Ladies and Gentlemen, Dave has not left the building!

So some may not find the title humorous, especially my mom, but I think Dave would think it is funny.

Sat. the 11 of July my brother Dave had a heart attack at about 9:30 pm. So many things to be grateful for at this time, here is my list:

* Grateful that he called 911

*Grateful that Jeremy was able to go right over to Dave's house and be with him.

*Grateful for the great paramedic and ER staff at Heber Valley Hospital that brought Dave back to us.

*Grateful for LifeFlight services.

*Grateful that my mom and dad called to tell me so I could go right up to the new IHC hospital in Murray where LifeFlight took Dave.

*Grateful for the doctors and especially the nurses who helped stabilize Dave.

*Grateful for modern medicine and surgeries. Clearing major blockage from his arteries through scopes and such that run up from his femoral artery into his heart, isn't that just amazing.

*Grateful that his recovery has been so remarkably fast. He was released this afternoon, just 6 days after having the MI and being in cardiac arrest for 2 min.

*Grateful to Jeremy and Mindy for putting up with him for the next few days until we all feel better at him going back home. Sorry Mindy but the MI didn't affect his humor, it's still there.

*Grateful to John and his family for sacrificing so much for John to be up with the Great Grandparents so mom and dad could be up here with Dave for a few days.

*Grateful that I have such a caring and loving family.

*Grateful that my kids didn't lose their "Uncle Dave" and that I didn't lose my big brother.

We love you Dave, keep up the great recovery!

4th of July

We went to Central for the day and my dad was awesome and went in early to Richfield to get great seats for the parade. We had so much fun and Brett thought is was awesome. Trey and Ellie tolerated it well.

Paul and Brett checking out his candy loot.

After the parade we went out to Central to my mom and dad's and we visited with them for a bit then went over to the Great Grandparents to visit them for a bit. They were excited to see the kids again.

At noon the Central Park, which is right next to my mom and dad's home get invaded by locals and visitors for food, games and good company. Here are some pictures of the races that the kids were in.

Later in the day we drove back home and then Brett and Paul went over to Megan and Todd's so Brett could watch some fireworks. Ellie and Trey were so tired and needed to go to bed at their bedtime so I stayed home with them.

We had a wonderful time and we hope that everyone had happy and safe 4th of July.

God Bless America!

Family Picnic

On Friday the 3rd we went to Whiting's Camp Ground in Mapleton. This is one of our favorite places since Trey was a baby and we had our camping trailer. It has a lot of trees, and is quite but so close to Mapleton.
Here are some pictures from our picnic.

Brett really wanted to find some dinosaurs, so here he is out looking for them.

It was a wonderful afternoon.

Trey's TBall Season

Paul and I had the honor of coaching Trey's team this year. The Gaints!
It was so much fun!

Hey you, outfielder, pay attention!

Brett has such a great time helping Trey, he loves to bat for him and then run the bases with him. He doesn't enjoy the outfield to much right now.

Opps, this wasn't supposed to go in. But how cute is that little tushie, and she is a Gaints fan!

Go Trey!

Monday night was the last game of the season. The games were great and the BBQ was yummy and then the kids out their trophy's and pictures. Look at how happy Trey is! All the kids have a great time and the parents love to see their child be so happy to play a game that they can be apart of. I know I'm not the only parent who gets a little emotional when I see these kids play. In fact I'm crying right now seeing the pictures and writing this post. I've been kind of a boob lately. OH well, he is my boy and I'll cry over him all I want!!!!!!!! Take that. :)

Thank you Trey for a great Tball season and for being a VIP player!

Double Trouble

Driving the race car cart at Macey's Grocery Store in Spanish Fork. I love that place, great customer service (nice change from Walmart!) And though the kids don't know it yet they can get a free balloon at customer service and a free cookie at the bakery. And they can get a piece of candy at check out if I let them, it all rides on good behavior while shopping and I get to remind Brett of that often and it works.


Driving the Ice Cream Truck ride at Walmart. Yes, I love Macey's but still shop on occasion at Walmart. The whole bribery works here too, good behavior gets him a ride on the truck.

Help! I Have An Ellie In My Pantry!

Giddy Up

Baby Birds

This spring we had a moma Kill Deer bird make her nest in the bark out by the kids swing set.
Brett had a fun time chasing the bird around, we never showed him where the nest was until the last bird was hatched. It was fun to check on the nest once in awhile to see if they had hatched, it seemed like it took forever. There was four eggs in all and and this little guy was tail end charlie. I'm glad they are gone though, we finally got to weed the play area with out giving the poor moma bird a heart attack and we don't have to worry about the kids finding the nest or bothering the birds anymore.

This is the papa bird helping the moma distract us mean giant humans from the baby birds and the nest.


This is the moma bird slowly making her way back to the nest, making sure the coast is clear that she won't lead us to her babies.


The Kill Deer birds are so interesting to watch when they have eggs in a nest. We had a nest a few years ago in the area that is now Trey's garden.
So before the eggs are hatched the birds will fly away from the nest and cause attention to themselves by acting like they are hurt and can't fly, thus distracting us from the nest. Oh man are they noisy too!
But once those eggs hatch it is a different ball game. They will drive bomb at you and run at you if you even think about getting close to the nest. Luckily for everyone involved the birds are ready to fly and leave within a day or two at the most.

Let's go to the movies!

This afternoon Paul and I took Brett to the movie "UP". We had three movie passes courtsey of Spanish 8 Theaters by way of the Spanish Fork Easter Egg hunt that Brett went to with Grandma Marshall back at Easter time this year.
It was a great movie. It is hard for Brett to sit and watch a movie for that long but he did great. He kept talking, and if you know Brett he doesn't have a wisper button. But the theater had other moms and dads with their kids that where talking too so we didn't feel too bad.
Thanks for going to the movie with us Brett even though you wanted to stay home and play with Grandma! :)

1st Annual Meanea Ladies Weekend

Last weekend, June 12-14, us Meanea women planned a weekend in St. George. In attendance was myself, Kristin, Mom (Sherry), Alice, Allyse, Emily, and Allyse's friend Mikayla who was filling in for Alicia who really wanted to come and needed to come but work issues arose and she had to work that Friday.
Friday night we went to the Tuachan to see the musical "Annie". It was a fun and cute play and I think it was good considering it was the first week for the shows at the Tuachan.
Saturday I slept in, I can't really tell you what the others did. We had breakfast at the nice hotel that John hooked us up with then we headed out to the Wildlife museum and then to the Tabernacle. The wildlife museum was great and it was interesting to see all those animals and learn so much about them, but at the same time not get bored! We ate lunch at a great little cafe a couple of blocks from the Tabernacle then went on a tour of the Tabernacle, which was really cool. That place is amazing and beautiful.
Then we choose to go do our part to help stimulate the economy. SHOPPING!
Dinner at Olive Garden (which Alice didn't think we would like going there). Then late night swimming at the hotel.
Sunday morning I slept in again, yeah me! Alice, Allyse and Emily made it to church, I think. At least that was the plan. Mom, Kristin and I headed to Central to drop of mom and visit with the Greats for a little bit then Kristin and I headed to Mapleton where Joe and Paul had been holding down the fort with 6 kids! Amazing men these two, the kids were alive and kicking, the house was standing and it was clean!
Thank you to all for the wonderful weekend! Love ya

Happy Brithday Trey!

To start his birthday, Brett and Ellie helped me color a poster for his door and decorate it.

I made him this cake, if you don't know, he loves Baby Einstein DVD's and this the the Baby Einstein Caterpillar.

Blowing out candles with the help of Brett and Mom.

Enjoying cake and ice cream.

Trey had a wonderful birthday and I can't believe he is 7. On Tuesday, Paul and I took him to the Thanksgiving Point Gardens and walked around enjoying the beautiful sites, sounds, and smells. He really likes it there and it was great weather, not too hot and a slight breeze.

After the gardens, we took him to IHOP for the Strawberry Festival! He didn't have any complaints about that either.

Wednesday, his birthday, he had his Tball game then we came home and opened presents and had cake and ice cream.

Happy Birthday Trey, we love you so much!

Kid Stories

"Brett please go out of Ellie's room so I can put her down for night night."
"I want to sing her a song."
"ok"
Brett wonders in and sits down on the foot stool in front of the rocking chair that I sit in snuggling with Ellie and her sippy cup.
"Twinkle Twinkle wittle star" He can't say his 'L' sound very well but oh my how cute is it that he wants to sing to his little sister.
When he is done with the song, "Good night little baby!"
Ellie smiles and waves to him as he goes out of the room.