Sunday thought

The greatest of all faults is to be conscious of none.
-Carlyle

don't have a clue who Carlyle is, but I sure liked it.

Bitter Sweet Week

Good news- Fiona had her baby. Seriously I AM IN LOVE. Everything went really well, but of course we missed the birth by about an hour.

Very, very bad news- Our beloved Fiona died five days after giving birth. It was such a sad thing to watch. She had a very severe case of colic (where the insides get all twisted) and I had to call the vet to come put her down (Miah was out of town). The saddest part was watching the little filly snuggling her mom even after she passed......heart wrenching. It really was so terribly sad.

We loved Fiona. When Miah and his brother Adam starting getting into horses, Fiona was the first horse they got. Adam raised and trained her and eventually gave her to Angi as a gift. Angi and I took riding lessons on her, and since then she is the only horse that I have felt comfortable riding. We all had a special attachment to her and I felt so horrible calling Adam and Ang (bawling) to ask them if we should put her down. She was in so much pain and Adam knew it was what we had to do.

The upside is that I have completely fallin' in Love with this adorable little baby (Little Fiona). If I ramble here, please excuse me, I am talking as a proud mother. She is the calmest, cutest thing I have ever seen. Since her mom died I have had to play the part. I have had the privilege of being able to feed her every two hours, which really means I have been out with her nonstop because it takes about an hour to get her to eat what she needs and by the time that feeding is over, it is time for the new one to begin. With Miah out of town, I had my mom come sleep over so that I could stay out with Little Fiona and she could sleep inside with my birth children.

The first night out with her was so sweet. I knew she had to be tired but she wouldn't lie down so I sat in the straw and sure enough about 15 seconds later she came and laid down right next to me and put her cute little muzzle on my lap. It really was so surreal. She is so sweet. My husband is loving it because I normally don't get too involved with all the horse stuff but now it's all I talk about, think about, dream about. I'm pretty much obsessed with her.

It is so nice to live in such a great neighborhood. When big Fiona got sick we had a bunch of neighbors out there helping. They were all sincerely concerned about little Fiona. I have had people volunteering to feed her through different hours of the night so I can get some rest. They all come and check on her and several have offered their barns for her.

Little Fiona now follows me around and I think that she thinks she is human. It is adorable. The kids sit on a stool in the stall while I feed her. Little Fiona often goes and licks Hudson and Hudson either kisses her or yells at her to leave him alone. She is part of the family and we adore her.

Sunday Thought

After my totally inappropriate comment below, I figured we could all use some spiritual enlightenment. I read this quote today and loved it.

Do you want to be happy?

Forget yourself and get lost in this great cause.

Lend your efforts to helping people.

Cultivate a spirit of forgiveness in your heart against any who might have offended you.

Look to the Lord and live and work to lift and serve His sons and daughters.

You will come to know a happiness that you have never known before if you will do that.

-President Hinckley

We're expecting!!!

That's right, we are expecting a new addition to the family and Miah has never been more excited. Our horse Fiona is due any day. It is all Miah thinks about, talks about, dreams about. Come to think of it, he has felt her teats more than.....nevermind that thought. The teat feeling cowboy is justified in doing so because that is a sign that the colt is coming soon (or so he says). She is leaking a lot today so lets cross our fingers that we have the baby soon. I hope we get lucky enough to watch the whole birthing thing. They normally have their colts in the middle of the night so maybe our stable boy can help keep a watch out. It might gross me out but I think it would be kind of cool. Hopefully there will be pictures of a cute little colt soon.





Good luck Fiona!

Sleepy Little Cowboy

This little Cowboy Owns my HEART!

A HAPPY Mothers Day

I would rather be a mother than anyone on earth

Bringing up a child of unpretentious birth........
I'd rather tuck a little child all safe and sound in bed

Than twine a chain of diamonds about my carefree head.

I'd rather wash a smudgy face with round, bright , baby eyes

Than paint the pageantry of fame or walk among the wise.

-Meredith Gray

hOw I loVe BeinG a MOm And oH hoW I lOvE mY dear MoM!

To my dear SWEET Mom,

Thanks for teaching me kindness, unconditional love, and patience. I have yet to see a mother/grandmother as patient as you. You have truly made me a better mom by your example. You are always there for me and my kids and we love you dearly.

THANKS FOR BEING A TRULY INCREDIBLE MOM!

BROTHERS

I have been so blessed to have two incredibly COOL brothers! They are so good to me and are always looking out for me. But today I think they are EXTRA cool. Brandon told me today that "I was PRETTY and look better than ever", and even though it may not be true, what kind of brother says that to his sister? (a super DOPE one):) and Cortney called me today just to say Hi (which is saying a lot considering he is still in THE honeymoon phase). I LOVE my BROTHERS and the wonderful people that they are. Thanks brothers for MAKING my day today.

Wedding of the Century

My oh My!! We made our way to SUNNY San Diego for Cortney and Laura's wedding and what a WEDDING it was. I seriously felt like I was at a celebrity wedding. These two cute little LOVE birds didn't miss a detail on anything. It was AMAZING!!!

The LOVELY bride just after exiting the temple.

The handsome and oh so HAPPY groom:)

I LOVE these beautiful, wonderful girls!!! And Laura's dress.......to die for.
The Campbell family. We love them and are so happy to be connected to this sweet family. The Nelson family.

The Bradley family.

Afton's new best friend, darling Olivia.

The groom and his gorgeous mom.

Uncle Coco, Auntie Lala and Afton bug.

Adley and Hudson
Finally we are sisters:)!

Mr. Pimp daddy with his girls!

The End. Thanks Cortney and Laura for such a beautiful and fun weekend. I truly feel blessed to have been a part of it. We love you and can't wait to see what comes of your future together! (Especially the beautiful babies)!

Then HE turned TWO

I LOVE these little friends!!!

THEN Hudson turned TWO.......... and the fighting has begun:(

Sugar Overload

Thanks Afton for being my little helper in the kitchen today (and everyday). We had so much fun making COOKIES and JAMMIN to music. I had to blog about it so there is PROOF out there that I do cook......okay maybe just BAKE.

Then this little guy woke up and joined in on the FUN!..........and made an EXTRA big mess.

In true "Erin fashion" I almost ate this WHOLE plate of cookies.

Recipe for Mom & Afton's oatmeal chocolate chip cookies;

1 pkg. yellow cake mix
1 cup quick-cooking rolled oats
3/4 cup butter softened
2 eggs
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Afton wanted to make KID cookies so we stole the recipe for these yummy cookies off my sis-in-law Megan's blog Confessions of a Bake-aholic.

Mmm......so GOOD!

All about Afton

So Afton says to me the other morning "Mom, remember your manners and get me cereal". I laughed pretty hard and went to write that down in our book of "Funnies". I came across a father/daughter interview from about 3 months ago that goes like this;

Miah: Afton what are some things you like?
Afton: family, chocolate milk, and donuts.

Miah: What are some things you are scared of?
Afton: Bears, witches, lions, and snakes....... but I like polar bears, babies and chairs.

Miah: Why should we be nice?
Afton: Because Jesus, Heavenly Father, Mary and Santa Claus want us to be nice.

Miah: What makes you happy?
Afton: I like my family makes me happy......and polar bears.

Miah: What are you thankful for?
Afton: My family, Quinny and Joseph.

Miah: What do you like about Dad?
Afton: I like for him to ummm do stuff for me.

Miah: What do you like about Mom?
Afton: I like when she gets me donuts and chocolate milk.

M: What do you like about Hudson?
A: I like him to be funny.

M: What are your favorite things to do?
A: I like to cook donuts and chocolate milk and eggs.

M: What don't you like Mom to do?
A: I don't like her to cut paper because scissors are so dangerous for her.

M: What are you proud of?
A: I'm proud if I take a little bite of Hudson I say sorry.

M: What do you want to do when you are older?
A: I want to run across the street.

I then pop my head in the room as if I was NOT evesdropping and tell Afton how proud I am of her and how she has been such an angel in our family. She then asks me why she is in our family and not Seth and Megan's. I ask her if she would rather be in their lame, boring, no fun family (so maybe i'm a little jealous) and she snotily says " I don't know, pretty sure".

Even if she's not too sure about us we sure love her!

Impostor

I was very surprised today to get on my blog and see that an IMPOSTOR had gotten on and written some very false information below under the title "Evil or Just Not Nice". I know that none of you fell for it and know that I am not THAT cruel.

So for THE REAL story; Yes my husband has been sick and yes I felt bad for him the FIRST ten days he coughed his brains out in my ear while I was trying to sleep. We are now going on 2 weeks and MAYBE I am a bit sick of him being sick. I know all you girls can sympathize with me on this one........sorry men (I should probably refer to them as BOYS on this subject), but the cold hard facts are YOU ARE BABIES WHEN YOU ARE SICK!!!


When the IMPOSTOR wrote that I tried to kick him out of bed that was not ENTIRELY true. He and his friends had a guys night out so the kids and I fell asleep in my bed watching a movie. He didn't get home until 12:30 and let me just say.... not gracefully so. He was LOUD and turned all the lights on and yes of course the coughing...... ALWAYS the coughing. Needless to say he successfully woke all of us up, even the Neilson's who live next door. So I KINDLY hinted that it would be a lot easier for one person to sleep else where than for the three of us to have to move. Somehow he missed (or just rudely ignored) my KIND hint, so sure enough I had to take both kids upstairs and sleep the three of us on a little twin sized bed. What a wife.....RIGHT???

I do love my IMPOSTOR /Husband(even if he did change my password on my blog so I couldn't erase his post, gosh I didn't even know he knew we had a blog), cough, or no cough!.....Preferably no cough.


I am really starting to think that the whole what goes around comes around is for real. I have been COUGHING the whole time while writing this post.

Evil or Just Not Nice

So as many of you know I like my sleep. In fact I can get very grumpy if I don't get at least 9 hours. Well for the last week my husband has been sick. He doesn't ever complain or act like anything is different. The past 3 nights however have been rough for me. I say rough for me because he hasn't been able to sleep because of the cough, soar throat and the throwing up and it wakes me up. You see I have been spoiled lately because he puts the kids to bed each night and often stays with them the whole night to make it so I can get my sleep. I have a giant bed all to myself and I can sleep through the night while he shares a twin bed with the two kicking children. It isn't that big a deal since he has to wake up at 6 AM to leave for work anyway. Well this is all normal at our house, but the other night I think I may have actually crossed the line and I thought I would ask for some of you, the readers of this blog, what your opinion was of this:

Thursday night Jeremiah was sick and coughing and vomiting and tossing and turning so much that it kept waking me up so I kindly asked him if he would sleep on the couch so I could get all my sleep. He thought it was rude. I just thought since he was uncomfortable anyway than why should I have to suffer also.

Is that evil?

Afternoon walk with Lady

I tried to take our baby horse Lady on a walk today but I only got about two houses down before I had to turn around and come home. I guess I will continue to work on the cowgirl thing.

Disney Cruise

My amazing father-in-law paid for the whole family (that's 30 of us), minus the much missed Matt, to go on a Disney cruise. It was great having everything targeted towards kids. Afton ate it all up and loved every minute of it....... Hudson on the other hand was a monster the whole time. He got sick the first night there which meant no sleep for our family or the family members who roomed next to us..... Sorry Adam, Angi, Seth and Megan.

Highlights of the trip were;

Princesses galore and Minnie & Mickey a plenty.

Warm sun basking weather.

Delicious food!

Spending time with my much cooler sister-in-laws.

Watching all the kids having so much fun together.

ALL of little Bill's kisses.

My charming husband rocking the shuffle board tournament.

My charming husbands awesomeness on the volleyball court.

Aunt Niki keeping the kids entertained in the shows with her stashes of candy.

Watching Clare dance

When Cassidy (who is only 3) was talking on the phone and he says "I'm a mean son of a B***h". Love that kid

The Cowboy eating half a farm each night we were there. (Maybe that should go in the category below.)


Lowlights, or frankly things I would rather forget all together;

When Hudson ran out of the elevator so I had to run out and get him. Meanwhile the doors are shutting on Afton and being the sensible mother that I am, I froze. I could hear her crying hysterically but it was getting quieter and quieter as the elevator moves farther and farther up. I finally "unfroze" and realized that if I run up the stairs the elevator is bound to stop at one point. Apparently I reached the floor she had stopped on just a little too late (no thanks to the couple of minutes I sat there with my hand over my mouth as I stared at the elevator in awe). Luckily I saw the girls husband that had found her. She told me her husband had taken Afton to the child care center, but when I went to pick her up, she was gone. They told me that a guy with curly hair and earrings had come and got her. The panic set in again since I don't know anyone of that description. Long story short, my hero brother-in-law Seth was the one who found her. How that girl thought he had curly hair and an earring is a mystery. Maybe she was awe struck by his handsomeness and lost all sense accuracy.

When Cowboy pulled a stunt not mentionable on the beach and my husband spent the rest of the night gagging and scrubbing, scrubbing and gagging.

My charming husband NOT rocking the ping-pong table.

When Hudson threw up all over the dinner table.

When Hudson threw up in the elevator. (Between Afton's elevator experience and this one, I think our family will be taking the stairs from now on).

When Hudson threw up in the middle of a show. I feel just a little bit bad saying this...but at least it was Miah who was holding the kid every time he barfed.

When I challenged the Cowboy to a ping-pong game and I thought I was doing really well until he said, "Oh don't get too cocky, I'll switch to my RIGHT hand before I let you beat me". How did I not notice he had been playing with his LEFT hand???

When I ran into my bro-in-law Luke while looking for the gym and he laughed. It was then that I realized that we were on day 5 and I had not moved a muscle..... except to eat.

When we spent All day in the airport while the rest of the family made it home in a comfortable couple hour flight. We had 3 cancelled flights and 1 delayed. I ended up missing one of my best friends weddings:(

I wish I had a really cool talent........but I don't. At least some of my friends do!!! Check out julieburtonphotography.blogspot.com. She is SUPER TALENTED and takes the best pics around....... and she is super cute too:) Also check out the very fashionable rachellidesign.com. Rachel's baby/kids clothes are so ADORABLE and very AFFORDABLE.
Rach that should be your new slogan!

Phuket, Thailand

We finally got internet at our new house so here is a bit of what we have been up to.........

We just got back from beautiful Thailand! We loved every minute of this vacation and feel so grateful we were able to go with Miah's work. We met so many wonderful people and life long friends. I am going to miss my daily $12 massage by the beach, the always yummy sticky rice and mango dessert, our ever so wonderful sunset dance parties, the friendly Thai people, and of course the beautiful beaches.

We took a speed boat and spent a day at this beautiful island.

This was the reflection pool that was in the middle of the lobby of our hotel.





We had so much fun hanging out with our great friends from Mexico. We really do consider them family and we love that there is never a dull moment with them!!!!

My other favorite part of the trip was this guy! As hard as it was to leave the kids I had so much fun hanging out with Mr. Bradley. I fell in love all over again!

Oh and a HUGE thanks to everyone who helped with the kids (too many to list you all)!!!!! They had a blast!