Some kids just come that way...

I thought it might be good to document a day in the life of Marrick. I only documented an hour and this is what I captured:

(This kid just came this way)

doin' the skateboard dance (with goggles)

Some kids just come that way and some pictures just speak for themselves.

Once upon a time...

Once upon a time there was a family. The mommy did not like pets, the daddy thought it would be fun to have one, but the oldest girl begged and begged for one. So, the mommy decided a cute little 'lion face' bunny would be perfect.The oldest girl named him Pongo because he looks like a dalmatian.
Pongo was very sweet. He loved to hop in the grass and stays near his family. The nice neighbor man even made him a castle to stay in! (thanks Joel:) And he pooped and pooped and had the greatest time.

Even the littlest boy loved to play with him! (scary)

Then one day the daddy (who thought it was so funny) came home with a very scared dog. (yes, a dog!) The children cheered and gave their daddy kiss after kiss! The mommy rolled her eyes and said that he better be potty trained!

The littlest princess said, "what in the world is that?" and the family named him Zorro because he looked like a fox.

The family played and played with him and the mommy approved because he was 11 months old, FREE, fixed, shots current and has never pottied in the house. Everyone cheered and lived Happily ever after!

LOST

LOST Today we lost Marrick.

Scary lost.

Aaron came home from work and said, "where's Marrick?" Marrick usually is the first to run and greet his Daddy. I had stepped across the street for a few minutes, left him reading a story on the couch, came home, heard him and then fed the baby.

He was gone. Just gone. Oh my gosh, he was gone!

The horror, the feeling of loosing a child was overwhelming. We searched EVERYWHERE in the house. We searched the yard. We started to search the neighborhood. We started to get frantic. 10 then 20 minutes go by. By this time there are at least 20 people helping us look. Aaron is screaming his name and ready to bust into suspicious neighbor homes, I am crying hysterically wandering in circles. We check the house over and over again. We yell his name. Aaron says, you have to make the call. I call 9-1-1. It rang 4 times! I am hysterical. What will I do without my Marrick! Is he hurt? Did someone take him? I knew he wasn't hiding. He isn't the hiding sort of kid. He likes to be seen and heard. He never goes further than my cousins house and my friends house. We have checked EVERYWHERE! A fire truck, ambulance and police car pull up in front of our house. (nothing like getting the neighbors to come out of hiding!) He is wearing a pair of blue shorts and no shirt. They tell me that they are going to search the house first just to make sure he's not in there and then they will start to spread out from there. They look in cupboards, in the drier, under dirty clothes, under beads, then a wonderful, amazing, God-sent paramedic looks under the comforter of our made-up bed. There is Marrick, sleeping under the covers, laying in a lot of sweat. They yell to me that they have found him. It has been 40 minutes. I run upstairs, grab that boy, sob, and sob and sob. I hug the paramedic and run past all the men in my house saying, "where is my husband? He needs to see him!" Aaron is walking up the street about a half a block away. He sees that I have him and drops to a squat in the middle of the road and cries. Ammon says, "I've never seen Daddy cry before."

Oh, thank you!

Life is so precious. All that matters are the ones we love. Things just don't have a place in our hearts. Only people do. Heavenly Father gave us one another to love, cherish and cling to. "The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away." I am so thankful that I have been GIVEN so much in my life. Today I hold my children tighter, my husband closer and my family members fonder. There is life beyond this. If not I would fill the pain I felt today for eternity. We have a Father in Heaven that loves us and hears our prayers.

I love you sweet Marrick. Please stay with Mommy Forever.

Halle Grace is 5 Months old!

oh, the sweetest thing!She is full of giggles and laughs, smiles at strangers, talks and coos ALL the time, is starting to scoot on her tummy, pushes up with her arms, sleeps with her arms over her head, has the cutest little tuft of hair in the front of her head that only goes to one side, goes to sleep with a binky and blanky just over her chin and her baby seahorse playing, brings the sweetest spirit into our home. Oh Halle, you are the SWEETEST thing!

Toa Boy

Ammon Toa is quite the boy. He is strikingly handsome with those killer blue-green eyes and sweet smile, he loves to be like his Dad and his sister Alana. He loves to ride his bike, scooter and skateboard (thanks to our awesome neighbors that are moving and left him with their scooter and skateboard!) He likes to be liked and likes to be the funny one. We just love this guy! Playing ball with dad. Look at that focusDad says, "nice follow through son."
King for a day:

Ammon had a spotlight day at his preschool a few weeks ago. He has been asking all year when his turn was! He was soooo Excited!!! He got to take his spotlight poster in and a treat to share. It just so happened to be the mother's day lesson at school and I was supposed to be there anyways. Perfect. The letter of the day was short I. All we could think of was India, Iguana, Igloo, Inside, Infant, Insect. This is him 'telling' about all of the pictures on his poster. Then Ammon had his preschool graduation a week later. Yeah for Ammon! Happy Graduation! It is so funny to see all of these 5 year-old's in grad outfits.The whole fam. Ammon's teacher (the high school students are one on one or one to two with each child). I love this preschool!

Ammon looks very proud to even have Grama Annie there.

We let Alana skip out of school for a few hours to be with her bro. We just love this boy. He is always concerned and aware of what he is wearing, how cool he is and how funny he can be. He is starting to realize he can get away with things and gets in some good 'ol boy trouble more often than he should. He loves to hang out with sister Lana and be a 'big kid.' We love you Toa boy! Here comes Kindergarten! (summer first, please!)

Last week of School and a Snow Day???

This is what we woke up to this morning....

Yes, it is MAY 24!!!! Our poor little Maple tree is bending too much!

Our other big tree lost a big branch right on top of our swing setThis is our poor lilac tree with lilacs in bloom!We declared it an official snow day and let Lani stay home from school. She helped shake off all of the branches to save the treesAmmon decided to join in on the fun:)Hot Chocolate at the end of May? Why not! It was also declared an official jammy day. I felt like crackin' out the Christmas tree.The damage was done though. My poor cute chives and the flowers that I just planted were all bending over in the snow. This is our next door neighbor's tree. I think everyone lost at least one tree limb. Some neighbors got it bad. The snow was mostly gone by about 1 pm.
Meanwhile, we are watching cartoons and eating beef jerky. why not? It's a snow day. Field day is on Wednesday. It is supposed to be 74 degrees. Gotta love Utah weather!

Halle is 4 Months~

And is she ever sweet as can be! I find myself loving and enjoying this little lamby so much. She is so happy and sweet. She got her first cold this month:( and couldn't breath well for awhile. She has always been a good eater but found it frustrating to eat with a cold. She learned to roll from front to back this month (barely) and has found out that she has hands. She studies her fingers and hands and is starting to like toys. She tasted her first strawberry, apple and banana(just little licks:). She loves her mama and daddy and gets very nervous when kids climb in her crib with her. She smiles at strangers and loves her brothers and sister. Oh how we love this 4 month old Halle Grace!~I just can't resist these cute, ticklish little Johnson legs :)

Love you Halle baby!