tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87894852724498258152024-03-20T20:43:20.518-07:00the collard familyLaura Collardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10318822498106175398noreply@blogger.comBlogger393125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8789485272449825815.post-18069192550714980492023-02-12T14:05:00.001-08:002023-02-12T14:05:07.334-08:00Collard 2022 Family Film<p>I made this video of pictures and videos of 2022 from my phone on a whim on New Years Day. I wanted to show it to the kids that night so it's not professional and there are repeats of songs because I couldn't find enough I liked. I didn't intend to post this anywhere permanently, but I'm too lazy to redo it and upload it all over again, so here it is in all its imperfect glory. There is something about seeing our year all wrapped up together that feels so sweet and nostalgic already. These really are the sweetest years and I love having this as a reminder.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="532" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9Ni1mxL7yp4" width="640" youtube-src-id="9Ni1mxL7yp4"></iframe></div><br /><p></p>Laura Collardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10318822498106175398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8789485272449825815.post-32514643977526087442022-12-12T14:15:00.003-08:002022-12-12T14:15:10.256-08:00life lately<p>Life is so sweet these days. Now that my kids are getting a little older, it's becoming more apparent to me how quickly time is passing and how fleeting certain stages are. I am trying so hard to soak up my kids wanting to snuggle with me in their beds, making messes, saying funny things...I realize now how quickly things change. My friend Catherine's daughter, Winnie, recently passed away after being hit by a car, and that single event has truly changed the way I look at my kids and view life in general. I am surely not a perfect parent or living as the ideal version of myself at all times, but whenever I think about how quickly someone I love could be taken from me, I want to be more present and more connected. I want to savor life and the simple, everyday moments that make up most of this time on earth. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtPXy0x-QNpF92q5F2sdZ_7ZXYkYD00EoI0pLoSsFyWi7p0ixyd_gKGQzVGeu7jhoXXg7JNVy-1Gt0-M__NeGaOjqkG0q8C4xXQ6SDnzhkD7nWBS_0w_ncH8jHyPYaqM0KXdtk_CuI7FcvwDHnDVP2rszwdAy3DlvH356VdxzLCgd-OzxS5B9wNQOK/s4032/IMG_4041.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtPXy0x-QNpF92q5F2sdZ_7ZXYkYD00EoI0pLoSsFyWi7p0ixyd_gKGQzVGeu7jhoXXg7JNVy-1Gt0-M__NeGaOjqkG0q8C4xXQ6SDnzhkD7nWBS_0w_ncH8jHyPYaqM0KXdtk_CuI7FcvwDHnDVP2rszwdAy3DlvH356VdxzLCgd-OzxS5B9wNQOK/w480-h640/IMG_4041.jpeg" width="480" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Hannah is my last little monkey left at home. She now goes to preschool three times each week for a few hours in the morning, but otherwise she's my right hand girl. She is a ball of fun and spunk and makes life so much fun. She is also as strong-willed as they come and I have gotten better and better at spinning things to make them her idea instead of mine. It's the only way to get through a day without too much pushback. Hannah is always singing or creating or making inanimate objects animate. She is a delight. She is a million miles a minute and has the best facial expressions. I love her so much. </div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlWjvaEjrZIFSK7vYzN_T9Ij9v7u6FxODRGoE6I92AjbC-b9ZC9eGfhAgWG6X7UcnrUJMea35wcAXcmUDHeiFc4XBHSSkk9NeTUjKDkOcTWLiWedb4lepuImx24oZh1ZOiEaVnIl973mnz2ztzIS_ibzACbwKCjRxtYyxdOP4Cwbppw8MzfA8srNZA/s4032/IMG_4030.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlWjvaEjrZIFSK7vYzN_T9Ij9v7u6FxODRGoE6I92AjbC-b9ZC9eGfhAgWG6X7UcnrUJMea35wcAXcmUDHeiFc4XBHSSkk9NeTUjKDkOcTWLiWedb4lepuImx24oZh1ZOiEaVnIl973mnz2ztzIS_ibzACbwKCjRxtYyxdOP4Cwbppw8MzfA8srNZA/w640-h480/IMG_4030.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">My mom's dad, Grandpa Van, was a proficient organist and would often play the organ for silent movies back when my mom was young. I never met my grandpa because he died well before I was born, but my mom set up a time for us all to go to Edison Street Theater, the exact theater and organ my grandpa used to play, to see a silent movie a few weeks ago. It was so fun! They played Charlie Chaplain's movie "The Kid." Luckily it was short, because I'm not sure my kids could have lasted much longer than the 30 or 40 minutes, but it was amazing to see the organist there play along with the movie. No music, just all by memory as he watched the film.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO4bAsAAOZLqNfOmmSb_gJzV3j5e9XmaB6906wYgziJxp7Jinl28Bd6-DxQ9Xu6aCFW-7qwrYJ-5Uc-pFjxF0U789egruXsQgSu2hTlXHyf60psuMamTw6dstA2DkuE9MPR3sHnDgSIblwip03mIdM8c1lV9g5Fc6si4w4fgqL4W1EymgcqqORBLvD/s4032/IMG_4521.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO4bAsAAOZLqNfOmmSb_gJzV3j5e9XmaB6906wYgziJxp7Jinl28Bd6-DxQ9Xu6aCFW-7qwrYJ-5Uc-pFjxF0U789egruXsQgSu2hTlXHyf60psuMamTw6dstA2DkuE9MPR3sHnDgSIblwip03mIdM8c1lV9g5Fc6si4w4fgqL4W1EymgcqqORBLvD/w640-h480/IMG_4521.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I cannot emphasize enough how much I love where we live. We honestly struck gold when we moved to our new house. So many kids right in our backyard for our kids to hang out with, and Robert and I love all their parents. We couldn't have chosen a better spot. After big snow storms our backyard neighbors, the Yoho's, bust out their little kids snowmobiles and set up a track around their unfenced yard for the kids to ride. Hannah and Will were out there with the crew for about 3 hours the other day. Every kids dream! Pictured above is Hannah with Will's buddy, Jace. I joked with his parents that this picture will have to go in their wedding video one day. Below is a crazy-toothed Will getting stuck on the fence...no big surprise there. ;)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggbipbErirAJuDsKhu4iWNKMTlAbfALxXwxgX7OMUofRRqlJhlxjFaeCuXJCqJt29M7ugM08qmDQ28j3dZYZ31WI_UE6P1EWHcMlZO_RzPX3YvWV-jH2E5ys7yWpDv4hFL0VdYmOFe3N3s4kjk2DU1zlQo9_Hc2ldW18x5cG9URvfyke6uZXbK084F/s4032/IMG_4525.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggbipbErirAJuDsKhu4iWNKMTlAbfALxXwxgX7OMUofRRqlJhlxjFaeCuXJCqJt29M7ugM08qmDQ28j3dZYZ31WI_UE6P1EWHcMlZO_RzPX3YvWV-jH2E5ys7yWpDv4hFL0VdYmOFe3N3s4kjk2DU1zlQo9_Hc2ldW18x5cG9URvfyke6uZXbK084F/w640-h480/IMG_4525.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">One of our sweet neighbors made a ton of sugar cookies and brought some over for our kids to decorate. I'm telling you, we have the best neighbors.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc4QpjVEjlv4r_EhOPT0n42FJ1yNkDuhiZZZY3AfJZbxVBw6jlFRL_4obZ9k8rz-rtLddv_bveGpEOtaVT7phBM1Tet_VtGsiQhAM-MeZtf2vxcUbYUWDnm8umBsmxmZQDlXIFjfFsVT4wejimy3KqgQUaJXrG1sd9lP1j4_xnb2HlWkLPxN_kf5lh/s4032/IMG_4167.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc4QpjVEjlv4r_EhOPT0n42FJ1yNkDuhiZZZY3AfJZbxVBw6jlFRL_4obZ9k8rz-rtLddv_bveGpEOtaVT7phBM1Tet_VtGsiQhAM-MeZtf2vxcUbYUWDnm8umBsmxmZQDlXIFjfFsVT4wejimy3KqgQUaJXrG1sd9lP1j4_xnb2HlWkLPxN_kf5lh/w480-h640/IMG_4167.jpeg" width="480" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6GTa2o85_pGR-x9KVAhW9ufxiqu98E_7kn41WajVtVqRNIiHr96WMxdXOCsNCJS7w2HgW14HaxsvdnyqNCro0oXRMt6G4vOVOtJuSNurDQ0LJZ0TkjoNv8EJkFE6y3ONHDeXbM5kaClQM1Ss90KMWm2AVFPWURydq03HZ4iT5ZySGEd7CcGX2-Lst/s4032/IMG_4166.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6GTa2o85_pGR-x9KVAhW9ufxiqu98E_7kn41WajVtVqRNIiHr96WMxdXOCsNCJS7w2HgW14HaxsvdnyqNCro0oXRMt6G4vOVOtJuSNurDQ0LJZ0TkjoNv8EJkFE6y3ONHDeXbM5kaClQM1Ss90KMWm2AVFPWURydq03HZ4iT5ZySGEd7CcGX2-Lst/w480-h640/IMG_4166.jpeg" width="480" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Matt surprised Charlotte for her 40th birthday by flying some family and friends to Las Vegas for a weekend. Even though I don't love Vegas, being with my mom and sisters was so fun! Bob was a good sport, as always, staying home with the kids and holding down the fort in Utah. Our trip included lots of shopping, good food, a Cirque de Soleil show, and a little karaoke. I think Charlotte was genuinely so surprised. I just love her so much and am so grateful for her friendship. I can't wait to see them for Christmas!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5BgFQEzzeE2kUrk86pwu8LE84f3P__cHLAxYE7wKcW-9Iyb5Tp7CkvgWlCYseFwa5DeS-QztPkjxiH21Sc0voglcN_ctQ8z6HMBF4_oFcnHGSI6b07jWhNENyfKu4G1297X0iGlrn2d8lCloQUzONFDwjTrUQoq2wnnM8tUoiYx4uoBMwIf2XTvTv/s3088/IMG_4067.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3088" data-original-width="2316" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5BgFQEzzeE2kUrk86pwu8LE84f3P__cHLAxYE7wKcW-9Iyb5Tp7CkvgWlCYseFwa5DeS-QztPkjxiH21Sc0voglcN_ctQ8z6HMBF4_oFcnHGSI6b07jWhNENyfKu4G1297X0iGlrn2d8lCloQUzONFDwjTrUQoq2wnnM8tUoiYx4uoBMwIf2XTvTv/w480-h640/IMG_4067.jpeg" width="480" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqViBi3P-4amoVMuJaDi24c0fop5hWEUiT4zHoMCcxUx9A5LluqQLVpGtKk-n1hfUM2I-GeMv814Apaatn1PsB9PBCFslE59ESKyl0m3hb0VnW9xp7M_5T3sw3ZMMUiZrpEDX3ONhT_XtOoct5Tg31pFFBwJnsCtnxGs1edvgL0kB2PJR7ALaAO2eF/s4032/IMG_2726.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqViBi3P-4amoVMuJaDi24c0fop5hWEUiT4zHoMCcxUx9A5LluqQLVpGtKk-n1hfUM2I-GeMv814Apaatn1PsB9PBCFslE59ESKyl0m3hb0VnW9xp7M_5T3sw3ZMMUiZrpEDX3ONhT_XtOoct5Tg31pFFBwJnsCtnxGs1edvgL0kB2PJR7ALaAO2eF/w480-h640/IMG_2726.jpeg" width="480" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9QIOyapTH104i6E29R5mD3SKgKMjE8aw6T4moSYVP24B54qFo_jI9TedAPcxhOQgzL4NqNt8PkEXzDQjNVWrSlty9UnFqFGOhygFK65cTzjSRgKcrTpYMamcpeheS96qwFtev9N0yRkfMfFKlntPoImDBkmqqXGb7vEcWmp3E4GjjXRIuKnCEDG0g/s4032/IMG_4103.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9QIOyapTH104i6E29R5mD3SKgKMjE8aw6T4moSYVP24B54qFo_jI9TedAPcxhOQgzL4NqNt8PkEXzDQjNVWrSlty9UnFqFGOhygFK65cTzjSRgKcrTpYMamcpeheS96qwFtev9N0yRkfMfFKlntPoImDBkmqqXGb7vEcWmp3E4GjjXRIuKnCEDG0g/w480-h640/IMG_4103.jpeg" width="480" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I cannot even describe how happy the time from Thanksgiving to Christmas makes me! I love gathering with family and eating good food and turning on Christmas music and twinkle lights around the house. I honestly get giddy about it. I've felt this way since I was a kid and somehow the magic hasn't gone away for me. I love buying gifts and making cookies and seeing the lights...it's all so nostalgic for me. Last year was our first year getting a permit to cut down a Christmas tree ourselves, and I thought it was so fun. Slightly stressful, but mostly just so fun. We went again this year, but this time to a new spot. Although incredibly beautiful, this spot was unfortunately very tricky to get out of and we ended up getting stuck on our way out and having to get some help to make our way back to the main road. But...the Christmas tree cutting was still a lot of fun. We went to Smith Morehouse campground this time, just to mix it up, but we will certainly be going back to the other spot next year that is plowed all the way to the parking lot.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxjuIi1SXKDCq6IJJxPxHVEr6nLsuzW62L5q5NxOKyijNLA8EZ4esS0IWVfyBEQ4NVaux1jSzGDSGo4Eb2rlaI93_SLIYpwlzqL0vRUeyVDnb9btM-xyHpF3mbqR1SB0Eay6G7TORKogj7tWpg4452tYfxK0s5SLyYO4gZwDGNNkIrPnLbCbPUDDDU/s4032/IMG_4118_jpg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxjuIi1SXKDCq6IJJxPxHVEr6nLsuzW62L5q5NxOKyijNLA8EZ4esS0IWVfyBEQ4NVaux1jSzGDSGo4Eb2rlaI93_SLIYpwlzqL0vRUeyVDnb9btM-xyHpF3mbqR1SB0Eay6G7TORKogj7tWpg4452tYfxK0s5SLyYO4gZwDGNNkIrPnLbCbPUDDDU/w480-h640/IMG_4118_jpg.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsHTnAz_rUnNvQ7xq9KkOLflg6Gq6Msn7x3pGXzGCIULMpenkdPVDCU0PZCnLZkEDjK7vIOArpIxjZV7mSFWQYgX9TRrz55OuskW1F_dO1qtfkxBfveelvAzfUFZEjXUKYYJs3lsLpCHHEA2z4-jR6-SPnWFa_ts07HlRydaeR1-3SY8Uatyu7URgY/s4032/IMG_4114.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsHTnAz_rUnNvQ7xq9KkOLflg6Gq6Msn7x3pGXzGCIULMpenkdPVDCU0PZCnLZkEDjK7vIOArpIxjZV7mSFWQYgX9TRrz55OuskW1F_dO1qtfkxBfveelvAzfUFZEjXUKYYJs3lsLpCHHEA2z4-jR6-SPnWFa_ts07HlRydaeR1-3SY8Uatyu7URgY/w480-h640/IMG_4114.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhriu6tXQtyz0M0vgocGcvE7nzNcQYGEzkbbH7Lkl6XM4aTFLOAvobpAVd3MKphgCv3jJx31ufaJRO5EPEFtCHCpWp8tGGphy1n42ifbIvAwITd6_VcwEDpdCtdZ_aVt-yuXYuXPxXpqn6YW83B-q6w75FxTlIGEj51iu_iLMNCmDi4aPJNS8DX9UIJ/s4032/IMG_4111_jpg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhriu6tXQtyz0M0vgocGcvE7nzNcQYGEzkbbH7Lkl6XM4aTFLOAvobpAVd3MKphgCv3jJx31ufaJRO5EPEFtCHCpWp8tGGphy1n42ifbIvAwITd6_VcwEDpdCtdZ_aVt-yuXYuXPxXpqn6YW83B-q6w75FxTlIGEj51iu_iLMNCmDi4aPJNS8DX9UIJ/w480-h640/IMG_4111_jpg.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8Fl3hc1v5kbHRN3uYklVHGiD2GwnFWHpgvqTjLG45otFcaMcAnGWTgEFMCPht4cmhlIyU7VFthsbHItjfIH4xU8SfVZAPg3apnoDb50B_9FOpSRBPrX1Fr0ascbVPN2TI4UWOLxarW1LOJkrlOOhyOAkExD9sPrcIu35TAsYcn3BDlLhsSlSReeYx/s4032/IMG_4115.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8Fl3hc1v5kbHRN3uYklVHGiD2GwnFWHpgvqTjLG45otFcaMcAnGWTgEFMCPht4cmhlIyU7VFthsbHItjfIH4xU8SfVZAPg3apnoDb50B_9FOpSRBPrX1Fr0ascbVPN2TI4UWOLxarW1LOJkrlOOhyOAkExD9sPrcIu35TAsYcn3BDlLhsSlSReeYx/w480-h640/IMG_4115.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Minnie got the role of Crutchie in the production of "Newsies" at our local children's theater. She even had her own solo and everything and did SO well! I feel like she really blossomed in this show. She then tried out for the school production of Frozen and just found out she got the lead as Elsa! We are all so excited for her. She is excited for herself too...she carries her script around EVERYWHERE. It cracks me up.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQMKYMyYG9SwdSVg3mA16XAy6oVGOmvdaZGZQvmxK2OOHXkaY_LnRSqWQrNPuoErGQUqxuH3TA01gz71a6Lo9wBp5pagJIe-LPKJz_fJy3EOT6N83AMkiqWqMsNRK-zWQovcNZPcBnjvyEMTW16325m37GM8aWK9i6teTaBW16IdjZb7_34TeXKcFd/s4032/IMG_4161.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQMKYMyYG9SwdSVg3mA16XAy6oVGOmvdaZGZQvmxK2OOHXkaY_LnRSqWQrNPuoErGQUqxuH3TA01gz71a6Lo9wBp5pagJIe-LPKJz_fJy3EOT6N83AMkiqWqMsNRK-zWQovcNZPcBnjvyEMTW16325m37GM8aWK9i6teTaBW16IdjZb7_34TeXKcFd/w640-h480/IMG_4161.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxxngQ9Y9SJAHZjEdBrkJUuVN6w19EEQxvVqoY-IP7y7THqXjI0inA2OsNBBUGe8EXpeKjjg2LBS0gRate1EGP3ih_MynEFuGx7S1g9MKwpTLubWQxT3JRsPYyaFJgltWaGEC9MZFY-WUho8ZXJ1s8DX2NYg6Q3Ej-QqNE1xavLO5irvx7FcO35yzV/s4032/IMG_4157.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxxngQ9Y9SJAHZjEdBrkJUuVN6w19EEQxvVqoY-IP7y7THqXjI0inA2OsNBBUGe8EXpeKjjg2LBS0gRate1EGP3ih_MynEFuGx7S1g9MKwpTLubWQxT3JRsPYyaFJgltWaGEC9MZFY-WUho8ZXJ1s8DX2NYg6Q3Ej-QqNE1xavLO5irvx7FcO35yzV/w480-h640/IMG_4157.jpeg" width="480" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="475" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/irMp0ZmSMqY" width="571" youtube-src-id="irMp0ZmSMqY"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Our ward had a Christmas breakfast this past weekend and I cannot even begin to explain how much I love a live nativity. Hannah and her cute friends dressed as angels made me melt. Have I said how much I love Christmas? I really do. I love spending it with my magic kids, even though a couple of them are now convinced Santa isn't real. The magic and the spirit are still there and I also love being the one to help create the magic. I am really excited about these next few weeks with Robert off of work, spending time with friends, and lots of time with family, especially the cutie Adseros who will be here soon. My kids are dying!</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6pzkAG_lnaby0jDWpZYJI-GuOhH59axwT_QzBefuoF-QKDEDw8gGDaJ04kDmQwLKHu0D8RxMnWny9GiaWr-TNjnCnKu2jru3w_pmYTJhAZMGwRJo4NhqQazyp2xJyoONdn5Y0ZTEi3qIYGidTQkRab7r4RciIzVn4tioUj6ex3FIcs18EI5nV-Lfa/s4032/IMG_4187.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6pzkAG_lnaby0jDWpZYJI-GuOhH59axwT_QzBefuoF-QKDEDw8gGDaJ04kDmQwLKHu0D8RxMnWny9GiaWr-TNjnCnKu2jru3w_pmYTJhAZMGwRJo4NhqQazyp2xJyoONdn5Y0ZTEi3qIYGidTQkRab7r4RciIzVn4tioUj6ex3FIcs18EI5nV-Lfa/w640-h480/IMG_4187.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqcuJSacZbGueVIg89wWKWS1vWetsrYRU-VO6o56yAl0Si97CGc2FfhLpyB9P8V7D7PJDA3Bs-pYjo8C8W0u3P6p1UOXNy9mVAzrSsqWsKTgWjpgrc5ciPg9zJGaSbSunglztDJjSIDMcv5VvYfhd7FCWcXLXJ69tHptsTP4BF2w14KHlRuS0_naQS/s4032/IMG_4195.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqcuJSacZbGueVIg89wWKWS1vWetsrYRU-VO6o56yAl0Si97CGc2FfhLpyB9P8V7D7PJDA3Bs-pYjo8C8W0u3P6p1UOXNy9mVAzrSsqWsKTgWjpgrc5ciPg9zJGaSbSunglztDJjSIDMcv5VvYfhd7FCWcXLXJ69tHptsTP4BF2w14KHlRuS0_naQS/w480-h640/IMG_4195.jpeg" width="480" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p></p>Laura Collardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10318822498106175398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8789485272449825815.post-68517620508571489422022-03-27T08:08:00.002-07:002022-03-27T08:08:15.743-07:00my babies (who aren't babies) right now<p>As the fourth child, Hannah's life has been left mostly undocumented. Sorry, Han! I always told myself I'd keep up on a blog and a journal throughout motherhood, but time has quickly slipped away and I haven't kept those promises to myself. In any case, I'm here now because I want to paint a picture of each of my kids right now as a little capsule in time to look back on. Motherhood and life feels busy now, but busy in a different way than when we had infants. I keep telling myself our family is complete, but there will always be a part of me that kind of aches for a baby. I have to remind myself, however, that although the baby stage is incredibly sweet, this new chapter with older, more independent kids, is amazing in its own right too. Their independence also gives me a little more independence, and the fact that they are all developing interests and talents and that we get to share in those, as well as sleep through the night and play games together (two of my favorite things), is quite lovely as well.</p><p><b>Hannah Mary Ann - 3 years old</b></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicwUA4oWV58aG2cMNHlMAGQ_w8TiyZtKf-hWpttZY-3IqGBYPoMmIBQ31YnqawBHd_Fa8akKzHMSIaklICKhw6dTzRf4SaJCAHsjHLodEGPOiBE17Mtm102gDGnG56I4zUPHpy6hz-SWAnSetMxOLwG6VudlSzM24tVTQwKzqz6sCFY5nZ2ENxv0jv/s4032/IMG_9421.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicwUA4oWV58aG2cMNHlMAGQ_w8TiyZtKf-hWpttZY-3IqGBYPoMmIBQ31YnqawBHd_Fa8akKzHMSIaklICKhw6dTzRf4SaJCAHsjHLodEGPOiBE17Mtm102gDGnG56I4zUPHpy6hz-SWAnSetMxOLwG6VudlSzM24tVTQwKzqz6sCFY5nZ2ENxv0jv/w480-h640/IMG_9421.HEIC" width="480" /></a></div><br /><b><br /></b><p></p><p>The girl is a riot. She is constantly saying the most random things and seeks any attention, good or bad, from her siblings regularly. She is fun and sassy and does not lack in confidence. While she is social, she also really enjoys being by herself. When she's home with me while the others are at school, I usually know where she is because of the cute little voices she's using to play with her tiny people or dolls. Her favorite spot is behind our big sectional in the family room. We have tucked a few baskets of toys on the bottom shelf next to the wall and it's kind of like her own personal playpen back there. It's always a mess in that crevice but it's hidden from sight unless you happen to peer over the back of the couch and provides her ample entertainment. </p><p>Hannah loves books. She has since I can remember. She "reads" them to herself and will do so for hours, especially if there are new ones to choose from. When we get home from the library with a stack of books, she plops herself on the couch, empties the books beside her, and devours every single one using her sweet little sing-song voice to read to herself, flipping wildly through pages until the pile is completely gone through. If I'm able to read them to her, she will happily sit on my lap and listen for hours. If a book is too wordy or not interesting to her, she'll either hurry me along by turning the page, or hop off my lap to grab another, even if we aren't through. She's a girl who knows what she wants.</p><p>It seems as though the past few months have been full of some weird illnesses for this girl, and it's hard to watch her tiny body struggle. She manages to get through them fairly resiliently, but there are moments when even her strong willpower can't keep her up and she's just knocked out by whatever the illness might be. Robert and a few of the kids got a pretty nasty cold a few weeks ago leading up to Christmas, and on Christmas Eve Hannah seemed like she just started to get worse. I figured it was part of what she'd had for quite some time, since she'd had a runny nose and a slight cough for weeks at that point. We enjoyed Christmas Eve at my parent's house and then Christmas morning at ours. It was such a magical holiday this year, and we were all so grateful to be able to celebrate together after such a weird Christmas season last year because of Covid. Anyhow, as we were driving to my parents house for brunch late Christmas morning, Hannah fell asleep in the car. When we started eating brunch she just continued to sleep on the couch in the bedroom. At this point I could tell she was getting feverish and she seemed altogether out of it. I hated it because it reminded me of how she'd been nearly 1.5 years earlier when she'd had her febrile seizure. I even mentioned to Robert at my parents that I felt like she might have another one. I hadn't meant to even tell this story here, but I'm already this far so I might as well wrap it up. I ran to 7-11 to get some Tylenol, since that was one of the few stores open on Christmas day. We tried to find an Instacare that was open but didn't have any luck. Our family was all heading to Sing 2 for an afternoon movie. Hannah started perking up after the medicine kicked in so we took her and she even ate some popcorn and drank some Sprite. Things seemed like they might be on the mend.</p><p>She still wasn't totally herself after the movie so we went home and called it a night. She was so sleepy so I gave her some more medicine and she went to bed early. At about 10 pm it was time to give her another dose. Robert and I had just put down the other kids and I was going to just let her sleep if she was still snoozing, because she had been so dang tired. As we were walking upstairs we heard her moan and cry a bit in her bed. It sounded weird so Robert went to go check on her and I went to the kitchen to grab her some more Tylenol. She continued to cry as Robert rocked her and then suddenly stopped. I walked in with the medicine but it was dark so I couldn't see her. I turned on the Christmas lights we had strung up around her window to get a good look at her and tried to offer her the medicine. She was totally delusional. She was looking off into space and wasn't responding to anything I was saying. She started looking around the room and it seemed as though her eyes were following something. It was incredibly eerie. Her eyes went in large circles twice around the room and I knew something was up. A seizure was coming on. Robert held her as she began to slowly shake, her eyes were glazed over and her body went limp, just like it had been the last time this happened. Robert suggested we put her in the car and take her to the hospital, but since they had to give her a shot the last time to make the seizure stop, I knew we needed to call 911 right away. We couldn't risk traffic and having her seize in the car for who knows how long. Robert continued to gently hold her on her side and I called 911. The paramedics were here quite quickly, but by the time they gave her the shot to stop the seizure it had been over 10 minutes. Her oxygen was at 50%. Scary low. Minnie and Lou heard the commotion and had run upstairs to see what was going on. They were remarkably calm, likely because they'd seen this last time and she'd been fine. My sweet neighbor, Kendra, came to be with the kids. The girls went back to bed and I rode in the ambulance with Hannah while Robert drove the car to Primary Children's. My mom came and relieved Kendra, and Robert and I had a nice Christmas evening date at the hospital as they ran tests on Han, monitoring her oxygen and testing her for Covid and other respiratory illnesses. </p><p>Her body was so tired, but after a few hours they were able to wake her and they were satisfied to see that she could walk (albeit very brief and slow) and communicate, so they sent us on our way around 2:30 AM. I, of course, was a wreck for most of the next few days, making sure to keep up on her meds if there was any sort of fever, and moving her little mattress into our room so I could hear her breathe at night. It felt like it took a million years to get better, as a low grade fever kept coming back most nights, but the cold that had caused this finally subsided and I put her mattress back on its frame in her room. She is now sleeping in there again, but sadly last night she came home from her friend's house having thrown up multiple times. She continued to throw up throughout the rest of the evening, even the water she so desperately begged for. She eventually fell asleep and didn't throw up in the night, but did come out for a few drinks of water, which she thankfully kept down. She's been a little groggy all morning, but after one throw up of some water this morning, she's held down a few crackers and additional water, which I am grateful for. She's laying beside me now as I type this, still so tired and not quite herself. I hate it! I am hoping she's in the home stretch of this, but it's just so sad to see her not feeling good.</p><p>After the whole seizure situation was over, I just kept thinking to myself how grateful I was that she'd cried that night <i>and</i> that we'd heard her cry. The thought of her seizing in her bed and us not knowing totally freaks me out. What if she'd lost consciousness and her oxygen levels had gotten so low she'd lost brain function? I can't even imagine. For some reason I always thought after my babies were no longer "babies" anymore that we were in the clear. That health concerns would now be over and I wouldn't feel the need to sleep beside them all night to make sure they were still breathing. But alas, here we are. Honestly, I think as a mom I'll just always feel this deep instinct to protect them, even into their adulthood. It's given me a hundred gray hairs and I know there are thousands more to go, but motherhood is well worth all the anxiety and sleepless nights. I just love them all so much.</p><p>Anyhow, back to Hannah Banana now. Speaking of "Hannah Banana"...when we were in Costa Rica there was another family from the U.S. that was staying in the same resort community as us and when we would see them at the pool Hannah would introduce herself as Hannah Banana. It was so funny that she thought it was so funny. She is constantly saying the funniest things and I wish I'd written more of them down. She says her r's as w's and for about a year she'd make statements and then turn to me and say, "Wight, Mama?" translated as "Right, Mama?" First, I loved that she was looking to me for validation. It just felt so sweet. I also loved that she called me Mama. I'm sure my other kids did here and there too, but I can't remember them doing it so regularly. It just feels so endearing. Our neighbor's name is Jocelyn but everyone calls her JoJo. Hannah says it "Dodo" and it cracks all of us up.</p><p><b>William George - 5 years old</b></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwLORdOmP_EFUT7rbTxuS5X8yuXdxVJ6ns1RB6fCyd_iR-eg3puNrSc1I5PRPw7ew7fW7h5Ilm4flNxav91kfICR5DKD49wORetETb14fUsJBx8sHn7NUoSCaBM4oZBahEtmy5S18TINafHMzAdXDycfrI-TokVnsJFWRYDOlKtNdN9VBnAvGxBC_5/s2878/IMG_9215.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2878" data-original-width="2878" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwLORdOmP_EFUT7rbTxuS5X8yuXdxVJ6ns1RB6fCyd_iR-eg3puNrSc1I5PRPw7ew7fW7h5Ilm4flNxav91kfICR5DKD49wORetETb14fUsJBx8sHn7NUoSCaBM4oZBahEtmy5S18TINafHMzAdXDycfrI-TokVnsJFWRYDOlKtNdN9VBnAvGxBC_5/w640-h640/IMG_9215.JPG" width="640" /></a></p><p>The sweetest boy in all the land, and also the most emotional. He feels things deeply, which can be both good and bad. He will cuddle for a million years and is incredibly sentimental. He loves having both me and Robert in his room singing him to sleep and will lovingly hold one of us on each side while we sing "Home on the Range". He has the softest, most beautiful skin and I just love kissing he sweet cheeks and soft neck. It's so strange to me to think that one day he's going to be this big, hairy man who will likely tower over me in height. He still has a bit of baby-ness to him and I'm trying to soak it up while it lasts.</p><p>Spiderman is his current superhero of choice and he draws pictures of him constantly. He, Louisa and Robert recently went to see the newest Spiderman movie and the love for him only continues to grow. He honestly loves most superheroes and watching him play with his action figures is the best. The way he makes them fight and then fall and then scream and then fly around the house is pure entertainment. He is <b>loud </b>and really struggles to be anything other than full volume. He's also quite the crafter. Every time I try to throw away anything kind of interesting (an egg carton, paper towel roll or a strawberry container) he asks if he can have it and then turns it into some sort of contraption. To be honest, he's pretty artistic and has such a great imagination. I hate clutter and garbage, but I love to see what he comes up with. He has taken it upon himself to decorate his room with lots of artwork and it's taped on his wall haphazardly with blue painters tape. Stuff like that used to drive me crazy, and it still kind of does, but there is also something so sweet about them feeling proud of the space they've had a hand in creating and so...I let it go.</p><p>Will is a bit of a clown. The neighborhood friends think he is hilarious, especially his friend, Jace. He also thinks he, himself, is a major crack up. He loves to be extreme and make things a bigger deal than they are, but that might just be five-year-old boys in general. He doesn't have a lot of good friends in his kindergarten class so I think he's a little quieter in that setting, which might be good for his teacher. He struggled big time at the beginning of the year with the alphabet and reading, but in the last few months he's gotten SO much better. His teacher, Mrs. Wilson, who is a first year teacher, seemed very relieved to see his progress. I was too. I feel like he's incredibly smart, but that he just would rather be doing other things and lacks concentration. </p><p>William is about a head taller than most of his friends. For some reason his best friends always tend to be shorties anyway, and it is hilarious to see him beside them because he is literally an entire head taller than them. He honestly looks like he could be a year or two older than them. His tiny friend Jace, is the only boy in this little section of the neighborhood, and I'm so grateful they have each other. They love one another so much. In a sea of sisters and neighbor girls, they are so happy to have at least one boy. </p><p>T-ball was the sport of choice last year, and Will is going to be starting baseball again this year. He's mentioned wanting to do basketball and soccer, both of which I think he might like. He's also mentioned trying skiing, which I'm hesitant to do with him because I'm feeling like he might yell at me a lot, ha! But I have a goal to get all of my kids skiing by the time they're 10, so I need to get started on the rest of them.</p><p>I had hoped when Hannah was born that she and Will would be fast friends. They've had a bit of an up-and-down relationship with each other. There is certainly love there, but I also think they know how to push each other's buttons, and will do so often. If they are playing happily together, it makes my heart swell and I do all I can to not disturb them and let them carry on as long as they will. I hope in time they only grow closer.</p><p>Will is very dynamic and animated and it's really fun to do fun things with him because he really lets you know how fun it is. Christmas with him was awesome. So was Costa Rica. He just loves life, but also feels deeply, and I think all those emotions are a bit hard to contain as a 5-year-old. I need to have more patience with him. I think the swing of emotions is hard now, but it will be a benefit to him later in life as he harnesses them a bit because he will both be able to truly enjoy life and also be sensitive and loving.</p><p><b>Louisa Pia - 8 years old</b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2brKMGX978epg2PqCTDi-TMmy-k57NgPXJnHY2ECfWEBi-FfvrhCHGWuDvq9SLiA0-j9USqzPgpYlfaBUn0tLZ8Hs5tRlHYW0lgMWusxABOL-aMqQTtPPYqjr-AXH_kLarHQ9slcgpp3XBu3UzsGdqvaqIiR6Kh2hr_iJqfCujQI4f2Yl8xLuw4h0/s3024/IMG_9220.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2brKMGX978epg2PqCTDi-TMmy-k57NgPXJnHY2ECfWEBi-FfvrhCHGWuDvq9SLiA0-j9USqzPgpYlfaBUn0tLZ8Hs5tRlHYW0lgMWusxABOL-aMqQTtPPYqjr-AXH_kLarHQ9slcgpp3XBu3UzsGdqvaqIiR6Kh2hr_iJqfCujQI4f2Yl8xLuw4h0/w640-h640/IMG_9220.JPG" width="640" /></a></p><p>The girl is a bendy little pretzel. She's also a little block of muscle. Gymnastics has become her true love and she is now on the beginning team at USA Gymnastics with her friend Eliza and goes eight hours each week. All summer she was practicing her backbends and then her handsprings on the trampoline and it's been so fun to watch her really work hard for something. I'll be interested to see where it goes. So far it's costing a pretty penny, but if she loves it, we will pay for it. I'm a tiny bit afraid that gymnastics is going to stunt Lou's growth. The girl has completely plateaued as far as her height is concerned. She and Minnie are less than two years apart and she isn't even up to Minnie's shoulders. William is practically her same size (although he is big). She's just a bitty little thing.</p><p>Lou still sucks her two fingers and rubs the tag of her baby blanket on her upper lip. It was endearing and sweet for so dang long, but now I see it and I just think of the millions of dollars we will be spending at the orthodontist to get those teeth fixed. Just kidding...mostly. I've tried a few different things to get her to quit, but nothing has done the trick yet. She even does it in front of her friends and our extended family. She has no shame, which is kind of shocking to me since she's fairly aware and conscious of what others are thinking.</p><p>Sweats are currently the name of the game as far as her wardrobe is concerned. Jeans are too uncomfortable, dresses are too girly, leggings show her underwear line and are too cold, so sweats are all she's willing to wear. She kind of looks like she's just in pajamas 24 hours a day, but I've learned what battles to fight and which to let go of, and this is not one I'm willing to go after. She also has me do her hair in some type of braid/half-up situation every day.</p><p>Meat and breakfast foods are her absolute go-to favorites. Bacon, sausage, pancakes, waffles, whip cream and berries...she'd that for every meal if she could. Oh, and eggs. Eggs may be at the very tip top of that list. She's dabbling in making them herself, but the girl can barely see over the stove so it's not terribly easy for her.</p><p>Lou still loves to collect things. She was our "garbage girl" for the longest time, finding treasures out of all our trash, and she continues to ride a similar wave. She has a hard time throwing anything away and keeps packaging and boxes forever. "Organized piles" surround her bed and room where she keeps the random things she's always tinkering around with. She's actually a really great artist and has a journal my mom gave her for Christmas that she's been drawing these portraits of girls doing different things in. I'm often surprised at how detailed and cute her little cartoon characters are. It seems pretty natural for her.</p><p>School is a happy place for Lou, even in spite of not knowing many people in her class or loving her teacher at the beginning of the year. She has now made some good friends, including a boy named Spencer (who she's mildly obsessed with) and loves going to school. She's incredibly smart, but like Will, sort of lacks the concentration to get things done. She often will just stare off into space daydreaming or get busy doodling instead of keeping on task. It's hard to watch, knowing how smart she is, but I figure the concentration may come with time and age.</p><p>Louisa is still such a snuggly thing and completely melts the minute you hug her or lay down beside her to cuddle up. I hope she stays that way forever. She thrives with one-on-one time with me or Robert. Minnie would rather die than go on errands with me, but it would be Lou's dream come true. At some point she usually finds something or other she <i>must</i> have and reminds me that she has $3 at home that she can pay me back with. Money burns a hole in that girls pocket. It's gone shortly after she gets it. </p><p>Lou is all about style and being cool. She's currently very into sweats and sweatshirts. She loves Vans shoes and anything with a bit of a tom boy twist. Sometimes her fashion sense does both of us in when something isn't clean and she just <i>has</i> to wear it. Getting ready for church is such a chore because she honestly likes about two dresses out of the ten or twelve she has. I used to be so fixated on what my kids wore and how they looked, and although I still want them to looks put together, I've really eased up on it because first, it's too tiring to fight about it, and second, I realize they also want to have their own style. I remember my mom making me and my sisters match and as I got older, I hated it. I feel like letting my kids have a say in what they wear is important, but there are times where I draw a line in the sand. Lou often does all she can to push that line a little further back. I appreciate her determination even if it does drive me crazy sometimes.</p><p>Foghorn is the name my dad gave Lou when she was about 3 or 4. The girl has always been incredibly loud, with an infectious laugh and a sarcastic and silly sense of humor. As she's gotten older, Lou has become a bit more shy and I do worry a bit that she might be losing some of her boisterous side, which I love so much. When you really know her, it's very obviously there, but I feel like a lot of people miss out on it because they don't get a chance to know her. Perhaps that's the gift of getting to know Lou...you get to see that sassy, crazy side we all love so much. </p><p><b>Minnie - 10 years old</b></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNpmEKQgbyf_ykIhPDLczYj6RJXSAJu6ImdfsEwbMqlbcZ7ZeZTugDpAWcJyhbbb_P0TSLnu9v6EzU1NboszgtdhczWQAXacUquiU_8sgZK__NE7Goxhzwmy5BUc-GpmYl4wTZhidLjfeW0TZg_2YpZGz-p05mCB7jujs75kXWfEMlDZPg18wR9Frw/s3024/IMG_9222.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNpmEKQgbyf_ykIhPDLczYj6RJXSAJu6ImdfsEwbMqlbcZ7ZeZTugDpAWcJyhbbb_P0TSLnu9v6EzU1NboszgtdhczWQAXacUquiU_8sgZK__NE7Goxhzwmy5BUc-GpmYl4wTZhidLjfeW0TZg_2YpZGz-p05mCB7jujs75kXWfEMlDZPg18wR9Frw/w640-h640/IMG_9222.JPG" width="640" /></a></p><p>Our dragon-loving, playwright and artist. Minnie is very into a book series called "Wings of Fire" which is all about dragons. I thought it would be a short-lived obsession but after 14 books, the flame still burns bright in her heart for all things dragons. She is a self-proclaimed nerd when it comes to these things, and I love her for it. She is an amazing artist and is constantly drawing dragons or writing stories about dragons. She's also an incredible writer and writes stories with great vocabulary use and interesting plot lines. She also loves to read and will devour books if she's really into them. I didn't know it, but for awhile she'd stay up past midnight reading books by the light of her nightlight. I was a little mad, but then again, how could I be? I love that she's a bookworm!</p><p>Min loves to be social and is very comfortable in lots of different groups. She has this air of confidence that kind of baffles me, but I also love it. At times I'm afraid that she's not terribly nice to her friends because if they're doing something she doesn't want to, like playing sports, she just leaves. Speaking her mind can often come across as confrontational or rude, but Minnie just sees it as being honest. It makes me nervous because I'm afraid she has a bit of "my way or the highway" mentality, but I also think it's great because she knows what she wants and is confident in her decisions and isn't easily swayed. Again, I think it could be done with a bit more finesse and polish, but if she can keep that determination and confidence and use it with a bit of humility mixed in, it's going to serve her really well. I want nothing more than my kids to be confident in themselves and to not feel like they have to do something just because their friends all want to.</p><p>I have no doubt that Minnie will likely have a million different business ventures by the time she hits high school. The girl is constantly coming up with plays for people to come to, things to sell with her friends, camps for kids, and right now she and her neighbor friends are deep into a babysitters club effort. They have bi-weekly meetings and yet no jobs yet. Covid and the fact that they're just a tad young is foiling their plans, I'm afraid. But they press on regardless, and I admire them for it.</p><p>Minnie is quite musical and has been able to harmonize for quite some time. She tried out for the musical at school, "Shrek Junior", and got the part of young Fiona, which is what she'd been hoping for. She was ecstatic! The range for the song she will be singing is perfect for her and I can't wait to see her perform. Hopefully Covid doesn't spoil that as well.</p><p>Many things come quite quickly for Minnie, and at first it often seemed like she wouldn't do things unless she was immediately good at them. That may still be the case with sports. She has proclaimed herself a sports unenthusiast, if that can be a thing. Any time her friends start playing sports, she comes home. But other than that, I feel like for the most part she will try most things and <i>does</i> work hard at them and can do quite well at most everything she puts her mind to.</p><p>Min is a great student and really thrives in the classroom. She does well pretty effortlessly, which is both good and bad. Sometimes I worry that with things coming easily to her she won't try as hard as she should scholastically, but I am also grateful she comes by it naturally. She didn't really have any good friends in her class this year, but has done well in spite of it.</p><p>This girl is becoming and young woman and I can't believe it and also love it at the same time. It reminds me that one day my kids are going to be adults and I'm excited for them to be my friends. I mean, they are already, but there is something about them becoming adults and hopefully <i>wanting</i> to be my friend in the way I am friends with my sisters and my mom now that makes me so happy. I love my kids so much. I love that we all get to be friends and go through this life together. </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Laura Collardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10318822498106175398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8789485272449825815.post-40741659928233604262020-03-29T10:10:00.003-07:002020-03-29T10:10:38.661-07:00Collard Family Film 2019<div style="text-align: center;">
As you might be able to tell, I've been on a major video kick as we practice this whole social distancing thing because of the coronavirus. I've had lots of time on my hands, except for the million hours it feels like we spend doing homeschool and trying to figure out how to make every day not feel like Groundhogs day and spice things up around here. Robert and I also recently got new phones, and although our photos and videos are all saved on the cloud, it still got me thinking about how all of my videos will just sit unseen and I'm going to be so sad if I never put them somewhere where my kids will be able to look back on them. I put together clips from all the videos I have from 2019 to cover the entire year. It was a good one and I can't believe how much Hannah changed! Watching this makes me anxious for the days that we can spend lots of time hugging and being with all those that we love, travel again and get back to a normal routine. As for now, we are hunkered down in this little home of ours, soaking up our time together. </div>
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<br />Laura Collardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10318822498106175398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8789485272449825815.post-68059919280770069692020-03-09T21:23:00.001-07:002020-03-09T21:23:37.287-07:00spring break 2019<br />
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We are STILL alive! And I miss writing about my family and and posting pictures of their sweet faces. I am just barely putting these clips from a YEAR ago together in a video and my kids have already watched it three times today. They love it so much, and it has me feeling like documenting our life here is going to have to be more of a priority for me, especially since I'm not great at documenting it elsewhere. So take this as my unofficial declaration that I am back and will be posting here more than once a year.</div>
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Last year for spring break, the Adseros decided on a whim to take a trip back to Utah. We were nothing short of elated, and quickly made some last minute family travel plans with them. Most of the Mecham side spent a few days down at a little ranch in Southern Utah, hiking and relaxing and...throwing up. Oy! Pretty much all of the kids took turns tossing, but we pressed on and managed to have a good bit of fun in spite of the mess.</div>
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After Southern Utah, the Adseros and our little family continued on down to Southern California where we stayed together in a beach house in Mission Beach. We were just about a block from the beach and it was so fun. My kids loved being with their cousins so much and the beach felt so good as we were coming out of a long, cold winter in Utah. We decided to surprise the kids with two days at Disneyland. They were delighted! Although it was fun surprising them, Charlotte and I both agreed sometimes the anticipation of and the thinking about the trip can almost be as fun as the trip itself. So it has been noted that we will likely not keep it a surprise next time because I think they would have been even more revved up had they known about it ahead of time.</div>
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After another round of barfs at the end of Disneyland we decided to just start heading home that night. Unfortunately, both our cars had multiple rounds of throw up and our night at Whiskey Pete's in Primm, Nevada, will forever go down as one of the most revolting nights of my life. The place was nasty to start (should have guessed it would be), and then three sick children messing the place up about did me in. I have never been so grateful to finally be home in my life after that night. Thankfully most of the sickness held out throughout the trip so we were able to really have fun on the most fun days. Unfortunately the sickness continued for both families for days, and perhaps weeks beyond the trip. It was a real doozy.</div>
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Anyhow, it was all worth it, gosh darn it. Look how happy these babies are in this video. Now I'm counting down the days until we can all do this again, sans tossing.</div>
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Laura Collardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10318822498106175398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8789485272449825815.post-37839285137756497262019-02-11T21:04:00.000-08:002019-02-11T21:08:52.549-08:00we're alive and i've got a million photos to prove it!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
The other day my girls started asking me about pictures of them when they were babies, and of course my immediate thought was to hop on this little ol' blog because I've documented each of their births here, and I am so dang grateful I did! After looking at each of their birth pictures, they started getting glimpses of other posts and pictures we hadn't seen in ages and the they couldn't stop scrolling and laughing and then asking for more. I quickly remembered why I created this space. It is full of so many of our sweet memories and pictures that would take me ages to find in my collection of external hard drives. So, here I am again, with a major life update because if nothing else these pictures that are just sitting on my phone need to be published here so they don't get lost in the shuffle and I can come back and just stare at these sweet faces twenty years from now.</div>
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Obviously this past year has been filled with Miss Hannah Mary Ann, the apple of all of our eyes. She will be one year in about a month. Pretty surreal.</div>
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Hannah was a bit of a fussy little thing for a good chunk of her early months. She rarely fell asleep in the car and at night would wail in her carseat in the back seat of the car until we got home. It honestly made me sweat, I hated it so much. I remember William doing something similar, but Hannah did it until she was over six months. We are all praising the heavens that phase is over. She also became a mama's girl pretty early on as well, which was equal parts sweet and exhausting. Again, grateful she's grown out of that phase too. </div>
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She didn't chunk up quite like our other kids did, (although she did get some nice rolls there at the beginning), but honestly is tinier now at nearly 11 months than any of our other kids were. She's our petite little thing.</div>
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Hannie at six weeks. Gosh, those cheeks are as good as they get.</div>
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Louisa graduated from preschool in May. Our preschool is literally just down the street and our friend Tammy from our ward runs it. I love her so much and so do my kids. Below is Lou's preschool boyfriend, Santana. She misses him so much. My girls are so boy crazy...not unlike their mother was.</div>
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I took a similar picture when I was pregnant with Hannah, but below us is the grave of her namesake, Hannah Mary Ann Dawson Wiseman. I still can't believe she's buried just down the street from us and we didn't know it.</div>
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Three month little squish.</div>
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Summer was so much fun! Lots of backyard pool time, hanging out with friends and then lots of cousin time! Willsy in his little Euro swimsuit makes me so happy.</div>
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Four month Han!</div>
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We went with cousins up to the lake for Lou's 5th birthday. It was pretty windy and we all almost got taken out by our umbrella, but it was so fun!</div>
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Birthday cake for Lou with family! I love how she's holding out her dress here.</div>
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I don't know what it is about Will eating, but I could seriously watch him all day. He just cracks me up.</div>
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I am also obsessed with seeing my older kids love on Hannah. I mean, it also stresses me out sometimes, but mostly I just love to see them love her.</div>
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Jeremiah's Jeep was a big hit last summer, but all my kids were terrible at driving it except Minnie. He was nice to share and luckily William was pleased to just be along for the ride most of the time.</div>
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Hannah's selfie game started getting really strong.</div>
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William and his tools, man. This kid is 100% BOY. He is a love of all things tools, guns, ninjas, swords, wrestling, etc, etc. I am obsessed with him. He was such a sweet little snuggly mama's boy up until he turned two, and then he became the wildest little tornado. I mean, the sweet side is still there, you just have to dig a little to find it. </div>
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Bountiful car show with cousins!</div>
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Face paint that they begged for and then soon thereafter begged to take off. Story of our lives but it's generally worth it.</div>
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Father's Day 2018 with this sweet daddy-o and his ragamuffin squad. We are all so lucky to have this good soul as the main man of our house. He is a human jungle gym to these little babies and they're always begging for one more story, one more wrestle and one more tickle from him. He is the most good-natured person on earth and puts up with all of my bossiness and sass. Bless him.</div>
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Backyard baby pool days with friends. Our big yard is so much fun but is so much work and Robert and I have quickly realized we aren't the best gardeners. We may need to downsize in the outdoor space in the next house we buy.</div>
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We got season passes again to Lagoon. Our kids love it so much. Every year we wonder if we are going to do it again, and then we always do. This year was especially fun because William graduated to a bunch of the bigger rides and was in LOVE! Minnie can also no go on pretty much every ride in the park so Robert and I enjoyed trading off taking her on some of our favorites. I love that she's such a daredevil. Lou, on the other hand, spent much of her time at the park afraid she was going to get lost and clinging to us tightly. We lost her at Temple Square the day Julia and Pete got married and she spent months after the fact working through it. Julia and Pete had come out of the temple and we were all packing up to move to the shadier side of the temple for pictures. There were millions of cousins and aunts and uncles and I had Will and Hannah and just figured the big girls were walking over with someone else. However, when we got up on the temple stairs for pictures Lou was nowhere to be found. Of course I went into major panic mode. My aunt Alison ran one way around the temple and I went the other and she ended up finding her with a woman from another group. I gave Lou the biggest hug and she just melted into a puddle of tears. I guess she had just been busy playing on the stairs or something and didn't realize we'd left. She's been much more aware ever since...and so have I.</div>
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After 5 babies for her and 4 for me, Charlotte and I finally had babies in the same year! Hannah was born in March and Harrison was born in June. Can't wait to see these two together this summer! I can't help but hate that they live across the world, but I'm so grateful we get to make memories for a month or two each summer when they head to our neck of the woods.</div>
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I barely took any pictures on my phone the day of Julia's wedding. In fact, I pretty much only took videos which I put together in a little compilation which I'll link at the end. The wedding was so fun! Julia was as happy as I'd ever seen her and has been ever since. She and Pete are an incredible fit for each other and Pete has become a very beloved uncle very quickly. My kids are in love with him.</div>
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Cousin water day! Look at that baldy baby snuggled in a towel. I can't believe how much she's changed!</div>
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Mecham party up at the Collard cabin this year did not disappoint! Good food, four-wheeler rides, a little exploring and lots of relaxing made for such an incredible day.</div>
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Bob has mastered the art with sleeping with a baby on top of him.</div>
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A little fishing day with cousins at Bountiful Pond. It was only slightly stressful with those fishing lines flying all over the place. Luckily no one had their eyes pulled out by a hook. No fish were caught but a lot of M+M's were enjoyed.</div>
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Can't even believe this crew! We've recreated this picture now for three years in a row and it's so much fun to see the changes through the years.</div>
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Love these sweetie boys who learned how to punch, wrestle and hold hands with each other this summer.</div>
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Our last night together. Always stinks saying goodbye to these guys.</div>
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In August we went up to Robert's sister Liz's cabin in Idaho. We'd gone once before and this time was equally as great. Liz honestly makes everything fun and I love to be with her. We all do. We'd just found out I was pregnant with Hannah last year and it was so nice to have her there with us this year. The place is so amazing, nestled right next to a little lake. We love paddle boarding and playing on the beach Liz and Chad have created. I'm the worst at taking pictures of everyone who came, but there was a good crew this year. These are pretty much the only pictures I got.</div>
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The next week we headed to Washington DC to go visit my grandparents. It was so much fun! We did a little exploring downtown, but also spent a lot of time just hanging at my grandparent's house. I was so grateful we got to see them. It's been awhile and I've really missed them. My girls especially loved hanging out down in the basement coloring, playing with the vintage Barbie's and playing Mario on the good ol' Nintendo. As we boarded our flight home, Lou asked me if we could go there the next year for her birthday. It was obviously a hit.</div>
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Sightseeing with kids is not for the faint of heart. It was unbearably hot and we walked a ton and everyone was just so tired. We tried to go to the WWII museum and it was a major bust. William was at his wits end and so were we. Lesson learned: sightsee when the kids are all over the age of 8.</div>
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My cousin Kathryn who also lives in Maryland invited us to join her family for a day trip to the beach. It was kind of a marathon of a day, driving about 3 hours both ways, but we hauled ourselves out to Rehoboth Beach for the day, which was totally packed, but it was still so fun and great to be able to spend some time with them.</div>
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I have such a deep love for this place and these people. My grandma and grandpa are the kindest hosts and made us feel so welcome. I told my grandma to not worry about a thing while we were there, but of course she'd gone shopping before we arrived and made dinner for us almost every night. She whipped something up with things she had in her fridge one night that included mashed potatoes and chicken and broccoli and told us it was just a little concoction she'd thrown together. Minnie was SO impressed and still talks about what an incredible cook my grandma is. She's not wrong! I love everything my grandma makes, including her famous "beer bread" that she always seems to keep a can or two of beer in the fridge for and which she made for us while we were there. I love her! I also love that in this picture we are standing by Grandpa in his element...at the table with a stack of newspapers, likely some crosswords laying in there somewhere, and either the news, Jeopardy or Wheel of Fortune on in the background.</div>
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First day of second grade for Minnie in Mrs. Hagloch's class. This girl has never looked back since she was a baby. She is always ready for the next adventure and as confident as can be. She performed again in her school talent show this year, singing "You Are My Sunshine" while Robert accompanied her on the guitar. She's also in acting classes right now and getting ready to perform in "Mulan Junior" as a maiden and a hun. She's our performer through and through and I hope she never loses her confidence.</div>
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First day of kindergarten for Lou in Mrs. Barnes class. The teacher pretty much had to pry her out of my hands to get her into the classroom and it broke me a little. Lou was still really traumatized from getting lost at the wedding and really wanted to be brave but just couldn't quite muster the courage to let go of my hand. I snuck inside the school a minute later just to peek in the classroom to make sure she was ok, which she was. After about a week she was doing so much better and she now loves school so much. Such a relief!</div>
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A picture per Lou's request. She is such a ham, loves to joke and is always out to have a good time. She is truly my wild girl and that's why it killed me when she kind of lost a bit of her gumption after getting lost. Never fear, it's back in full force and we are all enjoying it thoroughly.</div>
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Hannah at 6 months! Just starting to sit up, in love with bananas and a bit of a terrible sleeper. She was born with her eyes wide open and we all laughed because she looked like a deer in headlights the majority of time up until a few months ago and it was hilarious. It was around this time that Hannah got so busy and easily distracted that she rarely nursed, wouldn't really take a bottle and only liked solids occasionally. It freaked me out because I felt like she was never getting enough to eat and was going to waste away. Honestly, looking at pictures now, I kind of feel like she has, but luckily the doctor didn't seem too concerned and now she's eating like a champ, but still tiny as can be (to a mom that's used to monster bubba babies).</div>
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I love seeing my kids playing together. My girls are obsessed with Hannah, until she comes in and starts ruining their toy "set ups."</div>
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Is it strange that I could watch William eat all day? He's just so cute! Also, we finally remodeled our kitchen and broke down the wall separating it from the living space. We love it so much. Robert and I tiled the backsplash, and as you can see in this picture, we hadn't grouted it quite yet at this point, but were just so dang excited to have a kitchen again. Because of timing between subcontractors and waiting on countertops and such, we were out of a kitchen for two months. I felt like we were camping in our own home. Praise the heavens that's over and we don't have to wash our dishes in the bathroom anymore! So gross.</div>
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I hope these two will be good friends. William was so, so gentle with Hannah up until about two months ago. I'm hoping she'll be willing to wrestle with him, because there's a good chance he won't have any brothers.</div>
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Fall in the backyard, playing in the leaves, eating apples from the tree and trying to avoid the deer poop. Pretty magical!</div>
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These two can be the best of friends or the worst of enemies, but isn't that the case with all siblings? I feel like when Minnie's at school they have the best time together, but once she's home three quickly becomes a crowd. Hopefully Hannah will even the playing field here pretty soon and everyone will have someone.</div>
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The obsession with this girl is real. I get it. I'm obsessed too. And do you see the deer in headlights?</div>
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Our Halloween super hero squad and pet cat! The kids were all very much in charge of the costumes this year. A big shout out to Costco for providing most of them.</div>
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One of my favorite pictures ever. William was SO pleased! Also, he insists he is <i>not </i>Superman but Superboy. He corrects us if we say anything different.</div>
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See, fun dad in action.</div>
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Cute cousin buddies in their randomly matching jammies. I think Jeremiah still considers William a baby (Will's a year younger than J) and I'm hoping that in the next year they will become good buds because Will needs a brother.</div>
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Sink baths in the new kitchen!</div>
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Christmas morning 2018! It was such a magical year with all these little Santa believers. Minnie and Lou both asked for LOL dolls, Hatchimals and American Girl dolls. Williams request was a gun and swords. Like I said, all boy. Where does he even get this stuff?</div>
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We surprised the kids with a little staycation at the Little America the week after Christmas. It was so much fun but also so tiring. I think it's a tradition we will continue year after year and I think it will just get more fun as our kids get older and we will actually all sleep at night. We went and saw the windows and the giant gingerbread house at the Grand America, took Trax to get some pizza, came back to the hotel to swim and came back to the room for candy and games and a Jazz game.</div>
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I have really made an effort to get Minnie up and going with skiing and she has done so well this year! It was a rough start after not going since she was five, but now she's rocking and rolling and it's so fun! We took William and Lou up to Park City's magic carpet to get them going too, but neither of them liked it much. Lou just kept begging to go home. I took will down with me on my skis a couple times and then he <i>loved</i> it. I think once he figures out how to go fast on his own he'll be hooked.</div>
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I just love these babes so much.</div>
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Hannah has become the happiest little pumpkin. She is busy, busy, busy and has been since she could control her little hands and even more so since she's been mobile. She didn't start crawling until she was about 8 months, and even then it was an army crawl. That army crawl finally turned into a real crawl and now this little monkey is pulling herself up on everything, climbing stairs and scaring the daylights out of me and she's pleased as punch. She still just feels like the tiniest little nugget to me and so I've been supplementing my milk with formula since about a month or two ago.</div>
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A bit of a better view of the new kitchen and Lou trying to help Hannah walk. Life is sure sweet. I must admit that it feels pretty daunting some days trying to meet everyone's needs, especially when they often all happen at once. Sometimes I feel like I might go batty and I hand everyone over to Bob for a minute so I can just be and regroup, but when it comes down to it this is the life I've always wanted and I'm sure these are the days I'll miss the very most when our house is quiet and toyless. I can't even imagine that. I don't want to. I guess a time and a season for everything, and I'm honest to goodness enjoying this one, even if I can't keep my eyes open most of the time.</div>
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And, as promised, here is the video from Julia and Pete's wedding. Such a good day!</div>
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<br />Laura Collardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10318822498106175398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8789485272449825815.post-53980804793636122622018-06-07T10:22:00.000-07:002018-06-07T10:22:04.502-07:00hannah's birth<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Our little honey made it here safe and sound the morning of March 15, 2018 and I can't even believe she's nearly three months old now. I haven't written a single thing about her birth in my journal or anywhere really, and it is killing me. I feel like the whirlwind of a newborn can knock me off my feet for a minute, but I feel think we are starting to get into a decent rhythm (depending on the day) and I need to remember some of the details of this day while they are still relatively fresh.</div>
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The night before William's birth was just one panic attack after another for me, and I was so nervous this time around would be the same. I was absolutely nervous, but the night before Hannah came I was actually able to sleep for a few hours and I didn't have a single panic attack, which was a total miracle in my book. Robert's mom came the night before to sleep over so we could leave the kids sleeping as we had to leave our house around 5:30 am to be at the hospital by 6 am. I don't know what it is, but I always get choked up leaving the kids in the morning as I'm going to have a baby. I think it's an end of an era four our current family unit but also for the baby of the family in some ways, so I rocked William extra long the night before, albeit a bit uncomfortable with my huge belly. I wrote the kids a note and stuck it on the fridge before we headed out the door, telling them how excited I was for them to meet their sister, and teared up as I wrote it, thinking about the them seeing her for the first time. </div>
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The drive to the hospital with Robert is always a peaceful one and I feel like it always calms my nerves. No on is on the roads, it's dark and quiet, and we just hold hands and talk about life and what it will be like with this new baby. It's the calm before the storm. It was a rainy and then quite snowy March day, but luckily the roads were clear.</div>
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My sweet friend Christine was kind enough to go back to work as an RN just for me. Ok, not really, but the timing of her going back to work was so awesome because it allowed her to be my nurse once more. She got me a great OR prep and recovery room with windows and lots of space and having her there, just like with William's birth, calmed my nerves. I had one mild panic attack as she was getting me ready, so I stood up (because I was so anxious about being numb for the rest of day) and Robert, Christine and I said a prayer. It helped a bit, but I just worked through the nerves and in a matter of minutes we were in the operating room.</div>
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The spinal block this time around really did a number on me. I started feeling like I was going to throw up and then I got super sweaty and felt like I was going to pass out. I'd never felt like that before and it was awful. The anesthesiologist was amazing, just like the three I'd had previously, and helped me get through it. Hannah was out in record time and seeing her little curled up body over the curtain and then hearing her little piglet scream was such a relief. That feeling of seeing them and hearing them for the first time will never get old. The doctors had me stitched up and ready to go within minutes and we actually had to wait until Hannah was ready to go to leave to go back to recovery. When they wheeled me in, Julia was there waiting and shortly after my dad arrived, ready to take a thousand pictures. </div>
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Hannah looked quite a bit like Lou when she first came out. She seemed quite fair and her hair looked a bit red. She had more hair than any of my other kids had, and it was also darker than any of my other kids. After a bath she looked a bit less red, but in certain lights to this day, she definitely is a bit of a ginger.</div>
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Everyone commented on how alert Hannah seemed right when she came out. Her eyes were big and bright and looking around for a long time after she was born, which was so different from the rest of my kids who fell asleep fairly quickly after birth. Even now she is extremely bright eyed and sometimes looks like a deer in headlights because her eyes are open so wide. Once she focuses on a face the bug eyes kind of soften, but generally they are quite big.</div>
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My mom arrived a little bit later after wrapping some stuff up with the substitute and I can't even tell you how much I love having my parents around for my kids' births. It's funny how even when you're grown, you can't help but want your parents around at big life events.</div>
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I had been so thirsty, so as soon as I was in recovery, Christine brought me some ice water. I drank the majority of what she gave me, and as I was getting wheeled back to my more permanent room, I started feeling really nauseous. I was holding Hannah and felt totally helpless. They quickly handed me a bag and I threw up. I thought maybe it was just motion sickness, but over the course of the next few hours I threw up three or four more times. I felt terrible! I'd never had such a bad reaction to anesthesia before, but I just could't keep anything down. I don't think I ate until later that night and they had to start pumping me full of more fluid to get things moving through me.</div>
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My mom went over to our house and relieved Vicky of the kids, and then they all came over to the hospital together to meet Hannah. Minnie and Louisa were so dang excited and fought over who got to hold her first. William couldn't have cared less, but it was just so fun to see them all together and to <i>be</i> all together. One of my favorite nights in the hospital was when my parents had to go to a wedding reception so they dropped the kids off to be with us for a couple hours and we at snacks and snuggled in the hospital bed and watched Lady and the Tramp. Life is busy and wild with all four of them, but life just feels so good when we are together.</div>
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Hannah is named after Robert's mom's third great grandmother, who was the first to join the church on the side and immigrated to the United States from England. We discovered as we were looking for a name that she actually lived in Bountiful, and soon after we found out we were having a girl we found out she was buried just a few minutes from our house. I went to see her grave and as I stood over it I had a strong impression I should name our baby after her; Hannah Mary Ann. I feel like it suits her well.</div>
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Life with Hannah has been so sweet. I love and loathe the newborn stage, but I am trying to soak it up because there's a chance this might be our last baby. I am so grateful Hannah is here safe and sound and feel so blessed to be her mom.</div>
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Laura Collardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10318822498106175398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8789485272449825815.post-63902305549209916242018-03-14T13:05:00.003-07:002018-03-14T13:05:20.289-07:00dear babyDear Baby,<br />
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Tomorrow we officially get to see and kiss your sweet face. We are all pretty giddy about it.<br />
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Minnie has been singing her own little made up lullabies to you in my belly the past few days because she recently learned you might be able to hear her voice in there. She's hoping you will recognize hers when you come out. I am so grateful for Minnie. She has filled the role as oldest sibling in such a big way since William was born and I know she is going to be incredible with you. I hope she will remember this time in the life of our family forever and know how proud I am to see her love and care for her younger siblings. I love when she rubs my belly and we dream up what you'll look like and be like and all the fun things we'll all get to do together soon. She's been telling everyone about you and is so excited about the blanket she and her first grade class are making for you.<br />
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Louisa is dead set on naming you Izzy and gets quite upset when we suggest otherwise. She also names all of her dolls and stuffed animals Izzy, but you would obviously be the best Izzy of all. Lou is also a bit concerned Robert and I will be stuck at the hospital forever and has cried a few times when she mentions us leaving to have the baby. We've reassured her it will only be for a few days and that she'll get to come and visit and see you and hold you, and as soon as that sinks in she's back to her happy self. She's been telling everyone I'm having you "tomorrow" for the past three months. Today she'll finally be right!<br />
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William has no idea what's coming. He's been a mama's boy 90% of his life, but in the last few months has slowly eased out of it, which was really great timing. Last night I rocked him in the rocker like I do most nights and got a little teary when I thought about his babyhood in our family coming to an end. This has happened with my youngest every time we're about to welcome a new baby, but the feeling is usually fleeting because there is no greater gift I could give to my children than siblings. Seeing your relationships blossom has been one of my most cherished experiences in life and I know you are some of each other's greatest blessings. William loves babies, and I'm hopeful he'll understand the word "soft" quickly so we don't experience too many traumatic incidents. The first time we decided on your name I asked William to say it, figuring he'd probably come up with his own little version of it, but it came out of his little lips clear as a bell. It was pretty sweet.<br />
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We've chosen a name for you from Dad's side of the family. Each of your siblings have received a family name and we have loved the meaning and depth each of them carry. I hope you will learn to love and appreciate yours. I've mostly left naming you up to your dad this time, as I did with William, and I really love the name he chose. Gosh, your dad is a good man. You are going to love him, just like your siblings do. He's as good and kind and as fun as they come, and you will not find a man with a better heart. He's the best storyteller in town, has become a human jungle gym in our house and is the wrestling, snuggling and tickling king. Bedtime routine is never boring with him around. I hope you will confide in him and feel his unwavering love for you. We are all so lucky to have him. He and I have spent late nights recently talking about you and the miracle you are to us. With each baby we've welcomed, I feel like he and I grow closer and happier and we are so excited for the spirit and love you are going to bring into our home.<br />
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The entire process of getting you here tends to bring anxiety into my mama heart. I don't think I ever really knew anxiety until I became a mom. I just love my children in such a big way and want to do the very best I can for you. Please be patient with me. I know tears of joy and frustration are going to be shed in massive amounts these next few months, but it is a time of life where the spirit feels so close and life just feels so sweet, and all of the good outweighs the hard. Our family isn't perfect but we are dang happy and just can't wait for you to be part of us. See you tomorrow, little one!<br />
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Love,<br />
Mom<br />
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<br />Laura Collardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10318822498106175398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8789485272449825815.post-65109953511211406472018-03-08T16:32:00.000-08:002018-03-08T16:32:11.729-08:00a lot of catching up to do<div style="text-align: center;">
I looked at my blog the other day and realized the last time I posted anything (besides the recent Europe post) was July of last year!!! I started scrolling back through older posts and was reminded how much I love this blog of our family. There are so many memories captured here that otherwise drift off into neverland. So, here is my feeble attempt at trying to catch up on the last nine months in our family's life.<br />
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A fun little birthday celebration for Lou up at Pineview Reservoir with cousins! This was actually the day I got a positive pregnancy test and I was just feeling a million feelings. So happy to be with all these people I love, thinking about the new little bean inside me, and so grateful to be celebrating my sweet Lou and her four years earth-side.</div>
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Later that night we celebrated in our yard with ice cream sundaes and our sweet family.</div>
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A little day trip to Logan with the Adsero cousins before they headed back home for the summer. Seeing these cute pictures of all of these kids together has me so excited for this summer!</div>
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A quick escape to Robert's sister Liz's cabin in Idaho. It's situated right on a little lake and we had the best time.</div>
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I can't believe how much Will has changed! He's such a baby here and now he's almost two. I feel like he has definitely gotten the short end of the stick as far as babyhood documentation goes. #thirdchild</div>
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A little jaunt up Albion Basin with Grandma Mecham before she headed back to school for the school year. I'd had a lot of morning sickness and hadn't ventured out much and it was so nice to be out together. Grandma is always up for an adventure and I love her for that!</div>
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Celebrating Minnie's birthday with her friends Evie and Mie at Kangaroo Zoo. </div>
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The last Collard cabin trip of the summer with Mikey and Nikki and their cute kids!<br />
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First day of Lou's second year of preschool!</div>
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Minnie's first day of first grade!</div>
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This is a little gruesome, but this picture above and the picture below were taken about 30 minutes apart. It was an insanely warm late fall day and the girls were playing outside (hence the static hair from the trampoline). Robert had stacked the patio chairs for the winter and Lou decided to climb them, not realizing how unsteady they were, and tipped straight forward onto the cement, breaking her front tooth and busting up her lip. Luckily the tooth didn't fall out but it was definitely loose. Although it's shorter than her other front tooth, it's no longer loose and didn't turn gray. Thank heavens it's a baby tooth!<br />
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About four months pregnant with baby #4.</div>
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Sweet Will with his blondie blonde hair. So nutty how much darker it has gotten since summer!</div>
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Cooler weather and puddle jumping.<br />
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A field trip to the fire station with Lou's preschool. She says she's going to marry Santana, who is the cute boy with the curly hair in the Spiderman sweatshirt. It kills me how boy crazy she and Minnie are.<br />
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Adventuring at a trail up the street from us.<br />
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The girls were playing with William on the rocker in his room in October and he stood up, fell off and just landed on his arm in such a way that he completely broke his elbow. The minute I heard him cry I knew something was seriously wrong. He wouldn't even let us touch it. It was broken in such a way that he had to have surgery, which I totally dreaded. He had it done at Primary Children's Hospital, and you better believe I was a wreck, but he did really great and did so well with only one arm for six weeks. Baths were annoying and we totally drained our HSA for this, but I'm so grateful all went well and this little guy is now back to 100%.</div>
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Halloween! We didn't do a family costume this year. I just felt so sick with this baby that I didn't have it in me. Maybe next year?<br />
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Minnie was Elena of Avalor, Lou decided to be Cinderella and we already had a dress up for that (high five!), and Will used the old hand-me-down skunk costume. I put my own costume together to coordinate with him, and I think we were all pretty happy. Robert was a creepy postman with his dad's old postmaster outfit, which he busts out frequently when he needs something last minute. He paints on a creepy mustache, puts a pillow in his belly and calls it good.</div>
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We found out our baby was a GIRL on November 1st! The girls were a little disappointed because they wanted a friend for Will, but they've come around to the idea. Robert and I had been trying to come up with names from his mom's side of the family this time, and when we found out the person we were thinking about naming our baby after was actually buried just two minutes from our home, I had to go see her grave. She was the first to come to the US from England as well as the first to join the church on that side of the family, and the minute I stood over her grave and looked down and saw my belly, I had a really strong feeling that this should be the name of our baby. It was pretty sweet.</div>
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My dad tripped and fell running and ended up tearing his rotator cuff and having to have surgery. Here are our two little gimps together just a bit before Will got his cast off and his pins out. Will calls my dad "Bonka" and loves to vacuum with him so much. I'm hoping he got my dad's cleaning obsession.</div>
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Elyse's sweet Eleanor Rex was born right after Thanksgiving. I love seeing her as a mom.</div>
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Our annual friend Christmas party did not disappoint! Shelly is the best hostess.</div>
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A magical, snowy Christmas Eve!</div>
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New Christmas jams, getting ready to head home before Santa comes!<br />
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We spent NYE up at the Arrington's cabin while my parents were visiting the Adseros in Abu Dhabi. No one slept very well, but we had a really great time partying together.<br />
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Minnie lost her top two and her bottom two front teeth within about a month! The Tooth Fairy has been very busy!</div>
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Minnie was begging to go up and ski, but since I'm pregnant and Robert doesn't know how to ski, she had to settle for the magic carpet at Park City. We had Lou give it a shot too, and although she wasn't the biggest fan, I was really proud of her for trying. She did better than I thought she would.</div>
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We had such a mild winter but the last couple weeks we have had some really big storms! William is <i>obsessed</i> with shoveling and <i>must</i> be outside with Robert whenever he's out there clearing the driveway. It's pretty cute seeing them work together.</div>
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Will is our little sunshine boy. He is so sweet and fun, really aware of other's feelings and honestly as snuggly as can be. It's funny because I was reading back at an old blog post when he was a few months old and I was saying how unsnuggly he was. It's funny how much things can change. He has been such a mama's boy and just loves to be close. I have loved it so much! He has recently become obsessed with his binky and his blanket. We should have taken that binky away months ago, but I keep telling myself that we will do it shortly after this baby comes. I'm praying it's not ridiculously hard.</div>
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And here I am last week, at about 37 weeks pregnant in front of my very dirty mirror. It's always unreal to me how big my belly gets. I think this has been my most uncomfortable pregnancy yet and although I'm anxious for surgery and a newborn and all that entails (which all goes down in ONE WEEK!), I'm so excited for all of us to meet this little girl and then to be on the road to recovery. It's wild to me to think this may be our last baby. Robert always says never say never, but at this point four is sounding pretty good. Maybe my tune will change in a year, though.</div>
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<br />Laura Collardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10318822498106175398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8789485272449825815.post-83608636369391695572018-03-02T12:30:00.000-08:002018-03-02T12:30:38.916-08:00european adventure with the adseros!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguNnWKN_saS8c45hUjyLYLwjIgwftM6T3KSIFnnRwkoKyCmzWukkWtwal_92ugGV0o1vh7zKKanBO5LGV-Q_JE3UUeSxMWXdeIpN5gEyAFHu6Upbf7srTD0mLUOmIGVMoFbcrw0vmfTcQ/s1600/B4A955C2-2540-4251-81FB-6D4871C1F384.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1596" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguNnWKN_saS8c45hUjyLYLwjIgwftM6T3KSIFnnRwkoKyCmzWukkWtwal_92ugGV0o1vh7zKKanBO5LGV-Q_JE3UUeSxMWXdeIpN5gEyAFHu6Upbf7srTD0mLUOmIGVMoFbcrw0vmfTcQ/s1600/B4A955C2-2540-4251-81FB-6D4871C1F384.jpg" /></a></div>
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I still can't totally believe we did this, and will forever be grateful that we did! Charlotte and I had been talking about us coming to Abu Dhabi for Thanksgiving or something, and then we toyed around with the idea of meeting somewhere in the middle instead. I'd been wanting to visit my friend Laurel and her new little twins in London and Charlotte had been talking to her friend Jessica about visiting her in Holland. I had been on the hunt for some good tickets in the fall, and when we found some direct on Delta at a great price I called Charlotte, and within a matter of a day it was on! I will admit that traveling around Europe with three kids is not much of a vacation, but it was a trip of a lifetime and I'm so glad we did it and that these seven little hooligans got to see each other.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXZxnR8FMg3XkULvIW5f7gGS9Fai9g45KQU04g2fy7WCfolWEbOsdRrja7X5iTbp4GRzTeGhJPkiNPianYc_bwEmCHapC9CiX3Kof1xmWptJzgizm-whRjBXzEtEqTzMtpEK_4SYoArPY/s1600/IMG_2062.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXZxnR8FMg3XkULvIW5f7gGS9Fai9g45KQU04g2fy7WCfolWEbOsdRrja7X5iTbp4GRzTeGhJPkiNPianYc_bwEmCHapC9CiX3Kof1xmWptJzgizm-whRjBXzEtEqTzMtpEK_4SYoArPY/s1600/IMG_2062.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhfsVUW98LaE4jjjWMGLDYwTQuxltm3WnOnftSIEZhnSatxCZzYoah32zVjJSVF5-ZMNmc3y-H6frvvHWnJgx1yd9OreczKMRQjLFI-2OOVNFaX8aP8QPznMEFEMHkic_4Zl1XIYpyqes/s1600/IMG_0415.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhfsVUW98LaE4jjjWMGLDYwTQuxltm3WnOnftSIEZhnSatxCZzYoah32zVjJSVF5-ZMNmc3y-H6frvvHWnJgx1yd9OreczKMRQjLFI-2OOVNFaX8aP8QPznMEFEMHkic_4Zl1XIYpyqes/s1600/IMG_0415.jpg" /></a></div>
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Cousin meet up at the Buckingham Palace! This was the first time we all saw each other and it was pretty sweet.</div>
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Above, Robert is strolling in front of Laurel's cute house in Chelsea. The kids loved meeting the twins so much and I loved seeing Laurel's life in London. Rosie was asleep when we took this picture but I was so happy to hold cute Oscar. Robert was a saint one night and watched the kids at the airbnb so I could go out with Laurel, just the two of us. We were only staying about a 5 minute walk from her house so I just strolled on by and picked her up and then we walked to dinner down the road. Taylor was at work at his restaurant and Laurel was able to take me by there after dinner and give me a tour. It was so fun to see it all. I wish I would have taken some pictures.</div>
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I had been feeling pretty sick prior to this trip with baby #4, but thank the heavens that a day or two before we left I was miraculously cured and felt awesome the entire time!</div>
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Fresh flowers in so many window boxes and building sides all around the city.</div>
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We did a lot of touring around on our own because the Adseros arrived a little earlier and got a few things in in London before they had to head out for Disneyland Paris, which we skipped (shhh, don't tell our kids). I loved going around with them for many reasons, but mostly because my kids were so happy and also because we could get good family pics courtesy of Charlotte.</div>
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Minnie and I loved this colorful street in Chelsea, just a block from Laurel's house.</div>
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After a few days in London, we took the train to Paris. I loved the train because we could all sit together, facing each other, and it was so relaxing cruising through the countryside. I was interested to see what it would be like going through the Chunnel, but it was just dark for 15-20 minutes and then, boom, we were in France.</div>
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The sweetest cousins, so happy to be together again in Paris. I think Lou and Lincoln have a special bond. She loves him so much.</div>
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<span style="font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">When we arrived in Paris we hopped on the Metro to head to our airbnb. We had never once felt nervous about anything in London, but Paris was a different story, There were just so many more shady people. I had the stroller with the kids in it and a few backpacks and Robert had the rest of the bags, bless him. We looked liked tourists to a tee, and Robert hadn't yet made the switch from carrying his wallet in his back pocket to his front, or deep inside a backpack or something. Anyway, when we arrived at our stop, I quickly hopped off the train with the kids, but when I looked back Robert was struggling. I couldn't figure out what was going on, if the bags were too much or what, but the doors started to slam closed and a few guys pretty much sacrificed their bodies to hold them open so Robert could get out. The kids were screaming their guts out and I just felt totally helpless. Once we were all together and a bit more composed, Robert told me some guy had just tried to pickpocket him (hello, we were perfect targets) and that he'd had to drop a few bags in the process to stop him, thus making it pretty hard to get off the train quickly. I guess the guys at the door were in cahoots with the guy trying to get Bob's wallet and held the doors for him in hopes that their friend would get the wallet, Bob would get off the train and they'd be home free. Thank the heavens they didn't know the wallet hadn't been taken, and we all walked out of the Metro stop in total shock. Lesson learned, Paris. Lesson learned.</span></span></span></div>
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Montmartre was probably one of the most charming parts of Paris, in my opinion. I don't feel like we did the best job navigating through that part of the city because everyone was tired, but I still loved it. </div>
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Taking a little break from the rain in our cute airbnb in Paris. </div>
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I figured we would be doing lots of walking and just giving ourselves a tour of most of the places we visited, but when it came down to the bigger kids walking and the time is was taking to get everywhere, we ended up caving and taking the big bus tours and I'm so glad we did! We loaded the kids up with snacks and then plugged our headphones in as the bus scooted us around the city and told us a million things we would have never known otherwise. Totally worth it! The tour in Paris started by the Louvre, so we took a few pictures outside, hopped on the bus for the tour, and since we were strollerless and it was raining and the kids were tired, we just headed back to the flat for a bit while the Adseros braved the Louvre. I've already been and Robert promised me I could take him next time we are in Paris and don't have little kids with us. Deal.</div>
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From Paris we rented a car and took a scenic three or four hour drive up to Holland. Charlotte's cute friend, Jessica, was nice enough to let us crash at her cute town house in Delft with the rest of the crew and it may have been one of my favorite parts of the trip. Delft was so dreamy, and it was only about an hour from Amsterdam where our great grandmother was born. Charlotte has done a lot of family history work on my maternal grandma's side of the family, and was able to track down the address of the home where my great grandmother and her family lived and owned a shop. It was pretty surreal being able to be where she had been so many years ago, and to stand on the steps I'm sure she and her parents had been up and down so many times. It felt a little like magic to all be there together.</div>
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Pretty, pretty Delft! These pictures are all mixed up as far as order goes, but hopefully you get the idea.</div>
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We went to church with Jessica and her family (how do I have no pictures of them??) on Sunday and then drove down to the northern coast of France to catch a train back to London. We were all seated together and Charlotte and I booked our last hotel together as well, so we were right next to each other. We deemed the last few days of the trip "cousin days" since we'd done lots of what we'd wanted to do already. We went to museums and played at parks and mostly just took it easy. We had lunch in Hyde Park next to the lake and then walked further in to find a playground. Lou pooped her pants shortly after leaving the restaurant (you better believe I threw away those undies) and then Minnie pooped her pants at the playground when I was at the bathroom fixing up Lou (you better believe I threw those undies away too). My girls...they just wait until the last second when something fun is going on and if I'm not paying attention it usually ends in disaster. Not our best potty day, but fun otherwise!</div>
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Saying goodbye in our jammies at the hotel continental breakfast was pretty bittersweet. These kids love each other so much. Can't wait to see these hooligans this summer! And can't believe Charlotte and I will each have one more to add to the crew.</div>
<br />Laura Collardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10318822498106175398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8789485272449825815.post-19742162062414261712017-07-13T22:26:00.001-07:002017-07-13T22:28:47.689-07:00a few things<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="text-align: center;">1. I hate when I'm super far behind on my blog because I get overwhelmed at the thought of starting up again. There's just too much to catch up on. Thus, I am starting right where we are in life and hoping my journal and Instagram can fill in the rest if my kids are reading this years from now and wondering what happened in our family in the last few months of life.</span><br />
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(An afternoon church nap...the only place he falls asleep in people's arms anymore.)</div>
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2. I am officially trying to wean William and it has been so dang much harder than I thought it would be. It's always hard, but I think it is especially so this time around because he's older than both the girls were (I lost my milk with Min at 7 months and weaned Lou at 13 months) and he is very much more aware of what's happening. I only nurse him right before bed and the other night I was just trying to not do it and Will wasn't having it. He kept taking out his binky and then I kept sneaking it back in. Finally he just pulled it out and chucked it across the room. I laughed out loud! You can probably guess that I ended up nursing him. I'm a sucker. We have now gone two nights in a row without it and each time I lay him down my heart just sinks a little as he cries. I just feel like it's time to wean, even though I don't really want to, and it's dang hard.<br />
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3. Cousins have been in town now for about a month and we are all in heaven. They have <i>made</i> our summer! The girls love those Adsero boys so much and they are officially staying at our house starting tonight! We couldn't be more pleased. Charlotte is quite the party girl and always has something fun up her sleeve in the works. It was so fun to all be together for Lincoln's baptism a few weeks ago. We are headed to the Collard cabin here soon and we are all looking forward to that!<br />
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4. I have been really into self-help podcasts lately. The girls kind of loathe them because they'd much rather listen to music, but I can't help but love them. I have just had so many motivational moments lately that I can't help but turn them on! The one I'm listening to currently is Bold New Mom by Jody Moore. Minnie keeps asking me why I listen to such boring stuff and I tell her it's helping me to become a better mom. I don't think she likes that answer much, but the other day she was playing and came up to me to show me a toy record she'd shoved into an apron and she told me it was her CD that she listened to to help her become a better mom. I died!<br />
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(Fourth of July with cute cousin Jeremiah and the fun little surprises Aunt Megan brought!)</div>
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5. Lagoon season passes have been a major success again this year! I think as long as we are living in Davis County we are probably going to have to get them.<br />
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6. Why can't I eat salad? Like it sounds like the most disgusting thing to me lately for some reason. It's ok if someone else makes it, but if <i>I</i> do, there's not a chance I'm going to enjoy it. Send help!<br />
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7. We've only done one cabin trip thus far this summer and we are aching to get back up there this weekend!<br />
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8. I ran a half marathon with Charlotte and FINISHED without stopping! Matt was initially going to run it with her but had to head back to Abu Dhabi so I ran in his place. The most I'd run prior to the race was about 6 miles so I had no idea how I would do. It has been a goal of mine for years to run a half marathon but I honestly never thought I could. I think I just told myself that so many times that I believed I really couldn't do it. Well by some miracle I did, although the majority of the time I was just trying to run because I wanted it to be <i>over</i>, but it was surprisingly fun, especially when I crossed the finish line and knew it was over. I have been sore for about a week now, but I think I'm almost totally recovered.<br />
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9. Lots of friends have moved and/or are moving lately and it has me feeling a little antsy. I love our house and our ward and our neighborhood but sometimes I just get this bug in me that feels like it's time for a change. I think it drives Robert nuts.<br />
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10. We bought a mini trampoline for our backyard and it has been a lot of fun. Robert is still super bummed we didn't get a full size trampoline so he could jump on it, but Minnie has already hurt her back on this one so I'm kind of feeling like the mini one was a good choice for now.<br />
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11. Minnie gave Lou a major bang chop about a month ago and it is sort of coming into itself but not quite yet. It was really bad to start, but I think we are seeing some hope lately. Sisters, man.<br />
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<br />Laura Collardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10318822498106175398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8789485272449825815.post-65208566482401222712017-07-13T21:42:00.001-07:002017-07-13T21:42:28.433-07:00my big boy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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These sweet pictures have been sitting in my blog drafts for months now. I took these of William about a month after his first birthday because I wanted to remember that sweet stage of his life. That one year went by faster than any year previous, and I'm certain that will be the case in all of the years following. The days are long but the years are indeed short. William was a sweet baby, but believe it or not, he may have been my hardest baby. He was much more fussy and didn't sleep as well as my girls, but he has been a major mama's boy, which I mostly love. The kid just keeps getting better with age...more fun, more funny and even more sweet, if you can believe it. I don't think he was quite walking when I took these pictures. He was our latest walker...I think around 13 or 14 months. Even now he's kind of a Frankenstein when he walks, and I hope he doesn't grow out of that for awhile. It's so cute. Happy super belated year to my favorite boy!<br />
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<br />Laura Collardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10318822498106175398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8789485272449825815.post-29629125066621742822017-04-12T13:47:00.001-07:002017-04-12T13:49:29.816-07:00recently<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
You may or may not have noticed, but I have been really struggling in the blogging department. Life, man. I just can't seem to get into a rhythm with picture taking <i>and </i>blogging. These pictures are all sorts of scatty wampus but I figured they were all worth posting in the name of documentation.</div>
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I took Minnie skiing for the first time at Alta in early March and although the first hour was rough (like swearing in my head kind of rough...that dang rope tow, man!) but by the end she was cruising down the hill with no problems and we were both happy as clams. I hadn't been skiing for over three years so I was pretty rusty myself. Heaven knows how neither of us ended up injured. I was so proud of her, though. She was so brave, even though on the lift for the first time she told me she was a "teeny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, teeny, tiny, tiny, very tiny bit scared." She conquered it and I was actually the crazy mom speeding down behind her yelling, "Pizza, Minnie! Pizza!" The girl was flying.</div>
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Minnie's favorite part of skiing was probably taking her boots off. I remember feeling that way too. They are just so dang tight! </div>
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Robert got free tickets to the SLC D-league basketball game which I wasn't terribly excited about. Lucky for us, it was princess and superhero night so they had loads of princesses walking around, passed out crowns to all of the little girls, and there were bounce houses above the seating area. The girls were so pleased and it ended up being really fun.</div>
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My friend Shelly and her sister are cake making pros. Her sister, Kalleen, actually made my wedding cake and there were literally crumbs left at the end of our wedding...it was SO good! Shelly was kind enough to give me and my friend Sara a little cake-making tutorial, just in time for Will's bday. We caged the babies in the kitchen and the bigger kids in the playroom and then went to town. I made one cake for Will's little birthday party and then a cake for he and Megan's shared bday party at my parent's house the next day. My frosting skills could use a little work but they were both so delicious!</div>
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I love the picture on the left so much. First, Will looks gigantic. and second, I just love the way Minnie tries to help him. It usually puts him over the edge when she does, but I appreciate the love.</div>
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The picture on the right is from when the girls and I went with a big group of people from SLC to welcome the last group of refugees to arrive in Utah after Trump's immigration ban. The ban was lifted not too long after this, but this was a really great experience for all of us. I love the girls little signs and Minnie was so excited that she was able to give a picture to one of the little girls.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqfSCE0XS_FArXLxSt8l5QzZdYlJhDC9i7OfJychI8ancDCw0bRMr6opv9E3jyF35ug8MOfEmTNlAPHwbUF3bwijyBgg7jE1Tv6zScaRsEdF14IIrQ-aj_hnCpOYCMYNJQ6G0GJLLJyHA/s1600/FullSizeRender.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqfSCE0XS_FArXLxSt8l5QzZdYlJhDC9i7OfJychI8ancDCw0bRMr6opv9E3jyF35ug8MOfEmTNlAPHwbUF3bwijyBgg7jE1Tv6zScaRsEdF14IIrQ-aj_hnCpOYCMYNJQ6G0GJLLJyHA/s1600/FullSizeRender.jpg" /></a></div>
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I buckled down and did some sleep training for Mr. William a couple months ago and my life has changed!! He is sleeping through the night like a champ, making me feel like a whole new woman! I can actually wake up early and exercise now. I'm a normal human being!</div>
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Also, we have been loving $5 movie Tuesdays lately. We surprised the girls and took them to Beauty and the Beast a couple weeks ago while Julia watched William for us. We were surprised when Belle and Beast greeted us on our way out of the theater.</div>
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It was spring break the week I was leaving for Chicago with my friends so I tried to take the girls to do a few fun things a couple days before my trip. Minnie had been wanting to go to the Hill Aerospace Museum that she could see from the freeway every time we drove up to Shelly's house, and I was happy to discover it was <i>free</i>! It was actually pretty great and the girls loved it.</div>
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Krispy Kreme after the museum and a little wave from my favorite boy!</div>
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The day of Will's actual birthday was so beautiful so Robert and I decided to put together a little party last minute since we could host it in our yard. I made the cake and Bob grabbed pizza and salad from Costco, and bam! Party done. Lots of friends and family were able to come and it was such a nice day. He ended up getting some random rash all over his body earlier in the day, and I was a little freaked out, of course, but it was gone by the end of the day. He and his cute cousin, Noli, are only about three weeks apart. I love them!</div>
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Love this boy so much!</div>
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Kite flying the other night on a terribly still day. The girls ended up just running around the park making their own wind, which got them ready for bed like a charm.</div>
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Megan was kind enough to share her family birthday party with Will this year. Sorry to make you share your birthday week, Megs!</div>
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Will helping with Saturday pancake cleanup a few weeks ago. And Minnie with her cute friend, Norah. She and her family moved down to St. George a month or so ago and we were all so bummed about it. We need to plan a visit.</div>
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Post-church pics of my people.</div>
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Girls trip to Chicago! Robert was a saint and agreed to watching the kids for four days so I could party for the weekend with my friends. I'm a lucky lady. It was such a fun trip! Shelly is 30 weeks pregnant and was partying hard with the rest of us. We went on an architecture boat tour, ate ourselves silly, walked all over the city, biked along the lake and to Millennium Park, and played games in our hotel room.</div>
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Deep dish pizza at Giordano's, which was much better than the deep dish Bob and I got the day we spent in Chicago on our way to Pennsylvania.</div>
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The water in the middle of the city is magic! And Sprinkles cupcakes are unreal. If you ever go, get the red velvet with cream cheese frosting. Heaven!</div>
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At the John Hancock lounge drinking Pepsi's with this view next to our table.</div>
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Chicago was such a fun city and we had such a good time, but I missed my family so much! I didn't really miss changing diapers or folding laundry, but I just missed snuggling my babies and sleeping next to Bobby. Nothing like a trip away to make me grateful for my every day life and the people I share it with. That said, I could easily do one of these trips every five years.</div>
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Laura Collardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10318822498106175398noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8789485272449825815.post-85396665629198631302017-02-28T15:46:00.003-08:002017-02-28T15:51:24.976-08:00don't blink<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Don't blink or you'll miss it - a phrase that never rings truer than in parenthood. Meeting this sunshine baby at the hospital for the first time is so fresh on my mind. My excitement, my anxiety, the feeling of the cold table on my back and the tug as this fresh little sweetheart made his way into the world. And here I sit, 11 months later, and the every day sweet moments of bouncing, nursing, and kissing this baby kind of all just blur together as I look at this picture and realize how much he has changed. Time is such a tease. I feel like with every baby I kind of trudge through the first few months, waiting to get to my "favorite age." I'm sore, tired and my baby and I are trying to figure each other out and it is equal parts sweet and unbelievably frustrating. Then, my favorite age hits...and then they are one, and then they're starting kindergarten and then they're out of the house and on their own and I'm an empty-nester just wishing and dreaming I could scoop them up in my arms again and whisper into their ears how much I love them and how wonderful they are and kiss their soft cheeks and rock them to sleep like I did a million times a thousand years ago. Dramatic? Absolutely. But there are so many moments where it feels like time is at warp speed and I am trying with all my might to slow my pace and enjoy every bit of my time with these sweet little people. It's hard to believe it now, but one day it will be over and no matter how hard it gets now, I have to remind myself that it's not going to last forever. Don't blink, Laura.<br />
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William George is honestly my sunshine boy. He is as sweet as pie and makes life so good. He is absolutely into everything and makes me as tired as you might imagine, but he is such a gift. He's quick to smile, quick to clap, has the best belly laugh and is my mama's boy through and through. I love the way he loves me. My girls were never quite like that, and although sometimes it's tricky when I need to get things done and pass him off to Bob, I genuinely love the way he loves me, the way he wants to be close to me, the way he looks over his shoulder to make sure I'm there and watching. The fact that he is <i>finally</i> starting to sleep through the night is kind of making me love him even more too, if that's possible (bless you, sleep training). I love his juicy little lips, big blue eyes, the dimple on his left cheek and his little Alfalfa hair (thanks be to his dad for the awesome cowlicks). This guy makes me want a thousand more just like him, that is, if they're born sleeping through the night. Jk. Jk. I <i>am</i> 31 now, so who knows what's in store for us and the future and babies, but for now I am trying to soak up this sweet little bubba as well as I can.<br />
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Also, I took a photography workshop a few weeks ago to go a little more in-depth into manual shooting. Jill Thomas is incredible and I feel like I had so many light bulb moments during that day with her. One of them is when she said we should try to take pictures we don't need to edit and we actually like right off our memory card. I took these a few days after the workshop and decided to post them unedited. It took everything in me not to tweak the light or the color or anything, but I really do love them this way. I feel like I would post a lot more pictures if I didn't feel like I needed to edit them first. Here's to a lot more practice in manual mode and hopefully a lot more posting!Laura Collardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10318822498106175398noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8789485272449825815.post-68490961985062504122016-12-06T20:52:00.000-08:002016-12-07T07:56:16.586-08:00the beach<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The beach will always be magic to me. We went from one magic place to another on our trip to California and I'm so grateful the beach was last. The three days we spent in Oceanside were slow and easy. We woke up when we wanted to, ate giant bowls of cereal, the girls played with their little princess figurines for an hour or two and then we packed a picnic and headed to the beach. I think the beach brings out the best in kids. Lou was in her element digging in the sand for hours and doing what she loves best...collecting. Minnie is my little fish and would romp around in the waves as they lapped up onto the sand. With a bucket and shovel the girls were set for hours and it was heaven just snuggling with William under the beach umbrella, watching my girls do what they loved.</div>
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We stayed in a cute little condo just about a half block from the beach. Unfortunately the tide right next to the condo was incredibly high the entire time we were there, so we had to walk a ways in either direction to get to a decent beach. Once we were there, we plopped ourselves down for a good few hours so it was always worth the walk. The heat was a bit much when we were at Disneyland, but I was so grateful for such warm weather in November once we hit the beach. The temperatures had cooled quite a bit in Salt Lake before we left so it was a nice last little taste of summer before winter hit Utah for good. The one strange thing about it all was how early the sun would set. It was literally dark there by 5:00, and the first day we walked home from the beach by the light of street lamps. Sitting on the beach and watching the sun set was a dream.</div>
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Robert's friend Jordan and his family happened to be staying at his wife's family's place in Oceanside the same time we were there and one night we met up with them for dinner at Ruby's at the end of the pier. We were somewhat of a scene with our 6 wild little kids, but it was still so nice to be able to visit with them. It's funny because we live about 5 minutes away from each other but yet we end up actually hanging out with them when we are on vacation. We decided to meet up with them the next day at the beach close to their beach house and it was even nicer than where we'd gone the day before. It was much quieter and Minnie and Lou played so well with their cute kids. There were also lots more shells to be found on this quieter beach so Lou, Will and I took a little walk up and down the beach to collect some and toss them in Lou's bucket. </div>
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The last night we headed to the pier at sunset and the girls loved watching the surfers and the waves from above. I did too. Having Julia was nice because we kind of had our own personal photographer to take family pictures. Sadly, though, I feel like I didn't get her in as many pictures as I would have liked. I cannot say enough times how nice it was to have her with us. She helped me cook dinner, did dishes, held William when I needed both my hands, and just made my life easier. If you can't tell, I am a major proponent of bringing sisters on your family vacations.</div>
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It was hard to come back to real life, especially when it involved a 10 plus hour drive. We had our tires rotated before we left on the trip and the car was so shaky on the way down. On the way back we decided to have them fixed at some podunk little place in California and decided to eat lunch at the Pizza Palace next door. It was the only option. I would have chosen something else if I could have. You would have too if you'd seen the exterior of this place. I was terribly skeptical, but it turned out to be quite a decent pit stop. Julia got the girls some arcade tokens and they won themselves some fake tattoos and a few Tootsie Rolls and the pizza wasn't half bad either. Bless that Pizza Palace. And bless personal DVD players that kept our kids quiet for the majority of the drive. And bless sisters who sit in the back seat with your kids and situate said DVD players when the discs need changing.</div>
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I am just dreaming of a warm beach right now looking at these pictures as I sit in my chilly house with a few inches of snow laying on the ground and icicles hanging from my roof. But I do have a newly decorated, delicious smelling Christmas tree to my left, giant chocolate chip cookies in my kitchen waiting to be devoured and Christmas coming in just a few weeks to look forward to. I guess I'll survive.</div>
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I included a few more Snapchat videos in this post too of our time at the beach. I love that app for no other reason than that it has helped me take more videos of our family. I have been sad at how few videos I took during both my girls babyhood so I'm hopeful I can keep this up. Pictures are awesome but there is just something about video.</div>
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<br />Laura Collardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10318822498106175398noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8789485272449825815.post-30360050589455497802016-12-06T17:16:00.002-08:002016-12-06T17:16:35.850-08:00a surprise trip to disneyland<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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On Saturday night (a few weeks ago), Robert and I put the girls down for bed and got to work packing suitcases, situating the car and organizing snacks and entertainment for our drive the next day. This surprise trip to Disneyland had been months in the making and it was like Christmas Eve for me that night, thinking of how the girls would react when we told them we were headed off on an "adventure". We had everything tucked away in the basement the next morning and we all woke up and went to church as usual, but after sacrament meeting I told the girls we needed to head to the car. Minnie was <i>so </i>confused. At first they were both super bummed they weren't headed to primary, but once we got home and all the bags emerged and started to get loaded into the car it was a whole new ballgame. Minnie asked about one million questions and it was all I could do not to spill the beans.</div>
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I'd somehow convinced Julia to come along with us on the adventure and so we swung by and picked her up on our way out of town. The girls figured we were headed to the cabin, but after a few hours in the car kind of changed their tune. Minnie <i>did </i>guess once that we were going to Disneyland, but I kind of just let it slide by like I had all of her other guesses. It was our "grand adventure" and we just left it at that. </div>
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The excitement began to wear off after a few hours in the car, but after a long 10 hours and arriving at our hotel, the girls were satisfied with the adventure being a night at a hotel and a swim in the pool the next day. We stayed at a Wyndham right by Disneyland so there were Mickey Mouse posters and Disney parphenilia all over the place, but besides pointing it out, the girls didn't seem to think too much about it. </div>
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The next morning we quickly ate breakfast and then headed out on the shuttle to Disneyland, and somehow even at this point the girls had <i>no clue </i>what was going on. It wasn't until we got really close to the gates that they actually figured out where we were. It was pretty sweet to see their faces light up. Disneyland! I'd shown Minnie a few YouTube videos of some of the rides in the past and she'd talked to me every other day about how much she wanted to go on the Ariel ride and how much she wanted to meet all the princesses there. This will probably go down as our best surprise ever as parents and I'm not sure who enjoyed it more, me or the girls.</div>
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I had been researching "how to do Disneyland in two days" for weeks and had our entire itinerary planned out. We got there right before it opened and I was ready to hit the ground running. Unfortunately, Robert accidentally left our Ergo baby carrier on the shuttle and by the time he realized it, the shuttle was long gone. He called the hotel and they gave him the number of the driver. We'd already gotten through the super long security line so he had to go out again and go wait for the shuttle to come back. Julia and I stood in line with the kids to enter the park and after waiting a few minutes in that insanely long line, I realized Robert had taken my ticket so we couldn't get in. So, we went to the back of the line again and by the time we got to the front again, Robert had gotten the Ergo but the security line was even longer than it had been before so he still wasn't through that one. On Disney's website it had said that it was supposed to be a "ghost town" that week. I'd hate to be there during busy season. Anyway, once we got to the front again we just stood to the side and started letting people pass us. I was huffing and puffing and just so frustrated that my plan was foiled, and Julia was the voice of reason that told me I needed to get my feelings in check or else I was going to ruin the entire day. It was hard to hear because I just wanted to be mad, but it was good to hear and I just let it roll off my shoulders and went on our merry way. I mean, I can't say I didn't bring it up a time or two more, but for the most part I let it slide. #ihaveissues</div>
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We ended up having such an amazing day and having Julia there was so awesome, not only because she talked me off a ledge at the beginning, but because with her we were able to use fast passes and stroller passes to be able to go on all of the big fun rides that Will and Lou couldn't go on. She helped manage the kids, divvy out food, carry the backpack, etc. etc. It was a dream come true. There were actually a lot of rides there that I had never been on. All I can remember doing at Disneyland when we went when I was young were the big rides. I never remember really meeting characters or princesses or spending too much time in Fantasyland, but it seemed like that was most of what the girls wanted to do, and it was pretty sweet to see how excited they were to meet all of their favorites. Ariel was high on the list and we finally got around to seeing her later in the day. We also saw a little Tangled production that was really cute which the girls loved. Disneyland is so awesome. Robert also hadn't been to Disneyland before so it was really fun for me to be able to show him some of my favorite rides, like Indiana Jones and Star Tours. The other awesome thing about Disneyland is that you can take babies on a ton of rides. Will went on probably half of the rides with us, which was so fun because we could all go together.</div>
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We went to California Adventure the next day, which I had never really spent much time in. It was so much more fun than I'd anticipated. We were only going to spend half a day there and then head back over to Disneyland, but we were there past dinner. We went to a production of Frozen they have there, and it was amazing (in spite of a few technical glitches). The Ariel ride didn't disappoint either and with the way it was set up we got to go on it twice back-to-back. We got Mexican food near the little pier for dinner and there was a live all-women mariachi band playing that the girls danced to for awhile. We then headed back over to Disneyland, and although it was election night and I was feeling all sorts of emotional about all that was going on, we didn't let that damper our evening and capped it off with a ride on Splash Mountain. The kids were <i>totally </i>wiped out by the end of the two days. Lou kept finding places to lie down and eventually fell asleep so hard in Robert's arms that when we tried to wake her to meet Minnie Mouse, I honestly thought she'd passed out. We <i>could not</i> wake her up. It was pretty funny.</div>
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After two long, super hot days at Disneyland, it was nice to head to the beach for a bit to end our trip. I've included a few pictures here of our time at the beach, but I have a bunch more I'll share in my next post. </div>
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Here are a few Snapchats I took during our time at Disneyland to give you a sense of our time there. Gosh, it was so much fun!</div>
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Laura Collardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10318822498106175398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8789485272449825815.post-42949932478212201532016-10-20T17:08:00.002-07:002016-10-20T17:24:17.880-07:00end of summer and early fall {and a video dump}<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I swear life is going at time warp speed. It's like I blinked and three months went by. Our calendar in the kitchen hasn't been updated since July so that gives you an idea of how scatterbrained and behind I am. My phone and computer have been at max capacity as far as space for pictures goes so I feel like I am missing a lot of things I might otherwise include in this monster of an update, but these will have to do for now. </div>
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Look at those three cuties up there that I get to spend every single day with! I love looking at this picture because I feel like it gives me a chance to see my every day life from an outside perspective. I love these babies of mine and although they tire me to no end, it is the exact life I've always wanted and I will forever be grateful for these years when my kids are young and I was their world and they were mine. We have had a really good last few months together.</div>
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Minnie turned FIVE in August! We celebrated she and Nick's birthday together at my parent's house the Sunday following their birthdays. She loves sharing her birthday party every year with him.</div>
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On Min's actual birthday, which was a Saturday, we had a little combined birthday party for her and Louisa. All of the pictures I took from their birthday are on my external hard drive except for this one of these cuties and their cupcakes. We did a little water-themed birthday party and had our own little splash pad of sorts set up in the backyard. It ended up working out great and Minnie and Louie had a great day.</div>
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We spent the evening of Minnie's birthday at Lagoon and it was the perfect end to a really great day. This girl is just fun. She is dramatic, and wild and sometimes quite naughty, but it all generally boils down to the fact that she was trying to have fun. I love her so much and am so proud of the way she cares about and loves people.</div>
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My mom got the girls surprise tickets to a production of The Little Mermaid and as a gift for Louisa's birthday she gave them a countdown chain and a little present for each day until the performance. Here they are drinking chocolate milk with the straws they got one of the days. My mom is so creative.</div>
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I think this was literally the best day of their lives! They had no idea where we were going but we told them we were meeting my parents for their birthday surprise. When the play started I think Minnie's jaw dropped to the ground. She is a MAJOR Ariel fan and therefore Louisa is a MAJOR Ariel fan. They were <i>glued! </i>Minnie said it was the best birthday present she'd ever had. Bravo, Mom! She sat on my Mom's lap the entire time and every time I looked over at her she was beaming. Except at the kissing parts. She'd cover her eyes during the kissing parts. Ha! I love Minnie snuggling Lou in this picture. Min is my brave little one for the most part and I love how she's taking on the big sister role because Lou was nervous. So cute!</div>
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Hikes up Mueller Park Canyon with this baby boy strapped to me. He slept all the way up on this hike and was as happy as a clam on the way down. There are some tee pees made out of logs in a clearing about a mile up so my friend Sara and I dragged our five kids up there one Saturday when both our husbands were out of town, and although we had some rough points, all in all it was a great morning and the kids had a good time.</div>
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I've mentioned this before, but our next door neighbors have a big pool in their yard and offer swimming lessons every summer. Minnie did a few group sessions last summer but I didn't feel like she made much progress. She did one group session earlier this summer and I felt like we were spinning our wheels all over again. I asked them about private lessons and I was informed that they were only $10 more per session. You better believe I was all over that! Within about a day Minnie was already starting to swim on her own. That said, it had to be on <i>her </i>terms but once she finally realized that she could do it and overcame her fear of allowing her teacher to let go, we had a little fish on our hands. She was so proud of herself and I was so proud of her.</div>
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I think one reason we all love the summer so much is because we get to go to the cabin. I think we went up there three or four times this year which is a pretty good amount for us, but I feel like there is never enough time to get up there as often as we would like. Julia, Colin and Vicky all came with us the last time we went, and as usual, it was wonderful. Unfortunately on Sunday morning I woke up feeling SUPER sick and we ended up leaving earlier than we had intended. The car ride home was miserable and the rest of Sunday was pretty miserable too, but by Monday morning I was feeling much better so we headed to Lagoon and then grabbed Cafe Rio with my parents later that evening.</div>
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I just think this picture is hilarious. Minnie helping Robert clean his car one summer night.</div>
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These two are constantly all over William. Sometimes he loves it, sometimes it's too much. I love them.</div>
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A girls date with my mom, Julia and Megan. Always wishing Charlotte was here to come with us, but especially on outings like these.</div>
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First day of kindergarten for Minnie and first day of preschool for Lou. Minnie was so excited to go to school and it was fun to see her off on her first day. I was a baby and got a little teary eyed, but she loves it so all in all it was a really great day. Lou was a bit of a mama's girl this summer so I wasn't sure how she would do with preschool, but she hopped right out of the car on the first day without a care. I was so happy. Minnie had also been going to school for a few weeks by then so I think she was ready for it to be her turn. I still can't believe Lou is in preschool. She will have another year of it next year, but it is wild to me how quickly they up and out of the house. Minnie only has half day kindergarten, but next year she will be gone most of the day when she starts first grade. I feel so overwhelmed sometimes with these three at home, but realizing that soon they won't be with me most of the day makes me so sad.</div>
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My cousin Greg got married in September and this is the only picture I have to show for it. I did take a Snapchat video which I included below.</div>
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My cute friend, Laurel, who now lives in London, came into town for her parents surprise party for their 40th wedding anniversary. It was so fun to spend some time with her. The party was up at Snowbird and my girls had the time of their lives dancing with lots of new "friends" (most of whom were adults) to the live band. Robert and I are trying to figure out a way to get to London someday soon. Laurel's husband owns and amazing restaurant in Chelsea and I am dying to go there.</div>
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A fun jaunt around Silver lake with Julia one afternoon.</div>
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The frost killed all but three apples on our apple tree last year, but this year we had ALL the apples! I invited lots of our neighbors to come take some too because there was plenty to go around.</div>
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Our neighbor's pear tree, which hangs over our fence a ways, always produces the best pears. We didn't get any last year, but again, this year they were back in full force. Our neighbors also have an enormous apricot tree which we enjoyed earlier in the summer and I made a bunch of jam which lasts us all year long.</div>
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This cute big sister who loves to hold her little brother, who ain't so little anymore.</div>
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The fair with Nick, Megan, Jeremiah, Julia and Colin. A little Snapchat video I saved is at the end of this post!</div>
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Sweet bubba fresh out of the bath. He used to hate baths but now he can't get enough.</div>
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These two spend hours outside together in the summer. They are the best of friends and the worst of enemies, but I think the friend part is starting to take over a bit more.</div>
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A mini hike to see some changing leaves one afternoon.</div>
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We spent an afternoon at the pumpkin patch a few weeks ago with friends. It was pretty much dead so we had it all to ourselves. It was warm and delightful.</div>
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We went to This is the Place Heritage Park with my mom and Nick, Megan and Jeremiah last weekend for the beginning of their Halloween festivities and it was so much fun! I took such a fun video on Snapchat and have been kicking myself because I forgot to save it. I have literally been super bummed about it for the last two days. Here we have a little spoiler for our family costume this year...Alice and the Queen of Hearts.</div>
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The beginning of the little costume parade at the park. It was so fun!</div>
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Sunday night YouTube videos with Grandpa. He always finds the weirdest stuff and the girls eat it up.</div>
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So I have been loving Snapchat lately because it makes me take a ton more videos than I normally would, and it saves them all for you! You can go back later and download them to your phone, so I just started uploading all of them to YouTube so I would have them in one place. Anyway, I rarely post videos on my blog but I want to do more of that because I feel like they are more fun than pictures a lot of the time. Here is a boat load of them from the last little while, including some from over the summer. I just want to have these one here for us to watch later, so I won't be offended if you don't watch all of them (or any of them). (:</div>
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Laura Collardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10318822498106175398noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8789485272449825815.post-68144812529493445732016-09-13T20:24:00.000-07:002016-09-13T20:25:49.393-07:00mr. william<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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William is obviously the third child because I have done a terrible job documenting his life. Oy! But don't let my lack of documentation fool you...I am obsessed with this baby! He makes life so dang sweet and he is now at one of my most favorite ages. I feel like between five and eight months is a true sweet spot. They can smile and laugh and interact but they aren't all over the place and into everything yet.<br />
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The newborn stage is always hard for me. The lack of sleep, being sore, struggling to nurse and then just feeling plain overwhelmed at having another human to care for about does me in every time. This time was particularly tough for some reason, but after about three months I saw a light at the end of the tunnel. Will was quite fussy if he wasn't sleeping or eating and I think I get some major postpartum anxiety or something because I just felt totally off and had a hard time even leaving the house when Will first arrived. Once the weather really warmed up and I got the hang of Will's schedule and juggling three kids at the store, we started venturing out a bit more and I could kind of breathe again. To be honest, juggling three kids at home <i>or</i> out and about is still a little tricky, but a woman I know who now has <i>eight </i>children recently told me that each time you have another child you're a total wuss again. It takes lots of time and energy, but eventually you build up your motherhood muscles and figure out how to make it work with another one in tow. Then, once you've figured it out with that one, you have another baby and become a wuss all over again. She told me that soon enough I'd have it figured out and feel much better, and bless her, she was right. She is a rockstar. I am surely not shooting for eight children myself, but hearing her say she felt that same way every time she had another baby, especially after her third, gave me courage.<br />
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Even with his initial fussiness, William has been a really great baby. He has always eaten well, slept decently (although we are going through a bit of a rough spot right now), and has generally been really happy and smiley. He is not terribly cuddly and prefers to look around to see what's going on in the world, but I'm hoping as he gets older he'll be my little snuggle buddy. One can hope, right? For the first three or four months of his life he pretty much refused a binky, and then after not giving him a bottle for a few weeks, totally refused a bottle too. It was a hard stage of life because I was his only form of comfort and nourishment. Robert worked really hard to get the kid to take a binky and then all of a sudden, around four months, the heavens parted he just started taking one. It changed my life!!! And then around that same time he also started taking a bottle. Can I tell you how wonderful that day was? I felt like a free woman! Like I could leave him with someone for more than two hours without feeling like I needed to rush back? Is it hilarious that that was the most liberating thing to me? He's still not the king of bottle taking, but he'll take it if he's incredibly hungry. Will is also a very engaged baby and looks at people when they are talking or watches people move around the room. In fact he's so engaged lately that he has a hard time nursing without being distracted. Nursing him in public is a joke because he hates the cover over his head and if anyone makes a peep the kid is rolling his head around, trying to see what's going on.
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The girls love their brother more than I even imagined they would, and he loves them too...from a distance. Both Minnie and Lou can be a bit rough with him, but it's not out of malice so much as just curiosity. He loves to watch them play and dance and sometimes they can just be silly in front of him and get the best belly laughs out of him. Their eyes light up when they see that he's awake after a nap and they have to run over and give him a hug or a kiss. I think one of my favorite parts of motherhood has been to see the love my kids have for each other. I love that they have each other and I hope so much that they will remain close throughout their lives.<br />
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William is still a little temperamental, loves to be held, and is only really pleasant for 45 minutes or so before he's tired again and ready for another nap. But, when he's pleasant he's <i>really </i>pleasant and generally if you leave the house or go outside, the distraction is enough to yank him back to his pleasant self for awhile. He is pretty darn quick to smile and makes lots of friends wherever we go. He's started eating solids like a champ and is chubby and huge, just how I like my babies. He hated baths when he was new, but has recently come to love them and splashes so much there's hardly a drip of water left by the end of the bath and I'm sopping wet. I still swaddle him because the guy cannot get enough of his hands and has a hard time settling down if they're free. Luckily he doesn't roll over much (because I'm lazy and rarely do tummy time) so he stays pretty much in one spot and doesn't roll in his crib yet. His monster spit ups have kind of subsided, thank the heavens, but are not entirely gone quite yet. He doesn't show any signs of teething but will chew on your shoulder and make a big puddle of drool on your shirt when you hold him. He's starting to sit up, plays with toys, squawks the day away and makes us all swoon with the dimple on his left cheek.</div>
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Every time I have a baby I sometimes just stare at them in wonder thinking, "How did this come out of me?" I ask this not only because they become quite enormous quite quickly and the thought that I housed them in my belly is kind of unfathomable, but mostly I ask this because these babies are just pure magic to me. It is such a gift to help in creating these little sweet people. To think that William's sparkly little eyes, his perfect chubby feet, and those sweet, soft cheeks all formed inside of me, as a part of both me and Robert, fills me with so much awe and gratitude. My babies are my world and I am so grateful that William is part of our family. It was a struggle to get him here and I will thank my lucky stars every day that all the heartache I felt as I faced the prospect of infertility a few years ago has totally melted away. William, my dear, you are my little ray of sunshine. </div>
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<br />Laura Collardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10318822498106175398noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8789485272449825815.post-82092283664413181292016-09-01T13:19:00.002-07:002016-09-01T13:19:25.318-07:00summer at the cabin<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The cabin will forever and always be one of our family's favorite places. If you ask the girls if they'd rather go to the cabin or to Lagoon, they will likely say the cabin. The fact that something can trump Lagoon is <i>huge</i>, especially for Minnie. These pictures are from a last minute trip we took up there in July and I actually asked Minnie that very thing that weekend...Lagoon or the cabin? Look what won out!</div>
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There were an unbelievable amount of wild flowers blooming that weekend, and as you can see, the girls had the time of their lives picking bouquets of them to add to their giant cups they placed on the table as a centerpiece for all of our meals. Minnie and Lou spent about 50% of their time picking flowers and the other 50% of the time on the swings and they were entirely satisfied. It was such a relaxing weekend. I love the cabin when lots of people are there, but now that we have more kids, I'm starting to prefer it when it's just our little family. We can do things at our speed and the whole day just feels slow and easy. </div>
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Hopefully we will make it up there again once more before the snow falls. The season is just never long enough. I just love that we have a place that we can make memories with our kids, and what makes it even more special is that it's a place that Robert holds so close to his heart because it's where he made memories with <i>his</i> family when he was young.</div>
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Laura Collardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10318822498106175398noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8789485272449825815.post-39061268386774034192016-07-21T22:51:00.000-07:002016-07-22T13:43:29.784-07:00my mama's birthday<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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My mom is one of the very best people I know. She is my biggest cheerleader and anyone who talks to her walks away feeling like a million bucks. It is a gift. She helps people see the best in themselves and is always so thoughtful. She is the hostess with the mostess and as classy and beautiful as they come. Needless to say...I love her very much. We generally go to her house for a little party on our birthdays so I was excited to be able to treat <i>her</i> to a little birthday party at <i>our</i> house this year. This was way back in June, but it was such a nice evening and I felt like the fact that I actually got out my big camera needed to be documented.</div>
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Lou in this one is killing me! And her double bandaid knees make it even better. My Aunt Kathy was in town for the week which made it even nicer.</div>
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My friends' cute sister made our wedding cake for us as a gift and all that was left of it at the end of the night were a few crumbs. It was <i>that </i>good! I have been begging for the recipe and my friend gave it to me a few days before my mom's party. It was amazing! And I had been wanting to try and make pretty cake for a long time, just because, and this seemed like the perfect time to try!</div>
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Louie and Minnie picked a bunch of flowers (weeds) to add a centerpiece to their kids table. Always with the weeds.</div>
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Our ghetto swing always seems to provide some entertainment. I love this picture of my dad and cute Jeremiah.</div>
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Our side yard could use a little TLC, but our big Elm provides lots of shade in the evening, so it worked out well. It randomly rained on us as we were finishing dessert so we had to take the party inside to open presents.</div>
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Minnie was adamant that she wanted to make Grandma a necklace and bracelet for her birthday and in spite of my recommendations, she insisted it be made out of paper. My mom was so cute when she opened them and put them right on. She ended up coming over to our house again a week or so later and wore them again. Minnie was sooooo pleased! Like I said, my mom is an angel. She knew that would mean so much to Minnie, and it really did.</div>
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Happy birthday, Mom! I sure love you and I hope I can be as sweet and as thoughtful to my kids and grandkids as you are to us. We are so lucky you are ours.</div>
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<span id="goog_389734894"></span><span id="goog_389734895"></span><br />Laura Collardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10318822498106175398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8789485272449825815.post-92173827385636690602016-07-20T16:18:00.001-07:002016-07-21T14:08:14.402-07:00catching up on summer<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Summer has been pretty dang good to us this year and I have a phone full to the brim of pictures to prove it. I can't believe school will be starting in about 5 weeks. How does summer always slip by so quickly? I hate it. </div>
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This, my friends, is going to be one big photo dump of almost everything that's happened in the last two months. Hold onto your hats because you've got a lot of scrolling to do.</div>
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Minnie "graduated" from preschool in May. It was a little bittersweet because she is really excited to go to kindergarten, but she has loooooved preschool. She made such good little friends and her teachers were like second moms to her. Luckily Miss Tammy is just down the street<i> and </i>in our ward so we will still see her often. Three or four of the kids from her class will also be going to her school, and one of her best friends, Nora (pictured above with her cute sister Mila), is going to be in Minnie's kindergarten class. Louie will start preschool here next year and I think all those days of dropping Minnie off and hearing all the ins and outs of the cool dress ups and toys there has her anxious to start. She's been a bit of a mama's girl lately so I'll be interested to see how she does going there on her own.</div>
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On Memorial Day we have made it a bit of a tradition to go visit a few family graves in the Wasatch Lawn cemetery. Both Louisa and Minnie were named after my grandmas who are buried there so I think it's a good chance for us to think about them and the girls love seeing their names there. This year we decided to have a little picnic dinner next to my Grandma Louise, Grandpa Van and Uncle Michael's graves. It was such a beautiful night. </div>
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We also celebrated my mom's birthday at Rio Grande in June (since our favorite Golden Phoenix was mysteriously closed). Aunt Kathy was in town so it was fun to have her there, but unfortunately I didn't think to take a picture until after Nick and Megan were gone. I was also able to put a little birthday celebration together at our house that weekend, which I will post about later.</div>
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Robert and I played tennis against Julia and Colin a month or so ago, which was really fun, and the girls had a grand old time biking around the opposite court and then giving tennis a try. Thinking about them playing tennis in the future makes me so happy. I loved that sport and I hope they will too.</div>
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We also love summer night barbecues with good friends. Can't get enough of this nice weather!</div>
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Sunday nights spent at my parents house are the best! Somehow we are always the last ones to leave (so we always bring jammies for the kids to change into). I think it's hard to leave not only because I love it so much, but because once we get in the car the reality that tomorrow is Monday sets in. Wah wah! p.s. How cute is my dad with William?</div>
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After much deliberation, we bought season passes to Lagoon. I dare say that it has been the greatest decision we have ever made. It has been so fun to just cruise over there in the evening and spend a few hours on rides. Their kiddie land is actually pretty great and the girls are total thrill junkies. Many a summer night this year has been spent at that place. We also have a few friends and cousins who got passes so it has been fun to go with them.</div>
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Before school was out, our cute neighbor up the street who's a bus driver asked if the girls would want to go on a ride one afternoon before he headed to do his pick ups. The girls were so excited and he was so sweet with them. He had music playing in the bus and let them choose any seats they liked. We wandered around the neighborhood and then he took us up past the temple where they were replacing the Angel Moroni that had been struck by lightening a few months before. He decided to take us down a side street so we could get a better look at the work they were doing, but unfortunately he didn't realize the street was closed about a half mile down because of the crane placed there. I had to run to the back of the bus and guide him as we did a 39 point turn, but somehow by the hair of our chinny chin chins, we were able to turn around and get out of there. It was pretty funny. The adventure ended with a drop off right in front of our house, which the girls loved. </div>
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Charlotte and her boys came to visit for a week or so before our big Mecham family reunion in Washington, DC. The girls and I had been counting down their visit for months and about broke the door down when they pulled into the driveway! We had such a good time with them here. Charlotte is Miss Adventurous and I feel like we hit all the big SLC hot spots in the time she was here, which was so fun (and crazy). We headed out to Antelope Island one day where we saw loads of buffalo, visited the old ranch there and then tried our hand at a bit of a beach day at the Great Salt Lake but the flies were seriously so nasty on the shore that we couldn't hack it. We were all a hot, sweaty, salty mess covered in swarms of flies. This picture of us in the water makes it look much better than it was. Then pushing strollers and crying kids back up the sandy hill was killer. I think it should probably be used as a form of torture. I am a wuss, but honestly, it was a rough ending to an otherwise really great adventure. We also went to This is the Place Park, which was a huge hit. I always thought that place seemed lame, but I loved it too! We ended up staying there for like 6 or 7 hours. We also took the whole Mecham crew up to the Collard cabin for a night which turned out to be great. No one but Julia had been up there before and I think they all realized why we love it there so much. The ATVs are always a huge hit with kids, but we also just spent hours hiking around, picking wildflowers and exploring and the kids were happy as could be. I love that place. Also, look at big ol' four-month-old William in Minnie's lap! That chub is growing like a weed and I am finally starting to feel a little more comfortable with the girls holding him and not breaking him.</div>
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The reunion in Washington, DC was wonderful! Nearly the entire Ralph and Barbara Mecham family were able to get out there and it was so much fun seeing people we hadn't seen in a long time.</div>
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On Sunday evening a whole crew of us headed down to the monuments. It was quite a bit busier than we'd anticipated, but it was so beautiful seeing everything at sunset and in the dark when they were all lit up. It was such a fun night. And look at that cute crew of some of the great-grandkids on the right. My grandparents home is in the background. That place will always be a little piece of heaven to me. I have such fond memories of visiting there as a kid and then visiting there a few times when we lived in Pennsylvania a few summers ago. It feels like coming home when we are there, and I think it's due to how good my grandparents are to us.</div>
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And look at my cute Grams and Gramps! They've been married now for 60 years. I love them! </div>
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And the picture on the right is of the family playing frisbee on the Mall lawn between monument stops. It was such a beautiful night! </div>
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One day Charlotte's family, our family, my dad and Julia took the Metro from Rockville into downtown. We went to Ford's theater, where Lincoln was shot, and then across the street to the home where he died. We also went to the Natural History Museum for a little bit and then walked past the White House for a picture. It was seriously the <i>hottest </i>day ever and all of us were a sweaty mess, but we still had a good time.</div>
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We had a pool party one night at my grandparents friend's home, which was so lovely. It rained on us pretty hard, but not until after dinner and lots of partying, so it worked out great. </div>
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And look at Lou with her cousin crush, Jake! I love it. It reminds me of myself when I was little and all the little crushes I had on older boys. Love sponges forevvvvver!!!</div>
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My grandpa has been eating breakfast at the same McDonald's every morning for years now. He is an institution there and has even claimed his own (illegal) parking spot right near the front door. The whole crew of 60+ of us had breakfast there together with him one morning, which was hilarious. It was a mad house but everyone loved it.</div>
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We also went over to a state park one morning for brunch and then a few of us went paddle boating on the lake there. It was stunning, but I'm sad I didn't get some better pictures of all of us. I feel like I took a lot of videos during the trip and not nearly enough pictures. I'll have to steal some from my sister if and when she posts hers. My Uncle Brad did take a few candid pictures as well as some family pictures in front of my grandparents house so luckily I was able to steal a few of those.</div>
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Minnie was first up at the family talent show. The girl is a performer.</div>
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Jeremiah wowed us with his "head, shoulders, knees and toes" skills and got the rest of the crowd to join in. Look at my dad on the right taking pictures. He kills me! We have a group on Facebook that my dad made for our family and he literally posts pictures on it weekly. I never thought I'd see the day when my dad was more active on FB than me.</div>
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All the kids at the end getting down with their bad selves. I love them!</div>
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Look at this huge crew! I think we are only missing five out of the whole family. Pretty amazing. And looks like Grandpa forgot to close the garage. Whoops!</div>
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Even the Steve and Angela Mecham crew is getting big! I can't believe there are 17 of us now. Also, William missed the memo on where the camera was...at least you can still see his face.</div>
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These two ladies here are two of my very best friends. How did I get so lucky in the sibling department? Charlotte and Matt were preparing to move to Abu Dhabi for Matt's work this summer, but then they received word that the position had been filled. They were disappointed, especially Matt who had been feeling a little bored in his current position, but I couldn't help but be a bit happy they'd be sticking around in the states. Well, in the middle of our trip to DC Matt got a call and was told that he actually <i>had</i> gotten the position and that he'd be needed there in a few weeks. I am so happy for them because they seem so excited about it, but selfishly, I am sad for myself. They've already lived in Korea and Canada and then Houston for quite sometime, so I'm used to them being far away, but this move just seems so much <i>further </i>and more sad to me for some reason. I'm a big baby. I hope they love it and am hopeful they'll visit us for a month or two every year to avoid those wicked hot summers.</div>
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And look at those little cuties on the right! Charlotte's boys and my girls quickly reached sibling status during their stay where they fought and loved each other like crazy and had a great time in spite of it. I will forever and always wish they lived close to us. The girls do too. It was hard to say goodbye to them this time around because we knew it was going to be a long time until we are going to see them again. I'm tearing up thinking about it now. Like I said, I'm a big baby. Hopefully they won't be there forever, and if the stars align and tickets are miraculously reasonably priced, we'll go visit.</div>
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We made it to Centerville's Fourth of July parade about 20 minutes before it ended a few weeks ago, which was perfect because the girls loved catching and chasing after the candy tossed from the floats and it was so stinking hot that staying much longer would have been torture.</div>
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We then headed over to Lagoon for a few hours before a BBQ with friends, and although it was busy, we got a solid 8 or 9 rides in within about an hour. Like I said, we love our season passes.</div>
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This past weekend we headed up to the cabin again with just our little family and Robert's mom. We didn't officially decide to go until about 7 PM Friday night so we didn't get up to the cabin until midnight. In spite of the late start, we had a really relaxing weekend and the girls loved it, as usual. Will had his first ride in a swing and as you can see, the boy loved it. I love him! I have a few big camera pictures I took there that I'll share later.</div>
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Louisa turned three on July 18th. I can't believe that little munchkin is THREE! Robert had to leave for scout camp that morning but left a box of donuts for us for breakfast on the counter. Lou was thrilled to have a pink one for her birthday and made Minnie and me sing to her twice, once of which was over a half-eaten donut. I tried to make the day fun by having a few surprises for her. I took the girls to get their nails painted at a nail salon, which was just about the cutest thing ever. The guy there who painted their nails was so sweet with them and made it so fun. That night I took Lou to the food court and Dino-land, which she loves, and I also took her up to the Disney store where she could choose any toy she wanted. She chose a princess figurine set and was brave enough to take the money to the counter and buy it herself. I was proud! I was also grateful she chose a $10 toy rather than one of the million $100 toys she could have. Smart girl. She ended up just playing with her princesses on the bench the entire time we were at Dino-land, which means she made a good purchase, right?</div>
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Look at Min's cute belly in the Great Salt Lake! I'm going to be so sad when that belly is gone. And on the right is Min and Lou in the tent Charlotte and her boys sent Lou for her birthday. It was the one toy she got to open on her birthday and she was thrilled. Both of them immediately changed into princesses dresses and headed out to play after she opened it. Oh, the simple life of a kid.</div>
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Are you still here? Did you survive that novel? If so, I'm utterly impressed. As you can see, summer really has been good to us and I'm aching for an extra month to be tacked on. We still have some fun ahead of us, but back-to-school stuff is already coming in the mail and it's making me depressed. I can't think about that until after Min's birthday. Hopefully this next month I'll be a little better at keeping this blog up to date, otherwise you better prepare yourself for another one of these doozies.</div>
<br />Laura Collardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10318822498106175398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8789485272449825815.post-83787600204419277422016-07-20T16:18:00.000-07:002016-07-21T14:06:15.990-07:00catching up on summer<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Summer has been pretty dang good to us this year and I have a phone full to the brim of pictures to prove it. I can't believe school will be starting in about 5 weeks. How does summer always slip by so quickly? I hate it. </div>
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This, my friends, is going to be one big photo dump of almost everything that's happened in the last two months. Hold onto your hats because you've got a lot of scrolling to do.</div>
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Minnie "graduated" from preschool in May. It was a little bittersweet because she is really excited to go to kindergarten, but she has loooooved preschool. She made such good little friends and her teachers were like second moms to her. Luckily Miss Tammy is just down the street<i> and </i>in our ward so we will still see her often. Three or four of the kids from her class will also be going to her school, and one of her best friends, Nora (pictured above with her cute sister Mila), is going to be in Minnie's kindergarten class. Louie will start preschool here next year and I think all those days of dropping Minnie off and hearing all the ins and outs of the cool dress ups and toys there has her anxious to start. She's been a bit of a mama's girl lately so I'll be interested to see how she does going there on her own.</div>
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On Memorial Day we have made it a bit of a tradition to go visit a few family graves in the Wasatch Lawn cemetery. Both Louisa and Minnie were named after my grandmas who are buried there so I think it's a good chance for us to think about them and the girls love seeing their names there. This year we decided to have a little picnic dinner next to my Grandma Louise, Grandpa Van and Uncle Michael's graves. It was such a beautiful night. </div>
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We also celebrated my mom's birthday at Rio Grande in June (since our favorite Golden Phoenix was mysteriously closed). Aunt Kathy was in town so it was fun to have her there, but unfortunately I didn't think to take a picture until after Nick and Megan were gone. I was also able to put a little birthday celebration together at our house that weekend, which I will post about later.</div>
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Robert and I played tennis against Julia and Colin a month or so ago, which was really fun, and the girls had a grand old time biking around the opposite court and then giving tennis a try. Thinking about them playing tennis in the future makes me so happy. I loved that sport and I hope they will too.</div>
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We also love summer night barbecues with good friends. Can't get enough of this nice weather!</div>
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Sunday nights spent at my parents house are the best! Somehow we are always the last ones to leave (so we always bring jammies for the kids to change into). I think it's hard to leave not only because I love it so much, but because once we get in the car the reality that tomorrow is Monday sets in. Wah wah! p.s. How cute is my dad with William?</div>
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After much deliberation, we bought season passes to Lagoon. I dare say that it has been the greatest decision we have ever made. It has been so fun to just cruise over there in the evening and spend a few hours on rides. Their kiddie land is actually pretty great and the girls are total thrill junkies. Many a summer night this year has been spent at that place. We also have a few friends and cousins who got passes so it has been fun to go with them.</div>
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Before school was out, our cute neighbor up the street who's a bus driver asked if the girls would want to go on a ride one afternoon before he headed to do his pick ups. The girls were so excited and he was so sweet with them. He had music playing in the bus and let them choose any seats they liked. We wandered around the neighborhood and then he took us up past the temple where they were replacing the Angel Moroni that had been struck by lightening a few months before. He decided to take us down a side street so we could get a better look at the work they were doing, but unfortunately he didn't realize the street was closed about a half mile down because of the crane placed there. I had to run to the back of the bus and guide him as we did a 39 point turn, but somehow by the hair of our chinny chin chins, we were able to turn around and get out of there. It was pretty funny. The adventure ended with a drop off right in front of our house, which the girls loved. </div>
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Charlotte and her boys came to visit for a week or so before our big Mecham family reunion in Washington, DC. The girls and I had been counting down their visit for months and about broke the door down when they pulled into the driveway! We had such a good time with them here. Charlotte is Miss Adventurous and I feel like we hit all the big SLC hot spots in the time she was here, which was so fun (and crazy). We headed out to Antelope Island one day where we saw loads of buffalo, visited the old ranch there and then tried our hand at a bit of a beach day at the Great Salt Lake but the flies were seriously so nasty on the shore that we couldn't hack it. We were all a hot, sweaty, salty mess covered in swarms of flies. This picture of us in the water makes it look much better than it was. Then pushing strollers and crying kids back up the sandy hill was killer. I think it should probably be used as a form of torture. I am a wuss, but honestly, it was a rough ending to an otherwise really great adventure. We also went to This is the Place Park, which was a huge hit. I always thought that place seemed lame, but I loved it too! We ended up staying there for like 6 or 7 hours. We also took the whole Mecham crew up to the Collard cabin for a night which turned out to be great. No one but Julia had been up there before and I think they all realized why we love it there so much. The ATVs are always a huge hit with kids, but we also just spent hours hiking around, picking wildflowers and exploring and the kids were happy as could be. I love that place. Also, look at big ol' four-month-old William in Minnie's lap! That chub is growing like a weed and I am finally starting to feel a little more comfortable with the girls holding him and not breaking him.</div>
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The reunion in Washington, DC was wonderful! Nearly the entire Ralph and Barbara Mecham family were able to get out there and it was so much fun seeing people we hadn't seen in a long time.</div>
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On Sunday evening a whole crew of us headed down to the monuments. It was quite a bit busier than we'd anticipated, but it was so beautiful seeing everything at sunset and in the dark when they were all lit up. It was such a fun night. And look at that cute crew of some of the great-grandkids on the right. My grandparents home is in the background. That place will always be a little piece of heaven to me. I have such fond memories of visiting there as a kid and then visiting there a few times when we lived in Pennsylvania a few summers ago. It feels like coming home when we are there, and I think it's due to how good my grandparents are to us.</div>
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And look at my cute Grams and Gramps! They've been married now for 60 years. I love them! </div>
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And the picture on the right is of the family playing frisbee on the Mall lawn between monument stops. It was such a beautiful night! </div>
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One day Charlotte's family, our family, my dad and Julia took the Metro from Rockville into downtown. We went to Ford's theater, where Lincoln was shot, and then across the street to the home where he died. We also went to the Natural History Museum for a little bit and then walked past the White House for a picture. It was seriously the <i>hottest </i>day ever and all of us were a sweaty mess, but we still had a good time.</div>
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We had a pool party one night at my grandparents friend's home, which was so lovely. It rained on us pretty hard, but not until after dinner and lots of partying, so it worked out great. </div>
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And look at Lou with her cousin crush, Jake! I love it. It reminds me of myself when I was little and all the little crushes I had on older boys. Love sponges forevvvvver!!!</div>
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My grandpa has been eating breakfast at the same McDonald's every morning for years now. He is an institution there and has even claimed his own (illegal) parking spot right near the front door. The whole crew of 60+ of us had breakfast there together with him one morning, which was hilarious. It was a mad house but everyone loved it.</div>
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We also went over to a state park one morning for brunch and then a few of us went paddle boating on the lake there. It was stunning, but I'm sad I didn't get some better pictures of all of us. I feel like I took a lot of videos during the trip and not nearly enough pictures. I'll have to steal some from my sister if and when she posts hers. My Uncle Brad did take a few candid pictures as well as some family pictures in front of my grandparents house so luckily I was able to steal a few of those.</div>
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Minnie was first up at the family talent show. The girl is a performer.</div>
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Jeremiah wowed us with his "head, shoulders, knees and toes" skills and got the rest of the crowd to join in. Look at my dad on the right taking pictures. He kills me! We have a group on Facebook that my dad made for our family and he literally posts pictures on it weekly. I never thought I'd see the day when my dad was more active on FB than me.</div>
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All the kids at the end getting down with their bad selves. I love them!</div>
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Look at this huge crew! I think we are only missing five out of the whole family. Pretty amazing. And looks like Grandpa forgot to close the garage. Whoops!</div>
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Even the Steve Mecham crew is getting big! I can't believe there are 17 of us now. Also, William missed the memo on where the camera was...at least you can still see his face.</div>
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These two ladies here are two of my very best friends. How did I get so lucky in the sibling department? Charlotte and Matt were preparing to move to Abu Dhabi for Matt's work this summer, but then they received word that the position had been filled. They were disappointed, especially Matt who had been feeling a little bored in his current position, but I couldn't help but be a bit happy they'd be sticking around in the states. Well, in the middle of our trip to DC Matt got a call and was told that he actually <i>had</i> gotten the position and that he'd be needed there in a few weeks. I am so happy for them because they seem so excited about it, but selfishly, I am sad for myself. They've already lived in Korea and Canada and then Houston for quite sometime, so I'm used to them being far away, but this move just seems so much <i>further </i>and more sad to me for some reason. I'm a big baby. I hope they love it and am hopeful they'll visit us for a month or two every year to avoid those wicked hot summers.</div>
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And look at those little cuties on the right! Charlotte's boys and my girls quickly reached sibling status during their stay where they fought and loved each other like crazy and had a great time in spite of it. I will forever and always wish they lived close to us. The girls do too. It was hard to say goodbye to them this time around because we knew it was going to be a long time until we are going to see them again. I'm tearing up thinking about it now. Like I said, I'm a big baby. Hopefully they won't be there forever, and if the stars align and tickets are miraculously reasonably priced, we'll go visit.</div>
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We made it to Centerville's Fourth of July parade about 20 minutes before it ended a few weeks ago, which was perfect because the girls loved catching and chasing after the candy tossed from the floats and it was so stinking hot that staying much longer would have been torture.</div>
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We then headed over to Lagoon for a few hours before a BBQ with friends, and although it was busy, we got a solid 8 or 9 rides in within about an hour. Like I said, we love our season passes.</div>
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This past weekend we headed up to the cabin again with just our little family and Robert's mom. We didn't officially decide to go until about 7 PM Friday night so we didn't get up to the cabin until midnight. In spite of the late start, we had a really relaxing weekend and the girls loved it, as usual. Will had his first ride in a swing and as you can see, the boy loved it. I love him! I have a few big camera pictures I took there that I'll share later.</div>
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Louisa turned three on July 18th. I can't believe that little munchkin is THREE! Robert had to leave for scout camp that morning but left a box of donuts for us for breakfast on the counter. Lou was thrilled to have a pink one for her birthday and made Minnie and me sing to her twice, once of which was over a half-eaten donut. I tried to make the day fun by having a few surprises for her. I took the girls to get their nails painted at a nail salon, which was just about the cutest thing ever. The guy there who painted their nails was so sweet with them and made it so fun. That night I took Lou to the food court and Dino-land, which she loves, and I also took her up to the Disney store where she could choose any toy she wanted. She chose a princess figurine set and was brave enough to take the money to the counter and buy it herself. I was proud! I was also grateful she chose a $10 toy rather than one of the million $100 toys she could have. Smart girl. She ended up just playing with her princesses on the bench the entire time we were at Dino-land, which means she made a good purchase, right?</div>
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Look at Min's cute belly in the Great Salt Lake! I'm going to be so sad when that belly is gone. And on the right is Min and Lou in the tent Charlotte and her boys sent Lou for her birthday. It was the one toy she got to open on her birthday and she was thrilled. Both of them immediately changed into princesses dresses and headed out to play after she opened it. Oh, the simple life of a kid.</div>
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Are you still here? Did you survive that novel? If so, I'm utterly impressed. As you can see, summer really has been good to us and I'm aching for an extra month to be tacked on. We still have some fun ahead of us, but back-to-school stuff is already coming in the mail and it's making me depressed. I can't think about that until after Min's birthday. Hopefully this next month I'll be a little better at keeping this blog up to date, otherwise you better prepare yourself for another one of these doozies.</div>
<br />Laura Collardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10318822498106175398noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8789485272449825815.post-17164225150594856732016-06-06T15:05:00.000-07:002016-06-06T15:05:26.060-07:00william's blessing day<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Sweet baby William was blessed by Robert yesterday. I love blessing days so much for some reason. I think it's because it's a tribute to this new little soul in the world and so many people we love and who love William all come together to celebrate him and his life ahead. They are always such crazy days and I feel like I don't really let out a breath until the party is over, but I can't help but love them.<br />
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Robert and I spent pretty much all of Saturday cleaning the yard, tidying the house, grocery shopping, and baking. Somehow we went to bed at a fairly decent hour <i>and </i>were at church 20 minutes early so we could get a decent seat. That, my friends, is a miracle in and of itself. Robert gave William such a wonderful blessing. There is something really special about a dad and his child to me. Robert is such a good dad and has a special connection with all three of our kids. You better believe the waterworks started for me the minute the blessing began. It was also so amazing to see so many men that I love surrounding and bouncing my babe as Robert spoke. William is lucky to have so many good examples to look to in his life. I am grateful for all of them.<br />
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The brunch at our house was so much fun. Again, a little bit of a whirlwind, but so much fun. The minute we pulled up to the house Robert and I hopped out and got to work since our tree has some sort of bug in it that's dropping larvae and leaves everywhere. It is so gross and we wanted to make sure all of the chairs and table were clean. My family had also left a bit early from church so they could get things set up for me (bless them!) so I wanted to make sure they were doing alright and felt like they had everything they needed. A few minutes after arriving I saw Robert and asked him where William was. Robert said, "Oh shoot!" and ran outside. I thought he was joking but nope, we'd left the man of the hour in the car. Doy! Good thing he was in the shade and only just starting to whimper. Poor babe! I swear, we really are decent parents. William was an angel all day. He just slept and ate and then hung out with hardly a peep. I feel like the older he is getting the better he is getting, or at least maybe I'm able to read his cues a little better.<br />
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I can't even express how much I love my family, Robert's family and all of our friends who are like family. So many people offered to pitch in and my mom, dad, Julia, Megan and Gretchen were in the kitchen much of the time making sure the food table was well stocked. It's so nice to know that so many people are on our team, love our babies and want to be with us to celebrate their milestones. I ended yesterday just feeling so grateful for my life and the people I get to spend it with.<br />
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I am so grateful for William and the dynamic he's brought into our family. I've said it once and I'll say it again, but it definitely took some time for me to adjust to life with a newborn again. However, I am feeling so much more settled these days and although it's still busy, I feel like I'm really beginning to love this stage of life. I'm feeling so much better and William just becomes sweeter as he gets older. I am so excited to see what he's like in a year or two and to see his personality develop. If he's anything like the girls, we've got some major personality and sass to look forward to! Bring it on.Laura Collardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10318822498106175398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8789485272449825815.post-64502454582487994472016-05-19T21:58:00.002-07:002016-05-19T21:58:51.129-07:00weekly rewind {april and most of may edition}<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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best: Will starting to smile - Owie's cute monster truck birthday party - Minnie's preschool field trip to Wheeler Farm that Will, Lou and I tagged along on - pedicures with Christine while our men watched our babies...happy Mother's Day to us! - family soccer games in the back yard after dinner - Mother's Day spent feeding our sweet mamas - Minnie starting soccer. It has been a bit of a rough start (she really had no clue what she was doing and would just run around like a bird most of the time) but with one game left in the season we are seeing some major improvement. She touched the ball like 10 times last game. I'm so proud! - Finally buying tickets to DC. We are so excited to see the whole Mecham crew! - Bountiful sidewalk chalk festival and finally going into Over the Moon where I found William's sweet blessing outfit - the tuft of dark hair on the back of Will's head that just keeps on going strong - park playdates with buddies - rainy day forts in the bunk bed - Tuesdays when Julia comes over and hangs with us for the evening while Bob is at Young Mens - celebrating Dad's 60th with a surprise dinner at Kyoto and going hog wild on alllll the sushi - the way Will loves his sisters...he smiles best for them - adventures on Lagoon Trail - walks and bike rides after dinner (but blast our hilly neighborhood!) - Will putting on some major pounds (double fist pump for that one) - Louie's obsession with picking dandelions. She's always bringing me "flowers" - walking into the living room the other day to find Minnie casually holding Louie on her lap. I died - being part of Jalene's Motherhood Project and going to see the gallery of photos at the Davis County Arts Center - Sweet Henry Burton's blessing at the Burton's house during the most epic windstorm - the Adseros no longer moving to Abu Dhabi...which should actually be on the worst list too because it was a major disappointment for Matt<br />
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worst: finding dandelions and other miscellaneous weeds all over the house (thanks Lou) - Will getting his two-month shots and the fever the few days following - weather that can't make up its dang mind - Minnie almost crashing her bike on Lagoon Trail (thank heavens Jessie's sister was at the bottom of the hill to catch her) - never wanting to make dinner but doing it anyway - feeling pretty sick most of the time lately and not knowing what the devil is going on (looking forward to my doctor's appointment tomorrow) - laundry that never ends...which I think I list in the "worst" category every time I write one of these. With a newborn the laundry has doubled so this <i>definitely</i> has to go in this one - Lou needing a nap during the day but then getting up a thousand times after we put her to bed at night. She will literally turn on all the lights and just be in there playing and Minnie will be totally zonked out and snoring. It kills me - trying to get the motivation to workout. Eating banana chocolate chip bread and catching up on Nashville always sounds like a better idea to me - Sunday night blues when we are driving home from my parents house and it sinks in that the weekend is over and Robert has to go to work the next morning<br />
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Laura Collardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10318822498106175398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8789485272449825815.post-89574717164729496492016-05-18T14:42:00.002-07:002016-06-06T13:24:26.362-07:00baby william<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Sweet baby William has been a part of our life for almost two months now. I can't even believe how fast that time has gone. The whole process felt like quite the whirlwind to me, and still does in many respects, but I'm trying to really soak up this season of motherhood and enjoy this little babe while he's so little. After two months I feel like I am starting to forget some of the details of his birth so I felt like I better get them into a blog post stat, since handwriting them in my journal takes me about a million times longer.<br />
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I had been dreading the c-seciton portion of having a baby since the day I found out I was pregnant. I know it sounds crazy, and it is, but I just knew it was going to throw me for some major anxiety and panic attacks, which it did. You'd think with plenty of time to prepare I'd be ok by the time the surgery rolled around, but the anxiety was bad...almost worse than I even thought it would be. The excitement of having a baby (and not knowing the gender) mostly outweighed any anxiety the months and weeks leading up to William's birth. I tried to not even think about the c-section and I think that worked pretty well up until the night before I was heading into the hospital. I just started having panic attacks, one right after another, and they were pretty intense. I would just randomly start crying and then feeling this need to get up and go outside. I just felt totally claustrophobic. Robert was so sweet and gave me a blessing and just sat with me and let me cry while I hugged him, but I was inconsolable. I knew everything was going to be ok, but my anxiety was just taking over. It had never been like this before and it felt awful. Needless to say, I didn't sleep at all. At one point I just got up and went on a walk down the street at 2 AM. It was just so weird to feel like that. An hour or so later as I was sitting in the nursery in the new rocker and I started watching YouTube videos about how to overcome panic attacks. Did you know that you're supposed to try and HAVE panic attacks so you can learn to get over them? Well lucky for me I was having one after another so I just sat in that chair and imagined all the worst things and then tried to just let myself sit there and work through them. It was actually pretty awful, but believe it or not, I think it was a blessing because I started feeling myself ease up as I just let the fear wash over me. It was awful and wonderful at the same time, and by the time Robert woke up at 5:15 AM to take me to the hospital, I was feeling quite a bit more calm and collected.<br />
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Robert's cute mom slept over at our house the night before since we had to leave at 5:30 AM to get to the hospital at 6:00 AM. I felt a little guilty slipping out of the house without giving the girls a kiss goodbye, but I was so glad they were able to sleep and that we didn't have to drag them out of bed. It was still dark as we drove to the hospital and the streets were so quiet. Robert and I held hands as we drove and I just felt so reassured to have him by my side. He is the calm to my crazy and never makes me feel dumb about how insane I can be sometimes. He just lets me talk my way through it and then gives me a hug when I need it most. I love him and will forever be grateful to have him by my side. As we drove along in the dark we talked about how crazy it was that we were going to have a baby in a few hours. That is and always will be the strangest and most exciting feeling. It was just such a peaceful 15 minutes that I really needed in preparation for the next few hours.<br />
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When we arrived at the hospital our sweet friend Christine was walking in at the same time. She is a registered nurse and doesn't usually work at LDS Hospital, but I had asked her a few months before if there was any way she could be my nurse. She was so sweet and worked it all out so she could be there with us. I just love her. I was lucky enough to be able to be in the room to photograph the birth of her daughter Jillian a little over a year ago, and it was incredible. I realized that she would be seeing <i>way </i>more of me than she probably ever bargained for, but hello, that's what she does for a job and I just feel so comfortable with her that it didn't really phase me. Seeing her as we walked in brought yet another moment of peace I really needed. I had the same terrible nurse for not only Minnie's birth but also Louie's and she had made my experience so awful. Knowing Christine was there and was on my side (and knew about how anxious and claustrophobic I was) put my mind at ease. She even got us into a prep room with a window, which was a dream because the last two times I'd been in a tiny little room with no windows which had driven me kind of crazy. It was also nice to just chat with her about normal stuff leading up to the surgery because I felt kind of like my normal self for a little bit.<br />
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Once I was all prepped and ready to go and my doctor came in and talked me through everything, I got up and walked with everyone to the operating room. That walk is always kind of bittersweet because I know I'm not going to be walking for another 24 hours but it also makes me feel a little less claustrophobic. When we got into the operating room and I sat on the table, my sweet anesthesiolgist started walking me through all that he was going to do. I have lucked out with great anesthesiologists for every delivery and this one was no exception. I told him how anxious I was about everything and he told me that as soon as the baby was out he could give me something to help me relax as they stitched me back up. I was so grateful. Once I was totally numb and was lying down, they got to work <i>fast</i>. I'm telling you, it has gone by so quickly every single time, especially the first time since I <i>fell asleep! </i>I actually felt really present with this c-section, which I was so happy about. My anxiety had me chatting up a storm. I was asking everyone a million questions about their family, their jobs, their hobbies, etc. etc. I couldn't stop! I just had to talk so I wouldn't be crazy. Robert knew I preferred not to be touched in these situations so he just sat beside me and was that calm presence I needed.<br />
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Doctor Rallison was so cute about our not finding out the baby's gender and told me he was almost as excited as we were because people rarely wait to find out. Within minutes of lying down on the table I felt a tug and knew that the baby was out. Doctor Rallison lifted that sweet little body up over the curtain and said, "Ok Dad, what is it?!" Robert took a second to really process it and then said slowly, "It's...a...boy!!!" I was in disbelief! We looked at each other and just started laughing. What do we do with a boy?! I just started saying over and over, "I can't believe I have a boy! I can't believe I have a boy!" I felt such a rush of adrenaline and excitement that I hardly felt any anxiety anymore. Robert went to see them take his vitals and get him weighed and such and I just sat there talking with everyone about how surprised I was. Within a few minutes the anxiety started to sneak back in so I asked the anesthesiologist if he could give me a little something to take the edge off. As soon as he did I just felt tired, which was ok because I was kind of nervous I was going to throw up. I felt sleepy and relaxed but still with it somehow, which was ideal.<br />
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Robert brought that sweet baby over so I could take a good look at him and my heart just melted when I saw his little face. It was strange how even though he was just a tiny little thing, the fact that he was a boy just felt so different to me. I knew I would have been happy having a girl too, but I have always wanted to know what having a son would feel like and I was so grateful I would have the chance.<br />
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As they rolled me back into our room I saw my mom and Julia in there and they both were so excited when we announced, "It's a boy!" It still just felt so surreal. I can't even explain how nice it was to have my mom here for the birth. There's something about having your mom with you when you have a baby that feels so comforting. My dad and Nick and Megan came up a few minutes later and it was such a sweet hour being together chatting, taking pictures and passing around our sweet baby. Charlotte Skyped us and it was so fun to see her and her cute boys for a minute. She has four boys so she's going to have to give me <i>all </i>the tips on what to do with boys. I felt a little wobbly because my body was so numb and then I was shivering and my teeth were chattering because my body was in shock from the surgery, but I was able to nurse William for about 15 minutes and he latched on like a champ. Once he was done I was feeling totally wiped out. From not sleeping a wink the night before to the major surgery I'd just had, I felt like my eyelids had weights on them and it was all I could do to keep them open. I felt just plain tired the entire time we were in the hospital, which you can probably tell by how I look in these pictures. Thank goodness at least for those nights I was able to send William to the nursery and get a few good hours of sleep.<br />
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Everyone left a few minutes later and my mom and Julia were going to get the girls so they could come meet their brother, which I was most excited about! I got wheeled over to the postpartum unit and actually had the same room I'd had when I had Louie, which was kind of nice. I think I got to take a quick nap and then the girls arrived. That really was one of the sweetest moments of them all. They both ran into the room beaming and shot straight for the baby in Robert's arms. When we told them they had a new baby BROTHER Minnie's eyes just lit up. It was all I could do not to cry right then and there. The girl had wanted a brother so badly and it was pure magic to see that excitement on her face. They were so cute holding him for the first time and giving him kisses on his forehead. I think one of my favorite things about being a mom is seeing my kids love each other. It's one of those sweet rewards you never realize you're going to love so much until it happens.<br />
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The girls spent the night at my parents house that night and Robert was kind enough to spend the night on the tiny roll-out bed at the hospital. We spent the next two days agonizing over what to name the baby. I told Robert that the last two names were names from my side of the family, so this baby should have a name from his side. We'd played around with a million different names and Minnie was mostly set on James, which was Robert's grandmother's maiden name. I loved the name James too, but there were a few others in the mix we liked too. William Collard was Robert's great grandfather's name. I've always liked the name William so I was happy with that. We also wanted to include George to honor Robert's dad, who passed a year and a half ago. We were actually held up at the hospital because we hadn't finished our paperwork yet because we hadn't settled on a darn name. I think Robert felt a little guilty not using James because Minnie loved it so much, but he felt a stronger connection to William George. So, after some discussion with Min, we finally settled on William George it's a perfect fit. Minnie would still bring up the name James occasionally, but we've made some big strides the last two months and James hasn't been mentioned in a long, long time.<br />
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Once we were ok'd to leave, the nurse came in to cut the clamp off of William's umbilical cord. I'd already had him dressed in an outfit to go home in, and as she was buttoning him up after cutting off the clamp I noticed quite a bit of blood on his outfit. When I asked her what that blood was she said she wasn't sure. When she unbuttoned his outfit there was a huge puddle of blood oozing out of his belly button. I almost lost it. She did too. The clamp had actually pulled his umbilical cord totally off! She said she'd never seen that before and then immediately called for the head nurse to come...quick! They put something on the belly button to help stop the bleeding but I was just sweating bullets. William was as calm as could be, so I figured he was probably fine, but seeing that much blood coming out of him had me totally freaked out. They put lots of gauze on the belly button and then wrapped his tummy with an bandage to help hold it on there. They told me to just watch it and then go to the pediatrician in the morning. My pediatrician said he'd never seen that either, but thankfully everything turned out just fine and the belly button healed pretty quickly. William also got some irritation in his eyelids before we left the hospital and could barely open them. He looked like he'd gotten into a big brawl. It was so sad! They were red and puffy and it made me worried (of course it did :) ) but his doctor assured me that it was totally normal and would go away, and he was right. About a week later it was nearly gone.<br />
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I'll be honest, the whole newborn stage this time around was a little rough for me. It actually has been every time, but this time felt harder than ever for some reason. I think part of the issue was that our girls were at such independent ages when I was pregnant with William and I really had no idea how good I had it. We were all sleeping like logs, they both fed themselves, they'd play for hours together...we had it easy. Nursing William was sooooo painful. I also struggled getting up multiple times a night to feed him. He got sick about two weeks after he was born and super congested and was having a hard time sleeping and was spitting up a ton. He is also kind of a fussy little thing so between him sleeping and eating there was quite a bit of crying and that just about did me in. Three kids just threw me for a loop and even with all the help I had since Robert was home for a week and my mom was able to help a ton because she was on spring break, I just felt a little crazy. I feel like after two months I'm coming out of the fog. Nursing has been 100 times better since about a month on and William's in a little bit more of a routine and seems to get happier every week. I am making it sound like it's all been terrible, and it hasn't. It has actually been really amazing, but there's just a lot of hard stuff surrounding the amazing parts.<br />
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