Counting Life's blessings

Megan called Sunday evening and was feeling strange pains. We chatted a bit and then she decided to head to the emergency room. They (Wes & Meg) dropped their kids off on the way and by then she her pain had greatly intensified. We finally got a call at 2 am Monday morning with the conclusion from the many tests they had ran on her and Megan had a tumor (not cancer) on her ovary. They scheduled the surgery for that morning and we all waited. Bryce left the house around 5:30 am to help Wes administer a blessing and not long after around 6:45 she headed into surgery. The surgery was a success. When the doctor removed the tumor there was another small one behind it which he removed as well. A small part of her ovary was removed as well but he assured her that it shouldn't affect fertility. The surgery was a laparatomy. She spent the day recovery with Wes by her side and was sent home last evening.

When something like this happens, I am reminded once again, of the wonderful blessings that we continue to experience in our lives. She was so lucky to discover this now before it twisted and caused far more problems. There were no complications from the surgery and all is well at the Stewart's and Croxford's homes! I am so grateful for the power of the priesthood in our lives. What a huge blessing. I am grateful for family! Everyone here jumps right in to help out! I am so lucky to have a family like this - Another blessing! I am sitting here reflecting the events of yesterday and truly my heart is full of gratitude to our Heavenly Father. Before all this happened I was feeling a bit stressed because my house was in disaray, my shopping was not as far as I had hoped, and I have been feeling very tired, then something like this happens and perspective is once again restored and all of the sudden those things that seemed so important to me seem very small!
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Thanksgiving is in 2 days and I am so grateful for all my many blessings. I am praying for Megan's speedy recovery, and looking for to my days filled with little people and their silliness. I will have to post some pics as I'm sure we will experience an extra dose of the already craziness we live in and love! Wes is dropping Kolton and Micah off on the way to work today! The house is still quiet, Jesse just left for school and I am going to end this post and quickly get myself some breakfast before I tackle my busy herd today! Happy Thanksgiving week to any who may read this post!

Halloween Week....

Don't you just love the holidays? Halloween this year was great! Our family had a fun evening at the Cornbelly's pumpkin patch.

A few nights later on Halloween, we began our preparations for the big night that afternoon carving pumpkins, adding last minute decorations and eating a spooky Halloween dinner together.

Melinda then, went up to Logan to spend the night at a party with friends Jesse headed over to his friend's house for trick or treating and a sleepover, while Bryce and I took the kids to the church for trunk or treat and then around some of the neighborhood. It was a blast. Megan and Weston, Kolton and Micah joined us after their night at Weston's parents and we ate goodies and wound out! It was a great holiday. We are still reading the books! (my new favorite Halloween story for the kids is "Room on the Broom" I have a passion for children's books and this one is darling if you are looking to add to your collection!)

These "witches" cannot be trusted.....

Everyday is an adventure when you have 3 toddlers! Today was no exception. Josh and Nate put on their witch hats and gathered their "brooms" and off they went flying through the house. It was about 7:30 or 8 pm and Bryce and I were in the family room feeding Abby. Suddenly, we realized that it was too quiet. Melinda had left to go out with friends a few minutes before this. Well, as I got up and went around the corner I noticed that the front door was WIDE open. YIKES! (We usually keep this locked at all times) anyway, I stepped out and did not see the kids. I called to them and heard faint voices up the street. "Come home now" I hollered and from next door I saw Hallie and Nathan running t'wards our house. Still, where was Josh? I could hear him saying, "I'm coming, mommy"! Nathan and Hallie ran right past me on the porch into the house and still I'm hollering for Josh to come home now. Bryce is right inside the door and I can hear him saying, "where did they get these cookies?" Cookies? We don't have any cookies??? Meanwhile, here comes Josh, carrying something. I meet him on the porch and guess what he has? A plate full of cookies! On top of the plate is a note that says "DJ and Melisa, we love you guys!" (DJ and Melisa are our next door neighbors. YIKES my kids have just taken some cookies that were left on the porch for our neighbors. Bryce quickly took the plate back as the boys finished the cookies they were munching on. This is definately a first. I guess we will be baking some more cookies today for our neighbors, DJ and Melisa. (sigh) LOL There is truly NEVER a dull moment around here. I really need to blog more often because I know I will enjoy reading all these crazy things later. I wonder what today will bring? ;o)

Already Another Month Gone By..Time to catch up for October, Disneylan,d, Halloween etc.

October was a blast! We had so much fun in Disneyland! The entire family went. We rented a house in Huntington Beach and spent 3 wonderful (excluding the few meltdowns we know we are bound to have with 6 babies on board) days in the Magic Kingdom, as well as a fun day at the beach. Where do I begin?

We left for California Friday, October 10, and drove to Vegas where we spent the night at the Smith's home! (Thank you Smiths) We drove in to California the next day. The house was perfect. Four houses down from a beautiful park. Bryce had purchased a GPS from Costco before we left and I will gladly be an advocate for this wonderful technology. You drive right up to wherever you are going! It's sooo easy and you can locate anything in your immediate surrounding that you are looking for, gas stations, grocery stores, entertainment, hotels (for an emergency night's stay on the way home when you are in the middle of nowhere and your twins start throwing up in the car. Will get to that later!) Anyway, it was great.

Now, I have to say that I CAREFULLY researched a great time to visit Disneyland because I wanted to go during a time where crowds would be thin. I talked to people on websites about October etc. We then picked our days and began our adventure. Not one person remembered to mention that Columbus day would be a crowded time to visit the magic kingdom there were over 54,000 people there! Luckily the other 2 days were not as crowded as this. Needless to say, we spent a great deal of time at Toon Town with the toddlers and the other kids went over to California Adventure where it wasn't nearly as crowded. It was a good day anyway, and we were lucky enough to get to see the beautiful firework show which is really, truly magnificent! I've never seen anything quite like it.