We Made IT!!!

Just wanted to let you all know we made it to Boise...The trip went great...8 housr from start to finish...we stopped for about an hour to eat lunch in tri cities...ill post more as our trip unfolds...

Last day of school

I know these are a little late...sorry



Ashlynn at here seat....her pink pencil box smells like bubblegum...



Gotta love the last day of school "Foot-long Hot dog"



Ashlynn and her Teacher Miss Lawler...I went 1st grade through 8th grade with Miss Lawler...



This is Ash with 2 of her best friends, Bella and Braxdon...both of them lived next to us at the apartments....



Here is Skyler at his locker...goofing off like always...



This is Mrs.Mathews....she was Skyler and Ashlynn's reading teacher...



and yet another "Foot-long Hot dog"



Skyler and Elizabeth trying to work together to make these things go...



This was Skyler's fave part of play day...he was really good at climbing the wall...

Our day.....

• Today my mom and I took the kids on a little day trip...My mom needed to go up north to their trailer to get their camping stuff for the 4th of July...the trailer is up past Kettle Falls so it takes about 2 1/2 hours to get there...we loaded the kids up and headed out...we got there and started to move the tarp off the trailer and notices very large muddy bear paw prints all over the tarp....we see bear up there all the time...but we have never seen this before...it was kinda cool....after we loaded all the camping gear up we headed back into Colville to have a picnic in the park...I had fun telling the kids all about what the park was like when i was a kid and we played for a few hours...then it was back in the car....we stopped on the way home at baby depot to buy a gate for the top of the stairs...i also picked up a white shirt for Skyler...when we got home the kids were bouncing off the walls....BOING...BOING...BOING...oh my gosh just sit still for 2 seconds while i find church clothes for tomorrow....Yeah that's right I'm planning on going to church tomorrow...so any way... next thing i know i hear Ashlynn screaming her little head off...I walked out of the room to find her head bleeding like crazy....it stopped quickly but she had a small gash that was wide open and probable needed a stitch or 2...luckily my wonderful mother was still there so off to the ER ash and i went...It was crazy packed....after 45 min we were seen in the check in area...where they told us we could wait 2 1/2 hours or I could go home and steri strip it....so that's what i did...I gave her a little Tylenol and we are calling it a night...all the church clothes are laid out for morning and I'm hoping all goes smooth in the morning...good night for now

new house

we have moved...i am exhausted...ill post pictures and info later...thanks for all the help we had...now i have to clean the apartment...that should be fun right...Jeff will be leaving Tuesday evening for Boise and won't be home again until July 17th...more later

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day Daddy...Thank You for all you do for me and my family...Thank You for putting up with all my crap...Thank You for all the blessings you have given me...Thank You for being a wonderful Grandpa to my children...Thank You for fixing things for me...Thank You for being a great dad...and Thank You for Loving me no matter what...I love you Daddy

The things they say...

HOLY COW!!!!...did you see the storm we had...I tried to drive in it...I was afraid my windshield was doing to explode when the hale hit...I love storms...I love lightning and thunder...I am thankful my power didn't go out...I just want to leave you with a quote from my lovely daughter Ashlynn...

"The more you pick your nose, the more the lightning comes."

What the heck, where did that come from...she cracks me up...Anyways I guess we have Skyler to thank for tonights storm...That kid always has his finger in his nose...I love him...

Emotional Roller Coaster

This week has been kind of an emotional roller coaster...it started with Sierra's birthday...the littlest things made me cry...the lesson at church...visiting Sierra's spot...watching my kiddos play...packing my apartment...going to bed...reading Arah's blog...reading Kim's blog...you name it and it made my cry...on top of it Jeff is still out of town and i miss him like crazy...I'm trying to get my apartment packed and I'm starting to worry I'm not going to make it by Saturday....I'm to that desperation packing mood where I'm throwing random things in boxes and taping them up...ahhhhhhh...jeff will be home Thursday for 4 days and I'm hoping that's enough time to get everything out of the apartment into the duplex and all the electronics set up...then i will spend the week cleaning the apartment...OK I'm done rambling...Thank you to everyone who remembered Sierra on her birthday...thanks for your thoughts and prayers...

Sierra's Spot

This picture is curtsy of Arah....The pink flowers are from her I'm guessing...the roses are from us...we leave 1 rose for every year old she is every year...Thanks Arah, Matt and Brinley for visiting...

Happy Birthday Baby Sierra

Today is Sierra's 5th Birthday...I took some time to reflect last night before I went to bed...I took her scrapbook out and scanned a few pictures to share with you...Tears weren't far behind...I read a poem I wrote to Sierra a year after she died and one that Jeff wrote around the same time...This birthday seems to be a little harder than the past 3...Maybe because she would be starting school...or maybe because Ashlynn has been begging for a sister to play with...I have been thinking a lot about what life would be like if she were here...a little more crazy I'm sure but sweet just the same...I know the Lord has a plan for us...I know Sierra is watching over our family...I know that someday we will be together again...I am thankful for that knowledge...I am thankful for the Gospel and for Heavenly Fathers plan for me...I love my family and their faith in the Lord...I am grateful for all my friends that were there for me through this trial in my life...I feel blessed to have held one of Heavenly Father's most choice spirits I'm my arms even for a short while...I love my Heavenly Father...


This is Sierra the day she was born...Love the Yoda cheeks...



I took this picture of the kids when Sierra was 2 1/2 weeks old...just 2 days before she went into the hospital for her cath lab...Ashlynn is 16 mon and Skyler is 2 1/2 in this picture...



I took this picture of Sierra right after she came back from open heart surgery...



Here she is in her Cattitude hat...you can see she is peeking at me through those puffy little eyelids...

For those of you who don't know Sierra's story here is a short version...

Sierra was born with a small heart mummer that the doctors thought would go away...at 2 weeks she was rechecked and it was still there so we were sent to a cardiologist...they did a few test and found a few minor problems and 1 major problem with her heart...they told us they could fix the problem in a cath lab...so to the hospital we went on her 3 week birthday for what we thought would be a 1 night stay...they were unable to fix her heart in cath lab so the next step was open heart surgery...the surgery went well but Sierra's body didn't react well to it...her kidneys shut down right away so she was put on dialysis....her liver started to fail...she had to have lines cut down...and crashed a few times...and lots more things that are hard to explain...on her 8 week birthday she passed away...

I know you see this picture a lot but it is my fav!!!

Sierra Elizabeth Pixler
June 8th, 2003- Aug 3rd, 2003

Packing update...

ok so this has been a crazy week of packing... running around...repacking the boxes hayden unpacked...cleaning...laundry...saving our fish from certain death...wedding reception...bbq...softbal games...birthday party...very upset son that wasn't invited to the party...allergy attacks...playdates...and much more that i cant remember right now because I'm a little tired...but with the help of my wonderful mom... awesome brother-in-law...and sweet niece we got the kitchen...dining room...hallway closet... Ashlynn's room... living room... and all my scrapbooking stuff packed...woo hoo......i still have a lot to do...i think I'm going to rest tomorrow...it is Sierra's 5th birthday...I'll blog more about that tomorrow...well I'm off to put very tired cranky kiddos to bed...9:00 church here we come!!!

Packing

today was the last day that jeff was home to help me pack...he leaves in the morning for 10 days...he will be home just in time for us to move...we got our room and bathroom packed and skyler's room packed...i packed half of my scrapbooking stuff tonight and it took up 6 boxes...im going to work hard to get the rest of the house packed this week...we will see how that goes...wish me luck...

Rock Band

So for those of you who know my hubby, know he is a video game junkie...This weekend we bought the game Rock Band...It is so much fun...You can play the Base Guitar, The Guitar, The Drums or be the Singer...We started our own little band called "Spam Nation"...I'm the Singer and he plays the Guitar...I dont know most of the songs but it is alot of fun...ROCK ON!!!