I Belong to the Church.....

of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints!

Dallin got baptized on Saturday by his daddy Ryan. We are so proud of him for making the choice to be baptized. Dallin knows that this is the first of many steps that it takes to return to live with our Heavenly Father. Saturday night he asked me to sit by him and help him spell some words while he wrote in his new journal and (I know I am a wimp) I couldn't hold back the tears as he wrote the words, "I had a warm feeling inside me" and "I love my baptism day." I hope he always remembers this day and the feelings he felt.

Happy Thanksgiving 2010

Be Thankful

Be thankful that you don't already have everything you desire.

If you did, what would there be to look forward to?

Be thankful when you don't know something,

For it gives you the opportunity to learn.

Be thankful for the difficult times.

During those times you grow.

Be thankful for you limitations,

because they give you opportunities for improvement.

Be thankful for each new challenge,

because it will build your strength and character.

Be thankful for your mistakes.

They will teach you valuable lessons.

Be thankful when you're tired and weary,

because it means you've made a difference.



It's easy to be thankful for the good things. A life of rich fulfillment comes to those who are also thankful for the setbacks. Gratitude can turn a negative into a positive. Find a way to be thankful for your troubles, and they can become your blessings!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING FAMILY & FRIENDS!
WE ARE SO VERY THANKFUL FOR YOU!!

I Am Getting Baptized

Dallin Hawkins

Saturday, November 27, 2010
Is he not the most handsome 8 year old around?
We LOVE him to death!!

Can You See Me SMILING? :)

So.....I got "WORLDS GREATEST COMPLIMENT" tonight. Oakley has had terrible headaches the past few days and we decided that her cold that has been lingering has turned into a sinus infection, so I ran her into the doctor. He was looking at her eyes, ears, etc. and stopped and said to her, "WOW....YOU LOOK JUST LIKE YOUR MOM!" I wanted to *hug* him. I would LOVE to be as gorgeous as my sweet daughter!

Dr. Matt at UVFM...you made my day!

I HATE HOSPITALS!!!

What a week we had this past week. I took pictures, but of course can't get them off my new phone....HOW ANNOYING! Ryan is probably happy about me not posting pics of him in the hospital anyway!

He had hernia surgery on Monday for the two hernias in his stomach. Surgery went well. The doc said the hernia's were not actually that big, but that he had Swiss cheese type holes all through his chest so they put a big 6X8 piece of mesh in his belly to prevent more hernias. When he woke-up from surgery he was extremely sore and his oxygen levels wouldn't come up. So they booked us for the night at the recovery center. I was grateful to be there because it took 3 people to move him from one bed to another and a big male nurse to get him in and out of the bathroom and I knew I could not have done it here alone.

Tuesday they sent us home around noon and I hurried to get refreshments made for Evening in Excellence and spent the evening at the church with the young women.

Wednesday I took Oakley in to get her new insulin pump and by the time we got home Ryan was having ALOT of pain. We thought he just needed to go to the bathroom and couldn't because of all the pain meds so we called 2 different nurses and they told us what over-the-counter products to try. We tried them all with NO SUCCESS! So by 9 pm that night his stomach was cramping and he was in TERRIBLE PAIN! I ran him to the ER and they thought he had a blockage in his bowels and admitted us for the night. We had a NIGHT FROM HELL! SERIOUSLY!! I have never felt so helpless in my life. He was in so much pain even on really strong pain killer and so we just had to wait for the doc to show-up in the morning. Finally the doc showed-up and they did a ct scan and there was no blockage, just bowels that had not woke-up from the anesthetic. So they put him on a morphine drip and told us we had to wait it out. We ended up spending Thursday night there too and finally by Friday at 6 pm they told us we could go home. After two nights in the hospital, no shower in days, bouncing children back and forth from grandma's to home and back again I was READY TO COME HOME!!

Ryan is feeling so much better! We are still on pain pills to help with surgery pain and still on oxygen when he sleeps but otherwise so much better. Hopefully this week is semi-back-to-normal. And......If for any reason any of you should try to get ahold of me and can't, just look us up at the local hospital!!

He's 8!

Today is our big boy Dallin's 8th birthday! Can you believe our big 9 lb. 2 oz. baby boy turned into this big man?! He was all smiles all day....well, that is after we told him he didn't have to fast on his birthday!:)
He opened his new scriptures that every Mormon family gives their child turning 8!

Then his new scout shirt and book. He is SO EXCITED to be old enough to go to scouts, so he thought this was a pretty cool present. He is pretty sure that now that he is a scout he is going to get to use his pocket knife a lot more often. So funny what they think!:)

Then he opened some BB's. All he has talked about all week is getting a BB Gun for his birthday. Ryan and I decided to be a little mean (ha, ha - sometimes we have to do this as parents just to get a good laugh) and told him he could have BB's but would have to use his dad's BB Gun to shoot them. He was so disappointed. I wish I would have taken a picture of him with his grump on! We then started feeling kinda bad and told him to go check the closet.

He was SO EXCITED!! We are not Sunday gun shooters, but made an exception and let him go shoot at a straw bale after church. He is feeling pretty big now! He is excited to get baptized and we are looking forward to sharing that big day with him. Dallin is such a special kid. He likes to work and knows how to work hard. He is learning to drive the tractor and 4-wheeler and is not happy unless he is right next to his dad working. We love him and are so proud to be his parents!

Happy Birthday Big Guy!

Surgery #....hmmmm....I lost count....

Well, we are headed in for who knows what number of hernia surgeries in this family once again on Monday morning bright and early. This time (*luckily* - don't tell Ryan I said that) it is Ryan and not me!! He has two hernia's in his stomach above his belly button. He has had atleast one of them since after his mission and didn't even actually know he had two until he saw the doctor this week. He has never had pain with them until these past few weeks. They have been hurting bad enough that he is pretty much worthless when it comes to farming/ranching so we decided we better just hurry-up and get them fixed before the end of the year.....you know....that whole meet your deductable insurance nightmare!:) So off we go! Wish us luck!

and P.S. where are my sisters and Shellee and Hollie when I need you?? It is always so fun to not have sisters or friends live near you when you have to have a run around with kids for surgeries!:( Oh, well....just know you are all missed!

Happy Halloween

AHHHH!!!!!!!!
What a scary pumpkin mess!!

This year Oakley wanted to be a ROCK STAR! Last years clogging costume worked perfect for "rock star gear." We did have to make a super cute black and pink guitar to go with though. She loved the hot pink hair too. So fun!! Laiklie was "Little Miss Tinkerbell." Because it is always super cold here for Halloween I had to throw on the tinkerbell sweatsuit to go trick-or-treating. Atleast it matched! On the way to the ward trunk-or-treat she announced she was so esssiiittted!! (excited)
Rhett chose to be a robot. I got the idea off the family fun site and it turned out super cute. We had lots of compliments on his outfit. He did have to wear superman to school for the party though, because I had no idea how he would sit in this all through kindergarten without getting glitter on EVERYTHING!

We had a hard time with Dallin and deciding what to be this year. He saw a safari dude and thought that would be good so we made it up and he wore it to school, but he was so picky about EVERYTHING that he didn't do it the way I would have liked him to, but atleast he was semi-happy with it.

We had a wonderful weekend with carnival, trunk-or-treat and then a special ending on Sunday when my family all gathered together to be with my parents as my dad was ordained to the position of patriarch in his stake. What a special thing to be a part of.