KIRK'S HAS ARRIVED!

Kirk in all his glory and PHX shirt no less loadin' up!



My 5 dollar find (picnic table) was a hit with kids of all ages!


boys and girls alike!

action scene

Well, my youngest brother Kirk has arrived at last from Provo to spend the summer with us! The kids could not be more thrilled...hopefully my other bros don't read this....he seems to be the fave! How could you not love an uncle that plays guitar, video games, outside, everything the kids want to do he will oblige. I love this kid! He will be the office "gopher" for lack of a better word at Scott's work this summer. He got here today around 3pm then Boo & Nate with little Parker, Adam (Scott's brother) & Joanna with little Kate, and ofcourse Phyllis, who is still here thanks to divine intervention, came tonight for a WELCOME dinner. We missed Eldon, Jodi, and Max so much they couldn't make it. Words cannot express how fun it is having family live in the same town as us. I used to dream of this and now my dream has come true. I am going to try to max out family time before Suzy and Nate leave to West Virginia for med. school. We have 4 out of my 5 siblings living here in AZ, plus Scott's brother and his wife who live 15 mins. away and we are so close to them as well. Life is good. Family is the best and as close as you can be to friends and I do love our friends dearly, I'm sure you all agree...there is just something about family that cannot compare! It's like breathing sanity:)

It's My LIfe!

Literally minutes before...I was taking this pic because I thought I'd do a post entitled "rub a dub dub" then things took a turn:)

Miss Ava in her own choice of beautiful clothing!

Nothing wrong with sword moves when feelin' the beat! Notice little cutie pie in the background...she's no walflower!

So I'm officially posting this on my blog so I can add even more pressure to myself! My gloves are off and I've finally decided to go for the gusto and get this baby weight off! I started my diet and training Monday. I'm doing this the good old fashioned slow and steady way so don't expect to see miracles in a month. (I'm just saying that for myself...again!) But I'm kind of excited about it and I've already lost 3 pounds this week! Even though that is extremely exciting...frankly, I'm not surprised at all. For the love of Pete I've been eating literally anything and everything that is in front of me, my kids are far too familiar with every fast food joint in the country, and when you wake up to your kid eating a sleeve of Oreo cookies and instead of punishing him, you join him...you know there's a problem! So I knew that even if I thought about diet and exercise I'd lose weight. Well...today on my exercise program I was told to do 60 minutes of cardio, and I could split the time between machines if I wanted to. Well, I did, 20 mins. of biking, then 25 mins. on the treadmill and realized I wasn't going to have enough time to hit Sam's club before picking Ava up from preschool, so I promised myself I'd do something for 15 mins. later. As per usual, the day got away on me. I was giving the kids a bath and it dawned on me that I hadn't done anything and I knew Scott wouldn't be home tonight for me to leave. So, I pulled out the infamous Bon Jovi hit "It's my Life" (Phyllis' fave-my mom) and I'm not even kidding the kids and I danced our brains out! They started off buck naked (straight out of the bath) then Ava brought out a church dress and princess shoes. Harry would have been completely content naked, but I made him throw on unders. (Hello...you're 7 let's not dance nude okay??) Even little Regan was going nuts. I just watched their little bodies flayling about and thought...I cannot forget this moment. And hey...I swear I sweat more swinging them around than I did doing my stupid 45 mins. on machines and let me just say, I had WAY MORE FUN! This particular form of exercise I highly recommend. And just a plug for "Jon" the song is highly inspirational!

PARKER ERIC HICKS is here....and safely thank the good heavens!

Suzy's baby shower on March 22nd, 2008.
(not a moment too soon!!!)

Parker Eric Hicks born 4.14.08
4:00a.m. 5lbs. 12oz. 18.5 in.

Somebody likes the chupie!!!!!
(He'll be in good company in this fam!)

Here is the picture of the most perfect little man, my nephew Parker! He is a special boy this one. There is no doubt he is meant to be here in this world right now. It is such a long story but in a nutshell, a week ago, my sister Suzy went into the hospital with complaints of a sore back. They hooked her up to monitor the baby's heartbeat just as a precaution only to find out that it was at a 60 (should be between 110-180) They rushed her to the operating room. Suzy said it was like the movies. Luckily his heart rate recovered before they cut her open. This happened a few more times before he was born. Suzy continued to be in major pain with her back. Fevers and chills set in. The Dr. said he couldn't figure out what was wrong. All her blood work and other tests came back negative. Finally, even though they didn't think it would help, they took an ultrasound of her back to find out that both her kidneys were infected and FULL of fluid. When I went in and saw her, I was shocked. Her face was swollen and red. All she kept asking for was something to drink. She couldn't get enough. I said I wouldn't make this long.....so Scott and Nate gave her a blessing that reassured she'd be ok. She got a tube inserted into her kidneys that allowed the fluid to drain. They also put her on major heavy duty antibiotics. By Monday morning, they decided to induce her labor. Basically her first major contraction the baby's heartrate took a major dive. Nate said the room looked like a hornet's nest with nurses and the doc racing around. They finally did a c-section and were shocked when they cut her open. Their doctor said in all of his years being an OB (and head of the OB dept. at Good Samaritan...for all those of you who aren't familiar with the hospital...people come from far and wide with every concievable problem, so he's seen it all) this is only the 3rd time he's ever seen this situation. Suzy had what's called "vaso previa" From what I understand its where the umbelical cord is attached to the amniotic sac instead of the placenta. Usually this condition is detected well before the baby is born and the mother is on bed rest and close watch. Because if her water would have broken, the baby would have surely died.

Our whole family has felt so humbled as we have watched the hand of the Lord in this whole affair. It is times like this that you really stop to reflect on your life, the lives of those you love and how important it is to cherish literally every moment you spend together. This particular situation reminded me again of how much I love my sister. On Sunday night before he was born, I just bawled begging the Lord to make sure that if someone needed to die to spare her life if possible. Such a desperate prayer! I realized that he was in charge and that there are people all over the world who lose loved ones everyday. I just knew I was not ready to lose her. The Lord was merciful, heard my prayers and the prayers of everyone and not only were their lives spared, they are both doing wonderfully well. To say I was grateful would be the biggest understatement ever. These are pics from tonight of little Parker going home. Notice there aren't any pics of Suzy. She refused to let me post her pics. To put it in her words, she looks like a crack addict with her roots being so long. She was going to get her hair done this week.

But when I walked into the room after her fever had broken, and she'd had the baby, she looked like an angel to me...far from a crack addict. She'd been through so much and she was doing well and that was all that mattered. I took a thousand pics of her.

This is my longest post ever. I guess it should be since I haven't posted for 2 months and SO MUCH has happened. Hopefully I'll get caught up. But this was so post worthy and a time in all our family's life we'll never forget.

Welcome home baby Parker and Boo...there just aren't words to express how much we love you and are so relieved and happy you are both healthy and well. But oh no....here comes breastfeeding...can she survive that???????? Keep the prayers comin'!!!!!