Off to L.B.

Rory really enjoys taking out every single towel and washcloth from my drawer and then laying each one very nicely on top of one of her stuffed animals.  She probably does this at least a couple times a day.

She also likes to take several things with her when we leave to go somewhere...in this case it was her baby and baby carrier.  And if you think I could have gotten her leave the carrier...oh no, she wasn't having it!  The carrier needed to go too!  She dragged these two things with her for about a week straight.

In other news...I'm flying out of town tomorrow.  I'm going to be with my mom for a week to help with her recovery from surgery, which went very well!  We are all so thankful!!  My mother-in-law has flown in to help Ryan with the kids for the week while I'm gone.  I'm so blessed to have family that are willing to help at the drop of a hat!  Seriously, she is an amazing mother-in-law...I'm so lucky!

Not only will I be there for my mom, but we have just found out that my grandmother, who also lives out there has had another  stroke...her fourth one in the last four months.  It has been extremely devastating news.

It feels like everything is happening all at once...it has been so difficult for my family.

This will be the first time that I've every been away from my children for this long...it will be very weird and heartbreaking for me to leave them.  I know they will be taken care of, but they are so much of my identity, it's strange not to have a child with me.  I will miss them terribly.  And of course Ryan too!

Surgery.

As I type this my mom is in surgery...this surgery is not an easy one for the doctors and her recovery will be very difficult.  I'm on edge as I not so patiently wait for the call that everything went well.  My family has been fasting for her today and praying...it feels good that I can do those things...that I can do something for her when I'm over 600 miles away.

I hate that she has to go through this again...I just hate it.
We love her so much.

Just me and the girls.

So like I said in an earlier post Ryan has been out of town this week...he'll be back late tomorrow night...we can't wait to see him!  I'm not a fan of being home by myself, it gets especially lonely at night.  But I'm always super proud of myself when I make it to the end without going completely nuts!  Honestly, the week has gone quite well.  No big disasters, no injuries to speak of, and no sickness...it's a miracle really!

My brother, Jeffy, comes over often to keep me company...it's so nice to have him around!  When he walks in the door Piper shouts out, "It's Jeffy Boy!!"...actually it sounds more like "Teffy Boy".  I love that she always calls him that...it cracks me up.

Happy Thursday.

P-Town Cross and Survivor

We have shifted gears from mountain biking to cross racing this month.  So for the next several weeks we'll be loading up the family every Wednesday to watch Ryan race at the P-Town Cross series.  Last week we brought the girls' bikes so they could do the kids race.  Haley was able to try out her new cross bike!  

 I think Morgan is ready for a bigger bike!

Ryan hit a branch with his face...hence the blood.

In other news...today is the Survivor: Blood vs. Water premiere.

Ryan and I do like ourselves a good Survivor series...and it's even better when there is someone we know on the show!  Our friend Tyson Apostle is back on it for the third time!!

Come on Tyson...I think it's about time you win it!!

Tyson and Ryan.

So you know what we'll be watching every week!  But unfortunately, I don't have normal TV so I will be watching the premiere on Thursday on CBS.  So don't be spilling the beans and telling me everything that happens before I get a chance to see it!!

Weekend Review and Girls Day Out

Look at those faces!  I may be biased, but I think Ryan and I make some pretty cute kids!!

Speaking of Ryan...he left to Vegas Friday morning so I've been on my own for the past few days and will continue to be on my own until Friday late.  Things have been going pretty well so far...we hit up the library and Chalk the Block Saturday.  Oh and Saturday night I put the little ones to bed and then Haley, Morgan and I stayed up late watching the first half of Anne of Green Gables!  We made popcorn and everything!!  So fun!  We just recently finished reading the book.  They seemed to really enjoy the movie...I think we'll watch the second half of the movie Friday night.

On Sunday we hit up church and then hung out at home the rest of the day.

Today was my good friend's birthday and to celebrate her husband rented a convertible mustang, and then two other friends and I drove it to her house, handed her the keys and kidnapped her for the day...it was a total surprise!  We drove to Salt Lake and shopped at Sephora (I even splurged and bought myself the Urban Decay Basics Palette...something I NEVER do).  And then we drove back to Happy Valley and up the Canyon to have lunch at Sundance.  It was such a fun girls day out!! What a great way to celebrate a birthday!  And thanks to her husband who watched my kids for the entire time!

Kids and Phones

Kids love phones, don't they?  And I don't even have anything cool on my phone for them to do...no games, no special features, no nothing.  But they can sit and scroll through my pictures forever!  And every so often they sneak off with it just for me to get it back with all sorts of little things done to it.  

Here are a couple of little treasures I found recently:

A selfie.

And this gem: She took a little video.  

I was chillin' with my brother and his girlfriend talking about a movie that Haley didn't like.

Things you will see in Piper's clip: 

My brother's feet, reeeeally close up.

My dirty floor.

A mischievous laugh.

A cough in your face...or I should say on my phone...lovely.

Have a nice weekend ya'll!

Difficult Times

A rainbow from last week, right outside our front door.

It's been an extremely difficult week and I haven't felt much like blogging.  We received some very devastating news this month...my mom has cancer again.  

We had just celebrated her five year mark from her first cancer diagnosis this last Spring...it was such a happy milestone.  And now this.

She has clear cell carcinoma which is a very rare and very aggressive type of cancer.  However, the good news is that from her CT scan results the cancer has not spread...an answer to all our prayers.  She will be going into surgery next week and will have to undergo chemo again.  

 She's a fighter...we all are...it's in our blood.

But prayers help too...please keep our family in yours.

Weekend Review

Unfortunately, things didn't quite go as planned.  As you know Morgan left early Friday morning for the Fort Bridger Mountain Man Rendezvous with friends.  Our plan was to leave Saturday morning to spend the day there and bring Morgan home.  Well, what do you know...both Piper and Rory got sick Friday night.  What kind of sick you ask?  Let's just say a lot of sheets were changed, kids bathed, and lots of cleansers were involved.  So our little plan backfired.  We let Morgan stay another day in Fort Bridger and our plan B was to try again Sunday to drive up there giving Piper and Rory a day to recover. 

 Saturday looked a lot like this:

They were not feeling well at all and pretty much slept ALL day.  Piper was coming around but Rory could not keep anything down...not even a few ice chips.  And they were both feverish.

When Sunday rolled around they were still not well enough to go on a day trip to Wyoming.  So, I stayed home to nurse my wee ones back to health while everyone else (my brothers went as well) loaded up and headed out.  

So while my day looked like this:

And this:

Oh, my poor babies...just seeing these pictures makes my heart break. 

(FYI: They are doing much better)

Ryan's outing with the older girls at Fort Bridger looked like a lot of fun!

Morgan after three days of camping...oh, how we missed her!

Their campsite.  Looks pretty darn good to me!

Morgan sitting with our good friend Steve.

He's the mountain man behind this whole thing.

Morgan and Campbelle.

I'm so glad Haley had a chance to get up there, she fit right in!

Jeff, doing some tomahawk throwing.

Jen and Jeff.

I was bummed to have missed it...Sunday was a slow, and very long day for me.  But luckily Monday (Labor Day) we were ALL able to get out!  In fact we went to the Sheepdog Championships in Soldier Hollow.  Our friend, Tyson, hooked us up with some free tickets.  It turned out to be a really cool event...it's absolutely amazing what these border collies can do!!

This is the only picture I took that day, and it's a really bad one at that.

Then Jeff hosted a fabulous BBQ at his house that night!  It was nice to get out after a very long weekend!