American Idol?

Today we went to Silly Town playground in Rosenberg, Texas with a bunch of our friends. Suddenly Jace gets up on stage and starts singing Karaoke in front of everyone there. He was singing "I love you Lord" a song that he sings at school. When he was finished I asked him what he was doing and he said, "I'm practicing so I can sing on t.v."

Lauren trying to decide if she is going to participate in all of Jace's silliness:)

A Super Hero Christmas

The boys wish this Christmas was to get super hero costumes. Actually, the only thing Kai wanted was a real red light saber (Darth Vader's). Jace wanted a Spiderman costume, a blue light saber, and a teddy bear. To our surprise Christmas morning Santa did indeed come through.

Everyone in the family including mommy got a Star Wars light saber.

Temple Square

This past week when we were in Utah we were able to visit Temple Square. Temple Square has come up in many of our family home evenings over the past several months and the boys were ecstatic to finally be able to see where General Conference is held every six months, the temple where mommy and daddy were married, and all of the many historical events associated with the church. It was a wonderful experience living away for the past five years to be able to visit Temple Square as a family for the first time.

Boys will be boys:) Both boys said that one of their favorite parts about visiting Temple Square was the train ride (Trax).

Kurtis and Jen's Wedding

This past weekend (I still have to backdate this post it did not really happen this past weekend) we drove to Utah to attend one of Brandon's best friend's weddings. The wedding was absolutely beautiful.

The boys had a blast trying to find every little hiding place they could on the Temple grounds...

Later that night we attended Kurtis and Jen's reception. I think it was probably the most exciting reception we have ever attended; you see, Kurtis and Jen met in a Kung Fu class, and Kurtis was Jen's See Fu (instructor). So in honor of Kung Fu that night they had a Chinese Dragon Dance. Jace had so much fun with this:) Kai was absolutely terrified so Kai and I hid outside until the dragon was gone.

Jen, Jake, Alyssa, Brandon, Kurtis, Jen

Thanks Kurtis and Jen! We had a blast this weekend and congrats...we love you guys and are so happy for you:-)

Road Trip to Utah

I think driving to Utah from Katy, Texas is the most crazy idea we have had our entire marriage (okay, maybe not as crazy as evacuating for Hurricane Rita). Driving to SLC took 24 hours to drive one way not including stops. We had some time in our lives so we figured this was the one and only chance we would ever have to do something crazy like this. Many have asked if we would do it again? The answer is "NO"!! We stopped at maybe 13 parks and playgrounds on the way (not including the 8 McDonald's with playgrounds) and were completely exhausted when we arrived in SLC. At least, Brandon and I were.

One of the many playgrounds

Jace and Kai being goofy at the hotel in New Mexico

Jace's Wednesday that changed our lives...

Last Wednesday Jace was running, slipped and cut his face on the edge of our wood bed frame. He was in surgery most of the night. Believe it or not many miracles happened in this process and it flowed very well. At the time it seemed like a nightmare.

I was in a 5:45 step class when it happened. Brandon ran into our bedroom to find Jace standing in a pool of blood. He then fell to the ground and proceeded to drag his face across the carpet. Brandon picked him up and started to cradle him only to find his eye sockets had filled with blood and he could no longer see his eyes. He quickly put him in our bathtub to grab a wet towel. When he came back the tub was full of blood and he realized Jace could possibly bleed to death. He threw both kids in their car seats and ran back inside to grab his phone, keys, and to spray a whole can of carpet 409 on our blood stained carpet (we received it as a wedding gift and I have never finished using it because I didn't think it worked well.) The whole time he was driving he was having the gym page me but, you can't hear pages in a class (she must have been new).

When I finally got to the ER a nurse practitioner was going to stitch Jace up. I insisted on a plastic surgeon. The staff told me that because they are a smaller hospital they do not have P.S. on staff and had we gone to a larger hospital that would have been an option. I put my foot down one more time and the P.S. was there in no time.

When the P.S. got there we realized that the cut was much worse than expected. They sent him to surgery and after recreating the muscle and fat tissue they stitched him up. The P.S. said, "that side of Jaces's face would have been paralyzed if the N.P. had stitched up the top layer of skin because she would not have known anything about the muscle being damaged." He still needs two more surgery's in the future but it is a miracle how well it looks now.

The entire process went very smoothly and we were blessed and continue to be blessed. Brandon did such an awesome job and I am so proud of him. I would have never been able to pull it off like he did had the roles been reversed. (Even the carpet looks like nothing ever happened.) Jace was on bed rest for a week. He received many packages and visitors with fun things for him to do while on bed rest. Up above is the picture of Jace's face before surgery. The white is the muscle and fat tissue. You can't help but notice he is smiling. That is how Jace approaches everything in life. We love you buddy and are so happy you are okay. Thank you everyone for your love and support.

Jace after surgery

Ashton visiting Jace while on bed rest. I think Ashton might have really come over to visit the PS2.

I think if you ask Jace he would say that this week has been the best week of his life. Missing school, soccer, primary, and swim lessons to play PS2. Enjoy it while it lasts!!

Who Would of thought Walmart?!

So Jace and I were doing a little shopping at Walmart the other day and stumbled across a face painting booth. Of course he wanted to have his face painted and of course I let him (only because I did not have both kids with me). The one condition is that when they painted his face they had to paint Tony the Tiger!! He got a kick out of this and I have to admit I thought it was pretty cute.

Brock's Birthday Party with the Firemen

This is the crew everyone of them except for Sydney. These nine kids have become apart of our families everyday lives. Their parents are our best friends and the kids are our kids best friends. I am truly grateful that my kids have such a great group of friends and, that Brandon and I do too. Happy Birthday Brockton...we love you!!

Aren't they the cutest little firemen you have ever seen?

Thirtieth Birthday

My birthday was the best thanks to family and friends. After getting home from San Diego my girlfriends took me out to dinner and a movie to celebrate. On the night of my birthday Brandon and I went out to one of our top five favorite restaurants "Cheweys". My good friend Andrea made a cake for my birthday and we were not able to eat it until the next morning..so the kids and I ate it for breakfast. Jace was so excited to have cake for breakfast that he asked if we could all eat cake again for breakfast on his thirtieth birthday. Of course I agreed!! Thanks everyone for a wonderful birthday. You are the best!!

Sunny San Diego

This past week we decided to celebrate our seventh anniversary, my thirtieth birthday, and attend one of Brandon's best friends weddings in San Diego. Our friends the Nixon's offered to watch our kids while we took off!!

The Boys

Jake and Kim

KAI AND HIS BIG BOY BED

I must say that moving Kai to a big boy bed was so much easier than moving Jace to a bed. Since day one Jace would get out of his bed several times before he actually fell asleep on the floor in his bedroom. At one point we had to ask the pediatrician if this was normal and if she had any advice on getting Jace to sleep in his bed rather than the floor. These pictures were taken several months earlier so I can honestly say that my little Kai has never ever gotten out of bed and calls for me to come and get him in the morning. I love my little pirate!!

Father's Day

Father's Day

This Father's Day we decided to head to the beach to take pictures of the boys before heading to church. It makes me happy to see that they enjoy the beach as much as I do. I feel that when you spend most of your life living near the beach it takes on a whole new meaning.