The Fourth of July

Some of our best friends blessed their baby on Sunday so it was a fun excuse to take a few pictures.
HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!!

(Of course we have crackers in hands and mouths but this is as good as it got.)


We are so blessed to live in this country and for all that we benefit from because of it. I am so grateful to those who serve our country. We have quite a few friends and a brother-in-law serving over seas right now. I think this year has hit me the hardest because of that. There are so many who sacrifice so much so that we can enjoy this amazing country. We can go where we want, say what we think, and live what we believe. I am so grateful to live in this country and raise my kids here. I am so blessed!

Baby Noelle (Matt's baby)

My brother and his wife welcomed a new baby into their family. Noelle is a total doll and we love her so much. The first time the kids got to see her was this past Sunday and they ate it up. It was a good prep for our baby that will be here soon (hopefully).
Camy wasn't too sure about holding her but she LOVED looking at her.


Parker has always really been into babies and loves Noelle. He can't wait for our little Brynlee to be here.


Carson loves Noelle too. He is really growing up.

Articles of Faith

We told the kids that if they memorized the first 4 Articles of Faith we would take them to Chuck-E-Cheese. Carson has a harder time doing it but has worked hard at it and Parker has been amazing at it. They memorized the first four and are now working on the next four so they can go again. Is bribery a bad thing?



Carson and Camy were playing by this soccer game and we were wondering around. When we heard Carson calling Camy's name we came over and saw what had happened. I guess she didn't like not being able to reach the ball herself so she decided to take matters into her own hands.

Summertime in San Antonio

One day on our way out the door we found these cute puppies on our doorstep. The kids loved them and had a blast playing with them for a while. Luckily their owner came down the street looking for them. My kids would've tried to keep them if he hadn't.



We live on popsicles and swimming these days.




Summertime in San Antonio is a time full of new friends moving in and old friends moving away. We had some friends over to play before they moved away and my kids loved it. We should have done it more often while they were here. The boys are used to playing all the boy games and they had a tea party and did a lot of other interesting stuff. It was fun to see them use their imaginations in a different way instead of beating each other up but I may need to watch it and make sure it doesn't get out of hand. :)

T ball

We signed Parker up for T-ball at the YMCA. Their costs are a rip in the shorts but they were really organized and he LOVED it! He was on the 3-4 year old team because he turned 5 after the deadline so he was one of the older ones out there and was pretty good. There were a few days he would've rather played in the sand but all in all it was a really good experience. We started before my accident so there was a lot of help from Keeper and my parents getting him to and from practices and games but we all survived.
This past Saturday was his final game and the end of season party. He was so excited to get a trophy and medal. I think that is the most excited I've ever seen him get for each of his teammates too. Every time someone's name was called to get their trophy he started clapping really hard and had a huge grin on his face.
Now he has set up his room just like he wants it and his trophy is right by his bed and his medal is hanging from it.
We are so proud of him for sticking in there and giving it his all.

Our new addition

Last night we picked up the newest addition to our family...a 2005 Chevy Silverado. I guess there have been a few good things that have come out of this accident and a nice new (to us) truck is probably close to the top of the list. We got a great deal and Keeper is really excited to have a truck. It seats 6 so even after we have the baby, if we need to get everyone in the truck we can. We are so excited!

The accident...

Now that things are somewhat back to normal I guess I should blog about the recent trauma in my life. I'm not the best at journal writing so I kinda use this as my family journal. The last few weeks have been really tough on me and pretty hard on the family too. I thought I should document all the happenings.
On April 20th I was on my way to mutual. The road we take to the church has a ton of potholes on it, especially after it rains. Recently it had rain and so they were of course really bad. Anyway, I was driving along, excited as can be to going to mutual and I was planning on taking some pictures of the fun activity that night. In front of me there was a black car coming straight at me in my lane!!! (She said she was swerving around a pothole.) She was about 4 car lengths ahead of me and what did I do? I slammed on the brakes. When I did the car skid to the left and went in her lane where she corrected and met me pretty much head on. The airbag deployed although I don't remember it hitting me. The only thing I remember was the girl jumping out of her car on her phone screaming into it and me not able to breathe. I was 26 weeks pregnant and where the seat belt was hurt like no other! I looked up at the car and saw smoke pouring out of it. I opened the door and tried to get out of the car. There were a ton of people who had stopped by then and they kept telling me to stay seated. There was no way I was staying in that car! When I got out I realized that my left knee was killing me but I got away from the car and someone on a house close by brought me a chair to sit in until I was ready to leave. By this time I was shaking and having a hard time concentrating.
The cops showed up and didn't take a statement from me because I was loaded into the ambulance. (My first ride in an ambulance!) They cut off my clothes immediately to access the damage. My legs were both already bruising, especially my left knee, and I was bruised all along my seat belt. I think I was starting to have contractions at this point but I don't know because my stomach just hurt constantly.
I didn't have my phone. It was still in the car and when Keeper found in a couple days later it was stuck between the wheel and the frame of the car. Anyway, one of the people on their way to mutual stopped and called him for me. They also went over to our house so that he could go to the hospital.
Keeper beat the ambulance to the hospital so that worried him a little but it ended up being okay. They took me into the ER and started accessing me and the baby. Once they realized the amount of trauma/bruising they decided that their hospital wasn't equipped for that so we waited about 5 minutes for the helicopter and I was loaded into the helicopter. (My first helicopter ride and I had a stinking neck brace on and I was on a stretcher so I couldn't even look out the windows.) Keeper said later that he was trying hard not to point out things out the window so I wouldn't feel like I was missing out.
We made it to University Hospital (the trauma center for San Antonio) and they took me in and immediately started checking me out there. Rod Davis, a lifelong family friend who works at that hospital, came in then and was able to see me and relate the things that were going on to Keeper and my mom. Having him there also put me at ease too.
They checked me out and then took me back to get a CT scan to check for breaks and internal bleeding, I believe. Everything checked out okay except they wanted Otho. to check out my knee and ob. to check out the baby and the contractions I was having.
I was moved into a room where they monitored me and the baby and started me on magnesium. That stuff is horrible! It made me feel totally gross! Over the next 24 hours we had pediatricians, anesthesiologists, orthopedic surgeons, obstetricians, and a ton of other people in and out of my room preparing me for the worst. It was really scary!
The magnesium stopped the contractions and I checked out okay with everyone. There was one trauma doc that looked me right in the eye and told me I was so lucky. He pointed to my collarbone and said that should have broke, my knee should be totally trashed and the baby could've been here. I agree, I was so lucky!
After three days in the hospital I was finally cleared to go home. Hooray! It was hard to deal with the kids because they are used to being able to touch me and it hurt me when they did. My mom helped a ton with them and so did a few people in the ward and my sister-in-law. I really felt how loved I am because of all the stuff that was brought into us and all the sympathy I got.
Now, 2 weeks later, I am still sore but it's all turned out okay. My chest hurts sometimes when I breathe deep, cough or especially when I sneeze. My knee is still pretty tight but it doesn't really hurt, and my belly has a pretty bad hemotoma on it where the seat belt was and that is still really tender.
Everyday I am overwhelmed with how everything turned out. I am so blessed! I could've had so many worse injuries, I could've had a kid with me or I could be healing from a c-section while making daily hospital visits to see a tiny, 2 lb. baby. I am so blessed and I know that things turned out this way for a reason. I am grateful for the time I have with my kids everyday. It still wears on me sometimes, especially since I am still sore, but I am grateful for them and the fun I am able to have because of them. I am so grateful for Keeper and how understanding and helpful he has been through this all. Seeing the concern in his eyes through it all was pretty hard because although he wasn't going through it all physically, I knew he was hurting as much as I was. I am so grateful that this little baby gets to be a part of our family and that she is able to still have a chance of maturing more before she is born. Because I have already gone into labor, I am at a higher risk for it to happen again but the longer she is in the better. Last but not least I am grateful for all the love I've felt throughout this all. Love from family and friends and especially from my Savior. I have felt so much love Him and I know that I am still here for a reason. I know that I can get through all that this accident entails because of the love I feel from Him. I am so blessed!
The pictures of the car are on my phone and I can't get them downloaded onto the computer but there is my knee 10 day after the accident and the scene on the accident (the infamous potholes even though the city has already filled them in.)