Phone Pictures :: Shannon's :: March 2010--August 2011

Welcome to the hardest year of my life!  

--I became a mother of 3, while my oldest child was not yet 4.  

--Matt started MBA school, super-duper full time.

--We lived in a 3 story apartment, which had no elevator, and I had to climb with all the 3 boys everyday; and it smelled so bad.  Plus the dryer never worked, so I had to hang the clothes all over the apartment to dry. 

--Matt and I were separated for three months in the summer of 2011. 

--We had no money. 

--And Eli was getting ready for his third open-heart surgery.  

When I take a look at these photos, all the emotional memories of stress, anxiety, depression start to flood back.  So actually, I don't like to look at 'em.  

But there are some pretty cute ones in here--some really cute ones--so I thought it better to share :) 

Plus, my phone which holds are these beauties is starting to get all weird and will probably explode anytime.  Need to get them off of there ASAP! 

.........

And really, looking back, there were some really great times.  We all have ups and downs, right?  Perfectly normal human experience.  

(It wasn't bad, you know?  Just a lot of pressure on Matt and I to try and make it all work, i.e.  school, kids/babies, military, finances, family, health.) 

Love to all!

........

My parents took me and my sisters to the Final Four! 

Us girls at the outdoor concert.
(Ashley and I were both pregnant here!)

Pre game of the Championship Game

Duke WON!

Barley one-year old Eli  

Newborn Titus

Eli reading a book in his crib.  Why take a nap?

Eli and Isaac, hanging out at a playground.

Titus, in his wrap, with me and Isaac at Isaac's preschool field trip

He picked out his own pumpkin on this field trip 

Which clearance dress to buy for the military ball?  I choose the black! 

It's me. 

Isaac in his class, far right on the back row, not wanting to participate.

Pretty sure Isaac took this photo,

and this one,

and this one, 

and this one, 

and this one, 

and this one!

Hooray for Toe-Shoes!

Isaac took this photo.  Trying to get sunned before heading to Bama for the summer. 

Pre-flight to Bama photos

Pre-flight to Bama photo

Pre-flight to Bama photo

In Bama, and progress on the tree-fort

Lots more progress on the tree-fort. 

Eli had died and gone to heaven, when he saw this.  Love it! 

Isaac took this when we were waiting on the LEGO up his nose. 

Checking out some stuff at the 4th of July celebration.

Goodness, 1 year olds are demanding!

When the costume obsession began.  

Er... Yum?

Matt had been on a military training for a month, and he wanted me to send some pics.
How's this one?

Or this one?

And this one?

Okay, here's me face, Love! 

Pre flight pic back to Idaho

Pre flight pic back to Idaho

Pre flight pic back to Idaho 

We come back to this chiseled dude!  He lost 15 pounds during this specific training.
(So this is actually a pic from Matt's phone, but he sent it to me and it is on mine.  Who's really keeping track?)  

Eli coming out of his cardio-cath done in Boise, Idaho, a few days before his open-heart surgery in SLC. 

He did well!  And was kept entertained by lots of devices. 

And I'm not sure when these are taken, some time in the fall of '11.
This is BYU-Idaho's new "conference center"

And BYU-I's massive new gym.
This was all under contraction while Matt and I attended school there...
... A pain to walk around [the construction], I tell you.   

Technical Difficulties

I'm having massive problems with my phone.
FB or email is the way to contact me.

Cheers to technology!

A Jiminy Cricket Visits

And he was well loved, umm... maybe a little too much!

Eli is a very loving guy.  Tender, very tender... maybe a little clueless of his own strength, but overall pretty caring.
He feels deeply for others, and himself :)   He may only have half a heart, but it's all full of love!


Poor cricket/grasshopper.  He/she didn't stand a chance.  Hopefully his/her 3 legged self found a nice patch of grass to rest in after all the curious play.  

Nasty Smells

I walked into the house Wednesday and my nostrils were attacked with foul smells.
Layers of nasty.

And nope, this lovelies had nothing to do with it!

After some smelly investigation I realized it was the trash can, with spoiled cauliflower rotting away.
But after I took out the trash, the smells still lingered.

I figured it had to do with some of the underneath dishwashing machine leakage.
But after I clorox wiped it down, the smells still lingered.

More poking around, and I spotted a spoiled bag of potatoes, with gross juices flowing on the ground.
But after I threw that bag away, the smells still lingered.

I had given up.  Where were this smells coming from?  I decided to work on something else, like laundry.  After a load, a smell from the laundry basket hit me like a ton of bricks.

Yuck.  A water logged beach towel, contaminating all the clothes around it.
After I loaded the towel, and it's fellow conspirators, into a bleach filled washing machine, the smells were no more.
 


Happy smelling home.  That's what I'm talking about!
That's something I always have to be on top of, for it's an everyday battle.

Finding Humor at "W-Mart"

It's 7pm, and I'm "by myself" meandering through a big, blue superstore.

Matt's at home with the kids, and I'm able, for the first time in months, go grocery alone.  ALONE.  No one is hanging on the cart, about to put my back out;  no one is running in the complete opposite direction from the path that I'm purposefully perusing;  no one is crying over the passed over toy aisle, pleading for a toy that he "has to have."

I really don't mind taking my kids out with on errands, but I really am not a fan of grocery shopping with them.  It's a head ache.  Literally.  And I always forget something when I bring them.

So I'm enjoying the moment, going down a large aisle, when I look at a sign.  I have to double take.  "Wait... what did that say?"
I get my phone out, take a picture, and giggle to myself.

 

I go back to my shopping, filling the cart extra full!

"You'll Shoot Your Eye Out!"

But, hopefully NOT!

..........

I'm not really sure how to proceed with this post.  It can raise many emotions, ranging widely.  But this is part of our lives, and since this is really just a journal of what we do, I feel that this is an important post.

Firearms.  Yeah, I said it... Guns.  Neither Matt nor I have really big feelings towards gun control, either way.  We are open to discussion, understand both sides of the argument, and really haven't made up our minds on this "issue."  I could say more, but I'll just leave it at that.

(And we read enough of the damned FB to understand where people are coming from and how they feel, so please don't feel like you have to enlighten us.  BUT feel free to comment on the cuteness of our boys and the content nonetheless!)

..........

When we had our Florida trip we stayed with my mom's aunt and uncle.  They are pretty awesome people, and have been a big part of all our lives.  They willing took us in, fed us, and when Matt left his back-pack accidentally in FL, they sent it to us!  Pretty great.

One night we arrived at the house with one of their son-in-laws was out in the field shooting a revolver at a target.  "Oh, snap!" and Matt and the boys went to check it out.  Matt got his ear plugs, which he always caries in his back-pack (this boy scout is ALWAYS prepared), and shot a few times.  He offered to the boys, and only Eli took him up on the offer--Isaac at the time was running in the opposite direction, a nervous wreck.

And Eli loved it.

And just so you don't think Eli is a killing machine, he also love my great-aunt's signing Christmas stuff animals!  He set 'em in a line, looked over them, and made sure they all sang AT THE SAME TIME.

Matt was really excited about letting Eli shot that firearm, so when we got back home he went straight out to an outdoorsmen shop, and got us a BB gun.  "Oh, snap!"  Indeed, a Red Ryder BB gun. 

He's been spending a lot of afternoons teaching the boys the correct way to shoot and, more importantly, gun safety.  

Isaac is left eye dominant, and we believe that Eli is left handed.  We're learning new things about these boys all the time!  Good thing Matt knows what he's doing.  (Matt is an excellent marksmen, however I'm the one that got two shots in a row next to the bullseye!!)