childhood pictures

My cute sisters. This is what greeted me coming home from the hospital.


Family picture shortly after I was born


Christmas Eve at Grandma and Grandpa Westbergs. Wonderful memories to this day. I got to be held by Grandma.


When I think of my childhood in Iowa, I think of moments like this. I'm in the yellow boots.



I love having sisters and a brother. My childhood was so wholesome, and loving. I hope I can pass that on to my kids.
I love you too Ben and Em (who aren't born yet in these pictures)

mission call!

The shock of the location!


Some of the anxious crowd.


fighting over the envelope.

My parents have been anxiously awaiting their mission call. Today was finally the day. It is amazing how days come in our lives that just change everything. And before you know it there is a new part of the world that will be of importance for generations. Mission calls seem to always catch you off guard. My parents imagined places like Nauvoo, family history, or temple mission. So when the call came for

NEW YORK, NEW YORK NORTH MISSION

shock fell across the room. It is wonderful and exciting, and I'm very jealous. It is a proselyting mission for 12 months starting February 1st, 2010. We are all so proud of them and know they worked very hard to get to this point. When your a senior couple serving a mission you can request certain types of missions or locations. Barb and Randall didn't make any requests or recommendations. I thought that was so brave and showed how full of faith they are. I know they will be amazing and be able to help so many people. I don't think they realize how much they are going to love it. I know they will. I can't think about how much we will miss them though. It will be so strange to not have them in our family network for awhile. I'm going to start saving my pennies for a trip to New York City!

graces

about a month ago Dane came home from work with braces. Yes thats right it was quite a shock. He went to the ortho on his lunch break and thought a surprise would be nice. I was so shocked. Luke was so facinated with Daddy"s "graces". For weeks he would remind dane about his graces.

p.s. Dane looks stoned because he had the flu.

Halloween Birthday Boy!!!

Clayton just moments old.









This was Clyaton's photoshoot for his one year old birthday. It was a strange Halloween because Lindsay and Luke were at my sister's celebrating so I could take better care of Jacob. Jacob couldn't go trick or treating and I thought if they were with cousins Jacob might not even know what was happening. It was my second Halloween in a row that I wasn't celebrating with my kids. So It turned out fine. Jacob did some trick or treating indoors and he got to play his new play station game. Indiana Jones lego. He was fine with the whole thing.

Now on to my birthday boy
ONE YEAR OLD! I can't believe it!

Some things Clayton is doing.
1. getting into everything and eating it, without care of flavor.

2. Standing without support.

3. being very social with everyone.

4. He has the cutest wave and uses it often. He will smile and wave at me from across the room just to say "hi Mom"

5. Eating what the family eats.

6. Taking 2 naps a day. About 3 hours total.

7. Saying ma ma, da da,

8. wakes up once in the night.

9. loves the cats, sheep, and stuffed animals.

10. loves his Daddy

11. plays cars by pushing them along the floor and making vroom noise.

12. 8 teeth

13. gives kisses with his teeth.

14. loves splashing in the toilet

15. anxious to dance to any song with a good beat.

16. loves listening and helping Lindsay and Jacob practice piano.

17. can climb up and down stairs.

18. opens the front door and crawls out.

19. very happy baby

20. responds when I say no.

Clayton is such a wonderful little soul in our house. He has a happy peaceful personality. I love greeting him every morning. He is a light in my life.

swine flu to pneumonia

While Jacob was in the hospital we had our first real snow. This cute snowman greeted him when he came home.



A week ago today Jacob woke up in the night with a sharp pain on his right side, bad stomach ache, pain in his right shoulder, and a fever. Dane and I were very worried, and a little confused by the symptoms because each one was very intense. You know those moments as a parent where you debate whether or not to take your child to the hospital. Well for me this was not one of them. I knew we needed to go. My mother instincts during the first night time wake up were pneumonia because I had heard that the flu was turning bacterial for some people. But all his symptoms weren't at all what I imagined. Dane and I thought maybe he was having an appendicitis instead. When we arrived at the hospital Jacob had low oxygen level, very dehydrated, painful compacted bowel on the right side, and a pneumonia on the right side. No appendix. The shoulder pain ended up being a referred pain either from his diaphragm or bowels. Jacob was a very brave patient through all the needles and unpleasant things that happen at the hospital. Dane told him if he cooperated through the IV and blood draws he would get a new play station game after. Oh boy did that work. So Jacob just slept and perked up very fast in the hospital. We spent two sleepless nights there. Jacob is home now. We are going on our 3rd week of no school. He is slowly regaining his strength and still needs to take it easy. It was a humbling experience. Scarring knowing that if antibiotics didn't exist Jacob might not have made it. And thinking about the many children who have died that way in centuries past. This is turning out to be a heck of a flu season for us. I hope the worst is over.

Steps.

I think this little one is developing great pectoral muscles! This little face it just the best. These are my Mom and Dad's tile steps going down into their sunroom. They are the worst for kids this age. I have sat here with all of my one year old children making sure they don't crack their heads. But he seems to love the challenge.

BOYS!

Wilson, Luke, Josh, Clayton, Abe, and Jacob

We went to visit G'ma and G'pa a few weeks ago. I talked these boy cousins into a quick picture. They all love each other so much and admire Josh who is the oldest in this picture.

Happy Halloween (warning this may be too graphic for some)

If a rooster does this to my Lukey's eye.....

Soon Dane will do this

Then this.

Then we have dinner.

I know this is gross, but a true story.
I thought I could handle it myself considering my upbringing. But I had a very hard time at dinner that night.

Poor Kid.

This is what swine flu feels like.

All the kids have been sick this week except Clayton. I'm just crossing my fingers. It's been a hard week. Luke was very sick, but just won't lay down and rest. He kept moving, but was extremely grumpy. Hope were almost done with this sickness.

Dane's labor of love

o Dane has been very busy in our backyard. First he made this quant chicken coop. It is so cute and functional. I love how it blends into the yard. We have 6 chickens now. Started out with 12. That is a story of it's own. They are finally starting to lay. It is so fun for the kids to gather the eggs each day. We get anywhere from 2-4 eggs a day. I hope we end up getting more as they get older. I hated chickens so much as a kid. Its amazing how feelings can change. I just love getting our own eggs, and watching them scratch around.
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Second Dane spent many a Wednesdays and Saturdays making this amazing playhouse. The kids love it. It is so sturdy and fun for the kids to be up so high. He will top it off with some swings, and a slide. I've been so impressed with these projects. They seem to just come out of his head, but end up looking so nice. He really has a knack for it. So now i'm thinking I better make a request for the next project. I'm thinking a deck.

Luke and Colby.

Luke with his new friend Colby. They are a cute pair. On this particular day Luke spent the whole time wanting Colby's hat.

braces and a new haircut.

Lindsay with her new cute haircut. She is so happy the snarls are gone



Right before the haircute



Lindsay with friends Meg and Sanora

Lindsay at activity days.

Lindsay and cousin Chloe

So proud to hold the chicken

Modeling new braces.


I feel like my daughter has grown up over night. Her life is picking up speed without my consent. Each stage is new and exciting. She got braces in August right before school started. It was a blessing to get them on so early. She had a bad cross bite, and over bite. The ortho. said we needed to get a head start. Within a week her teeth were mostly straight. It was amazing to watch.

Lindsay and I have been having terrible morning hair battles because of snarling and just ragamuffin desires on her part. I think too many tears had been shed because one day last week she just broke down and demanded her hair be cut right NOW! She gets that from me, once I decide to get my hair cut I can't wait a week for an appointment. So the next day after school I had an appointment. She glowed from ear to ear before and after. I think she made the right decision. The only problem is she looks to grown up now with braces and an aline.

Lindsay is a wonderful presence in our home. She is almost always happy and easy going. She plays so well with her brothers. I'm always amazed at her versitile play. She can go from lego star wars to princess without skipping a beat. We are so blessed to have you.

Luke is three!

Mommy's first attempt at a birthday cake. It got stuck in the pan and fell to pieces. Luke was happy I left him alone with it for awhile.



It was worth the wait, because the second cake was a dream come true. He stood on this chair for a 1/2 hour just staring and being so good not to touch. But temptation took over to drive the cars through the frosting as soon as Mommy left the room. Luckily Granny did a quick fix before the party.

If you look closely you can see the spit that shot off his lips as he blew the candles out. The adults steered clear of this side of the cake.








Lindsay and Jacob anxiously helped Luke open his gifts.



His grand prize gift from Mom and Dad was a beautiful yellow 12" dirt bike with training wheels.


Today was a great day. We had so much fun with Luke today talking about, preparing for, and then partying for his birthday. I love three because it is the first birthday they really know what is going on. He was so happy all day. We had Grandma and Grandpa, and Granny as special guests at the birthday party.


Thank you Mom and Dad for making the journey down to our home. Sorry I didn't get any pictures of you here. We loved having you.

Cousins

Here is Clayton with 3 out of 4 of his cousins who are close to his age. From left to right we have Sadie, Clayton, and Annie. I love how him and Sadie ended up holding hands. This quickly ended when Clayton found Annie's ponys.

Clayton 11 months.

Mommy's love. What a sweet dear. My love heart. Sweet face. And don't forget my little puppy love. Just a few things I say to this sweet face daily.

Clayton is crawling everywhere. Pulling up, climbing stairs, and getting into everything. He puts everything in his mouth no matter what the taste. He says momma, da da, and waves hello and good-bye. He is known at church as the happiest, and most smily baby ever. Last Sunday he was smiling and waving at everyone sitting behind us. I love his peaceful, and loving personality. He is starting to interact with Luke in more physical ways. He'll give his hair a good yank to get his attention. Luke will wrestle him down, and Clayton's getting better at escaping. He loves sissy Lindsay and will crawl up to her and reach up to have her pick him up, like she is one of his Mommy's. He gets the most excited when he sees Jacob though. He knows Jacob will always be nice and fun. When Daddy comes home is his favorite time of day. He'll just dive forward the second he sees him. We just all love this little guy.