McKay Birthday #4

Happy Birthday McKay! What?!? How are you 4 already! You keep our lives full of energy and laughter! We love you soooo Much!!! 

Here are some fun things about McKay at 4 years old:
  • 4 year Dr. Appointment: Weight: 36 pounds (48%)    Height: 3 feet 45 inches (69%)
  • McKay is my character in every way...never a dull moment with him! We love it so much! He loves to pretend to be a dinosaur or a powerful Cheetah! 
  • He is no longer taking naps! He technically could but then he would be up until super late! We decided that it is best just to do quiet time with a show or something! 
  • Thankfully he has been potty trained for a while now! Yay! Now we just need to work on getting him night potty trained! But this boy loves to pee anywhere. On occasion he has peed in the tub, or often outside, just random places that makes you shake your head and say "ugh McKay, why?!"
  • McKay is a Big time tease!  I think he just likes the big reactions he gets...Mostly does this when he is tired! Luckily however he is super sweet to his baby brother Jackson!
  • He is starting to play really well with friends! I especially love when him and Catherine are best buds! 
  • He is getting into playing with legos! Him and Caden will build legos together for awhile!
  • McKay is obsessed with gum! If you buy him a pack of gum it will be gone by the end of the day! Basically he does that with anything sweet!
  • McKay just likes to play rough! He tends to break most toys we get him, so we don't like to buy much for him anymore! "Play hard or go home" kind of mentality I guess haha
  • This boy can be the most kind kid ever! He will say thank you and please way more than the others! When he tells something nice about you it is so sweet and thoughtful! Melts your heart! He will tell us randomly all the time "I just love you"! 
  • He is getting so good at riding his bike without training wheels! 
  • McKay just has an amazing energy for life! Even the little things he will get so excited about and it is very contagious! 
  • He loves preschool and is so smart! 
  • His prayers are usually super long and the most thoughtful good prayers...very impressed by them! 

McKay's Birthday Party
We had to postpone the party by a week because we had been in the hospital with Jackson and felt a little overwhelmed with a party the next day. But when it was time for the party We went with a dinosaur birthday party theme and it turned out soo good! I wanted to make it extra special because of everything with Jackson... I wanted McKay to know how much we cared about him! McKay has so many little friends his age that are boys in our ward right now that came to his party! McKay's friends that came: Benji, Milo, James, and Boone! We started out by doing a Pin the Tail on the Dinosaur. We then had an activity for them to dig for the dino fossil which ended up being a huge mess but they had a lot of fun with it! We then did presents and cake! For his cake he wanted a Oreo cake....So i found a yummy recipe online that turned out really good! McKay had a blast with his party and all of his friends! Caden and Catherine helped play hide n' go seek with the kids downstairs until the parents came to pick them up!











McKay's quick little photoshoot that I did with him! Literally took us like ten minutes before meeting up with friends at the park! 






Catherine Birthday #7

Happy Birthday Catherine!! We love you so much!

Here are some fun things about Catherine at 7 years old:

  • 7 year Dr. Appointment: Weight: 49 pounds (40%)    Height: 4 feet 25 inches (52%)
  • Catherine loves school! Being at school a full day for 1st grade has not bothered her one bit! She has a huge desire to be able to read like Caden and is definitely getting better each day! Her teacher has told me many times how she is so kind to others at school! 
  • She has a big heart and wants everyone to be happy! She definitely hates it when I am upset with her...she will tell me to be nice to her! 
  • I call her my little mommy! She is seriously the best helper with Jackson and she loves to take care of him!
  • Sports come so naturally to this girl! I can't wait to see what she ends up doing but as of this next year we will be just experimenting with a little bit of everything! Right now she is currently doing tumbling and gymnastics and she is so good! She is able to do all sorts of flips and tricks on the ground now and is still always doing cartwheels around the house! We hope to start her in volleyball in the fall!
  • She loves playing with Grace and Andie! When she plays with them it is usually dress up or mommy!
  • She still loves worms, rollie pollies, and lady bugs! 
  • She loves to ride her bike and go running with us on occasions! 
  • She loves to color and draw pictures!
  • She is very much like me in many ways...good and the bad! She can definitely have attitude and be feisty but then on the other hand she can be very sweet and considerate of others feelings!
  • She is obsessed with bandaids! She insists on having one on for the tiniest cuts that might not even be bleeding! We go through so many bandaids! 

Catherine's Birthday Party!
I started her special day by getting up early to make her whatever she wanted for breakfast which was waffles and sausage! Which was a big deal for me to do that for her because I don't like waking up early...but anything for my sweet girl! We did her party on her actual birthday this year and I personally think that it was the best birthday party she has had so far! It was so cute and they all had so much fun! The party theme was Painting and it worked out perfectly for me to hire Britney to come teach an art class! Luckily she has done them lots before and had all the equipment! Seriously the cutest thing ever! She had a good turnout of friends that came: Grace, Andie, Hazel, Mila, Lucy, Morgan, Layla, and Melinda. For her cake we decided to do something a little different, I made her fruit pizza! It was actually really yummy and Catherine loved it! She had so much fun painting and being with her friends!















Catherine's Mini Photoshoot that I did for her: The first one we wanted to do a comparison from when she was three! Man oh man she has grown up so much! I miss those chunky cheeks! But still beautiful inside and out! I just love her to pieces!








March 2022

Ok I knew March was going to be crazy busy just because we have two birthdays in this month and I started coaching Javelin at Herriman High School at the beginning of the month.....but I had no idea that it was going to end like that! Crazy month! So let's get started!

These two love to match...Catherine especially gets super giddy and happy when she can match someone!

March 5th: Chris has been working on getting the garage fixed up so we can start doing videos for House2Home!

March 6th: It snowed again! This time the kids were able to make a really awesome snowman all by themselves! Every time it snows I will also find a mini snowman in our deep freezer too! haha Caden still will go outside and shoot hoops for awhile almost every day! 



March 12th: Catherine and I went on a mommy daughter date to go watch the BYU Gymnastics! We wanted to go see it before she starts gymnastics to see what she is getting into! She loved it and is so excited to start! While we were there we got a cougar tail and Catherine got to meet Cosmo! Afterwards we went to Zupas for lunch and then we went to RC Willy to find her a bed to order for her birthday! We had a fun day together! That evening Chris and I went on a date together! We went out to eat and then went rock climbing! It was a lot of fun and we decided that we should bring our kids on mini dates to go rock climbing too! They would have so much fun! 






March 16th: Happy Birthday Drew! We did the Drew celebration challenge by eating some Hungarian food, went and got my moles checked, and some other little challenges! We kept it simple this year because we were super busy and we didn't want to win two years in a row!


March 17th: Happy St. Patties Day! The leprechaun came! The kids always get excited to make traps! Today was when I went to get my moles checked! Everything looked great and I was able to get my scar to be injected to shrink it! We were going to go to the Claytons for our Annual Patties Day but they were sick so we decided to go try The Grill! The kids had fun seeing all of the cars! We needed a good family outing! 









March 18th: Caden went to his friend Dax's house! I thought it was funny how they were both wearing their favorite college! Caden has a good group of friends that he likes to hang out with!

March 19th: Super busy day for us! First thing in the Morning Chris had his Warehouse sell for Little Road Co. He took Caden and Catherine with him. I dropped McKay off at the Clayton's house for Jame's birthday party on my way to my first Herriman home invite! We had planned that I would take Jackson with me...Luckily the head coach's wife was there and was willing to let Jackson take a nap in her van because it was Super cold outside! Once Chris was done with the sell he picked up McKay from the party and then came and got Jackson! Good thing he did because running the Javelin by myself took a lot longer than I anticipated and it was just cold! 






March 21st: Catherine's Birthday! On a separate Post!
March 22nd: Right when we thought we were finally NOT going to have a super busy week the most unexpected, life changing, crazy thing happened!!! Worst night of my life!! My baby Jackson swallowed a button battery right when I was about to make dinner…no idea where he found that! I didn't even know what he swallowed, I thought it was like a chip or something that got stuck or scratched down his throat! He unexpectedly started crying and dry heaving/ gagging!! I immediately started patting his back but nothing was coming out and after a few minutes he stopped gagging and was just super fussy. He just wanted to be held and snuggle but I could tell he was still hurting and occasionally he would still gag. After calling the pediatrician we thought it best to take him to the emergency in Riverton. They probably thought I was an over paranoid mom because all his vitals came back normal but they decided to take a X-ray just to be sure and sure enough there was definitely something there! I thought for sure is was a magnet but they said that they are 99.9% sure is is a button battery! No idea where that come from! They then tried getting an iv in several times with no success and then decided to just put us in an ambulance and send us up to primary childrens. They then attempted several more times to get an iv in with no success. With it being a time sensitive issue they decided to just get him put under and then get the iv in and start the procedure! That was by far the hardest part for me handing over my baby to a complete stranger! But we quickly gave him a blessing and handed him over. The procedure took about an hour!! It was for sure a battery that got stuck at his esophagus and was starting to burn away! Definitely some damage done but man are we lucky! They said if we would have waited another 30-60 minutes that he could have died! He will need to stay in the hospital for a few more days and have to keep using the feeding tube for a week!! But long term wise they say everything is looking good! Man oh man the first night was a very long night for both Jackson and I. He was hooked up to five different cords and kept getting all tangled up. Definitely was not looking forward to more night of this! They originally planned to send us home after a few days but every time they would take his oxygen out his levels would drop down significantly! We didn't think we could handle doing the feeding tube and oxygen at home and constantly being worried. So we decided to stay until he stabilizes! We are super glad we did but it was not easy being in the hospital for a full week! At first it wasn't too bad when we could go on walks throughout the hospital but a couple days into being there they tested him again for covid (they tested when we first got there and it was negative, not sure why they tested again) and sure enough he tested positive for covid! So dumb...I even got tested and I was negative! But regardless they made us quarantine to our room only! Blah! Luckily about half way through the week they got us switched over to a room that had a window! That was such a relief, before we were in a room with no window and it felt like a cave! I think it helped with Jackson's recovery too because shortly after that he started improving. By the 7th day he was able to have the feeding tube out, ivy out, and oxygen out! Free!!! And we were able to go home!! Such a huge relieve to go home! I seriously felt like I was in prison for a week! It was a long week but thankfully we had so much help from our ward helping out with kids and meals! Chris was awesome about going home each night and taking care of kids. I stayed at the hospital with Jackson the whole time except for when Chris would come and I would go over to Matt and Kaitlin's house to shower and get a breathe of fresh air! Kaitlin was awesome and a few times brought me dinner to the hospital and stayed with me for a little bit to give me company when Chris was not there! We definitely saw the Lords hand through the service of others! Felt all the prayers! Throughout the whole process I felt like I was blessed with overall calmness like I knew everything would work out! Things could have been a lot worse...it is a huge humbling experience to be in the hospital seeing all of these kids going through way worse! We still have a long road of recovery but so glad my baby is home and doing much better! Sheesh what a week! and a crazy way to end the month!


















So grateful for all those that helped out with McKay and the other kids! McKay got to play at other people's houses a lot! Chris deep cleaned the whole house and found lots of junk under the oven!




March 29th: Freedom! We get to go home!!! Jackson was so happy to be free of all the cords! He hated them! The kids surprised us by cleaning the house and made lots of posters all over for us! I continued to sleep in Jackson's room for the next week just to be sure he was breathing ok!  Jackson was so happy to be home and crawl around! He missed his brothers and sister so much! It was so cute when he gave Catherine a big hug! 





March 30th: McKay's Birthday! Had to celebrate a week late because we were not ready! Regardless his birthday is on a separate post! Also the day after we got home our shower got remodeled! I was going to reschedule but then we would have had to wait another couple months and I had already paid for it! Love how it turned out though! Just rotten timing with all the hospital expenses! Thank goodness for insurance because the total bill was $35,000!! We still had to hit our deductible at $7,000! Yuck!