Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Braves Game!

I know it's hard to tell we're actually at a Braves game - but we had a LOT of fun! We enjoyed a Friday night (June 5th) ... at the Braves game with some of Jonathan's family! I enjoyed visiting with everyone, that great baseball weather, the cheering/chanting, and of course the good ol' tomahawk chop - did I mention the HOT DOG!
Micah was WONDERFUL and even slept through the fireworks!

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Benjamin's 3rd BIRTHDAY!

Here are a few pictures from Benjamin's 3rd Birthday! Jonathan actually ended up taking the boys to Chuck-E-Cheese on Saturday when I was at the Temple!
Benjamin sneaking a jelly bean from his candy cake

Lunch at Chick-Fil-A


Ready to open presents


Benjamin and Micah - although Micah looks like a doll



Blowing out the BIG three candles!
What a fun family birthday!!

St. George ...

We had a WONDERFUL weekend in May at the beach. My favorite was our 5 mile family bike ride! Here are a few pictures!
Rachel and the boys on the beach...

Jonathan and Benjamin headed into the water...


Micah snoozing on the beach...


Jonathan and Benjamin building a sand castle...

The boys ready for our bike ride...



All ready for our biek ride...

(please note our camera is on it's last leg ... so lots of our next posts will have black and white pictures ... our new camera is on it's way!)

Thursday, June 4, 2009

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BENJAMIN!


I'll post more pictures later of his birthday celebrations ... but this is a fun picture I took at the park the other day! We've had a fun day so far ... Chuck-E-Cheese tonight! (Benjamin's request!)
How does 3 years go by so fast ... and I'm sure the next 3 and 10 and 15 wil go by just as fast! Benjamin is such a wonderful - full of life - child! We are so blessed to have him in our home. He is already such a wonderful brother to Micah ... and SUCH a big helper!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUDDY!

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

The Cafe and visiting Great Grandmas!

We stopped by ALABAMA ... (somehow Jonathan thought it was on the way to Florida) ... to visit Jonathan's Grandmothers! We had wonderful visits with both of them and it was worth traveling the whole day. They are both so sweet!
Here are the boys at the Cafe (Jonathan's Grandma Sarah's Cafe)...
Benjamin got: fried chicken, macaroni and cheese,
and creamed corn
Jonathan: meat loaf, collards and BOILED okra
Rachel: fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, collards and boiled okra (I thought it was going to be fried - but boiled actually tasted pretty good!)

Grandma Sarah and Micah

Micah, MeMaw and Benjamin!

Eric and Emily's Wedding!

Mr. and Mrs. Eric Mitchell

The Owens and Mitchell siblings... pretty good - 14 of the 17!

Here we are... the Birmingham Temple is a smaller Temple but AMAZING and BEAUTIFUL! It was wonderful to be at the wedding with them and our family!

We REALLY enjoyed a night at the hotel ... and we ALL slept in before heading to the reception in Montgomery! My favorite (wish I had a picture) was a table at the reception just for kids! What a great idea! Congratulations Eric and Emily!

Catching up...

So these are really out-dated... but I'm catching up!!
Mrs. Lorraine, Benjamin and Mrs. Robyn on the last day of school!
This was Benjamin thoughout the whole program... he wanted to sit with us and would NOT participate at ALL... stinker! They said a recited prayer, their ABC's and sang Jesus Loves Me.
Benjamin getting his diploma

Benjamin with his little diploma


We hurried home from his program to finish packing the truck... and waved good-bye to our wonderful neighbor - Joanie who is such a great friend and came to "see us off"!
We then headed for our new home and started to unpack the truck. Paul, Sarah and Mary came to help unpack and stayed SUPER late ... THANK YOU!! Here is Benjamin and Mary after pizza, soda and now Reese's peanut butter cups!

Thursday, May 21, 2009

A Miracle for a little stone...


The tiny white dot in the center ... is the stone for which this miracle is all about ...

Wednesday morning at 3:30 am I woke up with severe abdominal pain. After wondering what to do - in a new city, with two sleeping babies, I asked Jonathan for a blessing. In the blessing I was promised to know if we should go to the hospital or not. Within a few more minutes, with my legs shaking uncontrolably because of the severity of the pain we quickly called my dad to see what I should do (who is a doctor). Withing minutes, we had loaded the little ones into the car and headed to the hospital which just happens to be about 3 miles away.

The nurses quickly got me into a room and gave me Toradol (pain medication), Zofran (nausea med) and Rocefen (antibiotic). I then had a CT scan (and later an x-ray ... see below) which found that I had a Kidney stone ... in size of 8 mm. A "normal" stone is 3-4 mm - and so my body physically would not be able to remove the stone on it's own... so the urologist was called ... and we were sent home for about 2 hours before going to his office to discuss the surgery options.



We called my Mom to the rescue - and as usual - she dropped everything to come and stay with the boys so we could go to the urologist (aren't those for old people ??) and then to help take care of me for the rest of the day. I was incredibly sick for the rest of the day - we aren't exactly sure why - but needless to say I was. I was supposed to drink Magnesium Citrate (lemon liquid laxative ... yes I did say LAXATIVE) at 4:00 pm ... but couldn't keep anything down. After FINALLY holding down a Zofran - the nausea etc. started to go away... and unfortunately BUT fortunately I finally was able to drink the most AWFUL drink I've ever tasted!

Then the miracle ... at about 9:00 pm - still to weak and sick to get out of the bed, Bro. Crosby (our new friend from the ward) ... came by to give me a blessing with Joanthan. The blessing was really special and amazing. I was promised that the my body would be responsive to the treatment that I would have the following day along with many other blessings. Within the hour ... I was feeling 80% better - able to walk, sit-up, talk, drink etc. I now more than ever have a testimony of the power of the priesthood. Although things may not always happen so quickly as this ... I know that the power of the priesthood is VERY real and that according to our faith and righteousness the Lord does bless us.

At 8:00 am - Thursday morning, Jonathan and I headed to the hospital so that I could have a procedure called Lithotripsy performed. I had to be put under general anasthesia and long-story short ... they broke up my kidney stone so that it could all come out! The doctor said that everything seemed to go well ... we now just have to wait and see if the "sand-like" pieces come out and I will go back a week from now for another scan to see if all is well! The picture below is of an "X" on my right side ... just so they made sure they were working on the right side.



Although the pain was as bad or worse than having a baby ... I know the Lord truely blessed us in every way. We had countless tender mercies from the Lord. The boys were AMAZING at the hospital. The hospital was AWESOME ... everyone was so incredibly nice, gentle and ready to serve us. The on-call urologist was AWESOME. He quickly got me into his office and was just like a dad. The procedure Thursday went well - and all of the hospital staff again - was better than anyone could've ever asked for! Jonathan (crying as I write this) was the perfect husband ... as he is always at my side "through sickness (and health)" ... even in those yucky moments when I'm stuck over the potty, getting an IV, and even making me laugh when the nurse asked if I "ate a lot of salad because I was trying to lose weight after having a baby..." WHAT? ... NO! I just like salad! My mom ... what can I say more than she always comes as soon as I call - she is selfless in every way and truely loves our little family. Micah... what a trooper - he's even learned to like formula - but he's happy to be back nursing again - and Benjamin can't wait for mom to be better (although we did sneak in a little plastic golf before bath time Thursday night!) Some may say ... why now, in a new city, only knowing a hand full of people, with a three week old baby - but what a blessing this has been to our little family. The Lord has blessed us and brought us closer together as a family ... and I am so grateful for the miracle of this little stone!

Jonathan GRADUATED!

Jonathan GRADUATED and we are SO excited! Sorry this post is almost 2 weeks delayed - but we have had a lot going on the last week or so ... which I will post hopefully tomorrow ... in a seperate post - BUT this post is all about JONATHAN!
Over the last 4 years of dental school and the 4 years of undergrad - Jonathan has been amazing! He is a wonderful husband and father and has supported us in every way that he could! The many sleepless Saturdays that when Chick-Fil-A awaited him opening the doors, the many late nights at the lab that awaited him to lock the doors ... and even the poison ivy that he had to endure from yard work at my parents... just proved how much he truely loved and loves our family! Jonathan studied hard and also made time for us and served in his calling faithfully without ever complaining! We just love him!
Jonathan happily found out today that he has his LICENSE and plans to begin working on Monday, June 1st. He will be working with Dr. Beau Benich in Woodstock, GA! He is really excited to begin working. It has been such a blessing to have him home the past few weeks!
Enjoy the MANY pictures of his graduation!
The group shot...

Rachel and the boys & Jonathan and Rachel

The Owens & Gene (Jonathan's dad) and Jonathan
* Jonathan's dad was able to hood him at the hooding ceremony!

The Harrisons & the Brands


The Owens siblings & the Owens again


Benjamin and Micah with their dad!


Congratulations JONATHAN! We are so proud of you and so glad to have you in our lives! You are the best and we love you bunches and bunches!

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Best of Friends ALREADY!

So Benjamin has really been AMAZING with Micah. He 100% adores him and can't stand when he cries (and not because of the volume ... because it makes him almost cry)! I was finishing up putting away some clothes while Micah was laying on our bed ... when Benjamin woke up from his nap. He had in mind just the thing for the two of them to do...

Benjamin picked out his favorite book (at the moment) -- which so happens to be about two brothers who are "Bored - Nothing to Do" ... which I'm sure will be these two little mischievous brothers in just a few short years!


Benjamin really has been so sweet with him ... he MUST give him a hug and a "tiss" before going anywhere, before nap/bedtime ... and when he wakes up - and almost everytime in between! Micah also has to lay by him just for a minute or two before he goes to bed!
Best of Friends already!