Emma Jayne Takes a Tumble!

Last night Emma Jayne had her first ER visit. She was sitting at the table, eating a cookie, when she fell off the chair and right into the china cupboard! Unfortunately, she hit right above her eye. It was a mess! Bruce was wearing a white shirt, and when he picked her up, it was covered with blood! She was (understandably) upset, so we calmed her down and assessed that she probably needed stitches. Mason, who was in his PJ's and ready for bed, was in hysterics. He was so worried! We loaded them in the car, and off to Ogden Regional we went. Colter was at Basketball practice, so he had no idea what had happened until he got home. At the hospital, they determined that she couldn't hold still for stitches, so they applied the magic glue and we were cleared for home! Poor little girl! She did get a carton of chocolate milk and some "My Little Pony" stickers to ease her pain...

Happy Birthday Emma!

Our baby girl turned Three on January 22nd. We had been telling her for about a week that her birthday was coming, so she had been asking everyday "Is it my birthday yet"??? Finally, when the big day came, she was so excited! As soon as she woke up, she said "yeah! It's my birthday"! Then she opened her presents from us: a pink digital camera, Barbie mermaid play set, memory game, and an Ariel mermaid doll from Justine. We asked her what she wanted to do on her birthday, and of course, she wanted to go to McDonald's! She put on her pink birthday shirt, and off we went. We had a fun time at lunch, then stopped at Winegars for cake making supplies. She was so excited! When we got home, she put on her apron and baking hat and started to bake. I'd like to say her favorite part was mixing and baking, but the best thing to Emma was playing with the candles! After the boys got home, we went to Colter's basketball game. While we were there, poor little Emma got hit with a flying basketball that knocked her over! After lots of loves and kisses, she was OK. When we got home, we frosted the cake and sang "Happy Birthday"! Our celebration continued on Saturday when we had her party! She got lots of really cool things. Grandpa Vern, Grandma Joyce and Quayden bought her a Barbie! Her very first one! They also gave her a whole package of heart and flower foam stickers. She'll have a great time with that! Jeni and Nikki gave her a bunch of pots, pans, cups and silverware for her kitchen. Emma's been "cooking" like crazy! Nikki also made the cutest ladybug cake! It was darling! Emma loved it! The Michalesons surprised Emma with exactly what she wanted a birthday cake! Actually, it was a wooden birthday cake set, complete with candles! The next super surprise came from Grandma Sue......A huge beauty salon! As soon as she brought it in, Emma started to jump up and down! Mason and Jack are our super handy men, and as such had a great time putting it together! What a great Birthday! Happy Birthday baby girl!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Emma Jayne Is Three!!!

Click on the pictures to see the video!

Make a Smilebox postcard

The Epi-Pen is Your Friend.....

Both of our girls have severe allergy issues. Yesterday, Justine had a pretty serious allergic reaction when she inadvertently ate a mango. Luckily, she made it to the hospital in time. I had been nagging her about keeping her epi-pen with her at all times, so hopefully this will convince her. Thank goodness she's ok! Here she is in her apres allergy glory, no need for botox here! We love you Juss and are so grateful you're fine!

Emma, on the other hand, is allergic to shrimp (what she ate before this reaction), most seafood, and tree nuts. Needless to say, we always have an epi-pen on hand for our girls! I couldn't end this post without mentioning Colter's unfortunate run-in with the epi-pen. This summer, he was playing around with Emma's and shot himself in the thumb! He ran outside, screaming, with blood pouring out of his finger! I immediately called 911, and tried to calm him down. The paramedics and the ambulance (and some of the neighbors!) came and they deemed that he was fine. They suggested that I call our pediatrician, who told us he would be fine, but full of adrenaline. To this day whenever we take him in they say "bet you'll never do THAT again"!

My dear Mother-in-law wanted me to share this with you. As you know, Vern and Joyce have been taking such good care of Quayden during Briggs illness. They have shown such love and support, all unselfishly. Here is the email I received:

Dear Paige, Family, and Friends,
To all of you dear people out there who assisted our dear Paige in putting together such a wonderful Xmas for Sylina. Brenn, Briggs and especially QUAYDEN- words cannot express our love and appreciation for each one of you. Quayden was thrilled with all his toys from Santa. He had some concerns before Xmas about where he would be and would Santa be able to find him. He received all the gifts on his list and then some. We have truly been overwhelmed by the love, concern and generosity shown to all of our family. To Sue, Jeni, Mardee, Tobin and Diana, Thank you, Thank you.
To all the rest of Paige and Bruce's friends who participated, we appreciate you all so much. The only way we can think of to repay you all is to "pay it forward" when the opportunity comes to us. This has been a life changing experience for all of us, hopefully we will all be better, more compassionate people because of it. The response from our whole community has been very humbling and heartwarming. We have always believed in the innate goodness of people, and you have certainly all proved it to be true. Please know that you all brought a Happy Christmas to a struggling little family. Thank you! God Bless You All, Joyce & Vern

I also have two more people to thank.
*Dr. Blake, Stephanie and Brockton Welling. Thanks so much for your very generous donation to the "Santa" fund. Steph, you're like a sister to me. I am so grateful to know you! And Blake, Thanks for the information you have given me. I know it's hard, but I appreciate your help and medical knowledge. I love you guys!
* Therron, Aimee, Drake, Isabella, Emmaline and Grant Morrison. Thanks so much for your donation. You are always so thoughtful and kind. You're a wonderful family, and we're grateful for your friendship!

Happy (LATE) Birthday Dad, Hill New Years Eve Party (EARLY) and Emma in the snow!

December 27th would have been my Dad's 65th birthday. Happy Birthday Dad! I miss you so much! I know you're looking out for me, and I hope you know how much I love you. Not only were you my mentor, you were also one of my best friends. I'm so grateful for that! Thanks Dad. Love, Paige
Every year we have the "Hill family fabulous New Years eve bash"! However, this year, with Bruce's unfortunate ski accident and subsequent knee surgery, we opted to have it the Saturday before the holiday. We didn't have as many people, but it was a really fun time! It was nice to have a more intimate get together with our closest friends. I also admit that it was nice NOT to have to stay up until midnight! The official New Year was brought in with Bruce and I home, the kids with Grandparents, and poor Bruce in absolute misery. His surgery did go well, and hopefully in a few weeks, he'll be back to normal-No skiing until next year though!

The BFF's

The day after the party we had a huge snowstorm, so bundled up and went outside to play. Emma loves playing in the snow, as you can see by these pics....