Randomness

So the truth is I am very behind on posts. I claim "mommy brain" which means too much to do and not enough time to get it done it. Here are Bryan and Nathan as Dr. Seuss. They love those books, but loved the hats that look like Dr. Seuss even more. And cute they are!!!

Now I have to introduce the newest member of our family. We had a very tragic event occur while we were in Utah. Hunter's beloved guinea pig, "Blackie" , died. No one has any good ideas about what might have happened. We think he just got so sad and thought Hunter was never coming home. One thing you have to know about Hunter and his guinea pigs is that they go everywhere with him. He comes home from school and the 1st place he goes is up to get his beloved pet. They watch tv together, play together, and he has even tried to have him at the dinner table with us. When Hunter is mad the one thing that seems to calm him is his pet. He shows such love and compassion for these little things it is amazing. But poor little Blackie was just about a year old and perhaps just a little too young to be left without his Hunter for two weeks. Our neighbors watched him but he did not get the huge amount of attention that only Hunter and give. Hunter did not take it well. At first, he was okay and then his behavior changed and he and I had some intense head butting sessions.( We have a very similar temperment and neither one of us likes to be wrong) Once I finally got through his tough little exterior, he cried and told me his heart was broken. He wanted to get another piggie but he wanted him to be as old as him so he "would live as long as me." Makes a mom's heart break a bit. I cannot promise that, but darn I wish I could. (This was one of those moments you wish you were a fairy god mother!!! ) But we discussed it all and he wanted a new one. So after I realized I had broken a promise to take him with me grocery shopping over the weekend (all the other kids had gotten out over the weekend) I checked him out of school.(However, in self defense, I did not even make it to the grocery store. :>) We went to lunch and then to the pet store. Here is BOLT. And once again Hunter loves him. I see so much kindness, love and compassion when he has a guinea pig. So we are praying that this little guy will last a lot longer than the previous ones. I am not sure how he could handle another loss.

I am still working on our Easter slide show. Don't give up on me yet. LOL. Sleep well my friends. thank you so much to those of you that have donated money to help sponsor our walk. Yeah, only two more weeks!! It will be a fun event.

March of Dimes

Hard to believe that this will be six years ago in Sept. We had four preemies. It was one of the scariest times in our lives. We were blessed with amazing care at LDS hospital and their amazing staff.
Here in AZ, one of our best friends is a NICU(neonatal intensive care unit) nurse. She has invited us to walk with the University Medical Center NICU team. We are very excited to join them and help to bring awareness to the amazing things that are being done to help preemies survive. If you would like to help sponsor us you can click on our March of Dimes sponsor tool on the right and donate whatever you can.
If I can get my act together I am going to make some t-shirts for us to wear. I want to put their footprints and birth weights on the front and then on the back their current footprints and weights. Wow, that will be an amazing picture. I will post pictures of the finished project. We are all going to walk and we are very excited!!! Go Team Kearl Six-Pack.
Have a great Sunday night my friends!!!

Happy Birthday Dad/Grandpa!!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Happy Birthday!!! We were so happy that we could be there to celebrate with you!! We love you very much and we are so happy that you can be a part of our lives. Enjoy!!!

Congratulations Tanner!!!

Tanner got baptized on Friday here in Utah. He was going to be baptized in Feb. but his Daddy was in Iraq and he really wanted him here. We were then going to do it in Tucson but Jay had to come to Utah to do some work. Since it was Spring Break for the kids we decided to do the baptism here so we could have a lot of family around. It was a great day. It was a stressful and busy day!!!! :> He was very lucky though as he had a ton of family and two of my best friends (that have been a part of my life forever) made it too.

However, you must know that I am so used to my great friend Lauren being my camera mate so when I handed my camera to my brother and asked him to take pictures I thought we were set. He told me that would be great as long as I made sure he got a copy of the pictures as well. Funny!!! I think we got about 10 pictures and this one I took. LOL. Missed you Lauren!!!!

Tanner, I am very proud of you. Thank you to so much to everyone that came for the baptism, thank you to everyone who helped out with food, talks, singing, prayers etc.... For all of our friends and family that could not be here we missed you but we know you were here in spirit!!!

Have a great day my friends. We are loving the snow!!!!

Glad we are Gone!?!?!?!?!

Poor Blackie never knows what is going to hit him. He is Hunter's beloved guinea pig. Last week he got to spend time in the baby high chair. I think he thinks it is better than being in the cage but not sure how much better!!!! I think they are glad that we are on vacation and staying with someone else. We are looking at Guinea pig diapers so he can be out of his cage like the rabbit. The rabbit is litter trained so that is huge .....hmhhmhhhhhmmmmmm. Things that make you think.

Anyway, I also have a huge request for all of my friends out there. We are currently visiting Utah for spring break. We have some friends here who are asking for our help and prayers. I am going to add the link, please check it out and pass it along. This is very near and dear to our heart as we struggled to have children. We did get lucky enough to get to adopt and then since we were in the process of IVF it was working so we kept going. We are now the proud parents of six wonderful children. But we have some great friends who find themselves in a similar situation. I know their pain and if you have big hearts and have ever known for yourself or for someone you care about that longing to have a child placed into your arms and call it yours, please take a moment to check out Jimi and Sarah's website and say a prayer for their "miracle". http://jimiandsarah.blogspot.com/ Thank you all of my friends and sleep well. More to come from our great trip to Utah soon. Sleep well.

Buuble Fun!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Okay, now this one is really late in getting out there. The kids got a great package for Valentine's Day from their Uncle Adam and Aunt Amy. In there were the wonderful bubbles , and then some candy. But if you know Uncle Adam at all......... you know that he cannot send "normal" candy. No..... he must send something obnoxious. So he sent some sour head things. The bad thing about that is not only the taste but on the wrapper is the picture of a guy with his head exploding. Poor little Nathan was a bit disturbed by this and asked Daddy about it. Jay, of course, jumped all over that. (He and Uncle Adam are the same in that regard. You should try living with them both under the same roof. I am lucky to still be semi-sane and standing. :}) He reassured him that yes, if you ate the candy then your head would explode. ( I tried to tell him that was not true, however you know little kids, pictures tell the truth.) I guess Nathan wanted to "taste" it anyway just not eat it. Within minutes, he came running as fast as his little legs would carry him into the house hysterical and in tears. I was struggling to understand him between sobs. He had "accidentally" swallowed the candy and "now my head is going to explode." Trying as hard as I can not to laugh,(because he is truly upset and certain that his fate is sealed by eating the dreadful candy)I explained that his head was not really going to explode. But that because the candy was so yucky it just made him feel like his head was going to explode. He was very relieved but truly traumatized. Thanks Adam!!!! Even though you live far away you are still teasing my kids. All I can say is revenge is sweet!!! Hold on to your britches because one day they will get even. Sleep well my friends!!!

Rodeo Princess

I apologize for the lack of updates. It has been crazy around here. We have had some stomach flu (which I was lucky enough to catch :>), field trips, and a possible 365 day deployment for Jay. We have been on a bit of an emotional roller coaster but things seem to be settling a bit. Jay was let off the hook because by the time he would have to leave for training he will not have been home long enough from his previous deployment. That is the good news. The bad news is he seems to be "hot" for a non-vol, 365 day tour somewhere. So for now we are enjoying life and trying to avoid worrying about what the future.
A week ago the kids had two days off for "rodeo days". I had never heard of a this kind of a holiday but okay. Cassie wanted to sing, so we had her join a little group here in Sahuarita. She has only been a member of the group for a little over a month. Their first performance was here at the clubhouse. She loved that she got to wear her cowboy boots that her cousins and aunt (thanks Auntie Elizabeth, Shelby and Shaylee) had given her.



Here is our little girl singing. We are very proud of her and think that she did a great job. She was very nervous and she is the youngest in the group. Go Cassie!!!

I will try in the next couple of days to do some more updates and fun pictures. Have a great night my friends!!!