A Tribute

Last week we got some heartbreaking news... The girls' pediatrician suddenly and unexpectedly passed away! He was only 39 years old (survived by his wife and 4 young children)! This news is devastating. We just took the girls in to see him a few weeks ago. Dr. Nielson was a great man will always hold a special place in our hearts!

He helped save Merrilee's life when she was only 8 days old! He saw her, took her stats, and said we needed to go to the hospital right away. If we would have waited any longer, Merrilee might have died! (Her oxygen levels were in the 60%s and "normal" is in the 90%s! She was so dehydrated it took them 2 hours just to find a vein to put an IV in her to get some fluids pumping in her body...FYI she had RSV and pneumonia...poor baby) He visited us and Merrilee at the hospital every day and was so kind and reassuring.

Dr. N was large in stature (very tall) but had the most gentle, loving touch with children.  Every "well-child" visit and every "sick-child" he would make me and the girls feel at ease.

The then Alice came! When Alice was born, Dr. N was already at the hospital doing his rounds, so he checked Alice out and came in to offer his Congratulations to us. Then, when we started noticing Alice's little eye and other minor things, he was so helpful in getting us with the right people and getting the right tests done.: eye doctor, physical therapist, oncologists, etc. He would call us occasionally with lab results, or just to check up on how things were going during some of the tough times.

Dr. N always seemed so genuinely concerned and caring for our two little ones and us. He was the best pediatrician we could have asked for through all of the rocky stuff and happy stuff with our girls. I am having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that we will have to find a different pediatrician for our girls...one who does not know us or the medical history etc. In my eyes, Dr. Nielson  is truly irreplaceable! Dr. N, you will truly be missed!

smartphones

We have officially entered the world of smartphones. Yes. Its true. We have never really seen the point or need for a smartphone. What? Is it supposed to make you feel smart or something? The thing that has really turned us off of the whole smartphone thing is seeing people EVERYWHERE (the mall, the park, the grocery store, in the car, sitting in a room full of company, etc.) with their eyes glued to their phones instead of their kids, the road, the people around them , the beautiful scenery, etc.

 But alas, our phone contracts ended and if there was ever a time to get a smartphone, I guess this was it. We got our new phones and totally felt overwhelmed. Was a phone supposed to do all these things? I mean, I was used to a phone that made phone calls and basic texts. I actually had to press buttons! Now I can gently slide my finger across the screen and it seems like the whole world is at my fingertips. Ben and I have vowed not to become "Those" types of people that are always on their phones. I can see how it can be addicting to search apps, play games, or check Facebook or email almost constantly...but we aren't going to give in!

There have been some positives to the whole smartphone thing though. We LOVE the lds gospel library app. Its so easy to just whip out our phones and look up a scripture or read a conference talk throughout the day. Also, we are loving the camera features. Instead of having to remember to bring our old digital camera places, we don't even have to think about it and we have nice cameras in our pockets that have better resolution than our digital camera anyways! And the cool part is there are tons of apps for photo editing right on the phone! Genius! We are starting to like our smartphones now. But somehow I am starting to miss the feeling of  holding my little old trusty cell and putting pressure on those buttons to make it work. After all, it helped strengthen my fingers for piano playing! ;)

Some cute pictures of the girls recently taken and edited from my phone.

Merrilee with her cousin

So, if you ever see Ben or I glued to our phones, please tell us to look up! :)

A Toddler's Artistic Endeavors

Lately, Merrilee has shown a lot more interest in coloring.  We permanently keep out some paper and crayons that she can get whenever she wants to color. Luckily we have not (yet) encountered any problems with drawing on walls, eating crayons, etc. Merrilee is a very obedient and structured little girl (Thank you Merrilee!).

The other day she was coloring and I asked her what she was drawing....she said "Around!" I've never demonstrated how or told her to draw circles or anything like that. Its amazing how children learn by exploring! Well, she figured out how to draw "Around" on her own...

And then, just yesterday, she brought me this picture...

I said, "Tell me about your picture." She said, "Yummy Cake! And fire!" Oh the mind of a two year old! I love it! I think she was thinking of her birthday cake (with candles) she had almost exactly a month ago...Rainbow chip. Notice how she makes use of all the space on the page. :) We have started an "Art Gallery" on the wall on Merrilee's level. Some of these creations are combined efforts, and some are completely from the artist herself.

We are proud of our little budding artist! Maybe sometime soon I will feel like being an overachieving mom and actually get out some paints, or maybe we will start with markers. :)

Snow date!

This weekend Adam and Kylie came down for a visit. We had a nice evening with them on Sunday and on Monday they were so AMAZING and offered to watch the girls so we could go out on a date! We decided we better do something that we wouldn't normally do with kids around, so we went snowshoeing! We have barely had any snow this winter, but there was enough in the canyon to have some decent snow fun!

 

We figured we went about 3-4 miles. It was SO MUCH FUN! When we got back to the parking lot, we busted out our awesome table that came with our CRV and had a tailgate lunch. We used our little travel stove thing and heated up a can of chili on it and then ate some nice warm chili with chips! Yum! It was so nice to get out just the two of us. It is a rare experience for us these days! :) THANK YOU SO MUCH Adam and Kylie for watching the girls! We love you guys! :)

A weekend wedding in Idaho

A couple weeks ago, Ben and I drove up with the girls to Idaho for my brother's wedding. The drive wasn't bad at all. We had clear weather and the girls were really good the whole drive up there (about 6-7 hour drive). We stayed in Boise on that Thurs. night and went out to eat with the whole family from our side and also Emily's parents. Friday, we all drove up into the mountains of Idaho to a fabulous little house tucked away in the snow! 

We had fun that night as we went over to the other house where Emily's family was staying and had pizza and then came back to our cabin and played games together as a family. The next morning my sister, mom, and I went over to the other house to help set up for the wedding while the guys stayed home and played/went sledding with the kids. We helped decorate the cake, made the bride's bouquet, helped with food, and arranging/decorating tables. 

The pretty cake

We went back to our cabin, got ready, and then came back to the bigger house for the main event! It was lovely! I'm so happy for my brother! :)

Merrilee's hair is getting so long!

My good looking brothers! My little brother officiated for my big brother's wedding! :)

Siblings. Great looking bunch!

I love the moose head!

The beautiful happy couple!

The whole family (Our side)

What a beautiful new family! :)

My cute sister + my cute baby = CUTE picture!

 We were happy we were able to be there for this special event and we are grateful to have Emily and her children join our family! We love you guys!

The ride home on Sunday was ok. Merrilee threw up as we were winding our way out of the mountains, but after that, she was fine.  We made it home safe and sound Sunday evening. It was a great family weekend!

We have a 2 year old!

I can't believe we can say we have a 2 year old! That makes us feel like we are starting to get old and actually be "grown-ups" or something.  Last Saturday Merrilee turned 2! I remember when she was born 2 years ago. She came 2 weeks early and unexpectedly after a long day of teaching. I was sick as a dog and we had nothing ready! Nevertheless, Merrilee decided to enter the world and join our family the night of Feb. 4. What a blessing she has been to us. She has always been such a happy, easy-going girl. We love watching her grow up!

Newborn 

1 year old

2 year old

Here are some of our favorite things about Merrilee as a now 2 year old:
-She copies what we say (We have to be careful!)
-She likes to sing songs with us.  She knows many words to many songs. Her current favorites are "I am a Child of God" and "Twinkle, Twinkle"
-She sits and very expressively reads books to herself.
-She says "Pease" and "Tankoo" and "You Kelcom" often
-She loves dancing!
-She gives the biggest hugs and kisses
-She counts to 10 and knows (can recognize) almost all of her letters!(Between all the reading she does and how many times she insists we sing the ABC's...She is basically self-taught!)
-She knows how to make Alice giggle and laugh and then gives her baby sister loves.
-She is so pretty! (We get comments from strangers all the time about how beautiful she is. Yes. That's right. We make beautiful children. :)


We put together a fun little birthday celebration for Merrilee.  The morning of her birthday was basically our usual morning routine. When we put her down for her nap, then we decorated and set up her "Big" birthday present. Right before she woke up, the power went out! Our basement doesn't get much "natural" lighting (as you can see from the two tiny windows in the picture), so this is what Merrilee woke up to...except a darker version. (I love how Alice is sticking out of the tent in both pictures looking at the camera! haha!)

Since the power was out, we decided to go outside for a walk to the park until the power came back on. These days, Merrilee wants Alice to do a lot of activities with her. She insists that Alice swings next to her at the park every time now!

When we got back from the park the power was back on, so we baked a cake, wrapped presents and let the girls play together in the new crawl and seek fun center!

We invited my sister and her family downstairs for a little "party".  We had cake and ice cream, watched Merrilee open some presents, and had a fun dance party!

After our little party we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Brewer's house. Merrilee loves her great grandparents! Every time we go over there she gives Grandma and Grandpa big hugs and likes to play with them. It was so nice of G & G Brewer to get Merrilee a present! Thank you! 

Reading the card

Giving grandpa a big "thank you" hug

Reading with Grandpa

It was a fabulous day for everybody and we still can't believe we have a 2 year old! We love you Merrilee! :)