A little bit of excitement! Kyle and anyone else squimish should think twice about reading the first part.

A house full of 3 young boys and the word, excitement, go hand in hand. Not a dull moment here. A few weeks ago, while nursing Tatum, I hear a big thud, Walker and Parker arguing and then Walker screaming. Rolling my eyes and thinking, "what can they still argue about that has yet to be argued about today?", I pick up Tatum (still nursing-I'm talented, I know) and go toward the noise. The glass door on the entertainment center had broken in half and came down on Walker. He met me about half way into the kitchen. All I see is blood on his face. He screamed, "Mama". I screamed, "Walker". I put Tatum down and went over to see that Walker's face had a deep gash next to his eye. Quickly, I got some paper towels and made him hold it on his face. I scooped up Tatum, put him in the car, got Walker buckled in the car, and got Parker in the car. I've heard that the most unpleasant sound is that of a child screaming....well how 'bout three? Walker, because of his face, Tatum because he's still hungry, and Parker because I was the one who put him in the car. (Mr. Independent- has to do everything himself). Off to the hospital we went. Jason came to the rescue and met me to pick up the other boys while Walker and I waited things out in the E.R. Four or five stitches later, we were outta there. Walker was unable to play in the water with his little bandages over the cut, so it's a good thing I took the boys to the splash park the day before...

Fee-vah

I should be posting pictures of my kids here, but I, like most people, always feel like the person who 'never wins ANYTHING!' So today, I'm shouting it from the roof top. WE WON SOMETHING!!!

The call from my friend, JaNae, came at an unusual hour: 10:30 PM. Wondering if it was some dire situation she was in and needed my help I asked her what I could do for her. With the 'puppy dog' voice (the one I KNOW I use when I need a last minute babysitter) she asked what I was doing the next morning. With no plans as of yet, I offered my services for whatever she needed. She proceeded to tell me about how her husband, Steven, called in to a radio show and won the chance to win some concert tickets. The only problem was they needed two other people. They had called around to family and friends, but everyone was working and couldn't go on a Friday morning at 8:30. I asked JaNae what the competition entailed. I was excited to hear it was something as childish and playful as it was. We would be given an extra large roll of bubble wrap to wrap one teammate. The other three would have to roll that person through an out door course outside the radio studio. The fastest time wins the tickets. "We're in!"

Friday morning, Jason and the boys came in bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 6:30am. (They had done an early Father/son campout in the back yard.) We all got ready and down to the radio station by 8:15am. We decided to have JaNae be the one wrapped. We signed away our lives (our waivers) and waited to hear the order we would be going in. Going first would be a complete disadvantage, so we were ok with the decision to go third. The marked course was about 100 meters long on some slight hills and trees surrounding. As we watched the two teams before us, we calculated different things that would be to our benefit: put her head this way instead of that, use more bubble wrap for a tighter fit, wrap tighter so its easier to roll her, ways to roll, who rolls from where.

The first team struggled through the finish line in about 4 minutes. The second team was 3 minutes and 15 seconds. Being the guys of competitive sorts, Jason and Steven wanted to blow everyone out of the water with a time of 2 minutes. (This is us being totally pumped!). The timer starts when the air horn (which was just about out of air and sounded like a sad excuse for a fog horn) blows. Jason and Steven wrapped as fast as they could while I got JaNae's helmet on. We tipped her over and lay her down. (Lucky girl! Some of the other bubble-wrappees got slammed to the ground). Around the first curve was fairly easy and then rolling her along the hill while trying to keep her within the borders got a lot harder. My legs had already been sore from working out this week, so my legs were screaming at me. Jason and Steven were rolling JaNae so fast that I could hardly touch her, let alone roll her. I tried to pick up the slack when Jason got more tired. About 3/4 of the way through the race I hear JaNae moaning, " I need to vomit..." Yeah RIGHT! Like we're about to stop so she can spill her breakfast! All I could say was, " Hang in there, we're almost there!" Continuing down the home stretch I barely touched the roll. I figured I would just slow things down if I got in the way. We finally crossed the finish line at 3 minutes 5 seconds. The next team slid in there with a finish time of 3 minutes 6 seconds! One second slower than us! One more team to go. They started out really well and at the half way mark had the fastest time......until they fubbed something up. They finished in over 4 minutes.

We won the tickets by ONE second! So come August 11th, Jason and I are going to the Michael Buble' concert!

Looking in hind sight, Steven and JaNae are really glad they asked us to help them out. With both of us being so short, it was easier to roll JaNae so close to the ground. Also, Steven has been deployed for 2 of their anniversaries since they've been married-one of them was last year. The concert happens to fall the day before their anniversary. So Happy Anniversary Steven and JaNae!

Welcome...

Tatum Lavell Woodbury

After what seemed a very long wait (with Mary's passing, Christmas, New years, Parker's Birthday, and all the parties in between) we were blessed with another little baby boy on January 6, 2011. Born at 1:22 p.m. this tank was a whopping 8lbs 7oz. and 22 inches long.

We had a nice, easy going morning: showering, makeup, breakfast, bags ready. We got all nestled into our room and ready to start! They started my pitocin at about 8:30. I went through a few contractions before my water broke. Once the contractions got really bad, I asked for my epidural. The anesthesiologist came and tried to get my epidural in, but he was having a rough time because my spine was so compact. He decided to give me a spinal block before giving me my epidural. Bless his heart! That was the best! I was all numbed up and ready to sleep. I only got about an hour and a half before I was ready to start pushing. They called the doctor, and it wasn't long before Tatum came out. I was quite surprised when they lay him in my arms. He was the spitting image of Parker when he was born. Jason, my mom, and I all said at the same time that he looks like Parker. I was in for another shocker when they put him on the scale. 8lbs. 7oz. !!! "Come again? How heavy?" I couldn't believe he was a full pound heavier than what Walker was.

After a little while, and after I got my land legs back again, we were moved to another room. On our way there, our friend and neighbor who works at the hospital just happen to be coming in down the hallway to see us. Talk about good timing!

Later that night, Tatum and I were sleeping while Jason was playing on his phone. The nurse came in and told us she would just take Tatum into the nursery. Later she came back to tell us that he was turning a little blue and they were running some tests and x-rays to find out why. Tatum was admitted to the NICU for having pneumonia. He would be there for a week, receiving antibiotics. They put a pic. line through his arm to his heart, so they wouldn't have to keep poking him again and again.

A week later we were able to all come home.
The boys seem to be adjusting pretty well. Aside from Parker having an obsession to poke Tatum in the eyes, we haven't had any problems. Tatum is 5 weeks old today and sleeps like a champ. From day one of being home, Tatum sleeps 7-9 hours a night. I love this boy!

January 8, 1960-December 20, 2010

This was a difficult time for Jason and I. The services were lovely and it was nice having all of Jason's family (and mine) here to visit for so long. I will forever have fond memories of Michelle (in crutches from having foot surgery), Kristin (7 months pregnant) and myself (8 1/2 months pregnant) store hopping from Bath and Body Works to Sportsman's Warehouse to the Dollar Store to Target and back home. We'll just say there were some good laughs while watching Kristen carrying a gun tote around the dollar store, Michelle 'playing hopscotch' hopping on one foot everywhere (she was quite good at this), Kristen holding up parking lot traffic in the motorized carts, taking them back to the store after Michelle had used them, and then ME having to wear my high heels to drive the car because my belly wouldn't let me reach the petals otherwise.
My mom and dad spent most of that week at my sister's house, letting Jason and I spend most of our time at the Woodbury's home. We wanted to spend as much time with Mary as possible. I felt so guilty when I had to bring the boys home to sleep at night, while Jason stayed there. Both Jason and I had tried to prepare ourselves, and the boys, for the inevitable. On Monday the 20th, I hurried and got the boys ready to go back to Grandma's house. We got there at about 10:30 am. The nurse came at about 11 to take Mary's vitals, and at 11:30 she slowly passed away. Jason, his brothers, sister and his dad were all surrounding Mary as she took her last breath. She will truly be missed.

Look who's talking NOW!

Something we now hear Parker saying a lot around the house. He has quite the vocabulary now with words like: go, wash, I love you, help, out, in, on, off, bus and nice. We are teaching him the ABC's-with Walker's help of course.

How are YOU feeling?

Alright! I've decided it's been WAY too long since I've said my peace on this page. It's 8pm. Both boys are asleep...kinda. Jason is on a camp out and I'm too restless to read quite yet.

Lately, it seems everyone (including those who don't know me) likes to ask me, "How are you feeling?" It wasn't until I heard how pregnancies went for my sis-in-law that I knew why people ask this. Little did I know that some women are sick for the duration of their pregnancy and can't function on a daily basis without some relief from a pill. For the past 2 1/2 pregnancies I've had the pleasure of not getting sick at all and being able to bend, lift, contort any which way until about month 8. Then, being so huge puts my body at such shock, it decides it doesn't like to let me walk, clean, do dishes or laundry, put on shoes or paint my toenails. So as of right now, I feel great. The answer might be different in a couple of months, but for now, things are just peachy.

Right now I am 20 weeks-half way through. Most of the people I see come in to my work ask me how CLOSE I am to having this baby! HA! I just giggle and tell them I am due in January. (Not making the mistake of telling them the BEGINNING of January, because then I just get lectured on the infamous tax break if I have him/her sooner) I have my ultrasound this coming Wednesday and we are not finding out the gender. That's the way that Jason likes things and he has convinced me that it's more exciting that way. Is your anticipation building yet?

Things have been a little bit of a roller coaster for me emotionally. My mother-in-law recently found out her breast cancer, thought to have been in remission, had spread to her lungs, liver, and brain. Going to work the next day was very difficult. I could only think about Mary and the fear I saw in her face when she told us the news. After the many doctor visits we were told the cancer is terminal and they gave her a time frame of 6 to 12 months. Jason seems to be doing ok with the news. I don't think the emotional part of the reality has hit him. Jason, getting his degree in biology, took a class on the biology of aging. One section was on cancer, so he understands the disease quite well. He hasn't had any real devastation in his life, so I think the logistics are overcoming his emotions right now. I have tried to teach Walker that Grandma will be getting more and more sick and that she will go back to our Heavenly Father soon, but he doesn't really understand how that can be. She looks so full of life right now and to him, she's just the same. I fear I will need to comfort him and teach him about death when it comes.

My mom is also having some trouble with a foot injury she got in running class. It could affect her performance grades in class if it doesn't get better.

Prayers are greatly appreciated for these two ladies.

On a much happier note, my newest niece was born on Wednesday. I can't wait to see little Ruby! Congratulations Kyle and Michelle!

The past few weeks at church have been interesting. Our ward got rearranged and we are now in the Meridian 6th ward. I helped out the first Sunday in our new ward acting as the Primary Chorister. Luckily someone already holds that calling. That is the one calling that scares me to death. Not that I'm not willing, but I would be afraid, very afraid. After helping out the one time, the primary presidency told me what a hit I was, and that the kids enjoyed every minute of it. I must say though, that it was quite fun having both the Jr. and Sr. Primaries signing the "Hello, Hello" song at the top of their lungs. I told them I wanted the bishop to be able to hear them from the other side of the building!

Like I said, An emotional roller coaster. WEEEEEEEEEEE!

So for all those who ask me how I'm feeling, watchout! You just might get the truth.

Mary Cancervive

So I think most of you that read this probably already know, but my mom's cancer as metastasized to the liver, lungs, and brain. It may be in a few other areas, but we will find out today if it has moved to the larynx, trachea, and lymph nodes in the upper part of her chest. She will probably have more tests on her lower abdomen soon to find if it has gone to the kidney, as well as test to see if it has spread to her bone marrow. What was so surprising about it is that just last monday she had her "last test" and they cleared her for 1 full year. Then on Saturday she started having a pain in her midsection, so went to the ER sunday morning. That is when they found it had spread. (So yes, she was "cured" for about a whole 5 days) It is in Stage 4, which is the most advanced stage of Cancer. The way I see it, we could have found out about it now, and try to treat it, or we could have not known about it until it was too late. (Even with treatment, she is not expected to live much past a year.) I would much rather know its coming, so that all of us can prepare, and she can get the things done that are most important to her. So many of us go through life wasting away the time doing things that are not what is most important. It is a good time for us to reevaluate what we do, and prioritize what is most important.

Thanks to everybody for the prayers and the support. Many of you have offered to help, and I will let you know what we need when we need it. Right now, we would like to get a collection of favorite memories of my mom. What do you think of when you think of her? I know one friend talked about my mom getting pulled over on the way home from soccer practice. What is one of your favorite memories?