New Blog

So long first blog.

My picture memory is full, and I refuse to have a monthly blogging payment to keep adding to you. 

You will still be around, for reminiscing purposes.

To continue following our family to date, please visit:

brynneandjon.blogspot.com

EYE Love You

Cade had eye surgery this morning. 

(To see previous posts about his eye condition, click here)

Once again, he was such a trooper.

He woke up, had to take a shower, NOT do his hair (that's tough), and NOT eat or drink anything (even more tough... but a good lesson on future fasting) received a blessing from his dad, and left for Sacred Heart Children's Hospital.

He is a major Daddy's boy, and seeing as his dad has been gone a lot lately, he wanted to take him. (So, of course this Mama was at home trying to stay busy and keep from freaking out!) 

Here are some pics of Cade PRE SURGERY:

They let him bring his bedtime buddy, Koda. :)

Here he is all prepped and waiting for Doctor Nye. He got to color and play batman on DS. 

He said, "Dad, this is like on UP when the wife gets really old and dies."(Being in the hospital bed. ;))

And POST SURGERY

Waiting for him to wake up.

When Jonny sent me this one it made my heart want to burst out of my chest with love for this guy. He is SUCH a good boy. I am amazed by him, and his continual bravery.

Still waking up. Apple juice and fishy crackers. :)

Meanwhile, Jay boy was at home with me (and Tyce) and proceeded to help me make a sign, pick out movies and buy medicine for Cade. He could not wait for him to get home. It's so fun to see their love for each other. Come to find out, Cade had also colored a picture for Jay in the hospital. :) Warms my heart.

The surgery went perfectly. We are so grateful. We want to thank everyone who prayed for Cade and sent nice notes.

His eye will be very bloodshot and have blood tinged tears, etc. for 1-2 weeks. He will need Tylenol and eye drops for a couple of days. 8/10 kids are good to go permanently, but there is still a chance that we might have to do this again in the future. 

Now he is lying on the couch, eating fresh baked cookies and watching avengers. :)

Here's to a speedy recovery over TG break!

Old McDonald

Jay-Jay had a preschool field trip to a family farm.

He got to see and feed lots of animals including chickens, cats, a cow, and horses. 

This blows Old McDonald's farm out of the water. ;)

Ride 'em Jay Boy!

God Bless America

Obama was re-elected as President of the United States. I cannot even begin to describe how shocking this has been for us.

Not only did we neglect to elect one of the best candidates we have been offered to date, but we chose someone who has taken us into trillions of dollars of national debt (more than many presidents combined... and he did it in one term), has made sketchy military decisions, has not helped unemployment, and who has implemented Obamacare, which is basically inching us towards socialism.

In the words of my amazing sister-in-law Sherry:

 "It is unfortunate that the majority of Obama’s voters do not understand the economic impact of socialism. Another Obama presidential term equates to a sluggish economy, increased inflation, continued unemployment, governmental bankruptcy, federal medical mandates and higher taxes. Do you prefer freedom or equality? America chose socio/economic equality. I would rather be free."

... and the ever-wise Howard W. Hunter (a leader in our church):

I will not bash this country. I and my children have lived a life where we can choose for ourselves and have never had to go without. We are so blessed to live in America. I am just frustrated with the trends of our country right now.

With that, we are making plans to do all that is in our power to do... and that is, be prepared for whatever may come and continue to pray for the future of our country. 

"Tumultuous times ahead."

-LDS church press release

Welcome Mr. Winter

Today was the first snow! The boys played in it for almost two hours... then requested hot chocolate. :)

Political Propaganda, and a Cute Cade.

Tuesday is the big day.

This nation will have the choice between these two men.

The choice is obvious to me, but it's not to everyone.

After numerous debates, documentaries, articles, interviews, etc. etc. etc., it has been flooding my mind.

This is a HUGE moment.

For our country, for our families, and for the future of our children.

I didn't find it ironic at all that Cade, out of the blue in the car the other day, 

said this:

"Mom, when I say the pledge of allegiance at school, it gives me a warm feeling it my heart."

Isn't that how it should be?

The future leaders of our country and our church are in these children.

I hope and pray we will make the right choice in this moment.

BAM! POW! PUNCH!

We had a fun and safe Halloween with

Our little band of SUPERHEROS!!

And let me tell you, we had them pumping weights for MONTHS to prepare for these costumes!

Jay (aka Superman)

Cade (aka Wolverine)

Tyce (aka Captain America)

Here are our pumpkins carved. Jay's spidey pumpkin:

Cade's wolverine on the right (starting to rot) and Tyce's jack-o-lantern by the door. :)

 Over the weekend my sister Cassie's and my husband were both away... and you know what they say! While the husbands are away the girls will play! ;)

This was our costume for a couple's party.

 From 20 year olds to 80 year olds. ;)

Another great Halloween!

Don't Cry Over Spilled Milk

This is what I woke up to this morning.

This photo does not EVEN do it justice.

This was a full half gallon of milk, and by the time I saw it, it had been tracked all the way down the halls, all over the living room carpet, and was half dried. It took an hour to clean it up, scrub the carpet and mop the floor on my hands and knees three times before it wasn't sticky anymore.

I know not every day is glorious as a mom, and I know most of us avoid posting about those days on our blogs (to be documented forever)... but I decided I will today.

Before I get into it, let me just tell you how the rest of my week went:

-Jon is gone from Sunday-Sunday. A FULL week.

-all 3 boys got the stomach flu

(this may not sound like a big deal, but this meant cleaning up multiple rounds of puke, mounds of laundry, numerous baths, etc. etc. etc.

-Had to buy a new phone for $250 pre-upgrade. 

It took my awesome friend, Xan, having to pick up my puking kid from school (while I was clueless at the gym) to finally put my piece of crap phone to rest. While I was in grabbing the phone, two of the boys had thrown up in the car.

-Boys are finally starting to feel better, so I decide to get away to an adult party. My sister and I planned a Halloween outfit. I got everything for it, had to go back to return stuff so I had the right sizes, etc. THEN, I am picking her up for the party and she pops a ball while pinning to sew (major part of the costume, but no big deal, I thought). I spent an hour running all over cda to find another ball (in the rain) to no avail. We ended up finding a ball in a back yard, and made it to the party 1.5 hours late. Everyone started leaving a half hour later.

-Today I woke up to this milk mess, which in turn, made us late to Cade's first ever basketball game.

You get the idea. So when I came down to this spilled milk, (.Jay had gotten his own cereal and left the milk right where Tyce could get it)

I yelled so hard my voice hurt. 

I spanked Jay and sent him to his room, stripped down soaked Tyce, sent Cade to get towels, and then they all left me to clean up the mess.

That's when i lost it.

I cried, and cried and cried.

I started having thoughts like, "Seriously? Is this my glorious, beautiful, life? Cleaning up barf, spilled milk, being late to things and having no quality time to myself?"

I had a battle that I have been seeming to have a lot with myself lately.  (Now that my baby is almost 16 months I get the "Are you having more?" question a lot...)

Side 1:

I have to have another kid to keep things even

3 kids just isn't enough to be a good "mormon mom"

I want a girl

With the Lord's help I can handle it

I know I am in the hardest stage, it will get better 

I am strong and independent

VS

Side 2:

You are inadequate

I can't believe you yelled at your kids like that

3 kids is so much! It's only going to get harder/busier

Your situation is different, you're alone a lot

If you have more kids, people 'of the world' will think you're crazy

If you have any more kids, maybe you wont be as good of a mom

As I've finally had time to sit and dwell on this week in some peace and quiet, I remembered a conversation I had with my sister (who recently had her 5th child, and is seemingly a little overwhelmed also).  It humbled me.

In the most recent general conference for our church, there were two talks that stand out to me about children. One is very eye opening (See it Here). It touches on all the children of the world...their dyer circumstances of starvation, physical and psychological abuse, prostitution, pornography, drug babies, being aborted, etc. etc.

The other (See it Here) helps us realize how to become the good parents we want to be with the help of the Lord. 

It finishes, 

"God bless you goodly mothers and fathers in Zion. He has entrusted to your care His eternal children. As parents we partner, even join, with God in bringing to pass His work and glory among His children. It is our sacred duty to do our very best."

Between the two talks I realized that these spirits will get here no matter what. Would I rather have them be in my home than in these dyer circumstances previously stated? 

My very worst days, when I cry over spilled milk are better than the best days of the children whose parents neglect or abuse them.

Even though I get tired of trying to be strong and put together in my own life, (and just want to stay in my sweats, eat ice cream and cry some days) while in the mean time trying to serve and help others... I am blessed to have my children in a place where I know they are safe and loved. Even that is better than millions upon millions of other childrens' situations.

I'll take a day here or there of stress and feeling overwhelmed to have the comfort of knowing these children are in a good home, under the convenant, with a Mom and Dad who love them, love eachother and love God.

So today I cried. But tomorrow I press on!

3 Years Running

This guy is amazing.

(Although Tyce is cute, I'm talking about the hot guy on the left.)

He just met his yearly sales quota for ZOLL for the 3rd year in a row!!

This makes him part of a small club in a huge company.

Not only that, he is being recognized at his annual sales meeting in Tampa, FL on stage for the third year in a row!! Him and his hospital counterpart are getting the teamwork award!

Way to go Daddy! We are so grateful to have a hardworking, successful salesman to call ours!

Jay quote of the day

Jon:  "Jay are we buddies?"

Jay: "Yeah! We're buddies forever! Like, 20 minutes!"

Prayer tonight:

"Dear Heavenly Father
Grateful for this day.
Help Daddy to be safe and choose the right.
Bless that if someone falls, we will help them up.
Bless that if someone does something wrong we will tell them to either go to their bed or go in the corner for four minutes.
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

Yes I did build this, Obama.

Pinterest might be the death of me.

Seriously. I am not getting enough sleep for about a month now.

BUT this house is coming together. 

More on my latest craftiness...

My Halloween wreath:

(according to Obama this was built by Michaels and Walmart)

  I re-did the laundry room. 

I painted, cut and hung the shelf, etc

(I spend so much time in here, it might as well feel inviting!!)

And ::drumroll:: 

I pulled from this pile of scrap MDF, borrowed a friend's saw...

And built this entryway shelf from SCRATCH!

Well, according to Obama, Home Depot built it. ;) (NOT.)

Cost me $30 (price of the freaking expensive hooks).

 One last random item while we're talking about my entry way...

 I picked up these candlesticks at TJ Maxx. They're my new fav.

Our trim guy starts wrapping our windows a week from Sunday, then I will start the wainscoting in the dining room. Stay tuned! :)

Pumpkins (and all that comes with them).

We had a fun-filled fall feeling kind of weekend.

Jon has been racking up hotel points, so we took a night and stayed in a super nice hotel right in downtown cda with the boys. It was a fun little "staycation" we all needed together.

We went on a walk and played at a park, went to Red Robin, went swimming, and watched Ice Age 4. 

It was a blast! 

We woke up the next morning, had breakfast and went shooting with my dad to sight in our guns for deer hunting. Bullseye.

Then we quickly hit the pumpkin patch!

Ah, they're so cute. And I don't mean the pumpkins. ;)

We then carved the pumpkins (in the form of wolverine and spider man... very predictable in our house of boyz) and prepared for our {almost} annual adults 

ORANGE AND BLACK PARTY!!! 

THIS was a blast.

I didn't take ONE picture. Was having too much fun! But here's what we did:

-Ate/drank way too many calories in yummy appetizers and hot cider

-played THRICE (halloween themed, of course)

-Split into 3 teams, packed into mini-vans and did a photo SCAVENGER HUNT!

(We felt like teenagers racing around the town with our doors open, breaking all kinds of traffic rules, and stalking graveyards in the night!)

-Mingled, chatted and caught up with all of our amazing friends that we don't get to hang out with as much as we'd like to... such is life that's getting ever busier. 

On a side note, I also went back to a fall brown with my hair.

Cheers to my favorite season!

J-J-J-Jay Boy

Jay boy got a shout out in his weekly letter that comes home to parents in his back pack:

"A big shout out to Jay Erickson who knows almost every single letter!" (of the ABC's)

She told me face to face that he's the top in his class in letter recognition and counting.

Way to go little preschooler!

Meat to Eat

Jon went on his annual elk hunting trip with my dad... and came home empty handed for the 6th year in a row. I know hunting takes a lot of skill, but there is a BIG amount of luck and being in the right place at the right time as well.

Either way, our freezer is almost full:

Thanks to our Pops.

Jon helped pack these quarters on his back and bike them out for miles.

As I have done in the past as well. 

Luckily, our awesome family shares when we help pack out, cut up and pay for processing!

We love our organic, free range, grass fed elk meat! 

Bathroom Re-DO

No, I am not doing a tutorial. ;)

There are tons! That's how I learned how to do this little project I undertook today!

I want to do this board and batten in our dining room, and a certian FRIEND ::wink wink:: had his doubts about me being able to do it. So, I decided to start smaller, with the boys' bathroom.

I measured everything out, and went to Home Depot to grab the goods:

Here is during:

literally watching paint dry! :) My idea of a perfect Friday night. ;)

All done!

 ...in the meantime I refinished the little stool (it was just a natural finish before)

I got rid of the towel bar (I hated it cause it doesn't fit more than two towels!) and added hooks! I love them! So much more room to breathe! (or hang your towels. ;))

 AND 9 hours later...AFTER:

What do you think? Did I prove my friend wrong?!

:) Lie to me if you have to.