Life is so precious!

As the 1 year anniversary of Andrew's "Angel Day" approaches I have been thinking a lot lately about how quickly life can be turned upside down, how precious life is.  I have heard of a couple stories recently that have made me think about the day Andrew died and our life since then.  A lady in my parent's ward had their 29 year old daughter pass away in her sleep, my brother told me about a 16 month old boy in his stake who died in a household accident, and young father who (from Pleasanton, CA where I grew up) was 27 years old who also passed away in his sleep about a week ago.  Life is so short.  It can change so quickly.  What I wouldn't give to be able to be able to have hugged and given Andrew so many more snuggles and kisses.  He is so perfect!  My heart hurts so much for these families and the hurt they are feeling.   I remember the people who wrote to me that also have angels all said it was so hard but time helps.  It has helped.  The Gospel heals and has blessed us with comfort that  I feel like I have found a new normal.   I'm grateful for this time of year and the opportunity we have to remember the birth of the Savior and work to act as He would.  Please take the time to hug and love and appreciate your kids, spouses and families.  Life is so precious and we thank Heavenly Father every day that he blessed us with being part of Andrew's precious life.

Gratitude

With the daily events of life and being out of town for the whole week of Thanksgiving, I haven't posted in way too long.

We live really close to a little pond and the kids have loved feeding the ducks.

Jared enjoyed watching the ducks and eating the bread.

Trav was more comfortable throwing the bread from a safer distance.

A fun park is right next to the pond that we love swinging at.

We have so much to be grateful for! 

Each of our kids are so perfect and we are so thankful for each one.

I'm grateful for the blessing adoption has been in our life.  We have wonderful birth mom's that we LOVE; they are our heroes. 

 Tanner adds so much spice and fun to our life.

I'm grateful for our girl, Aubree.  The more boys we have, the more I appreciate Aubs.  She is such a good big sister and is constantly helping me with her brothers.  She is such a good example to them and loves playing "camp" with them.

Travis still loves tigers... He is going through a stage right now of 1-2 outfits that he likes to switch off wearing.  Travis is now started to wear a back pack all of the time.  It is one of Eric's old Track ones and Trav can keep all of his stuff in it.  The back pack is almost bigger than he is.

Jared is growing up too fast.  He is almost 15 months and decided to start walking last night.  He is such a sweet boy.  

I'm so grateful for Eric.  He is so so wonderful.  The kids LOVE having their Dad around more.  Each night at bedtime, Eric goes through his mission pictures and tells the kids all about his mission.  It is so cute.  Eric is such a great person, and I'm so thankful for his strength and example to me.  Eric has worked so hard for our family and we are so grateful for his hard work.  Eric and I did our mormon.org profiles and I just wanted to post them both here (ERIC'S & MINE).  

Jared loves climbing in and out of our chairs.

We went to Spokane, to my parents house, to celebrate Thanksgiving.  

The kids loved seeing their cousins.

We are very grateful for our families!

Mary and Leslie (my sisters) came to town too.  I sure love them.  

Aubs in "jail" during our a game of tag.

I love Jared's smile.

I'm also grateful to be pregnant.  We still can't believe it and we excited to have another little boy.  I am now just over 21 weeks and feeling good.  I am going to physical therapy to help ease my hip pain, but besides that, everything is going good.

When we got home from our Thanksgiving trip, we got our Christmas stuff up.  Aubree loves to decorate and ended doing a lot of it.

Trav getting caught trying to sneak a candy cane (NOTE: he is wearing his favorite outfit).

Jared loves to help me load and unload the dishwasher.  He makes the face above all the time when he thinks he is being funny.

Jared loves the Christmas tree.  Whenever he sees it lit up, he says "Wow."  

We wanted to incorporate Andrew into our Christmas decorations, so we started doing some homemade ones, but the next day I saw some at Target that you add pictures to and they ended up looking tons better.  

Christmas has now taken on a deeper more family-focused meaning to us.  I'm grateful for this time of year.  To be able to focus on the life of the Savior and what He has done for each one of us.

Baby Boy

We are having another boy! We are excited and he is healthy and growing well.  

I thought I was having a girl this time, since I was more sick during this pregnancy.  Each of my pregnancies have been so different.  Every time I hear the baby's heartbeat or see him on an ultrasound, it is still surreal to me that Heavenly Father let us get pregnant again.  

Aubree was hoping for a sister, but she has come to grips with having another brother already.  

JARED

We find out tomorrow whether this special boy is going to have a little sister or a little brother...

Jared is within a week of the age Andrew was when he passed away.  Eric and I, both take every opportunity we can to squeeze, snuggle, kiss, hold, and appreciate every little thing he does.  It is hard to lay him down to sleep at night and I don't like it when he sleeps in. 

We are so grateful Heavenly Father blessed us with the miracle of Jared.  He has filled our arms and helped every one of us in our healing.  

Halloween

It seemed like Halloween lasted forever with all of the dressing up that the kids did and all the candy we had.  We had Tanner's party, a city carnival, our ward Trunk of Treat, and we took the kids trick or treating for their first time.

 Travvy the Pirate

Aubree was a witch (she dressed as something different every chance she could) 

 I think we only dressed Jared up for the trunk or treat.

I accidentally deleted off my camera the picture I had of Tanner the horse.  

Sara came with us to the truck or treat.  Looking at this picture reminded me of last year when we had all our kids at the trunk or treat.  Jared is sucking on a sucker above, just like Andrew is below.

 

Travis loved dumping out his candy and picking it up, over and over. 

 We have had the opportunity to live close to family (Eric's brother) for the last year, but they will be moving next month.  The kids sure have enjoyed their great cousins.

 We had our ward Primary Program the day before Halloween, so Eric's family came into town to watch.  Eric's little sisters and Aubree got a hold of my camera and took tons of pictures.  Aubree sure LOVES her aunts.

Cute Lynnette 

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 Uncle Brandon came too.  We didn't get a picture of Grandpa and Grandma Nygard.  We sure appreciated them coming to watch.

Beautiful Aubree!  Love this girl! 

Love this picture! I love how Tann has his hand on Andrew's head.  

Oh, how I miss this perfect boy.  He had the BEST ears and lips.

We have another 5 year old...

A few weeks ago our little Tanner boy turned 5.  I can't believe that he is 5... Tanner is such an awesome kid.  I took some pictures of him for his birthday party invitation.

Tanner is such a fun boy.  He is our loudest and most outgoing child.  He is such a good brother to his siblings.  Jared, especially loves Tanner.  Tanner can make him laugh better than anyone else.  Jared lights up when Tanner comes into the room.   

 Tanner is a really smart kid.  He memorizes things really quickly, is starting to read really well, and is improving a ton in his writing.

 Tanner's laugh and smile are infectious.  Tanner has a heart of gold and we are so grateful for him.

We had a fun birthday party with lots of friends.  Tanner dressed as a cowboy for his party.  We had donuts on a string contest.  It was pretty entertaining watching the different strategies to try and eat the donut.  Tanner tried wedging it between his shoulder and cheek.  

 Girls turn

 Aubree did awesome.  I wish I had a picture of Travis trying to eat his donut with his hat on.

Tanner was in heaven with everyone singing to him and so many people who loved him around.  I didn't get any pictures of his birthday day or any of Tanner opening his presents.

I love Tann's face at the end and when he makes a quick wish.  I think he wished something about getting married.  Happy Birthday Tanner!