Don't Quit

Don't Quit

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will.

When the road you're trudging seems all up hill,

When the funds are low and the debts are high,

And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,

When care is pressing you down a bit,

Rest if you must, but don't YOU quit...

Success is failure turned inside out.

The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,

And you never can tell how close you are,

It may be near when it seems so far,

So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit.

It's when things seem worst that you must not quit.

--Author Unknown

Brings a smile to my face

Brexlyn: Mom! Come here quick! I don't have any arms or my tummy anymore!!

These are her pajama pants....

Funny little things like this bring a smile to my face and make me so happy that I am their mom!!

McKinzley's Baptism Day

McKinzley's baptism day couldn't have turned out any better! I am still having a hard time thinking that I have an 8-year old! I didn't think that I would be to the point in my life where I could say "It seems like just yesterday that I was preparing for her arrival" so soon. But, here it is! She has grown into such a beautiful young lady! She is thoughtful, smart, genuine, helpful, a good friend, amazing sister, and one of the best daughters that anyone could ask for!

Her day started out EARLY (5:30am), so that she could drive up to Primary Children's to have her stitches taken out (such a blessing how all of that worked out perfectly!). Then when she got home it was off to our neighbors house to have her hair done up so that after she was baptized it would still look pretty and not require any maintenance. It looked SO pretty! I should have gotten a close up picture of it. But, it worked like a dream! After she was baptized her hair still looked perfect :) Then, after she got her hair done we headed down to the church to get hers and Chad's baptism clothes fitted, and then we took some pictures beforehand. I was super smart (insert sarcasm) and forgot to take ANY pictures of her in her baptism dress!! I was going to have some taken a little while after her baptism so that she didn't have her cut on her face, so I guess I just spaced it......oh well. After pictures we headed in to the chapel to wait for the baptism program to start. It was short and sweet! My girls sang the baptism song, and it was SO cute!! Taylin lifted Pemberlynn up to the microphone so that you could hear her singing, and she sang every word perfectly, even the word immersion :) After that we headed in to the R.S. room for the actual baptism, and I will have to admit that I got a little teary-eyed watching Chad baptize McKinzley. The Spirit was so strong, and it was just such an amazing experience! The Gospel has blessed our lives so much, and I am so proud that 1) my husband holds the priesthood, 2) he is able to baptize our children, and 3) that McKinzley chose to be baptized. After she came out of the water and I went in to help her change I asked her how she felt, and she said "I feel SO clean mom, but I am FREEZING!!!" :) After she got dressed we went to the priesthood room so that she could be confirmed. Again, the Spirit was so strong! So many of our family and friends came to support McKinzley, and it mean't so much to her and Chad and I.

We had a lunch at my parents house after the baptism was over. I had so much help with the food! Between my mom, Paige, my sister Maria, and my sis-in-law Kirstin, all I had to do was buy the rolls :) And, afterwards David and Paige took the three younger girls to their house so that we could have a little bit of a break after the baptism. It was SO nice!! The older two girls were playing with some friends, so Chad and I were able to sit and just talk and catch up on our crazy life :) And, boy did those little ones have a great time! All three of them were sacked out by the time they came back home :) Thank you SO much to everyone that helped! Here are a bunch of the pictures that we took. I will put the ones of McKinzley in her dress on here when I get them done :) Enjoy!

OUCH!!!

I had a clinical in Orem on Monday and when I had a break I checked my phone and saw that I had some voicemails from Chad. Odd. The first voicemail: "Um, Nicole.....The school called and said that McKinzley split her lip and that I need to go get her....Call me when you have a minute." The next voicemail: "NICOLE! Call me AS SOON AS YOU GET THIS! I am taking McKinzley up to Primary Children's Hospital." So, after hearing these messages, I am starting to freak out...ALOT! I called Chad and he said that the school had called him and told him that McKinzley had fallen and split (not really the word I would have used) her lip open and that he "just needed to come up there right-away". He went up to get her and took her to the insta-care. They told him that he needed to take her up to Primary Children's to see a plastic surgeon because of where she had lacerated her face.

I left my clinical and went to pick up our other girls from our good friend Cami who so graciously took the other girls while Chad took McKinzley to the doctor. Thank you Cami!! I got home to the microwave beeping at me and all the fixings for lunch out on the counter. I checked the beeping microwave and there were chicken nuggets still in there, and in the oven there were some corn dogs. He really did drop everything and leave :) I am just glad that he turned off the oven before he bolted out the door :) Anyways, long story short, she had the plastic surgeon sew her back up so that they could make sure that they lined her lip back up so that it wouldn't look funny as she grows. They also noticed that one of her teeth had been smashed back up into her gums. They didn't do anything for it there. They just told us to wait about 2-3 weeks to see if it will come back down on its own. If it doesn't, then they will have to do surgery to pull it back down. Both of her front teeth are permanent teeth, so they said that she will probably have to have a root canal done on the one that was smashed, and maybe on the other front tooth that was knocked loose. I am debating whether to wait that long before I call the dentist?????

When she got home she was still a little loopy, but she said that she felt perfectly good except that her lip felt fat :) Chad told me that they gave her something to snuff up her nose so that she wouldn't really be with it when they gave her a shot in her lip to numb it. So, she was really out of it, but I guess however the doctor was holding her face when he was sewing it up was pushing against her teeth, so she kept saying "ouch". So the doctor kept giving her more shots. Chad said that it was after about the fourth shot the doctor finally noticed that it was because he was pushing on teeth that she was saying ouch. But, McKinzley was too loopy to say where it hurt. So, needless to say, she was REALLY numb! It was sad because that whole half of her face was droopy. She actually slept really well and wanted to go to school this morning. And, the best news of all.....she doesn't have to postpone her baptism!! They are taking the stitches out early in the morning (like 6:00am) on Saturday, so we are cleared for the baptism. She will have a bruise, and maybe still be swollen, but she was NOT going to wait on her baptism :)

Sorry, long story! Here are some pictures....

This picture really doesn't do it justice. It was cut all along the inside of her mouth up higher than on the outside...

After it was sewn up....Looks a lot better!
See that tooth that looks like it is just coming in? Ya, that used to be a normal tooth before it got shoved back up in her gums. And her lips are stained from all of the blood :(
This is her cute little "boyfriend" Rigdon that came over to give her a hug and tell her that he hoped she got better soon. (They are planning to marry each other....just ask them :) )
We also had a visit from the girls cousins who wanted to make sure that McKinzley was doing okay. These are her cousins Allyson and Brooke.
She also got a call from Nana Paige to see how she was doing, but all she told her about was how the nurse's sister works at Sea World with the buluga whales :) It made her feel so special to have so many people concerned for her. Thank you all for your concern and prayers! We love you all!

Mommy-Daughter Shopping Day

McKinzley's baptism day is sneaking up on us pretty fast! On Friday McKinzley and I headed out on a mommy-daughter shopping date to find her a dress to wear on her baptism day. But, what would a shopping day be without going out to lunch first?? So, I checked McKinzley out of school and we headed to Chili's (Yum) for a delicious lunch and a brownie sundae. McKinzley absolutely loved her mac-and-cheese and side of pineapple. She told me that she wanted to be healthy and that is why she got the pineapple :) Funny girl. This is her enjoying her "awesome" lunch. Who knew mac-and-cheese could be so cool?

After we stuffed ourselves full of deliciousness we headed out to shop. I took her to the store White Elegance, and as soon as we walked in she was BEAMING. The sales clerk was so cute and took McKinzley by the hand and told her that she was going to walk her around the store and pull down any dress that McKinzley liked and wanted to try on. Needless to say, this is what we ended up with...(most of the dresses have one or two dresses hanging up behind them...I think we ended up with about 12 dresses that she wanted to try on)

SHE WAS IN HEAVEN!!!!!

I think that standing in front of this mirror was one of her favorite parts :)

We ended up getting a GORGEOUS dress that she looks SO beautiful in! We did end up trying on EVERY single dress (she has turned out to be quite picky), and she narrowed it down to two. I think it took her about 20 minutes of trying one on and then the other over and over again before she made the decision of the one that she wanted :) I am so excited for her! She is so excited to be baptized! I can't believe that she is so grown up. It was so much fun to spend the day with her and listen to her chat about all of the things that are important to her. She cracks me up! I am so proud of her! I will post pictures of the dress she chose with her baptism pictures........