Cutest Baby Contest

Ok, so I only had one motivation when I did this and it was purely to try and get the twin bed, Preston is in serious need of a twin bed and that is one of the prizes. I know I have talked on here a couple of times about trying to win stuff from the radio and so you might be able to tell that we listen to the radio quite a bit and it is usually 106.7 (the planet) So I submitted Preston's picture for the beautiful baby contest. So if you want to help us out and see if we can win that twin bed you can go online and vote for Preston. I don't know how many times you can vote but it looks like you can vote as many times as you want. The website is http://planet1067.com/poll?sid=2657 and he is close to the bottom, seventh row up. I used the same picture that is on my sidebar of him. Josh said I should have chosen a different one that showed his face better and when I thought about it I agreed. I just love the picture! So check it out and maybe vote for him once or twice :) Thanks!

First Day of School!!!

I am happy to report that Kendra and Ethan made it to school on time with smiles on their faces and not one single tear was shed! I was so ready for school to start, I wasn't sure I was going to make it. I had never been ready for school like I was this year. If it gets worse every year then I think I will be resorting to summer school. I let the kids pick out their own outfits and Kendra told me, "I need something new because I want to wear something that no one has ever seen me in before." I didn't buy her anything new, but instead she wore something that she had gotten this summer. What a girly girl she is, she always has to be "stylin" as she puts it.

Ethan finally got his hair cut yesterday,( I know completely last minute) and I was asked the question that I had been waiting for. A lady with her perfectly done hair, makeup, and clothes. Along with her two adorable tween children asked me "are they all yours?" She asked very nicely and she wasn't trying to be rude or anything but I just smiled and said yes. As a side note I had not showered and just pulled my hair back, Kendra hadn't combed her hair and Preston's hair was crazy but he was wearing a hat. I figured I would just run into town to do this one thing that I had put off as long as possible. I hadn't anticipated Great Clips to be packed full with people getting back-to-school haircuts. OOPS!!!

Aubrey is sitting up great all on her own and she is trying to crawl. She gets on all fours and starts rocking but just can't get going. She is going to figure it out really soon. She also gets up on her toes and hands and does her own version of push-ups. I LOVE IT! She is still a happy baby, as long as I am around and as long as she is sitting on her own and has something to chew on. I think that her hair is starting to sprout but Josh disagrees.

Preston wanted in the picture too of course. We have really been enjoying our nice quiet day today and it has been filled with a whole lot of nothing. I bathed the little ones, fed them, cleaned up the kids' room a little bit, got Aubrey down for her morning nap and then I sewed a bag. I love school.

Here is Ethan all lined up and ready to go inside. This little girl behind him was already poking at him and trying to get his attention and then would turn around to the girl behind he and snicker. Oh what fun to be a first grader.

Can you see Kendra's massive backpack. They have to bring so much stuff!

They were so ready! I didn't even have to wake them up this morning.

Ethan was excited that he got to wear his new shoes! I had them in my closet for a while and he had put on his old shoes and come down the stairs when I asked him if he wanted to wear his new shoes. I think that made his day. So now we are just waiting to get moved in to our new place and get all settled so that we can enjoy our free time even more.

What could make me happier!

I walked into my room today and found that Preston had made his bed. He had all of his little stuffed animals lined up on his pillow and his blanket placed just so. I hadn't even asked him to and to tell you the truth Preston's bed rarely gets made because it is a toddler bed and he naps and well, I am just lazy. So I was taken by suprized that my spirited little two year old decided to take the initiative to do this. What a little sweety, now if only I could get him potty trained.

I guess I should update on what is going on in our lives these days. We are not headed off to Utah for the fall semester. Josh didn't get in to BYU for this semester, he was .15 off in his GPA they told him. He was bummed but is optimistic. He is taking another year worth of credits online through MSU-B and then we will see what happens at least his generals will be done. Josh found an awesome job with a company here in Billings and will be their Logistics Coordinator. He is super excited to be starting this position and helping the company to grow. It is a new position within the company and he has big plans. I am just glad that we found such a great job. We were getting down to the wire, seeing as you can't mow lawns all year long in Montana. We managed to find a pretty nice place at the very last minute that is in the same ward and the kids don't have to switch schools. It is funny how things fall into place. Josh and I had fallen in love with a different place but we were going to have to switch wards. Neither of us felt very good about that but our options for three bedroom rentals in our price range is pretty limited here in Billings. But we went and saw this other place and fit our needs perfectly. We almost didn't go to the appointment but are glad that we did.

The kids are very excited to start school and so am I. I can't wait for them to be back in school, is that horrible for me to say? We are looking forward to Josh starting his new job on Monday so that we can see him more at night! (and he won't come home smelling like grass clippings and gasoline)

Time to Party

Sadly you can't even see this amazing person. It is a good thing that we could or I would have been one sad momma!

Muah!!! I couldn't help planting a big one on him. Isn't he so cute when he is all dolled up? Well I think he is cute all of the time, even when he smells like grass and gasoline. When we got to the concert Josh and I split up to see which line was faster since our tickets were just general admission. He made it in before I did of course, but we weren't separated for more than five minutes and wouldn't you know some college girls managed to hit on him. He just smiled at them and said, "I'm married" as he literally ran off to get me good seats, what a wonderful husband.

So yes, I got to go and see Kelly Clarkson, one of my very favorites!!! My wonderful mother-in-law scored us some awesome free tickets to the show and we had a blast. Even though we were in general admission we still got pretty decent seats since we got there right when the opened the gates. I would have loved to have been on the floor, dancing and singing and having a blast with all of the teenagers maybe next time. Josh had been trying to win me tickets on the radio all week so that we could be right up front but he needed to brush up a little on his Kelly music.

I feel like I have had more date nights in the last two weeks than we have had in the last two years! It has been so wonderful and a big thank you to all of the wonderful grandparents who have watched over our crew, I am very VERY appreciative. The favorite thing that we have been able to do since living with my parents is getting the kids all tucked in and asleep and then going out to the late movie. Talk about not having to worry about the kids, it was wonderful, except for the fact that I had to fight to stay awake. I didn't really enjoy the last Harry Potter Movie. Josh's mom also got us tickets to see Trace Atkins last Saturday (she is the sales manager for a broadcasting company) I didn't really want to go but Josh got the night off and got his dad and stepmom to watch the kids so I couldn't say no. The concert ended up being really fun and I knew more songs than I thought I did. The drunk lady on one side of us and the couple getting hot and heavy on the other side wasn't very much fun though but kept Josh and I laughing.

We think that we have found a new place and are very excited abou moving, it is in just the right neighborhood and I absolutely LOVE the floorplan and it is brand new, you just can't beat that. The only downside is that we will have to change wards, total bummer. I am really going to miss Blue Creek. I didn't think that I would like to be back in the same ward that I was in when I was in high school but it wasn't bad at all and everyone is super nice, so we will miss it.

I am DONE with hospitals!

Shortly after the reunion was over we were at my aunt's house and the cousins were playing. There were still a number of family around after the main activities were done so we went up there to visit. After we got home (which was about 9:30pm) we got a phone call from my aunt saying that when Grandma had gone downstairs to go to bed she found her pills scattered everywhere. YUP, the kiddos had somehow gotten into Gma's room and then played with her pills and sure enough one was missing. It was one of her heart pills and when my cousin had called poison control she said to get them down there right away. So we loaded up Preston and Hadley and met them down at the ER with Kirk Allen and Kamilla, my cousin's two toddlers. They put us in a huge room and took all of their vitals and when the doc came in he listened to their heart and said that they were all fine and if any of them had taken a pill they would be able to tell by now. So the four toddlers, one baby (I couldn't leave her at home) two moms, two grandmas, and Josh loaded up and finally made it home to sleep. On Tuesday Ethan went in and got his tonsils and adenoids removed, they put a tube in his left ear, and trimmed something in his nose to give him a bigger passageway. He was a trooper and was excited to get the procedure done. We learned through a hearing screening at the school that he couldn't hear very well out of his left ear so when we took him in to the audiologist she did another test, looked in his ears, and called in the ENT doctor right away. Ethan has never had a problem with ear infections, I think he has only ever had one. The doctor told us that often times you don't notice the hearing loss when it is in one ear because as a child they just learn to compensate for it with the other ear.

So he is all fixed up now and after the first day he told us that he could already hear way better out of his bad ear. He was rather pleased with that and we are glad that there was no permanent damage. He has been a good patient and is eating lots of Popsicles, the only thing he doesn't like is when we have to irrigate his nose and I don't blame him for that one.

The day that my mother left to go to Utah and then on to Cali we ended up in the hospital again. That night (Friday) I put Preston in the bathtub. Aubrey was being a little needy but started playing in the mirror that is in the hallway. She was being so cute, talking and smiling and even laughing at herself. So I decided that she could play in the mirror in the bathroom while I bathed Preston so i cleared the space so her little paws wouldn't find something that they shouldn't and then put her in her bumbo right close to the mirror. Preston and I were watching her while she was in the bath and we were talking to her and she was having a blast. Well I had to wash Preston's hair so I turned around and right when I was finished I heard the worst sound ever!!! It was a sound I don't ever want to hear again and I knew exactly what it was. My little girl's head just hit the ground. Since she was so close to the mirror she had pushed off with her feet and tipped herself over backwards off the counter, bumbo and all. I scooped her up and comforted her. She had a pretty good goose egg right away but I was able to calm her and she was responding and smiled a couple of times. I also checked her eyes and she seemed ok. She wouldn't let me put her down, but she wasn't screaming. I got the kids in bed and Aubrey eventually fell asleep and I had read that if you can console them and they seem ok then they are probably fine. Josh eventually got home from work and I gave Aubrey to him and she woke up SCREAMING. At that point we couldn't console her and then I looked at her head and now it was really swollen on both sides, we knew we had to take her in.

We took the other kids over to Josh's dad's house and headed for the ER, we had just been there two days before. She finally fell asleep on the way there and did pretty good once we got there. She was fussy and crying but no longer screaming. They gave her a CAT scan and they saw that her skull was fractured in two places and it looked like there was some bruising. The ER doc called the neurosurgeon in (at about 2:00am) and he thought that we would have to go into surgery. She had bleeding on her brain. They decided that since quite a bit of time had already passed since she fell that they would wait a little bit and then do another CAT scan an see if the bleeding had increased. So we had a horrible night in the ICU waiting, and holding Aubrey, and eventually got about 1 1/2 hours of sleep. We took her in for another CAT scan first thing in the morning and were so relieved when the Neurosurgeon told us that it hadn't grown. She had to stay in the ICU for another 24 hours though so that they could watch her and make sure. But by that afternoon she seemed to be back to her old self and we got to come home.

They had a tiny hospital gown for her and everything. She had to be hooked up to monitors the entire time and had an IV too. MY POOR BABY!!! I was glad that we had such amazing nurses and everyone told me that it was ok and that these things happen. I was glad that I wasn't getting the opposite response, I definitely felt bad enough. She had the worst two bumps on her head but they are almost gone now. We have to go back into the neurosurgeon in a couple of weeks to make sure that everything is healing ok. She is rolling all over the place and is almost sitting up on her own. Let's just say that what use to be my favorite baby item now makes me a little sick to my stomach to look at. And I am definitely done with hospitals for hopefully a very long time.

Rhinehart Reunion

Over the 4th of July we had our first Rhinehart Reunion. We did so many fun things. On Thursday we had a huge paintball war out at my Uncle Clark's ranch. The boys headed out there just after lunch and enjoyed a cool breeze that was blowing through the hills and had a great time. The women hit a few stores and enjoyed going out to lunch at my favorite, Mongolian Grill. Later we went on out to the ranch and enjoyed the beautiful scenery and ate dinner. We didn't think that the boys were ever going to come out of the hills. They eventually did and compared battle wounds. Apparently the In-laws beat the Rhineharts...TWICE. So sad, maybe next time they can redeem themselves. They all apologized to G Ma for letting her down. On Friday we went out to Yellowtail dam. We rented a boat and enjoyed the water. It was actually a little cold and the water was so high that day that they nice sandy beach was completely submerged so that was a bummer. Then Saturday we had a huge BBQ over at my sister Nicole's house. She has a full acre lot so we had plenty of room for volleyball, slip-n-slide, water balloon fight, and a whole lot of eating and playing. Here is a picture of my G-ma's decendents. There are actually quite a few missing. I think there are about 26 still missing. I think that is so crazy to think that all of this is from one amazing woman. She and my grandpa had five children, she now has 19 grandchildren and 38 great grandchildren and still counting. (In fact my sister is in labor right now :))

Here is a picture of my G-Ma and my mother. These ladies are so incredibly wonderful, I am thankful to belong to such a great family and to these incredible women to look up to.

Here is Ethan, apparently Aubrey wasn't cooporating.

We got matching tee-shirts for the reuntion and they had this on the front and my grandpa's brand on the back, they were pretty cool and the kids love to wear them.

Here is Kendr at the dam, it was freezing cold. When I went out on the boat we stopped so that people could play in the water. I dove in and it took my breath away and as I was swimming back to the boat my wedding ring almost slipped off, so I had to make a fist so that I wouldn't loose it.

Here is Preston and my niece Hadley. They are just over 2 months apart and had a blast playing together. Hadley and my nephew Gavin stayed with us for another week when their parents went back to California. I think that everyone was all cousined out this morning when they left. But we definitely had a fun time getting to know them. We don't get to see them very often because they live so far away.

I had to throw this one in because Preston is so sticken cute! I love the glasses, and he loves playing with Kendra's doll. He even dresses her and sleeps with her every night.

I Love Summer

We have had such a fun time over the last week! I was thinking one day, man I never get anything done and I am home all day, so when the weather got a little warmer and more reliable I decided I would change that. Now I don't get anything done and we are GONE all day :) My friend Mandy filled me in on the summer reading program down at the library and reminded me about the free lunch in the park so we have kept ourselves very busy. It is nice because the house actually stays a little cleaner because they aren't home all day to make messes, and who can argue with free lunch. My favorite part would most likely be having another adult around, it is just nice to be able to talk to a friend. Mandy has been my friend since I was in third grade, you just don't have many friends like that in your life. I am so glad that she and Kevin made the choice to move to Billings when he graduated. We have had some late, but wonderful nights. We have recently been into the Construction Game. But we also play cards, wa-hoo, apples-to-apples, Partini, or whatever strikes our fancy. And laughter is almost guarenteed!!!

This last weekend another friend of mine since third grade came up to Billings for a few days to visit. Mandy, Megan, and I had such a fun time talking, laughing, and just enjoying one another's company. Isn't it the best when you get together with a friend that you haven't seen in years and it is just like nothing ever changed. That is how this weekend was. I moved away from Sheridan at the start of my sophmore year so I missed out on a lot of great memories but the friendships that I had there are some that will last a lifetime. LOVE YOU GUYS! Oh yeah, the picture is of Aubrey and Isabelle, who is Mandy's youngest, they are three months apart. She also has a son that is within a year of Ethan and another one that is within a year of Preston so our kiddos LOVE going to see Kevin and Mandy.