Birthday Party

Today was my nephew's first birthday party! Enoch MacArthur Ameh is a big ONE YEAR OLD! He is the second child of my own identical twin. He is such a cute boy. With his cute smile, happy demeanor, and love of eating paper... we love every ounce of him (he weighs more then Tyler now I think, hahaha). Here are a few photographs from his party today. Most people couldn't make the party because of the big snow storm (about 9" of snow fell in Orem today... more will fall in the next 3 days too). Those of us who were able to make it had a great time. Tyler loved singing Happy Birthday to Enoch. He sang it over and over and Enoch loved to dance to the song. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ENOCH!!! We love you!


Here is Enoch opening his presents with his sister Ami's help. He had so much fun. He loves paper! Tyler loved the toys as much as Enoch did for sure.








Here is the family before we sang Happy Birthday to Enoch. (Lori, Enoch, Friday and Ami).


Here is the before and after of Enoch eating his birthday cake... I think the after is pretty appetizing. I wanted to eat it but they decided to throw it away! I can't believe that! (Double click on the photograph to see the image bigger... it is AWESOME!)

Sick...Tired...Struggles...Blessings

1. SICK: Ahhhh what a wonderful thing to be sick (sarcasm all over the place) ... our family has been hit with the sick bug since just after Thanksgiving. Tyler and I picked up something from Thanksgiving. We got better. Then Tyler picked up something from Nursery at Church. It went from Tyler to Rodger to me. Everyone else is basically better... I am still not... It is so hard to be sick with a newborn. So far Lincoln hasn't gotten sick. I pray he doesn't. This is RSV in the making for a newborn. I keep praying the "Mommas Milk" will keep him healthy. So far so good. Being sick is sucking all the energy out of me (hence the #2 point of being Tired) and making it so much more difficult to get anything done. Don't come to my house.... IT IS A WRECK! I think a "tornado" hit again!

2. TIRED: It is enough to have a newborn causing the wonderful sleep deprivation. Adding being sick on top of it makes it even worse. I LOVE SLEEP DEPRIVATION! It does wonderful things to your brain and body. It helps with patience and gives you the ability to get so much done. Ummm... yea... right. I hope that Point #1 goes away asap so that Point #2 improves. It is hard to not have a functioning brain.

3. STRUGGLES: I won't dive into this Point much... But as a friend said specifically about dealing with grief, but I would also like to incorporate this into all struggles: "I have also noticed in myself and others that illness of any kind seems to magnify grief [and struggles]. I think when we are ill our defenses are down and it is so easy to fall back into the dark. My grief [and struggles] was horrible last year when I was pregnant and so ill all the time.....I couldn't see past the end of my bed, could barely take care of myself, could hardly take care of my family. Everything seems more doable when we are well!"

I agree with my friend. I have found that since I have been sick that the struggles we are having, financially and dealing with grief during the holiday seasons, just seems to compound with Point #1 and Point #2 taking place.

Some of the struggles are not mine, specifically, but they impact me a lot as some of the struggles are those of someone so close to my heart and whom I love with all of my heart. Not knowing how to help... Not knowing what to do... makes it so much harder for me. Then when I throw my own struggles (as mentioned above) I feel even more overwhelmed. I feel sad because I want to go out and love and serve others, as that makes me so happy, and yet I am becoming so overwhelmed with Points #1, #2, and #3 that I feel I can't love and serve others like I want to. :(

4. BLESSINGS: Even with Points #1, #2, and #3 I am trying to see all the blessings in my life. One of my blessings is that of my children, even though the oldest, Parker, is assisting in Point #3 as I continue to miss him and wish I could hold him in my arms; even though the second oldest brought home the illness that caused Point #1, and even though the youngest is assisting greatly in Point #2 ... I still love them with all of my heart :). I am so grateful for them. We will continue to learn and grow from Point #3 and Point #1 and #2 won't last forever... but Point #4 will. It is hard sometimes to always see Point #4 when you are faced with the other Points. It depends on the moment.

I would love to have a period of time without the struggles... I feel the struggles keep coming. Is it possible to have a break from struggles?

Best Friends

I would love to see Parker, Tyler, and Lincoln together ... but it is so fun to see how much Tyler loves Lincoln. I am putting on some photographs of Tyler with Lincoln. Tyler likes to cuddle up with me when I hold Lincoln and leans into me and says "I love Yipin" (pronounced Yee-pin). I say "I love him Yipin too. I love Parker and Tyler too! I love my boys!"








Here is a photograph with me and Lincoln after Lincoln's first bath.

Here is a photograph with Rodger and his boys. He was holding Lincoln and Tyler came and sat next to him. After a few minutes Rodger asked me to go into the living room. He said "Is Tyler asleep?" ... I laughed... umm yea. He said he fell asleep within minutes! I had to take a photograph.

I love being a mom!

Tyler is slowly learning to be potty trained. Actually, since Lincoln was born he is making better progress. He keeps telling Lincoln he is a "BIG BOY!" and shows him his pullup or his Big Boys. Here are three pics I took (actually before Lincoln was born) but Tyler is so cute. The one picture has Tyler with his Eeyore. After I put his big boys on he went and put a pullup on Eeyore. I laughed and of course took the photograph. I love Tyler. He makes me laugh.

Parker's Christmas Village: Season Four

Wow... look at me go... I am getting blogs up!

We just finished putting up "Parker's Christmas Village" ... Season Four! Many of you may not know about Parker's Christmas Village... Let me tell you about it:

After Parker died in July 2005 we tried to figure out a way to continue to include him in our lives even when we couldn't hold him in our arms. It is very difficult sometimes to do this... We try and decorate his headstone several times a year. The hard part, and sad part, is trying to think of things that he would enjoy BUT that are things that won't blow away if it is too windy OR get destroyed by weather elements.

So, as we started approaching the first Christmas without our little boy we decided to start a Christmas Village for our house. I can't remember what helped the idea come to mind, but I am glad we did. We try and add at least one building each year (more of we can find sales, hahah). It is like a present from Parker to us.

Eventually we want to make a sign that will hang above the Village that says "Parker's Christmas Village" but we don't have money for that yet. What we will eventually do is build up the Department 56, Dickens Village and eventually have a train that will run from the Dickens Village to the North Pole Village. We think it will be a fun thing for his siblings (and cousins or whoever) help put it up each year. We are going to make thing (ie. walls, waterfalls, etc etc etc) that will help add elements to the Village. We made some walls this year our of rocks and slate ... It reminded me of the dangers of hot glue guns as I burned my finger pretty nicely (blister and all) as I was nearing the end of making my wall. Therefore I made the decision to only make four walls as I didn't want to burn myself again. IT HURT BAD!

Here is a photograph of The Parker's Christmas Village: Season Four. Click on it to see it bigger. It is hard to see some things but you can see quite a bit of it.



We miss you, Parker. Merry Christmas!

It's a Soda ... It's a Popcorn... No, It's a French Fry!!!

Hey Everyone,

Before Thanksgiving comes (which is tomorrow)... I figured I should get the Halloween photographs up. A wonderful neighbor made the costume for Tyler. I am so grateful for her help as Tyler wanted to be a french fry and I don't sew (I think I have a needle and thread somewhere).

Without Tyler's French Fry hat people thought he was a soda, popcorn or even, unfortunately, Sponge Bob. Here are some pics from my dad's work halloween party, our ward halloween party, and halloween day.

Click on the photograph if you want to see them bigger. Enjoy our little french fry (and Lincoln on his first halloween inside my stomach (at least this is one I don't look quite as big in, heheh)).

We Are Free!

Finally... we are free from the "baby tanning bed"!!!!!

Lincoln's bellibin levels were quite high. So from Monday afternoon until this afternoon we had him under the "light box" almost all day long. Rodger and I are SO WORN OUT. We would take three hour shifts through the night to make sure he was under the lights a lot. Finally today the levels dropped enough that we are FREE from the lights. Now we can have normal newborn baby sleep deprivation instead of abnormal newborn baby sleep deprivation. We are also excited that Tyler will get to help hold Lincoln more (he LOVES his little brother) and also we can pay more attention to Tyler instead of having to sit by the "tanning bed" all the time to make sure he didn't move the sheet that was protecting his eyes from the lights.

Yea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh... our cutie pot, who was 8 lbs 3 oz at birth (who dropped to 7 lbs 8 oz in the hospital) is now up to 8 pounds even. He likes to eat for sure! We love him SO much! Our little Lincolnian Institute, Link-ers, Linky, Link, Lincolnian Sebastian (that is one my twin likes to call him), .... We love you so much!

Baby Lincoln

Hey Everyone...

Sorry for the delay... I will get more info up on the blog about our new little son... but here are some pics :)

Welcome, Lincoln!!!

Our Five Year OId

Parker's birthday is today. He would be a whopping FIVE years old. In many ways it just makes me sad.... I totally different phase of life begins, I feel, around five years old. They are in or nearing starting school, they seem to be "older" around that time. It makes me sad to think of all that I am missing. What would be be doing? What would he look like? How tall would he be? What would he want to be for Halloween? What would he want for Christmas? How would he be with Tyler? What would he think about Lincoln coming in two weeks? How much would he know? What would I be teaching him? What would he teach me? .... the questions go on and on. I will never know. I just miss him so much.....

Back in July I showed photographs of Parker's first year of life. Below are photographs from November 2004 until his death in July 2005. I hope you get a little more of a glimpse of our son. Thank you for reading this blog.



Here is Parker all bundled up at the Corn Maze in Pleasant Grove. He was worn out by this point. The other is a photograph of me with Parker after the Utah Jazz game we went to. He loved going to the games and cheering! Goooooooooo Jazz!



Thanksgiving .... and with his Grandma McUne. I am thankful for my son! I am thankful he will always be my son. I am thankful we have the opportunity to be an eternal family if we follow the commandments. I look forward to holding my son in my arms again. I don't ever want to let go. It is too hard to have empty arms... I hold onto the time I had with him.



Every year the MacArthur family has a Christmas party where the kids do the nativity scene for us. The younger kids are the "animals". So, we had Parker be a cow. I am sure there were cows in the stable. We made a sign that says "I am a cow. I came to see Jesus". Parker ran around everywhere. He loved playing and being with his cousins so much!



Here are some more pics of us around Christmas time. Here I am holding Parker, waiting in line to see Santa. The next is all of us making our first gingerbread house. The last is Parker with Santa. We had a lot of fun together. Really this was our only Christmas together as a family. Parker's first Christmas he was only two months old and slept through the whole thing. We are so glad we got to have one solid Christmas together. Some parents don't even get that. I don't take holidays, etc for granted anymore. Each one I try and store every detail in my brain and my heart... just in case.



Parker had a wonderful time at Christmas. He loved pulling everything out of his stocking. He also LOVED his drum set. We still have it and now Tyler loves to play with it. The last one is us as a family waiting for Santa. We don't have a lot with the three of us together as I am usually taking the photographs. I am glad we have some.



2005 began... our last months with our son. Here are some photographs with Parker with his favorite "Uncle Biden". Friday and Parker had a wonderful relationship together. Parker loved to follow him around. He played with his cell phone ALL THE TIME. Here is Parker at Lori and Fridays' wedding. He looked so handsome! After the wedding Rodger, Parker, and I blew up a zillion balloons! We wanted to fill the whole room up, but we realized it would take FOREVER and take a ZILLION balloons... so we settled for what we have here. Parker had a blast jumping around in the balloons after Lori and Friday got back from their honeymoon.





Here is our last holiday together where we have photographs of Parker... Memorial Day... ironic, huh? We went camping at Mantua, up by Brigham City. Parker had an incredible time. We camped in our little two man tent. I remember Parker getting cold as it rained half the night. He was curled up by my face. Needless to say I was VERY uncomfortable. We survived the night and Parker had a great time throwing rocks into the puddles. Mantua will always be a special place to us.

..... The night has gone too fast... I will have to finish the rest of my blog tomorrow.... Parker, turning FIVE... to be continued.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PARKER!!!!!!!!

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Off to Work We Go

Well the doors are finally being opened a little for us to get back on track financially. This isn't the solution to it all, but it will get us in the door to make enough to be able to pay our bills and get a savings again. So, this is the story:

Rodger will be starting work on Tuesday, working a temp-to-hire position with Nestle (Stouffer's) located in Springville. He will make a little more then what he was getting through unemployment. After working there for a few months he would then get hired on by Nestle and be able to jump into other positions within the company that are in his line of career work. In the meantime, he has a few other possibilities that he is pursuing that would allow him to make more then Stouffer's and get him in his career field immediately. So, either way, at least he has something lined up and will make progress. There are so many of the jobs he has applied for that have had 30-50 people applying for them that have more experience he just couldn't get his foot in the door. So, at least now he can get rolling.

Then for me, I have had to put in two applications per week to get my unemployment. But, being pregnant people just aren't going to hire me (of course, legally they can't say anything) ... so once my unemployment runs out in December, that would be the end of that.

But, I applied for a job for a website designer. Most of my experience is in graphic design but I know some about website designing... not a lot though. So, I didn't expect a phone call from them (Stores Online). But they called me last week and I had an interview last week. They wanted to hire me, but with the baby coming, and I would be our a period of time with our new baby, they wanted me to go a different route within the company. So, they set up an appointment for me to interview to be an At Home Chat Representative. Through this I could work from home, once I complete a three week training (that will start this Monday). This way I could take a little break once the baby is born. Through this I could learn their web building software and become better and faster as an At Home Chat Rep or later transition to be a Website Designer again (and make a lot more money). The web designer position is an in-house position so that is the advantage of the At Home Chat position, even though it pays less.

So, they called and offered the position to me today. I took it. It will still allow me to be with my children (wow that is odd to say... I have never said that before) and also still pursue my Medical Transcribing/Coding Certification I am working on (hopefully to finish next summer sometime). I hope over the coming year a lot of doors will open for me to bring in money while still being at home. We will see what doors God wants to open.

Thank you for all those who have supported us during all these months of unemployment... stressful times. I want to get my saving back up so we don't drown so much if this ever happens again (Lets pray it doesn't... no fun!).

Luckily He Had The Small Bottle!

Tyler is a good boy... he really is. I mean, really it took him until he was over 2 1/2 years old to make a big mess. But really, I know it is a small mess compared to what a lot of kids have done by the age of 2 1/2.... so I am NOT complaining one single bit. I am just really happy that he opened the small bottle and not the big bottle!!!!!

So I was in the computer room working on my nephew Brayden's baptism program since he is getting baptized this Saturday! Tyler was playing with toys and balls. Rodger taught him to do the "tuck and run" with the football so he was doing that some. I heard a clumping sound a little here and there but didn't think anything of it. But as it continued I decided to ask him what he was doing. He didn't respond. So, I asked him again. Then he came into the doorway of the computer room with him and the football all covered with powder!

I jumped up and ran out into the living room and the carpet and the kitchen floor had baby powder spread around! Ugh! I looked over at the big bottle of baby powder that was still in its place and closed and I sighed a big relief. I then saw the small bottle of powder on the kitchen floor. I put Tyler on the couch and told him that was a "no-no". He cried. He doesn't like to get into trouble. I told him to stay there while I cleaned it up. The whole time I was cleaning up he kept on saying "dee-doo, mama" which means "thank you, mama". What do you do to that? I told him he was welcome and not to do it again. He would say "Ok. Dee-doo, Mama". It was quite cute... I AM SO GLAD IT WAS ONLY THE SMALL BOTTLE.... I was lucky there! Oh and I am glad it wasn't oil or eggs or anything fun like that.... hehehehe!