The Hebdons

Comming Soon...

2011-09-26T13:05:00.000-07:00

Wow... where has the time gone? I will start blogging again soon. I finally got the new computer hutch I have always wanted. We had our computer taken apart for almost a month.

Thanks to the Ipod we still had Internet access, but all other computer activities stopped for a while.

I have lots of pictures to upload, and stories to up date. I had my 32 birthday, Tory and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary, and more updates to come!

Western Idaho Fair (Aug 19, 2011)

2011-08-19T14:09:00.000-07:00

We wanted to do something fun with the family for the weekend so we decided to take the kids to the fair.

Tory researched all the different activities and shows they had and what times they would be going on and printed up maps and a schedule for us so we could make the most of our time there. The first thing we went to was a pig race. The audience was split into 4 cheering sections, one for each pig. Then one person was selected from each section to represent their team. On the third race Chase was chosen and his pig won!! As a prize he got a pig nose.

We saw a sea lion show (which after Sea World the kids weren't too impressed) and decorated cookies, and got snow cones, and went to the animal petting area, and before we went home we let the kids pick a few rides to go on.

It was a really nice time. They even had a Nursing Mothers area set up with 3 small private curtained rooms with rocking chairs, air conditioning, and a table with coloring pages and crafts for the kids.

We only misplace Tyler about 4 times but that all. He was never very far, but we still had to search around for him.

(Maybe we will bring a leash next time)

I don't know if we will go again any time soon, but it was fun to do something different.

Camrey's 2 year old Birthday... (July 8, 2011)

2011-07-18T12:52:00.000-07:00

My Beautiful daughter is 2!

This is one of my more simple cakes... just a white box cake with strawberry jello in the middle and cool whip topping with dry jello powder to make it pink.
Then there is the balloons and a pink crown. What is the common denominator in all this...

Pink!!

Camrey is very into "Pretty Dresses" and make-up and jewelery. So of course I had to get a crown for this princess (which has been broken and repaired over 6 times with super glue, electrical tape, hot glue, floral wire, and even pink nail polish to help blend the repair job. It is now in the garbage two months later. NOTE To SELF: next time, buy a metal crown.)

A princess purse, a princess dress, pink crown, and earrings and necklaces and rings... what more could you want for a two year old...

A Princess Tricycle!!

Thanks to craigslist I got a steal of a deal on this adorable trike for her. When our little family party was over we went for a little walk so she could try out her new tricycle.

A princess on parade decked out in ALL her jewelry and her birthday dress.

I am so grateful for my little girl. I love having a little girl!! Camrey is my sweetheart and I'm blessed to have her in my life. I hope one day she will have as much fun being with me as I do being with my mom now!

Happy Birthday Camms.

Our Family Hike! (June 4, 2011)

2011-07-06T10:48:00.000-07:00

Tory wanted to take the kids on a little hike to see a water fall at Jump Creek Canyon just West of Fruitland (I think). I didn't want to be left out while they went on this little adventure.

When Tory's parents came to visit I stayed home with Zack and Camrey while they all went on a nature walk and sat and fed Zack while everyone went swimming (not that I can swim yet anyway...), but like I said, I didn't want to be left out again.

I decided that even if I just sit in the car at least I won't be left home again.

We left early in the morning so it was nice and cool. Tory got the kids and pointed to the direction they were heading and said it shouldn't take more than 30 min or so to get there and back.

Zack was sleeping. and I paced around a bit and decided I could probably make it there packing him... Tory said it wasn't that far. I brought a little pack just in case I felt up to the challenge. So I got Zackery out of his car seat and strapped him to my chest and headed to join them.

It took less than 5 min to catch up with them even though they were 10 min. a head of me. (I forget their short legs go a little slower hiking and crossing streams)

When we got to the waterfall the kids were all excited. There was a small cave they played in. We all sat down and had snacks.

We took pictures and had a really nice time.

Tory and I looked at each other and said, "This is what having kids is all about."

Spending quality time together, exploring, and learning and seeing the beautiful world our Father in Heaven has created for us!

During the drive there the kids were looking out the windows looking at all the fields. One field was growing alfalfa... Chase said, "Hey, that's like on Little Rascals!"

Then we passed a young girl about 10 yrs old on a horse and Chase said, " Wow! look dad; She's driving a horse!"

We also passed a Semi Truck and Tyler said, "Look, it's Optimus Prime!"

Clearly we have a bunch a city kids. It was fun to explain to them where the food in the store comes form, and point out all the different plants growing.

Tory packed Camrey on his back and I packed Zackery, and Chase and Tyler had walking sticks.

After the waterfall hike we drove over to Lake Lowell.

It was green and beautiful!

It was defiantly a perfect morning for our little adventure.

Despite having a baby 3 and a half weeks ago, I was glad I was able to keep up.

Zack and I are both doing great!

I'm grateful for my wonderful husband and the beautiful children he has given me. I love my family! I'm excited about life and look forward to all the adventures we will have together!

He's Home

2011-07-05T10:31:00.000-07:00

I can't remember the exact date these pictures were taken. I don't know if the ipod records the date. I think it was about two and a half weeks after he was born.

Tory's parents came to from Elko to meet their newest grandson.

I'm sad to realize that Zack is getting older and I can't find very may pictures of him! I hope my mom has a few because if not I better start taking more!

The Last Game!

2011-06-29T10:39:00.000-07:00

May 14, 2011 Chase's last soccer game was only 4 days after Zackery was born. I was the coach (as I blogged about previously) and I didn't want to miss the last game!

Call me crazy, but yes, I went to the game. The parents of the player were of course shocked to see me.

My mom came to our house and watched Camrey and Tyler and Zack, and Tory and I took Chase and my nephew Caleb to the game.

I felt like I was going to pass out while walking out to the field. It wasn't very close to the parking lot! I was defiantly light headed.

But I made it and was happy I went! I had a hard time sitting in my chair I had invested a lot of time with those boys and I found my self getting out of my chair and coaching from the sidelines then forcing my self to sit and be quiet!

Everyone wanted to meet our little Zackery but for now pictures will have to do!

How He Came...

2011-06-29T10:07:00.000-07:00

May 10, 2011 Tuesday. (5-10-11)

We went to St All's at 6 a.m. My Dr. had planned to break my water when we got there in hopes to get my labor and contractions going. I was having a few contractions the night before but nothing real consistent. The nurse checked me to see how far I was dilated and I was about the same 3 to 3 1/2. They hooked up the monitors to my baby's heart beat and my contractions, then proceeded to prepare my arm for an IV. I hate those things! They are quite uncomfortable, so I was dreading it, then Her first try it broke my blood vein and I had to have it done in the top of my hand.

My Dr. was supposed to be there at 7 to break my water but didn't get there until we had already been there for 2 hours (she was stuck at a meeting). When she got there she broke my water and sent us walking.

The 2 hours of walking didn't feel like they were doing much good. I was having contractions randomly about 7 min, or 11 min, 5, 8, what ever consistently but not really. Having never gone through labor on my own I didn't know what to expect.

This seemed way too easy. So after 2 hours they decided to start me on patosin. Which means no more walking and harder contractions. I was curious to see if my inconsistent contractions were making any progress, but to my surprise they didn't even check me. I just assumed They didn't want to increase my chances of an infection because my water was already broke.

The minimal amount of patosin was getting hard. I was needing to concentrate an breathe through some of those contractions. I asked "when can I have my Epidural?" They said, "we want you to be contracting consistently for a while before you get it because we don't want the contractions to slow down too much."

So when they upped my patosin I was not to happy. Contractions were already getting hard and they were giving me more!

After over an hour of that they said it would take 20 min to get medicine in my system before I could have the epidural, by then I needed my mothers help for breathing! It was either breathe or cry! They still hadn't checked me. The anesthesiologist finally got ready and it took a long time to find the right spot after 20 min of poking and FISHING for the right spot (he got it in one spot and said that wouldn't work and he would have to poke me again); finally he got it. They got the medicine into me and only half of me went numb, (which didn't surprise me, same thing happened with my last kid). Not long after that I said, "I'm starting to feel some pressure," and the nurse said, " maybe we should check you..." and she said I was at a ten and a +1! Time to push!!

They sent a 911 page to my Dr. Then about 5-10 min max of pushing he was out. Zack was out after being on patosin for only 2 hours. I wish I could have known my progress throughout the process, but my guess is they were trying to give me an epidural during my transition contractions, the hardest ones. They might not have given it to me if they had know how far along I really was! I got numb in just barley enough time to push.

In the end, I was good, Zack was great, and we went home 24 hours later!

Baby Zackery... He's Here!

2011-05-27T10:00:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures... I'll edit and add the story later!

Baby is comming tomorrow...

2011-05-09T12:21:00.001-07:00

I have had all of my labors induced because my body doesn't seem to kick labor in by itself. When I was pregnant with, Tyler I started having contractions 2 weeks early. We went to the hospital and they sent me walking. I was having contraction really close together and already having lots of back labor. When the checked to see if I had made any progress, I had; about 1/2 cm. They said, "You are making slow progress so we can admit you but your Dr. isn't here so you will have the Dr who is on call and he doesn't give epidurals as liberally as your Dr. does." That scared me because my back HURT. My contractions stopped when I quit walking but picked up hard and consistent as long as I kept moving. So they said, "If you want, you can go home and lay low, and come back in the morning when your Dr is here." So we did. and the next day... no contractions!! We walked every day and even took 2 yr old Chase to the zoo. I didn't have any contractions! So I was induced a week later. (1 week before my due date.)

So now I was worried I missed my chance to have my baby come on it's own just like I did with Tyler, but 2 days after Ty's party, it happened again! Last Friday, May 6th, I woke up at midnight and started having contractions about 5-7 minutes apart. My body also got the chills and I was cold and sweaty at the same time. After an hour of that, I called my parents at 1:00 in the morning and had them come over so we could head to the hospital. While we were waiting for them I took a shower. It was nice and it calmed me down a bit. I think it slowed my contraction. By the time we got to the hospital they were virtually gone. It took 20 of being on the monitors for the first contraction to show up. I was so irritated. So again they sent us walking. We walked the hospital for almost an hour but it didn't seem to get things going. So we went home.

I am scheduled to go into the hospital at 6:45 in the morning to have my labor induced! So I'm excited.

Tyler's early Birthday...

2011-05-09T12:20:00.000-07:00

(Tyler has a nice smile in this picture, unfortunately the cake is covering half his face.)

Tyler's birthday is May 12, but I wanted to celebrate it early in case I went into labor early. I didn't want to be in the hospital and realize that we missed his special day. So we celebrated it on Thursday, May 5th.

Tyler wanted to go to Planet Kid. Every Day after school (for a week) he would ask if we were going to Planet Kid today. We just had to keep telling him, not today. We'll go for your birthday.

I spent days preparing his cake! He loves Mario, and I wanted him to have a cool Mario cake. So I printed pictures and drew a castle on a cereal box; cut it, painted it... baked the cake 1 day early so I could frost it and decorate it the next day. I was prepared for Tyler to have a special day dedicated to him...

what I wasn't prepared for was the contractions I had consistently, the day before his birthday!

The night before his party I was up most of the night timing my contractions. I was a little irritated. The baby wasn't due until the 17th. It was only the 4th. I hadn't packed the hospital bag yet, I had a party to do the next day, I wasn't ready for him to come tonight.

Around midnight, My contractions were averaging between 5 min apart and 8, or 10 min.

Not consistent enough to go to the hospital yet, and I was already dilated to a 3 by then (which I know because I had a check up the day before).

The contractions started to slow to 20 min apart around 4 a.m. the I finally got some sleep, but a 6 a.m. I got out of bed and packed a hospital bag.
Tyler's favorite toy was an idog.

He got some Mario figures which he loved too. I found them on eBay in China for real cheep compared to the ones sold here. I ordered them a month and a half ago, free shipping...

Like I said, prepared!

We had cousins meet us a Planet Kid after school at 4:00; had a barbecue and party around 5:45, and got the kids to bed by 8:00. No baby. (but that's ok. The party is over and he is welcome to come any time now. I still have 2 soccer practices and 2 game before his due date, but I'll skip those in exchange for my baby coming early!)

Soccer Coach vs. Soccer Mom

2011-05-09T12:01:00.000-07:00

If you think about it there isn't a whole lot different between Soccer Coach and Soccer Mom.

1. Both have to be at every practice and every game
2. The mom walks up and down the side line yelling almost as much as the Coach
What else is there?

Those were my thoughts. That is why for the last month and a half I volunteered to be Chase's Soccer Coach! Crazy; I'm 8 months pregnant; why would I do that?

Chase's team had a coach, and unfortunately his work schedule changed our first week of practice and made him unavailable to commit to practice and games anymore. The team was going to be terminated and no refund given if we couldn't come up with another coach. No one would step up, so I did!

I figured, I already committed to being at every practice and game because Tory's work schedule isn't dependable either so how different can it be?

So I signed up, and had a background check (which you have to pass to be a coach) and then after my first practice I confessed to my husband what I had done! Yes, He was a little shocked! When I told him, He wasn't sure he heard me correctly and asked me again, "You did what?"
The parents were very supportive. One mom brought the goal net and cones to every practice and set up. All I have to do is show up and tell the 8 boys what to do.

I have never even played soccer growing up except in P.E. at school. I knew the basics kick the ball, don't touch it with your hands, know which direction your goal is; besides, they are only 6-7 years old, so as long as we were having fun it was ok! There isn't a whole lot you can teach that age that will help them win a game. Just make sure they can kick the ball, pass it to each other, and kick it into the goal!

So it's been fun but because the baby is coming I will miss the last 2 games and last 2 practices.
I have a few pictures to post, but I'll do that later.

At least Chase has had fun with his first experience playing on a soccer team!

Thanks to the parents for all your help and support!

Swing Set

2011-04-13T13:08:00.001-07:00

On Saturday, April 2, Tory took my Dad's trailer out to Kuna to get the free swing set. We didn't know what condition it was in, but we figured it was worth checking out.

(Pictures taken on 4-7-11) After taking it apart and bringing it home Tory said well I know why they were giving it away! Hillary said their neighbors gave it to them when they moved and they've wanted it out of their yard almost ever since. (something like that). The swings and bench seats, ext. were all in fairly good condition but the frame was practically shot.

The frame from my dad's house was thicker and in much better condition than the one from Kuna friends. So Tory spent his next day off trying to make 2 old swing sets into 1 functional set! I'm so impressed by him. They weren't even the same size, length, or height. But some how he worked his magic, cut off some legs, and switched this and that and made it work! The kids are so happy! It's nice to have a swing set, and even nicer to not have to spend loads of money on one just before a new baby comes. We don't plan on keeping it forever, but it will get us by until we move (which may never happen) or can save up for a nice wooden one!
For years we have had a big back yard that the kids don't love to play in because it has been boring and empty. Hopefully now they have a reason to spend more time out there when summer comes.
Thanks Kuna friends, and thanks Dad; most of all Thanks Tory for putting up with another one of my crazy ideas!

My Busy Day! (April 1st)

2011-04-07T10:00:00.000-07:00

Friday is always grocery shopping day for me.

It's not so bad when I go at night after the kids are in bed. By myself, I can get done much faster, but I hate wasting my evenings with my husband by grocery shopping; so most of the time I just go in the morning after I drop Chase off at school, But this week was spring break. I had all 3 kids. I also stayed up till 12:45 last night because I was out for Girl's Night! To make the grocery shopping more fun it was the first day of the month which = food stamp day.

But in the end it only took from 9:00 till 10:40 to get out of there. (WinCo on Farview). Then came the JOB of unloading and putting away groceries, and feeding the kids (who by the way woke up at 6:45 am and were ready for lunch when we got home). I got everything out of the car and was very grateful for the beautiful weather. So instead of putting it all away I decided to just do the perishables the clean my van. I wanted to take advantage of the warm sunshine while I could. So I left all the cupboard groceries on the counter and went outside to vacuum my van!

That took and hour, the I realized Camrey needed to go down for a nap! So a little after 12 I put her down and returned to cleaning the van. I got as far as cleaning only 1 carpet piece and decided the other 3 would be TOO much extra work. Chase wanted to clean the windows. I told him we didn't need to wipe the outside windows because when the car gets washed it will clean them. He then asked, "Can we wash the car Mom?"

He was so excited at the idea, and the weather was so nice I thought, why not? So Chase got the hoses out of the storage shed and I got some soapy water and old towels and we WASHED the van in the drive way! Camrey woke up just before we got finished, so I brought her outside too. (Tyler was happily playing Mario).

And if all that isn't enough, my house looked like this... every room a mess.

I took before and after pictures to show what I accomplished!

I got the house picked up, groceries all put away, and my room clean, then Tory got home around 4:00.

We decided to take the kids to a park for a picnic for dinner. So I packed sandwiches, chips, drinks, and cookies, and we headed to Eagle to play at a park. Saturday we have plans to get a swing set in Kuna that someone my sister knows is GIVING away; so naturally we had to go to Eagle to get a trailer from my dad to get the swing set the next day... thus the reason for going to a park out there!

When we got home I took a minute to vacuum the house because it was already clean and I didn't know how long that would last either!

Then I did the dishes... I think that's it... How much work can a 8 month pregnant girl do in one day?... The answer... (in my case today).... a lot!

Funny Cranky kids

2011-04-06T12:57:00.001-07:00

I took pictures with intentions to blog and never got around to it! The picture in the pink shirt was taken Jan 7th. Camrey got a bunch of necklaces, bracelets, and rings for Christmas (from me). And of course being the girlie girl she is, LOVES them! So here is her "putting her pretties on."

For Halloween last year I saw this "Belle" dress for $7 and couldn't pass it up. She loves to play dress up.

And on Jan 21, she wanted to go to school like the boys!

I love this little girl and can't get enough of her!

One morning before school (March 24) they were all playing together in the boy's room and had the sleeping bags all pulled out. It was so cute I had to get my camera. I put both pictures on here because Tyler is smiling in the first one. (He does smile a lot, we just don't always get it on camera!)

So last of all, On February 28th, My kids were not happy after school. The crying was so ridiculous, I of course had to record it to show their dad when he got home.

Chase had earned a "Book It" coupon for reading the month of February and wanted to go to Pizza Hut for dinner. I told him we might not be able to go today because I wasn't sure when Tory would get home. Clearly they were all hungry and the tears were flowing!

In the end, when Dad got home he took us all to Pizza Hut for dinner.

Prego Pictures...

2011-04-06T12:56:00.001-07:00

Ok... These weren't the best pictures I've taken. But I did want to take pictures of my belly so here it is on Jan. 19, 2011

The first picture I sucked it in hoping to have a "smaller" picture of me because I failed to take one in the beginning of my pregnancy.

The second picture was my true size on that date.

About 23 weeks pregnant and 38 inches around.

2011-03-04T12:36:00.000-08:00

Wow! I am really bad at keeping up on my blog. I am sorry to all those who have been waiting for news on me, my baby, and my family.

I had a glucose test a couple weeks ago and everything came out fine. I'm a little anemic, but I'm sure if I start taking vitamins again that will be fixed real quick. 7 months into my pregnancy and prenatal still make me throw up in the morning. So it's back to flinstone vitamins for me.

I have 10 weeks left!

We have lots of things we are doing with Tyler right now preparing for kindergarten registration which is next week.

I have been on a "nesting rampage" for the last month, driving my sweet husband crazy with all of my sorting and arranging projects, but I keep telling him it's like spring cleaning. He says, It's not spring yet; I say well I can't wait till spring because I'm getting bigger.

Now Camrey is awake from her nap and I have to go.

Hopefully it won't be another month before I post again!

Quick Blog...

2011-01-26T19:40:00.000-08:00

One of these Days I will make time to update my blog! I've missed Christmas, and New Years (not that we did anything; we put the kids to bed at 8, watched a movie, and went to bed at 10:30). But I feel bad. I do have some pictures to post.

I have been feeling great lately! I'm getting bigger so I finally look pregnant. I am reading the Hunger Games again only for the second time. I want to read the Twilight Series again because it has been a year since I last read them, but I swore I would wait 2 years before I read them again because I have read them at least 4 time now! But clearly I 'm obsessed with the story, so I watched the movies this week which makes me want to read them more because the movies suck and don't do the books any justice! But like i said... I'm probably a little obsessed.

My family is healthy. I've been writing music again (which is harder now that the kids broke the disk drive on my piano so I can't record my music), so if it's not written down its gone!

I spent 5 hours at my sewing machine last week putting together a humanitarian quilt for out church activity. Tory hates it when I do quilts, but I really enjoy it (except the whole being pregnant, on the floor, and sitting for too many hours at the sewing machine which caused my lower back muscles to give me pain for 2 days). I get it from my Grandma Willis. She is here visiting our family from Missouri. She is staying at my parents house. I went over there today and helped her... you guessed it : tie a quilt!

I just finished registering Chase for Soccer this summer. The last game is 1 week before the baby is due! This will be our first year trying the life of "kids being in sports" wish us luck. So since I've spent the last 45 min at the computer I'm done for now, but promise to try to get more updates soon!

I'm Pregnant!!!

2011-01-17T10:57:00.000-08:00

I guess this news won't come much of a shock to anyone since I'm already 5 months along, and most people already know! This first picture was taken on October 26. The baby has it's hands above it's head.

So the 10 week ultrasound was great. No visible problems. Healthy baby!

3 Days before Christmas we got to find out what we were having...

A BOY!!! (Of course; you can't get everything you want in life)
He was beautiful, so cute Yawning, Sucking his thumb; just beautiful, and healthy!

He was measuring right on schedule!
I tried not to get my hopes up for a girl, but I still cried pretty hard about 2 days after we found out.

I am just grateful he is healthy. Now I just have to by more dresses, shoes and jewelry for Camrey, because I only get 1 girl to dress-up!

So now I feel this little guy moving inside me a lot. I was trying to keep a pregnancy journal for myself, because I don't plan on having more kids, but I haven't written in over a month. So much changes so fast.

Now all we need is a name... I have plenty of girls names picked out, but that's not going to do me much good!

Morning sickness is finally starting to go away and I have a new level of energy. We are both doing great!

October Trees

2010-12-01T10:00:00.000-08:00

All through the month of October, the kids spend most of their time in our neighbor's yard. They have a nice tree in the front with plenty of leaves to play in.

Amy has 2 girls around the same age as my kids. Amy and I actually went to high school together one year!

Her oldest daughter, Ashlynn is in Chase's class at school this year, and Addison is about a year and a half younger than Tyler.

They aren't home half the time my boys go over there with their rakes, but they don't mind.

Camrey never wants to miss out on the fun either! She wants to be where the boys are!

And on this day, The little girl across the street came to play too. Her name is Kayla (she has a pink shirt and is holding a rake with her back turned). Her 20 yr old brother started his own lawn care business and mows our lawn for us some times!

Tyler and the bus.

2010-12-01T08:41:00.000-08:00

As I have mentioned before, my little preschooler Tyler rides the bus to school 4 days a week. This has been a great blessing for me. One less trip to the school a day, and it allows Camrey go down for a nap just before Tyler catches the bus. I put her down and 30 min. later walk him to the end of the road!
Now that it is cold outside we sit in the car and wait, but these pictures were taken a month or so ago when it was still warm. He rides his bike to the corner, then he likes to climb in the tree is someones yard (hope they don't mind), and we pretend to play hide and seek.

Our new game is naming the colors and types of cars that drive by while we wait for the bus.

Tyler doesn't like loud noises so he plugs his ears when the bus pull up.

He seems so little on that big bus! Only preschoolers have to be buckled in on a bus!

Halloween (October 31)

2010-12-01T06:56:00.000-08:00

What do you do on a snow day when school's are closed... Catch up on blogging while the kids play in the morning!

Camrey's hair was just long enough to pull back into a Tinker Bell pony-tail! I found this costume at Other Mother's for $7!! and the shoes for about $3, (Kmart had them for $10).

I also found a yellow "Belle" dress for $6 and couldn't pass it up! They had Snow White, Cinderella, but I exercised restraint and only bought the two, (she can be Belle next year!) Camrey loves to dress up especially in Belle's dress! She's such a girl.

Tyler, of course, was so excited to see a Mario costume! He wore it every day for about a week after we got it. I finally had to hide it until Halloween, he was starting to wear it out!

Chase wants to be a fireman when he grows up! The first costume we got was a plastic coat with an ax from Walmart, which ripped within a few days. So I returned it and got this one from Kmart. No ax, but it lasted longer.

Chase begged me to carve a pumpkin, so one morning right before we had to leave for school I hollowed one out for him. I had been promising him for days, and there hasn't been any time in the evenings, so I did it before school.

We carved out the face when he got home later that day!

We did a Trunk-or-Treat on Saturday the 30th, and a short Trick or Treat on Sunday to the people on our street and some "home teaching" families. The kids had fun and got plenty of candy!

My Weekend...

2010-10-25T11:37:00.000-07:00

Friday; I had to make 24 cupcakes for the school "Monster Mash" Family dance. Tory got off work a little early and got packed up for the scout camp out he was leaving for at 5:00. He watched the kids after school because I volunteered to help decorate the gym for the party. Then when I got home he left. That evening at 6:30 we were all dressed in our costumes: Me- Jessie from Toy Story, Camrey- Tinker Bell, Chase - a fire man, Tyler- Mario. We went to the school and had lots of fun. When I got home at 8:15 I realized we lost a tinker bell slipper, so I got p.j's on the kids and went back to he school... lucky me we found it! So Camrey got to bed at 9:00 instead of the usual 7:30, and the boys in bed at 9:45 instead of 7:45! Camrey woke up at 4:30 starving because she didn't eat her dinner and the boys were up "dark and early" at 6:45! (You put them to bed 2 hours later and they still wake up before the crack of dawn!)

Tyler got the flu bug around 2:00 Saturday just about a half hour before Tory got home. He was throwing up about ever 15 min. I didn't even have time to eat a bowl of cereal before I was running to catch the next wave. So Sat night I slept on our old queen mattress (p.s.... if I haven't mentioned it, we finally got a new mattress for our bed a week ago!) in the living room with Tyler. Lucky for me he was done throwing up by 8:00, Not so lucky... at 4:00 a.m. I started throwing up, then an hour later so did Chase!

So for the next 2 hours I took care of Chase while I my self continued to be sick. Finally at 7:00 I was out of energy and Tory had to take over!

I am so grateful for my husband!!! He totally stepped up and took care of everything. I was in bed literally all day Sunday. Thank goodness today I feel well enough to take care of my kids, (not entirely better, but good enough) and Tory is back to work. He got a flu shot this year, so hopefully he will be spared. And little Camrey had a short flu bug last Wed. or Thurs. so hopefully she won't get it again!

PS. Mc Donald's is by far the most painful thing I have ever thrown up!
With Tyler being sick I didn't get a chance to grocery shop and we were
out of food, and I was starving. So I asked Tory to run to Mc D's and
get me a burger... Had I known what was to come I never would have asked!

Felling Lonely...

2010-09-24T19:21:00.000-07:00

I guess I could try journaling for once. I don't usually blog without pictures, but I just finished reading my sister's blog and she always amazes me in the fact she always has something to write about. And another thing... she is really great with words!

So I just got my kids in bed and I recorded the season Premiere of Smallville on my ancient VCR... (yes, you read that correctly) so I could have something to do tonight.

I miss my husband!! He has been working really long hours the last 2 weeks and I feel like we never see him! I know I'm not the only one in the world who has a husband who seems gone all the time, but I'm really missing him right now. He had to leave today at 4:00 for a young men camp out for church! He'll be back tomorrow about 1 hour before I have to leave for the evening!

I feel like I'm being so ungrateful in my sour attitude... At least he has a good job, and can support us and take care of us, and I don't have to work. Him being gone a lot is a small sacrifice to pay when you look at the bigger picture, but that doesn't mean I don't miss him and wish he was here now!

So I guess I better go watch my bad recording of Smallville before I let myself wallow in any more self pity!

The Dinosaur Museum (Sept 4)

2010-09-20T11:05:00.000-07:00

Over Labor Day weekend we decided to take a trip to Utah and visit Tory's family. They live in Logan, and his cousin from Virginia, was also getting married that weekend in Southern Salt Lake.

We decided to make a little vacation and take the kids to the Dinosaur Museum in Salt Lake. If you've never been there before it was really awesome!

I didn't have high expectations (looking at big dinosaur Fossils...), But is was so impressed how hands on, and kid friendly it was! Not just a place to "look" but fun things to explore!

The first a favorite was the "Star Room" I didn't mean to cut off Tory's head but it was so dark in there I just had to point and shoot. It was a circular room with fiber optic lights. So walking across the bridge you felt like your were walking into outer space!

There was a little area where the kids can go through this little cave.

So much to see! They had full size T-Rex and Full size Brachiosaurus which took 3 pictures to get the full length shot... it didn't put them on this post though.

Stegosaurus...

This is the foot of the Brachiosaurus.

In this little area there were plastic toy dinosaurs. And wooden cut outs that your are supposed to match with the correct hole with the name of the dinosaur... basically a big puzzle.

In this area you get to learn first hand how "Erosion" really works!

A huge sand and water table where you can build up walls of sand and watch how the constant slow flow of water can change everything.

Chase had fun with it, but Tyler was not interested. Any thing involving water and sand is usually avoided!

The Sharks were thought to be this big in the prehistoric times, but the only thing they have to judge their size off of is teeth because, of course, Sharks don't have any bones to leave behind.

And the last exploration area was digging your own Dinosaur fossils. A large area where kids can brush away the sand to discover the dinosaurs hiding beneath! Again... Chases thing, not Tyler's!

Camrey wanted to dig too but we had a reception to go to and I didn't want her any dirtier that she already was! Next time, we'll bring a change of cloths for the kids!

Tyler's First Day of School (Aug. 31)

2010-09-02T09:52:00.000-07:00

Tyler started pre-school this year! His first day was on Tuesday August 31. We had visited his class room a few times so that helped. And we had met his teacher last year when Tyler had speech therapy once a week; so he was as perepared as he would ever be.

When I dropped him off at the school I walked with him to class, and he went right into the class room and started to play, but as soon as I said good buy, he started to cry and came running to the door. The teachers usherd me out the door and reasured me that he would be fine, and they have my phone number incase they need to call me. And ofcourse they were right! No problems. He even sat good during circle time: He would start to get up but then noticed his class members sitting good, then changed his mind and sat back down! For him that is awsome... to notice the social cue's around him has been a challenge, so I was so prowd of him!

My sweet baby was being really good while I've been on the computer this moning, so I went to check and see why she hadn't tried to bug me yet (as she always does when I am on the computer), and she had fallen asleep on her favorite blanket on the floor!

It was so bright outside, I couldn't even tell the shutter on the camera hadn't opened all the way until after I took the viedo; and by then the batterie was dead adn I couldn't take another! But this was a video I took after Tyler got done with his second day of school!

1st Day of School

2010-08-25T14:37:00.000-07:00

Today Chase had his first day of 1st grade.

He was really excited to wear his new Star Wars shoes that light up!

Even though it was only a half day, I realized last night that he will need a lunch... so this morning I read the lunch menu to him and he wasn't interested... he wanted a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. So being the softy mother I am; I packed grapes, strawberries, carrots, and Cheetos and 2 cookies; then packed the kids in the car, grabbed the P.B. & J. and headed to the grocery store!

We were ALL

out of bread!Hard to make the sandwich with no bread! Since the school time this year changed we had a little more time to get to school: Starting at 9:15 instead of 8:40, but one thing I hadn't planned on was my glasses disappearing! I looked for about 10 min... could not find them. I finally gave up and drove without them. (Not Blind, just Fuzzy edges). I left the kids in the car while I ran into WinCo and grabbed the bread taking only about 3 min! We made to school on time and I made a sandwich in the car, then I walked Chase to the front of the school and sent him on his way!

They Grow up way too fast!!

(He was a little nervous and too shy to talk for the camera.)

My busy weekend...

2010-08-23T11:22:00.000-07:00

This is kind of long so if you just want to read the bold you will get the "Cliff's Notes" version:

This weekend was our Ward Camp out which was in Glenn's Ferry, (only about and hour and a half away). So backing up a few days... on Thursday a family in our ward was moving so I offered to watch their 3 kids (age's : 1, 4, & 5) in the morning they came over from 9:00 until almost 12:00 noon. not too bad.

Then I started packing for our camping trip so we could be all ready to go Friday. Around 2:30 Jessica Steelman called me, (she is my visiting teaching companion) to see if we could set some appts. next week, the I remembered that her and I were asked to do a flute duet in church in a week and a half! So I asked her if she was doing anything right now... She was surprisingly free and came right over so we could pick a song and practice. That also meant we needed a piano player, so I called Michelle Falkner, the primary pianist (and my new best friend), and she wasn't busy either. So she came over and we practiced until 5:15.

With my 3 kids, Jessica's 3 kids, and Michelle's 2, I had a full house again. So after everyone left I ordered pizza for dinner! Tory picked it up on his way home from work. But Chase was starving!! and wanted a burger, so I put my kids in the car and ran down the road to McDonald's and got him a burger and chicken nuggets while we waited for dad to bring home the pizza.

Then I had a meeting at 7:00 to be at, so around 7:15 I left, but I stopped at the library on my way to my meeting to get The Princess and the Frog DVD which was on hold for me.

The meeting got over at 10:00, then I went to the grocery store because we needed food for camping tomorrow. I finished shopping and got home about 11:15. Then of course I had to unload the groceries before I got to bed.

My sister Heather came in town also that night form Twin Falls. So Friday morning I got up and showered and got the kids dressed so we could drive out to Eagle (my parent's house) and see my sister and let my boys play with her son for a few hours before we had to leave for camping. I was in Eagle from 9:00-10:30 then left to get home and finish packing before Tory got off work at 12:15!

When Tory got home I had most of the packing done and we were ready to leave at 2:00. I kept Camrey awake so she could sleep the whole way there, and like I predicted she fell asleep as soon as we put her in her car seat. but by the time we got gas and went back home for something we forgot, she woke up before we made it out of Boise and was awake the whole way there!

So with a short nap combined with a noisy camp area until LATE... she was NOT happy that night and didn't go to sleep until 10:30 p.m. Saturday she woke up before the crack of dawn, and fell asleep after breakfast while we were packing up the tent to go home.

We left camping around 12:30, but stopped in town to get some ice cream before heading home. Tyler's fell on the floor which made him up set, so I took him outside knowing the inevitable would soon come... As soon as we made it outside and to the corner of the building he threw up! Then I had to get the store workers to brig out 3 buckets of water to clean up the mess which was now in plain view of any customers wanting to come there (including everyone in our ward who camped with us). Then after the water washed most of it away I got a broom and swept the rest away off the side walk! Like I said members form the ward were asking me if I was working to pay for my ice cream... My reply was "no, have you met my son?"

After we got home around 3:30 I again loaded up my kids and took them out to Eagle so I could see my sister again. We came home at 6:00 because Tory's sister and her family were coming into town form Utah for a wedding this weekend.

Tory had done almost all the unpacking and cleaning by himself while we were gone! The house was so clean and nice when I got back that I didn't have the heart to tell him I wanted to go to the movies with my sister tonight at 9:50... so I waited.

Dave and Angie made it here close to 7:00. We ordered Mexican Food for dinner, then Angie and I left around 8:45 to Kmart for wedding card. It closed at 9:00. Then we had one more stop to do before we got back to my house. By now my sister called Tory and was wondering where I was...

I still hadn't told him about the movie.

We made it back to the house at 9:25 and I told him I was going to the movies, so I quickly got the kids in bed and left at 9:40 to see, Prince of Persia at the dollar movie in 10 min.!! I loved it... thought it was great and I highly recommend it.

To make a very long story short... it was a busy weekend. It was a lot of fun camping with the ward. We have a lot of great friends there. And it was so nice to see Dave and Angie's family again. And any time I get to spend with my sister is always a treat! Can't wait till Eclipse goes to the dollar movie... Still haven't seen it!

Sisters...

2010-08-05T07:14:00.000-07:00

Today, Aug 5, is my sister's Birthday. Anna has been my best friend and companion since the day I was born...(up until I married my dear husband, now she is #2... but she is still #1 speed dial on my cell phone.)

I love my sister! I know I don't tell her enough. She is amazing.

We are so different in so many ways it's a miracle we are so close. But I guess 20 years of sharing a room with each other helps.

I'm looking forward to school starting again so we can resume our morning phone calls. Alex is a University Instructor and is home during the summer, but during the school year Anna and I talk on the phone almost every morning.

She is the cutest pregnant girl I've ever seen. She
is due in the next couple weeks and is still so beautiful.

I wish I could put into words what she means to me... I am crying just thinking about what a wonderful sister she has been, (and some of you might say... "Melissa you always cry", which is true,; I have always been more emotional than Anna,) but when she left for her mission I knew that just because she didn't cry like I did, she would still miss me as much as I would miss her.

It was hard having her gone, but I'm glad she was willing to come home a month early for my wedding! That meant a lot to me!

She has a tough road ahead this coming year... Dejah will still be in school only part time and she will have Mycha 3 yrs old, and Logan 14 months, and a new baby at home. But Anna is an amazing mother and I know she can handle it. And Alex is so wonderful, and always a big help to her! I'm so glad they found each other!

Anna, I don't have a way with word on blogs like you do... but I hope you know how much I love you. I hope you have a nice birthday today! Remember, you can call me for anything... I'll always be there for you, just as you have been my entire life! Thanks for being my sister!

Chase's 6th Birthday, (July 24)

2010-07-28T06:38:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, July 24, Chase turned 6 years old. He wanted to have a party at Chuck E Cheese.

So I made a cake the day before, wrapped his presents, and we loaded everything in the car and went there at 10 a.m.

Why so early... to beat the crowds, be done before nap time for Camrey, and have the rest of the day to do what ever else we want!

The Beal cousins came, and some friends next door, and friends from the ward.

I think every one had a lot of fun!

It was nice to come home to a clean house after the party was over.

The great thing about Chuck E Cheese is that you can bring your own party and they don't charge you anything.

So we bought some tokens and that was it!

This is Chase's friend Ben, from church....

This is Logan, My sister's youngest...

And this is Ashlyn, our neighbor...

Then of course my Tyler.

Then there was Dallon, Ben's little brother,

and this is Mycah, My sister's daughter...

And here is my little Camrey!

Camping w/ the Hebdons

2010-07-13T07:12:00.000-07:00

Camrey's 1st birthday was Thursday, July 8th. We left that morning around 12 to meet Tory's family for camping.

We camped at Lake Cleveland right next to Pomerell Ski Resort, just past Burley area. We got some really nice camp sights.

Tory actually reserved 4 sights there 4 months ago, but the day before we left the ranger station told us that it was inaccessible from a snow drift blocking the road. So they advised we cancel our reservations. We did, and got a full refund, but now we had to take our chances in finding campsites for all of us close to each other.

Tory's brother Chad took his family up a day early and looked at the "Snow Drift" blocking the road which turned out to be almost nothing. Chad said he could easily drive through it with his truck.

The day we left Tory spent a lot of time on the phone with the ranger and they gave us permission to shovel out the snow drift blocking the out camp sights... in the end no shoveling was needed and the ranger drove through the snow himself and unlocked the gate.

The problem now was the campsites were open for everyone. 3 cars went right in after the gate was opened before Chad had a chance to get in and claim our spots! And of course they took the ones we had reserved for 4 months up until yesterday!

But it all worked out because there were some more available that were closer together than the ones we originally hoped to get. And we ended up getting to camp for free!!

We set up camp, had some dinner, and then we had a birthday party for Camrey! She got some Leap Frog fridge ABC's that sing, and a baby doll from Grandma & Grandpa Hebdon, and a doll from Dad, and some clothes; and a teddy bear from Harris Grandparents; and a toy truck to ride on.

Friday, June 9th we went to "The city of Rocks."

We found a nice area to have a picnic, with a big rock formation in the middle that was perfect for little kid to climb and play on.

This is Madelyn...

and this is her little brother Bradley.

This is Jaycee. She is a year older than Chase. Hadley (same age as Chase), Jaycee, and Chase spent all their time playing together. we hardly even saw Chase except when it was time to eat!

This is Avery, Chad's youngest.

I snatched a picture of Ruston's boys who did not want their picture taken!

(Ruston is Tory's oldest brother Chad is second, Angie is 3rd and she is Jaycee and Hanna's mom, then Tory, then Jeremy has Hadley, Madalyn, Bradley, and Brooklyn, and Rodney doesn't have kids... yet..., and Brian couldn't make it because his wife Andria just had their 1st baby boy about 7 weeks ago.)

There was a trail at the sight we were eating lunch so Tory took the camera and the older boys and went exploring for a little while.

And being the nature admirer he is...

took lots of beautiful pictures.

One thing I loved about the place we were camping was all the diverse vegetation growing. There were so many different wild flowers and lots of different greenery. (The florist in me was loving it).

Chad's 2nd daughter
Ashlyn survived a bad crash, on a bike without brakes, going down hill, and smacking straight into a big rock that threw her off the bike without a helmet! She hurt her ankle and hit her head, and had scratches all over, but after a priesthood blessing, and a trip to the emergency room to make sure nothing was broken, she was able to come back.

We stayed until Sunday (July 11), then packed up and came home!

Thanks family for a fun time! We love you all and hope to do it again soon.

Camping at Bulltrout Lake (June 27-29)

2010-07-03T14:09:00.000-07:00

On Sunday June 27, we went to church at 9:00 and got out at 12. We thought we had most everything packed,

but camping (being what it is) takes a long time to prepare for.

We didn't leave the house until 5:15. I too just a little over 2 hours to get there. The boys slept part of the way, and Camrey... none of it.

We had hot dogs for dinner and roasted marshmallows. Getting Camrey to sleep was a little rough, but she finally crashed, and spent the whole first night snuggled in her sleeping bag.

We were camped right next to the lake. I was a beautiful area. Our first night there we had a deer come right through our camp sight.

We drove into Stanley the next morning because we left our worms at home. That gave Camrey a chance to get a nap. When we got back we had a early lunch, then tried our luck fishing. Nothing. But throwing rocks in the water is always good fun. Tory and the boys, got in the lake later that day, and Camrey had a bath.

I used her bath tub to wash my hair, I was not getting into that cold lake!

It was nice to escape the heat! We enjoyed 70-80 degree weather while everyone back in town endured temperatures reaching 100. The nights were cold getting down to mid 30's but we were prepared with warm sleeping bags, so it wasn't a problem.

We had hoped Camrey would be walking before we take her camping, but she wasn't.

I'll have to remember to pack more clothes for her. We let her crawl around the 2nd morning in her pj's so her cloths would be some what clean for the drive home.

She loved being outside in the dirt.

We had some very friendly chipmunks in our campground. Camrey got so excited watching them. It started out with just 1, but by the time we were ready to leave we had 4 coming in.

I suppose word got out that we had peanuts!

We didn't really do a lot while we were there, but it was relaxing and fun.
Our 2nd night brought a big rain storm, which got everything wet. But it didn't take too long the next morning for things to dry out once the sun came up.

After we got all packed up on Tuesday and ready to head home we decided to stop by dock and try our luck at fishing again!

The weather was cool and overcast. It was about 12:00.

Tyler threw rocks and Chase and I managed 2 fishing poles.

Camrey napped in the car!

Luck was on our side, and Chase caught a fish. We almost had another one but we lost it.

So on the way home Tory asked Chase, "What was your favorite part?"
He started naming off things like, "sleeping in the tent, catching a fish, chopping wood, building a fire,... (then he paused) Everything was my favorite part!"

Day Trip (June 19)

2010-07-03T14:04:00.000-07:00

On Saturday Tory and Alex took the kids to Garden Valley for part of the day.

I didn't go, so I don't know all the details...

But they seemed to enjoy it!

Any chance to get out of the house and into the trees is a good day!

Swimming Lessons.

2010-07-03T13:34:00.000-07:00

We decided to kick off our summer with 2 weeks of swimming lessons. So from June 14-25 we had 30 min. of swimming lessons at the Meridian Pool 5 days a week at 12:00.

We put Chase in a "Lower Level 2" class with his cousin Dejah. And Tyler with a private instructor.

He did really good with her. I was sad to have it all end.

I didn't take as many pictures as I thought... but I have quite a few short video's...

Idaho City (June 12)

2010-06-17T07:31:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went to Idaho City for free fishing day!

We borrowed a tackle box form my dad, and grabbed the boy's poles, packed a lunch and headed out the door at 9:15 a.m.

(Of course that was after I went grocery shopping at 6:45 that morning)

There is a pond in the main part of town that is stocked with fish. So we decided to fish there first to guarantee a catch before trying our luck in some river or stream.

It was crowded and the water was mossy and nasty, but we did catch one catfish. A lady held it for me while I cut the line because it had swallowed the hook, then she tossed it back in the water!

I was crushed... I said, "OH, we were going to take a picture!" The only fish of the day and some lady threw it back!

We planned to do a picnic lunch, but the place we were fishing at had free hot dogs in honor of Free Fishing Day. And the local store that provided the hot dogs also had a big drawing; and every child there got a prize: fishing poles, tackle boxes, lures, bait, big and small. The boys each got something small and then we headed for a short hike by the river.

We tried fishing a little, but the water was too fast and after 2 snags and having to re-hook and bait the line I gave up!

Tyler prefers throwing rocks in the water to fishing.

We made it home to Luck Peak area just in time for the road to be sectioned off for the Half Iron Man race. So we sat in traffic at 4:30 for about 45 minutes.

I've decided: It's not about how many fish you catch, but who you're fishing with!

Hiking w/ Alex (June 7-8)

2010-06-17T07:17:00.000-07:00

The Monday after Tory's birthday, He and my brother in law Alex Beal had a backpacking trip planned. The went to .......... (Somewhere past Horseshoe Bend direction)

Tory took the camera and a new set of batteries, and just as he suspected the ones in the camera were dead because the boys were playing with it again! So he pulled out the new ones he brought.... Just his luck... they are dead too!

No Pictures!! Alex had his camera so we'll have to get some from him... some day.

(If I get pictures soon I'll post them.)

Happy B-Day Tory (June 3)

2010-06-17T06:42:00.000-07:00

I'm too lazy to separate these young pictures of Tory.

On June 3rd we celebrated Tory's 32 birthday. We had a simple party with just our little family and a homemade chocolate cake.

Tory didn't want much for his birthday...

He's always very easy to please... (especially since he usually gets his own presents and gives them to me for hiding and wrapping!)

He got "Plant Earth" and "Blue Planet" DVDs,

about 7-8 hours of nature shows and documentaries!

And something he has been wanting for a long time; a hiking water filter! Small, light weight, but very nice, and it gives you safe filtered water in minutes.
I'm grateful to have Tory in my life. We've been married for almost 9 years. He is a wonderful man. I am blessed to have him in my life. He is the best Dad! He's always coming up with fun adventures for us to do! He takes care of us and he loves us with all that he is. He is my husband, my love, and my best friend!

I love you Tory... Happy Birthday.

Kindergarten Graduation (May 28)

2010-06-16T12:38:00.000-07:00

Chase had his "Kindergarten Graduation" on Friday, May 28. I almost put him in a white shirt and tie, but he didn't want to dress up that much.
This is Truman, Chase's best friend in his class.

When we got to school and saw ho the other kids were dressed I was glad I didn't insist on the tie!

Chase said his favorite thing about Kindergarten was "House Keeping" (a little toy kitchen area in his classroom.

Mrs. Greear has been a wonderful teacher! I wish the kids didn't have to change teachers every year, but I'm sure the next one will be just a great!

After the show was over we went back to the classroom for cookies and apple juice!

Tory's Road Trip (May 27)

2010-06-16T06:44:00.000-07:00

Tory and his friend Rob (from work) decided to brave the open dirt road and take a day to explore some unseen parts of our beautiful State. They went on Mud Flat Road. It starts south west of Mountain Home and goes over to Jordan Valley area.

They took a Jeep Grand Cherokee on a 260 mile trip; 180 miles of that was dirt road!

They left a t 7:00 a.m. and got back around 10:15 p.m.

Tory took a lot of pictures but these were some of my favorites!

It rained a lot that week so all the colors were very vibrant; unfortunately our camera just doesn't seem to it justice.

Being the prepared scout that my husband is, He left me with a detailed map and all the areas he would be and the approximate times he would be at each of them.

He told me he would call and check in a 12:00 when they stop for lunch, before they got out of cell phone service range.

Since they were running late (from the dirt roads being rougher than anticipated) The Old Basque Inn restaurant had just closed it's kitchen at 2:00. They got there at 2:10. The kitchen didn't re-open until dinner at 5:00.

But they had some extra soup and sandwiches so Tory and Rob didn't starve.

15 hours, lots of mud, and a flat tier later They finally made it home safe!

This is a map where they went!

A New Milestone...

2010-05-25T09:21:00.001-07:00

This may seem trivial or pointless to most people, but in our home Tyler eating something "new" is a BIG deal. So yesterday we had a simple, relaxed evening. Nothing formal for dinner, (although we almost always have dinner around the table every day) I just made some chicken nuggets for Tyler and grilled chicken for Tory and I. I was washing some strawberries for Chase and thought "how can a kid not like strawberries?" Sure the tiny seeds might throw you off at first, and some strawberries can be quite tart, but I was feeling very optimistic at the thought of offering some to Tyler. So I grabbed one strawberry and one carrot stick and went to the table.

I figured my chances were better if I cut up the strawberry into pieces and offered them with a fork, (nothing cold and wet to touch). And to my surprise, after offering it to him about 3 times he opened his mouth and reluctantly ate a bite! The taste was obviously a little shock at first, but tolerable. Carrots took a little more coaxing, but he did eventually take a few bites of the carrot.

In the end, Tyler ate one whole strawberry and almost a whole carrot stick.(Chase pretending to be a bunny wanting lots of carrots helped encourage Tyler). Plus, the whole experience was done with no screaming or forcing involved, and that is another big deal!

May 12, Tyler's 4th Birthday

2010-05-13T06:40:00.001-07:00

My little Tyler turned 4 yesterday. We waited all day for Dad and Grandma and Grandpa Harris to get off work so we could have a party.

This was my attempt at a Wall-E finding a "bike" in a pile of garbage (garbage being granola bars).

I was so proud of him he actually blew out all his candles all by himself, which he couldn't do last year.

I got him some "Pop-Out" books in hopes he will sit better during church if his books are more interactive.

The cheapest little present seems to be the favorite: a glowing, spinning ball on a stick; under $2 at Toys R Us.

Grandma and Grandpa got him dinosaurs!! And to no surprise he knew at least half of them, Stegosaurus, Triceratops, Ankilosaurs, exct. His favorite is the one that walks and roars, which went to bed with him last night along with the glowing Ball stick.

We finally got him a bike (Lightning McQueen). He has been riding a little tricycle around that we got for Chase's 3rd birthday. He's defiantly ready for a bike. He is tall and growing fast. I'm so grateful for this little angel in my life, and I'm grateful that my Heavenly Father trusts me with Him. I love my little Ty-Ty. Happy Birthday little boy.

May 1st: Our Day Hike

2010-05-13T06:38:00.000-07:00

Tory planned a nice little family hike for us on May 1st. So that morning we got up and packed some lunches and got dressed and packed our gear, the we met the Mitchell family at the church.
Cory and Tory like to do the out-door's things together once in a while. And Tina and I like to hang out a lot.
Cory and Tin have 2 boys, Ben and Dallon. Ben is in the same Primary class as Chase. Dallon is about a year younger than Tyler.

We went on a short mile (maybe mile and a half) hike by Camel's Back Park, down town Boise.

We parked one car at the bottom of the hill and piled in the van and went up the the top. There was a little nature walk where we started.

about half way down, there was a pond with a small beach where the boys could throw some rocks.

Then about 3/4 way there was ha large sand hill that looked fun, but too steep for my taste!

The little boys kept up pretty good. I had to carry Tyler occasionally, but that wasn't so bad.

We all had a lot of fun!

Tina refused to let us take any pictures of her.

When we finally made ti to the bottom of the hill we had a picnic.

Then we crossed a field to the park and let the kids play for a while. The whole experience only took about 2 hours including eating and play time. We had a lot of fun.

Thanks Tory for keeping our life exciting!

I'm a Believer...

2010-04-15T14:30:00.000-07:00

Wow... Ok, I've been reading this book (no, not Twilight AGAIN...) called Master Your Metabolism. and I'm loving it. The whole book is about getting back to the basics with food. Balanced diet, Whole fruits, whole veges, whole grains, exct. and also reasons to "go organic"

I never though I would spend the extra money to get organic foods, but Julian backed it up with all the scientific and medical reasons why it's a good Idea... and this isn't even the reason I'm making this post....

She also talks about how bad pesticides, and house hold cleaners are for you. and about certain plastics that leak toxins. So today I wanted to I wanted to do a really thorough cleaning of my tub and shower and tile and the spots that are appearing on the ceiling above the shower. So I decided to try so suggestions given in this book (Master Your Metabolism) using natural cleaners.

So I started with the ceiling with vinegar and water. About a minute into my overhead scrubbing I got a drop of vinegar water in my eye! OUCH that burns!! But I quickly flushed out my eye under the running sink water then flushed it out with some natural tear eye drops that I had left over from the last eye injury (scratching my eye ball on the Christmas Tree.) I'm grateful it was vinegar and not Clorox soft scrub.

So I stopped with the ceiling and decided to get some protective goggles before I continued overhead. I scrubbed the tile with it also, then decided I would try lemon juice on my grout. The book says it has natural bleaching effects... I was shocked how clean it got!!! usually I have to scrub with a lot of effort to get it to look half clean... lemon did twice the job with half the work. AMAZING!!

So I'm a believer. Natural cleaners; they're cheep and they work!

Family Pictures...

2010-03-25T19:51:00.000-07:00

We finally had our pictures updated!

I love them...

I wish we got a few more smiles out of Tyler.

These are a few of our favorites...

I'll get a slide show on here with the rest of them on my next post, but for now here is what I have time to put up.

2010-02-15T07:30:00.000-08:00

Last weekend Tory and I were organizing all our Tax information papers which left us with a stack for shredding...

Camrey loves paper, and found the stack! Not a big deal, but She is so cute we had to take pictures.

I love this little girl; She is a pure joy! Seriously, the only time she cries is to let you know that she is tired and ready for her nap, which is usually after she has been awake for about 2 and a half hours.

She goes to bed around 8:30 and sleeps 10-11 hours at night. She has been sleeping through the night since she was 3 weeks old. She's not crawling yet but that doesn't stop her from getting where she wants to go. Rolling is highly effective. I am so blessed to have such an easy baby!

New Year's Sled!

2010-01-21T14:33:00.001-08:00

One of the things Grandma and Grandpa Hebdon got for the boys was a sled! Chase couldn't wait to get it outside and try it out!

After watching him try so hard to pull his brother around I decided to put Camrey down for a nap ,and go out there and play with them for a while. I have to admit, it was fun to play in the snow. I haven't done that in a long time.

Christmas 2009

2010-01-21T14:04:00.000-08:00

The day before Christmas Eve my family and cousins always get together at my grandparents house for an informal potluck dinner, the telling and acting out Jesus's birth, and Santa comes! As we were headed out the door Tyler threw up. So Tory stayed home with Ty and I took Chase and Camrey with me. (That was the begining of a 3 week spell of being sick in our home. Luckley We were all fine for Christmas, and for our trip to Elko the day after Christmas!)

This was the first year my dad got to play Santa

As with all boys toys, there were a lot of construction projects to keep us busy Christmas morning.

The boys got a marble maze... I love it.

Chase and Tyler got some Karate P.J.'s from my mom (Home made of course) and every time someone sees my boys wearing them they ask us if we "have them is lessons?" They are so nice they look like real uniforms!

Christmas was fun and being sick after wasn't. Tory and the boys went through a flu spell, but greatfully Camrey and I stayed healthy and didn't get sick!

I'm thankful we have been so blessed in so many ways, and greatful that we are all well again!

Time to Surface...

2009-12-11T07:56:00.000-08:00

Where have I been the last month?.... Reading!

Sometimes I wonder if I am a bit obsessive/compulsive. When I decide to do something it consumes me. So on November 20th, a group of 10 of us (including family and friends) went to see "New Moon."

I loved it!!!

It was much better than "Twilight". It was a fresh reminder of how much I enjoyed reading those books, so naturally the next day I started reading them again. I told myself I wasn't going to read them again for a year because I liked them so much, and that's about how long it has been.

I started with the first book and just finished the third last night, but decided I should update my blog before I spent the next week and a half reading again!

I have done other things with my time this last month besides reading...

Christmas Preparations...

The week before Thanksgiving I put my Christmas village up! Not a small task! I have 25 buildings to take out of individual boxes, protected in their own costume fit Styrofoam, each with their own power cord and accessories. This doesn't include trees and Elves. I gave up on taking the little Elves out of their boxes because my plant shelves are so high you can't see the little guys any way!

Usually my plant shelves have birdhouses, baskets, and silk plants, and some of Tory's mission things he got while he was serving in the Philippines. So I have to take everything down, clean off a year's worth of dust, and store them all, and dust off the shelf before I can run extension cords and lights up there! At least you can't see the mess behind the houses! Another good thing is they are all hooked together to one outlet that is controlled by a light switch! It's a lot of work but I love having them up, and the kids do too. May be when they are older I can put the lower so I can actually enjoy them more. The have so much detail it's amazing! It is the Department 56 North Pole Collection. My former boss Dr. Kelson gave them to us each year for Christmas. I'm so grateful for him and all he did for me those year I worked for him. He is truly one of the most generous men I have ever met!

The Monday after Thanksgiving we put up our Christmas tree for Family Home Evening.

Me, being the perfectionist that I am when it comes to decorating, refused my husband's offer to help with the lights. He said, "Do you want me to do that, or will you just re-do it tomorrow while I'm at work?" (He knows me too well, I even rearrange the dishes in the dishwasher when he loads it... I'm weird) So while I was concentrating so hard on getting the lights perfectly on each tree branch I some how scratched my eyeball on the tree! (Who does that?) It hurt. Not so bad the next day... it was irritated and kind of a dull ache. But by Wednesday morning it was bad!

Eye Appointments

I wish I had thought to take a picture of it, but it turned out to be quite the ordeal. Wednesday morning I couldn't stand light! It was a searing pain! I had to call Tory and have him come home from work 15 min after he got there so he could take Chase to school and Tyler to speech therapy. I could not drive!! Any light was so painful especially sunlight. Then after Chase got out of school, He dropped me off at an eye Dr. while he took Tyler to his feet appointment!

To make a long story short; I went in Wednesday, Thurs., Fri., and the following Tuesday to check on my eye. It was such a bad scratch that it left a scar. Thankfully it wasn't on my iris so it doesn't have any affect on my vision.

I have 2 prescription eye drops (which I was taking every 2 hours). I have been taking those for 2 weeks. It also bruised my eye which was why light hurt because it affected the ability to shutter out light. They also dilated my eye on the third apt. to see if there was any damage on the back of my eye. And I couldn't drive without my hand covering my left eye for 4 days! They also put a contact on my eye the first apt. to act as a band aid and protect it against my eye lid.

I'm glad today is the last day for drops and greatfull my vision is fine, and thankful to be done with this 2 hour post!

Camrey Videos

2009-11-16T11:25:00.000-08:00

I love her laugh! And She loves her daddy! Last night she was being so cute so I had to grab the camera.

Sugar...

2009-10-26T14:25:00.000-07:00

My husband caught me red-handed this weekend. He found my secret stash of butterfingers stored in my pump bag! Of course they were almost all gone and I had only had the bag for a week.

So I've decided my sugar and candy eating habits are out of control!!! So this week I have a goal to not eat any sugar foods... until Halloween.

This includes:

-Cereal for breakfast... which I am proud to say I had eggs and wheat toast this morning,
-No juice
-no chips (I eat rice cakes)
-absolutely no ice cream (which I have been eating every day for almost 3 weeks)
-and absolutely no CANDY!! (and yes there is some in the house, along with chips-ahoy cookies!)
-No cookies, (fish crackers are ok)
-the only thing I will drink will be Mona Vie, Crystal Light, and Water!

If I succeed, I get to eat as much candy and junk I want on Halloween, and if I don't... I'll have to re-evaluate my priorities!

So now that it is 3:30 in the afternoon the crave for sugar is growing strong but I have fruit and carrots in the house so I think I'll survive.

Wish me luck, because if anyone needs it right now it's me.

Tyler's Feet

2009-10-26T13:58:00.000-07:00

Our little Ty has very flat feet. When he stands his ankles tip in and so he doesn't really stand straight. So 2 weeks ago when we were at the Pediatrician for his 3 year well visit check-up, I asked the Dr. to look at them. He did, and recommended we see an Orthopedic Surgeon.

So last week we went to the Orthopedic office and had x-rays done. Lucky for us he doesn't need surgery, but Tyler's feet are about as bad as it gets for "flat feet." Where the arch is supposed to be it almost dips down instead of curves up. The only reason he would need surgery would be if he was having pain, or if he didn't have full movement of his foot (which he does), but it is a big problem because he doesn't have proper support, so he needs special insoles to give him an arch to support his feet and ankles.

So today I went to another office that actually makes the insoles and other prosthetics, and had them look at his feet.

In conclusion; they will do a custom mold of his feet to make the special insoles which will be made to go up his ankle a little bit. Thankfully insurance covers most of the cost for cases that are this extreme. He'll probably need to wear some type of extra support for his feet the rest of his life. The office said Tyler will need to come in about every 6 months to have them adjusted, and they will need replaced about every 2-3 years as he grows out of them.

I'm grateful we recognized the problem early in his life, and I'm grateful that there is a way correct it so he doesn't permanently kill his joints and have arthritis pain the rest of his life.

We'll go back to the office in a few weeks and get the cast of his feet done.

Halloween Party! (Fri., Oct 23, 2009

2009-10-26T13:35:00.000-07:00

Last Friday I threw a Costume Halloween Party for Chase! I wish I would have taken the time to take a few pictures because I went all out! I started preparing on Thursday... I turned my garage into a haunted house for little kids. No scary monsters to jump out at them, but the atmosphere was enough to scare most of them. Using tarps I sectioned off my garage, first crawling through a tunnel them passing a suspended ghost (made from a very large Elmo toy covered with a white table cloth) then walking through curtains that take you by a grave yard complete with cardboard headstones surrounded by leaves and illuminated with a black light. Then you walk past a giant spider on his web around the corner into the flashing strobe light area where plastic ghost are hanging on the walls as you climb up the small stairs, cross the short bridge and slide down the slide and turn the next corner to pass the witch's table: complete with cauldron, a broom and large plastic rats! with a glowing pumpkin. All of this with spooky background noises from a Halloween CD!

It sounds cooler than it looked, but the kids had fun.

-We decorated sugar cookies
-Read them a Halloween story book
-played "Pin the spider on the Web"
-Colored Halloween pictures
-and had a treasure hunt!

I think there were 12 kids between the ages 2-5. But the little ones mostly just played.
In the end, the only thing I wish is that I took pictures. And I had so much fun I think I'll do it again!

Halloween Costunes

2009-10-13T12:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Tory stayed home sick from work, so I decided to take the boys shopping for Halloween Costumes to get the noise out of the house.

After looking at a few different ideas Chase decided he wanted to be Spider Man! He's never even seen the show or a cartoon, but Jacob in our ward is going to be Spider Man and I think that was the deciding factor.

I went and got Tyler the Tigger outfit today... at first I was just going to throw something together for him, but after watching them play dress up yesterday with the old pumpkin costume I felt bad.

So they have been running around all day with each other!

It took a little coaxing to convince Tyler to try on his Tigger outfit... Chase put it around and started bouncing around the house and that was enough to get Ty to want to put it on himself!

Saturday Conference

2009-10-04T08:20:00.001-07:00

For General Conference in our home I like to make a big platter of food to eat while we sit and watch it. The whole eating process only keeps the kids quiet for first 10 minutes, but oh well.

We had Apples. grapes, strawberries, brownies, crackers, cheese, animal cookies, cantaloupe, and carrots, and Crystal Light Raspberry Lemonade!

Camrey had milk.

Durinda's Marching Band Competition Tory's oldest brother Ruston has a daughter, Durinda, who plays flute in the Elko High Marching band, and they were competing in Caldwell yesterday.

We thought it would be fun to take the kids and go watch her march. We packed snacks, and lots of blankets, and got out our heavy coats, the got in the car go.

It was about 45 degrees yesterday with light scattered rain, and cold wind, but we were prepared, so we thought! When we got there we realized that we both forgot to put the blankets in the car! It was cold. I even took my own coat off my back and put it over the front of me an Tyler because he was complaining of the cold. (We did remember Camrey's blanket).

Laura has been telling me how good Durinda's marching band is, and she is right. They were good. Their music and marching. They won 1st in their division yesterday! So congratulations Durinda!! We are so proud of you!

I'm glad we had the chance to go see her! Despite the cold, it was fun. We only stayed for 2 bands and Chase wanted to watch more (personally I did too) but the cold won out. So maybe nest time we can catch more.

Blowout...

2009-10-04T07:34:00.000-07:00

FOR THOSE WITH WEAK STOMACHS, THIS POST MAY CONTAIN GRAPHIC IMAGES !!!

CONTINUE WITH CAUTION... YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.

This is not the kind of blow out I am talking about! I am referring to

"diaper blowouts!"

For the last week now we have had a blow out a day!some worse than others, but nevertheless, it still amounts to lots of laundry!
Stain remover and bleach have become my new best friends!

So after an entire week of this I decided to start documenting these messes.

On Thursday morning I thought, "I should put a size 2 diaper on her to avoid the mess," which happens every morning after her 1st feeding. So she finished eating and Tyler started saying "Soggy, Soggy Diaper." So I changed him, he had soaked through and smelt of urine so bad I gave him a bath, but that caused me to be too late to change Camrey's diaper and she ended up filling her diaper before I had a chance to change it!

The next day wasn't as bad... a little spot on the corner; but yesterday... she didn't poop in the morning it was the evening when I was getting the boys ready for bed!

This is her back...

This is her pants...

This is the graphic mess I warned you about!

I will not blog this subject again... I apologize for any of you who saw this horrid display and are now regretting it. Just remember, even though I have the perfect baby, who sleeps 12 hours through the night, doesn't need a pacifier, and hardly ever cries, We all have our trials and poop and puke are mine.

More Camrey pictures!

2009-09-29T21:09:00.000-07:00

Camrey had the most adorable dress on last Sunday and I of course, HAD to take a few pictures!

Chase took this one of me, not bad except the sun-shine on the center of my face.

I took these other pictures in the shade, and now the color doesn't look so great!

But I don't have a good photo editing program on my computer ( and If I do I don't know where or what it is or how to use it), so these will have to do... my sister does a lot of photo editing on her pictures so may she can show me a few tricks.

Camrey was making the funniest faces during her bath, so I tried to get a video of it.
The squeaking sound is her feet rubbing on the tub.

Her hair tends to look like she stuck her finger in a light socket after a bath!

Vampires...

2009-09-28T05:48:00.000-07:00

I just finished reading Harry Potter book 7 again! I love those books!!!

Tory and I went to see Harry Potter movie 6 for a date last month, and he has never read the books so if you've seen the movie you know it kind of leaves you hanging. So I convinced him to listen to book 7 on CD when he drives to and home from work. So each day he comes home and says some comment about what was happening in the book which made me want to read it again, which I did, and finished.

I love watching Smallville... but a new show called

"The Vampire Diaries" has now caught my interest.

My sister watched the first 2 episodes and loved them and recommended it. So thanks to the Internet and the CW website I was able to catch up!

My opinion... If you like Twilight Books, you'll enjoy this TV series. (But like so many shows on in today's world, the concept of teen sex seems to be accepted as "OK" unfortunately.)

Routeens...

2009-09-26T14:11:00.000-07:00

I guess I'll make a quick post. I don't have pictures to post right now, and I just broke Chase's heart... Never Fails... any time I want to do something on the computer the kids come in and want to take me and my attention away from what I want to accomplish.

And now that I have that tid-bit out of the way I can't remember what I was going to post...

OK, I love school! What I mean is, I love having Chase go to school. What makes it even better is my baby Camrey likes to take her longest nap of the day while he is at school. So we have a great routine every day....

-Take Chase to Kindergarten at 8:30 a.m.

-Play the piano at 8:45 while Tyler watches "Super Why"

- Exercise for about 45 min while Tyler plays learning games on the computer

-Shower, pack a lunch, get milk for Camrey, wake her up, then...

-11:15 go get Chase and take kids to the park and feed Camrey sitting in a lawn chair while the boys play.

- Then around 12:30 we come home.

I feel like I do a lot of laundry with all the blow-outs Camrey has, and the Spit-up; and the boys like to play in the sand box almost every day so between the sand and sweat, they go through 1-2 outfits a day... but I guess that's part of my job as a mother!

Tyler started speech therapy again 2 weeks ago (Wednesday mornings for 30 min.) His communication has improved much since he started speech therapy over a year ago. The therapist asked me what I would like to have her work on with him, but I don't know what to tell her.

Tyler use to get so upset and mad in the morning when I had to take off his PJ's and get him dressed. Screaming and all; one day I took him to the grocery store in his PJ's just to avoid the drama! But after about 4 days of getting him dressed 1 thing in the morning it has become a new routine for him and the drama is gone. Some kids depend on consistency and Tyler is defiantly one of them.

One thing I love about my Tyler is his imagination... every morning we all get nick names:
I go in his room when he wakes up and the first thing he says to me is "Hi there little kitten!" or "hi there princess". Tory got home from work the other day and Tyler said,"Hi there Monkey!"
He gives himself nick-names too, Mario, Luigi, Super reader, and lately "Little Shooter."

Logan and Camrey

2009-09-08T06:48:00.000-07:00

These 2 little ones are 6 weeks apart. Mt sister came over to visit and I snapped a few pictures and veido's while she and her kids were here.

Ok these are really short and kind of boring, but oh well.

Can't Get Enough!

2009-09-06T06:30:00.000-07:00

I love pictures of my kids!!!

I just can't seem to get enough of them.

They grow so fast...

One minute you are holding them for the first time in your arms...

And the next thing you know they are 2 months old...

Or three years old...

Or 5 years old, and off to kindergarten for the first time!

I love my kids!!

This little girl is growing so fast, I feel like if I blink I'll miss it!

I can't get enough of them... (most of the time!) Especially right now. It is 2:45 in the afternoon and all 3 of them are asleep and have been sleeping for over an hour now!

People say the more kids you have the less pictures you take of them, but I think in Camrey's case it might not be true. I think I take a picture for every new out fit she wears!

Pirates...

2009-09-03T12:41:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Chase and Tyler were invited to a Pirate Birthday Party, so I looked around the house for costumes for them...

I think I did pretty good! I printed the scull picture off the computer and pinned it to their pockets.

I didn't think Tyler would let me dress him up, but as soon as he saw his big brother dressed like a pirate he wanted to be one too!

Tyler likes to pretend he is sword fighting like the boys do on Peter Pan in the beginning of the movie.

The birthday party was for a boy in our ward named Ben, he turned 5 so he is in Chase's primary class, but missed the cut off date for kindergarten this year.

It was fun to see all the kids dressed up...

And most important, Chase and Ty had fun!

The First Day of School...

2009-09-01T11:38:00.000-07:00

On Monday, Aug. 31, 2009, Chase had his first day of kindergarten, so naturally I wanted him to look nice for school so I put his new clothes on him.

And even though it was a little cool that morning, no one sends their kid to school in jeans and a SWEATER!! Especially in the middle of Summer!

By the time he came home it was 85 degrees!

So today I made sure to put T-shirt and shorts on him.

I wasn't going to let Chase ride the bus at all because I want to shelter him from the evils of the world the best I can, but he has been looking forward to riding the bus all summer! So I have relented and decided there wasn't much harm in letting him ride the bus home since there are only kindergartners on that bus.

And being the type of mom I wanted pictures and video tape of everything, so I took both my camera's with me when we went to pick him up from his bus stop. (Which is down the road a little way and around a corner, so I packed up the other 2 kids in the car and impatiently waited 20 min at his bus stop) I didn't realize the video was so short... I meant to take a picture and instead took a video, and I cut it off real fast so I could snap a picture in front of the bus before it left!

My Baby Girl

2009-08-07T16:30:00.000-07:00

I took Camrey in today for pictures at JCPenny! Instead of ordering hundreds of dollars worth of pictures you can spend under $5 and have them emailed to you... but they are a low resolution so they can't be printed... but they look great on the computer!

I love these pictures of our hands and feet!

Her hair piece was a quick "throw together" 30 min. before church started. I pulled out a white knee-high that I had, and cut the flower off of my wedding veil and Tory's mom sewed it together!

I ordered some 5x7's of this one on the left...

But this was my favorite so I got an 8x10!

Flash Back Friday...

2009-08-07T15:26:00.000-07:00

I started this post last month and never finished it, so I am posting it now because I would feel ungrateful if I didn't... So here it is:

Tory had to leave on Wednesday, July 29th, for a Scout High Adventure camping trip and was gone until Saturday. So to save me from being home alone with the 3 kids for so long his mom graciously took time off work and came and stayed with me to help out!

I have never felt so spoiled.. Tory asked if his mom was more help than he was, and I had to answer YES.

I felt bad to admit it, but she had one purpose while she was here, and it wasn't planning scout things, or doing other church callings, or fixing things the kids broke; she was here to help me with MY things.

She magically did the dishes before I even got a chance to get to them, she fed Camrey, fed the boys, bathed them, repaired Tyler's shaggy blanket, and watched the kids while I went grocery shopping, and also so I could go clothes shopping with my sister!

So Thanks again Jackie for all you did for me! I couldn't have survived without you.

I'm grateful for my kids, my husband, my family, and especially to be blessed with such wonderful in-laws!!

Not everyone can say that, but I CAN.

Love you Hebdons!

Chase's B-Day (July 24, 09')

2009-08-07T14:26:00.000-07:00

So On Friday, July 24th, Chase turned 5 yrs old. Tory got off work early to take him to Roaring Springs Water Park! I would have loved to join them, but I just had my baby 2 weeks before that and wasn't allowed to swim yet, plus... I had a new baby that I wasn't going to take to the hat sun glaring water park!

So while they were gone Tyler and I made a birthday cake! Chase asked for a fire engine cake! He spent over an hour on the computer looking at google pictures trying to find me a picture of the cake he wanted.

In the end, about 3 hrs later, I made my own design and ended up with this!

Chase has been asking for an umbrella for his birthday for the last 5 months! So that's what he got!

Grandma and Grandpa Harris got him a scooter!

The next morning, on Saturday, we (the kids and I) got up early and drove with my parents to Twin Falls for Caleb's birthday. He turned 3 that day and was so excited to have his cousins come to his house. This is a picture of the boys eating lunch. The three of them had a great time together. and at the end of that day, after party, cake, and swimming, we drove home around 8 p.m.

2009-07-20T12:08:00.000-07:00

My grandparents came to visit us last week. I wish I could remember the exact number, but now they have over 30 great grand children. I grew up living next door to them and even though they are only a half an hour drive away I miss seeing them all the time. So I want to make it a point to visit them more often. It's amazing how close you can live to family and still not see them any more often than you do the ones that live hours away.
Today I spent 35 min talking on the phone to Tory's cousin Brittney who we haven't seen in a year, but they only live in Nampa, about 40 min. away!

In 2 days Camrey will be 2 weeks old. I'm having so much fun playing "dress-up" with my new baby doll!

We were given about 10 diaper boxes full of clothes for this little girl before she was born! I am so greatful for it. What a blessing to not have to wory about clothes! She has more clothes to wear than the other 4 of us combined!

She is still a little small for most of the 0-3 month sizes, but she'll grow. Mostly she wears "newborn" or premie sizes. She was 7 lbs 1 oz Last week Monday at her first Dr. appt., and they want her back in 2 more daysto check her weight again.

The Dr. wanted me to be more persistant about feeding her every 3 hours, she was eating more like every 5 hrs!

But we've done better this week, and she is eating a little over 4 oz. eveery 3 to 4 hours.

She just woke up about 10 min. ago so I snapped 2 short vedio's while I warmed up her bottle!

So here is her cry...

July 8, 2009; Our Baby Girl!

2009-07-11T08:48:00.000-07:00

Camrey Ann Hebdon was born at 3:20 p.m. on Wednesday...

Wednesday morning: We got up at 6:00 a.m. I Showered and made myself some scrambled eggs and toast; and when my Dad showed up at 7:00 to get our boys, we grabbed the bags and headed to the hospital.

It was nice being able to know exactly when the baby is coming! The night before we were double checking to make sure we had every thing we needed, and we didn't! Tory had do make 2 trips to the store that evening; we needed batteries for our digital camera, and I noticed we only had 7 min. of video tape left! So I was glad for the time we had to plan ahead.
We arrived at St Alls at 7:30 a.m. and they got me started on ?Patosin? at 8:30, then around 12:00 the Dr. came in and broke my water. She commented," Wow this baby had a lot of cushion..." We told her it was a good thing because Tyler likes to run up to me and head-butt my belly!

After a perfect Epidural, I finally dilated to a 10 a couple hours later. And a little after 3:00 the Dr. said it was time to push. So for the next 3 contractions I pushed and she was out!

No tearing, no ?epeaseotamy?, 3 pushes and she was out! (Which has made recovery much faster than it was with my boys!)

7 lbs., 10 oz.; and 21 inches long. (Almost exactly the same as Tyler)

So far she is,by far,the easiest baby to care for out of the three. I think after my high maintenance Tyler, My Heavenly Father knew I needed her to be easy.

She is more interested in sleep than food! The first night home I went to bed around 9: 30 after feeding her, and Tory stayed up till 2:00 a.m. when I fed her again. Finally at 9:30 in the morning we WOKE her up and fed her again! Last night (2nd night home) She ate at 10:30 then again at 12:30 and slept all night until I woke her up again to feed her at 7:30 a.m.
(I didn't know new mothers were allowed to get this much sleep just days after having a new baby!)

Feeding her as been a 2 person job until this morning when my milk finally came in! She has a good latch, she's just a little impatient but I think we'll manage!

Anna and Alex came with their girls to see us at the hospital the day after Camrey was born, so we got a picture of Logan and Camrey, only 6 weeks apart! It was fun being pregnant with my sister again. now the rolls are reversed: I've got the girl and they've got the boy.

(Chase and Dejah are only 4 weeks apart, and They have 2 girls and a boy, and we now have 2 boys and a girl!) It's fun. I have been blessed!

I love my daughter, but miss my boys! (They have been staying with Grandma and Grandpa Harris this whole time, just coming to visit. I know I need this time with them away to recover but I still miss having them around!)

Shoshone Falls

2009-06-22T06:58:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, June 20, Tory and My brother-in-law Alex thought it would be fun to take our two families on a day trip.

So the Beal's and the Hebdon's packed up and we left town around 11:00 and headed to Twin Falls.

I wasn't sure if a road trip was the best idea for me since I'm supposed to have a baby in 3 and a half weeks, but I've still been felling great, and haven't had many contractions, so I figured a day trip 2 hours away wouldn't kill me. Our sister Heather lives there so we went to her new place first, and picked up her and her son Caleb, and took them with us to see the falls (which weren't more than 10 min. away from where she lives).

The Falls are huge right now. With all the rain we've been getting lately they are bigger than they have been in years!

I have to admit, I've lived in Boise my whole life and haven't gone to see these falls ever. I guess my parents took us when we were kids, but since I don't remember that doesn't really count!

They were beautiful!! I'm so glad I went with everyone. It was nice to get out of the house and do something different. Plus, I got to see Heather's new apartment, which is nice and about as big as my house! (Loved it Hebs.!)

We took the kids swimming at 1000 Springs Pool.

I can't remember what town it's in, but it was only about a 30 min drive away and on the way home.

The pool was indoors and heated by natural hot springs. Anna just had her baby 3 weeks ago and couldn't swim, and personally I didn't want to see if I could fit into the suit I brought, so her and I watched our husbands juggle two kids each while we took some video tape.

All we get to take with us in life is our experience and the memories we make.... and we defiantly did that this weekend!

Thanks Tory and Alex for the fun and memorable day!

Tory's Birthday (June 3rd)

2009-06-06T05:50:00.000-07:00

Tory's 31st birthday fell on a Wednesday this year. He has scouts on Wednesdays so we decided to have a little party on Tues.

We just had little family party for him... I gave Tory his birthday present a few months ago, (a season pass to Bogus Basin) so it wasn't planned to be a big deal, but when you have little kids there has to be cake, candles, and presents.

Tory was in need of a few new shirts to wear to work, so before he got home that evening we ran JCPenny to get a few shirts for him to open.

Of course as my shopping luck goes none of them fit, but at least he liked the ones I picked out!

He also got himself a really nice pair of hiking boots a month ago, which I wouldn't let him wear until his birthday!

Chase and Tyler wanted to try on dad's new shoes...

They were prey funny trying to get around in those big, heavy boots!

Even though we celebrated Tory's birthday on Tues., I still wanted him to feel important on Wednesday. So I spent ALL day cleaning the house, bathrooms, vacuuming, laundry, sorting and rearranging closets, washing bedding, and dusting. Then I exchanged his shirts for ones that will fit, and we brought home his favorite meal: Penne Rustica from Macaroni Grill! and that made his day!

Chase's Graduation (May 29th...)

2009-06-05T07:22:00.000-07:00

On Friday, May 29Th, Chase had his last day of Pre-School. I got up that morning and made some brownies for the occasion. As we were headed out the door Chase asked for some grape juice...

As you can see, he is wearing a white shirt! I gave him a sipper cup with a lid but some how he still managed to get juice all down the front of him! (He never spills!!! Why Today when we are headed out the door and I want him to look nice?)

So I took his shirt off and cleaned it with stain remover and threw a new shirt on him temporally, and took his wet one to school so Niki could throw it into her dryer before "Graduation" started. I didn't have enough time to run home between dropping him off at 9:35 and the graduation starting at 10:15.

After it was over, I took the boys to the library. Then we got home and left to go to the grocery store, and got back around 3:00 about 10 min. before Tory got home from work! I had a Primary Activity Day to prepare for the next day which was combined with another ward. I had 160 note cards to make for one of our activities. I was up until 10:30 p.m. making them! Then Saturday after the activity was over I had sharing time to prepare for Sunday!

I'm trying to think back on details... I felt so busy, but now a week later it doesn't sound a busy as it felt! I guess that's life. Some times our daily responsibilities can seem overwhelming, but in hindsight, you seem to get through it, and a week later it's not as bad as it seemed!

Anna had her baby!!!

2009-05-27T20:15:00.000-07:00

Little Logan Beal (I'm not sure about a middle name) was born this morning around 6:00 a.m.

I don't have a lot of details, and I would hate to say it all before Anna gets a chance, but I thought some of you might enjoy seeing a picture of him until Anna gets a chance to update her blog!

The funny thing is... yesterday morning Anna and I were talking on the phone about her NOT having a hospital bag ready, and not having some of the "essential things" that you need after having that baby. So she made a list while we were on the phone. We talked about having her girls things packed, camera's ready and charged with fresh tapes in them, hygiene things, exct. So that evening her and Alex went shopping for the hygiene items and other things they didn't have... by 12:30 midnight they were headed to the hospital!!!

Unfortunately their video camera wasn't charged so they haven't got any film yet. I'm not even sure they had their still camera with them, but I went to the hospital this evening and snapped these 2 pictures. You'll have to wait for Anna's post for the rest! In the mean time here he is!

Happy Birthday Mom!

2009-05-22T21:00:00.000-07:00

Today is my mother's birthday! Unfortunately she is out of town so my little kids and their cousins can't sing "Happy B-Day" to her, (their favorite thing to do). But at least she is with her family in Missouri!

As I mentioned, my Grandpa passed away last week, and that was Her father. The funeral was yesterday! It's probably not the best birthday when you have to go to your father's funeral the day before, but on the good side, She doesn't get to see the rest of her family very often so that helps...
Mom,

I'm glad you get to spend this time with your beloved family. I wish I could be there with you, but I hope you had some fun today!

Love Mel.

Happy Birthday Mom.

Pictures of Me... (May 17, Sunday)

2009-05-22T20:50:00.000-07:00

So Sunday morning (last week) I felt pretty, which doesn't happen often at this stage in my pregnancy. So I copied Anna and asked my husband to snap a few pictures of me before we went to church!

Since I'm the one usually taking pictures you don't see much of me on the blogs, but here I am on a good day.

(I just wish I had the patients to Dr.-up my pictures like Anna does. I look kind of pale... maybe I really am that pale!)

Any way... I'm now starting to go to my Dr. appts. every 2 weeks now instead of once a month, so it's getting closer!

Father and Son's Campout....(May 15, Friday)

2009-05-21T13:40:00.000-07:00

Last weekend on Friday, We all got up and went to the zoo. Tory took the day off to take Chase to his first father-and-son's outing, but Chase also had a pre-school field trip to the zoo that morning; so we all went together and had lunch there, and then we got home around 1:00. Tory got all packed up and they left around 4:00 to go camping. I think they went to Pinetop.

Tory said Chase was the biggest little helper...

As soon as they arrived there Chase started looking for a "prefect" spot to put the tent; his first suggestion was on a badly sloped area with lots of debris, but after a little coaching from Dad about what a "good spot" is they found one.

Then Chase went to the car and grabbed the tent by him self and brought it out to be set up. Next he tried to get the sleeping bags, but Tory told him those can't come out until the tent is actually up!

After helping hammer in the stakes and practically unloading the entire car by himself Chase decided he needed to go find fire wood!

Tory said all the other kids were running around playing, but Chase was all business until the camp sight was ready! They both had a really fun time; Tyler stayed home and kept me company. We went to the grocery store, had Burger King for dinner, and went to the library to get a movie to watch!

They got back Saturday around noon, just in enough time for me to go to my cousin's wedding at the temple. Kelli Willis. Her dress was so beautiful!!!! I wish I had taken my camera with me and took a few pictures; but being 7 months pregnant... I didn't stick around long.

My parents, and 2 sisters, and I, and our families went out to a late lunch at Olive Garden together. Surprisingly the kids were really great, and it was nice to be together, I just wish my brothers could have joined us.

Tyler's Birthday, (May 12)

2009-05-20T15:35:00.000-07:00

Well here are the pictures from Tyler's birthday. I wasn't expecting a big crowd so I mad a small cake but I wanted it to look special. So with some green sprinkles for grass, and aluminum foil for a road, a toy car, and a few printed pictures off the computer I managed ok.

Before 8:00 in the morning Chase was begging me to make the cake, so I decorated instead. I told Ty all morning it was his birthday, but he didn't really realize it until he saw the streamers...

His reaction was so cute he climbed up on the table and starting saying birthday so I caught a short veido of it.

These pictures are a little washed out from the sun shine...

Tyler still hasn't quite figured how to blow out his candles, his hair gets it instead, so My brother Dave blew them out for him!

Disney "Cars"
is still a favorite of his so along with a bubble blower gun (that doesn't work) he got...

2 Lightening McQueen's and Frank the combine tractor.

Tyler also really likes Eve from the movie "Walle." Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Hebdon Tyler has some really cute new clothes

Grandma and Grandpa Harris got him some sand box buckets and shovels...

And this is the quilt from my mom... (Even though I sewed all the squares together, embroydered most of the cars, and puth the quilt on the frames, and tied it by my self, it was from her.)

A few years ago She made one for Chase, and Tyler lovers Cars so much I wanted him to have one too, so now we have a pair!

I took a close up of Ramone because he turned out great even thought the picture isn't great!

And the little black stiches on the sides of him...

Those are the ties. (it is a special way to tie a quilt that hides the ties.)