Bucket List!

Let me start out by saying that I HAVE THE BEST HUSBAND IN THE WORLD!!!!

Okay, now have all of you seen the movie bucket list? If you haven't then you should. This past summer Jon and I watched this show while I was in the hospital, it was very appropriate for the occasion since it is about 2 men that have cancer and are GOING to die it is just a matter of time. So they decide to make what they call a bucket list which is a list of things that they want to do before they die (no matter how big or how small). Well one of my items on my list was one that I thought may never happen or if it did I would be much older with all my kids grown up. I wanted to go to New York City for a week (not to tourist because I have done that too many times already) but to go to as many Broadway shows as I possibly can. Since I knew that this would not be a top item on Jon's list I said that I would love to make it a girls trip and go with my two best friends from college Heidi and Kate!

Well needless to say, Jon schemed and that is right folks I am going to New York with my girls on June 29th!!!! Now only just recently have I been able to sleep because I have been so excited (for about a week) since I pry ed the info out of Jon. We will be able to see 4 shows and we will actually have some time to tourist as well. Our shows that we will be seeing were chosen by all of us each with a number 1 chose and then a group choice on #4... Wicked, Chicago, In the Heights, and South Pacific! SO STOKED!!!!! We will be staying at the Marriott that is on Broadway looking over time square so it will be easy to walk everywhere we need to go and then there is always the Subway for our touristy things.

If you are asking why Jon is doing this for me it is for my Birthday/Anniversary present. We will be celebrating our 7 year Anniversary tomorrow (I'll post about that tomorrow) and my Birthday was last month, but I was pretty sick so we didn't do anything. Anyway I am just so excited about this that I thought I would share a bit of my joy with all of you! Thanks again honey for doing this for me, you are the best!!!

March 28, 1922 - April 12, 2009

Shelby, Me, Grandma Leck, Grandpa leck Aug. 07


This post has been pretty difficult for me to put on here or even write about because I think I am still in shock or denial. This Easter Sunday my 87 year old Grandpa past away. He was diagnosed with cancer in his kidneys, liver, and possibly his pancreas 10 days before he passed. The doctors wouldn't give him a time other than "it could be 2 days, 2 weeks, or 2 months".


Many of you know I was born on my grandpa Lecks birthday so I feel that I have always had a special bond with him and he with I. We have celebrated our Birthday together for 27 years; many times even traveling to have a combined "party". I know I haven't been as close since I have been out of the house, but I always look forward to hearing from him on March 28th!


I was really trying to go see him one last time, but with my own health it just wasn't in the cards; in fact my mom flew in just hours after he passed away. I have a lot of guilt and a lot of sorrow for this decision to not be there for him when he needed me most. I know he wasn't too coherent, but at least I could have held his hand and told him I Loved him one last time. I was going to write him a letter to tell him, but I didn't do that in time either. The other thing that is so aggravating to me is that I was to sick to talk to him on our Birthday so I didn't even do that. Plus I have ALWAYS saved his birthday cards that he sends me every year until I get the next years so that I have the last card he ever wrote to me. Again I don't have that, for some unknown reason I guess it got thrown away. The other thing that is difficult for me is that he had in his will that he wanted to be cremated and not have any type of funeral service; while I respect his wishes I do have a hard time that I won't be able to say goodbye and see (at least his body) for the last time. This blog is kinda just rambling but I am sobbing to hard to really think about what I am typing, so I am just trying to write whatever comes to mind (as you can see I have a lot coming to mind).

I know that I will get to see him again and I know that it will better than it was hereon earth, but sometimes that doesn't make me feel any better. I loved my Grandpa despite all his quirks and I will miss him. One thing I do remember that he wrote in my Birthday card is "Annie- I have always loved you more than anything or anybody in this world and I hope you know that! Please bring those beautiful girls of yours and your handsome hubby to see your old gramps...soon." Well I am sorry I didn't make it Grandpa, but I will bring them all to see you later...I promise!

5 years a comin'

I'm sure we all have friends out there that you would consider to be "best friends", but because of life, family, geography, and circumstances you don't get to see them very often. Well for me that is Kate.

Kate has the most beautiful olive skin and ALWAYS makes me look like a ghost in pictures!

She and I went to BYU-Idaho together and met the first summer we were there. While at school we were roomates some of the time and friends always. She has been threre for me through a lot of ups and downs over the last 9 years and I like to believe that I have been there for her as well. It has been over 5 years since we have seen each other and on Easter Weekend her and her daughter Brooklyn came for a visit because her younger brother was getting married in Boise. I was so excited that they stayed with us and we stayed up WAY TO LATE catching up. I had never met Brooklyn and she had never met my girls so it was so fun to see each others "mini me's". Our girls got along like they had known each other for years and were best buds. It was so cute to watch them play and use their imaginations together.

Here the girls are"Hiding in the kitchen" and singing to one another!

Playing in the ball pit while watching for monsters to come.

Brooklyn had to get ready for the wedding and Shelby couldn't let her take a bath alone. Can you tell that my little Shelby is having SO much fun in every pic?

Even though our lives have changed a ton in the years we haven't seen each other it seemed like we picked right up where we left off. We definately didn't get to spend as much time as we would have liked, but hey I will take what I can get. Plus we get to have a girls week in June so I am so excited. I will post details about that later.

Our Easters!

I know this is soooo late, but like I said before I am just trying to catch up. :) WARNING: This will be kinda long so unless you care you can just look at the pics.

This Easter we celebrated a couple of times and the girls didn't mind at all. It was so much fun because Shelby actually got it this year. First we had our Best Buds ever come and stay with us, the Schow's.

Here is Shelby with her concentration face while dying eggs!

Shelby and Jonah. These two are really good buddies despite their age difference. I reserve the right to use this pic later in life if I need too.

Sharing the colors! Jonah was really good at this and Shelby well ummm she is 2 so she just dyed the same 6 eggs over and over and over! But she did love every minute of it and Jonah was able to go to town and did an awesome job.

Dying the egg yet again just in a different color this time.

Shelby's Loot!

Jonah and Shelby dyed eggs together and we got a few bribery pics for when they are older and then we had an Easter egg hunt. The kids had so much fun and Heidi and I had tons of fun laughing our cute kids. It was so fun to have them visit! We mostly watched a TON of movies because apparently Jon and I are way behind on all the good flicks plus I was still a little sick from the week before. I finally got a picture with Heidi; only because I MADE her promise. We have been friends for almost 9 years and this is the ONLY pic I have of her (go figure) I guess we just are too busy having fun when we see each other.

Then on Easter Sunday we had the easter bunny come and the girls loved that. It was way fun to have them rummage through their baskets, but it is difficult to get a good pic so these are the best I got.

Our Little Bunny Lou Lou! She actually didn't mind these ears and wore them for a really long time. Pretty funny!

Shelby was pretty excited about her ears to and the rest of the stuff.

I know you are all asking "this is the best you had" and my answer is "i know pathetic, right?" Shelby was ready for the day and poor Libby is still just loungin'

This is our attempt to get both girls and their baskets. Libby wasn't too great at sitting up yet which is why I had to be in their. (p.s. she is a pro now and can sit up on her own!)

Later that night we went to our good friends the Hermansen's for dinner which was super delicious and then we had another easter egg hunt at our neighborhood park. All of our girls loved it as you can see from the pics below.

Libby, Chloe, Shelby, and Rylee. These girls are best friends and can't stop talking about one another. I love it!

Shelby found one!

Chloe was sooo cute and got this excited with EVERY single egg!

Rylee is adorable and was so much fun to watch run around and find the "hard" ones.

We are so grateful for all of our family and friends and are blessed to have so many people in our lives that truely care for us. I am really one of the luckiest Mom's in the world to have such a wonderful family and life. I am grateful for the atonement and the true reason for this celebration and everyday I live I realize how lucky I am to have the chance to still be around. Thanks to all who celebrated with us! We love you.

Grandma Hammons to the Rescue!

After I got out of the hospital (in March) my mom came up to Boise to take care of us for a week. It was so nice because she had just been here with my dad the day before I was admitted in the ER. The girls always love to have her come visit and she is a life saver for sure.

Here is Shelby with her Chocolate pudding that Grandpa Hammons had gotten her when he was here. As you can tell she is nothing like her mother, she LOVES chocolate!

"Grandma you want a kiss, special for you?" Can you tell that Grandma is not quite sure she really wants that chocolaty kiss?

I am convinced that NO adult can pretend and play like my mother! this is their city that they made and this game lasted for at least a good hour or so. Shelby and Grandma are on the same page the whole time and just keep playing off of one another. Amazing!

Libby is my thumb sucker but she will only do it right before you lay her down or when she first gets up in the morning before her bottle is ready. I had to catch this cuteness because it is only at certain times and usually I am the one who has her. Grandma just eats this little bundle of joy up. She is seriously so stinkin cute, if I do say so myself.

I had been trying to get Libby to eat "baby food" and she would just get the throw up shivers and spit it out so my mom decided to make homemade baby food and freeze a ton for me while she was here. It was night and day difference, now my Libby Lou loves to eat her food. She is always this happy, but when she is eating she is so giggly and blows bubbles and squeals. So fun!

As you can see we had a blast even though the circumstances were not ideal. My mom is amazing and so helpful and selfless. I couldn't ask for a better role model or friend and I just hope that one day I can be a mom just like her! Love you mom and thanks again!!!

Where do I start?

I have been feeling a little overwhelmed with my blog lately because so many things have happened since my last post and I don't know where to start. SO instead of feeling overwhelmed I am gonna just take it one step at a time and hopefully catch up soon. I have some pictures that were taken when I was in the hospital last month that I just think are adorable. As you know Grandpa Scott took care of the girls while I was sick this last time and let me just say that Shelby LOVED it!! He did the cutest thing for her lunches that I think is blog worthy for sure. it is called her "cookie face". She know asks for a "cookie face" almost every day for lunch. Grandpa said that it took her a REALLY long time to eat it because she was too busy playing with it. Thanks again Grandpa I know it isn't easy to just jump in and play mom!The other pictures that I have were the day before I last went to the hospital of our Blimp attempt. We flew it inside for a while, but the helium so was strong that it was always getting stuck on the fan. This thing was WAY bigger than we ever thought it would be so we were pretty glad that our ceilings are 20 ft. high otherwise it would have bumped us all in the head. So we took it outside and it was super windy so it popped before Shelby and Libby got to see it. But it was entertaining for the neighbor kids.

Jon and Uncle Tyson putting much concentration into setting this thing up.

Our blimp Magical right???

The neighbor kids "driving" the blimp. The wind was so strong that I am pretty sure the remote control didn't do much.

Here is the tree that finally popped it!

Okay well that is all the time I have for now so hopefully I will get to this sooner rather than later!