MaNi/PeDi bIrThDaY CeLEbRaTiOn

For Meg's 11th birthday she wanted to invite her posse of girls to get mani/pedi's at one of Rusty's client's spa called "Pretty Nails." We had a BLAST!!!!

Each girl wore a "crown."

BTW, Meg's jewelry totally reminds me of what I wore when I was in high school in the mid-eighties.

We first got there and had tooooooooo many choices. . .which color?

The girls first got their toes done. Most got little flowers painted on the big toe. Left to right: Asia, Marissa, Meg, Margee, Madison and Dominique.

Next were the nails.

Molly and I even participated. She didn't want to get in her own chair, so we shared.

Call me cheap, but I wasn't about to pay for Molly to get her own manicure--mom's touch was good enough. She loved it.

After our "spa time" we went home to enjoy some pizza, cake and a movie on the big screen.

Sam really wanted to be a part of the "group." But I told him he couldn't sit with the girls. He couldn't stand not being in the "know" so he sat in this corner and took EVERYTHING in. BTW I did not approve the outfit. He picked it out himself.

Meg didn't want a cake, but a brownie instead. The candles were trick candles.

To top the night off, Meg got a new bike. Not just any run-of-the-mill bike, one that Rusty picked out himself, which is nicer than my van (I guess this doesn't say much, my van is 8 years old). But the bike is niiiiiice!!!

Meg Turns Eleven

I always think about Meg's birth mother, more this time of year, and wonder the pain she must be experiencing while I'm experience such joy. I just love the way Meg came to our family and always tell her that she had so much faith to come to us this way. As much as I love Meg, I love her birth mother just as much for giving us our daughter.

I decided at a Young Women's meeting that we would adopt. I didn't really even know it was an option, but as a leader working with Young Women, they wanted to educate us on what to do if one of the girls in our ward did get pregnant. I learned that I could adopt through our church and was determined that this is what the Lord wanted us to do. I obtained the paperwork and brought it home to fill out with Rusty one night for Family Home Evening. He looked pretty shocked when I told him we were going to adopt, and even more shocked when I pulled out the half-filled out paper work. What other option did he have other to comply?

We went to all the interviews, appointments, completed the paperwork and nine months to the day after we began, Meg was born. She was three weeks early and only weighed in at 6 lbs. 4 ozs (I think, I don't have any official paperwork). When we got her three days later she weighed only 6 lbs. She was born in Wichita, Kansas and we drove to Independence, MO to get her. It was the longest drive of my life. When we walked in and saw this baby in a car seat with a TON of black hair, words can't describe.

It's funny because with each baby I haven't been one of those moms that bonded to them immediately. I don't really even want to touch them for a few days. Obviously I do, but I am more concerned about the "business" portion of having a baby. I've got to get the paperwork completed, all the people called, etc. I know it's weird, but I was like this with Meg too. Rusty however, takes over. He is all about holding them, feeding, changing, etc. Then after I get home from the hospital, something kicks in. When we got home with Meg I could hardly put her down. I really saw her coming to our home as my own miracle.

Meg has so many talents and I admire her in so many ways. Here are a few:

• Meg will go out of her way to help anyone, mostly her siblings. She has helped Sam with learning to control his temper (see later post) and Molly with her disobedience.
• Meg reminds her brothers to say their nightly prayers.
• Meg has at least five bff's (she makes anyone who is with her feel like they are the most important).
• Meg will talk to us all about everything. She shares her feelings, information and knowledge with us daily. At the dinner table we hear about who likes whom at school, and what each friend did during recess, etc.
• Meg LOVES to swim the butterfly(her coach told her this summer Meg's form was better than her own). She also loves to bike ride. As much as she loves to be athletic, she has a similar joy and competitive spirit with her dancing (especially Jazz).
• Meg in the same day will hang with her friends playing Wii, pretend with her brothers using Narnia figures, and then color out of a princess coloring book with Molly to entertain her while I make dinner.
• Meg desires to do everything well. She practices the piano, keeps her room clean, organizes her jewelry, and makes sure all her homework is done and signed for the night before.
• Meg picks her nails, worries about anything (like her mom), sings her favorite song at the top of her lungs (like her mom), has usually at least two to four "accessories" going on in her hair most days, loves to eat ravioli and anything chocolate (like her mom), enjoys "down time" watching her favorite show (like her mom), and likes to be at home (like her mom and dad).

Meg at two weeks old.

Meg at four months old (the dress she is wearing was my blessing dress).

Meg at nine months old broke her leg in late June 1998. I was six months pregnant with Ben, it was a little more than a month away from Rusty taking the bar exam, we had just moved in to our house and we were three weeks away from our court date to finalize the adoption. I was walking down the stairs holding Meg and she was a little squirmy. With me being pregnant, I tripped, dropped her and landed on her leg. When we went to the doctor he thought it was broken. He led us in his car to the hospital and then went back with her to get it x-rayed and examined (I couldn't go back because I was pregnant). When he came out and told me her femur bone was broken, I went into preterm labor and they hospitalized me. To make matters worse, we didn't have a cell phone, or another car, so it took Rusty a little while to get to the hospital to help us. She had her cast on for three weeks and got it removed the day before we went to do the final adoption.

Here we are in court with Judge Jerry Bowles. I have no clue about anything else he's ever done, but I vote for him every time he comes up for reelection. Molly NEVER cuddled or fell asleep on us, so this picture of her and Rusty is rare in Meg's scrap book.

Meg in her blessing/sealing dress.

Meg and I (and Ben) went to Utah for couple of weeks. Rusty met us there for 36 hours (he had to take the bar just a few days later) and we were sealed in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple to Meg. This was the BEST day of my life.

Meg at age four. I think Molly looks a little like this picture of Meg.

Meg at 4 and 1/2 with her new "bob" haircut. I loved this cut.

Meg at eight years old.

Meg age 11. We love you MEG

Ben's 10th Olympic Birthday Par-tay!!! Oct. 10

Ben wanted a Nintendo DS more than anything. Even more than an "away" party. So we made a little deal. I said, "If you have an "at home" birthday party then we could probably afford getting you a DS." Ben's reply, "Deal!"

We had just had a pack meeting where we did a traditional Olympic games and Ben wanted to put a little "twist" on this theme. He first wanted everyone divided into four teams of three (he let Meg have a friend come and, with Sam on their team, they were the "no friend" team). After the teams were put in place, then Ben came up with his own events. They included: 1) Who's airplane can fly the farthest off the deck, 2) scooter race on a chalk line, 3) relay egg toss/race, and 4) hurdle-under-the-tramp-around-the-tree-and-back relay. See pictures below.

Opening Ceremonies. All the teams had their own color bandanas so we could know which team they were. Rusty played the Olympic Theme Music for the events.

The Airplane throw.

The scooter-on-a-jaggedy-line race.

Hurdle-under-the-tramp-around-the-tree-and-back relay.

Ben took the events VERY seriously.

Ben then had his "gang" of boys eat pizza and cake and then watch "Cool Runnings," a movie about the first Jamaican bobsled team, outside on the projector. Some boys got bored with this activity and decided to jump on the tramp in the dark. It was a fun time. I think everyone had a good time and Ben got his DS.

The DS

My mom and dad came from Utah to visit and for Ben and Meg's birthdays. We had a little family dinner and cake on his actually birthday.

Ben and Grandma Thompson

Happy Birthday, Buster--October 12

Ben turns 10 today. Here goes the gushing (LONG) post of a mom who is reminiscing about her little boy.

I'm so grateful for days when I actually strive to listen to the Spirit and then follow through. One such day came in late October 1997. We were driving home from picking up Meg from the social services office in Kansas City, MO. I was in the middle of a fertility treatment and needed to have two more shots given at a particular time. I thought that we would miss this "window" of opportunity because we were out of town and the paperwork in getting Meg should have taken longer. While we were driving I realized that if we drove a little faster, and didn't stop for lunch I could make the next time frame for the shot. At our next bathroom break, I took the wheel and made it to Louisville and in the doctor's office within minutes of them closing. I got the needed shot.

Skip ahead three months. The day I found out I was pregnant with Ben I was with my good friends Judy Rose and Holly Smith. I was serving in Young Women with them and we were having a presidency meeting. I told them I had been sick for a few days and felt very tired. Judy gave Holly and me some money (I was a poor law school wife) and told me to go buy a pregnancy test. Rusty was out of town, and I thought "I've taken so many of these, there is no way it's going to be positive." Sure enough, at Judy Rose's house, I found out I was pregnant. To be perfectly honest, my first emotion was not joy. I had a three month old new-born and hadn't slept an entire night since the day we brought her home. Plus, I'm here to tell you pregnancy DOES prepare you to be a mother of a new-born. Getting Meg without this preparation had been a very hard transition for me, and feeling the way I did being pregnant, I thought, "What have I gotten myself into? I am going to have two kids within one year?" Luckily the sickness went away, and the excitement soon followed.

When I was six months pregnant, and Meg was 9 months old, I fell down the stairs while holding her and landed on her leg. Her femur was broken, and after hearing this news I went into premature labor. I ended up being in the hospital for two days. Before I delivered Ben, I had at least three or four other hospital stays spending 6-12 hours laying on a bed hooked up to monitors to make sure Ben was alive. His personality of "the strong, silent type" began in the womb. I didn't feel him move, and would get worried.

Ben was due on September 29, and finally on October 11, my doctor agreed to induce me (I know, doctors NEVER make women go that long--she was a quack and I didn't return to her after I left the hospital). After 8 hours of labor, at three in the morning, my doctor was there delivering another baby and checked me and "figured out" that Ben was breech. She gave me two choices: I could go in for a C-section right then, or a team of doctors could try to turn him in the morning, and I could possibly deliver normally. I chose to wait. WHY? (I obviously didn't listen to the Spirit this time, and was consumed with the thought that I had to deliver the "regular" way). I labored for another 5 hours and when they tried to turn him, it didn't work, and in fact made his heart rate drop and I was rushed into an emergency C-section. But as Rusty always says, "You're alright now, Vicki."

Ben's name was not chosen right away. I wanted to name him Benjamin Russell, but Rusty wanted to name him Jack. He was known as "Baby Boy O'Brien" for the first three day's of life. Finally, day three in the hospital, Rusty was at work, and I filled out the birth certificate and prepared myself to tell Rusty that Ben was his name. He took it better than I thought.

The best word to describe Ben as a new-born was "intense." The boy cried more than any of my other babies when he was first born. He didn't sleep through the night until he was 5 months old, and it's only because I let him cry for a week straight. It is so interesting that his cantankerous personality changed so dramatically in just a few months.

Some interesting facts about Ben as a baby. Ben always threw up the day before he would get a tooth. He didn't get his first tooth until he was 11 months old. Ben didn't walk until he was 16 months old, and always was in the 90th to 100th percentile of weight, but 10th to 15th percentile of height. Ben followed Meg EVERYWHERE. They were (and still are if home) ALWAYS together. When he was asked as sunbeam (three year old) to draw a picture of himself he drew one of him and Meg together.

As a toddler Ben was obsessed with the movie "Toy Story." His fascination started a year or so after the first Toy Story movie came out, and a year or two before the second one, which made finding character figures very difficult. Ben got a Buzz and Woody for his 2nd birthday. Later that month, I was running in the stroller with them and Ben lost the Buzz. It was a family crisis. After hours of calling around, I found another one at a Target in Indiana and we drove to get it. Crisis averted.

Ben loves to read, and I give credit to Rusty. He read to Ben and Meg every night, not only from children books but he would give them a Spanish lesson and read from the Scripture Readers. This also I think helped begin Ben's love of the scriptures.

Some other favorite things about Ben:

• He likens his and Sam's relationship to that of Joseph and Hyrum Smith.
• When he has choice of whom to play with he usually chooses to play with Meg and Sam over friends.
• Ben only likes to wear "gym" shorts and pants. Never jeans, khakis or any other kind of pants. He only will wear short black socks.
• Ben loves to write music (He won the State Reflections Competition when he was in Second grade), and write stories.
• Ben has learned to play Billy Joel's songs on the piano to please Rusty, and hymns to please me.
• He loves to run and asks Rusty at least once a week to run with him (he use to ask me, but I can't keep up with him anymore).
• He has seen (and loves) all the Harry Potter and Star Wars Movies (that aren't rated PG 13).

Ben 2 weeks old.

Ben at nine months old. He was by far my "chubbiest" baby. Didn't crawl until 11 months and didn't walk until 16 months. He could sure put down the food. Now he's so skinny, it's funny to look back at him as a baby.

Ben at 1 year old. We took some family pictures at Locust Groves in Louisville.

Ben at one year old. These are some of my FAVORITE pictures of Meg and Ben.

Ben's OBSESSION with Toy Story. He ALWAYS had at least one of his Toy Story "Guys" with him at all times. Ben at 2 years old.

Ben loves to fish (although we don't do it very often). This is at a family reunion in Wisconsin where Ben caught his first fish. He was 3 and half years old.

Ben at four years old. Even at that early age he hated wearing long sleeve sweaters and still does today.

Ben at 6 year's old. He looks a lot like Rusty, but in this picture I can really see my dad's and my chin and jaw line.
Ben at age 10. He looks so grown up. Happy Birthday, Buster. We love you!

Ode To Bella

One thing (there are many more) that I LOVE about Rusty's family is the importance they put on extended family, and especially cousins. They have taught me that all plans need to be altered if there is a cousin coming to town or an event to celebrate a cousin. I love this and am learning to follow suit.

Bella is our 8-year-old cousin from St. Louis. She has come a couple of times in the last few months and we were lucky enough to have some sleep-overs with her. I guess by the comments that my kids have made this last week, Bella made quite a GOOD impression at our house. We can't wait for her to come again (and her brother and sister).

Sam made this picture of him and Bella going to the zoo. He asked me to mail it to her so she can hang it in her room (I'm sure that's exactly where she'll put it).

One night when I was putting this pull-up on Molly she said, "Look mom, Molly and Bella are on Molly's pull-up playing."

We went to Kentucky Kingdom with Bella, Solly and Aunt Lori this summer and had a BLAST!!!

Meg and Bella playing.

They Said. . .

Vicki: At a baseball game for Sam, "Molly, Emma Williams is crying, go and give her a hug."
Molly: "I love Emma, but I'm mean so I can't give her hug." Truer words have never been spoken.

After discussing the fact that Brian Miller, Rusty's good friend, got hit by a motorcycle while riding his bike (thankfully he wasn't harmed too much).
Meg: "If I were Mr. Brian I would NEVER get on a bike again."
Sam: "My super Sam sensor says that he WILL ride the bike again." What Sam?

Sam: "I like just having this time with Mom and Meg, (we were at Wal-Mart getting a birthday present for Ben). It's not as fun as with dad, but it's nice." Thanks Sam for gracing us with your presence.

Sam: "It seems like Grandpa wears the same shirt, and pants, and belt and pen in his pocket every day."

Sam Multi-tasks

Sam was so into his Game Boy game and did not want to stop, even while going to the bathroom . . .

After Sam was "finished," I made Ben and him clean the bathroom. That toilet seat looked so typical of boy use. No wonder Meg uses mine all the time.

You Say It's Your Birthday. . . Rusty

Today Rusty is 29 years old. Oops, I mean 39 years old. I really did just write 29. I think I did that Freudian slip because he acts like 29 (yesterday during General Conference he was the one who had all the kids laughing and not listening). He also looks so much younger than he is.

I've known Rusty 23 of his 39 years, and there are many things that I love about Rusty. I did a post on Rusty a few months ago and touted him. All those things are still true. He still lets me choose the entertainment, he still helps out with the kids and house when ever he's home, he's coaching Sam's baseball team, took me to Vancouver for a get away in June and still tries to email or call his mom and sisters every few weeks.

Today for his birthday, I want to document some of Rusty's "Loves."

• He LOVES his convertible.
• He LOVES to talk politics (especially with his sister Lori with whom he had diametrically opposed views) and learn all he can.
• He LOVES his extended family and all the family reunions.
• He LOVES to play dress up with Molly
• He LOVES to ride bikes with his kids and with me on our summer trips to Wisconsin using his dad's tandem.
• He LOVES to compete in triathlon, and LOVES to lament every aspect of the race after the results and pictures come on line.
• He LOVES to eat ethnic food, actually ANY food.
• He LOVES to listen to books on tape (even though when he tells be about a book he's "reading" I say, "you mean you're listening to:). Especially biographies.
• He LOVES to jump on the trampoline and let Meg and Ben teach him new tricks.
• He LOVES to run with Ben (Ben's the only one that can run at his pace--for at least a mile).
• He LOVES that his law office is now HIS law office.
• He LOVES to find new things in the scriptures or in the temple that he didn't "realize" before.
• He LOVES to read with Sam on top of his bunk bed.
• He LOVES to work out. If he had a day alone (his family gone) and didn't need to go to work, he would spend it by running 5 miles, biking 50, and then running another 5 miles. For a cool down he would lift for 1/2 hour and then top it off with a huge protein shake (I know, he's a freak).
• He LOVES me (sometimes I really wonder why).

Rusty, having just starting his own law firm, I have seen many more layers of Rusty. The other day for homework, Ben was asked what stamina was, and if he knew anyone who had stamina. He said his dad. I have really seen this trait and many more in the past two months. He has shown his ingenuity, his endurance and his desire to succeed. I'm so happy that he wants to provide for our family. It's been one of the hardest things we've ever done, and put a strain on us. But even with all the hard work and long hours, in some ways I've never seen Rusty happier.

Celebrating Rusty's birthday.

We made his favorite dinner. Homemade Chicken Pot Pie and rolls, lots of salad, and for dessert, Carrot Cake.

We had so much fun just hanging out outside after eating. Molly always does this look (mostly when she's trying to show her frustration) and makes her face go red.

Again with the Molly look.

Sam showing his "mad" (and dirty) face.

Enjoying the cake, and blowing our streamers. Happy "39th" RLO. We love you.