A Little Photo Shoot

My mom and I took the girls for quad rides on Monday into one of the canyons right behind our house. I got camera happy (pictures of them was the reason for the trip) so I thought I would post some of my favourites!!

Church Family Picnic

This weekend is our long weekend......Monday is Memorial Day so in celebration our church had a family picnic. We went out after church to the local campground (which isn't anything special) but there were trees to give us some shade! There was a little stream that ran behind the camp site so of course the girls got soaked! There was lots of food and lots of fun. It's nice to just sit around and enjoy the sunshine. I got stung by a wasp and Brooklyn took her sandals off and started walking on the ground and got her feet full of prickers. So there was a little drama and tears but all in all, we had a nice time! Here are some photos of this afternoon and some of the area around us. They could have totally shot "The Hills Have Eyes" around here.....it's spooky!!

Summer Fun....already!!!

It has been sooo nice here already that I'm scared to what July and August are going to be like! So we got our pool set up and I've decided we have the nicest neighbours in the world. They threw their hose over the fence to help fill our pool up so it was filled in like 8 hours!!! This is especially nice as our water is metered and would have taken at least twice as long if we just had our hose. Really, really nice! My flowers are planted too. So I thought I would share some pictures. I especially wanted to take pictures of my flower bed as this maybe as nice as it gets...my thumb is not very green :o)

Our house finally with grass, not weeds!

My Heart is Heavy

Tonight I was reading the blog of a girl I went to Bible School with (Janelle). We sang on Chorale together and through the magic of Facebook, we have reconnected. A few posts ago on her blog, she had asked for prayer for a little 2.5 year old girl. She was the niece of a couple they were friends with and she had come down with Strep Pneumonia Meningitis and was in a coma on complete life support. We were all praying for a miracle. Well it was only a day later I checked back for an update and she had passed away. My heart sank. I burst into tears. You don't even have to know the family or all the details but to know that a mother will be without her child is enough to burden my heart. Janelle had posted tonight what the little girls funeral was like. They had all her favourite things laying out on a table, dvd's tea party sets, books, things that my girls play with and enjoy. They ran a slide show and had video clips of her saying her ABC's. I can't even imagine what that family is going through. I can barely write this post through my tears. It's times like these I cry out why, God? Why take such a precious little life? I can't imagine one heart beat, one blink of an eye with out my girls and now this mother has to live her life with out her daughter. Never being able to take her shopping for her grad dress and wedding dress. Never to be able to tell her about "boys" and all the joys of growing up. That father isn't going to be able to give his daughter away at her wedding. These are things I look forward to doing with my girls and can't imagine what it would be like with out them. This is really hitting home too as just yesterday, we got our pool our set up and with out getting into details, Brooklyn could have drowned. Luckily, Chris was close by and grabbed her but if he was in the house for a few moments, she could have been gone. Life is short. And precious. I will be hanging on to my girls a little tighter, giving them a few more hugs and kisses, being a little more patient because in a blink of an eye.....

This SUCKS!

Quick update.....there was an internet installer in town today so Chris tracked him down and they got our internet up and running again!!! Thank God :o) To be a month without it would have been crappy!!!

One of the "perks" of living in Nevada is the wind. We have had a few windy days where a little bit gets blown around but nothing major. Well this all changed on Saturday afternoon. It started out like a normal day, hot with a slight breeze followed by a few gusts every once in a while. Then around 3:45 in the afternoon, 15 minutes after Chris left for night shift, the whole trailer started to shake. Then I heard a crashing and a big gust of wind blow over us. I jumped up just in time to see our brand new gazebo blow half over our fence and bend and break like it was a noodle. I ran out to try and pull it back but because of the size of it and being all mangled up in the fence, this was quite hard to do. So I called Chris at work hoping his boss would let him come home for 20 minutes to help me get it down (my parents were in Vegas so I couldn't get my dad to help). But of course, he couldn't (I don't think he would even ask) but he told me to get out neighbour to help, well he was gone. So I had to start taking apart our gazebo that was breaking as I touched it, so I could at least get it down on the ground. After all that drama was over I went back inside pouting as we just bought the gazebo, built a little deck for it and was just waiting to stain in before we were going to bring our patio furniture back to put on it. See our plan was to have this little shaded area that we could sit under and watch the girls swim and to have BBQ's back there. Well after this, we're going to have re-vamp our plan.

I had thought that this was the worse of the damage til Chris got home at 4am and tried to get on the internet. This was not working as the crashing I had heard 12 hours earlier was not the gazebo but the box cover from the truck that was sitting on our tent trailer had slammed into the side of the trailer, ripping our high speed satellite out of the wall! Long story short, we have to wait a month for a guy from the Internet company to come out here and fix it. So we are with out internet for a month and have to resort the using the library's. You can imagine the strength of the wind that was able to life at 100 pound cover and slam it into the house. These are actually little tornado's called dirt devils that usually just swirl around in the desert. But we live right on the edge of town so this particular dirt devil found a way to blow through the back yards of everyone on our street. Luckily we are all safe and nothing blew through a window, just missing out on a few luxuries. I will try and keep everyone updated as often as I can.

In honour of Mother's Day!!

I thought I would post a little something about mother's....what I've learned from mine, the joys and struggles of being a mom. I started my journey as a mother a little earlier than planned which made me pretty unsure if I was going to be able to handle all the pressures, ups and downs of being a mother. Luckily I had such a great support team that made my entry into mother-hood a very easy transition.

I don't think I would be half the mother I am today without all the help, support and love from my mom. She was so supportive when she found out she was going to be a grandma at "40-frickin-1" even though I was 18 and not married. Our relationship as mother and daughter strengthened to a closeness that I never thought possible. Chris and I were fortunate enough to have her in the delivery room with us when I had Alyssa and that we were able to share that experience together. No one made it to the delivery when I had Brooklyn!! I am so privileged to be able to have my daughters so close to my mom. It's awesome to see the relationship between grandma and grand daughters blossom. Both my girls love their grandma, at times, I think more than me!! My mom has taught me a few things. Mostly she laughs when I complain about something one of the girls has done that drives me nuts and she reminds me that pay back's a you-know-what!!!! One thing she's taught me is to pick my battles with them. What is really worth the fight.....is it really ok that Brooklyn wears something that doesn't match, can Alyssa do her own hair for school?? Silly things that in the scheme of things, is it really worth it. Also she's taught me how to be a Godly woman, mother and wife. The importance of teaching my girls about God and His love for us. I think that without all the love and support from my mom, I would not be the mom that I am today!! So thanks mom, for all you do, I love you :o)

Some of the things I love about being a mom....hmmmm...where to begin!! I love that I am the first one they come to when they're hurt, sad, happy, excited, proud, scared and lonely. I love that I'm such a huge part in creating the person they'll become. Which can be a scary thought!! I love that I'm able to stay home with them full time. God had blessed us so that Chris can be the sole financial provider and I can be home when Alyssa goes to school and comes home and I can go for walks with Brooklyn in the morning. I find that a huge blessing. I love that neither one of them can go to bed without a good night kiss from me. I love that we've recently started praying together at night. It's so cute listening to Brooklyn pray, "Dear Jesus, fan-tu for dis day. Fan-tu for me to hab a dood sleep. Fan-tu to me to be dood dirl and be a dood sister. Fan-tu for my mom, dad and Aly. I lub you Jesus, Amen!" It makes me so happy that at 6, Alyssa has asked Jesus into her heart and Brooklyn at 3, knows how to pray and knows how Jesus wants us to be. That means not hitting our sister or spitting!! I could go on for pages on how much I love being a mom. I feel so blessed that God has chosen two beautiful girls for me to love and to share all the things that life has to offer.

I get scared sometimes of what could be in the future. Will something happen to them that they would leave my life? Will they be as close to me as I am to my mom? Did I teach them enough so they can make the right decision when the tough questions and decisions face them? These are things that I have no control over and all I can do now is love them and teach them all I can to be strong, loving, caring, kind, beautiful Christian women.

So that's my spiel about mothers. To all of you out there, new mothers, experienced mothers, single mothers, mothers to be, cheers to you! We have the hardest, but most rewarding job in the world. Have a great day with your children on Sunday and take a moment to look at your little blessings and thank God for giving them to you to love. Happy Mothers Day :o)

First Born Survey

I got this email from Crystal today and thought it was a good one. A change from the same old surveys :o)

1. WAS YOUR FIRST PREGNANCY PLANNED? Nope!!
2. WERE YOU MARRIED AT THE TIME? Nope!!!
3. WHAT WERE YOUR REACTIONS? Kinda relieved....I had never been late before so I was wondering what was going on!! And the feeling of holy crap...what am I going to tell my parents!
4. WAS ABORTION AN OPTION FOR YOU? absolutely not

5. a)HOW OLD WERE YOU WHEN YOU GOT PREGNANT? 18

b) WHEN YOU GAVE BIRTH? 19 1/2
6. HOW DID YOU FIND OUT YOU WERE PREGNANT? Home test from the drug store but used it in a 7-11 bathroom in Saskatoon

7. WHO DID YOU TELL FIRST? Alyson and Rachelle....they were there with me but Chris was the first one I called!

8. DID YOU WANT TO FIND OUT THE SEX? yeah, but my mom had me brainwashed that it was going to be a girl!!!

9. DUE DATE? Sept 21 2000

10. DID YOU HAVE MORNING SICKNESS? Horrible morning sickness :(

11. WHAT DID YOU CRAVE? ice and cream soda slushies from Angelina's...mmmmm!!!
12. WHO/WHAT IRRITATED YOU THE MOST? nothing really.....I would get cranky when I was hot though

13. WHAT WAS THE SEX OF YOUR FIRST CHILD? Girl :o)
14. DID YOU WISH YOU HAD THE OPPOSITE SEX OF WHAT YOU WERE GETTING? nope
15. HOW MANY POUNDS DID YOU GAIN THROUGHOUT THE PREGNANCY? 50 lbs...still trying to lose it!! LOL

16. Did YOU HAVE A BABY SHOWER? Yup...two. One from the church and one with friends!
17. WAS IT A SURPRISE OR DID YOU KNOW? The one with the church I think I knew but the other one was a surprise and it was in my house!!!

18. DID YOU HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS DURING YOUR PREGNANCY? not during but after. The dr. pulled the umbilical cord off the placenta so I had to have DNC right after she was born

19. WHERE DID YOU GIVE BIRTH? Flin Flon, MB

20. HOW MANY HOURS WERE YOU IN LABOR? 12-ish
21. WHO DROVE YOU TO THE HOSPITAL? Chris

22. WHO WATCHED YOU GIVE BIRTH? Chris, my mom and 2 paramedics!!
23. WAS IT NATURAL OR C-SECTION? natural

24. DID YOU TAKE MEDICINE TO EASE THE PAIN? a shot of Demerol and laughing gas :o)

25. HOW MUCH DID YOUR CHILD WEIGH? 8 lbs 14oz
26. WHEN WAS YOUR CHILD ACTUALLY BORN ? Sept 22, 2000

27. WHAT DID YOU NAME HIM/HER? Alyssa Katie-Lee Hanks

28. HOW OLD IS YOUR FIRST BORN TODAY? 61/2 :(

"Wanted, Wanted.....Dead or Alive"

I saw these on another blog and thought they were sooo cute......

T-ball Opening Day

This past Saturday was Opening Day for the Little League here in Round Mountain. All the teams from the t-ballers to seniors were there. And they all had either a red, white or blue balloon and after the anthem, they let them all go. It was quite patriotic!! Anyway, Alyssa is on the Seattle Mariner's team...number 6. Here are a few pictures of her on opening day. We just got back from another game. They play once a week against other t-ball teams (there are 3 of them). If you look really close on the third picture, you can see the ball going past her!!! Here, they give them a chance to be pitched to or hit off the tee. After 3 pitches, if they haven't hit it, then they use the tee. So far she's been hitting the pitches :o)