So much to be grateful for...

With today being Thanksgiving I just want to take a moment to be grateful.... I have so much! A few things I am very grateful for are:

1. My parents.... without them I wouldn't be who I am today! My mom taught me how to be a loving mother. My mom and dad were always there for me whenever I needed them. My dad would always go on my field trips with me, even if it was an over nighter at the Enviromental Center! I never went without anything that I needed and seldom went without what I wanted! My parents ALWAYS took the very best care of me and my brother and sisters. They are such great parents and I love them both so much!

2. My husband... Lets be honest he has to be one of the most patient men out there in the world today.... He is such an amazing husband and even a more amazing father! He is always trying to do what ever he can to make me and my girls happy! He lays in my spot on the bed to warm it up before I come to bed! He will always get me socks for my cold feet no matter what time of day or night it is! Right now he is running around town trying to find me a newspaper that has all the black Friday ads in it!! He is so amazing!! I love you Tracy!!

3. My BEAUTIFUL girls... I am so extremely grateful for my 3 girls! They make me so happy! They always put a smile on my face and warm my heart! I am so grateful that I get to stay home with them to experience all of the joys of motherhood... It was always something that I wanted to do is stay home with my family and I get to do it!!! I am so grateful that this year Ella was able to join our family. Hannah and Madelyn love their little sister so much, they help with anything that she may need. I love you, Hannah, Mady, and Ella!!!

4. My sisters.... I love my sisters so much! Dallice is so loyal and always there for me! I have loved watching my little sis grow up into such a great person. She is such a good mom that loves her family so much! Thank you Dallice for all you've done for me and my family! I love you! I also love my big sis Brea! She may not be here with us now to enjoy all the things we are doing but growing up she was a great big sis! She was a great mom who loved her kids so much! I know that she is watching over us probably laughing her head off that we have turned her Jordan into a black Friday nut!! I love you Brea and I know that one day I will be able to tell you that!!!

5. My brother... Sometimes I give my brother a hard time and say that when people know him and realize that I am his sister I always say I really like people to get to know me before they know we are related! The other day when I mentioned this to someone I ran into she said that Zack is a good person and was always kind to her! I know that my brother is a kind person and a great dad! He loves Harlie so much and uses his time off to spend with her. He comes and shovels my walks when Tracy is out of town. He is such a good person and loves his family! I love you Zack! Thanks for being my brother!

6. My nieces and nephew... I just love my sweet nieces and nephew soooo much! They are such great kids! Tyson makes me so proud of all his accomplishments that he has achieved this year! His mom is so proud of him, I just know it because I know that all of us are so proud of him! I cannot believe how grown-up my Jordy is! She is so much fun to be around and such a help with my girls! She is so beautiful! Harlie, Korie, and Gracie you are such good girls! I love you all so much and I know that Aunt Spring is going to always be your favorite auntie!!!

7. My friends.... I have been so blessed to have the amazing friends that I do have... Good friends are such a blessing! To me my friends are my extended family! I have been so blessed with good friends that helped us when we have needed a little help! I have friends that have been my friends for many years and some that have only been my friend for a short time but you are all very important to me and I value our friendship very much!

8. The Gospel... I am so fortunate to have the gospel in my life! Through the Atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ I know without a doubt that I will be able to be with my family forever and I will be able to see my loved ones that have passed on.... I miss my grandparents and remember all of the past Thanksgivings that we were able to spend together. I also miss my Grandpa Zondervon's sweet sisters that have passed. I really miss my big sister, Brea and it will be such a joyous time to reunite with them all! Through the gospel we will be able to do this!

9. My Country.... I am so grateful that I live in the United States of America! I am grateful for the men and women that fight and have fought to make us a free country... I am grateful that my dad helped me to understand how important the military is and all that they do for us!

10. My in-laws.... I have been so blessed to marry into such a great family. They are always there willing to help our family whenever or with whatever we may need! My girls love there grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins very much! We all have so much fun when we are all together! Thank you for accepting me into such a great family!!

*Warm Showers when I get one...
*Yummy Food to eat...
*High Heels to make me look thinner...
*Uggs to keep my feet warm...
*Tracy's Job to pay the bills...
*Warm, Nice house to live in...


I could go on and on... I have so much and am very grateful for all that I have....

"The single greatest thing you can do to change your life today would be to start being grateful for what you have right now. And the more grateful you are, the more you get." – Oprah.

Ella's 4 months old...

Today Ella is four months old! I can't believe she has been a part of our family for four months now... She is such a sweet baby. Its hard to imagine our family without her being a part of it! She just fits perfectly into our family. Tracy and I took her to Dr. Barhorst today for her four month WCC. She weighs 13 lbs. 13 1/2 oz. and is 23 1/2 inches long. She is growing so fast!

Ella is such a good baby! She is so content. In the morning she wakes up and talks to herself in her crib. She doesn't cry she just lays there and talks! I love to hear her little voice! She really rarely cries. Only when she is hungry or tired. She has started to have a little bit of stranger anxiety already. Dr. Barhorst said she must be a smart baby to already recognize this. I am definitely going to agree with her on this! I think she is so smart and strong. She loves to stand on her legs and hold her head up! The other night she rolled over! I kept begging her not to do this.... I said Ella don't do it but she just kept rolling and then decided she didn't like being on her belly so she rolled back! Its just another sign that she is growing up!

Favorite things Ella does:

1. She has the cutest little smile that can melt your heart.

2. She coos and talks to you like you are the only one she cares about.

3. She loves to be sung to.

4. As she is swinging she looks at herself in the mirror and talks to herself.

5. My most favorite thing my sweet Ella does--- SLEEPS THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!


We love you so much Ella and you have made our happy family even happier!!!

All day at the hospital....

On Friday Mady woke up and said behind her ear hurt... I really didn't think much of it until I saw it! Behind her ear and underneath all the way down her neck it was completely swollen! She had a field trip that day so Tracy took her to instacare to see what was going on. Well they did a strep test and it came back negative and the doctor said that she would be ok to go to school and the field trip. Well it was still really swollen but Mady seemed to be ok!! Well on Saturday it was still really swollen and it worried me. So I called up to her Pediatrician's office and they got us in. Well when we took her up there the doctor was really concerned. She thought that she may have an abscess tonsil. That didn't sound very fun! Well she wanted to make sure and told us that Mady would need a CT scan! Well Mady lost it right then. She was told that she would need to get an IV and that they did this with a needle.... Well Mady was out of control from then on! She was so scared and she let everyone in the hospital aware of this! Everyone we came in contact with she would say "I'm Scared!" I told her it was ok to be scared! When we don't know what is going on and that we aren't sure what is going to happen its ok to be scared. I told her that I was going to be scared to get the bill from all of this! Just kidding but I really will be scared to open that bill!

Well after hours of waiting we were able to finally get her CT done. Now this didn't happen very easily... I bribed her with just about everything I could think of to get this test done! She finally accepted the bribery of a Zooble house! She was such a brave little girl!! She held very still and squeezed me and her dad's hands very tightly. I noticed Tracy's actually turning purple! She was very, very brave!! Well after the scan we had to go back up to the doctors office and wait for the test results! We were thinking of when we were going to have to schedule the surgery when the doctor came back and said she had some good news! Madelyn's saliva gland was clogged and that is what was causing the swelling. She told Mady she would need to eat sour candy and suck on hard candy to get the saliva gland working again... Mady looked at her and said " Good thing I like candy, huh!" We all laughed. We finally were able to head home after about 5 hours of hanging out at the hospital! We had one more stop to make and that was at Target for the Zooble house! It was worth every penny to have to see my sweet babes go through such a terrible ordeal! She was very nervous but she stepped up and came through and is one of the bravest little girls that I know!

Tracy had given Mady a blessing and I know that with the power of the priesthood and with the power of prayer Mady overcame her fear! I love my Heavenly Father so much and am so grateful that he hasn't left us here alone. He is with us and if we just ask he is willing to bless us and comfort us. As a mom it was so hard to watch my sweet girl go through this. I can only imagine how hard it must be for our Father in Heaven to watch us go through our trials. He is waiting for us to ask him for his help! He will help us! I love my family and thank my Father in Heaven every day for them!!!

Ella's Blessing....

We blessed Ella today! Not only is today a pretty cool day with it being 10-10-10 BUT to me it also has great significance... Last year on this same day (10-10-09) we did my sister Brea's and my Grandma and Grandpa Zondervon's temple work! It was an incredible experience!

I really feel that by helping them progress in the next world it helped us in this world... We had been trying for a baby for almost two years with no luck... I knew that we would eventually have another baby we just needed to be patient but if you know me or Tracy you would know that neither one of us has that trait! Well last October we decided to do their temple work and that very month we were able to get pregnant!

So when we were looking at dates to bless our sweet bundle of joy I knew that this day would be very special! I am so grateful that my family and Tracy's family and some close friends were able to spend this very special day with us! I just love my family!!!

Ella's 2 months old....

I cannot believe that my sweet Ella is 2 months old now! Why must time go by so fast? I already miss a new, new baby.... I decided that every month I am going to document what she has been up to...

We took her yesterday to get her shots and have her 2 month well child check. I just love our pediatrician!! Dr. Barhorst has been Hannah, Mady's, and now Ella's doctor. She knows our family and definitely knows how drama filled my girls are, she is so great with them. Ella did so well at her appointment. I'm not one to brag BUT she did say she was PERFECT!!! She now weighs 10 lbs. 12 1/2 oz and is 23 inches long.... She cried when she got her shots, I made Tracy hold her and then I swooped in for the rescue! Poor thing...

I went to get her out of bed this morning and I found her in only her diaper... She had wiggled and squirmed her way out of her gown and blanket... There she was laying in her crib naked with just a diaper at one end and at the other end of the crib was her blanket and gown...She is such a little Houdini!!

She loves to be sung to. Right now her favorite song is You Are My Sunshine...

She has started to suck her thumb this week! I think this is so cute but Tracy insists that we should really stop it before it gets worse!! I think I'll let her suck it for just a bit longer....

She smiles like crazy and giggles and coos at us now... It is the stinkin' cutest thing ever!! I just love her!! In fact yesterday she was laying down by me and I could hear her cooing and giggling... but she wasn't looking at me! She was looking over to the other side and definitely having a conversation with someone!! And they were making her giggle and smile!! I think that the veil is so thin for these sweet, sweet heaven sent babies! I looked at Tracy and said maybe she is talking to your grandpa and then he said maybe she is talking to your sister! Then he said maybe she is talking to her sister and I said or her brother!!! We were talking about the baby that we lost 2 1/2 years ago. Oh.. how I can't wait to meet him or her one day!

For right now I am just going to enjoy every little thing that my girls will bring into our lives! Being a mother is such a hard job! Your never prepared or ready for this journey and I just hope that I will always try my best and together we will have a pretty amazing family!! My girls mean the world to me and I love them soooo much!!! Heavenly Father has been good to us! We have been blessed beyond what we deserve!

National Walk To School Day...

This is going to be a short post but its worth remembering... So this week was National Walk to School Day. You could walk, ride a bike or scooter, or roller skate to school and you would get a treat and a drink when you arrived at the school. If you know Madelyn she doesn't pass on a treat!! Gotta love this girl! So that morning we were all ready for school and decided we were gonna ride bikes to school that morning... Yes, I have a cute cruiser bike with a basket that I ride around the neighborhood! ( I haven't rode it in a while due to my pregnancy and well there was that one incident where I fell off my bike in the school parking lot in front of everyone!!) Well, Mady still has her training wheels and we weren't riding fast enough for Hannah so she rode with some friends and left us! The thing about Mady is she will just stop suddenly and say I have an itch or I got a little scared because I was going too fast well there was a few time I almost ran right into the back of her but I managed to avoid a crash! We were able to get to school safely and Mady was given her fruit roll up and kool-aid drink...

That afternoon I had to ride my bike up to the school and get them and ride home.... Well when school gets out the side walks are pretty crowded and this is what totally made my day! Every time someone was behind us Mady would say "your gonna want to pass us!" Whenever she would say this I would chuckle to myself thinking this girl is so funny! As people would pass us they would look at her bike and notice the training wheels but wouldn't say anything but then this one boy looked at her and said " you still have those things on your bike?" Without any hesitation Mady said "Yep!" and kept on riding... I had to laugh out loud this time.... She doesn't care what ANYONE thinks of her! I love this quality that Madelyn has so much! I wish that I had this! I hope that she will always keep this!

While we were pedaling home I kept thinking to myself how lucky I am to get to stay home with my girls. I wouldn't want to miss out on these moments! I am so fortunate that I have a husband that has the means to allow me to be able to stay home with my girls! I am a very lucky woman!!!

Love At Home?!?

So today was our primary program. I got the girls cute new dresses and new shoes. I even put Hannah's hair in curlers and triple berry (barrel) curled Mady's hair. They looked like a million bucks! We were almost ready to leave when I said lets get a picture of you two cuties!! That's when all HELL broke loose... My girls started to fight because I asked them to put their arms around each other... You would think that's the end of the world! I know that sisters fight but I wish that they could get along for more than a minute... So here we are all ready for church yelling at our girls to be more loving! They start to cry (I think it was fake crying but...) and we finally got a picture of them with smiles on their faces...

When my girls do start to fight I usually start singing Love at Home! Its usually off key a bit but they start to laugh at me and it fixes the fighting...

My hope for my beautiful girls is that ONE day they will eventually all be best friends! And that they will realize how lucky they are to have one another and that no matter what we are all stuck with each other for eternity so they might at well make the best of it!! I love you girls and can't wait for the day when you are all BFF's!!

Angel Kisses....

A new baby is probably the sweetest thing a women will ever experience. It's funny how many people LOVE babies... People stop you just to glance at this sweet thing... When Ella was born one of my nurses asked if I wanted to do skin to skin... I wasn't quite sure what this was. They started to explain this to me by saying that after she is born they will lay her on my upper chest, hence the skin to skin. They do this immediately after she is born. I have to say, I am not really a "natural" kind of girl... But I thought that I would try this. I thought this was the most amazing thing ever!!! She calmed down as soon as they placed her on me and looked at me with her big eyes. I was loving every minute of it!


With her laying on me I first checked to make sure she was indeed a girl, then started counting her fingers and toes. Everything was good!! It was Tracy that said "Look Spring, her angel kisses are on her right eye!" I had forgotten about the angel kisses!


Let me explain what angel kisses mean to us. Twelve years ago my older sister passed away. Every baby in our family born after this has some red splotchy spots on either her eye, forehead, or the back of the neck. I had heard, and think its one of the sweetest things I have ever heard, that this is where a loved one in heaven kissed them before they came to us. I LOVE THIS!!


Hannah and Mady's angel kisses are both on the back of their necks. A few of my nieces have them on their forehead. I always said Brea knew to put my girls kisses on their necks because I wouldn't want them on their face! Look what she did, she kissed my sweet Ella on her eye!! I know that she did this to see what kind of a reaction she would get out of me. I may be a little vain but I love it! I wouldn't want her angel kisses any where else. I posted a few pics so that you can see Ella's angels kisses. They fade a little over time but will come back bright red when they are mad. I guess their husbands will always know when they are mad!

I am so thankful for the plan of salvation. I am so glad that I have the knowledge to know that there is life after this and that we all can be together forever!! I miss my sweet sister every day. I think about all of the fun things that she has missed over the last twelve years. I am thankful to have her as my older sister. I love you Brea and can't wait to see you again!

Another school year begins and so do mom's tears...

Hannah started the 5th grade this year and Madelyn started the 1st grade. I would like to know where the time has gone?!? Every school year I cry when I take the girls to school. A few days before school starts I’ll see the city painting the crosswalks on the street and I’ll start to cry. My girls get so embarrassed they almost wouldn't let me walk them into school. I tried telling them that I was a cool mom... That didn't work out to my advantage. They said that if I was a cool mom I wouldn't need to actually say out loud that I was a cool mom. But I know deep down that they KNOW that I am a cool mom.. I finally convinced them to let me walk them to class by promising that I wouldn't cry until I got back in the car. But as soon as I walked into the school that rush of sadness came over me. I said that we needed to take Hannah first to class because if I did start crying the 1st graders wouldn't make fun of me but the 5th graders probably would.

I always cry the first day and then usually the second day as well. I cry not so much that I am sad that they are at school but because they are growing up faster then I would like. I look at my sweet girls and wonder if I have spent enough time with them. If I have taught them the things that they need to take care of themselves at school. I worry about Mady dropping her lunch tray and kids laughing at her, I worry about Hannah being so hard on herself and not knowing that she just needs to do her best. I know its silly and Tracy just laughs at me every year when I call him bawling my eyes out. I just love being a mom so much that I don't want to fail at it. I want to teach my girls to be independent, loving, and kind girls.

Well I made it through the first day of school, in fact I made it through the first couple of weeks I think mostly due to the fact of my new, sweet baby Ella!! She helped to ease the pain of a lonely, empty house. I love all 3 of my girls so much. I am so glad that Heavenly Father sent me these little beauties!! I am so glad that I talked Tracy into another baby (I am already trying to talk him into yet another baby)!! They have all brought such happiness into our lives...

Hannah and Mady, I hope that you have such a great year at school... and just Remember one thing... I AM A COOL MOM!!!

Our newest princess...

Ella was born on July 24, 2010. She came a few days earlier than planned. Me and Tracy like to have things planned but I am thinking that Ella may have us changing that!! On Friday, July 23 we had planned a Hannah & Mady's day of fun. It was going to be our last hooray before their lives were going to consist of sleep deprived parents! I got up that morning not feeling all that well but lets be honest I was 9 months pregnant. Anyways, I took Hannah and Mady to the movie Ramona & Beezus (which is such a great mother/daughter movie). It was so good, I will definitely buy it when it comes out!! Then after the movie we came home and picked up dad, Grandma Carol, Tyson, and his sweet girlfriend Jessica. With a car full we drove down to Gateway. We took the girls to Build a Bear.... They were begging to build the new ice cream bears that they had there and we thought that with all the new changes coming that we would give in!! Some how I did pretty good walking around the mall in the hot July heat and with a HUGE belly!! I was really feeling fine. I mean I had cankles but that wouldn't stop me from doing a little shopping...

Well it was time to go and the PLAN was to meet my dad at Crown Burger in Layton. I love Crown Burger!! I usually don't leave Salt Lake without stopping at the one on Beck St and eat it on the way home!! As soon as I got in the car I had an instant back pain. Not a little ache, a pain that I have never (and hope to never) had before. I couldn't sit or lay in a position that it wouldn't hurt. My mom said that we should probably go to the hospital. I could hear the disappointment in the car that they would all now be eating hospital food instead of the delicious Crown Burger we all were anticipating. As soon as we got to the hospital my mom seriously was carrying me in. I couldn’t walk I was in so much pain. Jessica ran in to get me a wheelchair and so started our journey up to labor and delivery. I wasn't dilated much more than I was on my previous dr visit and the nurses really didn't think that I was going to stay. They said I wasn't in labor but that I may have a kidney stone that was causing my horrible pain. I don’t think that I have mentioned but see my doctor was out of town and it was a holiday weekend!! My doctor would be back on Sunday and the PLAN was going to start me on Monday morning. The nurses thought that I could wait until then. Good thing that the doctor on call was willing to keep me at the hospital and start me that night!!

I am sure that my girls were worried, if not scarred for life at the sight of their mother hunched over, being carried into the hospital. Thanks to my sweet, sweet nephew (whom I love soooo much) and his super sweet girlfriend, Jessica they took Hannah & Mady to the cafe and got them some dinner and double scoop ice creams. I'm sure that helped them a lot!!!

Well to make a looong story short, I was in labor all through the night with a not so numbing epidural... It was finally time for our new arrival. They called the doctor and he was on his way (or was he?)... We waited a while and I seriously was worried this baby was just gonna come out without the doctor!! Finally, he walked through the door and said "you know those times when you think you’re just gonna lay down for one more minute..." HE FELL BACK ASLEEP!!! Good thing I was so exhausted and really pretty out of it!! Without any complications our sweet and beautiful baby Ella Jeanne Dawson was born at 6:23 am on Saturday, July 24, 2010.

We welcome you little Ella to this crazy but very loving family... We waited so long for you... We love you so much already!!!