We are alive and oh so well!!

It feels so wierd to be sitting here writing a post! It has been SOOO many months since I have done it. (Seriously 9!!) I have even had people ask me if I still blog anymore? My answer is YES…but the reality of life has not allowed me to like I desire!! I write so many things in my head in hopes to sit at the computer, to write them down so that the memories, the lessons, the inspiration isn’t lost…but then more time goes and then my mind has been SO flooded with SOOO many things left unwritten that the very thought of sitting down at the computer to write a post is overwhelming. So I just don’t!!

But today is a VERY significant day for me, my family, and our healing that I forced myself to sit here, forget about all that I haven’t written about and just write about today!

Why is today significant? Today Navy…this darling little heaven sent angel of a sister, is the EXACT age Dakota was on the day of his accident.

It may seem wierd that I calculated the exact day but it was so important to me because I feel like EVERY day after today is new. I feel like a first time mom in a way, experiencing things that I never had the chance to see, feel, and live. Time stood still for a LOOONG time after Dakota’s accident. He stayed 2 years, 2 months and 16 days to me…even while his body grew and time went on.

(Family picture taken the month of his accident)

I mourned a lot over those next few years each milestone the kids his age lived and got to experience. I will never forget the day the tears ran down my cheeks as I saw the kindergarten kids that were HIS age standing at the bus stop at the top of our neighborhood. Dakota was still going to school…he even had a REALLY convenient little bus that came right to my driveway so I didn’t have to rush to that bus stop in my pajamas and face all the other mom’s looking my worst…BUT I wanted THAT!! I was even JEALOUS of that chaos!!! I wanted to be normal and watch Dakota interact with those kids, go to the same school with those kids, play sports with those kids, and even become better friends with THOSE moms…but it wasn’t MY reality!!!

Obviously as time has passed I learned to accept MY reality! In fact I LOVE my reality now! Every day Zach or I tell each other how grateful we are for our family, our life!!! I feel blessed beyond measure to have learned all that I have over these difficult years, to know and FEEL what true happiness is, and to have Dakota’s sweetest, sweetest spirit and light in my home. I now feel like he is 8 (as he just had his big birthday this month!!!)

(His DARLING superhero cake made by our sweetest friend Rachel Bitton!!)


(It’s not a party without LOTS of food!!)

(Cousin party crew! I love how Dakota’s eyes are sneakily looking at the camera! )


(This was the first birthday that Dakota showed true reaction, expression, and excitement! Each present, each hand written birthday card from his cousins recieved a genuine smile and Dakota thank you!! It melted my heart to think back to all of his past birthdays and how far he has come!! He really is a superhero!)


(The cake didn’t just look good. It tasted good too!!)


(Our “SUPER” family!)

BUT I would be lying if I didn’t say how excited I am to get to know now what it is like to be a “normal” mom. I want to know the answers to all the questions I NEVER got to know for myself…Are the 2’s really THAT terrible?! What is it like to NOT have to change diapers?! Will potty training be hard?! What will be the first sport I put my Navy in?! Will she be good at it or will she hate it?! When will she not let me dress her anymore?! Can I even handle that?! LOL!! Who will be her best friend?! Will she cry on her first day of school?! Will she miss me?! Will she be kind to others?! When she learns to write will she write me love notes?! I wonder who her first crush will be?! How old will she be when she first tells me she hates me?! Will I cry? Where will HER choices in her life take her?!

The unknown is exciting but also scary!! Not knowing the answers to all of those questions and knowing who my little girl will become is a little nerve wracking. Their is a peace in knowing that Dakota is perfect. That he will NEVER make a wrong choice.

(I mean look at that perfect angelic little face!! He can do NO wrong!!)

I thought that him turning 8 and not being able to be baptized (since he has the trach) would be one of the “hard moments” that would bring me to tears…but it didn’t! I found SO much peace in knowing that he was already perfect, that he didn’t NEED baptism like the rest of us because he was unable to make a bad choice!! He gained his eternal reward at the age of 2 years, 2 months, and 16 days!!! THAT is remarkable!!!

It will be hard to let Navy go and be independant and make dicisions that will sometimes bring a lot of pain! I can’t have complete control over her little world like I have with Dakota but I am SOOOO excited to experience life with HER. To hopefully teach her the important things in life that really matter and HOPEFULLY get to watch her go out in the world and remember and apply them in her life!! I pray every day that she will have a good and kind heart! That she will LOVE unconditionally ALL people. That she will care more about others then herself…that she will live a Christ like life!! I don’t know how well I am teaching her but I know with ALL of my heart her precious brother is doing one heck of a job. As I watch their daily interactions I can’t help but melt! Their is no doubt in my mind our loving Heavenly Father hand picked this little girl to come to OUR family, to compliment our home, and be the sister her brother so desperately needed, and the daughter we craved!!!!!


So wish me luck as a first time mom!! I may have an 8 year old BUT I have NO idea how to be a mom to a 2 year, 2 month, and 16 day old child on up!! This is a new and exciting adventure for ALL of us!!!

(I might just need superpowers!!)

9 Months

Yep, a whole other month has come and went! Navy Jo is OFFICIALLY or WAS officially 9 months on the 12th…



And I turned the big 3-1 on the 8th!! I’m OFFICIALLY in my thirties. Just 30 didn’t really count…now I’m IN my thirties! ;) I’m old news now! ;)

Just sporting my new lipstick and shirt sent all the way from AZ from my amazing sisters! They are the

When your 31 you don’t get candles anymore…your husband holds a flashlight! LOL!!!

This birthday was perfect for an old lady like myself. Now normally I am ALL about my birthday starting to celebrate Feb 1-28th! ;) (I got jipped that my birthday month only has 28 days!! ;)) This year my birthday totally crept up on me before I even had time to think about celebrating!! I think this 2 kid thing has got me crazier and busier then I even think I am!!!

Lucky for me Zach’s parents planned a family vacay to Bear Lake on my birthday weekend. So even though it wasn’t an official party JUST for my birthday…I just pretended it was!! LOL!! ;)



My special birthday breakfast! A pancake in the letter T…cooked to perfection by my amazing brother in law Ryan!! ;) My favorite treat right there!! If you haven’t tried those pretzel crisps you are TOTALLY missing out!!!


They booked this UH-MAZING cabin for us all! It was seriously HUGE!!! It had this killer play gym on the third floor that we spent the majority of our time in. (trampoline, basketball hoops, playset…heaven!) Not sure who had the most fun in there…the kids or us adults! ;)

Zach had some pretty killer moves on the scooter! My husband is cooler then yours! LOL!!!!



NO boys allowed!!!


  
Zach and Houston took turns pegging each other with balls! BOYS!!



I schooled these boys in some basketball! ;) Not really but we had a lot of fun! I shouldn’t be surprised since Zach is seriously good at EVERYTHING…even blind…but he was a REALLY good shooter!! I honestly don’t know how he does half the stuff he does blind (maybe he has been lying to me these past 5.5 years!!! LOL!!).

My favorite part about the cabin was it’s killer view of Bear Lake!! The weather was also SOOO nice while we were there! We sat outside and just enjoyed the view!
 
My people!!!

It had 2…yes 2 slides INSIDE! One to get you to each level! ;) It had a killer theatre room where we had a Little Mermaid movie night!

Not the greatest picture but a fun memory!! ;)

And of course we had enough treats to feed a country! ;)

We get together quite a bit with Zach’s family throughout the month but it is always in a couple hour spurts so this was SOOO fun to just be together for a whole weekend!! With 4 nursing babies we were all busy either nursing or putting babies to sleep at some point but it was LOADS of 
Navy was in heaven with all these cousins!!!

 
Zach’s parents had this GREAT idea for the babies!! Why not put them in a blow up pool so they will stay put?! Obviously Navy didn’t mind!


Unfortunately Dakota man was not feeling good from something so he had a REALLY rough weekend! He spent most of it crying which was especially hard on Zach and I. If this had been a couple of years ago I’m sure both Zach and I would have been in tears and super emotional about it but we have both come a long way and deal a lot better in these situations then we used to! So instead of letting it ruin our trip we still enjoyed ourselves!


I stole extra snuggle time when he let me! ;)



Grammy and Poppy were still so cute to try and help him be included in everything, even though he wasn’t having it most the time! ;)



Cute Mailee and Dakota!



The only picture we got of all the kids! There is my proof of how Dakota felt about the weekend! ;)


Anyways…this post is about Navy not me! ;)

At 9 months this girl has MASTERED saying “MAMA!” This little simple phrase melts my heart EVERY time she says it…which is A LOT! My favorite is when I go get her in the morning she will look at me and say “Mama!” Like she is so surprised I am there to rescue her! I have not heard Mama or mom for 4.5 years!!!!! So to hear a little voice call me that again kind of makes my heart want to burst!!! It is like music to my soul!!! I have missed it more then you can imagine!!!
She also says “Mo” for more and Dada! Although for the record Mama was first! ;)
She is still a mama’s girl which breaks Zach’s heart…but he is making some HUGE strides lately! ;)
 


Don’t get me wrong she LOVES her dad but if she has her choice she will choose me every time! I know that won’t last forever…especially since Zach already says he will giver her whatever she wants and NEVER discipline her like MY dad! ;) (And my dad had 5 girls!! My poor mom!)
She is still such an energetic little mover. She army/regular crawls. She uses her legs and knees a lot but still crawls with her forearms instead of her hands. She is SUPER fast and efficient at it so I’m not sure if she will ever switch over to a regular crawl. She gets up on her hands and knees but will only crawl normal like 2 strides and then she drops down. She is pulling herself up on EVERYTHING.

Hmmm…what toy should I play with?!


Already picking out her own clothes! ;)


Oh man…I got caught!!

(I realize almost every picture I am posting is in her pajamas! I promise I do get her dressed every day!)


She will walk slowly along stuff. She has taken some steps with her walker and she LOVES for you to help walk her around. She will grab your hands and just stand up to go…you can’t really resist even though it is a back breaker! ;)


She is too tiny for this!! ;)

She LOVES to dance whenever she hears any kind of toon…whether it’s from a toy, T.V., or Zach and I singing…she just automatically starts to groove. I love it!!! We might have to talk her daddy in to letting her be a dancer!

She is SO playful and funny! She knows how to tease.

She will go to ANYONE and EVERYONE unless you have a beard (she is not a fan of facial hair…Uncle Ryan learned the hard way! ;)) She does have a tiny but of shy side though when a stranger talks to her when we hold her she will look at them but turn her cheek to our chest. I think it is ADORABLE and sometimes it’s the only snuggles I get so I take it! ;)

She is kind of a maniac with Dakota these days. Since she is SO busy she will just crawl right over top of him like he is not even there! She loves to pull his hair and claw his face (she does that to us to!) He is definitely not a fan of that! He has thrown a few punches to her face as well though. He will swing that stiff, straight arm around and down and if her little face is in his way there is no stopping it! Sometimes it surprises Navy but hey…I figure it will just make her tough! My older brother beat up on me so she needs to take it too…right?! I figure it’s Dakota’s way to get back at her for all of her roughness with him! ;)

 
He just closes his eyes and takes it like a champ! ;)


We thought of this brilliant idea one day to keep Dakota safe from her…he LOVED it so now it has become “his” swing (at least until the motor gives out from all his weight! ;))…but obviously it didn’t stop her from cramping his style! ;)


I do find him smiling at her more and more often though! Hopefully this is just their way of bonding for now! LOL!!



That sweet smile and look says it all! He REALLY does love being a big brother!!! (In case you are wondering…we forgot his stroller at home so we made do to go into Best Buy. This kid is WAY too heavy now to hold for LONG periods of time! Luckily his car seat fit like a glove in the cart! ;))


 


She is still a great sleeper and I LOVE that!! She has come to love eating, thankfully, but is still miss Independent! She things she needs to grab the spoon out of your hand every spoonful which makes for a complete mess every time but what can you do! She devours any finger foods you give her…especially yogurt melts!

She just barely is getting her first little tooth! That sweet, gummy smile will be filled with teeth in no time!

Everything about this girl is PERFECT to us!! She brings SOOOO much joy, brightness, and NORMALCY to our lives!! I know she was handpicked to come to our little family at this perfect time!! Every day with her is truly a gift and I thank my Heavenly Father for placing her in our family and allowing and trusting me to be her mom!! I’m not going to lie…every day I fear a tiny bit about something happening to her and can even feel how devastated I would be…BUT I have learned to trust in my Heavenly Father and in His plan for me! So I don’t allow that fear to linger long and instead I focus on each precious day I get!

I sure love you NAVY!!!!!!!

A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Zach and I both agreed, this Christmas was THE BEST Christmas we have ever had as a little family!!

It was spent in our little basement apartment, with pretty much no decorations except a little picture of baby Jesus and 2 little Christmas trees (which all came from my in-laws! ;)), not tons of presents or anything super exciting…but it was magical nonetheless.

Both Zach and I have been overwhelmingly filled with gratitude and happiness for the many blessings, peace, and joy that fills our lives and hearts lately.

As I looked back at some old pictures and came across this one…1 month after the accident, still in the hospital, devastated at what had happened, scared and unsure of what lied ahead…I’m pretty certain this was my worst Christmas.

You can see the sadness in my face behind that fake smile! :/

Now to see how far we have come in 4 years!!! I realize fully that where we are at today, the happiness and gratitude in our hearts….doesn’t have anything to do with anything we have personally done, but EVERYTHING to do with Christ. With his healing power. He truly is The Prince of Peace!!!

So as we celebrated Christmas this year, my heart was FILLED with thoughts of the Christ child.

What a PERFECT gift that truly was. That gift that came SO long ago, it is THE GREATEST gift in my life. There is no gift we could ever buy, no matter the price that could even compare! I will FOREVER be grateful for this gift and the power and role it has played in my life!!

The best part about it is…it’s not a gift just for me or you…but for EVERYONE!!!

So as I chose my Christmas card this year…this scripture perfectly put what was in my heart!

And those 2 cute kids on it really topped it off! ;) 

Since I never got a baby announcement done for Navy…our card served as a dual purpose…because the birth of any baby comes from above and is a perfect gift as well! ;)

(Back)


We still had all of our fun Christmas celebrations and traditions which added to the magic this season. Mostly just the time spent with our amazing family and friends is what really does it for me!!
Friend party!

Thanks Larsens for hosting such a fun night…filled with food, laughter, and LOTS of fun!!

Annual Ugly Christmas Sweater Friend Party!

Good lookin group right there! ;) Thanks Gorders for hosting this crazy bunch!

Nativity story with Grammy and Poppy


We also watched He Is the Gift short video clip. TOTALLY made me cry. I know Christmas is over but if you haven’t watched it you should!! Here is the link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzjFEMmM0Xs

We went up for our 2nd Annual Christmas Tree Pickin! Such a fun, magical place and experience!
The Wagon Ride to see the Elk and get to the trees!

Our family is so big we had to split up on 2 wagons this year for the weight! ;)



 
Just some cute cargo on the wagon! ;)



The whole family!!


 
Navy’s first experience touching a real Christmas tree!



Me and my girl in our matching scarfs from www.magsoulshop.com. Seriously SOOO comfy, cute, and warm!! I realize it might be totally nerdy to match your daughter…BUT my problem is…if I see something I like for me…and they make ones for little girls…then I HAVE to get one for her too! ;)




Playin with daddy!




Dakota man and his horses!




Our little fam! Love these 3 sooo much!!


The 4 babes going on a sleigh ride!!




ALL the cousins!!!

Wow baby! Can they all fit? ;)


The Hadleys


The Laroses


Navy and Grammy twinning it!


 
Navy and Cruize

We did our annual Friedli jammy parade in the kids new jammies.
 
All lined up and ready to move!!

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Dakota LOVED dancing with his mom…not that you can tell from the picture! ;) And Navy danced the night away with Uncle Ryan! (Zach was behind the camera)
 
We opened Christmas presents with the Friedlis early so that families could do whatever they wanted on Christmas day. Of course the grandkids were spoiled rotten as usual!!


Grandma and Grandpa helped Navy open her presents! So fun to have them there with us!



She liked the bows and paper best! I loved her “All I want is ice cream” jammies! ;) Girl after my own heart! Her favorite gift was a baby jumper. This girl LOVES to jump!!


 
Dakota got some sweet things himself! Tractor flashlight, my favorite…Ladies Man shirt!



His favorite was a minion blanket! Score!!!


Dakota got his very own play mat since he liked Navy’s so much!

It’s a lot of work to grab that little thing!



What happened?!
 
Christmas morning was pretty low key as it always is in our house. Dakota was pretty excited about Christmas this year. I felt like this was the first year he was really getting and understanding it all. When we would read stories about Santa and Christmas he would smile.

He got to sit on Santa’s lap at school and he really liked that!

I just wondered what he asked for???

I told Zach we needed to pick up our game this year since he is seeming like he is starting to understand it! ;) But it is so hard to buy things for him because you truly never know what he will like. He can’t physically play by himself with toys so obviously that creates a challenge. As I talked to other moms of 6 year old boys and heard what they were getting I was shocked!! Batman bots or something like that? Legos?? These things never crossed my mind since my 6 year old can’t talk and tell me about these sorts of things. Are those things Dakota would really want??? Who knows?? So we did our best and crossed our fingers he would like it! :/

When he woke up he smiled when I told him Santa had come.
 


But as he looked at all his presents I didn’t get one reaction out of him. Not one!

So…not sure how to take that. Either he didn’t care for the presents we picked out for him or he was just hungry and wanted his breakfast (he likes to eat right when he gets up). Not sure!



Our humble little tree! ;) As you can see Santa knew we didn’t need too much! ;)
He got some sweet drums though!



He LOVES playing the drums at music class at school so I thought he would love these. Maybe he will grow to love them! ;)


We got a surprise gift from an anonymous person left at our door and I think this singing, dancing dog may have been his MOST favorite gift of all…at least it got the most smiles…so that’s how I know! I never would have guessed!

Thank you to whoever left those sweet gifts at our door! Your unselfish generosity brought my sweet boy his smile!!!

Navy of course was just happy with wrapping paper and boxes…although Santa did bring her some real gifts! ;)
 


We spent the rest of our Christmas day down with Zach’s family, just hanging out together! Couldn’t have been better!
Captured these pics of the babies!

Navy and Cruize’s faces crack me up!

Zach surprised me for Christmas with a last minute weekend trip to AZ…THE BEST present EVER!!!

My sweet niece Trai was getting baptized and my sister Katie had just found out she had some blood clots in her leg and couldn’t go with her family on vacation and was feeling kinda down. Zach knew how badly I wanted to be down there so he said…GO!

It was such a quick trip but was SOOOO fun, and as always does my heart good to spend time with my family. I love each and every one of them SO much so to not see them very often is hard!


Navy’s 2nd airplane ride in her short 7 months of life! She was SUCH a wiggly little thing this time. Up, down, forward, backward! But so smiley to everyone on the plane!!


Since I was planning everything last minute I decided to surprise everyone. I told my cute dad so that way I would have a ride from the airport. We went to my mom’s first and her reaction was THE BEST!!!

SURPRISE Nana!!!

Then I stopped by my sister Annie’s house and surprised her as she was decorating for the baptism. She even shed a few tears for me! ;) Navy got to play with cousins while I helped her out for a bit!

Navy and Trai



Navy and Cord. She thought he was pretty fun to follow around!





Then I surprised my sister Katie’s family at dinner where they were celebrating my niece Shea’s birthday. Her husband knew so he was helping me time it to meet up with them. The shock and surprise on my sister and her kids faces was priceless!! It was so fun to see all of them before they left on vacation.

I think they were most excited to see Navy. Can you blame them??



Happy Birthday Shea!!!

I didn’t make it to my other sister Shana’s that day but got to surprise her at the baptism the next morning! ;)



My sweet Trai! It brought tears to my eyes to watch her make this important step in her life!! I don’t know where I would be without the gospel in my life! I definitely would not be where I’m at or who I am today!I look forward to watching her sweet testimony and knowledge of the gospel and her Savior grow and fill her life with true happiness!!

Unfortunately my sister Dawn (I know there are so many of us! ;)) was on vacation with her family in Flagstaff so I didn’t get to see them! :/

But my other 3 sisters and I had a sleepover my last night at my mom’s house. Mom sleepover…I know that is just crazy right?! But it was SOOOO fun to just relax, talk, reminisce, and laugh together until 1:30 in the morning!! They are so awesome to spend so much time with me!!

Went out for dinner and dessert first of course! ;)

I topped my trip off by seeing my best friend Abbeys new, sweet baby Emma!!!

So darling! So fun to get to see Abbey as a mom now!! No words can describe what a great gift and joy it really is. You have to experience it to believe it!!

Zach kept Dakota while I was gone and had a boys weekend. They had 1 VERY scary accident while I was gone which I will hopefully share about soon. There were definitely angels among them protecting them!! Besides that they had some fun…dog sledding at grammies! ;)

Ready!!!


Go Ruby!!!! (She didn’t really pull him!) ;) I love that Dakota is in a beach chair on the sled! So creative!

Hope you all had a Very Merry Christmas too!!!