Injuries, USU homecoming, lawn mowing & the tub

This week Caleb managed to injure himself...again.  He was out riding his bike & took a turn too sharp.  His lip was fattened before he even got into the house!

Today Samanatha was in the USU homecoming parade.  She's done the parade every year except once (because it was raining) since joining LaShars when she was 3 yrs old.

 She was excited that her cousins were doing the parade this year too.

Grandpa Scott & Grandma Kris came to watch the parade too.  Despite his injured finger (from fixing the expedition), Grandpa entertained Caleb.

 Aunt Cass & Sunny Cakes waiting for the girls to show up on their float.

 The kids waiting for candy to be thrown for them to snatch up.

 Bob did good at the parade despite having Bronchitis.

 Yay LaShars!

Last week we were at my parent's house.  Here's Caleb & Charlotte mowing the lawn with Grandpa Larry. Caleb loves the lawn mower...weirdo.

 A totally random picture we sent our dad this week.

Adventures in Sanpete

We left home on Thursday morning to go down to Sanpete for Grandpa Charlie's viewing and funeral.  Although it was a sad occasion to visit, the kids had a lot of fun playing with all their cousins.  It was nice to go down and visit for Trav & I too.  We hadn't been since our trip to Lake Powell and prior to that it was Christmas!

Here are all the cousins entertaining themselves at the viewing prior to the funeral on Friday morning.  The service was nice.  Other than the rain, the graveside was nice too.

After the funeral and the lunch, we went back to Grandpa Charlie & Grandma Ingrid's house.  They have a built in swimming pool (I've never seen it filled).  Apparently the salamanders have taken over the pool.  All the kids convinced Uncle Robbie to go help catch the salamanders.  Guess that's what he gets for being the bug man!  Even though the salamanders creeped Rob out he was a good sport & caught a ton of them!  The kids were in 7th heaven!

There were seriously hundreds of salamanders in the pool.  At the deep end of the pool there is rain water that is just totally nasty.  The water had tons of salamanders swimming around in it too.  Since they can't climb out of the pool, there are going to be a bunch of dead salamanders once it freezes!

I told Nash I think they look like "boogers with legs".  All the adults agreed!

We spent the night at the farm with Grandma & Grandpa Bown.  Grandma Bown is a gaming playing maniac and my kids love every single second of it!  I know that is going to be one of their favorite memories when they are older.  Their dad takes after their great grandma!

Bob did great on the entire ride there and home.  She slept almost the whole way down & until Farr West on the way home.  She was just happy as could be the entire time and she was all by herself in the second row on the way home because we left Sam & Nash to come home with Grandpa Scott & Grandma Kris on Sunday!

Friday night Grandpa Bown asked Caleb what they were going to do Saturday morning.  Nash & Samantha chimed in right away with "Ride the 4-wheeler & ride Misty (the horse)".  Caleb....Caleb just wanted to ride the tractor!  On Saturday as we were getting ready to leave Grandpa realized they hadn't rode the tractor yet.  He asked Caleb if Uncle Glade could take him for a tractor ride because he had just sat down & taken off his boots.  Caleb wasn't having any of that.  Nope.  A tractor ride without Grandpa Butter just would not do.  So, being the trooper that Grandpa is, he put his boots on, grabbed his cane & they hopped onto the tractor!

Brookelyn's 4 month stats

This little girl keeps right on growing!  I think she's going to be built just like her big brother Nash and her uncle Zack - tall & skinny!  A few weeks ago (after we got home from Lake Powell) she reverted to eating every 2 hours.  I decided it was time for cereal because I couldn't keep up with the demand!  So, we started oatmeal & she has loved it.  I've only given it to her once a day at the most and generally not every single day.  I thought for sure she'd weigh around 15 lbs because of how much she eats.  Nope.  Skinny bum weighs 13 lbs 4 oz!  Crazy to think she's only gained a little over 3 lbs since she was born!  Especially when you consider how much the little girl loves to eat!

She still hasn't rolled over all the way yet.  She gets on her left side and rolls over to her shoulder where she gets stuck.  She doesn't mind being stuck there oddly enough either.  Her favorite is to spin circles while laying on the floor.  If I lay her down facing the couch, before long she's spun around so she can see the t.v.  That's not good! :)

Sister loves her tub time.  I still lay her down in the tub on a sponge & I have to scoot her back up onto the sponge every few minutes because she kicks like an absolute mad man in there & scoots herself all the way off in no time flat!

She has started to giggle out loud.  It's so cute to hear.  I'm surprised at what a deep little laugh it is too.  I thought that she'd have this high girly laugh, but nope.  That's another way she's like one of her brothers (Caleb).

She loves her 2 headed Jamaica doll Grandma Kris brought back for Sam when she was about 3 years old.  She also has a cow from the new Avon line she loves.  She constantly has her hands up by her face and loves to get a grip on anything she can & pull it close to her.  So, she has a tag blanket I made too.  And, when all else fails, I give her a clean burp cloth to love on & she's pretty ok with that too.

Since I re-did the girls room & hung stuff up on the wall by the changing table, she loves to look at all the stuff on the wall when I change her.  I'm sure it won't be too long before she's trying to stand up on the changing table & grab everything I have on the wall!

Brooke's still working on breaking her 2 front bottom teeth in as well.  She's been teething for about 2 months. I'm starting to think she'll be like Caleb & they won't break through all the way until she's 6 months old!  Could be a long 2 more months!

And finally, here are all her stats from the dr.'s office.
Weight - 13 lbs 4 oz 38% - when she was born, she was 97% for weight!
Length - 25 inches 75% - when she was born, she was 56% for length

Head circumference - 16.3 inches 58% - when she was born she was 73%

Oh!  And, we pierced her ears on the day she turned 4 months old!  Sam kept telling me, "No!  Don't do it!  She'll look hideous!"  After they were pierced she turned to me and said, "See.  They look hideous!"  I told her to be quiet, she's just jealous! :)

A baptism, a blessing, and a farewell

This weekend was suppose to be a happy weekend.  Unfortunately, that's not exactly how it turned out.  On Friday evening Grandpa Charlie, Grandma Ingrid and Aunt Tanya arrived at Grandpa Scott's house around 7 pm.  When they arrived, it looked as though Grandpa Charlie was sleeping.  Grandma Ingrid told Grandpa Scott that Grandpa Charlie and driven the entire way until they reached Brigham, when he began to complain of a headache and not feeling well.  They gave Grandpa a Tylenol and some Coke.  Grandpa was unable to keep the Tylenol and Coke down.  Grandma drove from Brigham to North Logan.  Grandma Ingrid insisted that Grandpa Charlie just needed to go inside and lie down and he would be fine - they had just had a long ride.  Grandpa Scott was unable to wake Grandpa Charlie up.  After about 30 minutes, Grandpa Scott and Grandma Kris convinced Grandma Ingrid to get in the car, something was wrong and they were taking Grandpa Charlie to the hospital.  Grandpa Charlie never woke up.  The doctors told Grandpa Scott, Grandma Kris and Grandma Ingrid that Grandpa Charlie was bleeding in his brain.  Unfortunately, because of the blood thinners he was taking for his pace maker they couldn't give him the medicine he needed to stop the bleeding or it would cause a major heart attack and stop his heart.  The doctors weren't sure if the bleeding was from when he fell and hit his head on Wednesday or not.  They said it is likely he was already bleeding into his brain prior to his fall because of the blood thinners and that the fall just made the bleeding worse.  When Grandpa Charlie began having difficulty breathing, he was placed on a ventilator and made comfortable.  Travis, Jamie, Chad and their cousins (with the exception of one) went to the hospital to tell Grandpa Charlie good bye.  At about 2:30 am on Saturday, Grandpa Charlie was taken off the ventilator.  He only lasted about 15 minutes before he was gone.  We are thankful that it was quick and relatively painless.  We are also thankful that each of the grandchildren was able to say their good byes.  We miss Grandpa Charlie dearly and it made for a very bitter sweet day.

After the baptism and blessing we had lunch at our place.  The weather was nice and cooperated for us.  We set tables up out in the backyard under the trees.  It started to sprinkle after everyone had left and everything was cleaned up.  I think that was Grandpa Charlie's way of letting us know he was with us.  In this picture from left to right: Aunt Sandy, Aunt Tanya, Sam, Grandma Ingrid & Brookelyn, Grandma Kris.

Samantha was so brave when it came time to be baptized.  I was worried about how she'd do.  Grandpa Scott was able to baptize her at our church house.  Just before Grandpa Scott dunked her she stalled a bit and told him to wait.  I think she wanted to be sure she had a good grip on her nose and a nice big breath.  She had been practicing going under the water in Grandma Terri's pool.  After just a short stall, she allowed Grandpa Scott to dunk her and she came up smiling so it must not have been too awful!

We were suppose to have a birthday celebration for Travis and his brother on Friday night.  Those plans were obviously tossed out the window.  So, we celebrated after lunch on Saturday.  We had cake and everyone sang to the boys.  Their boys even helped blow out their candles.

My Grandma Reeder made lemon bars.  I LOVE lemon bars.  I could eat an entire pan all by myself!  My Aunt Nikki and I were play fighting over the pan of lemon bars & I threatened to lick them all!  Travis was kind enough to take a photo of me with my lemon bars.  Guess I shouldn't have been being a smart alec when he had the camera!

Grandma Ruth, Grandpa Russ, Brooke & Sam.

 A few generations in this picture: Grandma Terri, Me, Sam, Grandma Ruth, Grandpa Russ & Brooke

So, although our weekend wasn't what we expected, it was still nice.  We all felt Grandpa Charlie's absence on Saturday during the baptism and blessing and continue to feel it today.  I am sure that we will continue to feel his absence for quite awhile.  Unfortunately I know from experience that the hurt does get easier with time.  Even though I know that it still doesn't make it any easier right now.  We are preparing to go to Mayfield for the funeral later this week.  I am grateful that we were able to stop and see Grandma Ingrid, Grandpa Charlie and Aunt Tanya on our way to Lake Powell so that Grandpa Charlie could meet Brookelyn.  I am also grateful that Travis was home so that he could say good bye.  We love you Grandpa Charlie.

We are learning...

So this is the new version of our dad babysitting (ok, he was trying to do homework & entertain her at the same time). Turns out little sister loves Taylor Swift just as much as her big sister...go figure! Travis put it on CMT & she was going nuts watching Taylor Swift's video. I should have gotten it on video because it was pretty cute. She was kicking her feet and pumping her fists and making noise at the tv.

The other day I was outside pulling weeds. Samantha was suppose to be watching Caleb. I came in to check on the kids & the bathroom door was locked & I could smell polish. The guilty party? Caleb. He had chosen pink & orange nail polish & went to work. He actually did a pretty good job painting. He did get it on his skin though & dumped some on the floor. I got it cleaned up off the floor & made him sit down so I could get it off his skin. I took it off his skin & his nails....he started crying. I felt bad. I told him if he wanted polish it had to be invisible (clear) polish. He defiantly told me he wanted "purple". I told him he could have black on his toes but only clear on his fingers. Then I realized the black had sparkles in it. Oh well, socks cover it, right? So, he currently has a base coat on his fingernails and black with sparkles on his toes. His dad isn't very happy. I however find it a victory for him & me. The clear can't be seen & the black can be covered. Plus, by giving him the black he didn't get back into the polish to do it himself or throw a fit because he didn't get his way!

Brooke looked super cute in her outfit on Sunday, so I had to take a picture.

Brooke is learning to sit up. We've busted out the Bumbo (which I am sooo excited to have). If you look close you can see the grin on sister's face in each of these pictures. I think Charlotte likes the Bumbo too because she knows Brooke won't spin circles and kick her!

On Labor Day I did a booth down in Wellsville for their Founder's Day celebration. I had gone back to my expedition to get my display with my hair bows & was talking on the phone to Travis asking him to bring me my ribbon. I shouldn't have walked where I was walking & I shouldn't have been on the phone while carrying my bows, but....I did. And, I paid the price too. I went down & my elbow caught me. My phone ended up in the irrigation ditch along with me and the hair bows and the price list. The worst part was having 2 ladies witness it all! They were very kind & helped me up. One lady even offered to let me go to her place to get some dry clothes. It isn't the greatest picture, but here is a photo of my new road rash.

I have met with 3 of the 4 principals I will be working with. I have seen my room out at Millville and will be in the library at Canyon & Wellsville. They moved our training from today to next week because the girl doing the training has the flu. I'm getting more and more excited about this new job. I think it's going to be lots of fun and all the principals seem really open to the program & excited about it! Now, if we survive Saturday, we'll be doing good!