Jared's Birthday Party

On Thursday, July 15th we had a small birthday party for Jared's 3rd birthday. We invited Grandma & Papa over for cake and ice cream. That's it. No one else. It was perfect. We watched the TV show Wipeout, which Grandma & Papa had never seen. Papa laughed real hard that night. Jared opened his 2 presents, then we sang happy birthday, blew out the 3 candles and enjoyed the chocolate cake and ice cream. Perfect.

Grandma & Papa got him a Diego toy set. The other boys were all over it like vultures!

Aaron thought he needed to help Jared open his presents. Apparently he was not going fast enough.

We got Jared this Toy Story 3 Woody doll. Jared loves Toy Story.

Jared chose pink sprinkles to put on his cake. They were very pretty. His brothers about died when he chose them.

Lots of spitting on the cake....not much blowing. So Mom helped.

Happy 3rd Birthday Jared!

Happy Birthday to my youngest boy, Jared!

Jared was born on July 15th, 2007. He came as a big surprise. We had a c-section scheduled for the next week, but he was on his own time schedule. My water broke around 4:30am. We called Grandma & Papa to come over and watch the other sleeping boys so we could go to the hospital. In the past my labor would not start without the help of medication. With Jared it was a different situation. My labor started within the next 30 mins. Waiting for my parents to arrive was torture! We rushed to the hospital around 5:30am, with me screaming for Joe to drive as fast as he could. We had to travel all the way to Country Club and Brown to the Banner Mesa Medical Center, it has since been closed down. This is the same hospital that all our boys were born in, along with myself when it was called Mesa Lutheran Hospital. Once I reached the OB department, I had 4 nurses working on me. 1 took my history, 1 put in my iv, 1 prepped me for surgery, while the last 1 administered medication to stop my very strong contractions. Once I was in the operating room they gave me my spinal tap and I couldn't believe it when it didn't take. The nurse began prepping my belly and I would gasp at the coldness every time she touched me. She finally stopped and said, "She shouldn't be feeling this." I said, "I know, I can still move my feet." And began wiggling my feet. Everyone freaked out and started screaming because my spinal tap had not taken. A 2nd spinal was administered and this one took with no problem. They then proceeded to get Jared out. It was quite the experience. He was perfect in every way.

Here are a few fun pictures of my baby boy.

All the Macdonald boys celebrating the birth of the youngest brother. Baby Jared and Daddy.
Grandma Phyllis, Grandma Janell & Papa Hastings

Jared enjoying the leftover cake batter/bowl after making his birthday cake this morning. That boy loves chocolate!

Happy 3rd Birthday Jared! We love you.

July 4th Celebrations

July 4th was spent as always up in Heber, AZ at grandma & papa's cabin. This year we had a smaller group. Just the Macdonald's, Grandma & Papa & the Merrill's along with cousin Allie attended. All the kids got along great. They played and played. Enjoying the great weather. On Saturday, July 3rd we all went down to the Heber parade....along with everyone else that was on the mountain! It was a great experience.

Here are a few of the kids hanging out in the shade waiting for the parade to start. We had to go down 3 hours early just to get a small spot on the side of the highway. Then we had to go to our spot an hour before the start time to secure the spot and park our cars before the highway was shut down. It was nuts! Waiting for the parade to start. From left to right, Uncle Sean, Allie, Tatum, Aaron, & Dusty.From left to right, Back row, Papa, Aunt Christine, Grandma, & Joe

Front row, Aaron, Dusty, Garrett, Jacob, Tyler & Jared

Here is what the highway looked like. This is facing west.

Facing east toward Show Low.

One of our favorites in the parade. A guy with a snake on

his neck!Jared's reaction to all the loud noises of the parade. Car horns, engines, etc. He does not like loud noises!

On Sunday, July 4th we took our boys to the Willow Springs Lake to get out of the cabin for a couple of hours. This lake is smaller than Woods Canyon Lake, but still a fun adventure for the boys.

Tyler and Aaron on a rock.

Tyler & Jared

Jacob, Jared & Tyler on our hike around the lake.

Tyler inside a fort we found.

Enjoying the water. There were people fishing everywhere so we really couldn't throw rocks. Bummer for the boys. They love to throw rocks in the water.

Jared took the liberty to throw a few small things, whenever Dad wasn't paying attention. I believe Joe is dreaming of a canoe about now. Someday.....

There is nothing like fireworks in the cool pines. Heber always has a great show. We took our jackets and glow sticks and enjoyed homemade ice cream in our favorite spot. Galen and his new wife Julia came over to have dinner with us and enjoy the show, too. Of course,

every year I say I'll take pictures of us at our favorite fireworks viewing spot, and every year I forget to get out the camera. Oh well, next year!?!

Arizona Natrual History Museum

On June 30th I took the boys and their visiting Utah cousin, Curtis, to the Arizona Natural History Museum. We had a great time walking around looking at the dinosaurs, jail and panning for gold. It was a great day to get out of the heat.

Tyler & Curtis looking through a space rock.
The boys in front of the dinosaur flash flood exhibit.

Jacob & Tyler ...dinosaur bonesTyler in jail

Curtis & Jacob in jail

Aaron in jail

Curtis panning for gold

Aaron showing me his gold.

Jacob

Tyler

Jared, Tyler & Curtis on a giant sea turtle

The museum lobby

Catching Up... Building a wall & Woods Canyon Lake

The weekend of June 25th-28th we took a quick trip up to my parent's cabin in Heber/Overguaard. It was nice to get out of the heat and enjoy a nice quiet weekend in the pines. Joe has been working 4 10's with every Friday off and he had some time that was either use it or lose it, so we decided to use it. No TV, no phones, no radio. It was glorious!

We enjoyed reading books while the boys watched old VHS tapes and ran around outside. Aaron even learned how to ride his bike without training wheels (I didn't get any pictures though, oops). Joe and Jacob built a wall/room divider in the basement for my Mom. One side is a closet, while the other is for shelving. Jacob was the big helper. He was interested in every aspect of the project and stayed to help the entire time.

Here is the beginning of the project. Tyler and Aaron wanted in on the hammering too. Thanks to extra nails and spare wood, everyone got to help.Aaron showing off the extra nails.
Jared says, "Me too".

Starting on the drywall.

The closet side.

The storage side.

On the way home we stopped at Woods Canyon Lake. Joe with the boys.

Sherri with the boys.

Looking for rocks to throw.

CHEESE!

Finally, throwing rocks.

Hiking around the lake.

We spotted the Bald Eagle. It kept flying around the lake. So we hiked closer and got some great pictures of it sitting in the top of the very tall trees.

Joe & SherriPicture taken by Jacob. I'm so glad he is able to get some good pictures of Joe and me every once in a while.

Boulder Creek Stake Girls Camp

I was very lucky to be able to attend girls camp at Camp LaMia this year with my stake. I went up with a few friends working in the Craft cabin as a Craft Lady. We left on Wed, Jun 16th and returned on Saturday, June 19th. It was busy but very fun. I love going to camp. It gives me great "girl" time and there is nothing like the spirit at camp. Wednesday was our busiest craft day. The girls made necklaces. Panic started to set in as we realized we were short on some supplies. Because of a combination of a bunch of girls making more than one, without permission, and the total numbers were off a bit. So Thursday, during the hike, we took a road trip into Payson for more stuff. Luckily we found a craft store that had some supplies that would work. In all it worked out fine. We learned a little and had a great time together.

I was so grateful that I was included this year at camp. It was uplifting and memory making. Now if only I had pulled out the camera I brought along and actually took some pictures. Oh well.

Joe's birthday and other goings on

I am so lame. Joe's 37th birthday was this past Monday and it has taken me until now to post about it. It was an uneventful birthday, no thanks to me. Joe decided that he wanted to attend the ASU Baseball playoff games the weekend before his birthday as his birthday present. So he attended the Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday day and night games for his birthday celebration. He enjoyed 4 college baseball games with no wife or children. A perfect celebration in his mind. Then on Monday the boys and I went to lunch at Applebee's with Dad. That evening Joe and I had our Co-Ed softball games. No parties, no fuss. Just the way he likes it.
Happy Birthday Joe!

On another note and goings on....

I took Jared to get speech evaluated today. He was on his game. He refused to speak to anyone and would just walk away if they tried to engage him. I even had Aaron there trying to help engage him. Needless to say we are scheduled for a 2nd screening later this month. They want to evaluate his speech, cognitive (which I know is fine, but they don't know because he ignored them) and social skills. They thought it was funny that while he played if they took a toy from him he did nothing. He would just move on. I wish that were true at home. He fights to the death at home. Oh well. We'll see what happens.