Life's Lessons

We had a rare experience the other night.  March 17th was our day celebrate Marcus' 6th birthday.  Per our family tradition he got to choose where he wanted to go for his birthday dinner - surprisingly he chose to go to Leatherby's for taco's and ice cream so that's where we headed.  It was a fun filled night - as usual they were squealing with excitement and had a blast eating and playing around.  Alas, it was time to head back home so we all piled into the car headed home.  Everything was very uneventful and just the way I needed it as I had a lot of preparation to do for Marcus' party, that is until we stopped at the red light on 700 East and 90th South.  Not too soon after going through the light after it turned green we realized we were following a drunk driver.  Manny joked about calling dispatch and after he nearly ran into the median and sign going into Wal Mart I told him to call before this guy kills himself or someone else.  While stopped at the light on 7th, a Sandy patrol car turned heading South.  This cop was apparently not going anywhere with purpose so I thought we'd make the call and they would dispatch him, he'd come right away and pull him over and illuminate something horrible happening and we'd be on our way home and plans could carry on as scheduled.

We continued to follow the truck while he swerved in and out of multiple lanes, coming very close to hitting signs/trees etc on the right shoulder before swerving back into his lane, we witnessed him driving into oncoming traffic and swerved out of it in the nick of time.  I kept thinking any minute now a cop car will pull up and take over and I won't worry about him anymore but no one showed.  Still on the phone with dispatch we followed him East on 9400 South.  I don't know if it was the Mother in me or what but I just couldn't turn my back on someone in obvious need.  I kept thinking he's got to be close to home, please let him be close to home before he hurts himself or someone else.  I had my whole family in the car with me celebrating the birth and life of our oldest...how many other families or Mom's and Dad's, children, etc were out on the roads that night.  All I wanted to do was take my babies to the safety of our home and hold them tight but I couldn't bear to think of this ending tragically for some unsuspecting family or multiple families.   We had turned into a neighborhood and followed him a bit on that road and in a flash he gunned the gas, hit a trailer on the side of the road, bounced off the trailer and ran his little pickup truck right into the HOUSE of some poor unsuspecting couple. 

We pulled up in front of the house and I rolled down my window and heard him calling out for help, I told Manny I had to go and check on him to see how bad he was hurt.  Manny warned me and asked me to wait until help came that they were on the way.  He said you don't know what condition he's in or what he's on or what he has on him, that he could hurt me and to just please wait for police and EMS to get here.  I thought about what he said, I looked at our car and that safely held my hold world in it.  I'm a mother first and foremost and I know I have people dependent upon me for things.  But, I heard the scared cries of a stranger and I told Manny it was fine, to listen to him...he's not a threat, he's genuinely scared, to trust me and let me just go down and assess the situation and reassure him help was on the way.  Working with several people on drugs and/or alcohol I've learned that they can be very unpredictable and you have to keep on your toes at all times.  Because I've had patients turn on me on a dime I briefly worried the same might happen here but something inside told me it would be okay and to go out and help him where I could.

I got out of our SUV and climbed down to the truck by the house and started talking to the visibly shaken man in front of me.  I asked him his name and introduced myself and told him that help was on the way.  His name was Curtis and he was 30-my same age.  He was scared and kept saying how much trouble he was going to be in this time and kept asking for help.  There was a significant amount of blood loss that first appeared to be coming from his face but later I realized it was from a pretty gnarly chunk of skin missing on the palm of his right hand.  His truck was running and I asked him to turn it off so we could hear each other better.  He replied there was no key.  I called for my protector and told Manny he needed to come reach in and turn it off with the screwdriver he had.  Manny was still hesitant mostly because our 3 children were with us and you never know what can happen.  I told Curtis that my husband I were there to try and help him and we weren't going to hurt him but we were going to reach in and just turn off his truck so we could hear each other better, he had a dog with him and we made sure the dog wouldn't lunge after us if we reached in the vehicle.  Manny got it turned off and we helped him and his dog out of the truck.  Manny was still on the line with dispatch as I tried to keep him calm and reassure him that help was on the way and everything was going to be ok.  The homeowners got him an old towel and we wrapped his hand up in and had him apply pressure.  The police had arrived at this point and started talking to him.  He was worried about his dog being taken away so I called his brother and let him know what was going on.  He said he'd be right there so I let Curtis know and left him to the care of the police and fire department.

I was all a matter of just minutes and I was back in our car filling out a form for the PD.  William was oblivious but I had a 3 and 6 year old with me that were pretty worked up and scared.  I worried I had done the wrong thing in helping this stranger I had damaged and horrified them.  Then the thought came to me no.  Someone was in need of help.  I was responsible and cautious about the situation and the right thing was to help.  I explained to them that they didn't need to be afraid and we talked about what we had just seen.  We talked to them on their level about drugs and alcohol and how they are harmful to our bodies and how they impair our thinking and ability to do things, we also talked about healthy coping mechanisms among other things.  I realize they are only 3 and 6 but I know kids also understand more than we give them credit for.  I don't condone drunk driving and being irresponsible when drinking but that was no excuse to not step up and help where I could. 

I could see the unsettled state they were still in.  I told them I knew they were young and it may not all make sense to them at this time and I understood they were scared.  I tried to very carefully explain to them that what he did wasn't right and there are better ways we can handle the situation.  BUT, it's not up to us to judge someone or their circumstances. 

I've learned in my life that we are here to help others.  If we cross paths with someone we have the opportunity to help and we are capable of doing so - we should.  Beyond the unsettled feeling they had that night, I hope what I taught my children was if we find ourselves in a position to help someone else even though we ourselves may be scared of what could happen - we should step up and do what we can to help.     

TIME TO CELEBRATE

Stationery card

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Happy 4th of July

Catching a flick, we took the kids to see "Cars 2" Saturday night.

Our little ones in their patriotic red, whites, and blues; ready to celebrate the 4th of July.

HAHA, had to post this one of Elaina, her cousins were teasing her and she got mad and started pouting. She IS our little fire cracker.

The handsome Montes boys.

Little miss attitude. ;)

The Handsome Montes boys!

Marcus and Lainey, she LOVES her big brother!

Our little William, ready to celebrate his first 4th of July.

Popi and William watching the fireworks

We planned to go camping this weekend in our favorite little camping nook in the mountains...however, events earlier in the week caused us to have to cancel those plans as well as the plans we had made during the week with the kids. While it wasn't the week and weekend we had planned, we still had a great time and had some fun in the process. Saturday Manny and Marcus went fishing on 'The Pearl' with the Bogenrief's and out to dinner at McDonald's. Meanwhile, Elaina, William and I had a pool party and picnic in the backyard with Papa, Maca, Aunt Jessie and Justin. Saturday night we took the kids to see the new "Cars 2." They loved it and thought it was pretty cool. Elaina was super excited to go to the movies. She got a little restless about 3/4 of way through it but then snuggled next to Manny and was fine the rest of the time. Sunday was a chill day, just church and hanging out with family but all in all, even though it wasn't the weekend we planned and were looking forward too, we still made the best of the time we had and had a great time.

A Breath of Fresh Air

The last 3 months have brought about a LOT of unexpected little ripples which have delayed just about all of my plans/ambitions or cancelled them completely. Here we are in June and I still haven't taken Marcus to do his 5 year old milestone pictures. Today, I was bound and determined to finally make it happen so I started to get him ready to go. Elaina seeing we were getting ready to go do pictures took it upon herself to go and finish getting herself ready. She got a little pink and brown sundress back in the Spring which she hadn't worn yet due to our cold Spring we had this year. It being a beautiful and warm day, I put that on her today. While doing Marcus' hair I hear her coming down the stairs. She had gone and got her little cowgirl boots and put them on as well as her pink cowgirl hat. She looked so stinkin' cute and I couldn't believe how well she matched her little outfit. She says, "I'm to go Mommy." She certainly was, she looked so cute, I told her I was gonna take a few pictures of my best cowgirl even though she had scratched her little face up at her Aunt's house a few days before. I put a few loose curls in her locks, we packed up the camera and William and off we went. We had fun but they were clearly more interested in the many ducks and geese and other random animals walking about to focus on posing for pictures. I still got a few cute shots.

It was dinner time afterwards and Lainey said she wanted pizza for dinner. We decided to grab a pizza to go and eat it at the park and let the kids run around afterwards and play. It was a lot fun to just chill and enjoy each others company and the beautiful weather. They had a blast running around chasing each other and playing on the playground, they even chased Popi down the hill and saw bats flying around which they thought was awesome!

Class of 2011

June 1st, 2011

Marcus' Preschool Graduation

Marcus had a fabulous year in preschool. His teacher, Ms. Hilary is simply amazing and is so great with children. His year was filled with new experiences, learning, new friends, reading, ABC's, numbers, songs and music, playtime, art projects, and so much more.

We had a fun day all day celebrating. We went on his last field trip with him in the morning, spent the afternoon with his cousins, and then came home and got ready for his big night. After graduation Manny and I took Marcus out to dinner [his choice] and we went to none other than Cafe Rio! It was especially fun because we met the Meyers there and Aunt Amy came to celebrate also!

Congratulations on your first BIG milestone as far as school is concerned kiddo. We are so proud of all your hard work, determination, willingness to try new things, and for all that you have accomplished. We hope you remember what you learned and will apply it into your life for years to come. It was certainly an experience for all of us and was fun to watch you grown and learn throughout the year. One of our favorite things was being able to watch some of those 'ah ha' moments. Daddy, Elaina, William and I were so happy we got to be a big part of your special day!
Congrats on a job well done.
We Love You.

One Month Old!

A few snap shots of the day you were born and your first month.

June 2, 2011

Happy One Month Old day William! I can't believe it's been a month already since your sweet little face joined our family. You are such a little sweetheart. I love to cuddle with you and listen to your little sighs. I love your little newborn cry and pouty lip. Soon as we give you your bottle you put your little arms around both sides [hands in little fists] and make the cutest little grunts, it's you're saying, "Now that you finally brought it, I'm not giving it up so don't even think about taking it." I just love that.

Everyone you meet can't get over all of your beautiful dark hair and chubby cheeks. They think you are quite the handsome little ma, and of course, so do I! One of my other favorite things is how you smile at me when I sing you lullaby's. I remember the first night in the hospital after you were born, the nurse brought you sometime in the middle of the night so I could nurse you. I remember being SO exhausted. I nursed you on both sides and you were wide awake. Right after delivery I got pretty sick so I had barely gotten to see or hold you much at all that day, instead of sending you right back I took advantage of the quiet, still night and snuggled you close and talked to you about our crazy day. I wished you could tell me about it from your perspective and told you I was sure it would be an even better story. I remember how immediately I fell in love with you and feeling very much at peace and a feeling immeasurable amounts of joy and happiness all the while feeling very inadequate and unworthy knowing you just came from the pre-existence. I cradled your little head in my hands and put your little face in front of me and just talked to you. Then, I sang the song I sung to Lainey many nights..."You are My Sunshine" and you just beamed the most beautiful, handsome, big smile. It melted my heart and ever since you always smile no matter how horrible the singing is. :) I LOVE that. I know you will do many great and wonderful things on this Earth and I am so honored to be your Mommy. I love you more and more each day...you will never come close to understanding just how much until the day you yourself become a Daddy, then and only then will you begin to understand. I hope and pray I can be the Mommy and example you need and deserve to have. You are a choice son of our Heavenly Father and I hope you always remember and KNOW that. I love you son, I'm so pleased you are finally here. We had a long journey, you and I, getting you here safe and strong and healthy but it was well worth it. It brings much joy to finally cradle you in my arms and kiss that sweet little face.

Love, Mommy

Hippity Hoppity, It's Easter Time...

We got a jump start on Easter this year. We don't have Marcus for Easter this year so we decided to go ahead and give the kids their gifts from us a weekend early. The rest of the holiday festivities will happen next weekend but we wanted to do at least part of it together as a family while he was home. They loved their gifts and strutted around Saturday night in their new PJ's and Sunday morning in their new church outfits. Everything Elaina got she jumped up and down yelling with excitement and saying, "Yes!" I love her ability to be happy with the 'little' things in life and to be grateful for what's she been given.

Marcus and Elaina in their new pajamas. Marcus thought his baseball pajamas were pretty darn cool and he looked so cute in them too! Elle loves her new Minnie ones. I'll never forget her jumping around with pure excitement for a pair of pajamas and Spring clothes/shoes. I love seeing the world through children's eyes.

They LOVED their new PJ's! Elaina strutted around showing everyone home how cute she was. I didn't realize I got Capri pants for her but I did and they are pretty dang cute on her!

The loves of my life, all decked out! I love this picture and how good they all look. I am almost 38 weeks pregnant so I didn't buy anything new for me just yet. Feeling VERY pregnant and swollen, I opted to not be in the pictures this day. :)

My boys looking all slic. Manny has been wanting a new suit for a couple of years now. With the upcoming baby blessing it was a good excuse to have it so we got him one for his birthday and Christmas. We actually got a great deal and he got two for the price of one. I really wanted Marcus to have a suit to match Daddy and his brother too so we decided to go ahead and buy him one for Easter, turning the big 5 this year also I thought it'd be fun to take his milestone pictures in style too. He's not into getting clothes vs toys as most kids are so I was worried he'd be just blah about it but he LOVED it and felt so handsome in it. He kept saying it was his favorite suit ever and loved he got a zipper tie like his cousins. We couldn't believe how he looked like such a little man in it, fun to see but also hard to watch him grow so fast! He is well on his way to becoming a young man and it's coming up all too soon.

This one was for Manny. One day Marcus will be as tall or taller [if he keeps growing at the rate he is.] Years from now, he can look, see and remember the day when Marcus was just a little guy next to him. :)

I just love these little faces. We're so pleased you both liked your gifts.

Laughing at Daddy...I think it's funny how Marcus always goes to play with Elaina's hair during pictures if we are doing crazy, silly stuff to try and get their natural smiles.

Daddy's girl

It's killing me how fast they are both growing up. Seems like yesterday we just brought her home from the hospital and look what a little lady she's growing into.

HAPPY EASTER KIDDOS! WE LOVE YOU!

DECORATING OUR FAMILY CHRISTMAS TREE

As mentioned in an earlier post we decorate for Christmas the weekend after Thanksgiving. We didn't have Marcus that weekend because it was his turn to celebrate Thanksgiving with his Mom this year so we missed having him around to enjoy all the fun at our house as we prepared for Christmas! Also, I've really been missing seeing our family decorations [what few I did accumulate our first Christmas]. I especially missed decorating our tree as it's become a collective story of our joined lives and journey as a couple. My parents tree is 30 plus years of Bogenrief history and memories and it's the most beautiful tree, not to mention it is so fun to come home and see it and relive the memories as we decorate and enjoy it throughout the season.

Continuing on that same tradition, to start our collection we have an ornament from the day Manny proposed at Snowbird on his birthday in 2006, our first year as a couple ornament, ornaments from each place we visited on family vacation, we have babies first Christmas ornaments for Elaina and Marcus, etc. Well missing all of that, I had a hair brained idea to take the kids the 1st of December and go and see if we couldn't find a nice, real Christmas tree we could decorate as a family when Marcus was home again. I was really tempted to go get my ornaments and star and other decorations we had on our artificial tree we bought which is in storage but decided not too. Instead, since I planned to buy a smaller tree we went and picked out a few new additions and added them to the ones we had left out here at Mom's [baby ornaments and vacation ornaments from the last few years.] The favorite ones this year were seeing Mickey Mouse [which we bought in Disneyland in May] and our Newport Starfish with a bikini and surfboard. It's pretty bare compared to what I'm accustomed too [esp since the candy canes keep disappearing] BUT every year it will get new additions and one year the REST of our collection will be so beautifully displayed with them.

Daddy helping Elaina hang up some ornaments.

"Yay me! I did it!"

My cheesers! Love you two!

Elaina with our bare little tree but it smells beautiful and looks pretty regardless.

Marcus pointing at one of his 'babies first Christmas' ornaments.

We ran into a few snags while decorating [one of them was loosing our ornament hangers I bought and paid for-yes,they were on my receipt so I know I did and am not THAT crazy (yet).] We looked for an hour and couldn't find them. Which begs the question, why can't a soul buy a box of ornaments that have the hangers with them??? One of life's mysteries eh? More frustrating because we had so much to do that day and ran our butts off so we'd have time to decorate and do our fun family activity and have a nice dinner and then that happened. I didn't get dinner on earlier and happened to run into my Mom in Wal Marts parking lot and she gave me some steaks she had just bought. I had threw in potatoes to bake and we were running out of time and I needed Manny's muscles to help with the tree so Jason was kind enough to grill the steaks so Manny could help me get things set up so we could decorate. We weren't able to find them before Marcus had to leave [ended up going and buying more] so he was only able to help with the family ornaments we had so I wasn't able to get a picture of him with Elaina and the tree as I had planned. I took one of him tonight before he left so I had one with him but that's why it's late and why I don't have more pictures of him [stressing about trying to get everything done (decorating, dinner, cleaning, making sure everything was perfect, memorable and fun like Mom's do) before he left I didn't pull out my camera until after I stopped running around like a chicken with my head cut off.] Regardless that it wasn't the day I envisioned once again when I had this GREAT night planned for us...it was more like the Montes' version of 'Griswald's' decorating esp when after going to buy a second box of hangers, I got home went to pull the bag off my purse to decorate and they were GONE again! Um, yes. Burst of anger this time, hahaha! Luckily this time we did find them in the car. LOL, we STILL had a great time with you and Lainey despite the chaos, memories were made, just not the ones I was planning on! ;)

We sure do love you kiddo's!

It's Beginning To Look A lot Like Christmas...

Growing up it was tradition to put our Christmas Tree up the weekend after Thanksgiving. We were taught to enjoy the season of Thanksgiving before all the hussel and bussel of Christmas. Growing up like that, I LOVE the Christmas season but have never liked to do anything Christmas-ee until after we celebrate Thanksgiving. I'm even crazy about listening to Christmas music as well. The cd's/music on the radio don't get played by ME until Pie Day which is the Wednesday before Thanksgiving where all the girls go to Mom's to make the pies for Thanksgiving.

I missed the exciting part with Elaina last year as the tree went up because I had worked the previous night so I was excited I was able to be there and watch her help and see things this year and help her decorate where she could. Amy, Jessie and Justin came to help since it's such a big job so Elaina had a blast with Justin and Aunts and Uncle Dave and Uncle Jason [when he got there after hunting.] Here's a few snap shots of our fun day of decorating!

In the morning I did some cleaning and laundry downstairs while we waited for Dave to bring in the tree and get the decorations down from the attic to start decorating. I ended up just showering and getting ready real quick and when I came upstairs I found Elaina right in the middle of all the decorating! Mom, Dad, Jessie, Amy, Dave and Elaina were in a circle around the tree shaping the bottom piece of the tree. She was so cute helping and having a blast being a big girl.

Elaina hanging up some candy canes. She loved this part!

LOL, I love Justin's face, I wonder what he's thinking.

Working together, having fun.

So cute doing their thing.

They both wanted to be where the other one was hanging the candy canes...

Elaina checking out her work and admiring the ornaments.

They were so eager to help. We thought it was funny how they hung 3 right together and 2 on top of each other...

This was a result of them wanting to hang their candy cane on the same branch at the same time...awesome that they made a heart in doing so. :)

We had a really fun day. Manny got off work and we went to Cafe Rio for dinner [haven't been there in a long time so it tasted really good!] Then we went to a few craft stores and bought a few Christmas decorations to add to our small collection! It was fun to buy something fun for a change instead of throwing it at bills-even if it was just a few little nic-knacks. :)

New Arrival Coming May 2011

It all started January this year with a very strong impression it was time for baby #3. Elaina still being pretty small at 16 months I wasn't really ready to have another one. The feeling persisted ALL year long. It was very frustrating seeing how Manny was out of work for 5 months the beginning of the year, I didn't feel like it was the responsible thing to do to get pregnant when he was out of work and not knowing what the future would bring. In May, I couldn't deny the feelings any longer so I called my OB's office to see about when I could have my IUD out. Soonest I could get in was July 28th. I figured it'd take 2-3 months to conceive like they said it does with most woman [even though you idealy can get pregnant right away] so getting pregnant in September or October seemed perfect. This baby had other plans though. ONE month and he's on his way, guess they were really in a hurry to get here after all. The end of August I was EXTREMELY tired, dizzy, and had brief moments of nausea. I remember sitting for a patient at work wondering why I was so tired and not feeling so hot. I kept telling myself surely it wasn't that I was PREGNANT already but thought about how I was with Elaina and then knew that I was. Elaina's 2nd birthday was coming up soon so I decided to wait to take a pregnancy test the day of her birthday so we'd officially find out on a special day. On Elaina's birthday, we got home from Chili's for her birthday dinner and I headed to take the test. About a half a second and it was very much POSITIVE. Manny and the kids were their room talking so I took it in to show him and we just told them right then. They were SO excited. I don't know that Elaina really knows what it meant but she was sure EXCITED. Marcus yelled, "I get to name it. If it's a boy it's Tiger, if it's a girl it's Tiger!"

September 2nd, the day we officially found out, too excited to wait. My plan was to order T-Shirts for both the kids to wear to Sunday dinner to make their big announcement. Marcus' would have said, "I'm going to be a BIG brother, again!" and Elaina's would have said "I'm going to be a BIG sister!" We wanted to wait to make Marcus a part of it but we wouldn't have him again for another 2 weekends because of the holiday; factoring in Manny's big mouth and the fact he can't keep a secret we decided to go ahead and tell Grammy and Papa the big news and tell the rest of the family that Sunday. My ghetto sign isn't a cute T-Shirt but at least it was somewhat creative vs Manny just spilling the beans. We wanted the kids to make the announcement and since I couldn't get a T-Shirt made in 2 days, this worked.

Here's a few of the families reactions to Elaina telling the them about her big news! I love the expressions on the kids faces!

So proud! She was so cute prancing around showing everyone her big news!