Blog Post Catch-up

Hi Everyone,

It's been too long since I posted, so I thought I would do some catch-up on this lovely Sunday.  We've had a busy winter.

Joy broke her arm near the beginning of November, and it's the first time any of our kids have broken a bone, so that was a new experience.  She was a trooper though and she healed quickly so we're really grateful for that.

  

Then, the weekend before Thanksgiving, Mark, BethAnne and I went to Columbus, Ohio for BethAnne's big surgery (a bowel resection and some other things).  It was a pretty rough recovery, especially the first few days.  We also had a problem with an unresponsive Urology team, that caused her quite a bit of pain for a day, but otherwise she healed well.  She was there a little longer than we had planned, almost 2 weeks.  We are so grateful for everyone who helped watch our little kids while we were gone.  You are all amazing!

Here is a great floral arrangement sent by my family to BethAnne after her surgery.  The flowers look like one of her dogs.  So cute!  She also loved the great big dog sent by the Rogers (you can see it in the picture of her above).

After BethAnne's surgery, we were so happy to be home and get ready for Christmas.  Here are some gingerbread men and a gingerbread house we decorated together. 

Andy liked decorating his gingerbread man. 

Then on December 18th, Mark and I got to get away for a day and a half to see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert.  We got to see the new Star Wars movie too.  It was great to get away together.

A couple days before Christmas, we had a fun surprise when it snowed a little.  Andy and Joy had fun playing in it.

 

Here's a picture of the snow as seen from our front porch.  We don't get much snow here, which is nice, but it's so fun when it happens.

 Then on Christmas Eve, we went as a family to Chuck E. Cheese.  We had the place to ourselves and it was one of my favorite activities in a long time. 

I didn't get very many pictures of Christmas, I'l have to do better next year.  But above is a cute picture of Grace reading one of the new books she got for Christmas, in her crown from a Christmas Cracker (they pop open and have a prize and crown inside).

 Here's one of my favorite Christmas presents.  We saw these CareBears at Costco and Mark made a special trip back to Costco a couple days later to get it without me knowing (until I stumbled on it a few weeks later, but it was still so sweet).

 Here's me and Andy with his new firetruck, he loves trucks and cars and planes!

 BethAnne and I went back to Columbus on January 6th for a quick follow-up trip.  She got to visit a therapy dog at the Ronald McDonald House.  It's so nice that people provide that service. She saw some other therapy dogs during her time in the hospital in November also and it really raised her spirits.  She has made a full recovery from her surgery, and the surgery seems to have helped how it was supposed to and we're so glad about that.

On February 6th we had the special treat of going to see the Piano Guys in concert.  We took all of the girls, and Grandma and Grandpa came too.  It was an amazing show, we're so glad we went. (BethAnne took this picture, we were in the first row of the mezzanine, so they were pretty good seats).

A few days ago I came down the stairs to see Grace and Andy watching TV, holding hands, with Grace sitting on her yoga ball and Andy sitting on a large toy ball we have.  It was so cute.

A few weeks ago, we all started getting sick.  It was a cold that seemed to never end.   Grace got strep throat, I ended up with a sinus infection.  In the picture above, BethAnne was the only one not sick and she made us a dinner of cheese souffle and toast squares with jam.  She set the table and made juice and everything.  It was so sweet.

This last week, we celebrated BethAnne's 13th birthday.  She is getting so grown up.  We are so grateful for her in our family.  She is bright, kind, faithful, and so helpful.  She has borne her trials so well and has become stronger for them.  I hope I can be just like her someday.

 Well that's the end of this blogging marathon.  Except I should probably share our fun news with anyone who may not know.  We are expecting another baby, due on September 24th.  I'm 10 weeks along, and besides my sinus infection and a little morning sickness, things are going well so far.  Have a lovely Sunday and a beautiful Spring!

Love,

Aubrey