A busy week...

For birthdays.....

we would also like to send out birthday wishes to our exchange students Felix (20th) and Joe (23rd) as well as our Aunt Gerri (25th) and Cousin Rhendon (25th)

We hope you all had a fantastic day on your special day!!

For Tiff....

It's 11:40 on March 22, 2009.....so im not too late to wish my dear friend Tiffany

A VERY VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

YOU chick, are an inspiration to us all!

love you and wish you were not so far away!

Birthday boys!.......

My Babies...My little tiny babies.....

are 9 years old today!

it is really, REALLY just not possible!

Just a few, very short days ago Noah looked like this...
and Sawyer looked like this.....
can you guess which one is older???

Just a few days before that.....they looked like this!


and just a very few days before that they looked like this....

and just a few, impossibly short days before that.....they looked like this!



where has the time gone?



We found out we were pregnant in August 1999...(which we were in shock about)
When you have trouble getting pregnant at all and have gone through alot to get the 5 kids you have and you are pretty sure that you are done having babies, it is pretty surprising to find out you are mysteriously (lol) pregnant again. Especially when your hubby is working a few states away and you only saw him 2 maybe 3 time in the last several months....
So surprised was an understatement!
We were preparing to move to Boise so we decided to wait until after the move in October to see the doctor. I packed and prepared for the move all by myself. It was hard work doing all that while taking care of 5 kiddos and being pregnant. After our move I made an appointment with our new AWESOME doctor and went to the appt by myself as Rich was new at his job and could not get away. When the doctor was examining me he told me that I was measuring a few weeks bigger then what I thought I was....I told him that I was positive about our conception date for obvious reasons....He said, well its probably just because you had twins before...lets just do an ultrasound to be sure...so he pulls out the machine and proceeds to check things out. And then...
Our world changed forever.
I went to the appt in full denial that I was even really pregnant at all. I fully expected him to tell me it was a false positive and that I really was not pregnant after all, only to have him tell me that we were indeed going to be parents again and that it was going to be twins again!!
This is point in this story where I lost my mind and I smacked him on the sleeve and said
SHUT UP!
luckily he had a good sense of humor!
He printed pictures for me and I left the office in shock. I drove to Rich's office and went in and asked him to come outside. He could see I was visible shaken. I handed him the pictures and he looked at them closely ( I did not say a word) and then he got a great big smile on his face and started to laugh. I did not think it was so funny but his reaction made EVERYTHING all right!
From that point on we had a pretty uneventful pregnancy. We found out in December that we were having BOYS!!!! oh my.....I was secretly hoping for two girls.
I was put on bed rest in February and was given drugs to keep us from contracting. We did much better with this pregnancy and were able to stay out of the hospital. Our goal was to make it to 36 weeks. And we did!! We went in for our 36 week visit and the doctor took us off the meds and told us we were allowed to have these babies any time now...so we left and went and walked and walked and walked some more...and BAM! We went into labor around 10pm
Our Labor and delivery was so much different then any of our other kids....these boys were not following the rules.
They set up the OR for us to deliver in "just in case"
Baby "A" ( who we will now call

Noah Richard)
was born on
March 21, 2000
at 10:09
5 lbs 4 oz
18 inches long

so now it was baby "b"s turn
only he had other plans....
He decided to go into hiding....and he was breech
this is where things get alittle graphic so if you are squeamish skip ahead...

The doctor had to "go in" after him....I was completely numb with epidural in preparation that I just might need a c-section if things got crazy...
So the doctor is up to his elbow (Rich resisted the urge to udder a MOOOO) trying to locate baby Bs feet or arms or head or anything that he can get a hold of in order to pull this baby out.
after about 20 minutes of unsuccessfully trying to get this tightly wound baby to turn or give up a limb, he finally called for everyone in the room to prep for a c-section. Which they started to prepare for....the doctor let me know that this would be his last attempt and then he would proceed with the c-section.
All of a sudden the doctors eyes, above his mask got extremely large and he said " your not going to believe this, but this baby just kicked his foot right into my hand" and he was then able to pull this baby from my womb feet first!
so after 3o minutes, and several bruises baby B emerged!

If you were the squeamish, who is skipping ahead, you can pick up the story here!
I must add at this point that although this story sounds horrific. This doctor was the absolute best and I felt he did everything right. I would not have changed a thing.

Sawyer Nicholas

was born
at 10:39
5 lbs 3 oz
18 1/2 inches

The first time I looked into their little faces....

I KNEW our FAMILY was COMPLETE!!

Really Stupid Comment!

a VERY UN-presidential comment?

you will need to scroll down and pause my music before you play the video

I guess i just expect more from someone that holds the position that this man does....I understand that alot of people dont find this comment out of line...I have a pretty good sense of humor and can joke around about things like this just like the next guy. Althought Im sure that there are many in the disabled community that would be far more offended by this then i was....bottom line, I hold his man to a higher standard...is that wrong?
would love to hear your comments....

hummmm maybe I should have started off by saying how wrong I feel it was that he even appeared on Jay Leno to begin with???

Track meet in Round Valley

Hayden had a track meet this morning in Round Valley. He ran the 4x800 relay first...he did his personal best of 2:08 taking another second off Wednesdays time. unfortunately the other members of the relay did not do so good and they ended up taking next to last place. After that he was pretty wiped out but went ahead and ran the individual 800 and had a time of 2:19 taking 4th place. The 1st place winner of that race did it in 2:17. So i guess if they would have ran the individual before the relay he would have done very well! still more work to be done.

Budget cuts...

I recently received a survey from our school asking for my opinion regarding the budget cuts that are affecting all he schools. I filled out the survey and at the bottom it asked me if i had any comments or other ideas for saving the district money. I very nicely let them know, that although this was probably small and insignificant, they might start by only mailing me ONE copy of the survey and letter vs the FIVE I received!!!!

A new baby....

My neice Kristi had her baby last night.

Its a GIRL!!!

Her name is Kee-Lee (spelling it phonetically because they don't know how they will spell it yet) maybe like this keighlei
No middle name yet..still thinking about it.
She was born at 10:21pm (went in at 4:30pm)
She weighs 7lbs 5oz
And she is 20 inches long

Everyone is doing great!!

Congrats to Kristi, Jason and big brother Corbin

It was pointed out to me....

that the 800 super star can do the 800 in 2:00 and that he was just taking it easy today(no im not talking about hayden, but rather his competition)

Track Progress...

He's making progress and its starting to show....too bad he did not stick with this sport after 8th grade! his coach said he has natural talent in the 800 and he really wished he would have been running this event since he was a freshman...

Today he attended his 3rd track meet of the season....in Winslow.

He did the disc (not sure of his distance yet)

He did the 300 hurdles and came in next to the last

and he did the 800 relay...their team came in 2nd.

but he shaved 5 seconds off his time, coming in at 2:09!

he did not run the 800 today but the person who won the 800 (who is the favorite in this event and has been for several years) came in at 2:15

It will take alot more work and motivation but things are looking good!

Chicago....

Last weekend Rich and I attended an EF meeting in Chicago...it was beautiful! sunny and mostly warm and NOT windy!!

We had a fun time, got to hang out with old friends and got alot of great instruction regarding our role in EF and how to do it better! Rich and I at Navy Pier...
Our Arizona group took a limo to dinner one night...surprisingly cheap!
Johnny, Rich, a gal from another state, lynn, a gal from the italian office, Dayton, Debbie, me, Tom, my mom, Natalie and Nelda...and Hanne up there payin the bill!
and Sara was taking the picture! thanks Sara

Lake Michigan.....Wrigley Field...

Very interesting bleacher seats about the buildings outside the park (click on it and check it out!)

and we even got to take in a performance of the BLUE MAN GROUP!

super entertaining and interesting....alittle weird even! lol

Wrestlers....

Noah and Sawyer participated in a little kids wrestling "workshop" this past week...second year that they have done it and they love it...i think they have alittle advantage because they are always wrestling each other at home. This year was not as easy for them as last year was and they can see that they have alot of work to do if they want to become better at this sport. They were able to add a few new moves to their small repertor...then at the end of the week they did a little tournament for the boys to see how they could do and to receive alittle hardware for their efforts.

Sawyer making his move......

more Sawyer moves....

Noah taking his first win...

Noah took 1st in his weight class...

Noah with his Medal

A very somber Sawyer took 3rd place this year....he took 1st last year so was kind of expecting to do alittle better this year...would have, if those darn wrestling crazy Mogollon kids would not have come over for the tournament! LOL



Here is alittle video footage of Noah's match

Best friends?

As much as they deny it, and as much as they don't want us to believe that it is true....its moments like this that restore my faith that they really are......

BEST FRIENDS

(SIDE NOTE: immediately following the taking of this picture I was chased down and begged to delete it! LOL)

Crazy weekend!

Here is the weekend update....Finally!

It was such a crazy busy weekend....

We left here EARLY Friday morning so that we could make it over to the metro center area by 11:15 for Austins Award Luncheon. We had to stop and drop off the rest of the kids(due to limited seating) at Tammy's so it was a rush.

We arrived at the awards luncheon with Granny in tow....

Austin's teacher also came down for the occasion and we were grateful that she could make it.

There were 9 students that received the "I can do it" award from the Council for exceptional Children on the state level. It was a great honor and opportunity for Austin.

Here is the slide that they showed while they were talking about Austin's Accomplishments.
You can click on it to enlarge it which will allow you to read it.

and we are....SO very proud of you Austin for being who you are and accomplishing all that you do. You are an inspiration to many!

once the luncheon was over we raced back to Tammy's to drop off Granny and to pick up the rest of the group....from there we raced over to Apache Junction to try to catch Hayden's track meet which had already started. By the time we got there we had already missed the discus...he took 4th in that. After that he and 3 other boys did a shuttle hurdle relay (which we had never seen before but it was really fun to watch) and they took 1st. After that he was in an 800 medley relay and they took 2nd. From there we watched him do Shot put. We left before the results for that were given. He did fine in his "heat" but I think of all the boys he probably took 5th or 6th.

From there we ran to check into our hotel before meeting Lynn and her family for dinner. Our boys love the golden corral so that was their choice of where to go for dinner...BIG MISTAKE!

that place was an absolute zoo....loud, crowded, people up and down reloading plates, too small of plates so you had to get up and down ALOT...small space to try to maneuver! it was just nuts! i think we will stick to going there for lunch only. After that we had to Run Hayden over to the coliseum to catch his favorite cheerleader in competition. Then back to the hotel for swimming.

The next day we slept in alittle! THANKFULLY....then off for some lunch at in-and-out

Then we parted ways as Taylor and I went to Jessica's Bridal shower and Rich took the boys to a spring training game. The boys had a blast and we girls did too....

Here is our beautiful bride-to-be showing off her lovely bow-quet!

Congrats Jessica....its right around the corner...then you can relax and breath and enjoy married life!

next up....CHICAGO!

Should have....

Lots to report after the weekend...

we are heading to the valley Friday for

Austins Award Luncheon for the council for exceptional children

Hayden's track meet

Jessica's Bridal shower

Track meet in Flagstaff....

Didn't go so well...

it was a big track meet with lots of schools...Rich estimated that there were probably 48 kids that ran the 800



Hayden Threw the shot and took 8th place


and he ran the 800 in 2:13 putting him in 9th place



looks like hes got some work to do.....

Happy Birthday Hayden!

I absolutely can not believe that Hayden is 19 years old!

it is just not possible that the time has slipped by so quickly...

It just seems like yesterday that we were anxiously awaiting his arrival!

two days before he was born I was at the hospital visiting my Best Friend Karen...

we had gone to the hospital for our birthing class and Karen had just had her baby, Nicole.

Karen and I went to the same doctor and the same hospital and we were both due with our third babies at the same time. THAT was fun...

After our birthing class we went up to visit Karen and see the new baby and as we were leaving I joked that I would be back before she left.

That was on the 1st...little did I know that I WOULD be back before she left...

A few weeks before Hayden was born I went to the doctor and he told me that Hayden had turned breech and he decided that he would schedule a c-section but told me to come back in a week and we would talk about it then. So when i went back a week later i was fully expecting him to send me over to the hospital as i was already dilated to 2. He did schedule me but not for another week. I remember leaving the doctors office VERY disappointed and cried on the way home. I did not want to wait any longer..I was ready to have this baby and I had hoped he would tell me that they would deliver that very day...or the next at the longest.

That night we went over to the hospital for our birthing class and to visit Karen and her baby that she had just delivered. We talked and visited and held the baby and when it was time to go we joked about me being back and Nicole and Hayden sharing the nursery together.

We went home...around 10pm my contractions started. We got ready and headed for the hospital right away knowing that he was breech and that we would have to have a c-section. When we got to the hospital, we stuck our head in Karen's room and said..."guess what! where back!" we had a good laugh about that...

Luckily our doctor was already at the hospital that night delivering a few other babies. I can remember how kind and compassionate he was. I was scared! They checked the babies position with an ultrasound ..he was still breech...The doctor checked me for dilation and realized at that point that the cord was covering my cervix and that the baby was standing on it (footling breech)....DANGER! DANGER! So then our peaceful delivery turned into an emergency C-section...if my water were to break then the cord would have delivered before the baby (prolapsed cord) and this was very dangerous and would cut off oxygen to the baby...we would have a dire situation if this were to happen. So they prep me quickly for delivery. I can still remember the doctor (looking compassionately at me) poking me over and over asking me if i could feel it...he was in a hurry to get that baby out and he was waiting until the epidural kicked in. The second i said i could not feel it, he was cutting. I remember the horrible feeling of having him move organs around. It was soooo uncomfortable. Before i knew it, he had our baby out and all was right with the world! A healthy, loud, baby boy!

Hayden Wayne Jones

March 3, 1990

1:35am

7lbs 11oz

21 inches