Easter

We had BEAUTIFUL weather. It was so nice. Church was a little difficult because Carly didn't get a nap (we have one o'clock church!), but other than that it was great.

The dresses

Standing by the "Tiny House"

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We had a good Easter. The girls had a fun time. We went to Grandma and Papa Houtzes and had dinner and an Easter egg hunt.

Hailey checking out her loot

And Carly doing the same

Look what I got, a blue egg!

All these are mine.

CHEEEEEEEEEEEEESE

We also celebrated Aaron's and Lucy's Birthdays (Aaron's b-day was yesterday, 3/23, and Lucy's is today, 3/24. Aaron is also the dad to Lucy, so that's kinda fun.). Anyway I'm not that big of a slide show person, but I thought it was a good way to get all the pics on the blog, so enjoy.

Good Great Laugh!

I was blog hopping (and stopped here) and got more than I was looking for. It was great. I can't take credit for finding this, but if you want a good laugh click here.

Song for this post: Banana Pancakes, by Jack Johnson, cause he speaks, or sings rather, a little line of Hawaiian it in. You'll get it if you watch the video.

Homeward Bound......

So, as of today the doctors are saying my dad could be coming home as soon as next Tuesday! That's the 25th! Wow. We can't wait. We are hoping that will be the day.

Just thought you all might like to know what the power of prayer (and fasting, and thoughts, and calls, and emails, and comments on blogs) can do! So, thank you!


Song for this post: Homeward Bound, by Simon and Garfunkel

News at the Houtz House

I've almost completely forgotten to mention this! While in the midst of all that's going on with my dad, we have had some pretty great news (no I'm not pregnant).......we SOLD our house. Yep that's right, we are houseless! Finally. And it only took 10 months (I guess in today's market, especially in Arizona, that's a short time for a house to be listed!?). We actually ended up in Arizona the day the house closed, but we had already signed and faxed the papers, remember we didn't plan that trip. We are not however homeless, thanks to my parents who have kindly let us live in their basement through this very long ordeal. So anyway, YIPPEE! No more house, that we weren't living in, to worry about, pay for, and annoy my sister to go check on.

To sum this up in words of 'N Sync,

"She's gone!"

AZ and LV

I guess it's about time I got to this post.

When my dad was in the ICU we had to wear these lovely yellow visitor stickers if we wanted to go back and see him. They only let us go back two at a time and we had to be 13 or older. So that means the little kids couldn't go see him, which was probably a good thing. When we would leave the hospital we would forget that we had these stickers on. One day we went and got some lunch and someone asked us where we were visiting from, it took us a little while to realize we still had the stickers on that said "visitor"!

For those of you that don't know my brother John, he likes to be a little silly. So he stuck all of these stickers on Amy's back. She didn't know they were there until I showed her this picture. It was pretty funny.

We tried to make it fun for the kids. So we put the older cousins in the bath. I don't think we will be able to do this much longer.

I stayed with my kids longer than Dan and my other siblings cause they had to get back to work and school. So to give the kids a break from the waiting room at the hospital we took them to the Phoenix Zoo. The weather was so nice. Hailey and I got a little tiny bit sunburned! As you can tell by this picture of Hailey she wasn't to excited to stand under the shell.

She did however like sitting on the crocodile.

Then we stuck all the kids on.

More "photo ops"

The two little girls playin'. They loved these chairs, they carried them all over the house.

Hailey having a turn with the "Super Mardio" and Ryan cheering her on.

Amy has this little ATV for the kids, and for some reason this is how Hailey would ride on it.

I did show her she could put her feet on the sides, but she liked to ride it this way. Silly girl.
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So I went home that Saturday morning. Well the next week my brother Dave's car broke down (he lives in Las Vegas). He called wondering about my dad's truck cause my dad probably won't be able to drive for a long time because of the accident. So, Dan and I decided to take the truck down to Dave this last weekend. The drive wasn't too bad. Except for the part from Mesquite to Las Vegas, talk about boring! If I wasn't driving I could have fallen asleep. Anyway so we spent Saturday and Sunday there and came home Monday.

This would have been a cute picture if Carly would have sat still. Carly climbed right up by Hannah and they were just sitting there, it was cute.

Hailey and Ethan riding on the little pony.

Please excuse Hailey's hair, we had been traveling all day.

Hailey would never share a chair with Carly like this.

We took the kids to a park. This was an Old Western Town themed park, very cute.

Hailey and Ethan playing in the snake.

This pretty much sums up Hailey's attitude lately!

She loved "riding on the little horseys" though.

I LOVE this picture, it like she's contemplating the future or something.

LOVE it.

Another cute picture of Hailey

And another that I really like

Hailey and Ethan squeezing into the same chair.

Dave and Dan took the kids for a ride in the wagon.

That's it. Sorry it took me a while to post those, especially the Arizona pics.

A-Z

I was tagged, so here ya go

A--Attached or Single? Attached

B--Best friend? Dan

C--Cake or Pie? Usually cake, but I do like pie too

D--Day of Choice? Saturday

E--Essential Item? Bobby pin to pin my very out grown long bangs back

F--Favorite color? Uh, right now I like green, grass green

G--Gummy bears or worms? I do like both, but lately it's been gummy bears!

H--Hometown? Cottonwood Heights, Utah

I --Indulgence(s)? Changing my hair. Color (don't dare go red though), length, bangs, perm (although I've sworn perms off for a very long time), anything about changing it makes me happy. I just need to learn how to actually do my hair (or take the time to)!

J--January or July? July, but not if I lived in a very hot climate

K--Kids? 2 kids

L--Life is incomplete without? My family and my religion

M--Marriage date? November 16, 2001

N--Number of siblings? 1 sister, 2 brothers

O--Oranges or apples? I like oranges, I prefer apples, but they HAVE to be granny smiths, I like 'em sour!

P--Phobias or fears? I hate, hate, hate, absolutely hate fire.

Q--Quotes? "The doctor said I wouldn't have so many nose bleeds if I kept my finger outta there." Ralphy Wiggum, The Simpsons

R--Reason to Smile? Dan and my kids

S--Season? Spring and Summer

T--Tag people? Lizzy Scherble, Kristi Williams, Julie Bangerter, Cherish Bangerter, Heather Pace, Melissa Deihl, and Melissa Bagley

U--Unknown Fact? I would love to go back to school and get a degree in something

V--Very Favorite Store? I agree with Kristy, Target

W--Worst Habit? After I say something that is really dumb and I catch my self I go "oh doy!" it's really annoying (thanks Dan for pointing that out, I'm working on stopping it)

X--X-ray or ultrasound? Actually, I like the results of them both

Y--Your favorite food? Chocolate ice cream

Z--Zodiac? Capricorn

That's me from A-Z!

No sleep.

So, my mom stayed at the hospital last night to see if that would help my dad stay in bed and be good by not ripping his cast off his arm or his neck brace off. Well, he didn't sleep at all. My mom said he just kept saying, "Karen, Karen, Karen, Karen," over and over. She said she tried to get him to be quite because he is only in a semi-private room. And he did tear his cast off and tried several times to get his neck brace off. So, she is very exhausted today. It's so frustrating for everyone that my dad isn't being nice, or him self. When he talks sometimes he sounds just like he did, but then he will say something totally bizarre. I know that's normal with a TBI (traumatic brain injury), but still, we want our dad, Grandpa Chief, and for my mom her husband back to normal right now. It's hard to realize that it's probably going to take a long time before that happens. However, we do know that the power of prayer is very awesome and that he has come as far as he has because of all of the prayers he is receiving, so thank you for them.

Oh and yes he is in rehab now, so at least that's some good news.

Before I was a Mom

I just got this in an email and thought it was great to share, hope you like it.


Before I was a Mom

I never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby.

I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous.

I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom

I had never been puked on.

Pooped on.

Chewed on.

Peed on.

I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts.

I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom

I never held down a screaming child so doctors could do tests or give shots.

I never looked into teary eyes and cried.

I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.

I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom


I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put him down.

I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn't stop the hurt.

I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much.

I never knew that I could love someone so much.

I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom

I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body.

I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.

I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child.

I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom

I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every10 minutes to make sure all was okay.

I had never known the warmth, the joy, the love, the heartache, the wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mom.

I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much, before I was a Mom.

To Hailey and Carly,
Thank you for making me a MOM. I love you so much.
Love,
Princess Mommy aka Mama

Summer day at the beach!

This was about two weeks ago when there were huge mounds of snow on the ground in Salt Lake.

Hailey stripped down to her underwear, put on her boots and proclaimed, "I'm having a summer day at the beach!" How cute.

She has no bum.

Please ignore the mess in the background. Just remember I have two kids.

A little while later.........

I couldn't hear the girls. So I went down the hall and this is what I found:

Hailey said that she was exercising! I guess that Carly must have been her spotter!

Did you notice the shoe change?

What a nut!

Good news!

So, I flew home yesterday. While I was waiting to board the plane I called my mom to see how my dad was doing and she handed the phone to him and he said, "I won't make any sense, but I love you, bye." It made me so happy to hear him. It's good to be home, but it's bitter sweet.

I got a really great phone call from my mom last night. For info about what she had to say, Amy has updated her blog. You can either click on the link, or copy and paste it, http://dna-hager.blogspot.com/.