Sad news

Earlier today, my cousin went in for an emergency c-section due to some complications she was having. My mom just called not too long ago and said the baby had died. My heart goes out to my cousin. I know she and her husband were really excited for their new son to come into their life. I saw her about a week ago. She seem happy and everything seemed fine so this was quite a shock to me. It really made me think. Although I have never been one of those women who have enjoyed being pregnant and my pregnancies have never been easy, I have been blessed to have 3 healthy children with no major problems. A few of my cousins close to my age have had to deal with miscarriages, deaths, or difficult disabilities with their children. I am the first person to admit my kids drive me nuts sometimes. Sometimes I wonder if I'm capable of raising them and I wonder if I am doing good enough. Or, if I will do such a terrible job that they'll spend years in therapy trying to recover from the job I've done. This has put things into perspective for me. I thank my Heavenly Father for my children, and for the blessing it is to raise them. I also thank my Heavenly Father for the knowledge that even if something terrible does happen and one of us leaves this earth sooner than we'd like, our family is eternal and I will see them again.

Making Photo Slideshows

I've spent the past several days trying to make a video with the pictures from Memorial Day. Picasa made the video for me, but did not give the option to add music. I would really like to be able to do that. I tried Pinnacle, but it's a very complicated program. Windows Movie Maker keeps shutting itself down. If anyone knows of easy to use software I would be grateful for suggestions.

Memorial Day

I know that Memorial Day was almost two months ago but we took some really good pictures. Jeremy's family all went to his parents house and we got to spend the weekend together. We met Mikey, Josh and Suzi's new little guy, who was also blessed that weekend. Gracie, their little girl, had fun playing with her cousins. Brian and Julia came over with Tyler. Jeni and Dennis came up from San Diego with Daniel. Daniel and JD had fun in Nana's kitchen playing with the Tupperware. We also went over to the Pugh's, some friends of the Musser's for a BBQ. They had extra swimsuits on hand and the kids all had a blast playing in the swimming pool. JD had a lot of fun playing in the Big Red Car, right up until he fell out of it face first. Although I miss my family I'm glad that Jeremy's family is around.

Our Fourth of July

I remember the Fouth as a kid, putting off fireworks at my grandmother's house with the whole family there. It was a lot of fun. I also remember doing them at home some years. I'm not as brave as my parents were. We go to the mall so we can watch the big fireworks and hang out with the kids. We like to sit in the parking lot and eat snacks. I like that it's laid back, I don't have to worry about the kids burning themselves, and I don't have to clean anything up. I thought this collage was a neat idea. Jeremy bought a little toy gun that shot plastic darts that stuck to the van to play with while we were waiting. We also had cupcakes and chocolate milk; which JD promptly spilled and got all over his face. Poor Becca wasn't feeling good that day and ended up sleeping through the fireworks. It was also colder than normal and I didn't bring blankets. Luckily the people sitting next to us were kind enough to share.

Issues with Photos

So of course as soon as I start having fun with this, the website I've been using to upload some of the pictures isn't functioning properly. If you click on the link below where the picture should be, it will take you to it so you can see it. Meanwhile, I'll be checking out other sites to use.

JD sunglasses

JD doing one of his favorite things, playing with his dad's sunglasses.

Becca at Great Grandma Mussers

Becca loves to visit Great Grandma Musser because at her house you can do no wrong.

Sariah in the yard

The kids really love the swingset we bought recently. It's good to see them having fun in the back yard.

My Favorite Kid

I was getting JD ready for bed tonight and he was so cute I could hardly stand it. He's finally giving hugs and kisses. For a while there he liked to tease me and only give kisses to Jeremy. I love getting him ready for bed because he'll do things like say: "I see you" when you change his shirt or tonight he looked at his diaper after I wrapped it up to go in the trash and said "yuck!" I thought: "He is my favorite out of the three. He's so much fun to be around. I wonder if that's really bad for me to think." After I thought about it some more I realized that each kid is my favorite depending on what day it is. Sariah is my favorite when she amazes me with her intelligence and understanding. The first day she did the dishes she was definitely my favorite. Now Rebecca is a tough one. She is very strong willed, very creative and very energetic. But she is also very loving and good for a hug when I need one. Then she is my favorite. I hope that I can take more time out to appreciate the individuals that they are and be thankful for the parts of them that drive me crazy, because I think that's what will make them strong when they get older.

My Little Dancer

Becca just had her first dance recital. She had a lot of fun. I was a little worried because we didn't practice at home and I didn't want her to be embarrassed or scared. The lady that owns the dance company was great. She told them every week to have fun and not be scared, just to keep dancing no matter what. This reminded me of when I took dance and Mom used to make the costumes. Becca really buckled down and danced her heart out. The hardest part was taking care of Sariah and JD the day of the rehearsal because we had to be there early, and with 300 performers altogether the rehearsal took a long time to get through. We are looking forward to next year and hoping to sign the other two up as well since they also do gymnastics. Considering that Becca does backflips in the house, we might have to move her into that.

Let's try this out

I've found that a lot of my friends have blogs and I've really enjoyed looking at them. Some of my family that lives out of town has been telling me I should try it. It looks like fun, so here I go. I'm a little nervous about trying this out but I think it's a good way to keep in touch.