Blaine and Shona Bradshaw

October 2011

2011-10-23T17:34:00.000-06:00

I am not sure that I like October! I do a party for Hannah. This year she had some friends stay the night which worked out really well. She really liked having the girls over. Then the next day we celebrate Blaine's birthday with another cake. Then 10 days later is Boston's birthday. Now he knows that his birthday is coming up and can't figure out why it is not his birthday when we are celebrating the others. Poor kid. Anyways we had his party yesterday and he was in heaven. I can't believe that he is 3 years old already! Another cake to celebrate. And then you have Halloween right around the corner. So in a matter of weeks we have had 3 birthday cakes and then a lot of candy from Halloween. I need better self control. I will only post a couple of pics from their birthdays since I don't know how to do slide shows.

School started!

2011-10-23T17:14:00.000-06:00

Oh before I forget. At the end of July my back went out and I got an MRI done that showed a large left paracentral protruding disc that was pressing against the S1 nerve root. So off to the neurologist I went and he recommended surgery. September 2 had it done and was feeling great afterwards. Everyone I have talked with can't believe that it is doing so well. I was a little nervous because all the people that I knew had any kind of back surgery didn't do so well after and had more problems. It made me just a little sad when I would ask Boston for a big hug and he would say just a little one because I don't want to hurt your back. What a sweet kid. Also the kids would see me doing stuff I shouldn't like bending over and remind me that I shouldn't be doing that.
Well school started and I had 2 sad boys left at home. Boston was convinced that he was going to school and even told me that he was going to ride the bus. It was especially hard when we took Bode to school and then it was just Boston at home. There was one day when Blaine took Bode to school and Boston went with them. Bode had his backpack. Boston had his backpack. Bode hung up his backpack at school on his peg. Boston hung up his backpack at school on a peg. Bode walked into class. Boston walked into class. Blaine said goodbye to Bode and told Boston to say goodbye. Boston turned around and looked at Blaine and said goodbye. Blaine and Mrs. Jesse just started laughing, she couldn't believe that he wanting to stay. Poor Boston :(
Hannah is in 3rd grade and loving it. Cooper is in 2nd grade and depending on the day but for the most part he likes it. Ben I am happy to report likes 1st grade and have not had a problem with him not wanting to go. He might just be going for recess to play football with the boys. He tries to get his brothers here to play with him but they will last about 15 to 30 minutes but that is not long enough for Ben. He would stay out all day and play if we let him. Bode is liking preschool. The first day I had to almost drag him into to class. He is still shy while I am around but at least I can just walk him in instead of dragging and pleading. Boston just wishes he could go with Bode. He is my lovable cuddly baby. Although he informs me he is a big boy and not a baby all the time.

Boston 3 years old

I love this look on Boston's face. His sibling say he has an evil baby look.

Bode preschool

Ben 1st grade

Cooper 2nd grade

Hannah 3rd grade

The summer update

2011-10-23T16:46:00.000-06:00

Boy I thought that I could keep up on this blogging stuff! Since my last post we went to my family reunion in Utah and then on the way back we stopped and went to Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake and then we went to Lagoon. The kids loved Lagoon! There was a car ride, where the kids could drive their own cars, and I believe we sat in the same spot for over an hour. Bode and Boston and sometimes Cooper and Ben would get on this ride and as soon as they were off they got back on. When Cooper and Ben were not riding the cars there was a roller coaster that they loved. Hannah would take either me or Blaine and go on some of the other rides. We liked Lagoon because there were so many places to sit that were in the shade and we could sit in one spot and keep on eye on all the kids riding about 3 or 4 different rides at the same time. It was great but they all still love Disneyland and are still planning our next trip there. When we got back we had Ben's birthday party. Ben might not be home for his actual birthday in the summers, we will have to do some better planning. He had some friends over and played games and had cake and ice cream. It was actually nice weather. If I can figure out how to put a slide show on here I will add pictures later. Apparently the slide show people I used in the past aren't doing it anymore.

Flooding, flooding and more flooding

2011-06-11T09:40:00.004-06:00

I forgot to mention in my last post that in the middle of January we had a some warm days where the snow was melting and it was raining. Well I woke up to a sucking gurgling noise that I could hear through the furnace vent. It was about time to get the kids up and Blaine went downstairs to see what was going on. The kids and I came downstairs to get breakfast and Blaine hadn't come back up from the basement yet. I was thinking that this can't be good. A few minutes later he did and was wet up to his knees. I was astonished! I had to go look for myself. We had a good 2 feet of water in our basement. It was coming in a hole below the chimney and where our water spicket comes out of the house. It was like we had a hose right there with it on full blast. I just kept thinking of all our stuff that was ruined. The decorations the baby clothes the food. The decorations buckets were floating, the clothes were soaked so were the toys, and the canned food was okay some were floating but we had 2 rubber maids of non canned food like cake mixes, cream of wheat, malt o meal, frog eye salad noodles. This rubber maid was tipped over and soaked all was ruined. Eventually we got all the water out and our heater worked for a week before it gave out. After 2 weeks at the shop we got that back. Well we also had late snows and then it seems like for the last couple of weeks it has been raining. Well the 29th Blaine had turned on the sump pump just in case we flooded. Good thing because early in the morning of the 30th I thought I heard something and he went down to check and yes we were flooding again but at least this time the we had the pump on and it was working. So we just had like an inch or so of water instead of 2 feet. Maybe when we get dried out we will finally get that little hole fixed. We thought we did but you can never tell til its too late. Maybe I will go into town and get some pictures of the flooding. The kids are amazed that the town park which is right next to the river is covered with water. They asked if they could play in it. Some of the other ranches that are next to the rivers are being flooded as well. This is the first time in the 10 years that I have been here that I have ever seen this much flooding. Actually I don't remember it ever flooding. Hopefully the rain goes away soon so the kids can get outside and play.

Really..... 6 months???

2011-06-11T09:04:00.002-06:00

I can't believe that I haven't post anything for 6 months! So this might be a long one and I will just try to recap things. Everyone already knows most of this news but for my journals sake I will write it down. November 11, 2010 I was in a car wreck on the freeway which totaled the van. When I went in to see Dr. Debbie she diagnosed me with post concussive syndrome, which accounts for the headaches and dizziness. Upon my follow up 3 months later, I have some short term memory problems, some reflex slowness (don't know what that means exactly), and nystagmus. I see her again at the end of the month. Unfortunately the older couple who turned in front of me both passed away, one in January and the other in April. I was quite sad about this. We had Thanksgiving here at our house. Christmas time brought everyone to Drummond since Stuart and Kelle were getting ready to leave for Maine and who knows when we would see them again. Of course there was lots of sledding on the big hill, unfortunately I didn't get any pictures only Athena. I started coaching basketball again, with the 5th and 6th graders. It lasted 6 weeks and it was a lot of fun. The girls are willing to learn but oh how frustrating it was at times trying to get them to understand. At the end of April I ventured down to Arizona for Josh and Erin's wedding. I even went by myself! I ended up staying down there for a week with Chelsey, my mom came over and stayed. We had so much fun! Adam and Richard were great about staying with the kids so we could have some girl time a lot. I don't believe that we had ever done that before. We went shopping for mom at Victoria's Secret to find her a new good bra. So there were the 4 of us in the dressing rooms, which were huge, trying on bras. Chelsey is an expert on all their bras and kept having us try on different ones but we won't go there besides saying that there was A LOT of laughter and good times. The next night we went shopping to Wal-Mart for Josh and Erin's wedding gift. I think that we got there about 10ish at night and left about midnight. Mom rode the scooter so we could hear her everywhere she went. A lot of fun was had finding stuff for those two. Bad thing is we should have had mom take a nap that day to rest up. We also took her clothes shopping and got her some new stuff that she actually liked. Anyways when I got home I got into trouble by Boston. He still keeps telling me that I cannot go again. When I say I missed you this is his response. I miss you too, I crying take you to airport, you no go again. I say but I am back now. Yah you back and you no go again. Even now out of the blue he will ask why I went. When I tell him I went to see my mom he tells me that I can't see her and I need to stay here unless I take him with me. Oh back in March I got put in as the 2nd councelor in the RS presidency and was still doing cub scouts. I have been doing scouts for the last 5 years I believe, it really isn't that bad. Well Sunday I finally got released, I was a little sad but time to move on.

Happy 2nd Birthday!

2010-10-31T18:25:00.002-06:00

Happy Birthday Boston! Wow what a busy month and we haven't even got to the Halloween stuff yet! Anyways I thought that it was really neat that Hannah was born on her Dad's birthday and then Boston came along and then they got bigger and it just seems to get busier and busier each year, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Boston has gotten so big. He loves to play with the boys whatever they may be doing. If Bode is not paying attention Boston can take him down. Even before Disneyland Boston has been in love with Mickey. It was such a fun trip to Disneyland to see him so excited about Mickey and so of course we had a Mickey themed party. Let me tell you he can spot Mickey ears out of the blue. I will be on the computer and just the outline of Mickey will be on there in a very small spot and he is yelling and pointing. His hair is at least an inch long and still sticking straight up. Everyone loves it and still love to touch it. The other day I was in the bathroom and tried to get his hair to stay down, he looks so different with it down, when I finally did get it to I showed him in the mirror and he just looked at me then rubbed his head to make it stand up again. He loves to play with his "Bode Boy" which is what he calls him. But the two of them can get into trouble if you are not paying attention. I love you Boston! Oh and when you take pictures of him and tell him to say "cheese" for whatever reason he cocks his head to the side and then says cheese. It is interesting to try and get a picture and very hilarious. He brings a smile to me all the time.

Happy 38th Birthday!

2010-10-31T18:21:00.002-06:00

Happy Birthday Blaine! Even though their birthdays are on the same day we celebrated them separately. On Sunday we grilled steaks and had his parents down for dinner. For the longest time Hannah thought that she got a friend party and a family party because we always celebrated Blaine's on a different day and so she thought she got 2. It took me a long time to explain to her that she only gets one and that Dad got one. So anyways Blaine wanted cheesecake for his birthday cake and yes we put 38 candles in it. Hannah was of course taking pictures with her camera, good thing because I forgot to get mine out!

Happy 8th Birthday!

2010-10-31T16:40:00.002-06:00

Happy Birthday Hannah! It is her "golden" or "power" birthday. I had never heard these terms until last year. Hannah turned 8 on the 8th of October. She has chosen to be baptized and will do so on November 5th, 2010. She actually got to have her party on her birthday. So the girls rode the bus to the house after school. We hid their candy bags, did potatoe races and then watched Halloweentown. They all had fun, I hope :) She got a white board and cork board to go in her room, a cool jewelry kit, some awesome jewelry, a journal and some polly pockets from her friends. Papa and Patty took her shopping before we left Arizona, which she loved. Grandma Curtis and Glenda and family all gave her money which who wouldn't love money. Blaine's parents and us went in on a camera for her and she has been taking pictures ever since. Maybe that was not a good present as you will see, but I guess with practice it will get better. Hannah is such a great helper. She loves to play school with the boys and they like it as well. Of course she is the teacher and gives everyone work including Boston. She likes to help cook and wants to make things on her own. I am not sure if I like that or not. She loves to laugh and have a good time. Happy Birthday Hannah I love you!

First Day of School

2010-08-27T12:21:00.002-06:00

The first day of school. The kids were finally excited. We have a tradition that the night before school starts we have our "special" drink which is Martinelli's and then I make them treats for when they get home from school, but since I had made pepper jelly I was running behind. I made some peanut butter rice krispies with melted chocolate chips. We ate them after dinner. I expected the chocolate on Boston but not so much from the others, especially not Cooper. Anyways I drive Ben to school and I could barely get him out of the car. The rest of the day went well. The next morning Blaine walks them all down to the bus stop and then Ben came back crying. He didn't want to ride the bus but wanted to go to school. When he got home that day I was talking to him about using his birthday money to buy the lego star wars wii game which they loved playing Jacob's. He said yes he wanted, but I said you have to ride the bus morning and afternoon then we will get it. Ok. Well that night he started to waiver. I reminded him that there was Griz football game next weekend did he want to go. Of course! Well I said if you want to go to the game you have to ride the bus in the morning and afternoon. I told Blaine he couldn't walk the kids down he had to let them all go by themselves, so he watched from the yard. Hannah pointed him out to the boys and Ben started to weaken. Blaine yelled to remind him about the game and luckily the bus came. All was well. We shall see about next week!

Ben's Birthday

2010-08-25T21:53:00.002-06:00

This year we were at Sea World for Ben's birthday. What a great birthday present right? Before we left on vacation he was not ok with it. I had told him that we would get together at the nursery and have a pool party for his birthday. Well no one is going to be there he said. I said are you kidding me? You will have so many cousins there, how many, I don't know like 20 something. OK. We tried one year to have a pool party up here and it rained and was cold. Anyways, while we were gone he truly would have been ok with going to Sea World for his birthday but I already promised him the pool party, but who cares a party is a party and why not swim and have fun with tons of people?? When it came time to sing happy birthday to him and do presents he was a little shy to say the least. I could barely get him to the cupcakes to sing and as soon as that was over he was back in the pool. All in all it was a good time. We grilled, swam, played, and made homemade ice cream. Dustin makes such good ice cream! We had orange, vanilla, and grape. I think back to when Ben was born and can't believe that it truly has been 5 years! He is a very caring brother, I love when he comes up to me and tells me that he loves me and gives me a hug, it melts my heart. He writes right handed and throws a ball left handed. He is the most sports minded kid I have. Starting school and football season go hand in hand with him. On the way home from Arizona we stayed at Adam and Athena's house. Thursday night Adam was watching a football game, of course it was a preseason game. Well the next morning I was up with Boston at 7 am and was trying to find something on TV to watch. Ben comes up and asks was that a real game that Adam was watching last night? No it was just a practice one. Can you find another game on so I can watch it right now? Ben it is 7 in the morning there is not one on. Can you just check for me. Alright I will check. This last Monday there was a game on that Blaine was watching and he just sat down and tuned in. On vacation I learned that not only is Blaine outside playing football with the kids but he is teaching Ben to be a middle linebacker, who knew? I thought that they were just having fun. :) Anyways he loves to wear long socks like the football players. I can't find any long socks, I tried finding tube sock, they don't make them for little boys. So the next best thing was to go a size bigger. When I came home with these and he tried them on it was like he was in heaven. The longs socks he has worn out and turned black were socks that I had gotten for Hannah, bobby socks, he doesn't know the difference. When he first got them he was just excited for the long socks not that they came from Hannah. While I was at the store I even looked into the bobby socks, they weren't long anymore. Oh well. Happy Birthday Ben!

Southern California 2010

2010-08-24T21:59:00.002-06:00

After a week at Disneyland we moved down the coast to San Diego. Along the way we stopped at a beach since the kids were dying to go again. It was windy but we sat by some nice people who had already dug this great big hole and then let the kids play in it. They had so much fun. They didn't like the sea weed which seemed to be in abundance. Boston still is not a big fan of the water, which is fine with me. In Southern Cal our first stop was to the Zoo. I forgot how huge that place is! The kids had fun looking at all the animals, even the strange looking ones. I think that I could have stayed and watched to koala bears for a long time. We got to see the panda bears, one just had a baby in the spring. We finally got smart and took a bus tour around, we also took the skyfari. After that we went to Sea World. This is my favorite down south! The kids wanted to feed the dolphins but I could not believe how expensive it was and that you had to reserve your spot, which was sold out that day. The dolphin was good, then we went to the sea lion show which was pretty funny, and then we went to Shamu. Yes we sat in the splash zone but the first time we went we didn't get too wet. Later on in the day we went again and me, Hannah, Cooper, and Bode sat about 4-5 rows up and got it pretty good, enough that we were tasting salt water! Ben was in no way sitting there so Blaine sat we him and Boston about 5 rows higher than us. The last day that we were in the area we went to Coronado Island. This has an awesome beach! There were so many shells! Of course they still had things in them and after the waves went back out they would dig back into the sand. It was awesome! I had never seen that before and the kids loved watching it. Also the water had GOLD! I wish that I could have cashed it in but of course it was just pyrite (don't know if that is spelled right). We were so excited about looking for shells that we forgot for about an hour to put sunblock on. Bode got the worst of it. Your swim suit line is different from standing and stooping over digging in the sand. Poor guy :( Blaine came over to me at some point and said look at this that I found, my mouth dropped open and I said do you know what that is? It was almost like he won the lottery I was so excited. It was a whole sand dollar! In all my years of going to the beach I only remember once ever finding one. So then we started looking more. We found some broken ones and then a whole little one. Hannah found another whole one and I believe Cooper did too. Anyways, sadly enough only 2 made it home whole but I am trying to glue together some of the pieces that I have. Oh and I made a rule, you couldn't bring any shells that were shut, I didn't want anything dead coming home with us and stinking it up. The boys loved digging in the sand but then after awhile they started to throw it at each other. Bode came over with it down his backside and then soon Boston came over with a shovel full on his head. I forget how bad sand is to get off of people! So when we got back to the hotel we went straight to the pool and hot tub to rinse off. If we ever make it back to this area we will for sure be going back to this Island!

Disneyland Vacation 2010

2010-08-22T16:38:00.002-06:00

Disneyland - What can I say besides the kids loved it! We got to California on Sunday, checked into our hotel room, waited for Chelsey and Richard and then headed to Newport Beach. It was around dinner time and there were so many people. The kids loved the beach. Bode wasn't too sure about the water he just took his Mickey day pack and picked up shells. Boston didn't want to have anything to do with the water and just played in the sand. Hannah, Cooper, Ben, Tucker and Hayden loved playing in the ocean and sand. One thing that I totally forgot, sand does not come off of you very easily, especially when it gets in your hair. We stayed there for a bit and then back to our hotel. The kids loved to see the view of Disneyland from the balcony and were asking what everything was. The next morning we were off! As soon as we got in we went straight to Splash Mountain, I couldn't believe that there really was no line. So I left Blaine with the 2 little boys and took the 3 older ones with me and before they really knew what hit them or what they were in for we were on the ride. I am still kicking myself for not getting the picture of their cute little faces as we went down the big drop. Ben was sitting in the middle, then Hannah, Cooper, and me. Their faces were priceless. Needless to say I couldn't really get Ben to trust me anymore and he wouldn't go on that ride AGAIN, Cooper trusted me again and I even convinced him to go once more. Blaine was great and took Boston back to the room for his nap, he worked or may even have napped himself, then would meet back up later. Thank goodness for cell phones! Chelsey is the master of fast passes and knew all the ins and outs! I think that the kids may have developed a liking for some roller coasters, although Cooper and Ben did not like Big Thunder Railroad, they did however love the Casey Junior Train. I think that I saw more characters this time when I went than I have ever and we didn't even have to wait in line very long to get pictures. Boston loves Mickey Mouse and was so excited every time that he saw him or the shape of Mickey's head. Another day we just happen to be over by Tomorrowland and what to our wondering ears do we hear??? The music to Star Wars. My boys love Star Wars all the way down to Bode the 3 year old. This caught their attention and stopped the whining so we ventured over and sat and ate lunch while watching the skit. I believe it was 2 days later that Blaine was taking the kids on Autopia and I spied a table with a perfect view of the Star Wars skit which was going to start in 20 minutes. So again we sat and ate lunch but this time we had an awesome view. I believe Darth Maul even came over and glared at the boys, I didn't have the camera ready for that. They loved it. Boston even got excited about watching it. I am not really sure what the best thing was about Disneyland, I just loved being there and being able to watch the kids excitement every day we went. I did ask the kids what their favorite ride was though. Hannah - Splash Mountain, Cooper - Chip n Dale roller coaster and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Ben - he says Splash Mountain, Bode - Chip n Dale roller coaster, and Boston - I am guessing Its A Small World he would point and talk the most on that one. They loved riding the train around the park and the "bullet train" as they referred to the monorail. Autopia was ridden over and over and over, even Bode got to drive. Over at California Adventure we loved California Soarin and the Grizzly River Run. Although only Hannah would go, all the kids loved the river run because they could stand at the lookout spot and get soaked when people came down. We even got Hannah and Cooper to go on the Tower of Terror. I had no idea what to expect but that ride was pretty intense. So sorry there are so many pictures, but hey it was Disneyland and these are just a few. The kids are already asking when we are going again and I said when Boston is big enough to ride every ride we will go again. So they have already started to save their money again.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BODE!!

2010-05-31T20:17:00.003-06:00

May 31, 2010

Bode is 3 years old, where oh where did it go? As all moms say I can still remember bringing him home from the hospital. My Dad and Patty came up to visit, which was very nice. Since that time Bode and certainly grown up. About the middle of January Bode was potty trained, yahoo! During that time I learned that he new his ABC's, could count to at least 10, I don't know who taught him these things. I am assuming his older siblings because I don't recall sitting down with him and doing it. He also knows his colors. When I ask him to bring me something he asks to make sure that it is the right color. He is very concerned about his bald headed baby. He either wants to love on him or is trying to wrestle with him. He gives very good hugs. When he gets into trouble he will look at me after I am "talking" to him and threw his crying will say "I love you Mom". Makes me feel bad for getting after him, it just melts my heart. All day today he kept saying "I love you Mom" every time he saw me. I would say "I love you too Bode Happy Birthday" then his response back the rest of the time was "Happy Birthday Mom I love you" thinking he is being silly. When he sees Ben come up and give me a hug and say I love you, he has to do the same thing. If you don't acknowledge him when he says I love you and say it back, he keeps saying in an almost exasperated tone like didn't you hear me, duh I am talking to you; and keeps saying it like that until you do say it back. It is quite funny but I truly do love it. His birthday was actually yesterday but we celebrated today. Glenda, Hank and their new baby Augustus came along with Diena, Isabo, Grandma and Papa Bradshaw. I love you Bode!

Haircuts....

2010-05-31T19:31:00.002-06:00

May 28, 2010

I finally got around to cutting the boys' hair today. When I have to start combing their hair for Church it is getting too long :) Hannah is always begging to get her hair cut short. I gave in to her begging somewhat... I probably cut off about 4-5 inches. She was mad and throwing a fit because she wanted it shorter and was going to cut more herself. I told her if she did then I was getting the clippers out and giving her a haircut like the boys. I want to still be able to put a ponytail in it for the summer, she doesn't. Here are the results....

Hannah....

2010-05-29T13:21:00.002-06:00

What more can I say. You don't really need to look at all these pictures, they are mostly for her for later on. These pictures were taken after Church on May 16, 2010. We had been enjoying a beautiful day outside. We had just gone over to the Temple and while there, the kids my picture frames out of popsicle sticks with a picture of the Temple on one side and the other side they were suppose to put a picture of them and it had magnets on it so you could stick it on the fridge. So with this in mind, Hannah got the camera and had Blaine take all these pictures of her in order to choose one to put with her picture of the Temple. We still haven't done it yet. Oops! But when she showed me the pictures I had to chuckle. Where does she know how to do this??!! It was quite funny listening to her direct him on how and when to take the picture and all the good spots around the house. In the 1st picture where she has a mad look and was reaching for the camera, she was mad at Blaine for something and he snapped the picture at the same time.

Mother's Day flowers

2010-05-29T13:14:00.003-06:00

I got the arrangement from Blaine and the kids and then Hannah made the other one at school. I was pleasantly surprised by both.

Cooper's first tooth

2010-05-23T16:29:00.002-06:00

May 11, 2010
Cooper had had enough. About a week before he came to me saying that his teeth hurt when he ate. I looked and just chuckled and said Cooper you have a loose tooth in fact you have two on the bottom that are loose, one more than the other. Well ever since then he has been wanting me to pull it out like I did with Hannah. I kept trying to tell him that it wasn't ready he needed to wiggle it more. So back to May 11. Again Cooper comes to me can't you just pull it? I can't get a hold on it, it is too small. You need to keep wiggling it. Can't you just do it? I was trying to do something else on the computer and just said if you want it out so badly tie a string on it and pull it out. He left and came back with some yarn type stuff. He was serious about getting this thing out! I just laughed and said Cooper that won't even fit around your tooth. Well I can't find any other string unless I use some that you sew with, can I use that? Cooper wiggle your tooth more. Something just popped. So I started wiggling it. Something popped again. Okay do you really want it out? Let's tie some floss on to it and tie to the door and slam it shut. I thought that this would scare him out of the idea. Nope. We tied floss on finally got it to stay on the tooth but didn't know how I was going to get it off if his tooth didn't come out because it had slipped down underneath the part of the tooth that was loose from the gum. I kept holding onto the string and told Cooper I could just yank on it and it would come out but he was too nervous about that but wanted me to tie it to the door knob. Boy was he determined to do it with the door. I tried showing him how hard he would have to shut the door, it didn't matter. I told him once I tied it on he would have to go through with it, okay. He barely pushed the door and when it pulled on his tooth he walked with the door. Chuckling I said Cooper you can't do that you have to stay put or it won't work. Blaine yelled from upstairs for us to come up for prayers, they were waiting on me and Cooper. I yelled back what we were doing and barely finished my sentence when Hannah and Ben came running down the stairs to watch. Cooper was trying to tell the to go away still tied to the door, I am surprised it didn't come out then because he kept turning to look at them. Anyways we got the to go wait by the stairs and before I knew it Cooper had pushed the door again. We both just stood there a second till we realized the string dangling on the door knob. I exclaimed Cooper you did it! Hannah and Ben came running in. Cooper was still a little shocked, I got the tooth off the string and Ben was just exclaiming you've got blood you've got blood! Both kind of freak out with a lot of blood. Cooper was just excited that he got it out. Sorry for the long story, but this is my journal sort of. Anyways here are some pictures of the event. And the money he got from the tooth fairy he put into the Disney fund, Hannah did the same with her tooth money too. What good kids!

Lewis and Clark Caverns

2010-05-23T15:48:00.002-06:00

On May 6, 2010 Hannah and Cooper went on a field trip with their school to see the Lewis & Clark Caverns. They were so excited to go. It is about 2 hours away from us. I had no intention of going and then decided to go after the kids left for school, called a mom that had wanted a ride, and we left about 30 minutes after deciding to go. I took Bode and Ben with me. We got there right as Hannah and Cooper's class was just starting to line up to start the trek up the mountain. I hurried got the boys out put coats and gloves on, it was snowing and had snowed about 3 or so inches. It was cold but warmer inside the cave thank goodness. Altogether from start to finish I think that we had walked about 2 miles. Well halfway through the caves poor little Bode told me he needed to go potty. What in the world am I suppose to do??? We are in a cave that they don't want you touching the rock formations because you can kill them and I have a 3 year that needs to pee. I had brought extra clothes just in case but what good would that do me now? I kept asking him if he could hold, he said yes, but every time we stopped he would inform me that he had to go. I finally told him if he had to, to just pee in his pants. I don't know if he understood me because he never did and would just keep telling me he had to go. Well we were at the back of the pack thank goodness and I was so tempted to just let him go someplace. I asked the mom that came with me if she had a water bottle, asked the teacher both said no. At the next stop he again informed me and I remembered that he had not gone since he had been up this morning about 7:15, it was now after 11. The mom told me she had a zip loc bag if I wanted it, I had thought great as long as there were no holes in it. I blew in it, didn't look like it. I hurried and had Bode pee in the bag, holy cow if he did wet his pants what a mess it would have been he filled that zip loc bag halfway full! So now what to do with it. I was carrying this bag and realized that it must have had some little pin holes in it because slowly it was leaking! I am trying to hang on to this bag plus hang on to Bode's hand while we went down these narrow steps that are only big enough for 1 person at a time and not to let anyone see what I was carrying. I didn't know if I would get into trouble or not. Anyways I carried this bag a little less than halfway through this cave. There were several times I kept thinking just open it an dump and don't worry about it, bats are in these caves don't they pee? But nope I carried it out. As soon as we got out, by this time the guide was behind us because he had to shut the big heavy doors behind every one, I pretended like something was wrong with Bode's shoe so we could stop waited until he passed us and finally got rid of the contents. It is funny now but not while carrying it out. Here are some pictures of inside the cave before my camera battery died.

My Bald Headed Baby!

2010-04-26T07:46:00.002-06:00

My bald headed baby is 18 months old! That just seems weird and good all at the same time. As for the nickname. Hannah came home singing some rhyme that had "my bald headed granny" well Boston was bald and she sang it all the time so I started saying "my bald headed Bosty" or "my bald headed baby". Well that is really what Bode calls him the majority of the time. "Mom, I kissed my bald headed baby? Where's my bald headed baby at? That bald headed baby threw that at me! I love my bald headed baby!" The first and last are obviously my favorite. The funny thing is even though Boston had hair he was still called bald headed. Bode really does love his bald headed baby. So Boston is 18 months and here is where is he at:
Weight - 25 lbs. 1 oz. 38%
Height - 32 in. 40 %
Head - 49 cm 81% ( all my kids seemed like they had big heads! )

Well I took him in and the doctor discovered that he had a raging ear infection, but yet he wasn't fussy or had a fever. At the end of March, just a little catch up for you, I took Bode in because I knew he had some bad ear infections. I debated on whether we all, (Blaine, Ben, and Boston) were going then we decided just me and Bode would go so we could hurry. Well sure enough after I left Boston was just miserable. They both had horrible coughs for about a week and a half. Got the shopping done got home at 3:30, Boston had barely been awake from his nap and looked miserable. Called the doctor to get him in, remember an hour drive to Missoula, unloaded the groceries in 5 minutes and left again with Boston and Hannah. We got there at 4:45. I felt bad I was making people stay but they were very good. Well after blood work and x-rays Boston was diagnosed with walking pneumonia. His temp when the nurse took it was 104, I was so glad that I came in but mad that I didn't bring them all the first time. Well I called Blaine to tell him we were on our way home, 7pm, and I mentioned that my ear hurt when I burped. He informed me Cooper told him that night his ears were hurting. When I got home, looked in his ears, sure enough they were infected. The next day we were already going to Missoula a cousins birthday party so we went early and took Cooper in with raging ear infections. Other than those sickness we have been doing great!

Back to Boston. He LOVES to go outside. If someone leaves the door open out he scoots very quickly I might add. He needs a bath pretty much everyday he goes out. We have had some good weather lately. It was funny one week the weekend and Monday were beautiful very warm this kids had a good time outside. Then we woke up Tuesday morning to snow! Granted it was just a skiff, but when we were walking out to the car to pick up Ben from preschool, Boston just kept looking at all his toys that he plays with now with snow on them and the poor guy just looked confused. Hopefully no more snow! Well I guess that is it for the update. I will get some pictures of that bald headed baby soon, he really is since we shaved their heads.

Just a little late....

2010-04-22T13:57:00.002-06:00

Happy Easter! Yes it is late, but better late than never. So for Family Home Evening before Easter we colored eggs. Instead of the usual strip down the undies, we just got old clothes on. We were trying the food coloring this year but I don't think that I got enough color in some but oh well. Saturday before Easter is when our Easter Bunny shows up. The kids were so excited. Later that morning Blaine hid the eggs outside. Hannah's instructions to him were to hide them hard for her. Well later she needed help finding them. Yes the kids were dressed almost for winter since we had some snow on the ground, CRAZY! Later we went to the Rodeo Grounds where they do an Easter Egg hunt for the kids according to the age groups. The kids remember this every year, so I don't think we will be getting out of going there unless I come up with something better. So we had a nice Easter, watching Conference which was so good as usual, Blaine's parents came down for dinner. Enjoy the pictures!

Some randomness & some Hannah news

2010-03-07T16:50:00.002-07:00

The following pictures might be out of order. But you will get the idea. Hannah, Cooper and Ben have all found ski boots, skis and poles that fit them from ones that Grandma & Papa Bradshaw had from their kids. Well Cooper loves to go out "skiing" when he gets home from school and has quite good balance. When they were all out there, well I guess Ben didn't really like it so he just chased Hannah and Cooper around, I didn't get any pictures of them. I finally remembered when only Cooper was out there, but I have promised Hannah that we will get a picture of her sometime. The pictures with the kids outside were taken after we got home from Stake Conference today. Stake Conference was really good, we even had Elder Cook from the Twelve there and Elder Smith, I hope that is who it was, from the 70's. So anyways our tradition of eating at the park afterwards was still on even though we are almost a month early with Stake Conference. I was so hoping that we would have good weather and for being the first weekend in March it was. I believe it was around 50 degrees and the sun was shining. When we got home they all wanted to stay outside and play and Hannah, Ben, and Boston were making snow castles. Yes we still have some slush snow and lots of mud.

And the Hannah news......

Yes as you can see Hannah is all smiles because Friday we went to town. Her and Cooper were spending their birthday money from Papa and & Patty, yes Hannah hadn't spent hers since October. Anyways she was looking at some jewelry and said too bad I don't have my ears pierced. I said well call Dad and if he says its okay then we will get it done today. She just looked at me with a shocked look and said "Really??" She traded me her gift card for ear piercings. Yes I was a little surprised I said that myself, we had told her when she turned 8 she could get them done. She was so excited finishing at Wal-Mart, she was a chatterbox and could have just screamed, she did muffle one. Well then we hurried off to the mall. She informed me that she knew it was going to hurt and she was going to squeeze my hand. Well she was sitting in the chair nervous and excited, we didn't even think to take pictures darn it! Anyways the first one was done without any warning or squeezing. The second one there was a little squeeze but I am surprised by how little. I think it may still seem like a dream to her that they are actually done, but very excited still! What's a little rule breaking when you only have 1 girl and don't have anyone else to complain, "well Hannah got to do it, why can't I?"

6 years?? time flies or does it??

2010-03-06T19:53:00.002-07:00

Blaine Cooper Jr. turned 6 years old on the 17th of February. I know that everybody says it but it seemed like I was just coaching in Philipsburg with Liz. It was toward the end of the season and I was feeling big. I remember Ron Graham, he was the boys' head coach and drove our bus, was getting a little nervous. He was afraid that I was going to have this baby on one of our bus trips, and here the bus trips are not short. We are talking about a couple hours and at the end of the season it seemed like we had the longest trips. Anyways I was scheduled to be induced right after divisionals. So we finished up the tournament on Saturday night and Tuesday morning I was having a baby. Crazy. Anyways 6 years later. Cooper is in kindergarten, in a class that has about 10 kids total, mostly boys. He loves to play the wii. All he wanted for Christmas was wii stuff and bionicles. Yep you guessed it that is all that he wanted for his birthday as well. Well he got a bid kid bike, but there is still snow out so he hasn't been able to use it yet. He also wanted sleds, good thing his birthday is at the end of the season, I scored some great deals on a couple of sleds. He loves long sleeve shirts and let me tell $3 bucks for a long sleeve shirt is awesome! He invited all the boys in his class and they rode the bus over. He opened up the presents from his friends which were great, cars, car launchers, and a bionicle movie. Then we sent them on a scavenger hunt to find his sleds and bike. Luckily we had great weather and they went up to the big hill and sled for the next hour or so with Blaine. All the sledding was on video so I don't have any of those.

Update on the Potty Training

2010-01-23T08:00:00.002-07:00

Bode has been awesome! I started on a Tuesday and that Sunday I was thinking great what are we going to do. I didn't want to put a diaper back on him, but he hadn't gone potty on a big toilet without the potty seat and he didn't have the hang of standing up yet. So we gave him the choice between a pullup and underwear. He chose underwear, so we grabbed an extra set, extra pants and socks and he had to wear tennis shoes just in case I had to wash them. He did great! Did a little dance until he could get to the bathroom. He wasn't even scared to sit down without his seat. All of the other kids were scared of the big potty. The next day I even went to Missoula with him and had no accidents and went at every stop we made. Then Monday night I gave him a choice between pullups and underwear. He chose the pullups, surprised me, and as soon as I had them on he wanted them off because they itched. Since potty training has begun, I had better knock on wood, we have only had one night accident. He didn't even wake up, I went in to check on him because he didn't go before he went to bed and we had rootbeer floats for dessert on Sunday and sure enough that was a mistake. All the other kids would have woke up and come in and tell us, not Bode. He just scooted onto Ben's bed instead of his wet bed. So I got him changed and the bed and he never woke up. Since then he has been doing great! My goal has been achieved! WooHOoo!!!

Results of playing football with no helmets or was it wrestling or running??

2010-01-13T21:18:00.004-07:00

Again sorry these posts are all out of order, but at least they are in here. This was December 15, 2009. The boys like to either wrestle or play football or they just run from the toy room to the living room which is like 15 or 20 feet if that. They run jumping over things or doing obstacles. They play football and wrestle the person with the ball to the ground. The field is the size above, one end zone is the toy room the other is the couch. Well Blaine was in watching TV and I was in on the computer. Bode started crying, I hear Blaine say Cooper you have to watch out where you are going. Not even 10 minutes later I hear a huge smack followed by lots of screaming crying, this gets me into the living room. By the time I got in there I see Cooper crying holding his head and Bode crying holding his. Blaine informed me that Cooper and Bode collided again. Cooper's head hurt but was fine and felt bad for what he did to Bode. I can only imagine their pain. After making sure Bode was fine, no broken stuff as far as I could tell, eyes were fine, he could still move his head, and after some comforting and then again looking at his pupils I couldn't look at him anymore. I still chuckle thinking about it. I am looking into this big eyed cute little boy that looks like something is growing out of his head. Like I said I made sure that he was alright first and then we saw some humor in the situation. The pictures are within 10 minutes of the incident. I gave him arnica a couple of times before he went to bed, this was about an hour before bedtime, and by morning it wasn't terribly bad. Today a month later he still has a small bump, but it could be because of all the boy things he keeps doing and bumping it.

Trying to get good pictures

2010-01-13T20:54:00.003-07:00

These were all taken at the beginning of December 2009. With 5 kids you are just never going to get a great group shop at least not with me so far. So instead of doing a group shot we opted for individual ones. Hannah loved taking pictures, thanks goodness for digital cameras. She really does take some good pictures though and loves to pose for them, as you will see. The kids took the camera and just started taking pictures and these are the results.

The Christmas Tree

2010-01-13T20:45:00.002-07:00

Boy did I get behind on blogging or what. Sorry this is going to be out of order. Our tradition is every year we get our Christmas tree Thanksgiving weekend. Well Blaine went with the kids, except Boston, I stayed home to help cook because family was coming to eat at Grandma's. So this is their trip and they did a very good job picking out the tree. P.S. The last picture of Boston, this is how he entertained himself at home with me while everyone else was out tree hunting.

Hair Cuts

2010-01-13T17:12:00.003-07:00

Today, January 9, 2010 Boston got his first haircut. After I styled his hair it reminded of a time when I did this to Josh. I don't remember how old he was though. Anyways, Boston was the only child out of all of them that actually sat "still" for me to do this. He really looks like Bode to me know and he doesn't look like he has red hair anymore. Maybe it won't come back, who knows. Hannah also wanted her hair cut. I cut it and then after she still wants it shorter but her dad says that it is short enough.

Potty Training

2010-01-13T16:20:00.004-07:00

Before you start reading, know that this might bore you, but I am so excited to get Bode out of diapers.

I have decided that I do not want to take 2 kids to Disneyland or on vacation for the matter, in diapers. So I decided yesterday that I am going to get Bode potty trained. He will be 3 in about 4 months. He can go get me diaper and wipes and tell me that he needs his diaper changed. So I have some leftover candy in some jars just sitting on the stove for him to see. He loves candy! Yesterday I started I had to bribe him just to get the underwear on. Then every 15 minutes I was taking him to the bathroom and nothing but he got a treat. I had two minor accidents yesterday and the only success was that he actually agreed to wear underwear and stand by the toilet and "try" to go potty. Well this morning when we were all getting our clothes to come downstairs and I asked what underwear he wanted to wear the whining started. After Hannah got off to school I got his underwear on. Then after him come running into me in the office saying "I'm leaking, Mom, I'm leaking" we ran into the bathroom. I was already frustrated because I had already taken him in twice and now he just had a little accident. So I decided that instead of letting him stand he was going to sit on the potty seat. He started crying and holding onto my hands finally I got him distracted with the candle to blow out and then it was fine. Next thing I know we had been in there for about 15 minutes and he was pooping. The rest of the day had a little more success still some minor accidents but just now he came in and to get him to try to go again I told him he needed to show Boston that he could pee in the toilet. Bode was excited to do that and said that Boston needed to learn how. Oh how I wish I could get them both! Anyways we had a real potty moment. Bode was excited. Hopefully tomorrow gets even better!

Christmas update

2010-01-13T15:16:00.002-07:00

Christmas was great! Unfortunately I don't think that we got any still pictures just video. I have no idea how that happened. So I will have to fake it with some pictures of the kids and their presents. All Cooper wanted for Christmas was wii stuff and bionicles. Hannah really wanted an mp3 player, at least I convinced her that is what she wanted and not an ipod. Ben wanted a chin strap and a kicking tee. Bode and Boston were happy with whatever they got. We all love the pj's from Dad and Patty! The boys wear them around the house as their fuzzy pants. We are doing great! We haven't been terribly sick we go in spurts. Hannah and Cooper had their play at school. I can't believe how animated Hannah was, I was cracking up. I wasn't sure if Cooper would get too shy, but he did it and then they all got to see Santa after. For New Year's the kids stayed up until 10 I was surprised at how well they did. The next day they weren't very grouchy either. They had fun sledding with cousins and just playing at Grandma and Papa's.

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-11T16:07:00.003-07:00

For Halloween everyone got their own pumpkins. No we have not gotten brave enough to let the kids carve their own but they do have to take the "guts" out and Hannah and Cooper traced their designs onto their pumpkins. Maybe next year we will be brave enough. Well we started off with having to take a drink to Ben's class, it was spider's blood. Although he wouldn't tell his teacher that. Mrs. Jesse, the teacher, said no one would drink it when she told them that was what it was until Kort tasted it and informed everyone that it was just juice and pop. The next day I had to bring brain cupcakes to Cooper's class and spider's blood to Hannah's. Hannah wanted to be a cat, that was easy. Cooper wanted to borrow a friends Batman costume, the night before he put it on and decided that he couldn't run in the Batman costume so he couldn't wear it to the party. He convinced Ben to let him borrow the Spiderman costume just for school and not for the trunk-or-treat. Bode didn't want to have anything to do with dressing up, he was just in it for the candy. We had a blast at the trunk-or-treat and I think that some of the kids went around the trunks several times.

Hometown Heroes, at least to these little boys!

2009-11-11T15:27:00.004-07:00

Blaine trying to get Ben over there.
Blaine, Bode, and Chase.
Blaine, Bode, and Alex.

October 17, Blaine, Ben, Bode and myself went to the Griz football game. It was nice of Grandma to watch Hannah, Cooper and she even took Boston. Well after the game was over we went down onto the field to let the boys walk around and to see if we could see Alex and Chase. Well as we were walking we saw John Stockton, yes the John Stockton who played basketball. His son, I don't remember what his name is plays for the Griz. Well no one was even talking to them and if I was so, wow I can't believe that he is really here I would have gone up and asked if we could take our picture with them. Maybe at another game or next year. Anyways so we find Chase, Ben just happens to have the same jersey as him, Ben doesn't want to have anything to do with him. Blaine and Bode got their pictures taken with him. Next we went to find Alex. Same thing Ben is just mad and doesn't want his picture taken with him. Alex is trying to talk to him but he won't have anything to do with him. So again just Blaine and Bode get their picture taken. Well after we walk away from Alex we find out why Ben is so mad. He just wants Blaine to put Bode down so they can play football on the football field! Why can't you just put Bode down so we can play, I just want to play! he keeps saying. Well we don't have a football for them to play with so they use Blaine's rolled up gloves as a ball. Well after that game in the Sunday paper on the sports page was a big picture of Chase with someone on his back, guess where that picture is now? Yep, pinned up on Ben's wall. Now whenever they play it is always I am Chase Reynolds. Is that Chase Reynolds? Where is Chase Reynolds? Today when I downloaded the pictures he and Bode were looking at them and Ben asked, Is Chase Reynolds the best? We then had a brief discussion on teamwork and how everyone has to be the best at what they do to make a team be really good.

Boston is 1 year old!!!

2009-10-18T17:34:00.003-06:00

One year ago today Boston Colter Bradshaw was born. It was a fun day. I have been going over the events and just chuckle. It really doesn't seem like it has been a year already, time just flew by. All the kids love Boston, they all like to carry him around, even Bode tries to be a big kid and pick him up. Boston is always told how cute he is by his siblings and gets a lot of attention. He has the cutest little laugh but we haven't seem to be able to get it on video yet. We are hoping that he starts walking really soon. Well for his birthday all the kids wanted to know who was coming and what were we doing for a birthday party for him. Little did they know that it was a little family gathering, meaning Grandma and Grandpa were coming. Hannah already had a game picked out that she wanted to play, they were all trying to pick out Boston's birthday cake flavor, and wanted to know when was it happening. Well after the birthday boy nap Grandma came down and we had cupcakes and opened his gifts. As far as I know this was his first cupcake and he loved them. He had lots of helpers trying to open gifts and then they were taken by Bode. He didn't understand that they were Boston's and to let him play with them also. So far so good on everyone being healthy, the swine flu is in the surrounding areas so we are going to hope for the best. The kids are excited for Halloween to come. Cooper asked a couple of weeks ago if we were going to go to people's houses or just go to the Church for the trunk-or-treat or both. No Cooper, one or the other I will take you to 5 peoples houses or you can go to 20 some odd trunks. I love having the trunk-or-treat, not only is it a lot of fun for the kids but for the adults as well. Also to celebrate Boston being 1 he is in the boys' room. Hooray! No more kids sleeping in our room! Is this a milestone or what?

Football, football and more football

2009-10-03T14:43:00.003-06:00

Well football finally arrived for Blaine and Ben. Ben has been asking when football season starts instead of when school starts. It was like a kid at Christmas when we got the season tickets in the mail and he asked to see them. It was cute! Well Bode I believe is going to follow right behind them. While I was gone to Arizona Blaine took the boys and went to the first game. After the game is over they let the fans come down onto the field and play or go talk to the players. No one, the boys, have worked up the courage to go talk to them, they just want to play on the field where they play at. Well after the first game was over Blaine called me later on and told me this: Ben asked why we have to have real grass, why can't we have fake grass? I was thinking where was he getting this from. Then Blaine told me the question arose after they played on the field, he wants fake grass like the football players. Remember the smoke incident where he likes to run through the smoke like the football players? Well now when I burn things he backs into the tree that is nearby and runs out of it like it was him "helmet" like the football players do. He is a very observant boy and realized that he helmet is not like theirs because it doesn't have a strap to hold it on his head. He also had to go change before he could play football outside with Bode to include the following in his wardrobe: long socks, tennis shoes, griz football jersey, helmet, griz hat under the helmet when it is cold (I had to convince him that is what they do when it gets cold out so he could do it too), gloves (knit ones so he can still catch), pants or his griz shorts which are just maroon shorts that are long. He is quite funny, he wants to know why they wear gloves and why they do stuff. He is always bugging Blaine to go out and play and loves it when he tackles and knocks his dad over because he is strong. We are working on the touchdown dance. He tries to get Bode to go play and gets upset when he doesn't know how to play. I try to explain that he is little and Ben needs to teach him, he is doing a good job and I am suprised that we haven't had any accidents yet because sometimes the helmet stay on and sometimes they don't. Cooper likes to play but I think he is more into it for the wrestling. They will sit through the Griz game and when it is on TV they have to go outside to play whenever they can get someone to go with them. Blaine almost has his own 8 man team going. The other day they were outside and everyone was in there stance with the ball getting ready to be hiked. I will have to sneak some of those pictures.

Hannah's birthday

2009-10-03T14:07:00.003-06:00

We celebrated Hannah's birthday early this year. She invited some friends over and Blaine had the idea to bob for apples, crab apples. Ours are about the size of a jaw breaker, so the boys started gathering apples for the party. I didn't realize how much fun they would have. They didn't want to stop. They all had a good time and the weather was even nice that they could play outside for a bit.

Dustin and AZ critters

2009-10-03T13:53:00.004-06:00

At the beginning of September, Boston and I flew down to AZ for my Grandma's funeral. Blaine was willing to stay home with the other 4 kids. I even got to be there when Dad and Patty came home from their mission. The funeral was great and there was so much family that came it was awesome. I think that I read on my cousin Emilee's blog that all 10 kids were there, 52 out of 55 grandkids were there, and numerous great-grankids out of the 116. We stayed out at Dustin and Amy's house. These last times that we have come we have stayed at Dustin's and Blaine was wanting a rattler from a rattlesnake. Well they keep saying how many snakes they see and when we come we don't see any. This time was different. Dustin and Jarom came home Sunday night and caught a rattler. I went and got Aunt Sandra, who was just about to get into bed, we are all taking pictures. On Monday night for entertainment Dustin brought out the snake at the nursery. Originally the snake was caught to help train Amy's brothers dogs to stay away from them and then Dustin was going to skin it for Blaine. Well also while there I saw a tarantula which I forgot to take a picture for Hannah, a millipede which I had to have stepped over going up the stairs and didn't notice, Dustin caught a horneytoad at a job site and even saw a gila monster. He said he hadn't seen one in years. All in all it was a good trip and I am thankful to Blaine for staying with the kids so that I could go, he is a wonderful husband who helps out so much with the kids and I am very grateful for that.

First Day of School

2009-10-03T13:45:00.002-06:00

Well it finally arrived. The kids, well I should say Hannah and Cooper, have been asking for a month when school would start. Ben asked once and then the rest of the time was, "When does football season start?". Hannah and Cooper started on August 26 and Ben started on September 10. They were all very excited. Ben told me one day this past week that it wasn't fair that Hannah and Cooper got to go to school the next day and he didn't.

Random Pictures by Hannah

2009-10-03T13:28:00.002-06:00

As I was cleaning the pool stuff up, Hannah decided to be a photographer.

The Fair 2009

2009-10-03T13:17:00.003-06:00

The kids look forward to the fair every year. This year it was nice, it wasn't too hot but that was because it had just rained. As we drove to Missoula the kids were thinking that we wouldn't be able to go because it had started to rain on our way down there. Luckily by the time we went to the fair it didn't rain anymore.

August already??!!??

2009-08-04T22:14:00.004-06:00

Wow! July just came and went! Let's see to get caught up. For the 4th we bought fireworks and set those off in our yard. We had some friends over and the kids had fun. This was the first year for swim lessons, I think that they all enjoyed it. For us it meant driving back and forth to Missoula for 8 days. We had picnic lunches and the kids found out that they could fish for free at the lagoon by the swimming lessons place. After we were done with swimming lessons we decided to go camping. It just so happens that the following week was not busy for Blaine and so we were off. This was our first family campout. The kids had a blast. We brought Blaine's dad's trailer to put all of our stuff in and so we brought almost everything we had. The kids loved to ride their bikes around "the loop" it was paved and we don't have any pavement around here for them to ride on. They loved to "turn on the fire" as Bode and Ben called it. They all loved to throw things into the fire. This one time Bode asks with a paper plate in his hand "fire pit mom, fire pit?" "Yes you can put that in the fire". No just a picture of our setup. You have a picnic table then about 3 of 4 feet on the other of the picnic table is the fire pit. I am on the opposite side of the pit. I hear another "fire pit mom, fire pit?" I look up from fixing food to see him holding Ben's hat, "no you can't put that in the fire!" I don't know why he asked in the first place because no sooner had I finished my sentence and it was in the fire. I am trying to hurry to get around the table and some kids, Ben is upset because it was his hat, and Hannah got a little excited. Thank goodness it was only coals and the boys hadn't turned on the fire yet. It got a little singed but we convinced Ben that they would trade hats. So camping was great, enough that we wanted to do it again but there are no more weeks to fit it in before school starts. Now we have 2 in school and Ben is going to start preschool. I think that everyone is excited about it, at least right now they are.

Ben turns 4!!

2009-06-18T17:22:00.002-06:00

Today we celebrated Ben's birthday. I can't believe that he is turning 4 already. We had some friends over and played games outside, in the wind and we even got sprinkled on. He loved all of his presents. He got a good glove from Glenda and Hank, a monster truck from Di and Isabo, a monster gator truck from Caleb, some bubble bath and pop from the Parke's, monster feet and a clock from Papa and Grandma, and then we got him some bowling pins, a tee ball set, and a flashlight. He had to have the same cake as Bode, I don't know why but I didn't object to the Texas sheet cake.

Hair Cut

2009-06-18T17:14:00.005-06:00

Blaine wanted a haircut. Hannah thought that it was funny that he wanted it this short and then convinced all the other boys, with various promises, to get their hair cut just as short. It looks good and Hannah and I love to rub their heads.

Bode turns 2 !!

2009-05-30T23:15:00.003-06:00

Wow !! Two years old. I can't believe it. Our little Bode boy is growing up. Just the other day he told Blaine "I don't like these" referring to his shorts that he was wearing most of the day and had to have new ones. He is already wanting to pick out his own clothes. He loves to "play" with "Bosty". I think that his best buddy is Ben. Blaine had taken Cooper and Ben somewhere and when Bode woke up the first thing he asked when we came downstairs was "where Ben?" He likes to ride his horse Hannah, loves to be outside, loves his Papa Bradshaw, and loves to read books and tell you stories. He is a very entertaining child. We had a birthday party for him today and Glenda and Hank and Diena and Isabo were able to make it down. Hannah and Isabo even went swimming in the pool, the water was maybe 61 degrees. They are crazy. It was a beautiful day. Bode loved his chocolate cake, he loves chocolate. Everything was WOW or AWESOME. I don't know if he really knew what was going on today besides he got stuff. Oh well it was a fun day.

Bode turns 2 !!

2009-05-30T23:13:00.000-06:00

The end of the school year

2009-05-30T23:07:00.003-06:00

Well our first year has come to an end with a child in school. Hannah finished kindergarten on the 28th and Cooper finished preschool on the 19th. Being gone for about 2 and a half weeks didn't seem to affect either one of them. Hannah keeps talking about how 3 months is not that long and soon she will be in first grade. We even got our pool up, this is a first. We thought that since we got a good cover for it we can start to warm it up then it will be nice and enjoyable when we really want to get in it.

Cooper's graduation from preschool

2009-05-30T23:00:00.001-06:00

Spokane Temple Trip

2009-05-30T22:58:00.002-06:00

We were no longer back for a week and we headed off to Spokane for the Stake Temple Trip. We really enjoyed ourselves. Blaine's parents offered to watch the kids Friday night while we went through and did a session. That was very much appreciated. They even took them all swimming. On Saturday we hung out at the Temple and the kids had various crafts and things to do and games or movies to watch.

Spokane Temple Trip

2009-05-30T22:49:00.001-06:00

The info on the trip

2009-05-30T22:43:00.002-06:00

Sorry there are a lot of pictures in the slide show, but I just chose a few that highlighted the trip. The kids had a blast and so did Blaine and I, I think :) We enjoyed getting to see everyone and regret not being able to see more people. The kids loved being able to spend time with their cousins and enjoyed all the new things that they got to do. Yes that is all that I am going to write, the pictures say it all.

Trip to AZ 2009

2009-05-30T22:41:00.000-06:00

Number 4!

2009-04-14T18:44:00.003-06:00

This is number 4. I don't know if everyone knows the stories behind each tooth, but here is a recap. The first tooth she was so excited about and it was fairly loose and she wanted it out so badly. She kept wanting us to pull it out, we just told her to go tie a string to it and then to the doorknob and shut the door. We had no idea that she would actually try it. She did and what do you know it worked and she was shocked! Tooth number 2, she wanted it out but was scared because the first tooth actually hurt a little and know she was aprehensive. Well it was pretty much hanging on by a thread and she was ready to go to school and I was afraid that it would get lost at school or she would swallow it on accident. I told her I just wanted to see how loose it was and while I had a hold of it she got nervous and move and there it was between my fingers. She was so excited that she could now get on the tooth chart at school (the first tooth was lost before school started). Tooth number 3, this thing was pretty much sticking straight out and I even tried to convince her, since she had the game for FHE, to let that be the game, who could pull her tooth out. That went over halfway until it came right down to it. After a week of trying to get it out, she was helping out getting Bode's pj's on and he kicked her in the mouth and it flew across the bed. Luckily Blaine found it. She was so excited and kept going on about what a good brother Bode was for doing that. Well yesterday I got home from Missoula and found out the Bode had kicked or hit her other tooth and it was haning in there. I thought that it would be so easy to pull out so I told her I was going to look at it and without telling her I tried to pull it out. That was in there still pretty good, I was surprised. She wasn't too happy about me doing that. I tried to convince her that I would only stick ONE finger in her mouth to look at how much it was still hanging on by, finally she believed me. Who wouldn't believe their Mother and why did I have to convince her that I wouldn't lie to her?? Anyways, I begged and pleaded and begged and begged, which she thought was funny, so I could pull it out. It was driving me crazy when I looked at her, I just wanted to yank it out! Plus I didn't want her to swallow it. So I finally convinced her that she could squeeze Blaine's hand as tight as she wanted to while I pulled it out. After two more tries it was out and she was surprised again. I was surprised how tuff it was to get out. Anyways we even promised her 5 quarters from the Tooth Fairy, Blaine was going to email her, for letting me pull it. She tried to bargain to $3 but I was not going to budge. Anyways, after staying up to hear about Mom's angiogram I went to do my duty :) . She had her hands under her pillow, great now what. I was looking and couldn't find her tooth and then she woke up. She is sleeping in the nook with her head of the bed by the stair railing, I was standing on the landing so she couldn't see me. Who's there she asked? Wondering if she just caught the Tooth Fairy, little did she know! It's just me I was just checking to see if the Tooth Fairy had come yet :) Did she? No I don't see your tooth. What??!! She started crying. Finally I found the tooth we put it back under the pillow, Now don't sleep with your hands under your pillow so you don't knock your tooth out again. Now I had to stay for a little while longer before I could go to bed. Needless to say she was happy this morning when she awoke to her 5 quarters under her pillow.

Bode & Boston

2009-04-14T18:24:00.003-06:00

Boston & Bode. Bode likes to use Boston's stuff.

Easter Day

2009-04-12T19:43:00.003-06:00

After Stake Conference in Missoula we always head to the park for a picnic lunch and then head back home. The kids love it and they are good during church so we can go to the park. Bode is a brave kid, he does the slide all by himself, none of the other kids did at his age.
Isabo came and joined us for lunch.

They all got buckets from the Easter bunny, who knew they would use them as hats instead.

The easter bunny came!

2009-04-12T19:37:00.002-06:00

We got bubble stuff and books!

After the egg hunt

2009-04-12T19:32:00.008-06:00

After our egg hunt. We actually had some good weather on Friday so we took advantage.

Bode like looking for eggs and he found about 13 and then discovered that there was chocolate in them and sat down to eat. Needless to say they all have way to much candy!

Egg Coloring

2009-04-12T19:21:00.006-06:00

Our Easter egg coloring party. We didn't even spill colors this year. Boston got in on the action.

Everyone had their own dozen eggs. Yes we have a lot of eggs to eat, good thing they all love hard boiled eggs!

Ben and Bailey

2009-03-10T13:55:00.002-06:00

This is Ben's "girlfriend" Bailey. Their family and ours are good friends. This is how he spent the last 30 or more minutes of Cooper's party. They came over to the house one Saturday and when the kids went outside to play Bailey sat down on the floor with her feet in the air while Ben and Bode tried to put on the little princesses shoes. Ben really spoils her. When he went to her house while I had surgery Jamie told me that Ben was pulling Bailey around in a wagon everywhere. She felt bad for Ben but he loved it.

Cooper's birthday

2009-03-10T13:02:00.002-06:00

I almost forgot to write about Cooper's birthday, but it was a little bit busy that day. It started off with me getting ready to go to the ER and Cooper asking can I still have my party? Good thing Grandma was willing to go ahead with the party just in case we didn't make it back. Our other friend Jamie also came over to help out, just so Grandma wouldn't stress out. There was only 3 friends coming over, it couldn't be that bad. We got home just after they started so it worked out well. Cooper picked out his cake topper, he wanted a bulldozer cake. Cooper also asked to have Candy Land, I think he saw the commercial on TV. Well I had gotten this previously on one of my trips to Missoula and hid it in the closet. The little stinker was looking through the closet while me and Blaine were on both computers and all of sudden we hear this "Dad we do to have Candy Land how come you won't play it with me?" I looked at Blaine, who was the closest to the closet, like how did you not now he was snooping in there? I looked at Cooper, who just looked at us like we don't even know what stuff we have. I finally figured out what to say, "Cooper when people have birthdays coming up they shouldn't be snooping through closets." I explained that was his birthday present, he assured me that he would forget what it was. As I was walking out the door the day of his party he asked me if I had remembered to wrap Candy Land. I assured him that I did and reminded him that he was suppose to forget about it. He just smiled. Well the only surprise that he did get from us was some walkie talkies. Grandma got some cheap ones that ended not working and were returned for Christmas, so we combined occasions and splurged on some real ones. He also got a zoomo, a magnet book and a 6 pack of sprite, some more train stuff.

Boston is 4 months old!

2009-02-28T15:13:00.004-07:00

Boston the cute little baby is 4 months old. I can't believe that it has gone by so fast. But I guess things have been busy and time flies. Anyways, he is now 24.5 inches long, and 13lbs and 9 ounces.

Seriously, better now...

2009-02-28T14:47:00.002-07:00

Well I am so glad that February is over. Maybe March will bring in better health for me. I really thought that I was doing better and the pain that I had been having in my back and side were just from the surgery and having my gallbladder removed. The pain medicine they gave me did absolutely nothing for me so I wasn't taking it and thought that I would just tough it out. I was fine for the majority of the time if I would lay down and lay on a heating pad. At night once I got the pain to go away I would be fine the rest of the night. After 6 days of having this kind of intense nauseating pain and now the laying down didn't really help, we decided I should go back in to the ER. I had called and talked to my surgeon's nurse twice and felt like she just blew me off. The second time I called she said maybe I should see my doctor to have blood work done or go to the ER. Since we are in Drummond, and the blood work results would take from Thursday to Monday, we opted for the ER. Blaine's mom came down to watch all the kids except for Boston, we didn't want to overwhelm her with 5. On the way down to the ER, Blaine looks at me said "Around your eyes are brown". Well I hadn't looked in a mirror all day, I barely got into the shower before we left and that was 3:00 in the afternoon, so I looked at my eyes in the car and the whites of my eyes were yellow. I was shocked. I didn't think that I was that bad just in a lot of pain. From that point on I knew I would be in the hospital. Good thing that Boston was good about taking a bottle. We got to the ER at about 4:30, went to check in and some woman is there with a police escort. Interesting. We go back to one of their cubicles, the nurse comes in and asks her questions, looks at my belly and says "Your belly is yellow". I was shocked looked and told Blaine maybe we need to get better lighting at our house :). Well the doctor that we had seen previously in the ER was there again, he is good. Ordered the pain meds, thank you thank you. He thought that I had a blocked duct and would stay the night at least. So for the next two and a half hours we waited in the cubicle waiting on a room upstairs. It was interesting to hear the people in an ER. Their stories and how they react were entertaining to me, hey I had nothing to do and finally was free of pain. Blaine and I were making plans, it was the first time he would have all 5 kids. He had to get up with Boston, who stopped sleeping through the night and was getting up at 3 a.m. or so. Hannah had to go to school, the day before was the first day she walked down to the bus by herself. Blaine did great! Boston even slept for him. Hannah went to a friends house after school and we still haven't seen her. Anyways, back to the hospital. As soon as we found out what room I would be in Blaine left to go eat. No sooner had I gotten in my room than they came to get me to do an ERCP, I don't know how to spell it out. Basically, they stuck an endoscope down my throat to see what was going on, if there were stones and some type of leak. I was giving the nurse a hard time about going down to the dungeon to have this done. Seriously, we were going past construction, it was cold, and the room this procedure was done in was kind of on the dim side. It was not bright like an operating room. They explained to me that I would be asleep but not need a breathing tube, obviously they needed the room to go down my throat. They also explained that it could take 10 minutes or an hour and a half depending on what they find but if I start to wake up they would just give me more medicine. Well I got into the funky position they wanted me in, got my throat sprayed and just drifted off. The next thing I remember is looking up and the doctor was right in front of me, still doing his thing, and feeling something going up and down my throat. UHHH, I thought I wasn't suppose to wake up! It didn't hurt, I thought they were not paying attention and then I was out again. I don't really remember anything else besides being taken back to my room and Blaine was waiting there. Apparently I had a lot of stones in my common bile duct causing me all this pain. I wish one of the people I talked to about my problems would have told me sooner! Anyways, all is done and hopefully no more trips to the ER.

Update ...

2009-02-20T17:22:00.002-07:00

After having a not terribly bad, compared to the previous three, gallbladder episode I decided to have it out. So this past Wednesday, the 18th, it was done. I am feeling much better and would rather have the post surgery pain than the other pain that I was experiencing for the last almost two weeks. When the doctor went to talk to Blaine he was told that my gallbladder was very infected and had stones. So I am now curious as to why when I went to the ER on Monday morning and had blood work done it didn't show up? Questions, questions. Anyways, I am doing good and so far Blaine is holding picking up the slack for the last while, I can't even how long it has been.

I never thought I would say this....

2009-01-25T16:02:00.002-07:00

We saved up and bought a wii for Christmas and was also able to get the wii fit. I love it! I never thought I would say that about a video game. Hannah and Cooper love it and want to play it all the time. Ben plays some but hasn't quite got it down enough to be totally interested. Cooper loved boxing. I played him once and he knocked me out in the first round! He was so proud. Now it is Blaine's turn. Knocked out in the first round. No one else wanted to play him so he played the computer. Knock out, knock out knock out. I don't know who is familiar with the games but if you reach 1000 points in the sport you are considered a pro, the more you play and do good or win the more points you get. He is halfway to being a pro boxer. Crazy. We got the wii fit last week. I have to use it when the kids are in bed otherwise I get bugged as to when it is their turn, even if I just started. Hannah and Cooper love to race each other on the running. Good to get all this energy out. Blaine loves tennis and is already a pro. That night that I was taking poor little Bode into the emergency room, I took him because Blaine was tired and he gets up every morning with the kids and gets Hannah off to bed while I get a little more sleep and feed Boston, so I thought that Blaine would be fast asleep when I got home. Oh no. He was playing tennis. Hey its not a bad thing though.

Sorry this is long but it has been eventful around here

2009-01-25T15:37:00.003-07:00

I thought that me going to Missoula 4 days in a row, only one was for fun, before Christmas was bad. For those of you that don't know, Missoula is an hour away and where we do all of our shopping. There is a small grocery store here but I have had too many things go bad within a couple of days of purchasing them. Also the doctor is in Missoula. There is a Nurse Practitioner here but I don't think that she gets a lot of kids in so we see her but the kids go to Missoula. Anyways, after a weekend of pain I finally went to the doctor. Thinking that I would have to go to Missoula anyways for tests I went to the First Care. There I found out that the pain I was having was more than likely due to gallbladder problems. I have had two previous episodes but by the next morning the pain was gone. So after blood tests to make sure that there was no infection my doctor sent me to see a surgeon. So as if worrying about possible surgery wasn't bad enough, Friday morning I barely turned and reached for a pan off the stove and there went my back. It started cramping and pinching that sciatic nerve. ( I had a more severe episode of this about 3 weeks after I had Bode so I was expecting the worst on top of all the gallbladder stuff). I could hardly walk for two days and just sat on the couch. I just kept thinking how am I going to sit in the dentist chair for two hours and then be able to get up and move. Luckily by Sunday night I was able to move around somewhat better. Then Monday Jan. 19 I saw the surgeon and he said there was no rush but he thought eventually I would need it out. Well they did an ultrasound the week before and saw what they thought were shadows that were probably gallstones in a lot of sludge. The doctor just wants to take it out and not try to clean it out. So I am trying to clean it out. Tuesday night after we had prayer Bode was put into bed, while Blaine read scriptures and a story on my bed also while I was feeding Boston. Me, feeling sorry for Bode missing out, stopped feeding Boston to go play a little with Bode. Bode did not get put in his bed because he was in trouble, he just runs around and gets into things while the story is being read so he gets to go into bed. Anyways, he would put his hand on the crib rail and I would put mine on top and then tickle him or at least act like it. We did this a couple of times and then my hand went on top of his and caught it as he was falling onto his bottom in bed. The crying started. As soon as he did I thought the worst. Feeling horrible I picked him up, he threw his binky back into his bed and was holding his arm. I walked into our room to tell Blaine, I hurt Bode. He has nurse maid elbow. For those that don't know, the radial head was dislocated. This happened to Cooper when Ben was a baby, actually twice to him. Anyways long story short. I hurried to finish feeding Boston while Blaine held Bode and then I headed to Missoula. This was about 8 pm and I got home at midnight. Bad thing was that we needed to leave the next morning by 8:30am so I could go to the dentist to start getting a crown and Bode had his well child check-up at 11. I knew Hannah and Cooper also had to get shots and thought that Bode did as well. Blaine was brave enough, or maybe that was his only choice, to take all 5 kids to the doctor. The day before was funny because Hannah and Cooper were too excited about the shots, who is, and Ben, since he name was never mentioned, pipes up whenever the subject is brought up "I like shots". Well I sent all their immunization cards with Blaine. Hannah got one shot, Cooper got two shots (first thing he says to me when I see him is "You lied to me I had to get two shots" he also told the nurse giving them that it wasn't fair that he got two and Hannah one so she gave him an extra sticker), Bode got 3 or 4 shots, and "I like shots" Ben got some. Blaine said he was so mad and kept saying I hate you and your poopy, I don't know who these were directed to Blaine or the nurse Alisha. I just couldn't help from laughing when Blaine picked me up from the dentist. So anyways 3 days in a row to Missoula. Thursday night we are having prayer and all of a sudden we here this thud. The prayer was stopped 20 seconds after it started and Blaine picked up Bode and I just knew we were going to Missoula again. He fell and hit his head on our dresser drawers. He got a good start on a goose egg and thank goodness the corner was too sharp so it just left a red mark but didn't cut the skin. Hooray for arnica. We gave him three doses within the next couple of hours and the next morning all you could see was the red mark.

8 years!

2009-01-03T21:48:00.002-07:00

Wow! On the 29th we kind of celebrated our anniversary. 8 years ago we were married. It seems to have flown by. I guess time flies when you are having fun or just too busy to notice the time flying by. It has been a good 8 years. We have 5 good kids. They play very well together and sometimes they fight real good together. Hannah loves to be a big sister. She is such a good helper with Bode and Boston. Today I was doing something and she was even trying to change Boston's poopy diaper. Cooper loves to come over and talk to Boston and when it was warm out he would pull him around in the wagon and take care of him. Ben likes to play with Bode and likes to give kisses to Boston. Bode likes to get into everything. He reminds me a lot of Ben, always getting into something. Bode has watched Cooper and Ben wrestle and when they are Bode will jump in with them. Bode has finally figured out how to give kisses and also likes to kiss on Boston and always wants to put his binky in whether Boston wants it or not. Bode calls him Bos he hasn't figured out how to say the rest of Boston. For our kind of celebration we went to Missoula to hit some of the sales and let the kids use some of their gift cards. The following Thursday we went to Fairmont and met with Sage and Kim and their kids to swim. We all had fun.

2009-01-03T21:35:00.001-07:00

The three older kids got playdo, I know what are we thinking. They actually have been really good with it.

Sledding and playing

2009-01-03T21:24:00.003-07:00

The kids loved playing with Reagan and sledding. Ben became Sheldon's best friend.

Christmas Time

2009-01-03T21:02:00.003-07:00

The kids were so excited about Christmas. They couldn't wait for Santa to come. Hannah swears last year she heard him on the roof. Cooper woke up first and came in our room and wanted to know if it was morning yet and was wondering if Santa came. Pretty soon all the kids woke up and couldn't wait to go downstairs. Here are some pictures, but this year we did more video than pictures so I will try to get some on. This year we had some good snow so the kids and some older people decided to go sledding. I think that they were out there for about 2 hours. They sled down the road behind Grandma and Papa's house. Here are some of those pictures. The first one was as close as I could get standing on the grandparents porch and the last one is actually how far away they were. I was pretty impressed with how close I could get. Since I don't have pictures of what they got I will tell you their Santa gifts. Hannah and easy bake oven, Cooper and Ben got remote control trains. Bode got a lego train. Boston got a piggy bank. The family got a Wii. We absolutely love. Even the kids can do a lot of the games. Hannah and Cooper bowl and can even get some strikes. Ben did the other day with me. The boys and I love the shooting one. Hannah and Cooper found a game where you can ride a cow and knock down scarecrows. Anyways we hope everyone had a good Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Ho Ho Ho Bode

2009-01-03T20:53:00.003-07:00

All the kids have a Santa hat and when we decorate we all wear them. Bode would always put his hat on and go around saying Ho Ho Ho. He would come up to me and do this and then I would add Merry Christmas and we would go round and round. We got the kids a Tom & Jerry Christmas DVD and a little stuffed Jerry mouse came with it and he has a Santa hat on, well Bode gets Jerry and brings to me saying Ho Ho Ho everytime he sees it. We also drive around seeing the lights and he gets so excited and tries to talk and tell you about it.

Christmas activities

2009-01-03T20:44:00.002-07:00

Cooper got to go see Santa with his preschool class. I asked him if he was going to talk to him this year because last year he wouldn't even go in the same room with him and I was there. He said he did and even got his picture taken with him. Hannah had her school play, she was an elf. We did take some video and when I get more time to play on her then I will try to download some of it. She was pretty excited. Grandpa volunteered to stay home with Boston and Bode, which was nice of him. We asked Cooper and Ben if they wanted to stay as well. Cooper did but Ben wanted to go so we left Cooper and Bode home to play games with Papa. Bode loves his Papa everytime he comes in the room he walks up to him with his arms outstretched until Papa picks him up. Santa showed up at the end of Hannah's play and passed out candy bags, Ben wouldn't go near him so Blaine went and got bags for everyone. All the kids also emailed Santa what they wanted for Christmas and got letters back.

2008-12-12T17:43:00.000-07:00

We went out Christmas tree hunting. This one is for Papa & grandma.

Thanksgiving

2008-12-12T17:31:00.003-07:00

Well we headed to the Provo area for Grandma Ellsworth's 90th birthday celebration. The kids were so excited to see some more of their cousins. We all met at my Grandma's church building, since that was the only place to hold about 150 people. It was great. The kids had plenty to do. The adults visited. Aunt Sheri & Aunt Vicki and crew did an awesome job of getting the food ready and stuff for everyone to do. On the way down there, about at Brigham City I think it was, I hear this "Give me an R, what's that spell? One more time!" This was Ben in the back seat wanting us to yell out Grizzlies. He loves the football games and went to every home game with Blaine. Another funny story about him was while my mom was here with Boston I went outside to burn our firepit. The boys wanted to put some leaves on, so we did. Next thing I know is Ben is running through the smoke and when he come out yelled go Griz! Later there was no more smoke and he wanted to know where it went so I put some more leaves on and then I figured out what he was doing. He would start from a car length away and then run through the smoke just like the Griz players would at the games except they run from a helmet with smoke coming out. We were taking Cooper to preschool one morning and Papa had his truck running by the donkey pen, he was watering them, and Ben had to go over and run through his smoke. He is crazy.

2008-12-12T16:45:00.002-07:00

The first picture is the grandkids with their spouses. The second one is my Grandma, her children and spouses. The third is just her kids. The last one is her grandkids and great-grandkids. Why we forgot to put the spouses in here we don't know.

2008-12-12T16:35:00.000-07:00

Boston's blessing day November 16, 2008

2008-12-12T15:48:00.000-07:00

Cooper, the Indian. In preschool they learned about the first Thanksgiving.

Halloween costumes

2008-11-14T09:34:00.000-07:00

Halloween trunk or treat

Halloween

2008-11-14T09:26:00.000-07:00

carving pumpkins

2008-10-23T12:05:00.000-06:00

Bode wouldn't come near me, I had things hooked up to me still and couldn't get out of bed. He hung onto Blaine. He didn't even want anything to do with Boston. Now that we are at home he is always wanting to babble and point to Boston. Everyone is doing good. The kids fight over who gets to hold him.

Boston Colter Bradshaw

2008-10-23T11:56:00.000-06:00

I had Boston on October 18, 2008 at 11:47 pm. I went into labor during the day and after we got the kids into bed and Grandma came down we went to the hospital. I was surprised to find out that I was already dilated to a 6. Blaine left the hospital to go home and take a shower and picked up the kids and brought them down. A long day for him. Mom changed her flight and came in on Tuesday, so I checked out of the hospital and then we went to the airport. Boston was 7 lbs 6 oz and 19 inches long. The kids can't get enough of him.

Hannah's finished room

2008-10-11T19:39:00.000-06:00

Here is Hannah's hallway, bedroom, as she calls it. The picture with the tree is where the "baby" progresses to when they can sleep in the crib or play pen. We painted everything white and then put the kids' handprints on the wall. I cross-stitched them all a footprint deal with their name and birthdates on them and they are finally hanging up. The bottom picture is one of the boy's room. Since Hannah was getting all this stuff I decided to get them something to put up in there room. Hannah only put her handprints in her room. You couldn't tell that she loves Hannah Montana, can you??

2008-10-08T11:58:00.000-06:00

First day of school for Cooper

2008-10-08T11:54:00.000-06:00

Cooper's first day of school September 4. Here is a better shot of my haircut. I do really like it. This is just straight not being done, it goes really curly now, not like before kids though.

the boys

2008-10-08T11:50:00.000-06:00

Cooper was pushing Bode in the dumptruck, Cooper & Ben showing off their helmets.

Randomness

2008-10-08T11:47:00.000-06:00

Bode loves to sit in these and play, he pushed the red drawer outside to read his book & play.

Randomness

2008-10-08T11:30:00.000-06:00

Hannah did my hair. Yes I cut it.

The Baby

2008-10-02T14:20:00.000-06:00

So I can't remember who we have told or not but I will be having this baby on the 28th of October. Yes I do have to have another c-section but hopefully it will go as smooth as this last one did. We are excited. The kids are excited. Maybe it is just because they know after I have the baby then it is Halloween. No we still don't have a name. We are having a hard time agreeing on a name. We have had lots of suggestions of B and C names but one doesn't stick out to us. Who knows maybe he won't have a name until after he is born. As far as Hannah's hallway goes I am pretty much done with getting her all organized. For her birthday she is getting stuff to decorate her "room" with so after the 11th then hopefully I will get some pictures put up.

Hannah's hallway space

2008-09-15T08:12:00.001-06:00

Well since we are having another boy and we don't have another room upstairs, Hannah gets to have some hallway space. We have a little nook in a window area upstairs that we are turning into girl space. I just barely told Hannah about it the other day. Why I pick to do some of these things when I am way pregnant I don't know. The house that we live in has a lot of wood trim, wood floors. They all need to be refinished. Well someone also painted on the baseboard on the wood. Ever since we move in I have wanted to take to paint off the wood. Anyways last week I was working hard on getting the paint off the wood, yes I got permission to use a non toxic paint remover, and painting the walls where someone had painted it a bright blue. I measured and a twin bed will fit in the nook and then a little bookshelf will go in the hallway by the bed as well. After I told Hannah what I was doing she wanted to paint the walls purple, I just got them white! Anyways at Wal-mart I found some Hannah Montana stickers that are removable wall art for her. We are also going to use different colors of paint and put the kids' handprints on the walls. So if anyone has anyother cheap ideas to decorate a little space let me know.

Football game

2008-09-15T08:03:00.000-06:00

Well this last Saturday finally came. That meant that there was finally a home football game for Ben and Cooper to go to. Ben had only been asking since the beginning of August when football started. The Griz were playing SUU, my alma mater, so we all went. They all got tattoos, even Bode. Ben will actually watch the game, Hannah is mostly interested in the cheerleaders and Monte the mascot who happens to be a grizzly bear. Cooper is back and forth, except this game he did watch. Well we are sitting there a little into the first quarter and Monte starts to come up our stairs, we have seats that start on the aisle. Blaine started to point this out to the boys but I hushed him up because if Monte comes close then they run. I put Bode on my leg in the aisle so he could see Monte and Monte stopped right at our row and gave us a large pepperoni pizza from pizza hut. I am very surprised that the boys didn't take off running, but I think that they didn't know what to do. Then about halfway into the third quarter a coyote who is the hockey team in Missoula mascot came up our stairs. Cooper and Ben were sitting by me and they both at the same time took off as fast as they could to the other side of Blaine. It was hilarious. Last year we took Cooper and Ben to a football game and Monte came up and they took off running down the row. Maybe one day they will get over it.

School started

2008-09-04T10:20:00.000-06:00

Finally, school started. Hannah has been ready for a lot of the summer. For the first two days she was up at 6:30 wanting to know if it was time to get ready or not. She didn't want me to take her to school and everyone thought that was weird that she would be independent enough to go to school by herself. She asked if I was going to take pictures of her at school and I asked her if she wanted me to, yes, then I need to come to school. Blaine and the boys walked her down the lane to the bus, which comes at 7:45, Cooper was excited on the way home and Ben came back crying. He was trying to explain to me but I couldn't understand him. Blaine finally told me he started crying when Hannah got on the bus. I don't know if he thought that she wasn't coming back or what. Hannah asked the other day if he still cried when she left and I said no that just happened on the first day, I think she was a little sad about that. Cooper finally started preschool this morning. Ben, Bode and I dropped him off and I think that Ben doesn't quite know what to do now. When I went to go wake up Hannah, yes we are now waking her up at 7 so she is finally sleeping in, Cooper wanted to know if he had to get ready as well. I told he could but he still had 2 hours before school started. Oh.