SO LONG MY DEAR FRIEND

For as long as I can remember I have drank soda. During my younger years it was regular soda and over the past 5 or so years it has been diet soda. I have contemplated on numerous occasions giving it up but never had the courage nor the will power to do so. Over the past few months I've been killing myself at the gym and really have seen little progress for the amount of effort that I have been putting in. I think that a major reason for lack of results is due to my addiction to soda. I drink an excessive amount and have finally come to a place where I am good with letting it go. I know that it may sound weird to some out there...but it has been a source of happiness in my life.


There is nothing better than a frosty beverage out of the fountain on a hot summer day. I especially like a diet coke with lime when I am out to dinner or just hanging watching a movie at home.

Coke Zero has been my beverage of choice for quite some time now. I will be donating my recently purchased 24 pack to my dear friends The Peterson's tomorrow:) I know that for the next couple of days I will go through major withdrawal...but have plenty of water and Advil on hand. I will keep you updated on my progress.

Nick's Ortho Update

Nicholas has been undergoing extensive orthodontic treatment over the past 9 months....He recently had to have a tooth pulled to allow his permanent tooth to have a place to call home.

Check out the size of the roots on that tooth. They were deep and I do not think that the tooth would have budged for a quite some time. Nick did absolutely amazing at the Dentist. No laughing gas...just a little Motrin after. I think that he has an extremely high tolerance for pain. Way to go Nick!

This is his lovely face mask! I initially thought that he was going to wear head gear.....but he was not that fortunate. He thinks that this apparatus is pretty cool. The day that he was fitted for it he wore it out of the office. Our Orthodontist told him that he only needed to wear it at night.....but Nicholas thought that it was cool and insisted on wearing it out that day!!

It looks worse than it is.....It is suppose to pull his top jaw forward and push his lower jaw backwards........it seems to be doing a great job. He wears it to bed every night and who know when he will no longer need to wear it. So he's had a top and bottom expander, face mask, 4 braces and a tooth pulled. I am sure that there is more on the horizon for Nick.

He really has been a trooper when it comes to his treatment. I look forward to the day when he is finished and we can see the final product.

2 TEETH, ONE HEAD AND 2 STAPLES

So what do you get when you have 4 boys and a girl playing hide and go seek at the Hendrix household?

You get two front teeth to Matthews head!

Two Staples following shortly there after!


Lots of Neosporin to keep it moist!


And Matthews first official trip to the ER for an accident!



So my girlfriend calls and wants me to watch her kids while she and her 14 year old daughter camp out at the mall to see "Edward" from the upcoming movie Twilight. I do not blame them one bit.....They were front row joeing it at the stage and I too would have stayed put for my child to see whomever they wanted to see!

So envision 5 screaming, wild kids beaming balls at one another , playing tag and wrestling all around our house for hours. I could not send them in the backyard because the night before we had the Amazon River flowing through it and it would have been destroyed had they been out there. So I send them out front to shoot some hoops and play catch while I start dinner. Needless to say, the basketballs go in to the yard next to me which consists of mud, mud and more mud. Lo and behold Nicholas decided to go into the mud with his BRAND NEW ADDIDAS TENNIS SHOES on and I just about lose it once I see what he has done. I do not know how many times I have told him to stay out of the mud in his good shoes. I want to hit him over the head with his muddy shoe, but settle with dragging it across the grass a few hundred times as I attempt to scrap off the layers of mud from his BRAND NEW SHOES! AHHHHHH.


I shuffle everyone inside to feed them dinner and tell them that it is time for some down time. Somehow down time/quiet time =Hide and Go seek to the kids. I figure no harm can come if they stay upstairs and stay out of the attic, right? Fast forward to Matthew coming down the stairs with blood dripping down his face and all over his hands. Now I am freaking out inside because blood and Aimee do not go hand in hand. All of the kids are around me and I feel like the walls are closing in on me as I try to asses the situation. Now I understand why the paramedics tell you to back up when there is an accident....it is because it is STRESSFUL ENOUGH trying to deal with the injured let alone all the people hovering around you.

I get the bleeding to stop and get a better look at the gap that has been left by Alec's' two front teeth. Alec's' teeth are hurting so I ensure that they are not loose and am relieved to know that there is not another injury. Luckily Alec's mom is a nurse and she was on her way home while this was going on...so she checked it and since Matthew was heading to a 3 day sleepover camp with school, she felt that he should be taken in for stitches.

Two shots of lidocaine, two staples and a ton of neosporin later, we returned home thankful that Matthew was cleared for camp. I assume that this is the first of many to come when you have a house full of boys.

ONLY NICHOLAS AND HIS FRIENDS

Okay..........well this story starts back some time ago when Matthew played his first season of baseball. Well as most of you parents know, when you have a son and he plays any type of semi-contact sport, he typically wears a cup. Most boys love the day that they get to wear their cup for the first time. They knock on it...tap it with the bat....shift it around until it is in the right spot and so on.....Well on Matthews debut of the wearing the cup...Nicholas wasn't sure what it was and playing the perfect role of the annoying little brother, he runs around the house pointing at himself while shaking his hips back and forth yelling, "WEINER THINGY....WEINER THINGY....Matthew is wearing a WEINER THINGY......"!!!! Adam and I could barely contain ourselves. We were hysterically laughing. The thing that we have found with boys is that there is always something to poke fun at when it comes to stuff like this.

Fast forward a few years.....to just last weekend. We went over to our friends the Nate's to have some dinner and play this awesome game from Germany called LeGretto?!(something like that)....anyway.....as the adults are playing the game and the kids are thrashing around in the house....in just their underwear(Michael, 8, Preston, 6 and Nicholas, 8) Mind you Nicholas is always running around in his underwear. For some odd reason that we can not figure out, he likes to just hang out in his underwear. Needless to say on this occasion he had arrived at their house wearing his baseball uniform and as Nick would put it, "His Weiner Thingy" as well. Well as Nicholas is strutting his stuff around, Michael came up with a new name for the Weiner Thingy.......He called it a NUT BAG!!!!! Have you ever heard of a funnier name. I thought that Gina (Michael's Mom) and I were going to wet our pants we were laughing soo hard. I find that as a Mother of two boys and being surrounded by all of their friends that I have to be ready for what they throw my way. I am sure that there will be many more funny stories along the way. Thanks for the laughs Nicholas!!!

NEW YORK YANKEES GAME

I had the privilege to take Matthew to his

FIRST EVER NEW YORK YANKEES GAME!!

We purchased 4 tickets to go as a family, but with Nick away on his trip and Adam out of town, Matthew and I had the ball park to ourselves! We both sported our YANKEE apparel and bought some well needed souvenirs from the club house.

We attempted to get autographs down by their dugout....but since it was 100+degrees outside......they didn't come out until the last minute. Matthew did have the opportunity though to stump a Texas Ranger fan after he began heckling us.....He was yelling that the YANKEES stink and so forth and Matthew nicely went up to him and said, "Excuse me sir...how many World Championships have the Rangers won?" He didn't say another word:)


We resorted to taking our seats in the nose bleeds and cheered on our YANKEES! Matthew called it before the game that Derek Jeter would hit a homer and sure enough at his first at bat he did......We went crazy in the stands along with the other fans!! Matthew was grinning from ear to ear. What a fun game it was to watch.

With Cotton Candy, Mountain Dew, Garlic Fries and everything else under the sun.....we had a spectacular night. What a great memory I will share always with Matthew. I am so thankful that he still thinks that I am cool enough to go to a game with:) Time will only tell how long that will last.....I hope it is forever.

Happy 13th Anniversary!!!

It was a little over 13 years ago that Adam spotted me in the hall at UVSC in Orem, UT. He should have ran but I am so thankful that he did not!! It seems like just yesterday that we were sealed in the Manti Temple. Words can not express the gratitude in my heart for Adam. He is such a wonderful husband, father, provider and friend. Throughout the last 13 years, we have made many wonderful memories. We have lived in 4 different states, bought and sold three different homes, had two wonderful children, had one "high powered bird dog" and numerous events throughout the years. He has taken me to many beautiful places and has created wonderful memories with our family.

Adam and I at dinner in St. Kitts


Our "High Powered Bird Dog" Monroe (he died a year ago in Sept.)

Some of my sisters(Adams too) in NYC with Matt Lauer (notice the front row shot:))

Sunset in Aruba

Cruisin with Jennie and Rob
The view from our lounge chairs in Barbados

Our family in Arizona at our Niece Sages' baptism

Our sweet boys when they were 6 and 3

Christmas picture in 2003

The boys and I skiing at Brighton

13 THINGS I LOVE ABOUT ADAM

1. He makes marriage easy: he always lets me vent and get all worked up over things that don't really matter but he knows it makes me feel better.

2. He is very selfless: the year Matthew was born was a tight year financially for us. He was still in school and I no longer was working. Adam used his birthday money from March to buy me a Mothers Day gift in May. He has always gone with out so that I did not.

3. He is the funniest person I know: I find such joy in hearing him laugh and listening to the stories that he tells. His laugh is infectious and his keen sense of humor brings much laughter into our home .

4. He loved me even with all of my baggage:) Need I say more!

5. He loves the Dallas Cowboys: and I do not....we have had a battle or two during the football season over the years. The best part about it is that Adam calls my dad on a weekly basis to tell him how awesome his Cowboys are and how bad the 49rs are!

6. He has an amazing family: words can not express the amount of love I have for his family. I consider myself extremely blessed to have them in my life!

7. He has moved me a few places: if it wasn't for the moves in our marriage, my children wouldn't know and love their cousins, we wouldn't have our best friends in Phoenix, Vegas and Texas and we wouldn't have learned to rely on one another the way that we have.

8. He has provided for our family to have a stay-at-home-mother: there isn't any thing in this world that I would trade for the time I have had to be a stay-at-home mother. At times I didn't think that I could make it...but it is well worth it!!

9. He is an awesome dad: Matthew and Nicholas just adore him. they wrestle every day, play catch in the backyard, jump on the tramp, yell at the TV during Cowboys games, shoot hoops and have lots of fun together.

10. He spoils me: Adam has taken me to some very beautiful places over the years. He also is known for blowing the Christmas budget to buy me something special. I always get a Sunday nap by myself and he does simple acts of kindness throughout the year.

11. He has integrity: he has lost a few things over the years because he was honest. I know that he does what is right even when no one else is watching

12. He married me for time and all eternity: I know that we will be together forever!

13. He picked me: out of all the girls at UVSC and around town...he saw and chose me!!!!

Thanks for the last 13 years, Adam!

I love you and Happy Anniversary!

First Day of School

Better late than never is the motto when it comes to the Hendrix Family Blog! Yes, school did start 2 weeks ago....but since I signed back up for the PTA for something I thought was going to be a breeze and turns out it is not....my blog has suffered. Matthew started 5th grade this year at the ripe old age of 11! He is the King of the School and word on the street is that he is the love of all the teachers in the 5th grade:)Not to mention the ladies:)!!!Ahhhhh


Nicholas is in 2nd grade and is 8 years old! Notice the lovely shaggy hair? I asked Adam the Saturday before school started to get his hair cut since I was not in town and he said,"It looks fine!" Well I arrive home Sunday and he confesses that he needs a haircut but too late now...so needless to say he started with the shag but once the Law was back in town....it quickly was chopped off on Monday after school.



On Monday in the halls of the school after dropping Nicholas off in his class, I told Matthew that I was going to do the party dance once I left! He quickly reminded me that it was not just a single day party dance but a nine month party dance!!!! Thanks for the reminder, Matthew! So to all of the stay at home moms who look forward to school being back in after 3 months of vacations, sleepovers, fights, messes, hugs and kisses I dedicate this song to you...Celebration by Kool and the Gang!!!! Don't get me wrong.....I love my boys, they mean the world to me and I can't imagine my life without them. But with that being said, school is wonderful!