Katie Isabel Lefler

Well, our little baby girl has finally arrived and we are doing great. She arrived late August and was just a few days late. The recovery has been a little harder this time, as I hemorrhaged about two hours after delivery, but things are going much better now. The older kids LOVE having Katie around and want to kiss her and hold her all the time. Honestly, they are soo much help. They bring me what I need and have really stepped up to take up the extra slack where I've had to let go a little. My wonderful husband has also been AMAZING through the whole thing.
We have been soo blessed with this sweet little baby in our lives and are so thankful that she is here safe and sound.

November catch up!

So here's what's been going on with the Lefler's. First of all, my baby turned 5! I can't believe it. This was her cake, which she loved, despite it's dwarfism:)

One of their favorite pastimes is to make a "cushion tent" so we made an awesome one, got the lantern out and played games inside...it was sooo fun!

Halloween trick or treating with friends, Main Street in American Fork.

Seriously the highlight has been going to Tennessee to visit my parents on their mission. We went to the Grand Ole Opry while we were there and got to see Taylor Swift, Dolly Parton, and Trace Atkins along with many other great performers. It was soo fun. It was amazing to see my parents and spend time with them, but SOOO hard to leave. They are doing great!

Life just wouldn't be right if all my kids hadn't broken a bone! Allee fell down out terribly steep stairs and got a compound fracture. She got soo much attention for that bright pink cast...she loved it!
Life is good in our neck of the woods!

Summer!

Austin, Morgan, Allee,
Evee & Abigail on a trip to This is the Place

We have been trying to keep the kids busy this summer and it seems to be making things a little better so far. The kids are having fun. We've been on a couple hikes, a couple bike rides, to Young Living Lavendar farms (where I fell and broke my camera), This is the Place, The Hogle Zoo and lots of picnics. I also included a picture of both of the boys at the dance festival from the end of the school year.

Austin as a Frankenstein at the Dance Festival at school

Abigail & Allee on the play train at This is the Place

The kids on the mini train

Austin was in "Time out" in the schoolhouse at This is the Place. They were demonstrating what the naughty children had to do when they got in trouble. I think it made Austin think a little about how he should behave. I think I might start trying this at home....

Morgan as humpty dumpty for the dance festival at school.

Just some Fun!

Laina, Shane & Allee at Preschool Graduation

Me & my sweet Morgan

My awesome friend Shanna took these pictures of me & my kids for a project I've been working on. Thanks Shanna, you're the best!

Laina & the kids

Morgan & Austin

The "Mad" Scientist

Austin is a mad scientist for his school opera this year. He walked into the house yesterday after the dress rehearsal and this is what I saw. Those of you who know Shane, can you see the resemblance?

R.M. & losing teeth!

Here is the best smile EVER! Morgan noticed his tooth was loose and he had it out within about 3 minutes. No crying or fear...just pure excitement and lots of giggles.



That's right, R.M. stands for Richard Marx..."Right here waiting" ringing a bell??? Well we went to see him in concert again. This was the 4th time we have seen him and he was GREAT AGAIN!!! He seriously gives the best show!

Lisa & Bart before the show...too much excitement!

Shane & I

Julie & Dalen

Richard Marx

At the end of the show, Bart caught the guitar pick R.M. was using...totally made his night!

Lisa & I

Favorites from 2009

The kids with Max Hall at Tiffany's Wishing Mile

So, I admit to being a pretty pathetic blogger the last several months. Last night I got a text from my sweet niece that was not so sweet. She totally called me on my lack of posting. I promised her a post today, so I decided to choose some of my favorite pictures/happenings from the last year.
Enjoy!!!

Preschool Halloween Party

Austin with the Baseball witch at Gardner Village

Pillow Fun. As a kid, you get creative to pass the time in the car!

Morgan and Lizzy...It was a big move to get a pet, but we sure love her!

Allee with Tyler. We had lots of fun adventures last summer, my kids spent a lot of time getting to know the older kids. They made it so fun!

My Dad's wagon & the horses he trained to pull it. I have to say, I got a little teary choosing this picture. The 4th of July in Fillmore is one of my very favorite things and the next two years it will be much different without my parents. They are on a mission in Tennessee. It is exactly where they should be, it just seems strange without them.

Timp Hike, another summer adventure!

Allee is caught singing A LOT, however, she's not caught with the camera very often. She was singing her little heart out getting ready for her recital.

Of course, Disneyland...not much else to say. What a great year!

Austin's Baptism

We just returned home from Fillmore. We had a combined baptism today for my oldest son Austin and my nephew Kole. It was a great day and one that Austin has been looking for a long time. Just thought I'd post a couple pictures from the day.

Austin, Austin, Austin

So my son has all the luck. For some reason he seems to really enjoy arm injuries. In Kindergarten he broke each arm once. The right arm was broken clear through and he had to be put out to have it moved back into place.
Well, his luck has struck AGAIN. Last Tuesday, he slipped on the stairs and landed on his right arm. He jumped up and was fine until a couple hours later. Then the pain began. Then next morning he work up in horrible pain and was fevered, so off to the doctor we went. X-rays and an exam and there was no broken arm...WHAT???? That's right, no broken arm. So we went home with a splint and an appointment to come back in 10 days. Well, since then he has had a fever on and off for days and has been in CONSTANT pain. Ibuprofen every fours hours and he was still miserable.
By Tuesday of this week, Austin and I had had enough. So back to the doctor we went. More x-rays and still the bone is fine, but they were pretty sure there might be a blood clot inside the arm. Again...WHAT??? That word was enough to send me into panic mode. We had an ultrasound and determined there was a mass in the arm, but not a blood clot (or at least there's only a 3% chance it is a blood clot). The specialist thinks it is a ganglion cyst. They sometimes reabsorb back into the muscle tissue, but sometimes have to be surgically removed.
So we have an appointment with the specialist in 2 weeks...nice huh! Hopefully in the meantime no permanent damage is done. I know, I am a little dramatic, it's been a long week!

Austin is 8!

So, I can't believe my Austin is 8. Where does the time go????? He had a friend party tonight and this was the cake. I thought it was amazing. Shane works with a lady who makes them and she did a great job. Obviously the theme of the party was Super Mario Bros. and WOW... a room full of 8 year old boys was more than enough fun. Austin had a GREAT time and I am exhausted. Just had to post the cake picture.

I can't believe it!

That's right, the title says it all. I am in love with my puppy. I never knew I had it in me to be a dog lover, but I love my Lizzy. She can sit and lay down now too...she's super smart. In fact, Shane was teasing me when I was bragging about her and said she's so smart she can even bite and poop as well (ha ha ha, funny Shane)! We LOVE having a dog!

Just on a side note, I just got called to be back in the Young Womens organization and I'm so excited. I get to work with the Beehives...wahoo!!! I will totally miss Primary, that's kind of my comfort zone, guess there's something new for me to learn.

Oh and we just got back from a B-Day party for sweet Tiffany Searle...I couldn't ever sing Happy Birthday without bawling like a baby. What a great event! Happy Birthday Tiff, we love you!

A little seriousness!

So I just have to voice my opinion for a minute. As many of you know this past week a speech was given by our President to the school children in the country. Many, many people didn't want the kids to watch. I know that we all get to have our own opinion, but I was really hit hard by an email message that our school principal sent out...in my opinion she is very wise. She said ..."Certainly, as part of our school curriculum we teach about the Executive Branch of our government and the importance of respecting the office of the President of our country. Someday, all of our students are going to have a teacher, or a boss, or a political leader that they don't like. I hope that they aren't learning that it's o.k. to disrespect or to not still listen to those people." Go Mrs. Crandall!!!

All though I may not agree with what is happening in our government (have I ever?), at a certain point isn't it my responsibility as a citizen of this country to teach my children to show respect and act accordingly. At first even the jokes about Obama were funny, but now, I just feel like I owe it to my children to act like the adult I am. I don't want them to hear me talking bad about anyone...especially someone we should be respectful of. Now don't get me wrong, I know sometimes the people "in charge" don't earn the respect they are given...however, I think respect can still be given to the position.

It seems lately that my children are like little sponges...even more than usual. I have heard things repeated to me that I have said and that others around me have said, and I'm not so sure I like that coming from my kids. Almost everything our kids learn will come from home and I am making a new goal to be better aware of the information I am passing along to them. I would hate for them to grow into the obnoxious adults I come in contact with a lot these days (you know the ones that are never happy, and problems are never of their own making, no teacher is good enough, etc.)

WOW, I know...think about it!

Meet Lizzy!

Austin with Lizzy

Morgan

Allee

Lizzy!

We finally took that big step as a family and got a puppy. She is a border collie and she is the sweetest thing EVER!!! We are having such a good time with her and she is a great puppy so far. The kids adore her and Shane and I think she's pretty great too. In fact, she has Shane wrapped around her little finger.
Hopefully we can love her and train her to be a great dog as well.