Blessings!

This past weekend was full of blessings. All I can say is that I am so thankful for my family. I have the most amazing family. I know they all sacrificed to come to Holston's blessing and I loved having them all here. I wish we could all live close. Girls we need to work on that. We could have our own little compound, wouldn't that be fun? We had a blast getting together for dinner at Ryan's parents house, I don't know what we would do without them, they are always there for us! We are so blessed! Ryan gave Holston the sweetest blessing. I am so thankful for him, he has been amazing. I always overwhelm myself and he is always there to calm me down and help me, we are a great team, huh babe?
Another amazing blessing is having such great friends to watch over and help us with our kids. Jackson fell at Thatcher's Homecoming football game and split his head open (for the second year in a row). Thanks to all that were there to care for him when he fell, and to Jace for rushing him and Ryan to urgent care, and to Erin and Joan for taking
care of my other kids. They just glued it that night and it held well until Jackson started a fight with his cousin and got hit with a plastic bat and split it
open again. So thank you again to Aaron for stitching him up again, I hope this is not a yearly thing. Jackson I think was scarred physically and emotionally - when they got back (Ryan took him so I could spend time with my family - I thought they would just re-glue it) Jackson says, "They were trying to kill me!" Needless to say this has not slowed him down.
So after all of this I am feeling really blessed with all of these blessings!

We are here, we are here, we are here!

I promise we are still here. We have been very busy, but we are alive, well and happy. It amazes me how quickly time goes by. It seems like just yesterday that we moved to Thatcher, but we have been here for 7 months. We welcomed our new little guy, Holston Scot Conrad, into the world. He is so precious, even with the collic. I can't believe he is almost 2 months old. It is going by way to fast. Just to give a quick update, Brock turned 7, has started 1st grade and is playing flag football. He is doing so well, and loves his teacher. He has already learned so much. Jackson is really missing Brock now that he is in school. I really wish I could get him in preschool, if only it was free, right? Anyhow, he loves hanging out with me and helping me cook and take care of the baby. Jackson is my pal when it comes to cooking, he loves to watch food network with me. He says he is going to be Bobby Flay when he grows up. Porter is getting so big, he has so much personality. He says the funniest things. He has a fiesty side now that I don't always love, but he makes things interesting. And little Holston is doing very well. If only I could get him to sleep at night, so we stay up and channel surf most nights. I do love having that time with him though. It makes me sad to think he may be our last. Ryan has been a huge help with the other boys, he gets up with them almost every morning so I can get some sleep. He has been so patient with me in my crazy hormonal state. I really love that guy, he puts up with a lot. He is loving his job and has been able to help his dad with football too and is loving it. I know he really misses coaching so I am glad that he can help. Well I am just going to post a bunch of pictures to catch up on all you missed. They are in no real order either.

Here are all my parents grandkids except for Wyatt and Holston, they have 20 now, 6 girls and 14 boys, can you believe it.
Pinata time!

Jackson loves his Papa!

Roasting mashmellows and starbursts at Nana's & Papa's on the 4th, yes starbursts!

I went to check on Porter the other night and found him asleep in Jackson's drawer.

Jackson loves to hold Holston.

Brock waiting to go to his first day of school.

Brock ready for his 1st day of 1st grage.

Our sweet little Holston.

Porter loves to give kisses.

A Conrad Sandwich!

I love this picture, see Porter in the background?

I will try to catch up on some more later.

Way too long. . .

K, I know it has been way to long since my last update, but we have been very busy. We have been going out of town almost every weekend for the last two months and we are worn out. The boys have been playing T-ball and Coach-Pitch and loving it. We have been enjoying cooler weather, but we are bracing ourselves for the heat. I don't know what I will do with myself. I am already too hot. They have scheduled my induction for July 14th, yeah! We are very excited to see this new little guy. Ryan is loving his job, he is teaching summer school in Ft. Thomas and Clifton and we are enjoying having our Dad around more. We have been swimming a lot at the local pool. We really miss all of our friends and family that we moved away from. I will upload pictures when and if I can get my camera fixed.

We also want to wish all the fathers in our family a Happy Father's Day. We love you all.

What we have been up to!

This post is probably more for me than anything. I said when I started this blog that it would be my journal/scrapbook and I have been doing a terrible job. With that in mind I have a lot to catch up on.

I will start with Spring Break. We had a lot of fun. Ryan had the entire week off and we got to spend a lot of time with family and friends. We took the boys to the Pima Air Museum and they loved it. Jackson was a little upset because he could not get on all of the airplanes.

Here is Ryan and the boys on Pres. Kennedy's Air Force One.

This one is for you Papa, he loves the Blue Angels.

Later that week we went to the valley for Brendon's baptism and Gavin's baby blessing. We dropped in on the Welker's and the boys had a good swim. Can you believe it, swimming in March. They had a blast - Thanks Welkers! We also had a blast hanging with the Finch's who were so kind to let us stay with them. It is so weird not having anywhere to stay when we come down. Thank goodness for amazing friends who can put up with our clan. I didn't get any pictures, but we had a blast with all our cousins too at the baptism and blessing. Love you guys!

Then a few weeks later we had the unfortunate experience of having Porter air-evaced to Tucson. Here are some pictures from our stay there. The first day he was not a happy camper. I think he was sick of being poked and prodded. He just laid there and watched cartoons.

He was much happier after having a bath and something to eat.

It has been a crazy couple of months, but we are all now healthy and happy. We are loving Thatcher. The boys just got signed up for T-ball and coach pitch. Jackson cannot wait to get started. He asks everyday. He has carried his new mit with him everywhere. We are looking forward to a fun Easter weekend. Hope you all have a good one too!

Blessings!

The last 24 hours have been really stressful and crazy, but full of blessings. Sunday evening Porter fell and hit his head. I didn't think anything of it and put him to bed. He woke up crying and when I got him up he was white as a ghost, even his lips were white and he started vomiting. I had a really bad feeling so we decided to take him to the ER. By the time we got to the ER, his color was back and he was acting pretty normal. They did two CT's on his head and we were just waiting for those to come back. I was holding him and realized his heart was racing, so I mentioned it to the nurse. She could not read the pulse because it was so fast, so she hooked him up and when they finally got a read his heart rate was at 282. They immediately started an IV and drew blood and transferred him to a trama room. They decided to give him medication to restart his heart, it was pretty scary, but it worked. Within 30 seconds it came down to the 160's. We thought they would just admit us, but when Ryan asked they informed us that they would be flying Porter to Tucson because they do not have a cardiologist in Safford. I was able to ride in the air evac with Porter and I don't think I stopped praying the whole time. I don't care if I ever ride in a helicopter again. I actually got sick from the bumpy ride and got to use my barf bag. Anyhow, they admitted him to the ICU and monitored him the rest of the night. The cardiologist came and did and echo on him and diagnosed him with Supraventricular Tachycardia. It is an abnormality with the "electrical" function of his heart that will make his heart race. He will have to take medication three times a day until he can get it fixed, which won't happen until he is 7 or 8. We feel so blessed that we were able to catch this. He is such a sweet little spirit and we are so blessed to have him in our family. We are so thankful to have such great support from our families and friends. Ryan's parents have taken the older boys for us and it has been such a blessing not to have to worry about them. We thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers.

Was there any question?

Yes, it is true. We are having another boy! I don't know if we will try for the starting 5. We are very excited though, he is healthy and that is all that we could ask for. I think Brock was the most disappointed. I feel really bad because he has been praying for a sister. He actually cried when I told him it was a boy, but after seeing the pictures of the ultrasound, he perked up and was very excited. We are so blessed.

We are here!

So we are finally moved. I cannot believe it. Our house can leave a lot to be desired, but we are just happy to be together again. We can live anywhere as long as we are together. Thanks to all of you who helped us get moved and helped with our kids. We owe a huge thank you to Ryan's parents who kept the kids this last weekend so Ryan and I could get the house painted and ready to rent. So if anyone needs a house to rent - we have one available. I will post pictures of our new home and the snow we got last night a little later.

Catching up . . .

Where do I start? It has been a while. Life has been crazy insane. We found out right before Christmas that Ryan got a job with Eastern Arizona College, which meant we would be moving to Thatcher, which is what we have wanted for so long. But who knew it would be so stressful. Ryan had to start on January 5th, so he has been living with his parents and I have been single mom to three boys. It has been very challenging trying to pack up our house and take care of the boys, but I know it will be so worth it. We still have not found a place to live in Thatcher, so we are just waiting. The boys are so eager to move to Thatcher, which is great, but they really miss their dad. So that has been our life for the last month or so. Oh, and we are expecting another member to our family in July, we are very excited (when I am not sick:( ). I am just going to post some random pictures from Christmas and the last couple weeks.

Opening presents at Grandma's and Grandpa's

Porter fell asleep before we could open any presents.

Porter snuggling with Grandma and Grandpa.

We had a white Christmas at Nana's & Papa's.

They had a ball.

Christmas Eve in their new PJ's.
The 30 stockings that line Nana & Papa's banister.
The boys on Christmas Eve.
Our little Power Ranger!
Brock scored with the Bakugan.
All Porter cared about was the candy.

Sledding down the driveway.

Did I mention that it was freezing and the wind was blowing? They did not care.
Papa found a tube and pulled all the cousins around with the 4 wheeler . . .
. . . until the tube popped, but that didn't stop Jackson. Papa pulled him around just holding onto the rope.
One day I found Porter hiding in the boys room with a tub of cookie dough, it was pretty funny.

The mischief the boys have been getting into while I was packing - they emptied and entire #10 can full of sugar onto the back porch, they said it was snow.

But they have been helpful too, the boys love to do the dishes and help me cook.
So there is a look at what we have been up to. We will try to keep you posted on the move.