New Smiles

Both Abby and Halle are off to the orthodontist. Abby has already lost all of her teeth, and her new ones have grown in . . . when that happened, I have no idea. But she will be in a full set of braces.

Halle is starting a phase I.

Halle is 7. So, naturally, I was a little skeptical when I was informed that she would need some orthodontic intervention now. I mean, what would really happen if we waited a few more years?

I met with THREE different orthodontists though . . . and found that they all shared the same opinion that intervention now would be most beneficial to her (and us) later. Her x-rays are really quite something.

The tricky part was then deciding what to do. I had met with three orthodontists who thought intervention was necessary, but then they all had a different way to do it. As if I need any more choices to make these days. Do we pull teeth, expand the palate, what things are necessary and which ones aren't? I ended up being capable of making a decision . . . miracales happen.

So here's to the last picture with their current smiles!

Easter Saturday

It took Austin a little time to figure out what to do. Once he discovered that there was candy inside, we couldn't get him to stop opening the eggs!


Abby, Halle and Gwen began the pursuit of "who will have the most eggs". It was a toss up between Abby and Halle.

Thanks Shanna!

Daddy Daughter Time?

My girls get REALLY excited when I leave the house and they get to spend time with JUST their dad. Their favorite game as of the last few years has been sparring . . . or pretending to be ninjas.

Apparently the other night got a little TOO EXCITING, and Halle ended up falling on her head with her neck making this cracking sound.

After having a cat scan and x-ray, she has checked out to be okay. No bone or ligament damage. She'll just have a sore neck for a few days, but nothing serious.

Now . . . I am really good at finding things to worry about.

Poor little Halle has already had two full head x-rays, and one regular mouth x-ray done by orthodontists in the last few months as I have been researching an orthodontic recommendation for her. And then topped with this cat scan and another x-ray of her neck.

She'll be okay, right?

Our Little Escape

For Spring Break this year, Ben skipped a night of school and we headed to Zions! We have gone back and forth for the last little while on whether we could do anything this year. Ben has been so busy with work and school. I think Ben is starting to feel "senioritis" . . . because he was pretty excited to take off and leave the world behind!

The girls actually really enjoyed hiking . . . and were able to last several hours. Austin really liked being in the baby backpack. He called it "a ride". Here we are at the upper Emerald Pool.

We stayed in St. George and just enjoyed the "warmer" weather. The girls swam a lot. We visited Brigham Young's winter home and the temple.

On our way home, we stopped at a ghost town in Silver Reef. It used to be an old mining town, and still had several remnants of the town. Well . . . they had some walls still intact and some mining equipment that had been abandoned. There is also a small museum there, inside the restored Wells Fargo building.

Back to real life. Sigh.

Look Who's Two!

Austin turned two in March!

This little guy loved all of the attention on his birthday. He has so many moms! And he LOVES it. Toy Story, Cars and balls are his favorite things these days.

Austin is so easy going and good natured.

I'll never forget how fast he came two years ago. I'm so glad we made it to the hospital and that the epidural ended up working SO fast and that I didn't die. Okay, that part may be a little dramatic. I'm just pretty wimpy when it comes to intense pain and am so amazed women survive childbirth . . . myself included.

As with all of my kids, I have mixed feelings on birthdays.

I am tempted to start celebrating the day before a birthday . . . celebrate that age

that they are leaving.

The kids would probably not put up with that though.

Happy Birthday Austin!