Since last summer… Everyone is growing up.  Cole:  finished his 2^nd year of preschool. I hope he is ready for kindergarten! He had a hole in his bottom back tooth that had to be pulled out in January and they ended up capping 7 more teeth.  We had to go to the hospital since he is so young, so they could put him under.  It was very amusing seeing him on the “silly juice”. So he has a mouth full of silver already! Isabel: follows a lot of what Cole does.  They fight a lot, but then play well together also.  Izzie is still very loud. Very drama queen. But so much a princesses. She loves wearing dresses.  Brooke is walking all the time.  She has found her voice and screams all the time. She does sign “more”, “please”, and “eat”.  She loves giving kisses and hugs. Cant wait till she can talk.  We have a busy schedule this summer.  Have something to do everyday, so that is fun.  By the time yall get this, I hope we have the house up on the market.  Got title done in our entry way, replaced most of the carpet in the TV room.  Still have our bunnies.  The mom has died/disappeared, but the dad is still here and we have 6 babies left, plus our 2 chickens.  Who knows what we will do with them when we move. Elliott got a dirt bike and drives it to work a lot and hopefully we will have him a new car when yall get this too.  Its so stinking hot for him to drive to work. Us girls here ran the mud run and had so much fun! We are going to do it again in November!

Forgot to mention:

 Last summer the only trip we took was up to AR to see Kendell.  That was a horrible trip. Guess I should say a horrible drive and hotel.  Elliott was on call and with 3 kids we had to stop pretty often.  Elliott had to find internet in one little town on the way up there so it took us like an hour before we were on the road again.  Then the hotel was nasty.  There were 2 inch long ants, spiders, white trash people and a bloody fight.  Needless to say we won’t stay at a Red Roof again. And diarea kids pooping all over the bathroom. Gross! It was great to see the Becks and the new addition.  It was a great blessing.  Since it has been so hot we have been spending a lot of days at water parks and pools.  We got this awesome gazebo for our deck to cool us down and we have a window a/c unit in our tv room to help.

Elliott applied for Border Patrol. We went down to Houston Sept 13 for him to take the test. We stayed in the condo and the kids and I had fun, while Elliott studied.  We went swimming and tried to watch a movie at the theater there, we played games and had ice cream.  While he was taking the test we went to hang out with Jenny and her family.  It was fun and nice to see them. Elliott’s grandmother found out she had stage 4 stomach cancer and only had weeks to live.  Her memory was like Big Mom’s for about a year. As soon as they found this out, his family made funeral plans.

growing up

Has it really been since November that I posted something?! Well the kids are growing up, and too fast. I feel sad that they are growing so fast because I cant baby them anymore. I love my babies. But Elliott said to be grateful that they are growing. Which is true. Cole is still in preschool and its going great. He is able to write all his alphabets, and is starting to understand the sounds. He loves to fight and wrestle with any older kid he can find. He had a hole in his tooth and we talked to a friend of ours who is a Pediatric Dentist and said he needs that taken care of. So we had to go to Children's and they had to put him under. Turns out he had 8 cavities and an absest on the tooth with the hole, so it had to be pulled. He did a great job at the hospital and recovered so fast. It always amazes me how quick little ones recover.

Miss Princess Isabel is just as pretty as they can get! She is just so girly! Loves her My Little Ponies her cousin, I mean Santa, gave her. She is totally potty trained! She is attached to my hip and wants me to hold her all the time.

Brooke is 10 months now and is crawling everywhere! She is walking around furniture. She is still the best baby. Goes right to sleep when I put her in bed. Doesn't cry and scream when she is hungry or poopy. She is so pleasant!

As for Elliott and I, we are starting to train for our Survival Run at the end of April.

News

So Elliott quit his job and has had a few interviews. Hopefully
by the time everyone gets this he will have another job. So he has been taking it easy and “recuperating”.
I’m trying to stay afloat in the house work. It is never ending and never clean. Got to
see the Twilgiht marathon with Whitney and we had a blast. Trying to sell
Pampered Chef, but its not going so well.
My best customers have almost everything now. Thanks Mom and Lindsey.
Cole is in preschool and loving it and doing so well. He is
getting excited to start Kindergarden next year.
Izzie finally is potty trained.
Its been 2 days that she hasn’t had any poop accidents. Only takes a pacifier at night now. She loves to sing and dance lately, its so
cute!
Brooke is 7 months now, has 2 teeth. She is rolling all over the place, sitting
up, and now getting on all fours. She
will be crawling soon. Finally sleeps all night. We have her in our closet still since Izzie
still wakes up screaming. That’s it for
us. Cant wait for the holidays. I just loving being around yall! See you soon!

Stay'n Alive

Poor Brooke!

I think Izzie is trying to get rid of her baby sister.

For the past couple weeks I have found Izzie being to rough with Brooke.

2 Sundays ago Cole and Izzie had a bath and were still in there towels. Brooke was laying on the floor in my room. When I got out of the shower I saw Izzie over Brooke. Brooke wasn't making a sound and I couldn't see her because Izzie's towel was covering both of them. I pulled Izzie off of Brooke and she was blue. Scared me to death. I guess Izzie was sitting on her chest to where she couldnt breath.

A couple days later she was giving her a kiss and was to hard and bit her. It was very deep.

Wednesday she put a plastic coin in her mouth and she was gagging on it.

Thursday Izzie was playing in dirt and decided to put some dirt on her baby sisters head.

Friday she put a balloon in her mouth. I was doing dishes and luckily looked up in time.

At the lake yesterday with Lindsey and the Fousts, Brooke was laying on blankets under an umbrella and through sand on her. Poor girl, just trying to stay alive.

I guess Izzie thinks since she isn't the smallest now, she can pick on Brooke.

Potty

Izzie has been wonderful these last couple days. She has been so helpful when I ask. She is even been potty training herself. Yesterday after nap she woke up and wanted her diaper off and went potty. She went all by herself and didn't want her diaper back on. So after awhile I put underwear on her and she stayed dry the rest of the night. When she needed to pee she just went all by herself, didn't say a word. Today she went poop all by herself too. Although I had to wipe her, she is doing wonderfully.

New Addition

Brooke Celine Garland

April 19, 2011 at 12:23 pm

7 lbs 11 oz, 19 inches long

I had been waiting to go into labor any day. At week 38 I was 3 cm dilated. At the end of week 39 Dr Reyes stretch my membranes to see if anything would happen and nothing did so we scheduled an induction on the exact date of my 40 weeks. He was worried she would be big since I had gestational diabetes. I was cramping a lot after he stretch my membranes so I thought I would go into labor that day. But Tuesday the 19th came and we checked into the hospital at 6am and they got us situated in a room. I got prepped with IVs and monitored the baby's heart. By 9 the doctor came in and broke my water and we waited to see if anything would happen and it didn't. So at 10:30 they gave me pitocin and waited again. Contractions started and they started hard and fast. I remembered how hard they were with Cole and told them to get me an epidural. 11:30 I got the epidural and felt so much better. Contractions were so close together by 12 I was at a 10 and Dr Reyes came. I pushed 3 times and she came out. The cord was around her neck, but she was fine. Elliott filmed her coming out for me. Its such a miracle. It took her awhile to warm up, so she was under some heating light. We didn't have a name when she came out, but by day 2 Elliott came up with Brooke and Coren mentioned Celine since that's my favorite singer. So here she is. She has been a great baby and the kids just adore her. Izzie is always saying, "Hold it, Brooke" and "kisses". Its so cute!

For those who have weak stomachs don't look at this next picture:

On March 24th we decided to go to the park with Natasha and Giovanny. I was going to walk but Natasha said lets drive. So we played at the park by our house for a little while. Cole was playing with some older boys and after a few mins we heard him screaming and saw him running towards us. Since I was so pregnant I couldn't move very fast, so Natasha went after him and yelled, "He's bleeding." When I got to him I could see the gash was very deep. I said we have to go to the ER now. So I grabbed a wipe from Natasha's bag and put it over his head and we packed the kids up in the car drove by my house to get my purse and drove to the hospital. I tried to call Elliott 4 times and he finally called me back and said, " This better be an emergency" and I said it was to meet us at the hospital. He was having a check up from his nose. We waited in the ER about an hour before they first saw us. Then another hour for check in. Then another hour till the doctor saw us. Natasha took Izzie and Giovanny to our house while we were getting stitches. They put some numbing gel in his cut then about 30 mins later came and stitched his head. He was freaking out, screaming and crying. He got 4 stitches and his first tetanus shot. My wonderful parents showed up and Cole was so glad to see them. Needless to say Cole got ice cream at 9 o'clock when we got home. All this from chasing after some older boys, tripping and falling on the balance beam.

On March 3rd Elliott had surgery on his nose and tonsils. He had been waking up every morning with migraines because he wasn't able to breath very well.

Girls room

My mom and sisters gave me such a sweet gift and are redoing the kids rooms. Cole has his own room now and is sleeping in his grandpa Tim's old bed. And the girls will share a room. Izzie has started to sleep in the toddler bed and has no problems at all. I'm amazed that she doesn't cry or get out. Luckily she doesn't know how to open the door yet. Here is the before picture: And after:

Snow Baby

When we got the sonogram the nurse thought she already looked cute and I can see she already has chubby cheeks.

I'm 29 weeks here.

It was a nice day out and I made us smoothies. Kids love pretending they are asleep.

I have been craving homemade ice cream for awhile and since it has raw eggs I cant eat it. But when we tried snow cream, YUMMY. It tastes just like homemade ice cream. Thanks Codi!

We tried to play outside when it snowed last week, but the kids were just too cold.

Yesterday was a crazy day! On the way to take Cole to preschool we ran out of gas. Of course on one of the coldest days we have ever had. But the police came and tried to help. I told her my friend was going to get gas for me and should be back in a little bit. She said she could either try and push me out of the way since we were blocking traffic right after an icy bridge, or she would have to call a tow truck that I would have to pay for. So I said just push me. She then told me they are not liable for any damage to my car. So she pushed me and a light was coming up that I had to turn at and she was pushing really fast. I tried to turn and it was icy when I was turning. I thought we were going to flip over. It was so scary. We were finally out of the way and I got some gas from my friend. Then Cole went to preschool and Izzie and I went grocery shopping. After nap we went to meet Elliott at the doctor to get a consult to have surgery on his nose. Then we took flowers and visited Big Mom at the hospital since she is having surgery on her ankle. After we went to visit Big Dad at the Rehab center. They both seem to be going down hill fast. While I was getting the kids out of the car to see him, the car was in park and was turned off and it all of a sudden started sliding forward. I jumped in the car to make sure it was in park and threw on the E brake. Scared me to death, luckily Cole was out of the way and Izzie was in her seat. After the visit it was to slick for me to back up out of the parking spot so Elliott came to help. We had dinner at On The Border. What a crazy day!

Conversations with Cole:

Cole: "Mom, I changed my attitude"

Me: "How did you change your attitude?"

Cole: while pointing to his head, "I thought really hard, and changed my attitude."

Yesterday Izzie was really upset and getting spankings and Cole said,

"Mom, dont give Izzie anymore spankings." "Its ok Izzie. Calm down. Take a deep breath."

He can be such a sweet brother sometimes.

End of journal entry!

Good Times

While my siblings where here, us girls made Christmas candy that was delicious! Played games, a lot. I love Christmas time because we spend a lot of time with all of our family and play tons of games with my family. We had a great Christmas, just wish it wouldnt end so soon. E surprised me with Utah State clothes. New Years's Eve our family and Lindsey went to stay at the Holly Lake condo. We shot fireworks at some random land close to my parents new land. We stayed up till 1 playing games and snacking. In the morning we met up with my parents, Brycen, and the Rod's to look at the new land and had BBQ in town.

I am on medicaid now so we got an ultrasound as a family. The nurse told Elliott what the sex was while Izzie and I checked out. Elliott told my mom and she told my dad. About a week later mom and dad came to watch the kids and he looked at the ultrasound and asked, "Are they 100% sure its a girl?" So he blew the secret and I found out. We are excited to have another girl. They put the due date at April 23rd. I'm hoping she will hold out till May.

New

I finally updated the profile picture. It was taken with a great camera at work's Christmas party. We all finally look pretty good.
I'm 22 weeks pregnant now and feeling good. I love feeling the baby kick. Its all just such a miracle. I went on Thursday to get my pregnancy verified for Medicaid and went for free at this Christian clinic. They are mostly there for women who are scared and don't know what to do with the baby they weren't planing on. So she had to ask me all sorts of questions to make sure I was ok. I was able to see and hold a rubber baby that is actual size and weight of the baby right now. It just really touched me how having a baby is truly a miracle and how much Heavenly Father has played in our lives. The lady was so sweet and as I was about to leave, she said a prayer for me, the baby and our family. The blessings she asked for just made me cry. I'm truly grateful for my blessings.

Papa and Cole were playing and papa said something about how he couldn't play to hard because "Papa is old". And my cute Cole said, "Coley is new". We all thought that was so funny.

On a side note, I cant wait for my siblings to come home for Christmas. Just wish we could see Whitney too.

Halloween

We had an eventful Halloween weekend. First Friday night when Elliott was on his way home from work, Cole tripped over a pillow and smacked his eye on the table. It didn't sound to bad until he turned around with his hand over his eye and blood was gushing out. I called Elliott and told him to rush home, that Cole's eye might need stitches. Luckily it stopped bleeding pretty quick. It was deep and gave him a black eye. A week later it has healed pretty fast. Thank goodness we didn't get stitches.
Then Monday night we had out of town friends over for hamburgers and Cole was on a chair washing his hands in the kitchen sink and he lost his balance. He landed head first on the tile. He was screaming and crying for a couple hours. I gave him aspirin and put ice on his head. He was pale and was not himself. An hour later he threw up. He must of had a mild concussion. He is doing better now and back to his normal self.

For Halloween, Elliott's boss invited us to go Trick or Treating with them. So they had a few neighbors that went with us. Izzie found a cute friend real quick. We walked for about an hour and got some candy, then came back to their house for pizza and watch some of the Rangers game.

Our ward had Trunk or Treat Saturday. You cant see but I have the red slippers on. I was Dorothy, Cole was the lion and Izzie was the witch. I think there were 3 wards there because we came home with a ton of candy!

On a pregnancy note, I'm finally feeling better. For like a month I had huge headaches from 1-6pm and had no energy. The baby is making room now because I have a belly since 14 weeks.

Sports

We had a busy week last week with sports. We were able to go to the Stars game and brought the kids. They did so good that we were able to stay the whole game. Wednesday night we play softball and almost won our first game.

We went to the Rangers game and brought Cole and he enjoyed it. He just loves sports. Natasha and Jay came with us too.

Elliott loves to do father-son stuff with Cole. He took him fishing on our Bishop's land, but didn't catch anything. Cole was invited to go look at Elliott's cousin's horse and loved it. Still talks about it a month later.

We have had our bunny, George for about a month now. For some reason Izzie is the only person that he will let pet and play with him. She is having so much fun with him. He has escaped twice now but luckily Elliott has found and caught him. We plan on getting 2 chick this weekend. Starting our own little farm in the city.

Another note: we are pregnant and due April 19th. Haven't been to the doctor yet, trying to find insurance.

Summer part 1

I went for a big chance this summer and got bangs. They are hard to get used to, especially in this hot summer. Whitney and Rob got sealed and we were all able to be there. The next morning we woke up and took family pictures with my dad's truck.

Then we went on our family trip. We drove to AR to stay in this huge house. It was right on the edge of his mountain and over looked the lake. We were able to play games every night. One night we played minute to win it, the next night we played a kind of an acting game, the next night we played our annual huge game with lots of games. The first day we took a hike and got lost. It was suppose to take us 45 mins. But ended up taking us 2 1/2 hours. It was so hot and we had to climb a lot. We were exhausted. The second day we went to the lake. The house had a pool table that Brycen stayed at most of the time. We all took turns cooking and cleaning. We had to take Elliott to the airport on the way home so he could fly to Houston for work. Lindsey rode with us in our car most of the time. Love you Linds, your the best.

I want to congratulate my good friends Miriam and Jenny on their new babies. What a blessing babies are!

Summer part 2

Elliott had to travel for work through June and July and we were able to go with him to Boiser City. We stayed for 3 days and the hotel was wonderful. They loved the huge bath tub and the swimming pool. They had so much fun in the pool. Cole had his own little bed when we put the 2 chairs together.

For my birthday Elliott surprised me with my family and his parents coming over to Miriam and Andrew's house. We had yummy cheesecake and went down their street to watch the McKinney fireworks.

Izzie had her first haircut by her aunt Whitney. And I totally forgot to save her hair. She did a great job sitting still.

Summer part 3

Cole's birthday was the 7th and he is now 3. He got to go fishing with his daddy then had donuts for breakfast then we went to the lake with the only person he wanted for his birthday, Ben. We jet skied and had fun at the lake. Then Sunday we went to my parents for dinner and had cake and ice cream and he hit his pinata. He talks non stop now. He surprises me everyday with his sentences. He has been potty trained for about 6 months now and is doing awesome. He knows his alphabet and lower and uppercase. He might be starting preschool this fall. I'm such a proud mom. He takes good care of his sister when he isn't bugging her.

slow poke

Sorry I haven't updated in a long time. I'm slowly working on it. I have a ton of pictures to put up. Hopefully by the end of this week I will have it done.

Bahamas and Izzie's 1rst birthday

We had a great time on our cruise. We got to do things we have been wanting to do for a long time. We went snorkeling twice.

We went deep sea fishing and Elliott caught yellow snapper and a trigger fish. As you can see in the picture I'm up chucking over the side. It was a horrible 4 hours. We went para sailing, it was cool. We saw tons of jellyfish, I did not want to put my feet in the ocean. We ate like kings, so of course I gained all my weight back that I lost.

Izzie turned one yesterday and our family came over to celebrate. She has 3 teeth now and it taking steps by herself. Cant believe the year has already come and gone.