Adrie's Birthday!

Happy 3rd birthday Adrie Lou Bell! Adrie Lou Bell has become this little nickname we call Adrie but she always says "don't call me Adrie you Bell-it's Adrie Janai Cox". Adrie's birthday was on Thanksgiving day this year which was fun because everyone was in town to celebrate with her. She was so sweet and waited all day for me to get to grandma's and make her Candy Land cake! She was really excited about her cake and her big day! I can't believe she is 3 already! When I was at the ER that morning Kris and I were remembering the day she was born and how Adrie and I got to spend that Thanksgiving at the hospital together. I love my little Adrie so much! Adrie you are so sweet and you are always thinking of others and what they need. You are so happy and energetic and it is fun to watch you growing and learning new things! I can't imagine our family without you and we love you so much! Happy Birthday!

Adrie was so cute opening her presents! She got so excited when she opened the barbie with the princess elephant and she kept saying "yes this is it! This is just what I wanted!" It was so cute! After each present she woud go give that person a big hug and say thanks! What a sweetheart! She got fun dressups (a whole bag full), Dora toys, Weeblos, and Strawberry shortcake! What fun to be a kid!
This is the best part of Turkey day! The naps after dinner. Chaly and Bree got a good one!

Black Friday-

So I still did a little shopping friday morning and it worked out nice because since the girls slept at my moms, I got to go back to sleep for like 4 more hours when I got back from shopping. I was only gone about 2 hours but I got the things I wanted and learned it is much more enjoyable and productive to go with someone. Julie and I met at Toys r us and it worked out great! Last year I tried it alone and it was not near as fun or productive! Later friday we headed to Provo to celebrate thanksgiving, Adrie's birthday and my brother in law's birthday. We had to pick Kris's brother up from the University hospital where he had ended up Thanksgiving night and had to undergo surgery on his finger. He sliced it open in his dad's wood shop and it was really bad. If you want to see a picture you can go to their blog- Tadd and Caitlyn).He had to come up to salt lake to get it fixed. Apparantly the hospital was a popular place on thanksgiving in our family. So after picking them up we went to Kris's parents and we all went to Brick Oven for dinner!

Bree and AvaAdrie blowing the wrappers off the straws at everyone.This is Adrie and her uncle Rick-they share the same birthday! Adrie got more presents at grandma camme's with her cousins! She got really cute clothes and some new pans for her kitchen and some littlest pet shop magnets!Birthdays are so fun!

Saturday night after the BYU Utah game we went to Tepanyaki for dinner with Kris's family. Adrie and Kyra had never been there before and they weren't too sure at first about the fire and cooking right in front of them but they seemed to like it after awhile. I LOVE the food there so it was a good way to end the holiday weekend!

Thanksgiving 2007

Thanksgiving turned out to be a very nice day, even though it started out with me spending the morning (10-3) at the ER. Long story short at one point we thought we had an ectopic pregnancy and they even mentioned I might end up spending thanksgiving in the OR getting it fixed. Next they said I had a cyst that burst and that was why it was all happening and that I was still pregnant (which by the way we had NO idea I was pregnant until the day before thanksgiving, after all this had been going on for a few weeks). So they sent me home to enjoy turkey and Adrie's birthday,although I obviously didn't feel good I was grateful to be able to be with my family and not at the hospital! So we watched things through the weekend thinking we were possibly having another baby and just when I had got a little excited about that, we found out monday that apparantly it was a misscarriage (and a cyst burst-although they are unrelated it looks like they may have happened around the same time-who knows), So it has been quite an emotional roller coaster. I guess I am just trying to figure out what we are supposed to learn from all this? Why would I get pregnant when I am nursing and on birth control just to end up misscarrying. I guess that is the question of life.....why do things happen like they do?
Now on to more positive weekend events...... Mom put on a WONDERFUL thanksgiving meal and we had the whole family together and it was so much fun! I love any excuse to eat great food and be with family! We always go around the table and say what we are thankful for and there were lots of nice things said but of course Adrie's made us all laugh. She said she was thankful for the juice and I laughed and said that's a good one-I like that too. and she said "then why didn't you say that?" Leave it to Adrie to make a funny comment! Kyra. Jess and my brother's friend Devan. Kyra worked so hard making all the little name cards for place settings for everyone. She had a list of everyone's names and she went through and checked them each off as she finished writing them. I can't believe she is old enough to do that kind of stuff now!
Adrie and Bret
Thanks mom and dad for a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner!

Ky's Primary Program and thankful thoughts

Sunday Kyra had her primary program. It was much more relaxing for me this year because it was the first in three years that I haven't been the music director. Kyra did a GREAT job! It is so fun to see how much she has come out of her shell the last few years. She used to be so timid and it was so hard for her to get up in front of anyone. Now she just gets right up there and does it all. She knew every word to all the songs and even sang them with a smile! As I sat there watching her with this huge grin on my face I realized what joy my children bring me! That "proud mom" feeling is something you can't put a price on and I am so grateful that I get to experience it all the time!



With thanksgiving coming up I have been reflecting on the countless blessings I have to be thankful for and at the top of the list are my husband and these three girls! So I thought I would jot down three of the reasons I am thankful for each of them:

Kris-
1. I am thankful you love our family more than work or anything else in your life and you always put us and our needs ahead of yours.
2. I am thankful you are such a good, decent, kind, loving man (and handsome too)
3. I am thankful you provide for our family so that I can stay home with the girls

Kyra-

1. I am thankful you are my oldest daughter because you are so kind to your sisters and are always watching out for them and helping me with them.

2. I am thankful for your love of music and the joy it is to watch you sing and dance-especially when you make up your own songs.

3. I am thankful for your silly, witty comments that make me smile!

Adrie-

1. I am thankful for your sweet heart and the way you always want to "get one for Kyra too"-even when you are choosing what you want for your birthday.

2. I am thankful for your cute squeaky voice that always makes me smile!

3. I am thankful for your excitement for life! You are always cheerful and so willing to say thank you!

Kyra actually agreed to let me curl her hair and so then of course Adrie wanted it done to hers too!

Now that I have Kris home with me on Sunday mornings we actually have a little down time before walking out the door so I took some photo opportunities of my three cute girls! There is something about girls in dresses that I am a total sucker for!
I fell in love with this dress for Bree even before I put it on her-but after seeing her in it I am even more in love with it! It is also a bonus that it adds a little variety to the pink and purple closet!
Bree is 9 months old now and I really can't believe it! She is doing great and still getting stronger all the time! I was thinking about how I took all the little milestones for granted with my first two because it was just "normal" or expected but with Bree it is a new perspective. Every little milestone she crosses is a big accomplishment and I wish I would have had that perspective with my other girls.
She is doing good sitting up when supported but still can't quite do it on her own. She is really strong in the above position on her arms and she is getting all over the place by rolling around and turning from this position. She is finally realizing that her feet and legs are actually supposed to be used for something besides toys! She is saying new sounds like "da-da" (which Kris loves even though it really has no reference to him). The new sounds made us excited that maybe she will have good verbal skills. All of these little accomplishments make me so thankful for her health and strength! I know that when we were pregnant and praying for our little baby to be strong and healthy-we may have had something else in mind at the time but Heavenly Father definitely answered those prayers and blessed Bree with wonderful strength and health and I am So thankful for that! (if you didn't notice this is my three thankful things for Bree-expanded a little)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Adrie's friend party

Adrie is turning three and has never had a chance to have friends over for her birthday so I figured she needed a turn. She thought it was SO fun that people were coming over just for her!

We playing birthday Bingo
Duck, Duck, Turkey (which I got roped into playing too) and pin the feather on the turkey
Adrie was also very excited to open presents and eat her chocolate cupcakes with sprinkles!
Adrie and Ben and Adrie and JamieKyra, Jaxon amd HalleBen adn Jerron
We never would have guessed that in the middle of November we would be able to play outside in short sleeves! It was great! The kids topped off the party with some fun in the leaves!

Ben, Jerron, Jaxon, Jamie, Kyra, Halle and Adrie

Couples dinner

Friday night we had some friends over for dinner and games. It is so much fun to get together with adults and no kids for a change!
Julie found these cute pumpkin bread bowls for the yummy soup we had (thanks Lexi for the recipe it was a hit!)
After dinner we played some guitar hero and bowling. Unfortunately Mary and I got booed off the stage in this particular song! But at least we look cool with our guitars!
Kris and Mark rockin out!
Julie won the award for the best "moves!" She was throwing our all sorts of jump kicks and other great moves in the games! We had a great time and we missed those who couldn't make it!

(P.S. Mary- you can't just pawn your hot Meredith outfit off on me!)

High School Musical on Ice

Adrie's birthday is coming up on Thanksgiving so for part of her birthday celebration we decided to go to High School Musical on Ice. Grandma bought Adrie's ticket and her own and we bought the rest of the family so we could all celebrate together. Adrie carried this "ticket" that grandma had wrapped up for her, all over the house for two days before we went to the show. It was so cute how excited she was!
The girls wanted to wear something high school musical, so we turned their pajama tops into an outfit.
Grandma Linda and Adrie waiting for the show to start!
Kris was really lucky because he got to sit directly in front of three CRAZED fans-who happened to be like 30 and had no children with them. They screamed the whole show and were quite hysterical to watch because they were very obsessed with the whole thing!

Kris let the girls pick out a souvenir so Kyra chose the light up microphone-----
Adrie chose the high school musical cheerleader Barbie-here she is doing a cheer with her when the cheerleaders were on the ice. Through the whole show Adrie kept saying "mom this is show is just so bootiful"

We had a great time! The show was very well done and it was so fun to see everything put on ice. I probably enjoyed it as much as the girls! Here are a few pictures but they are pretty poor quality and don't do the show justice!

Hot Date!

Kris and I got to get all dressed up and go on a fun date last night! His work sponsered the Arthritis foundation and they held a black tie dinner gala at the Little America and we got to go. Although it was a task to find something modest, formal and affordable, it was still fun to have an excuse to buy something new for the occasion! After I told Kris what a deal I found he said, "I thought this event was going to cost me a lot more out of pocket than that-like new shoes and jewelry too" Man, too bad I didn't know that before I went shopping! It sure is fun to get fancy and be a wife for the evening and not just a tattered mom!We even got my mom to take our picture in front of her fire place-the old "prom pose" from back in the day!Thanks honey for the fun date and the new dress! Now we will have to find other occasions to use it!

Wheeler Farm

More great weather! I can't believe how wonderful fall has been this year! I am loving it! We took advantage of it again and took all the kids to Wheeler Farm. I ended up with two extra kids-my nephew Tate, and my friend Kirsten's son Ben because Kirsten put her elbow threw her curio cabinet and had to go get 15 stitches right before we were supposed to leave for the farm. So we had a whole crew but they were all really good and we had a great time-I don't think I am ready for 5 kids yet though! The crew on the wagon!

Adrie's "stinky" face-she thought all the animals were stinky so she kept pulling these funny faces!
Adrie's silly pose!
Kyra was such a big helper with all the kids! she is a great oldest child!
Tate fell in the grass and I thought he looked so cute I had to take a picture before I helped him up!

We had a crazy experience feeding the ducks this time! They were literally swarming and the geese were squaking and scaring the kids and they looked like they were going to attack us for the bread-it was hilarious! I wish I could have got a picture when they were swarming but I was too busy rescuing crying kids!
Bree sleeping away!
We decided it wa sa little safer standing on the bench so the geese couldn't reach the kids as easy!
Tate was not a big fan of the animals! He kept saying "no.no.no." every time one would come near. I would be feeling a little nervous too if I was him staring straight into this loud geese's face!

After our picnic the kids had a great time playing in the leaves and climbing the trees! This is Kyra and her friend Jesse
I really don't want this great weather to come to an end!