Happy 2nd Birthday to my sweet little Staci!

I didn't expect to get emotional with this post, but I was talking to my sister-in-law on the phone a couple of hours ago, and she was saying how the time just goes by so quickly and how it just seems like yesterday when her girls were born. I am sorry, but I have never really felt that way. I am sure that a lot of the reason for that is because of my circumstances in life right now. It is just hard to survive day-to-day, especially with chronic pain, and a husband who can't ever be home to help me... so time seems to go SO slowly, but as I was looking back on these pictures I started to feel a little bit of that "I can't believe my baby is already 2 thing." I need to cherish every moment, because even though it seems to be going slowly right now, I know I will look back on it when they are grown and gone, and it will feel like such a short time I had them!

Staci is my little monkey, but she is such a sweetheart. We all love her very much!

Only 2 days old - Isn't she beautiful!? Both Jackson and Natalie couldn't get enough of "Baby Staci"
Don't you love the look of terror on Staci's face in this picture? She had no idea what kind of crazy family she was being born in to...it's a wonder any kid with siblings survives!

Baby with attitude!

My Natalie...

Every night I check on the kids before I go to sleep. THIS is the reason! I never know how I am going to find Natalie. Either she is asleep on the floor under her bed or with her feet stuck between the wall and her bed... but pretty much EVERY night I have to rearrange her. This is how I found her the other night... cute, huh? I think she inherited this trait from me. Am I right Mom and Dad?

Living...for the moment

Last night I was reading some Erma Bombeck... she is the author I relate to most in my life right now, (and I am trying to make a conscious effort to laugh more) when I read something that didn't hit me as funny. She said "Too many people put off something that brings them joy just because they haven't thought about it, don't have it on their schedule, didn't know it was coming or are too rigid to depart from their routine." I got to thinking about my day yesterday. I basically cleaned the house and did laundry the ENTIRE day... and that would not be something horrible, except it seems like that is all I do EVERY day. My kids ask me to do something with them and I almost always say, "OK, in a minute", or "I am sorry sweetheart, but Mommy is really busy right now". How many times at the end of the day did I never do that thing because I forgot or maybe just chose not to?!I know all you moms of young children know what I am talking about... you are working on one room while the other is getting hit by 3 little tornadoes, and it seems like if you stop for even a minute it will just get worse. I had two big spills - one including a giant bag of pinto beans that Staci (or at least that is who always gets the blame because she can't really talk yet) grabbed from our food storage and opened. Jackson then informed me that Natalie took the bag that Staci had opened and swung it over her head as she turned around. Of course Jackson was innocent; all he did was watch it (and I am sure he was laughing). I was soooo mad, and had to spend the next two hours on the kids case to "finish picking up those beans". They were in 4 different rooms in the basement. Nice! I think it wouldn't have hit me so hard except for the fact that I had just finished picking up a thousand beads that were spilled from some sort of bean bag that I didn't even know we had, that one of the kids opened. Do you get where I am going with this? As I read at the end of the day, I was troubled. Why does it feel like I am not even living? If I wanted to, I could clean all day, every day... and probably still not have a perfect house, but is that what is really important? If I had to choose the job of "maid" or "mother", wouldn't I choose "Mother"? Of course, I would! So why does it feel like I'm hardly being a mom?!
So, this morning I decided to have a "Play all day day". Have you heard of this? I made it up, so I would be surprised if you had! The rules are this: 1. No work... with the exception of changing diapers and wiping up spills (which, of course, are inevitable). 2. No planning... just go on a whim. 3. No fighting or complaining. 4. Play hard. So, the kids and I got in the car this morning and we went. They kept asking me where we were going, and I never would tell them.... that is because even I had no idea! We ended up going first to Antelope Island (or as my kids kept calling it "Cantaloupe Island"). We only live 15 minutes from it, and really I was SOOO curious as to what it would be, so we did it. It was AWESOME, too! First I went on a little hike with the kids... remember I hadn't planned this, so we were all in flip flops, so it was pretty little. Then we drove around and went exploring and saw jack rabbits, huge lizards and even several antelope... who knew? We then decided to go out to the lake and play in it for a while. It ended up to be so much fun that the kids didn't want to go. The water was clear and warm, so we stayed there for about 3 hours. And I swear we were the only people there from Utah. We met people from far off lands like Germany, Canada, Japan and even New Jersey! Funny, huh?

Jackson and Natalie on the "hike"

Yeah, eventually we lost the shorts... hey, seize the moment, right? Staci and Natalie were COMPLETELY soaked by the end... but it was so much fun! Honestly, who knew!? The sand was so soft. It kind of looks like mud, but it was sand.

This white "foam" was all over. I am sure it is from the salt... does anyone know that for sure? I should get the facts before I go making statements like that.

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After the lake we stopped by McDonalds and got some happy meals for the kids. I was going to take them in and let them play, but then realized I basically had naked kids in the car, so we went home and ate and put Staci down for a nap. Geoff just had a half day of school today, so I left Staci at the house with him, (he had some studying to do anyway) and took Jackson and Natalie to the Treehouse Museum in Ogden. We have been there before, but this time we didn't have Staci, so I had the energy to actually take pictures and enjoy it. I shouldn't say that, but Staci puts new meaning on the phrase "terrible twos". In the center of the museum in a huge tree house.... hence, the name, I suppose.

Hey, isn't that the cutest fireman you ever did see?

They just have everything a kids could want to play with at this place. They have tons of different dress up things. The below picture cracks me up...

Hey, with the options this year, I would vote for them...

There is an exibit with houses from all over the world.

By the time we left the museum it was almost 7:00 pm. The kids were completely exhausted, as was I, and we had had such a great day. I am going to try to start living a little more, and mopping a little less.

Yes, we have no bananas...

...but we have squash coming out of our ears!!! Here is the latest pick from the garden...just today. I have to tell you when I got home from Arizona I was a little disappointed to see there was nothing really growing in my garden (except for weeds, of course). We had gone out back before we headed in the house ('cause the kids had a 12 hours trip in the car that day and headed straight for the swing set). Later that night I opened the fridge to find the entire thing filled with squash. Later I found a bag on my bathroom floor... accidentally left there by my father-in-law when he came to "check out our garden". He had picked all of that for us. One thing I have learned about a garden is that you can plant fewer zucchini plants than you think you need and you'll probably have enough. Also, zucchini will take over pretty much anything in it's way. It is fun, though.

Flight of the Conchords...

Good Friends....

Now, this post is not aimed at making any friend feel loved more than another... I am just dumb and forgot my camera with some of you...(how did I do that, Kristen and Anna!) and I am sorry that there were some of you that I never even got to see. But for those of you who I did see and managed to take a picture with - here they are. It was so good to get together with good friends. I am sorry we were sick a lot of the time we were in Arizona, so we didn't get together with some of you... and I am also sorry for those of you we DID get together with before we knew we were sick and passed it on to you.

Me and Colette Goodman
Mitch Jarvis and Geoff.... they can really talk, those two!

Davin Jarvis and Jackson
Me (yep, and looking lovely, straight out of the pool) and one of my oldest friends, Jessica Heward.

Becky Fernandez and me... I am just learning about the joys of taking your own picture.... I know, I'm slow. But we thought we would just act a little younger than our age for a minute.

This is our "OH MY, IT'S SO GOOD TO SEE YOU" face...Really, that is what I look like when I am glad to see someone!

and below is our "DON'T GO!!!" face.

Hallee and Natalie
Shiela, you are a crack up... thanks for the new wardrobe.

Our Arizona trip...

It was an eventful last few weeks. I have to say that it didn't exactly go as planned.... we were sick almost the entire time we were there, but we still managed to get a little fun in! I think my kids we be recovering from their lack of sleep for several days! We just got home last Saturday night. We drove the whole way home in one day. I was a little afraid to do it, but the kids were actually a lot better than I expected them to be... let's just say "THANK GOODNESS FOR THE BUILT-IN DVD PLAYERS!" I don't even want to know how they did it before those days! We stayed with my parents in Pinetop the first week, and had a really cool time... literally! It rained almost everyday, and was only in the 60's for the high. It was beautiful, and I would take the cool rain over hot, anyday.

After Pinetop we went to Mesa and stayed the first few days at my Grandma Hiatt's house (for old-time sake, and because we were just getting over a stomach bug and I didn't want to take it to Grandma and Grandpa Brooksby). For those of you who think I am just favoring those grandparents, my Grandma and Grandpa Hiatt were at their cabin in Pine, so we weren't exposing them either!

Here is basically what Grandpa did the entire time we were at their house.(Below) Grandma is trying to hide her Pepsi - "Hey Grandma, you don't have to be a closet Pepsi drinker!" :0)We had the Hiatt reunion on the 25th-27th of July. Of course, it was so fun to see everyone! My Aunt Nancy did a really great job of planning things that would be fun for the kids. There were so many kids!! They did a carnival on Saturday, and it was a lot of fun. On Saturday night for the "program" she kind of took at pioneer theme (because of Pioneer Day that week) and we had games and stories of our ancestors, along with a real square dance! You should have seen my girls - I wish I would have gotten it on video... they kept dancing long after the dance was over! This year they had 142 people there; more than any other year in Rudge and Ruth Hiatt reunion history! There were only 18 people in the whole family not there... and they all had good excuses too, by the way... my cousin Brad and His wife and kids weren't there because they were having a baby that week... same reason my cousin Sam's wife wasn't there. The family grew by 2 little baby girls in just that week alone!

A few days after the Hiatt reunion was over, my parents had their second annual Brooksby reunion. It was also at our family cabin. My parents and all five kids and all 12 grandkids were there. Also we had both sets of my grandparents there, so it was a lot of fun!

Me with my Grandma Brookby

Just enjoying some Hawaiian fun... cabin style!

My Mom in a water fight with Owen (my nephew)

Jackson and Andrew (nephew) being little boys! Ewww!

It was good to see Geoff again... we hardly have seen him in the last year (pharmacy school is not for wimps!)

Staci and Lydia (niece) - they have a love/hate relationship. Lydia is nice, and Staci is mean! I am sure that will change!

My cute little nephew, Joshua

Me and my Mom

My Grandma and Grandpa Hiatt

Some of the boys stayed up late just doing what cousins do at sleepovers... telling scary stories.

My Dad with Staci

Hannah (niece), Susannah (niece) and Natalie

My Sister, Andrea

Me and my sister, Melissa

Jackson has to make a weapon out of every stick