the weekend

Friday night we had the Allen family over for foil dinners & smores.
The kids enjoyed hanging out & watching Toy Story 3.

Saturday we planted some flowers together.

We put one on the front windowsill & the other three on the back fence.

The flower boxes were actually old welding rod boxes.

Laun sold the welding rods & now we have four cool planter boxes.

Lucy & Jeff came to Tucson today so we went out to Chili's for a late lunch & then to the UofA football game. This was our first time to go to a UofA game & we had fun-even though it was pretty cold outside. Brittany watched our kids & it was fun to have a date night.

Darlene & Jonathan:

Laun & Cat:

Lucy & Jeff:

And for the rest of the night I wore a sweater, a jacket, & mittens & I was still chilly. It was such a pretty night though & I loved being up high & enjoying the view.

The band was pretty impressive-they spelled out UofA & made the big A.

UofA lost to USC. Luckily we had a long walk back to our truck & that helped me to warm up just in time for dessert at Frost Gelato:

Frost Gelato is so delicious & it is amazingly healthier than ice cream.

Sunday was Stake Conference (yea- no primary duties today) & we had a broadcast from H.David Burton the Presiding Bishop, Barbara Thompson the second counselor in the RS General Presidency, Quentin L. Cook from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and our beloved Prophet Thomas S. Monson. Afterward we had roast, potatoes, carrots, & lemonade thanks to Laun. Then Lucy & Jeff had to head home. Then another thing I love about Sundays is nap & a movie. After naps we watched the Karate Kid & enjoyed popcorn.

The boys kept themselves busy playing (or just fighting over) their big checker set & the magnet toys. I downloaded pictures this morning & found these pictures taken by Clayton I'm guessing:

Porter's creation-don't mess with it or he will flip out.

And now I am wishing it was still the weekend because Monday equals laundry & hw-Blah!

There was a little girl-who had a little curl

Yesterday I put Marlee's hair in this little braid bun & when I took it out she had 80's hair:


This gave me the idea to try soft curlers again (I tried them once when she was a baby with no success) & I was so surprised at how well she sat still. I think playing with all the soft curlers was a great distraction for her.


This morning we woke her up & to my surprise she didn't pull out any of the curlers- success!
I think she is so cute with her fro of curls.

And when she dances her curls bounce & it makes me want to cry how much I love her!

I am having way too much fun with this little girl.

Veteran's Day

Laun went hunting with Jaime this morning & brought home some rabbits. The boys helped skin them & get the meat off. The boys love helping Laun & learning new skills. Can you skin a rabbit? I can't & I don't even like to watch it being done so, I took Marlee with me to get my blood drawn. This week has been full of Dr. appointments & tests. The good thing is I'm pretty sure hypertension is being ruled out (which is awesome because you can't get pregnant if you have hypertension & it can lead to living on an oxygen machine, oh yeah & I think heart failure eventually-sounds fun, darn). So my heart seems to have gone back down but my pulmonary artery is still enlarged. When I'm done being a lab rat & the results come back from the echo, x-ray, blood work, etc., hopefully everything will be resolved & we will have answers. I'm thinking that from my pneumonia & valley fever (I tested positive for that too) that maybe I just got a bad case & my body freaked out on me. I'm feeling confident that everything is probably fine & I just needed to have all these Dr. appointments & tests to feel up my free time:) Also Clayton went to the Dr. this week because he has been complaining of headaches off & on for 2 weeks now & we found out that he has a sinus infection-poor kid, I should have gotten him in last week.

Laun built an extension on to the rabbit cage since it is so crowded & we can't sell the bunnies for another 2 weeks. The kids love helping their dad with projects.

The bunnies are in heaven having more room or maybe they just like their new tube slide.

It was so fun watching them go up & down-they're like kids with a new toy, very cute.

Catherine (me) a.k.a. mother

I think that being a mother is the greatest but hardest job ever. Being a homemaker includes so many responsibilities and important/essential qualities. In some areas I do great and in other areas I fall short but, that is just life and part of being human. When I get discouraged my kids can lift me higher with the wonderful things they say to me (not that they always say wonderful things to me, but we won't get into that right now).

Wonderful things, such as:

Clayton-"Mom, you make the best jumbo chocolate chip cookies ever!"

Porter- "Whenever I go on trips without you mom, I miss you."

Cooper- Well he never made a sound, his body had just been through so much. But he did open his eyes one time and it was when I was there with him in the nicu. And Laun told me that he thinks Cooper just wanted to see his mom before he went back to heaven.

Marlee- The other day I was kissing Marlee on the face over and over again and she said, "Thank you mom, thank you mom, thank you mom."

I love my kids so much and even though being a mother is a 24/7 job that has many challenges, the rewards are the best. I am grateful to be the mother of four wonderful children and I am thankful for my husband and children who love me despite my many, many faults. Their sweet words and actions towards me melt my heart and encourage me to be better.

Nothing attracts a crowd like food:

I can't believe how fast these bunnies have grown!
Laun took all these great pictures of the bunnies.

When Bird-Dogs Fly (over the fence that is)

Our cat Buddy has grown fast. He looks so much like his mom Alley. And this poor cat is lonely because yesterday our dog Sage escaped from our yard and is gone. Sage had the tendency to climb up on anything, get on the top of the shed, walk the fence, and jump out to our front yard or into a neighbors yard. She has done this plenty of times before but we usually find her near our house. This time though I think she is gone for sure. I just hope that someone nice found her and is taking good care of her, if they can keep her in their yard that is. So now poor Buddy is all alone (well with just the rabbits) and we are well aware of it; he comes to the doors or the window and "cries". Although I'm sure he won't miss being chased around the yard by Sage.

Reid Park Zoo

The kids & I met up with Rachel Allen & her kiddos at the zoo.

Clayton has been taking photos lately with my little camera & it is fun when I download the pictures to see what he has taken. He used my camera so much of the time, that I might as well just buy him his own. He took this picture of the peacock & many more.


The kids all checking out the polar bear swimming. The Allen girls were always helping Marlee or carrying her around, they are like built in babysitters.



I had to get a picture of this tortoise because I was almost convinced it was dead when I first saw it. It cracks me up how its legs look.



A moment where the boys were getting along;)

Feeding the fish- thankfully Rachel had coins so the boys got fish food to throw out to all of the huge fishes.

I love how bored the 2 little ones look- looking on as the older kids fed fish.

I think these monkeys are always the most entertaining part of the whole zoo (I was talking about the animals, not the children).

Marlee did not like hatching from an egg.

A photo Clay took of some funky bird.

King of the ant hill.

Marlee with her leash......I mean backpack. I used to see kids wearing these things before I was a mom & thought it was so mean. But now I see it more as freedom for both the mother & the child. Marlee loves to wear the backpack but, I am not sure how much she likes that there is a leash attached to it. She had fun checking out the animals & being doted on by all the Allen girls.

It was fun to get out of the house & to hang out with friends.

yesterday

I was loving on this baby...

We drove to phx & Laun sold some auto parts. We also got to hang out with my parents, my sister Rachel, her hubby Brandon, & most important of all their baby girl Lydia. While we were there, Laun bought a new front seat for our truck, now we can fit 3 people across instead of just 2. It will be nice to have more room, plus on the way home I got to sit right next to Laun without a console in between us. And luckily I still found time to squeeze in my homework.