 5 loads of laundry due to poop/puke explosions this week. and we have another one waiting to be done. Man, we need a washer/dryer. The new Summerhays' rule: No kids are allowed to obtain an illness which would cause them to excrete bodily fluids upon clothing/sheets/blankets until we own a washer/dryer.

now, how to enforce it....

FOUR YEAR DATE-IVERSARY

2009-03-19T20:31:00.005-06:00

Four Years ago, as of yesterday, the handsomest man ever took me out on our first date.

We went to the Freshman dance/party for Heleman Halls at the Cannon Center. It was a Shrek Theme.

Actually, I'll let the myself of 4 years ago tell you about it. It's brief, but it evokes the memory perfectly for me. I may regret posting part of my journal here on the WWW, but it's not toooo embarrassing...

March 19, 2005:
Last night, however, amazing. Went with partrick summerhays to the helaman halls invitational. AWESOME. I had so much fun w/ him; crazy dancing and not even caring, gingerbread cookie decorating, food, night stroll to nate’s, star wars-→ hand holding. ☺ walk home, hand holding, under tree, hand holding, door step- cheek kiss.
Wow. Intense for one night, but oh so good. ☺

Yes, yes. It was the best date thus far of my life. I was totally hooked.

To celebrate (after a day full of throw-up, explosive diapers, 4 baths, and 3 loads of 'emergency' washings-aka poop/throw-up covered) we ate our white chocolate molten lava cake from chilis- (Which nate and cannon treated us to dinner at- but Christian puked all over me and him just before dessert came, so we went home w/ our dessert) and watched Star Wars IV. The show we watched on our first date. The first time i had even seen star wars. Alas, we both were falling asleep about 1/3 into, so we had to shut it off. But we held hands again. And it was perfect. And I am LOVING my man. For he is the best. Ever.

Patrick's cookie

Tawna's cookie

4 years ago. with big hair. ;)

Thanks babes. You are one Hot Date!