tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55745483924307752762024-02-21T22:52:16.818-07:00The Epps FamilyLivin' Sweet & SimpleThe Epps Famhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12951758960345691260noreply@blogger.comBlogger117125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5574548392430775276.post-73107544732766894702011-12-24T08:09:00.006-07:002011-12-28T17:18:08.705-07:00Merry Christmas, Darlings<div style="text-align: center;">Here is a picture of our family with Santa.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DlSc-3pf3go/TvXrP5hFAtI/AAAAAAAACUQ/DIYYi387vbc/s1600/DSCN0918.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 361px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DlSc-3pf3go/TvXrP5hFAtI/AAAAAAAACUQ/DIYYi387vbc/s400/DSCN0918.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5689712362622616274" /></a><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Reasons I love this photo include the following:<div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><span>(From Left to Right)</span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>1. There is an antler bulging out of Braddock's head.</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>2. My face looks like it was stung by a bee. </div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>3. Dawson has no sense of direction when the person taking the picture says, "Everyone look at the camera!"</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>4. Santa is cute.</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>5. Emma is sporting her awkward face because she knows everyone is looking at her. </div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>6. Jim appears to be 3 times the size of Santa. And he's kneeling down.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">And on a more serious note, our family read some great scriptures last night that tie in with this wonderful season....</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>"Lift up your head and be of good cheer; for behold the time is at hand, and on this night shall the sign be given, and on the morrow come I into the world, to show unto the world that I will fulfill all that which I have caused to be spoken by the mouth of my holy prophets."</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>3 Nephi 1:13</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: center;">As overwhelming and chaotic as Christmas sometimes feels, we all have reason to lift our heads up and be of good cheer because Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Merry Christmas, everyone!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div>The Epps Famhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12951758960345691260noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5574548392430775276.post-84146231823013317272011-10-25T15:08:00.002-06:002011-10-25T16:44:39.819-06:00Hey Ya'll, It's Fall!<div style="text-align: center;">I am so far behind, it's ridiculous. I give up and I totally blame it on Facebook. I have so much I need to post between here and April, but the more I think about it, the less I want to blog, so I am just going to do what I want to do and post the current happenings.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">My house is ready for the fall season and I love it. Nothing extravagant, but I am learning more and more that I'm not a fan of clutter and that simplicity is the way to go. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Here are the things that are making me happy right now:</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">1. These cute fall blocks that my sister, Alyssa made last year when she helped me with my Super Saturday projects. They have fall written all over them....literally.</div><div style="text-align: center;">Mwahahahahah, I'm funny.</div><div><br /></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYJyesDfLPtKGHwFLoShEVPjclwK19POQTJs1VhnUf4MLXaF2OwE-0a4VPezRAZ4BZmae41YwRlrtjLaQX4M-lWmNKmkCX_hv5jYuUVVkdcvRB_PGmgUiTUHOa_a7y2wA42NN-7RtbFa8/s1600/DSCN0642.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYJyesDfLPtKGHwFLoShEVPjclwK19POQTJs1VhnUf4MLXaF2OwE-0a4VPezRAZ4BZmae41YwRlrtjLaQX4M-lWmNKmkCX_hv5jYuUVVkdcvRB_PGmgUiTUHOa_a7y2wA42NN-7RtbFa8/s400/DSCN0642.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5667540910060490290" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">2. Orange lights on the piano. Yes, yes, and YES!</div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Z6H3EPr_GNo/TqcmazzX4EI/AAAAAAAACTk/6ihmRMZSlHw/s1600/DSCN0695.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 358px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Z6H3EPr_GNo/TqcmazzX4EI/AAAAAAAACTk/6ihmRMZSlHw/s400/DSCN0695.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5667540898093195330" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">3. A thankful tree that the kids and I made. On the back of each leaf, the kids wrote down things that they are grateful for. It definitely looks homemade, but it holds some major sentimental value. I love it and I love that when my kids talk about it, they say "The leaf-is look so pretty!" </div><div style="text-align: center;">("Leaf-is" = Leaves)</div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ6Y3ZYOxfy0hGZdl5cPJMjamRdIXL5HfJcalpfN-5rRNNSKOHbb3ygM6RnyzLi7JNxn-X2FAlMMYYPeor0SraWk_era-LlksvMlb0TYvPzNf11uVtUFydGr59bl6UxcKi35FXzoQI3Nc/s1600/DSCN0651.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 338px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ6Y3ZYOxfy0hGZdl5cPJMjamRdIXL5HfJcalpfN-5rRNNSKOHbb3ygM6RnyzLi7JNxn-X2FAlMMYYPeor0SraWk_era-LlksvMlb0TYvPzNf11uVtUFydGr59bl6UxcKi35FXzoQI3Nc/s400/DSCN0651.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5667540885298701346" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">And here's a Christmas creation. </div><div style="text-align: center;">No, I'm not decorating my house for Christmas yet, although many of you probably wouldn't be surprised if I did. </div><div style="text-align: center;">My sister, Jenna came up with the idea to make this after seeing something like this on display when we were on vacation in Grand Lake, Colorado. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">It was so fun and simple, I thought I would share. </div><div style="text-align: center;">All you need are a set of branches from Hobby Lobby, some miniature jingle bells (I used red, but silver is really pretty too), and some clear beads.</div><div style="text-align: center;"> The bells and beads slide right on and then you hot glue them to keep them from moving. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Tie some ribbon at the base of them stems and you have yourself a beautiful arrangement of jingle bell branches!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD5zKytGt47IvohLDD1car_zexggrmZhuGq0xZYXgvIKoEG5EPvbTHrOVCQ_KVctNtQ2a5ju1mzN-XerJ77sOK9nzdUeEL-M4ZEyPstdZS9BlWukvME8b3YPG9ppi6OEpCgpAiKl4cyNg/s1600/DSCN0698.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD5zKytGt47IvohLDD1car_zexggrmZhuGq0xZYXgvIKoEG5EPvbTHrOVCQ_KVctNtQ2a5ju1mzN-XerJ77sOK9nzdUeEL-M4ZEyPstdZS9BlWukvME8b3YPG9ppi6OEpCgpAiKl4cyNg/s400/DSCN0698.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5667540886093349602" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">Now I will move onto us ( just in case you forgot who we were).</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">This is pretty much my favorite picture right now. Jim would die if he knew I posted this, </div><div style="text-align: center;">but oh well.</div><div style="text-align: center;">I love it because it currently describes how my man is when he gets home from work. He loves his kids and he makes sure they know it. As many of you know, Jim is a contractor and he works very hard. I often take for granted all that he does to ensure mine and the kids' happiness. Running a business is kind of a big deal, but he does it happily and comes home happy too! All three of my kids turn him into a jungle gym when he walks in the door every night. </div><div style="text-align: center;">It's tradition.</div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bTm_d9fmL3c/Tqcl6gWh89I/AAAAAAAACS8/1pHEhGNYtzY/s1600/DSCN0566.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bTm_d9fmL3c/Tqcl6gWh89I/AAAAAAAACS8/1pHEhGNYtzY/s400/DSCN0566.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5667540343116133330" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">Don't mind this next picture. I look like a goon and Emma's hat is two years too small for her. It's sad when you have to ask your 5 year old if he can take a picture of you because no one else does.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Anyhow, life is going really well for me, not easy by any means, but I really have nothing to complain about. I feel very privileged to be able to stay home with my three little ones, and take care of our home. Yesterday, I was able to just keep things low-key at the house. We didn't have to go anywhere, nor did I have any desire to. My kids spent the entire day playing in the living room with a bin of their toys, while I did a bunch of laundry, ironed, cleaned bathrooms,mopped floors, and even made some bread! I do these things every week usually in a rush and stressing out about how I am going to get it all done, but yesterday I really tried to think about what a blessing it is that I get to do ALL of these things. </div><div style="text-align: center;">What a difference it made in my day!</div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-li6mogdJg0E/Tqcl57qX65I/AAAAAAAACSw/ojcub3s7dKQ/s1600/DSCN0596.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 274px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-li6mogdJg0E/Tqcl57qX65I/AAAAAAAACSw/ojcub3s7dKQ/s400/DSCN0596.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5667540333267250066" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">Next up, we have this little dude who is turning into a very big kid. Braddock turned 5 last month and just started preschool this fall. He loves to wrestle, build anything with Legos, and pretend like he's in combat( Honestly, our house always sounds like a battle is going on). Braddock also can color like it's nobody's business. He will spend an hour on one coloring page until it is perfection. He is extremely meticulous about his work and very visual. Hopefully this will one day apply to the way he does his chores :) . </div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-elLEOryUfWY/Tqcl5sMfkNI/AAAAAAAACSk/rdKbgrYYoIk/s1600/DSCN0690.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 270px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-elLEOryUfWY/Tqcl5sMfkNI/AAAAAAAACSk/rdKbgrYYoIk/s400/DSCN0690.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5667540329115390162" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">Emma is as feisty at they come. She has a strong spirit in a petite little body and wants everyone to know that she can do it herself. In fact, she tried to prove this to me yesterday when I specifically told her not to pick up a two gallon container of salsa that needed to be brought in the house because it was too heavy for her. Seconds later, I discovered that the 2 gallons of salsa was now flooding my driveway, thanks to our little ambitious Emma. It looked like someone had hurled from my car to the front steps. </div><div style="text-align: center;">Nonetheless, Emma is very smart, and loves to learn anything and everything. Her brain is a sponge that seems to retain everything she sees and hears (which means I have to be careful what I say and do). Emma's current favorite movie is "The Sound of Music". She loves all of the songs from it, especially "My Favorite Things". In fact, Emma is going to dress up as Fraulein Maria for Halloween. </div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisGX3zT6aRxXaGU0T733lBw6aiO7dvAn5d9nKiydG4kK34aJ6xhVfz2jKMzjC5wWtQ7BU4Aq6ibbgI-jXcDXhPUoTf-43yClxu7ouNcdVMTkoh2U1NTsawOTyPEx5ghU2oyW7hafTZUkY/s1600/DSCN0648.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisGX3zT6aRxXaGU0T733lBw6aiO7dvAn5d9nKiydG4kK34aJ6xhVfz2jKMzjC5wWtQ7BU4Aq6ibbgI-jXcDXhPUoTf-43yClxu7ouNcdVMTkoh2U1NTsawOTyPEx5ghU2oyW7hafTZUkY/s400/DSCN0648.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5667540320973645858" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">Lastly, is our little Dawson who is growing up way too fast! He will be 8 months old tomorrow and I am not sure HOW that happened. For the last month, he has been crawling all over the place and is now pulling himself up onto anything he can get his hands on. He is by far my busiest kid, but he has a very bubbly personality and a contagious smile that melts my heart like butter every time! I'm pretty sure he'll learn to use it on me anytime he knows he's in trouble. </div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Dd1Mn6s8vo8/Tqcl43PX_8I/AAAAAAAACSM/yB_5uSD7ha0/s1600/DSCN0653.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Dd1Mn6s8vo8/Tqcl43PX_8I/AAAAAAAACSM/yB_5uSD7ha0/s400/DSCN0653.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5667540314900398018" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">As a whole, we are enjoying our time together and this glorious fall season!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>The Epps Famhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12951758960345691260noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5574548392430775276.post-26637740064426118242011-10-11T15:43:00.004-06:002011-10-12T16:08:34.179-06:00Baby Blessing<div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">On May 8th, our little Dawson was given a baby blessing by his dad. </div><div style="text-align: center;">It was a wonderful day to have all of our family together, and I mean TOGETHER. </div><div style="text-align: center;">It was a very cold and wet day, so all 40+ of us huddled in our home! </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">This day was also Mother's Day, so I really lucked out being able to celebrate the blessing of our newest addition AND honoring the beauty of motherhood.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">I took a whole 2 PICTURES that day - they're the ones you see right below this. Before I could even get myself out of the car, Jim had already taken his suit jacket off. Oh, how I love my Jim. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE3Gg3BmFcTbz3gE2Fc54M2PUYNnuIjU_6N07iF6tYLljzfdcGNeO4lpgjJagIHTACYjfLWb2W0DWBpH0yFRk-XghEYSmfdsB4Ehjm4WmxB5QMHn8qJZAIAx0EazzaIbEjaqzMeog9bKw/s1600/dawsonblessingcollage.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 229px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE3Gg3BmFcTbz3gE2Fc54M2PUYNnuIjU_6N07iF6tYLljzfdcGNeO4lpgjJagIHTACYjfLWb2W0DWBpH0yFRk-XghEYSmfdsB4Ehjm4WmxB5QMHn8qJZAIAx0EazzaIbEjaqzMeog9bKw/s400/dawsonblessingcollage.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5662353802961504738" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: center; ">The blessing that Jim gave to Dawson was very special. Two things that I distinctly remember him blessing him with were:</div><div style="text-align: center; ">The desire to always put others first </div><div style="text-align: center; ">and</div><div style="text-align: center; ">To always bring honor to Heavenly Father's name and to his family's.</div><div style="text-align: center; "><br /></div><div style="text-align: center; ">Dawson, I hope these blessings will always be instilled within you.</div><div style="text-align: center; "><br /></div><div style="text-align: center; ">We sure are proud to have this little man in our home!</div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><u><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></u><br /></div>The Epps Famhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12951758960345691260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5574548392430775276.post-26871602555806290202011-05-11T15:49:00.000-06:002011-05-13T14:47:00.873-06:003 is the Magic Number<div style="text-align: center;">Before our latest bundle of joy arrived, I was convinced that raising three children would be quite simple. (I guess you can call me an idiot).</div><div style="text-align: center;">I was so wrong! </div><div style="text-align: center;">I've definitely got my work cut out for me and then some!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">I thought I would post some pictures of the little ones throughout the last couple of months while I share with you some of the things that I have learned about being a mother of three.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">1. Eating out is awesome.</div><div style="text-align: center;">2. Heading out to the post office (which is like .25 miles away from my house) is kind of a big deal.</div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-moLpaNFqARY/TcsFg6dMXpI/AAAAAAAACQk/0T6EQkFbrxg/s1600/IMG_6954.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-moLpaNFqARY/TcsFg6dMXpI/AAAAAAAACQk/0T6EQkFbrxg/s400/IMG_6954.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5605580224198368914" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">3. Getting ready for the day is overrated. </div><div style="text-align: center;">4. Wearing tennis shoes anywhere and everywhere I go is a must. </div><div style="text-align: center;">5. The grocery store is a dreaded place to be with three kids. Especially when your oldest trips on the cart and then mommy runs him over with it. </div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPGhY1BDQrziduzSJA2PylKPB6aacwW7m7X67B4rH9YIdfEb5v4Ct1c6bIit8WqoROBxjEFapL3RESSqnO9B2t1BB-kFDSffue57qCIrmRdA1E-QbK4uVSnOuOtt4s6Hgz6uAkGsqi5xI/s1600/IMG_7222.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPGhY1BDQrziduzSJA2PylKPB6aacwW7m7X67B4rH9YIdfEb5v4Ct1c6bIit8WqoROBxjEFapL3RESSqnO9B2t1BB-kFDSffue57qCIrmRdA1E-QbK4uVSnOuOtt4s6Hgz6uAkGsqi5xI/s400/IMG_7222.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5605580220574170050" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">5. My house never looks clean until 9 PM . </div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJY8ju4f7mkAnSCI4HKgaTqpdmlLqCxPdgPiNmoVqT_B17rDl4BpG5Z_hYVoblDGSdg3b7hQW35Jmt5Wxhyphenhyphen3pm6T83Rb3CPOKe_FXk_dRCYdH7GT-TpRbMQ90bDaTWTD45z6CXGwXxlgU/s1600/IMG_7093.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJY8ju4f7mkAnSCI4HKgaTqpdmlLqCxPdgPiNmoVqT_B17rDl4BpG5Z_hYVoblDGSdg3b7hQW35Jmt5Wxhyphenhyphen3pm6T83Rb3CPOKe_FXk_dRCYdH7GT-TpRbMQ90bDaTWTD45z6CXGwXxlgU/s400/IMG_7093.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5605580211431303810" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">6. Taking pictures of all three of them at once is a joke.</div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-A89ujTq2Sr4/TcsFf-od_AI/AAAAAAAACQM/EGMP5fLXwmU/s1600/IMG_6972.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-A89ujTq2Sr4/TcsFf-od_AI/AAAAAAAACQM/EGMP5fLXwmU/s400/IMG_6972.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5605580208139533314" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">7. A 32 oz Diet Dr Pepper from Conoco can rid you of all of your troubles.</div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-txk2dlVFoIs/TcsFfui2QeI/AAAAAAAACQE/wh9MZ4vObMo/s1600/IMG_7004.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-txk2dlVFoIs/TcsFfui2QeI/AAAAAAAACQE/wh9MZ4vObMo/s400/IMG_7004.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5605580203820990946" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">8. Children know they can get away with anything when mommy is nursing. </div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-U_XTwne6teY/TcsEUDUIv_I/AAAAAAAACP4/7W-57An51-U/s1600/IMG_7039.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-U_XTwne6teY/TcsEUDUIv_I/AAAAAAAACP4/7W-57An51-U/s400/IMG_7039.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5605578903726374898" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">9. It is super hard to lose weight. </div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zXkLAJ-IlOc/TcsET1czYaI/AAAAAAAACPw/IG0gVcfwGug/s1600/IMG_7036.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zXkLAJ-IlOc/TcsET1czYaI/AAAAAAAACPw/IG0gVcfwGug/s400/IMG_7036.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5605578900004626850" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">10. Having my kids dressed and ready for the day before 10 o'clock is rare.</div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LzsTuhuIDY0/TcsETW8ehaI/AAAAAAAACPo/hLPpZGiHJa8/s1600/IMG_7167.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LzsTuhuIDY0/TcsETW8ehaI/AAAAAAAACPo/hLPpZGiHJa8/s400/IMG_7167.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5605578891815978402" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">11. The laundry somehow has multiplied itself by like 100. </div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GGopgB_6HHA/TcsETLwG47I/AAAAAAAACPg/iKOqdDK-HZ8/s1600/IMG_6945.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GGopgB_6HHA/TcsETLwG47I/AAAAAAAACPg/iKOqdDK-HZ8/s400/IMG_6945.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5605578888811307954" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">12. Locking your kids outside isn't such a bad thing anymore. In fact, I kind of like it.</div><div><br /></div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RpNF4pPNQ_8/TcsESq33npI/AAAAAAAACPY/Rxi_8oeBlGY/s1600/threekids.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RpNF4pPNQ_8/TcsESq33npI/AAAAAAAACPY/Rxi_8oeBlGY/s400/threekids.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5605578879985491602" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">13. Prayers are more important than ever. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">14. The love in our home is overflowing.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Despite the challenge that I am faced with daily, I sure am grateful for the joy these little ones bring to our home!</div><div style="text-align: center;">To those of you who are considering having a third, I hope I didn't scare you - it really is so much fun!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>The Epps Famhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12951758960345691260noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5574548392430775276.post-78685489987091571452011-03-19T16:05:00.005-06:002011-03-19T17:43:54.874-06:003 Weeks Ago.......<div align="center">How can this be?! How can it be that my little tiny baby is already 3 weeks old?! </div><div align="center">I am baffled at how fast the time goes by. </div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center">3 weeks ago today (well actually, tonight) our little Dawson was born and placed into my arms for the first time. </div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center">I thought I would jot down some of the things that happened on his birthday for my own sake. I really don't want to forget this , which means I need to record it. </div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center">Saturday, the 26th of February, was no ordinary day. You see, it was my sister Alyssa's birthday and since she lives right across the street from us, our little family was able to go over and eat breakfast with her and my mom that morning. It was a wonderful way to start the day!</div><div align="center">After visiting there for a couple of hours, we took the kids back home and pretty much just laid around. My 39 week pregnant body was already past the whole nesting thing and just wanted to lounge around for the next 10 days. My contractions would be 2-5 minutes apart for an hour, but would stop as soon as I took on the thought of going to the hospital. </div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center">I had given up. </div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center">Then the phone rang, and my awesome OB doctor who had the day off, called me just to check up on things. He suggested I come to his office so he could check to see how my labor was progressing. </div><div align="center">Did I mention my doctor is AWESOME?</div><div align="center">So the whole family piled into the minivan to go to his office. </div><div align="center">I was now at a 4 and 70% effaced. </div><div align="center">Woo hoo! </div><div align="center">But no, I couldn't believe that things just might be progressing. My body was playing tricks on me the whole week before and I didn't want to actually believe that I just might have the baby soon. </div><div align="center">Apparently, however, our doctor knew better than me because we left his office with him saying, " Alright, we will see you guys tonight!"</div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center">We then headed off to the grocery store where Jim turned into my drill sargeant and had me doing laps around the isles. </div><div align="center">Still, nothing. </div><div align="center">What a joke.</div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center">Then we headed over to Jim's parents' house where my husband became a Nazi and was having me do the XBox Kinect Dance Central.</div><div align="center">Still, nothing. </div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center">Then my sister Alyssa headed over to take part in all of the fun. She even brought us all Bajio on her own birthday! After a couple hours of dancing, the contractions became consistent and Jim and I headed to the hospital. </div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center">They monitored my contractions for about 45 minutes, which were constantly at 2 minutes apart. Then our doctor arrived and broke my water. </div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center">This is when the contractions became extremely intense and I began wondering where in the heck my epideral was. After about 10 minutes of hard-core pain, the anesthesiologist came to my rescue! </div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center">Yes, I am lame. I endured a whole 10 minutes of natural labor. </div><div align="center">Epiderals are our friend. </div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center">Once the epideral was given, I felt like a new woman and was happily enjoying my rest on the hospital bed. My doctor even came in and visited with us for a long while. We talked about labor and running and half marathons...and I don't remember what else. I think I was in and out of </div><div align="center">la-la land.</div><div align="center"> Still at 4 cm, I decided I would take a snooze while Jim, Alyssa, and my mom watched tv. </div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center">But no sooner had I made this decision, did I begin to feel a lot of pressure and discomfort. Jim decided to get a nurse to make sure the epideral was working properly. </div><div align="center">The nurse came in, checked me, and was surprised to find out I was already at 10 cm!</div><div align="center"> She ran out of the room to call the doctor, came back shortly after with another nurse to get everything prepped, and then it was time to push.</div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center">I think I pushed for about 2 minutes before little Dawson arrived.</div><div align="center"> His little cry was the sweetest little sound I had ever heard.</div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sV2RUDsJmSo/TYUupgEDyTI/AAAAAAAACPM/OaiBVehiZ9c/s1600/IMG_1077.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5585922203339442482" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sV2RUDsJmSo/TYUupgEDyTI/AAAAAAAACPM/OaiBVehiZ9c/s400/IMG_1077.JPG" /></a> Look at his thick little body!</div><div align="center"> He looks really angry here and I don't blame him.<br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OLhUNqmG50o/TYUupXNl8bI/AAAAAAAACPE/PwJMMrtk7R8/s1600/IMG_1073.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5585922200963510706" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OLhUNqmG50o/TYUupXNl8bI/AAAAAAAACPE/PwJMMrtk7R8/s400/IMG_1073.JPG" /></a> This was the first time we had delivered at this hospital (weird, considering it is right across the street from my house), but if we ever have any more babies, I will make sure we have them here!<br />They kept Dawson in the room with us for 3 hours before they took him to the nursery. I loved having him stick around for so long!<br /><br /><div><div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xaFqdMksN6Q/TYUuEuKg9aI/AAAAAAAACO0/Bfs78Cd8VqU/s1600/IMG_1076.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 358px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5585921571469456802" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xaFqdMksN6Q/TYUuEuKg9aI/AAAAAAAACO0/Bfs78Cd8VqU/s400/IMG_1076.JPG" /></a><br />The whole 3 hrs he was with us he did not close his eyes nor did he cry. I loved every minute of it!<br /><div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-f0YWhXvYu7s/TYUuERAerUI/AAAAAAAACOs/YVj_ngjnTs8/s1600/IMG_1080.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5585921563642735938" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-f0YWhXvYu7s/TYUuERAerUI/AAAAAAAACOs/YVj_ngjnTs8/s400/IMG_1080.JPG" /></a><br />Dawson and his Nanna.<br />I'm so glad my mom was there to see her grandson be born. She held my hand through all of it and helped make our experience that much more enjoyable!<br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYrgJhkbk_OQQDKIGBi8B0rJGKt5ZpUXCLczY9UycxCdTj97cZU8HKP4TSwJUcmY5fX6lgFFdEvpvbOuvJz3fFm3JbvJq8NY3SLVjpapulwVIOcdhXpVePkHUs1LGTGBWRerwpSdfQ1bY/s1600/IMG_1082.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5585921563064043538" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYrgJhkbk_OQQDKIGBi8B0rJGKt5ZpUXCLczY9UycxCdTj97cZU8HKP4TSwJUcmY5fX6lgFFdEvpvbOuvJz3fFm3JbvJq8NY3SLVjpapulwVIOcdhXpVePkHUs1LGTGBWRerwpSdfQ1bY/s400/IMG_1082.JPG" /></a><br />The birthday boy and girl! </div><div>I love that they share this day together and that Alyssa got to be a part of it all!<br /><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kWgAH1fxMqk/TYUto3ESBPI/AAAAAAAACOc/N_THrGLNIEI/s1600/IMG_1078.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 390px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5585921092822893810" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kWgAH1fxMqk/TYUto3ESBPI/AAAAAAAACOc/N_THrGLNIEI/s400/IMG_1078.JPG" /></a>Braddock & Emma came to meet their baby brother for the first time the very next morning. </div><div><br />I don't even know what to say about this next picture except that I am in love with it.<br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoGKAMfYU7SjhRCmVcX_IYnE7aHylB-fElehiiutBZeecR-3q4l9o_OokvB43gP_fzoHbdFWvDqsMAxMgEX5ZLQz4cRKR6DPu4JXOb6g6rdsQYgwlbT5hNXlKpfZcwhJjzSemenpN_Xns/s1600/IMG_1085.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5585921087698866082" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoGKAMfYU7SjhRCmVcX_IYnE7aHylB-fElehiiutBZeecR-3q4l9o_OokvB43gP_fzoHbdFWvDqsMAxMgEX5ZLQz4cRKR6DPu4JXOb6g6rdsQYgwlbT5hNXlKpfZcwhJjzSemenpN_Xns/s400/IMG_1085.JPG" /></a> Emma with her baby brother. </div><div>Can you feel the love?<br /><br /><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GwL7BRw8_5U/TYUtoEsc82I/AAAAAAAACOM/iznieoBVfeI/s1600/IMG_6893.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5585921079301174114" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GwL7BRw8_5U/TYUtoEsc82I/AAAAAAAACOM/iznieoBVfeI/s400/IMG_6893.JPG" /></a><br />This next picture I love so much.</div><div>This is what he looked like after every feeding. I loved how he would rest his fat lil' cheeks in my hand and crash.<br /><br /><div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kSlX67XSVoY/TYUtn7RjodI/AAAAAAAACOE/EcvZ8gxz4ng/s1600/IMG_6924.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5585921076772446674" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kSlX67XSVoY/TYUtn7RjodI/AAAAAAAACOE/EcvZ8gxz4ng/s400/IMG_6924.JPG" /></a><br />Can I just say I feel so blessed to add this little boy to our family! I can't believe that 3 weeks has come and gone. </div><div>Still, I am grateful for the memories that we have been able to create. I will always look back on this moment as a wonderful and amazing experience. </div><div> </div><div>Thanks to all of our family and friends who came to visit us, tended our children, brought us food, and showed their love.<br /><br /></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxone_SyPcGCJDmnqt51Mh6TITok_JNwvvI4n1Wb2epQUF06OUkBZXdGE_yPlGOblvl83KAlMN9yq8GT4wxN1G8Ub5GZUMT1JoV6RdykxeTzUoo-hrZ49zQQZS1SCNjc8bLBVI367waFg/s1600/P2260287.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5585921073657124098" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxone_SyPcGCJDmnqt51Mh6TITok_JNwvvI4n1Wb2epQUF06OUkBZXdGE_yPlGOblvl83KAlMN9yq8GT4wxN1G8Ub5GZUMT1JoV6RdykxeTzUoo-hrZ49zQQZS1SCNjc8bLBVI367waFg/s400/P2260287.JPG" /></a> I recently read a post on my friend's blog that says "There is hope smiling brightly before you. That hope is in the faces of our children."</div><div> </div><div>I don't know of a more true statement.</div><div> </div><div>I am so grateful for the gifts that Heavenly Father has given to me, my three little children. I love them all so much and look forward to creating many memories with them!<br /><br /></div><div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><br /></div>The Epps Famhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12951758960345691260noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5574548392430775276.post-63961848001758949862011-03-09T09:44:00.002-07:002011-03-09T09:59:03.642-07:00Welcome, Baby Boy!<div align="center">We went from this...........</div><br /><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7ClU4QoyXwY0sr1-6dxiXtXq3ypFNee749955MEpxHhQKTSir4Ji0CoxKmJoUm-_xaVW29ncIuw7IX3OrZ_dWKJTJyF92YYYgUvnIVnotaRrcsgBWSRfMJ_MwmAX-dquB0QaLAPxPMts/s1600/IMG_1070.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5582123852399967394" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7ClU4QoyXwY0sr1-6dxiXtXq3ypFNee749955MEpxHhQKTSir4Ji0CoxKmJoUm-_xaVW29ncIuw7IX3OrZ_dWKJTJyF92YYYgUvnIVnotaRrcsgBWSRfMJ_MwmAX-dquB0QaLAPxPMts/s400/IMG_1070.JPG" /></a> .......to THIS in just 4 very short hours.</div><div align="center"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjm6NGx7J0m6BosxWXzqQ5XuSwMVjpRclS9yItwII30niB0ETrFKRkj_B0GwZoUychttCSnfDHStDzue5IgARBLlSK-Q_cuMNvmPREMEkJEwqvNmwl40y1h8_Sm4LAuJll3HHRGyCzqIU/s1600/IMG_1083.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5582123850188283938" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjm6NGx7J0m6BosxWXzqQ5XuSwMVjpRclS9yItwII30niB0ETrFKRkj_B0GwZoUychttCSnfDHStDzue5IgARBLlSK-Q_cuMNvmPREMEkJEwqvNmwl40y1h8_Sm4LAuJll3HHRGyCzqIU/s400/IMG_1083.JPG" /></a><span style="font-size:130%;"> Dawson McCray Epps</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Born February 26, 2011 at 9:55 PM</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">8 lbs 5 oz. 20.5 inches</span><br /><br /><br /><br />Our family is so happy to welcome this little man into our home!<br />He could not be any sweeter and those cheeks of his could not be any more kissable!<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YCDYzqa_eVc/TXewDy3gFbI/AAAAAAAACNY/9pUYRA6m7-I/s1600/IMG_6931.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5582123842389677490" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YCDYzqa_eVc/TXewDy3gFbI/AAAAAAAACNY/9pUYRA6m7-I/s400/IMG_6931.JPG" /></a><br />{ We will post more soon just as soon as I learn to adapt to being a mother of 3!}<br /><br /><br /><br /></div>The Epps Famhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12951758960345691260noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5574548392430775276.post-40999714164560422642011-02-17T16:54:00.004-07:002011-02-17T17:13:26.219-07:00What have we got here?<div align="center">A couple of Sundays ago, when I was finishing getting ready for church, I walked into my bathroom to find this nonsense going on.</div><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LlKRj3ocBy8/TV22_6SDSJI/AAAAAAAACNM/Xvpo_VNKAns/s1600/IMG_6818.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5574813122847525010" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LlKRj3ocBy8/TV22_6SDSJI/AAAAAAAACNM/Xvpo_VNKAns/s400/IMG_6818.JPG" /></a> Total concentration....</div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;"> (I don't think she even noticed my presence there or the fact that I was flashing pictures like crazy).<br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFfS0kKul9GjE4CxASIEBGIbm_Rco7HR97ustxOrLb08MQoILpDEQ4XlFDCU8EzRzTPEATTCt3ongsWfT9Cm2zXXurxjTDqy659-TrFsemgY3Qb_I4ofCKnkbrg2wPxpeVijazeIvE2dE/s1600/IMG_6819.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5574813114161885282" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFfS0kKul9GjE4CxASIEBGIbm_Rco7HR97ustxOrLb08MQoILpDEQ4XlFDCU8EzRzTPEATTCt3ongsWfT9Cm2zXXurxjTDqy659-TrFsemgY3Qb_I4ofCKnkbrg2wPxpeVijazeIvE2dE/s400/IMG_6819.JPG" /></a>Finishing up.<br /><br /><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CGaopqZJuQA/TV22_Pcp9uI/AAAAAAAACM8/g2f5u9FlvEs/s1600/IMG_6821.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5574813111349278434" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CGaopqZJuQA/TV22_Pcp9uI/AAAAAAAACM8/g2f5u9FlvEs/s400/IMG_6821.JPG" /></a> Wow! Seriously?! </div><div>My little 3 year old cannot already be wanting to be into all of this stuff! </div><div>When we got in the car and headed for church, Jim looked at her and said, "Emma, your eyes look really pretty. What did you do to them?" He had been at meetings all morning and did not know that she had in fact done her own makeup. </div><div><span style="font-size:85%;"></span> </div><div><span style="font-size:85%;">Ridiculous.</span></div><div> </div><div>I don't think I know what I am up against with this little diva.</div><div><br /><br /> </div><br /></div>The Epps Famhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12951758960345691260noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5574548392430775276.post-40384109000921269702011-02-02T19:30:00.002-07:002011-02-02T20:45:04.585-07:00Before Time Slips Away....<div align="center">It seems like for the past few months I have devoted my blog solely to the pregnancy and haven't given these little ones enough attention. </div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center">But believe it or not, I really do love these kids!</div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center">Braddock is growing up so much. I can't even really call him my little toddler anymore because he is becoming more and more of a big boy every day. For Christmas, Jim bought him a book to practice his alphabet in and since then, he willingly sits down at our kitchen counter every morning and practices writing his letters. I thought it would be a chore to get him to do it, but I don't ever even need to ask him. </div><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TUoUHP4s8mI/AAAAAAAACMs/W071caE1fe4/s1600/braddockjanuary.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 299px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5569286003953037922" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TUoUHP4s8mI/AAAAAAAACMs/W071caE1fe4/s400/braddockjanuary.jpg" /></a> I had to post this next picture because it describes Braddock perfectly. He has always been my very bashful little child. In fact, today we were watching "Snow White" for the first time and when he saw the dwarf named Bashful, he said, "Hey mom, he's like me!" It always takes him a while to get out of his shell when we are around people he is unfamiliar with, but when he gets to know you, he can be a real sweetheart.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4vqzDokPE7HPcYUz27n5Alk0kAc-dS-IcOsfsb0_oFYjkbWdi5xJ6nxOn5EjvaiKlhd31v_oQ57QXYMwe0grWZuBdhwIJRzTE1Fp3WKQw4_j5hLpxlI0Ro-CqYkcwPevLAhgScidHgtM/s1600/braddockjanuary2.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 290px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5569285998441792994" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4vqzDokPE7HPcYUz27n5Alk0kAc-dS-IcOsfsb0_oFYjkbWdi5xJ6nxOn5EjvaiKlhd31v_oQ57QXYMwe0grWZuBdhwIJRzTE1Fp3WKQw4_j5hLpxlI0Ro-CqYkcwPevLAhgScidHgtM/s400/braddockjanuary2.jpg" /></a> And then there is Emma who is quite the little spit fire. She is independent in every sense of the word and determined to figure out everything herself. A few days ago, I caught her looking at one of her puzzles and sounding out the names of the animals on it! Ummm yeah..what? And I can't really take the credit either for her ability to do so. I blame it on the Leap Frog Letter Factory video which she wants to watch all the dang time!<br />She also loves to put together all sorts of puzzles, sing songs at the top of her lungs ("Nephi's Courage" is her favorite), and she especially loves to watch me get ready in the mornings. It is funny to me that she is so incredibly fascinated with things such as me blow drying my hair and plucking my eyebrows. She loves lip gloss and nail polish (Santa finally had to get some for her to have of her own because mine were constantly running low). She is all girl, but definitely knows how to hold her own with her brother!<br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi87MWefPndQ9PAuUDSqT787af4_rcF2VYLrjnEib53vKl2UQS8P8b4mbqiho6efLQAAZN36lY_3kWoxIbKyQkdFQDaYrxymLIdXIrf7v3pOY5n_yT9fTHD4hdvBcJvV92nZjhkJ5g6X44/s1600/emmajanuaryb%2526w.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5569285987724011010" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi87MWefPndQ9PAuUDSqT787af4_rcF2VYLrjnEib53vKl2UQS8P8b4mbqiho6efLQAAZN36lY_3kWoxIbKyQkdFQDaYrxymLIdXIrf7v3pOY5n_yT9fTHD4hdvBcJvV92nZjhkJ5g6X44/s400/emmajanuaryb%2526w.jpg" /></a><br />Currently, their favorite book to read is "There's a Wocket in my Pocket" by Dr. Seuss. I look forward to reading this to them before their afternoon naps because they laugh out loud every time I read it. I'm not sure what is so funny about it - apparently they know something that I don't - but hearing their little chuckles never gets old!<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiDw3gygZ9cMcjB3s_1W5ea-6teEH5diUVmwe4gAsfBrHH_TfuNSpIhwXyBy8pHrGEXTis2LZ07CrxrD5CVvYNKugvxhs1F6faq6kADeL_YB5Wy-qF6KBjj1mssz9vcEb79DktYEbvNKU/s1600/brademmastoryb%2526w.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5569285985368635698" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiDw3gygZ9cMcjB3s_1W5ea-6teEH5diUVmwe4gAsfBrHH_TfuNSpIhwXyBy8pHrGEXTis2LZ07CrxrD5CVvYNKugvxhs1F6faq6kADeL_YB5Wy-qF6KBjj1mssz9vcEb79DktYEbvNKU/s400/brademmastoryb%2526w.jpg" /></a><br />I know with all that I share about my children it sounds like I am boasting, but don't get me wrong, life ain't perfect around here! In fact, last week I was really struggling to keep it together with them. On one particular day, I was becoming so irritable with the constant fighting between the two of them and their unrelenting demands for drinks, snacks, or just for me to give them some kind of one-on-one attention. By the time 8 PM rolled around, I hurried and laid them in their beds, said a quick family prayer, and then hurried to my own bed to CRASH! </div><div>It was wonderful to finally relax and have some ME time, but after only five minutes of doing so, I could hear my little ones crying once again in need of something. </div><div> By this point, my irritability level had skyrocketed and I was not in any mood to be patient or tolerant. As I hollered rudely for Braddock to come to my room to tell me what he needed, he slowly walked to my bedside with his head down and his bottom lip quivering. When I asked him what was wrong, he said, "I just want you to read us scriptures because you forgot." Then little tears came streaming down his face. </div><div> </div><div>You can only imagine how I felt at this point. </div><div>Yeah, like garbage. </div><div>After this little incident, I had to eat a slice of humble pie (or maybe stuff my face with one) and realize that I was the one in the wrong. </div><div> </div><div>I am so grateful for these little ones who are always reminding me of what is most important, which is our family and how inportant it is we show love to one another. </div><div><br /><br /><br /> </div><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TUoUFpN1NHI/AAAAAAAACMM/UadZziekkqE/s1600/brademmab%2526w.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5569285976392807538" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TUoUFpN1NHI/AAAAAAAACMM/UadZziekkqE/s400/brademmab%2526w.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><div></div></div></div><br /></div>The Epps Famhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12951758960345691260noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5574548392430775276.post-48693334936377879212011-01-20T11:53:00.004-07:002011-01-20T12:39:21.251-07:00Last Week<div align="center">So last week, I almost had the baby. Just kidding, but I wouldn't have blamed my body for going into labor early after all the things I did last week! This week, I am feeling the affects of it all - I'm extremely tired and sore, but happy and relieved at the same time at the fact that I got so much done. </div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center">First, let's start with baby's room. So about a month ago I painted the crib. It was originally black, but I painted it green. To make a long story short, I didn't like it. Every time I would pass the by the room, I would cringe. After many sleepless nights, I decided to just take on the task of painting the darn thing again. </div><div align="center">So, I painted it brown. </div><div align="center">Then I realized that it was not blending very well with the walls. </div><div align="center">You can only guess what I did next. </div><div align="center">Yep, I painted the walls. </div><div align="center">To my dismay, I still was not satisfied with the look of the crib. </div><div align="center">So......I painted it again. </div><div align="center">This time a blue-gray color - Juniper Gray to be precise. </div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center">After three days of working on this, I finally completed the nursery and I LOVE IT!</div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center">Might I add that for the three days I slaved away in here my husband had no clue. I had to keep it a secret because I knew he would stop me if he caught me in the middle of it. You see, he doesn't like when I do things like this to myself when I'm 33 weeks pregnant. </div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center">But, when all was said and done, I opened the door to the baby's room for him to see and he was amazed. </div><div align="center"> </div><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TTiFmJKHocI/AAAAAAAACMA/J0vB5EvBykM/s1600/IMG_6764%2B%25282%2529.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5564344229956133314" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TTiFmJKHocI/AAAAAAAACMA/J0vB5EvBykM/s400/IMG_6764%2B%25282%2529.jpg" /></a> Oh, and I also repainted the changing table......<br /><div align="center"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TTiFczBzl-I/AAAAAAAACL4/qLc6T1qlAwY/s1600/IMG_6762%2B%25282%2529.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5564344069396862946" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TTiFczBzl-I/AAAAAAAACL4/qLc6T1qlAwY/s400/IMG_6762%2B%25282%2529.jpg" /></a> .....and the nightstand.<br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TTiFcVGgtkI/AAAAAAAACLw/RFUzwYKUOew/s1600/IMG_6763%2B%25282%2529.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5564344061363533378" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TTiFcVGgtkI/AAAAAAAACLw/RFUzwYKUOew/s400/IMG_6763%2B%25282%2529.jpg" /></a>(I'm pretty sure Juniper Gray is my new favorite paint color from Wal-Mart).<br /><br /><br />Now, I must tell you about my next project. It has to do with organizing the closets. Ugh! For the last year, I have completely neglected some of the closets in our home because it always has seemed so overwhelming to even think about cleaning them out. Then I went to my dear friend, Kassie's home and discovered this idea.<br /><br /><div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TTiFb15tNWI/AAAAAAAACLo/QqJcpIfiMuA/s1600/IMG_6775.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 230px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5564344052988327266" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TTiFb15tNWI/AAAAAAAACLo/QqJcpIfiMuA/s400/IMG_6775.JPG" /></a> What?! Using a hanging shoe rack as storage for anything BUT shoes?! </div><div>Yes, please. </div><div>In the baby's room, I have things such as lotion, wipes, ties, belts, creams, powders, etc. stored in these pouches. </div><div> </div><div>Using this in Braddock & Emma's room has helped to create so much space! Things like Play-do, doll accessories, crayons, action figures, magnetic letters, styrofoam bullets (we have many of these!) and ties get stored away here. </div><div> </div><div>I must say, I love having order, but I never know sometimes just how to go about creating it. This has sure been a great organization tool for us!<br /></div><div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TTiFbpiK9HI/AAAAAAAACLg/JgiNsQZns5o/s1600/IMG_6776.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5564344049668387954" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TTiFbpiK9HI/AAAAAAAACLg/JgiNsQZns5o/s400/IMG_6776.JPG" /></a><br /><br />And last but not least, Jim's 27th birthday was last week! We went out for his birthday Wednesday night, which was so much fun! I can't say we did anything over the top - just dinner, a movie and church-pant shopping, but it sure felt like a vacation to me! </div><div>We went to Red Robin, where we ordered lots of french fries with yummy fry sauce, big fat hamburgers, and chocolate shakes. </div><div>Seriously, it was heaven. </div><div>I don't know when the last time was that I ate such delicious, fattening food. </div><div> </div><div> </div><div>We came home that night to these little sweethearts with a miniature store-bought chocolate cake, so they could sing "Happy Birthday" to their daddy.<br /><br />Regardless of the bluriness, this picture is priceless. </div><div>I sure love them.<br /></div><div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TTiFbJp7t_I/AAAAAAAACLY/gy_KQDbpUAQ/s1600/IMG_6756-1.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5564344041111009266" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TTiFbJp7t_I/AAAAAAAACLY/gy_KQDbpUAQ/s400/IMG_6756-1.JPG" /></a> </div><div>So yes, the week was busy, but I can't complain. We crossed things off our to-do list (well, at least I did) and celebrated our favorite man's birthday! </div><div> </div><div>Now, I must go and finish up our taxes. Ugh.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><div></div><br /></div></div>The Epps Famhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12951758960345691260noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5574548392430775276.post-16452054722184182892011-01-04T11:58:00.004-07:002011-01-04T12:27:52.944-07:00I think I Just Might Buy.<div align="center">Lately, I have been spending some time on Etsy looking for some much needed baby items. You would think that after having two children I would be very prepared for our up-coming little one, but I'm not. Plus, I don't care how many children you've had - It is always fun to shop for baby (and for yourself).</div><div align="center"></div><div align="center">So right now on my list of purchases is a diaper bag - one that does not actually look too diaper-baggish and can function as a purse too because I really hate carrying 50 things on my shoulder. </div><div align="center"></div><div align="center">I found this little beauty.</div><br /><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxWa1jpzs1zaHbIv80Li1-1STPG0028F6M3qepbhDnFAo7fDlh6jMh7Eakw5MdDIFn1nagT4kAIcat08-2LOSSX-fIbFv6CboGKOnzXGhRxICs-ucrxbVN9HqMdX8G6UOF9Fk4E-T5wDg/s1600/diaper+bag.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 374px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5558409757296058754" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxWa1jpzs1zaHbIv80Li1-1STPG0028F6M3qepbhDnFAo7fDlh6jMh7Eakw5MdDIFn1nagT4kAIcat08-2LOSSX-fIbFv6CboGKOnzXGhRxICs-ucrxbVN9HqMdX8G6UOF9Fk4E-T5wDg/s400/diaper+bag.jpg" /></a> </div><div align="center">And oh, how I love it! And the best part is that it is only $25! </div><div align="center">Maybe you think it is hideous or that it has the 1980's written all over it, but I think it's adorable!</div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center">Next on my list is a diaper clutch. I didn't even know these existed until I spotted one on my sister's blog. </div><div align="center">What an ideal item to have! It has always bothered me in the past to pull out crinkled-up diapers that look like they were once used, but they actually weren't. They were just stuffed at the bottom of the diaper bag where all of the cracker crumbs stuck to them. </div><div align="center">Now the diapers and wipes can be contained in a cute, safe little place!</div><div align="center">That's what I'm talkin' about. </div><div align="center"><br /></div><div align="center"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TSNwNlBnVwI/AAAAAAAACLE/gVIRljIvRX0/s1600/diaper%2Bclutch.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5558409743684818690" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TSNwNlBnVwI/AAAAAAAACLE/gVIRljIvRX0/s400/diaper%2Bclutch.jpg" /></a><br />What are your favorite baby items? I'd love to know!</div>The Epps Famhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12951758960345691260noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5574548392430775276.post-35846269711107708402010-12-30T13:10:00.004-07:002010-12-30T13:47:55.234-07:00Winding Down<div align="center">Time for another pregnancy update! </div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center">It is amazing how fast this tiny little person inside of me is growing! This morning I lay in bed thinking about what a miracle it truly is to carry a child and watch them grow. What was once the size of a sesame seed, is now the size of a pumpkin!</div><div align="center">And can I just say that this is one squirmy little pumpkin?! My other two were quite mellow in the womb compared to this kid. I am preparing myself for a very busy child!</div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center">The first picture shown below is of me at 25 weeks........</div><br /><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTTWZACasRW0cZjQCMuTwY3xkeXgX9cgS6u14KS7AX2HUccem2Xy1keAopTtMIIIvJrlYeHSZfPbc4GKox-Fl8i8RcFOxs-OZ00n5ZoeHWd6XkOVKsR5Lt-09uCFHk1AJDyEEjLypgaSQ/s1600/IMG_6691.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 262px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5556570705318472674" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTTWZACasRW0cZjQCMuTwY3xkeXgX9cgS6u14KS7AX2HUccem2Xy1keAopTtMIIIvJrlYeHSZfPbc4GKox-Fl8i8RcFOxs-OZ00n5ZoeHWd6XkOVKsR5Lt-09uCFHk1AJDyEEjLypgaSQ/s400/IMG_6691.JPG" /></a> 5 weeks later............................</div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center">..........................................</div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center">And this is how I look!</div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXwioLZpaW-xyn3TR44iUBR058gA61cNREdW1gxaaAOB4a7nMqMcrw7HUWy4BXCFnz1vScJU1KQCcQBIoqYSE-3hlF_s2nxBpCScTPkVXN7IDw5RTjLvwQS6b524AIYirlXv5XywcecIk/s1600/IMG_6746.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 218px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5556570699665960306" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXwioLZpaW-xyn3TR44iUBR058gA61cNREdW1gxaaAOB4a7nMqMcrw7HUWy4BXCFnz1vScJU1KQCcQBIoqYSE-3hlF_s2nxBpCScTPkVXN7IDw5RTjLvwQS6b524AIYirlXv5XywcecIk/s400/IMG_6746.JPG" /></a> I think my legs decided to balloon up alongside my belly....and the best part is - I DON'T CARE! </div><div align="center">This may be our last baby, so I am trying to enjoy every part of this pregnancy. I quit working out at 23 weeks because my contractions were becoming stronger and more consistent, so I figured a 20+ week vacation wouldn't hurt. Plus, I have the rest of my life to work out, right?</div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center"><br />Last Thursday, we were able to do a 3d ultrasound. Can you say AMAZING?! I feel blessed to be having babies when we have such advanced technology to see incredible things like this! </div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center">This little person spent most of its time sucking on its pinkie finger. We got this picture just in time before it stuck that little finger back in his/her mouth.<br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TRznmuKtqfI/AAAAAAAACKI/SBo-lK4Per4/s1600/30weeks.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 305px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5556570692682361330" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TRznmuKtqfI/AAAAAAAACKI/SBo-lK4Per4/s400/30weeks.jpg" /></a><br />We also discovered during the ultrasound that our child is measuring at 32+ weeks. They told me this when I was not even 30 weeks! Lovely.<br />One of my concerns with this is the fact that I cannot be induced with this child because my last one was delivered by C-section. Because we would like to have a VBAC delivery this time, my doctor says I have to just let this baby come when it is ready - no Pitocin for me!<br />So we're praying this baby chooses to come a couple weeks early. :)<br /><br />My original due date: March 4th<br />New due date: February 17th <--------------we want that one!<br /><br /><br />Here is one last picture to leave you with. I am already in love with this little face and so very grateful for the opportunity to mother another little one. Life certainly is a miracle and a blessing!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXskKs11G9DGvoX4aI7iTfX4b5KafDDHE1k1WUCS465jVI6jv-wjCrY-wiwRuRn795UfJus3XRmJsSZm5KVpLbxFKA-PnVTGRlRPCGLCjsPcSnU25peHnmJ1Bn-hxyJF5oVhPAPXFYbKA/s1600/30weeks2.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 306px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5556570692319505058" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXskKs11G9DGvoX4aI7iTfX4b5KafDDHE1k1WUCS465jVI6jv-wjCrY-wiwRuRn795UfJus3XRmJsSZm5KVpLbxFKA-PnVTGRlRPCGLCjsPcSnU25peHnmJ1Bn-hxyJF5oVhPAPXFYbKA/s400/30weeks2.jpg" /></a><br /></div>The Epps Famhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12951758960345691260noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5574548392430775276.post-64613051976486116862010-12-22T19:18:00.002-07:002010-12-22T19:52:37.734-07:00Home For Christmas<div align="center">I'm just going to be honest when I say that I have become quite discouraged with blogging. Most of my disappointment with it is self-induced, but for the last year I have had little desire to be a dilligent blogger. </div><div align="center">Why such little motivation? </div><div align="center">There's lots of reasons. Namely, Facebook, life never slowing down, the pregnancy, and just lack of interest have all contributed to such little blogging effort, BUT I want to make changes. I want to make sure the important things and sometimes the not-so-important things are being jotted down because they are afterall what make up my life. As I look back and read previous posts, I realize I would have never remembered some of these things if I hadn't taken the time to blog about them. </div><div align="center">SO, here's to a more dilligent blogger!</div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center">Now, onto the good stuff.</div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center">Most of you know that I am very passionate about Christmas. I absolutely love this time of year! The commercial part of it really bothers me, but when it comes to being snug in my tree-lit home listening to Christmas classics, I'm all for it!</div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center">Here is a glimpse of the Epps Family home in 2010.</div><br /><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdElaKRxYxC4NLcdLeQu7t5b2dddwsnG_W6CqAwtnZyLHizZ5IqRLvOm9VNjZxpJrNSibWJfCRLEnVhYkd091us8e9WAI1M06W3DdUjnj1Nd0y-nl37enObNf-c28rWzg4KoWpul21PQI/s1600/IMG_6653.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5553697545133571602" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdElaKRxYxC4NLcdLeQu7t5b2dddwsnG_W6CqAwtnZyLHizZ5IqRLvOm9VNjZxpJrNSibWJfCRLEnVhYkd091us8e9WAI1M06W3DdUjnj1Nd0y-nl37enObNf-c28rWzg4KoWpul21PQI/s400/IMG_6653.JPG" /></a> Above: Our dining room table arrangement. {Frosted berries make everything better}.<br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TRKyfeMy4XI/AAAAAAAACJo/EeeS_jfRblY/s1600/IMG_6661.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5553697544253661554" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TRKyfeMy4XI/AAAAAAAACJo/EeeS_jfRblY/s400/IMG_6661.JPG" /></a>Our little tree that I sit and stare at every night before bedtime. <br /><br /><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TRKyNhs2BUI/AAAAAAAACJg/npI8OxQd_8U/s1600/IMG_6655.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5553697235955746114" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TRKyNhs2BUI/AAAAAAAACJg/npI8OxQd_8U/s400/IMG_6655.JPG" /></a><br />The mantle in all its Christmas glory!<br /><br /><div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TRKyNDdZ_vI/AAAAAAAACJY/pHUnGI2Gfqg/s1600/IMG_6663.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5553697227837931250" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TRKyNDdZ_vI/AAAAAAAACJY/pHUnGI2Gfqg/s400/IMG_6663.JPG" /></a><br />Homemade noel blocks - I was in charge of a project for Super Saturday and came up with this little display. All it took was some 2x4's, a little paint, stain, festive paper, and VOILA!<br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TRKyM2QJQoI/AAAAAAAACJQ/O6PJMaIMCU4/s1600/IMG_6676.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5553697224292647554" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TRKyM2QJQoI/AAAAAAAACJQ/O6PJMaIMCU4/s400/IMG_6676.JPG" /></a><br />Our homemade stocking made with TLC by my wonderful mother. </div><div>I love her and I love these.<br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TRKyMK-UyGI/AAAAAAAACJI/zPcjPgvhlxs/s1600/IMG_6673.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5553697212675180642" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TRKyMK-UyGI/AAAAAAAACJI/zPcjPgvhlxs/s400/IMG_6673.JPG" /></a>The Christmas cabinet. (I painted it red a couple of weeks before just to make it feel a little more like Christmas in my livingroom). Pathetic, I know. Jim calls it obsessive. <br /><br /><br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRS_3IHKE9xrPSv0vE9RRnd9rk_-g-4pAadmCv8GWxBqi8qz3B4ZDMFWZ1HcXQcg-SGKFSmoaV9JnlKQKDbNwkv-8NOTqpUvlyqdasMP1njeL2hXaNWVcpwM3X2mlZqxDjOK_yuxyRH1c/s1600/IMG_6675.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5553697205013280242" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRS_3IHKE9xrPSv0vE9RRnd9rk_-g-4pAadmCv8GWxBqi8qz3B4ZDMFWZ1HcXQcg-SGKFSmoaV9JnlKQKDbNwkv-8NOTqpUvlyqdasMP1njeL2hXaNWVcpwM3X2mlZqxDjOK_yuxyRH1c/s400/IMG_6675.JPG" /></a><br />The candy canes that hang on my mantle just make life sweeter. </div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center">So there you have it. This is what Christmas looks like in our neck of the woods!</div><div align="center">We hope you're enjoying this wonderful time of the year as much as we are!<br /><br /></div><div align="center"></div></div></div></div></div><br /></div>The Epps Famhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12951758960345691260noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5574548392430775276.post-44951203428531556612010-12-21T15:50:00.003-07:002010-12-21T15:55:44.870-07:00Dear Santa,<div align="center"> </div><div align="center">I have been lusting after Petunia Pickle's Chocolate Decadence Diaper Bag for quite some time. .........</div><div align="center"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TREv0T67LsI/AAAAAAAACI0/BfOYbHBwH_M/s1600/bag.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5553272391271657154" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TREv0T67LsI/AAAAAAAACI0/BfOYbHBwH_M/s400/bag.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TREv0PTXt_I/AAAAAAAACIs/XH7pKR4kx4M/s1600/bag2.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5553272390032013298" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TREv0PTXt_I/AAAAAAAACIs/XH7pKR4kx4M/s400/bag2.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW5qwj8xu5G0hoOhB0ZSBVC4gOUThyphenhyphenJPsgraVESTvW9ZP3Gbtae5iwhHsgjF8Ajo8DnAAtUYMcb_hr6Bi15fzZ-WuJM6L_3r8IycUNcC6jyu4OPehz5cYD32TGv3g1E_ujPac818N-D54/s1600/bag3.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5553272385461912658" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW5qwj8xu5G0hoOhB0ZSBVC4gOUThyphenhyphenJPsgraVESTvW9ZP3Gbtae5iwhHsgjF8Ajo8DnAAtUYMcb_hr6Bi15fzZ-WuJM6L_3r8IycUNcC6jyu4OPehz5cYD32TGv3g1E_ujPac818N-D54/s400/bag3.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8Rppy0s3MGiNSCEk8jzpcthGn6nBITNOd1PaXLgl-UfFBAWB2ro3MfQrG8StzFiXhYwRNjPchpsXll3lQPo00iZCYcDJrR3crHuBMCOLAL5LEXW-IKCAF8pMNkeNduRPq6cccxpaWWUE/s1600/bag4.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5553272381069605442" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8Rppy0s3MGiNSCEk8jzpcthGn6nBITNOd1PaXLgl-UfFBAWB2ro3MfQrG8StzFiXhYwRNjPchpsXll3lQPo00iZCYcDJrR3crHuBMCOLAL5LEXW-IKCAF8pMNkeNduRPq6cccxpaWWUE/s400/bag4.jpg" /></a> I know it's $350.00, but you're Santa, so maybe we can make this work for me somehow.</div><div> </div><div>Ahhh, if only.<br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div></div></div><br /></div>The Epps Famhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12951758960345691260noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5574548392430775276.post-69125950368275754042010-12-12T21:14:00.006-07:002010-12-16T06:38:07.835-07:00Thanksgiving in the Desert<div align="center">This past Thanksgiving, our family had the privilege of going to our homeland - Arizona. I must say that the weeks before this trip, I was not as excited as I should have been. There was lots of things going on that made me think our family should reconsider and just stay in Utah for the holiday. However, we ended up going anyway and I can now say that I am SO HAPPY we did. </div><br /><div align="center">After 10 hours of ongoing driving, we entered the beautiful Phoenix valley and a flood of emotions instantly came over me. In the last 5 years that we have been away from Arizona, I can honestly say that I have never felt so sick for "home" as I did this last time we visited. It was an absolute joy to be with family and friends that we rarely get to see!</div><br /><div align="center"></div><br /><div align="center">Our 11 hr drive there went perfect! My kids were little angels and seemed rather excited to get to be with their Grandma and Grandpa Epps. </div><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TQWnCfldmFI/AAAAAAAACIQ/37_K1HhqZh8/s1600/braddockcarride.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5550025777084209234" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TQWnCfldmFI/AAAAAAAACIQ/37_K1HhqZh8/s400/braddockcarride.jpg" /></a> Emma spent most of the drive doing this. Sometimes thumb-sucking is a plus!<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TQWnCCaKjcI/AAAAAAAACII/pWUqZKnRmh4/s1600/emmacarride.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5550025769252195778" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TQWnCCaKjcI/AAAAAAAACII/pWUqZKnRmh4/s400/emmacarride.jpg" /></a>We spent much of our time at Jim's grandparents, who by the way, took such great care of us! Luckily, the weather was beautiful while we were there ( 70's & sunny), so we took lots of walks around the neighborhood and played out in the backyard. Emma could not believe her eyes when she saw that there were palm trees in Arizona. She thought those were only on "The Jungle Book".<br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBMzYJatR_kPNSJ6WgAFHfmRS9Fpi4TTF7pzbxqMsOIGqvnDdQJasLEHat2FdvZ-mnjImTykyskfwJU6xTYwwwXJuydnjWAMXI_7HBVhJHivR1xIx0BqFaGSS_krp-dSSSeh8jnL_XsYU/s1600/grandpaepps_emma.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5550025767243725874" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBMzYJatR_kPNSJ6WgAFHfmRS9Fpi4TTF7pzbxqMsOIGqvnDdQJasLEHat2FdvZ-mnjImTykyskfwJU6xTYwwwXJuydnjWAMXI_7HBVhJHivR1xIx0BqFaGSS_krp-dSSSeh8jnL_XsYU/s400/grandpaepps_emma.jpg" /></a><br />One of our nights there, we were able to go out to dinner with some close friends, the cute Hill family and Tyler with his adorable kids<span style="font-size:85%;"> ( I am so mad I did not take more pictures of this!) </span></div><div>I did however manage to get a prego picture of Cara & I. </div><div>Look what a cute pregnant lady she makes! She is 4 weeks ahead of me and is as tiny as ever - definitely all baby!<br /><br /></div><div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TQWnBb81DdI/AAAAAAAACH4/9aULQEYzzEo/s1600/carabeth.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 306px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5550025758928604626" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TQWnBb81DdI/AAAAAAAACH4/9aULQEYzzEo/s400/carabeth.jpg" /></a><br /><br />One of the reasons we ventured to Arizona was so that Jim could help his dad remodel their home that they purchased in Queen Creek. My little ones LOVED going with dad to "help" because it meant they got to play outside on the farm.<br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvdHOGiImOSlTLJW8WgtbIvTycMlbzunYek1Q7MVIW3tjbU4Qm0aSvyxCmW8RCOJP3xq1OuSkiLno5OY0ax12wjmEYPK1c1kMmGw_tNOe9k0zMyx5p1i39DkEV0DbDM7JhtRaOjt6c8_c/s1600/eppskidsfarm.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5550025752229898210" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvdHOGiImOSlTLJW8WgtbIvTycMlbzunYek1Q7MVIW3tjbU4Qm0aSvyxCmW8RCOJP3xq1OuSkiLno5OY0ax12wjmEYPK1c1kMmGw_tNOe9k0zMyx5p1i39DkEV0DbDM7JhtRaOjt6c8_c/s400/eppskidsfarm.jpg" /></a><br />They spent most of their time running around in the chicken coop. It amazes me that simple things like this can keep kids entertained for such long periods of time. </div><div>Also, I must make note that my kids witnessed first-hand the slaughtering of the farm turkey, whom we ate on Thanksgiving Day. It was a first for me to see a turkey's head get chopped off and well.....let's just say my kids handled the whole event a lot better than I did! Braddock & Emma were thrilled with the whole thing and thought it was great that they got to collect all of the feathers that were being plucked off the dead bird while I, on the other hand, laid down flat on my back in the car just to keep from passing out!<br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TQWmqHD8YBI/AAAAAAAACHo/WFZePvOr-xc/s1600/eppskidsfarm2.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5550025358184308754" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TQWmqHD8YBI/AAAAAAAACHo/WFZePvOr-xc/s400/eppskidsfarm2.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TQWmpxlZ3dI/AAAAAAAACHg/l-voMJUuihc/s1600/eppsfam.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5550025352419073490" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TQWmpxlZ3dI/AAAAAAAACHg/l-voMJUuihc/s400/eppsfam.jpg" /></a> Thanksgiving Day was a success! The food was outstanding (even the turkey), the weather was perfect (just right to enjoy our dinner outside), and being with the family was something we certainly treasured!<br />It was nice to just sit and relax - something we rarely do- and visit with all of the family. </div><div>One thing I have come to learn about the Epps family is that they have some great stories and life experiences that I could sit and listen to for hours!</div><div><br />Oh, and we can't forget the wrestling! If you go to an Epps' household, plan on lots of it! I think Braddock is fine with that!</div><div><span style="font-size:85%;"></span> </div><div><span style="font-size:85%;">(Braddock wrestling with his Uncle Darrell)</span></div></div><div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5550025345080641330" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiurkI7qw9XyHwnMngGss8xG2BAeuzbTgAity97GZlutJqvKd0kD6ZMQrhIQeYMC_rwQt8aNjQqSElGbO4Bz5n0Lj8EhRCU66SRRmwe9Ch1gnvZqbTKYEIG5TQZMI5PhWmVOLnDrlzH7tk/s400/darrellbraddock.jpg" />Here is a picture we were able to take of all of us together. </div><div>Can I just say I love this family?!</div><div>I am so SO grateful for their strong testimonies of the gospel and the great examples they are to my family, especially to my children.<br /><br />I didn't take any pictures of this event either, but we were able to be at church with Jim's parents when his dad was called to be 1st counselor in the Bishopric. Braddock & Emma thought it was so cool that their Grandpa was sitting up at the stand. </div><div>Once again, I am so grateful for these wonderful people!</div><div><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TQWmpD19_mI/AAAAAAAACHQ/RvxWuBSEubM/s1600/eppsfamilythanksgiving.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5550025340140519010" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TQWmpD19_mI/AAAAAAAACHQ/RvxWuBSEubM/s400/eppsfamilythanksgiving.jpg" /></a>So there you have it! Thanksgiving in 2010 was a succes! We really could not have asked for a better one. Of course, the time flew by while we were there and I am missing Arizona already, but we hope to take trips down there more often!<br /><br /><br />Oh, and one more picture that I must post because it makes me laugh every time I see it. One of the days that we were there, Emma grabbed my camera and asked me to take a picture of her (???) So, of course I did because you can't resist when your two year old daughter makes such a request. BUT, the funny part about all of this was that she made specifications of how she wanted to be posed. She wanted to be sitting on the dresser, by the window, looking sideways. </div><div> </div><div>This was the outcome.<br /><div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TQWmooLJ16I/AAAAAAAACHI/xuN_RKuu9ls/s1600/emmaepps.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5550025332713183138" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TQWmooLJ16I/AAAAAAAACHI/xuN_RKuu9ls/s400/emmaepps.jpg" /></a> Oh, how I love her.</div><div> </div><div>Now, I will end this post. </div><div> </div><div>We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!<br /><br /><div> </div></div></div></div></div></div><br /></div>The Epps Famhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12951758960345691260noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5574548392430775276.post-40798310717660183282010-10-21T06:38:00.005-06:002010-10-27T20:46:11.566-06:00Halfway Mark<div align="center">Yep, it's official - We are halfway done!</div><div align="center">I must be honest though when I say that this pregnancy has gone by quite slow. It seems like first pregnancies for women always go by the slowest. I remember feeling like I was pregnant for years when I was carrying Braddock because there was so much anticipation in the whole thing, being that it was our first and the unknown was almost too much to handle! </div><div align="center">Being pregnant with Emma, on the other hand, was a completely different story! I felt like the time flew by, partly because she was a complete surprise to us, but also because I was so busy trying to take care of Braddock, who was still an infant himself.</div><div align="center">Now that we're on to baby <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">numero</span> <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">tres</span>, time seems to be slowing down a bit. Why that is, I am clueless. Maybe because the morning sickness has dragged on much longer than it did with my other pregnancies? Or maybe it's because this pregnancy was planned? OR, maybe it's because my little ones ask me everyday when their baby is going to come home? I guess not knowing what in the world we are having can slow things down a bit too!</div><div align="center">Whatever the reason(s), we sure are anxious to meet this little one of ours!</div><div align="center"></div><div align="center">And yes, yes, YES, I realize my blog posting is so inconsistent, so I will share a picture of me at 17 weeks, since I didn't put one up like I should have 3 weeks ago!</div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TMA3rfE1v8I/AAAAAAAACG8/g3TONknL-Ec/s1600/IMG_6602.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 294px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530481562626670530" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TMA3rfE1v8I/AAAAAAAACG8/g3TONknL-Ec/s400/IMG_6602.JPG" /></a><br />And now, here we are at 20 weeks. Yesterday, when I went in for my appointment and stood on that scary thing they call a scale, I learned that I had gained 7 lbs in 4 weeks! What in the??? As a whole, I have gained 12 lbs and am certainly feeling it! I'm still going to the gym - attempting 3 days a week - where I do kickboxing and weights, and am hoping to start running more on the days I don't go. I find that every week gets harder and harder to work out, but I'm determined to just stick with it because I never did with my other two.<br /><br />I haven't posted ultrasound pics, but we did in fact get to see our little one yesterday as well! Jim and the kids were able to take part in it, along with my mother-in-law, and sister, Alyssa. It was funny that there were so many people in the room, considering the fact that we didn't get to find out the gender, but nonetheless, it was a neat experience to see our little baby. Plus, my kids somewhat understood it!<br />My favorite part of the whole thing was when the doctor was showing us the baby's vertebrae and Braddock said, "Mom, it's a dinosaur!" I guess all of the baby's skeletal features threw Braddock for a loop!<br />The doctor did ask us more than once if we were sure we didn't want to know what we were having. That was just pure torture! It is tempting, but we've waited this long...I think we can hold out!<br /><br />Whatever it is - a boy, a girl, a dinosaur - WE ARE SO EXCITED!<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TMA0ueIkHCI/AAAAAAAACGo/aN2GVtcBP30/s1600/IMG_2739.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 221px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530478315378580514" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TMA0ueIkHCI/AAAAAAAACGo/aN2GVtcBP30/s400/IMG_2739.jpg" /></a><br /><br /></div>The Epps Famhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12951758960345691260noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5574548392430775276.post-37906165232868270752010-09-29T12:01:00.005-06:002010-09-29T12:32:15.241-06:00Oh What Fun!<div align="center">Yesterday, after the kids and I got home from the gym, I made the decision to delegate the rest of our Tuesday as a Halloween Craft Day.</div><div align="center">For the last two years, I have wanted to make these adorable bats that I spotted on my <a href="http://tjstrazzo.blogspot.com/"><span style="color:#cc6600;">cousin's blog</span></a> back in 2008, but because I somehow managed to consume my time in other things, I never got around to it.</div><div align="center">So yesterday, I loaded the kids in the car, headed to the dollar store, bought some craft supplies <span style="font-size:85%;">(and don't forget a few bags of Halloween candy!), </span></div><div align="center">and then ventured back home to take on the task of crafting with two little ones. </div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center">We all changed into some old clothes and painted away.</div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center">I must say, I was completely taken back by how well-behaved my kids were and how well they did in participating!</div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center">It sure made for a happy and proud mommy.</div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;">{sorry for the sideways picture. Blogger is not doing its job right now.}</span></div><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh53HXQlOWQOEDN80MVKem_wZO3qb98KIKXTBqImjSc3vjTjfBjN4Y2cF4XJxklp5U1_68B8IICyXWhYojRgzdiNitS_o5ZkwRwy85Rv1Odw-Pgbpwjv3FZPR2w4BpEMdbfKDA0WCiDIDo/s1600/IMG_6607.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 267px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5522400265140709698" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh53HXQlOWQOEDN80MVKem_wZO3qb98KIKXTBqImjSc3vjTjfBjN4Y2cF4XJxklp5U1_68B8IICyXWhYojRgzdiNitS_o5ZkwRwy85Rv1Odw-Pgbpwjv3FZPR2w4BpEMdbfKDA0WCiDIDo/s400/IMG_6607.JPG" /></a> Look at them painting away!<br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TKN_qCPdCnI/AAAAAAAACGE/49gAdh1sSUY/s1600/IMG_6608.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5522397928219282034" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TKN_qCPdCnI/AAAAAAAACGE/49gAdh1sSUY/s400/IMG_6608.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirX4Z_PN8b6hLoAyKJZbsRQCGKcru28b4cmSC_LwEUJZGb8orbdcKrMsUBbGqxu6JWhhpG4PhzIiciEismLparv68AEzOS1Vg9gZO2nlYZaiCrS0uOqIJ9f_t45f5tEtTmN1wF2StlF00/s1600/IMG_6609.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5522397922406487506" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirX4Z_PN8b6hLoAyKJZbsRQCGKcru28b4cmSC_LwEUJZGb8orbdcKrMsUBbGqxu6JWhhpG4PhzIiciEismLparv68AEzOS1Vg9gZO2nlYZaiCrS0uOqIJ9f_t45f5tEtTmN1wF2StlF00/s400/IMG_6609.JPG" /></a><br />And how CUTE did these turn out?!<br /><br /></div><div align="center"><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_8YaugWeFjfe22M83e_RE6hop1VUOe1x1MDg0uevmmSoMq9731lwLiBEIUSKgRVNx38cnWXLxNQjMNqedua3MZAyeEYzKnJ9MA1IPUWmAsjh2qlL-hsa1W0Oaf0IgeVdToEnMU_jWFRw/s1600/IMG_6614.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5522397911386892866" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_8YaugWeFjfe22M83e_RE6hop1VUOe1x1MDg0uevmmSoMq9731lwLiBEIUSKgRVNx38cnWXLxNQjMNqedua3MZAyeEYzKnJ9MA1IPUWmAsjh2qlL-hsa1W0Oaf0IgeVdToEnMU_jWFRw/s400/IMG_6614.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TKN_oZETpPI/AAAAAAAACFs/Q8Z8z6tUoG8/s1600/IMG_6613.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5522397899986806002" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/TKN_oZETpPI/AAAAAAAACFs/Q8Z8z6tUoG8/s400/IMG_6613.JPG" /></a> Now all we need are some pumpkins!<br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO_isG1sOoQmUUgPGIq1hJ5jsTnA42B6CkLifEJZ_4GllYSl9oj6visrX8TKe6JbOY5u1IWA8mnLT_nkb2ukouxlts66T_nfdS99WXQpa6j5nlSUXtNwp48zpei5SqKzwrVj4V6fkhKhw/s1600/IMG_6612.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 390px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5522397896685698098" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO_isG1sOoQmUUgPGIq1hJ5jsTnA42B6CkLifEJZ_4GllYSl9oj6visrX8TKe6JbOY5u1IWA8mnLT_nkb2ukouxlts66T_nfdS99WXQpa6j5nlSUXtNwp48zpei5SqKzwrVj4V6fkhKhw/s400/IMG_6612.JPG" /></a><br />Want to make some yourself? Here is the <a href="http://familyfun.go.com/halloween/best-bat-spider-decorations-halloween-pg-933464/">link</a>.</div><div><br />Happy Halloween!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div></div></div></div></div></div>The Epps Famhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12951758960345691260noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5574548392430775276.post-44073530154651774882010-08-28T15:03:00.005-06:002010-08-28T16:16:13.053-06:00Great News!<div align="center">So I really have not kept this a secret AT ALL, but I have failed to mention it on my blog anyhow - We are having a baby!</div><div align="center">Baby is due March 4th, ironically on the same exact day that my sister <a href="http://littletwinhummers.blogspot.com/">Jenna</a> is due! </div><div align="center">Currently, I am 13 weeks along and feeling......well.....better than previously.</div><div align="center">This pregnancy sure has been different from the last two. Although I was extremely nauseous with both kids, it did not start until I was between 8 and 9 weeks. </div><div align="center">This pregnancy, on the contrary, has left me nauseated and exhausted beginning at 4 weeks. </div><div align="center">For a few weeks, I felt like I was surviving solely on Gingerale and nectarines. </div><div align="center">I was throwing up at least once a day and would have to wake up every morning at 4 AM and hurry up and eat something because I felt like I was starving to death! At 11 weeks, I was 6 lbs down from when I conceived only because I could not keep anything down. </div><div align="center">Now at thirteen weeks, I am proud to say that I have set a record of not hurling for 8 days straight and I am pretty sure that I have regained those 6 lbs and then some!</div><div align="center">I don't mean to have a pity party, but this week I feel especially grateful for good health and the ability to live my life again! Never more in my life have I missed going to the grocery store, cooking, cleaning, and running errands - all the things I take for granted when I am healthy.</div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center">Here is a picture of our sweet little pinto bean at 8 weeks. </div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/THl9k-UmBgI/AAAAAAAACFQ/RQQqL5_SLH4/s1600/8weeksbaby3.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 309px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5510573693222651394" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/THl9k-UmBgI/AAAAAAAACFQ/RQQqL5_SLH4/s400/8weeksbaby3.jpg" /> <p align="center"></a>Great belly picture, eh? No face involved. My hair was wet and I was not wearing any makeup which equals scary. Here I am at 13 weeks. Ghetto bootie included.<br /></p><div align="center"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/THl9kbvhB4I/AAAAAAAACFI/cBgBJMBbkt0/s1600/13weeksbaby3.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5510573683940329346" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/THl9kbvhB4I/AAAAAAAACFI/cBgBJMBbkt0/s400/13weeksbaby3.jpg" /></a> Currently, my favorite thing to eat is a tuna sandwich on wheat bread with Claussen pickles and Ruffles potato chips. I like to down it with a glass of red wine. </div><div align="center">Just kidding. It's cranberry juice, my new favorite drink!<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/THl9j6FzvvI/AAAAAAAACFA/ArsaP-uO2bY/s1600/IMG_6440.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5510573674907025138" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/THl9j6FzvvI/AAAAAAAACFA/ArsaP-uO2bY/s400/IMG_6440.JPG" /></a> On to other things. My little ones are growing like weeds! Braddock, my very much introverted child, is beginning to open up to other people much more easily. We still have our moments, but it seems like each day he is improving. Besides that, he is so so funny! The kid quotes movies all of the time and when I say certain things he says, "Mom, what movie is that from?" He's a total movie gu-ru and it is entertaining to see him watch movies. He has the cutest deep chuckle you ever heard.<br />He loves riding his trike ( I think I need to get him a bike) and playing outside in the sandbox. His current favorite person is Uncle Jerry, which he pronounces Uncle Sherri.<br />I think that will now be my brother's new permanent name.<br /><div><div><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihaHHV9bNdKd4-eH5zF6ur_xy6NLAQKBrrSB1x6-cUpehpFXSHLDyVGFm_gyK9lKqoZA_BqpkAt7Epv3wf8ChPT-hNZ5YfjwW8JNkvrEIgSi47ZdHrxwxa5oZbCEUo0QIz3Uroa3HTxq4/s1600/IMG_6396.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5510570149083624642" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihaHHV9bNdKd4-eH5zF6ur_xy6NLAQKBrrSB1x6-cUpehpFXSHLDyVGFm_gyK9lKqoZA_BqpkAt7Epv3wf8ChPT-hNZ5YfjwW8JNkvrEIgSi47ZdHrxwxa5oZbCEUo0QIz3Uroa3HTxq4/s400/IMG_6396.JPG" /></a><br />Emma is our little sweet pea. She talks non-stop and has a face that you could kiss on all day. She loves to read books and eat fruit snacks. She has an obsession with changing her clothes like 37 times a day and she has recently learned how to use the potty! Potty training has been so easy with her. If I walk in the bathroom when she is going, she says, "Mom, you need to get out of here."<br />Emma is also our accident-prone child. In her 2 year life span, she has fainted twice, pulled her elbow out of place (okay, mommy did that one...on accident) and recently injured her arm while wrestling with her dad, uncle, and brother. She also always trips and falls! I have always felt a need to keep her under my wing just because I know she is bound to get hurt!<br />Nonetheless, she is our little angel who truly cares about others' feelings and wants everyone to be happy all of the time.<br /></div><div><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/THl6WDddp0I/AAAAAAAACEc/MWWND00ywio/s1600/IMG_6401.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5510570138369107778" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/THl6WDddp0I/AAAAAAAACEc/MWWND00ywio/s400/IMG_6401.JPG" /></a><br /><br />So here is our life in a nutshell right now! We are so happy to welcome a new baby into the family. Whether it's a boy or a girl, it will be a complete surprise to us! We have decided not to find out the gender as we have one of each and will be happy with whatever we get. Some people think we are crazy. We probably are. Anyhow, more posts to come shortly. Promise.<br /><br /><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/THl6VnGbo8I/AAAAAAAACEU/mJ4-gu60k8M/s1600/IMG_6377-1.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5510570130756314050" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/THl6VnGbo8I/AAAAAAAACEU/mJ4-gu60k8M/s400/IMG_6377-1.JPG" /></a><br /><div> </div></div></div></div></div></div><br /></div>The Epps Famhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12951758960345691260noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5574548392430775276.post-12405189706233953612010-07-08T06:23:00.003-06:002010-07-08T08:02:19.460-06:00Half Marathon<div align="center"></div><div align="center">Once upon a time, in the fall of 2009, during the month of October, a mother of two children decided that she wanted to make a habit of running in the mornings, 3-4 times a week.</div><div align="center"></div><div align="center">On day 1 of this attempt, this anxious and determined mother ran 1.5 miles and BOY, was she oh so proud! (she was also very exhausted and sweaty). The next week, she decided to get a running partner to tag along with her since she felt like it would make her runs a more pleasant experience, so she asked a friend who served in Young Women's with her, <a href="http://laneylife.blogspot.com/">Marilee</a> .</div><div align="center"></div><div align="center">When Marilee began running with her, she insisted that they increase the distance to 3.2 miles. The once anxious and determined mother was now frightened and decided maybe running alone wasn't so bad. However, Marilee's enthusiasm and will-power encouraged this young lady to stick with it! </div><div align="center"></div><div align="center">Pretty soon, the 3.2 mile runs became less and less strenuous and the urge to run became more and more desirable. By the end of October, the young mother and her dear friend, Marilee decided it was time to participate in a 5k in Salem, Utah. </div><div align="center">Though the word "5k" once terrified the young mother, it now had a ring of excitement to it!</div><div align="center">On the morning of October 31st, the race began. It was cold. It was crowded. It was a little intimidating. But when the gun went off, it was incredible! So many people running! Some were old, some were very very young, some were performance athletes while others seemed to be running for their first time. </div><div align="center">Throughout the race, the young mother was determimed. </div><div align="center">Determined to be positive, determined to focus, and determined to endure. </div><div align="center">After 27 minutes of determination, it happened! </div><div align="center">I, this young mother we have been reffering to, finished the race.</div><div align="center">It was a proud moment in history. </div><div align="center"></div><div align="center">A few months later, my husband's cousin, <a href="http://tjstrazzo.blogspot.com/">Jami</a> encouraged me to run another race on May 1st - this time it would be a half marathon in Sacramento, California. </div><div align="center">Yes, people. That is 13.1 miles.</div><div align="center">Really?</div><div align="center">I really thought there could be no possible way, but my mind gave in to the idea and soon, in 6 weeks, my family would be venturing to Sacramento so that I and my sister, <a href="http://alysserjanae.blogspot.com/">Alyssa</a> could take on the challenge. </div><div align="center">Each Saturday, prior to the race, Alyssa and I trained. The first week we ran 6 miles which seemed like an enormous victory for us! But then the next week, we ran 8 and 6 miles did not seem like a big deal. Pretty soon we were up to 11 miles, which made 8 miles look like a piece of cake. </div><div align="center">When it came time for the race, a wave of emotions began to take over. </div><div align="center">I was nervous, anxious, excited, determined, and oh, did i say nervous?</div><div align="center">However, the nerves settled down when Alyssa and I were able to find Jami, her husband, and friends amongst the crowd of 3000+ people.</div><div align="center">There is something very comforting about knowing that you are in this together!</div><div align="center">And we were! </div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;"></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;">(Below: Stephanie, Jami, Alyssa, Me, Tim, and Shanna)</span></div><div align="center"><a title="halfmarathon2 by jimbethepps, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/50724380@N06/4773688371/"><img alt="halfmarathon2" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4141/4773688371_97263fecdb.jpg" width="500" height="332" /></a><br />The first 5 miles were at complete ease for me. In fact, many conversations took place amongst all of us during this time.</div><div align="center"></div><div align="center">Between the 6th and 8th miles, my body began telling me that it was getting tired, so I had to start talking to myself (not out loud, of course).</div><div align="center">Then, after what seemed like an eternity, the 9 mile marker approached us. Though it was 70 degrees outside, the sun beating down on me made it feel more like 90. </div><div align="center">Then 10 came. Hallelujah! I literally shouted that because I needed a drink really bad<span style="font-size:85%;"> (each mile marker there was Gatorade or water available).</span></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center">Finally, 11 came - More Gatorade, please!</div><div align="center">Throughout the 11th mile, my sister had to tell me lots of positive things like "You can do it!" or "We're almost done!" or "Don't stop now!" I had to start talking to myself (out loud, of course!)It was all I could do to stay in the game til' the 12th mile, where I was sure I would be re-energized after taking one last swig of water.</div><div align="center"></div><div align="center">However, disappointment sunk in when we hit the 12th mile only to find empty cups where the people on the sidelines were saying, "Sorry, we ran out of drinks."</div><div align="center">Uh, what?</div><div align="center">To me at the time, these people were traitors, liars, and thieves. I felt utterly betrayed.</div><div align="center"></div><div align="center">How on earth could I possibly get to the finish line now?! I felt hopeless. </div><div align="center"></div><div align="center">But then something magical set in. </div><div align="center"></div><div align="center">I started thinking about my family. My kids. I started thinking about how I never want my kids to give up on me, so I should never give up on them.</div><div align="center">I started thinking about my health and how important it is to stay fit as a wife and mother and individual.</div><div align="center">I started thinking about how I feel when victory takes place.</div><div align="center">Pretty soon, I could hear the crowds cheering. Then I SAW the crowds. </div><div align="center">My sister and I began sprinting to the finish line!</div><div align="center">The adrenaline set in again, though this time every muscle in my body throbbed!</div><div align="center">After what seemed like several minutes of sprinting (probably more like 15 seconds), it was done. FINISHED. COMPLETE.</div><div align="center"></div><div align="center">It was wonderful to see Jim and the kids at the end. Oh, how I missed them so!</div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;">(yes, I have more pictures I need to aquire from my sister's camera, as mine died right before the race)</span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><div align="center">How grateful I am for my sister who pushed me every step of the way! She truly is an amazing person!</div><div align="center">Though the ride seemed rough at times, I am grateful for the encouragement of so many people who helped me accomplish something that I never thought was possible!<br /><a title="halfmarathon by jimbethepps, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/50724380@N06/4774327240/"><img alt="halfmarathon" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4136/4774327240_281053f1c9.jpg" width="500" height="332" /></a></div><div align="center"></div>The Epps Famhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12951758960345691260noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5574548392430775276.post-51509682945427864272010-05-31T20:38:00.002-06:002010-05-31T21:07:37.524-06:00The Family Room<div align="center">The last few weeks I have been busy busy trying to get my basement family room put together. </div><div align="center">I have been pleased with the way it is turning out, although I still have a lot to do! Still, it has been so much fun working on it and making it better than it was originally. I only have one before picture to post.</div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center">This chair was ugly. Actually there is 4 of them. My husband brought them home from a job and was going to take them to the dump! What the?! Yeah, I know. I told him I would give them a little TLC and they would be as good as gold. </div><div align="center"><a title="IMG_5891 by jimbethepps, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/50724380@N06/4657963465/"><img alt="IMG_5891" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1276/4657963465_3cbbc22ddc.jpg" width="377" height="500" /></a> </div><div align="center">He did not believe me until he saw this.<br /><br /><a title="IMG_6091 by jimbethepps, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/50724380@N06/4657963685/"><img alt="IMG_6091" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4031/4657963685_c75e2c49be.jpg" width="375" height="500" /></a><br />And this.<br /><a title="IMG_6102 by jimbethepps, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/50724380@N06/4658585406/"><img alt="IMG_6102" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1291/4658585406_6a5a6d0db0.jpg" width="375" height="500" /></a><br />I bought this clock that I am in love with. I also put together this flower arrangement.<br /><a title="IMG_6103 by jimbethepps, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/50724380@N06/4657963947/"><img alt="IMG_6103" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4004/4657963947_b5757e295b.jpg" width="378" height="500" /></a><br />I also purchased this bookshelf at Wal-Mart. Who woulda' thought Wally World would sell such a great piece of furniture?!It's ridiculously heavy too. I still have to fill it up, but have not decided how I am going to finish it off.<br /><a title="IMG_6093 by jimbethepps, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/50724380@N06/4658585912/"><img alt="IMG_6093" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4029/4658585912_4ce548f954.jpg" width="378" height="500" /></a><br />Sorry about this picture - a little blurry. The table was once ugly, but I painted it red. Now, it sits underneath our tv and I'm happy to call it family.<br /><a title="IMG_6100 by jimbethepps, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/50724380@N06/4658586420/"><img alt="IMG_6100" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4047/4658586420_0db060d5d7.jpg" width="377" height="500" /></a><br />Last but not least - This is definitely my favorite. I made a coat rack which cost me a whopping $5.00! I took a piece of barnwood from my in-law's farm, smudged it with some white paint and small hints of brown, then I screwed some hooks onto it! I can't say this was my idea though. The credit goes to my favorite friend, Kassie. Anyhow, these are just bits and pieces of my family room, but so far, SO GOOD!<br /><a title="IMG_6098 by jimbethepps, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/50724380@N06/4658614876/"><img alt="IMG_6098" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1267/4658614876_eee8491dc5.jpg" width="500" height="375" /></a></div>The Epps Famhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12951758960345691260noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5574548392430775276.post-16427172440206632492010-04-07T17:21:00.006-06:002010-04-07T17:44:43.598-06:00Emma's turn.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/S70Tq_AMEBI/AAAAAAAACEA/IjUs2tzdY1A/s1600/Picnik+collage.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 372px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/S70Tq_AMEBI/AAAAAAAACEA/IjUs2tzdY1A/s400/Picnik+collage.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5457539952630566930" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">I love her. What can I say more? She lights up our family and makes us all laugh at her randomness. </div><div style="text-align: center;">Her birthday was pretty low-key at our house. She opened up one present, which was a little dalmatian puppy (fake, by the way) which she was totally thrilled about. She kept kissing it and giggling every time it would crawl across the table.</div><div style="text-align: center;">Since her birthday was on a Sunday, she enjoyed or should I say endured three hours of church. Afterwards, we headed over to grandma's house for a little birthday party. We frosted cookies and ate some yummy cake and ice cream! </div><div style="text-align: center;">So now, Emma has been two for a couple of months and has grown to be quite the little girl.</div><div style="text-align: center;">Currently, she:</div><div style="text-align: center;">Loves moving her head to the beat of any Taylor Swift song.</div><div style="text-align: center;">Lives off a special diet of cheese, candy, chocolate milk, shrimp ?, and more cheese.</div><div style="text-align: center;">Gives very big squeezes (aka hugs).</div><div style="text-align: center;">Insists on dressing herself.</div><div style="text-align: center;">Humbly declares to anyone and everyone that she is a princess.</div><div style="text-align: center;">Prefers wearing a dress everyday of the week.</div><div style="text-align: center;">Calls people on the phone and talks incessantly until i take the phone away from her.</div><div style="text-align: center;">Loves to color and read books.</div><div style="text-align: center;">Prefers only two movies - "Babe" and "101 Dalmatians".</div><div style="text-align: center;">Finds joy in wrestling her brother, dad, and twin cousins.</div><div style="text-align: center;">Cannot go on with life without her "tee-tee" (aka blankie).</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">We love you, Emma and all of the funny things you say. You are a sass as well as a rough-and-tough little girl! Thanks for bringing us so much joy.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>The Epps Famhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12951758960345691260noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5574548392430775276.post-39781510805992972582010-04-07T16:34:00.004-06:002010-04-07T17:14:31.363-06:00Birthdays. Let's talk about them.<div style="text-align: center;">Yes, lots of birthdays this year. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Am I really 4 months behind?</b></span> This is completely discouraging, but I am not going to surrender! I have to catch up and I have to stick with it! The last four months have confined me to history books, studying, and more studying. When I am not doing those things, I am devoting my time to my children and my husband. I still keep my eye on everyone's blogs, but the thought of me sitting down and updating my own, has seemed treacherous and unappealing. I miss it. Oh, I miss it so! So here I am again re-entering myself into the blogging world <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">{for the 47th time}</span>, but let us think positive!<div><br /></div><div>So, let's start at the very beginning - A very good place to start. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">{If you can tell me what movie that is from, I will give you a big hug}.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#9999FF;">Birthdays</span></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#9999FF;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">!</span></b></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></b>Jim is up. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">My husband, Jim.</span> He turned <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#6666CC;">26</span> </span>in January, which means he is 4 years closer to 30. He still is <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#9999FF;"><b>my hunk</b></span></span> and <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#9999FF;">I love him!</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#9999FF;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">For his special day, he went to work. Okay, so there was more to it than that. He came home that night and I told him to go get a haircut because that is what wives do when it is their husband's birthday. Then his mom came over with a present that he has ever since been in love with. Look down at the last picture to get a glimpse of it...........</span></div></div><div><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/S70K-f8d1YI/AAAAAAAACD4/TvxOxdV7nXQ/s1600/IMG_5596.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/S70K-f8d1YI/AAAAAAAACD4/TvxOxdV7nXQ/s400/IMG_5596.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5457530392286188930" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdP5t7S5b8ffbgvCWlG7diLDt6SMGTSaoPEXZPaJbpRAumRgPB8IZC7_zw_vSXPDj26hKv5ehLOoczp6goZVlSGyw4d2uP52MvIH6bYh1z4Uk2SqB3Xr9n6jSSPL9uEec8F9mV9zmwD_A/s1600/IMG_5595.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdP5t7S5b8ffbgvCWlG7diLDt6SMGTSaoPEXZPaJbpRAumRgPB8IZC7_zw_vSXPDj26hKv5ehLOoczp6goZVlSGyw4d2uP52MvIH6bYh1z4Uk2SqB3Xr9n6jSSPL9uEec8F9mV9zmwD_A/s400/IMG_5595.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5457530379942665298" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">It's a GPS! </div><div style="text-align: center;">He had been talking about getting one for the last year. It was highly needed as he is a contractor and travels all over the state of Utah. Let me just say that I think I was rejoicing over this gift a whole lot more than he was. If you only knew how much I enjoyed the Pre-GPS era when Jim would call me to have me look online for directions to a job site that he could not find and then trying to give him directions over the phone was quite pleasant. {I said that with much sarcasm}. Anyhow, it was a glorious experience to see Jim open up that gift.</div><div style="text-align: center;">The other gift that Jim's mom gave to us was taking the kids! Jim and I went out on the town, baby! All by ourselves! Okay, so maybe it was just to the food court at the mall and then to a movie! But hey, it was kind of a big deal.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Happy 26th Birthday, Jim. Love you.</div>The Epps Famhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12951758960345691260noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5574548392430775276.post-67924804883430401922010-02-14T11:58:00.002-07:002010-02-14T12:08:14.681-07:00My Valentine<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#990000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">See this guy right here?</span></span></div><a href="http://s187.photobucket.com/albums/x252/jimbethepps/?action=view&current=IMG_5871.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x252/jimbethepps/IMG_5871.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#990000;">He's learning what makes me happy. You see, he left to church to do some Elder's Quorum stuff and took the kids with him to give me a break. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#990000;">A TWO HOUR break I might add!</span></span></div><br /><a href="http://s187.photobucket.com/albums/x252/jimbethepps/?action=view&current=IMG_5869.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x252/jimbethepps/IMG_5869.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF6666;">Oh, how I love you, Jim</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF6666;">.</span> </div><div style="text-align: center;">Even if you prefer to wear your brown pants with black shoes. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#990000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Thanks for being </span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#990000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">my Valentine.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#990000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#990000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">{PS. More to come. I have way too much posting to do!}</span></span></span></div>The Epps Famhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12951758960345691260noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5574548392430775276.post-1578045056289765832010-01-11T08:10:00.002-07:002010-01-11T08:25:03.397-07:00Dear Anonymous Comment People,I am tired of your rude and hurtful remarks. I made this blog to record my family's experiences AND as a personal outlet for me when I want to do something besides laundry, cooking, feeding kids, refereeing kids, running errands, or doing homework. I did not make this blog so that I could click on my comments and see that some anonymous person (YOU) had written that my blog is boring or other hurtful things. Right now, I am tempted to shut down the whole blog altogether and find another outlet, but I probably won't because that would mean NO MORE BLOGGING! I can't even imagine how sad I would be if I had to stop something I love doing.......even if I don't do it as much as I used to. Anyhow, thanks to whoever you people are for making me feel downright awful about myself and my blogging. An additional thanks goes to all of my blogging friends who can leave a comment without being anonymous! Way to go! I truly appreciate your comments and I love reading your blogs!<div><br /></div><div>Yours truly,</div><div><br /></div><div>Bethany</div>The Epps Famhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12951758960345691260noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5574548392430775276.post-23804231586150476842010-01-05T16:07:00.010-07:002010-01-11T09:10:09.398-07:00December and ALL that it brought with it.<div style="text-align: center;">I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas! Our Christmas was grand and wonderful. I am sure you all can only guess that the following pictures are only going to be about none other than our Christmas.......you are right! You all probably care less about what we did for Christmas, but hey, I am going to bore you anyway. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Although December seemed to fly by, I truly enjoyed every minute of it! I tried to find time amidst all of the holiday chaos to just take time to breath. The perfect solution always seemed to be sitting in the front room by the tree and looking at the pretty white lights. Loved it!</div><div><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/S0PLnxic7OI/AAAAAAAACCI/pzEhUMzYWrU/s1600-h/IMG_5476.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/S0PLnxic7OI/AAAAAAAACCI/pzEhUMzYWrU/s400/IMG_5476.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423402260457385186" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">We also put a tree up this year in our downstairs family room. I decided it would be fun to string cereal for the tree and my children decided it would be fun to eat all the cereal off the tree. </div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdo9MbNy8i7O6XnEhj71w7HRmh4X_sTy_dQgqew2K1dkQ-SWuU76vQHkT_NNZeE9QabjqaNtIHAaB4jEo2Z13JQqXE3xZ-G-P2qsQF4yN4eRaooo_HPkNDMbpvh4rXWu7CDvOaJCTBU2k/s1600-h/IMG_5499.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdo9MbNy8i7O6XnEhj71w7HRmh4X_sTy_dQgqew2K1dkQ-SWuU76vQHkT_NNZeE9QabjqaNtIHAaB4jEo2Z13JQqXE3xZ-G-P2qsQF4yN4eRaooo_HPkNDMbpvh4rXWu7CDvOaJCTBU2k/s400/IMG_5499.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423402087318145762" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>We will definitely be making this cereal thing a Christmas tradition.</div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/S0PLdEEGZfI/AAAAAAAACB4/CwUx6EOLS7g/s1600-h/IMG_5500.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/S0PLdEEGZfI/AAAAAAAACB4/CwUx6EOLS7g/s400/IMG_5500.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423402076451792370" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">One day while I was sitting in the living room {enjoying the pretty white lights} I could not get over how beautiful winter looked from my front window.</div><div style="text-align: center;">So I took a picture of it.</div><div style="text-align: center;">The best part about this picture is that Jim is the one on the 4 wheeler with Braddock on his lap pulling some random kid on a sled. Gotta love Jim.</div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqf6PuD2L1mLN42UT7D_LsYwfYGEeTuBoiVPqpXfnnPQWMbjTGpSufpidqnxKrK45eMshg_KzFYp3DablmPIIM91urzhfkg_hut2hxyOqoFFeDsFjqu0g_ShwFKR94fvnZkZ1uMU2T_x4/s1600-h/IMG_5471.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqf6PuD2L1mLN42UT7D_LsYwfYGEeTuBoiVPqpXfnnPQWMbjTGpSufpidqnxKrK45eMshg_KzFYp3DablmPIIM91urzhfkg_hut2hxyOqoFFeDsFjqu0g_ShwFKR94fvnZkZ1uMU2T_x4/s400/IMG_5471.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423401667153432866" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">Christmas Eve night was the bestest. We all {meaning my family, Alyssa, my mom, and Jerry} headed over to my sister Jacey's home in Spanish Fork for a Christmas Eve Extravaganza.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">This picture was thrown in randomly, but it's cute anyway. Braddock and Emma are laying in their cousin Lucas' bed getting ready for Santa! They loved everything about Christmas!</div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_dwUyW5r0tNPr_LLfXvLLpu9e_03yg6lKpp5s2wLvEycgGHU1OUIjZfDHBBZ0SEYn075UdcPJDTdpIyr-VaHZw41AKK950nOisEytssGicW-i-7WCbb9_X-9g49Qz1lSXjLFiasQD2w8/s1600-h/IMG_5550.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_dwUyW5r0tNPr_LLfXvLLpu9e_03yg6lKpp5s2wLvEycgGHU1OUIjZfDHBBZ0SEYn075UdcPJDTdpIyr-VaHZw41AKK950nOisEytssGicW-i-7WCbb9_X-9g49Qz1lSXjLFiasQD2w8/s400/IMG_5550.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423401654829953666" /></a><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#0000EE;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span></span></div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: normal; "><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Anyway, back to the Christmas Eve Extravaganza......................</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: normal;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: normal;">We all wore our best Christmas attire {AKA: White Trash Wal-Mart Christmas shirts}. We also feasted on delicious baked shrimp cooked by none other than our wonderful mother!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: normal;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: normal;">My mom had dogs on her shirt. If you know my mom, you would know my mom would never wear dogs on any of her clothing unless of course......it fell on the night of our Christmas Eve Extravaganza. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: normal;">I also don't know why they are holding empty stockings.</span></div></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcrhBh5ahiLChl0xHKe4v4Et24j5VRttMl1ImqSkT3u0Gv1KdCQ61p2O8vzd9c63ziYqDAR5PpuSEso7DFkjzqJ56nKPBjdiOW3neOuSH5IhlX-ZlQKN2pik9TFPbVCDtqinWxQ4aC43I/s1600-h/IMG_5540.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 294px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcrhBh5ahiLChl0xHKe4v4Et24j5VRttMl1ImqSkT3u0Gv1KdCQ61p2O8vzd9c63ziYqDAR5PpuSEso7DFkjzqJ56nKPBjdiOW3neOuSH5IhlX-ZlQKN2pik9TFPbVCDtqinWxQ4aC43I/s400/IMG_5540.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423399716221071218" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">Me and my sister Jacey.</div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDRid7g8L7OWNKzaZNOA_Ls1SfUzWqIfm787p9Ohe8I580k4AxElFGIzi8wTiJsEURZYWRk1dAKFI9GEegYVFC8JQkfjCPuKQ7CKDb5cZBj8hxBvqvFnDPZK2QAXPjXQbx-AyKDOgh1rQ/s1600-h/IMG_5548.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 316px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDRid7g8L7OWNKzaZNOA_Ls1SfUzWqIfm787p9Ohe8I580k4AxElFGIzi8wTiJsEURZYWRk1dAKFI9GEegYVFC8JQkfjCPuKQ7CKDb5cZBj8hxBvqvFnDPZK2QAXPjXQbx-AyKDOgh1rQ/s400/IMG_5548.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423399706938098978" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">Me and Alyssa sporting the Christmas fashion {jewelry and hideous pants included}</div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/S0PIc_sumjI/AAAAAAAACA8/gu-kaUk00jc/s1600-h/IMG_5546.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/S0PIc_sumjI/AAAAAAAACA8/gu-kaUk00jc/s400/IMG_5546.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423398776745138738" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">My cute Jim with Hallie and Ben.</div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/S0PIcXFiqnI/AAAAAAAACA0/7b3Q5hkhPX0/s1600-h/IMG_5544.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/S0PIcXFiqnI/AAAAAAAACA0/7b3Q5hkhPX0/s400/IMG_5544.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423398765843360370" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">Jim and Jerry wrestling. Ridiculous.</div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/S0PIcPEPS4I/AAAAAAAACAs/h3j5csi-bb0/s1600-h/IMG_5558.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 342px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/S0PIcPEPS4I/AAAAAAAACAs/h3j5csi-bb0/s400/IMG_5558.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423398763690412930" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">Jim and I! { P.S. Jim's shirt is so creepy and so is my hair.}</div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/S0PIboJ9CpI/AAAAAAAACAk/o0HxrQavlFQ/s1600-h/IMG_5571.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 381px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/S0PIboJ9CpI/AAAAAAAACAk/o0HxrQavlFQ/s400/IMG_5571.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423398753245399698" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">After stuffing ourselves with shrimp, pasta salad, garlic cheese rolls, French fries, and lots of Sparkling Cider, it was time to crash and get ready for Santa to come. Poor Jim had to run home at 11 o'clock at night because he forgot our stocking stuffers! </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Christmas morning was so much fun. I never thought it would be so exciting to see your kids come out and wonder what they got from Santa! It was so exciting, that I forgot to take pictures! Braddock got some Lincoln Logs, clothes, and books and Emma got a baby doll that came with a bottle and binkie. </div><div style="text-align: center;">And mom?</div><div style="text-align: center;">Well what to my wondering eyes should appear but a....</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Laptop computer! My husband is wonderful. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/S0PIbNcwQcI/AAAAAAAACAc/0scLxM3cxsw/s1600-h/IMG_5574.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 388px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/S0PIbNcwQcI/AAAAAAAACAc/0scLxM3cxsw/s400/IMG_5574.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423398746076496322" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">I feel bad that I did not take more pictures of Christmas, but I usually don't during the exciting moments. However, we loved our Christmas! Thanks to all of our family and friends for the wonderful gifts. We enjoyed every minute with all of you!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Okay so our family's Christmas gift was the remodeling of the downstairs. Like I have said before, much of what has gone into this home is blood. sweat. and tears.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">I thought I would show you a glimpse of what we have done.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">This is one of the guest rooms. It used to be a sick-nasty storage room. When I took this picture, there were beds on the floor for Jim's family that came to visit. Don't worry. They're not there anymore......not that you were worried. Now the room is empty and I need to beautify it.</div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6k3r_VUR6frMTy73N8oegCHORyg13TaKF525P0NV79F8vpQDyPh7_Z1Ag0E0iF2JFlHO5mf_3_PUicW7TVrmzIpxBvcID2fjvx9Pqyn4a0BAKmDQhTeHBiiLWWgxBAsl8y9WynvCrR18/s1600-h/guest+room.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 201px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6k3r_VUR6frMTy73N8oegCHORyg13TaKF525P0NV79F8vpQDyPh7_Z1Ag0E0iF2JFlHO5mf_3_PUicW7TVrmzIpxBvcID2fjvx9Pqyn4a0BAKmDQhTeHBiiLWWgxBAsl8y9WynvCrR18/s400/guest+room.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423397811000554306" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">This room used to be another sick-nasty room that we converted to a storage room. New sheet rock, paint, and flooring did the trick!</div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/S0PHkuDZbQI/AAAAAAAACAI/CHeHya7zezc/s1600-h/Picnik+collage.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 201px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/S0PHkuDZbQI/AAAAAAAACAI/CHeHya7zezc/s400/Picnik+collage.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423397809935707394" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">Our family room!! Yea!!! My husband rocked that fireplace. He is hot. New lighting, sheet rock, baseboard, carpet, paint, electrical was done by him as well. Did I mention I love him?</div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic2R4Kih_Zhx8wiBDAHlOhw5Os6UkACqNqX8hvVM6Y2gztJ02K8dMHPwDYodPrb2aIp64rCbEOADmbVP9ZRIlQsA-B_wXzovUYk5MOwVDb6vD0xPGgMCBTSq3aTqYvXUDCYz4Y0Rzx3sw/s1600-h/family+room.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 201px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic2R4Kih_Zhx8wiBDAHlOhw5Os6UkACqNqX8hvVM6Y2gztJ02K8dMHPwDYodPrb2aIp64rCbEOADmbVP9ZRIlQsA-B_wXzovUYk5MOwVDb6vD0xPGgMCBTSq3aTqYvXUDCYz4Y0Rzx3sw/s400/family+room.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423397803417191842" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">Another view of the family room.....</div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/S0PHkCQy-aI/AAAAAAAAB_4/IDqVxJzXzjc/s1600-h/family+room+2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 201px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/S0PHkCQy-aI/AAAAAAAAB_4/IDqVxJzXzjc/s400/family+room+2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423397798180747682" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">I have so many other pictures to show, but I will do that in a later post as you must all be pictured out! </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Now, I will leave you with this picture because it is happy and makes Christmas all that much more grand and wonderful! </div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlhdA-lb-j1BNbOGT5mVNTWbJBnv866nJe8AfPZ1BkK8nHCsTLi3CXc-lxlTyHRJLuBI_vMsFGJfbdZWsvqScp8svoJWg1Ak0TMvEHZ7gg23t8UPMZUj8Ln5uq6-s4GJhrsIc40Byo3eA/s1600-h/IMG_5457.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlhdA-lb-j1BNbOGT5mVNTWbJBnv866nJe8AfPZ1BkK8nHCsTLi3CXc-lxlTyHRJLuBI_vMsFGJfbdZWsvqScp8svoJWg1Ak0TMvEHZ7gg23t8UPMZUj8Ln5uq6-s4GJhrsIc40Byo3eA/s400/IMG_5457.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423397789485070386" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR! </div>The Epps Famhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12951758960345691260noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5574548392430775276.post-89955477399070424392009-11-24T07:20:00.009-07:002009-11-24T08:18:54.952-07:00Our Family.<div style="text-align: center;">A couple of months ago, I began realizing that we so desperately needed to get some family pictures. I have not had them done since before Emma was born [sadly] and made an effort to start looking around to find someone who could take them for us. I was lucky to find Natalie Park through a friend of mine on Facebook and thank goodness I found her because she was just what we needed!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Here are some of my favorites.</div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHNXCS5CUGdn_LJ5wMsyqi6GK3L6FVUpq9DZgpBmKwxLlJwEL6XkgyTK5v4SEYDv_Tl0iCJ58i6nMmsa7X5np-twnUcLWU2HPHdiMGUQHS4RPuqUp-y947a4MbkZ6Qj0WIJSmMYSbmVOs/s1600/IMG_0549+Quick+Edit.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHNXCS5CUGdn_LJ5wMsyqi6GK3L6FVUpq9DZgpBmKwxLlJwEL6XkgyTK5v4SEYDv_Tl0iCJ58i6nMmsa7X5np-twnUcLWU2HPHdiMGUQHS4RPuqUp-y947a4MbkZ6Qj0WIJSmMYSbmVOs/s400/IMG_0549+Quick+Edit.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407677267814056466" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/Swvt0NES2HI/AAAAAAAAB-E/hDft0x7VEbw/s1600/IMG_0569+Quick+Edit.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/Swvt0NES2HI/AAAAAAAAB-E/hDft0x7VEbw/s400/IMG_0569+Quick+Edit.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407677258705066098" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/SwvtzlFJowI/AAAAAAAAB98/g-5iDgKFbUs/s1600/IMG_0518+Quick+Edit.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/SwvtzlFJowI/AAAAAAAAB98/g-5iDgKFbUs/s400/IMG_0518+Quick+Edit.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407677247971238658" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/SwvtzHaLJcI/AAAAAAAAB90/VXbC5bK6tvs/s1600/IMG_0461+Epps+Quick+Edit.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/SwvtzHaLJcI/AAAAAAAAB90/VXbC5bK6tvs/s400/IMG_0461+Epps+Quick+Edit.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407677240006354370" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFYQhr-1ypHtK7oKDG4CAEn06ZGYl_JQ4sxP74m7BPuWqsevO_vcoo3GtaucApJODy1o_2wwnpybJkV9kbFNrDsgSJKGiFWkFE4jkfy1gH6_s-e5jQRFDEX93kk8JJpkuUxY6FObCWRlg/s1600/IMG_0336+Quick+Edit.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFYQhr-1ypHtK7oKDG4CAEn06ZGYl_JQ4sxP74m7BPuWqsevO_vcoo3GtaucApJODy1o_2wwnpybJkV9kbFNrDsgSJKGiFWkFE4jkfy1gH6_s-e5jQRFDEX93kk8JJpkuUxY6FObCWRlg/s400/IMG_0336+Quick+Edit.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407677233040349570" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikNUdpdyNQXyzdqWzRWj_Z-5Jhzpz934C4glecIDMJ3pEn37aObjSS5CusvMFfevpN2jnKokWtgpbdJHPz_BmQCGZBbNOqMXR4MXH9ngrCrMkZ8gp9DvyCY-Fc0Y3-eViawKiMp9cexwE/s1600/IMG_0325+Quick+Edit.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikNUdpdyNQXyzdqWzRWj_Z-5Jhzpz934C4glecIDMJ3pEn37aObjSS5CusvMFfevpN2jnKokWtgpbdJHPz_BmQCGZBbNOqMXR4MXH9ngrCrMkZ8gp9DvyCY-Fc0Y3-eViawKiMp9cexwE/s400/IMG_0325+Quick+Edit.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407676308319292002" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/Swvs8tA5vaI/AAAAAAAAB9c/K9PqGg6clEA/s1600/IMG_0314+Quick+Edit.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/Swvs8tA5vaI/AAAAAAAAB9c/K9PqGg6clEA/s400/IMG_0314+Quick+Edit.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407676305208098210" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">Braddock looking like he is praying or going to do a cheer jump???? Either way, I was getting so frustrated with him because he hates the camera and trying to take a picture of him was beyond difficult. Natalie was so patient with us!</div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHTrVlsi-dFyQSzotPqltnCUlpz6TAwVNE-yPOrdrotxuRV24pYN29oNeCMvq49nluC-8-jzqC3HRSztyNZBhodJsxkZZ5PsWgfrJPzit3BncLurW4YvOZU-t9hpG-9saTNYc0aBRnSz4/s1600/IMG_0313+Quick+Edit.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHTrVlsi-dFyQSzotPqltnCUlpz6TAwVNE-yPOrdrotxuRV24pYN29oNeCMvq49nluC-8-jzqC3HRSztyNZBhodJsxkZZ5PsWgfrJPzit3BncLurW4YvOZU-t9hpG-9saTNYc0aBRnSz4/s400/IMG_0313+Quick+Edit.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407676294632454002" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/Swvs7jyFbkI/AAAAAAAAB9M/-JC0wSR2BwE/s1600/IMG_0296+Quick+Edit.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/Swvs7jyFbkI/AAAAAAAAB9M/-JC0wSR2BwE/s400/IMG_0296+Quick+Edit.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407676285550161474" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/Swvs7E4WtNI/AAAAAAAAB9E/GPkopEH0nK0/s1600/IMG_0188+Epps+Quick+Edit.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/Swvs7E4WtNI/AAAAAAAAB9E/GPkopEH0nK0/s400/IMG_0188+Epps+Quick+Edit.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407676277254960338" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgycIVa7LmvZQ7J28z7IomOixXu8-Dchy_9MK6VMtumg5bt3gghl260ove6DDv5omhX60Fh401vlpYQ_8rB-Q11R69dn_SfcNrLhxF4nnaCn1Zd8hkwvLmy7DgoRJW3Wp00i3VfqA9mNrI/s1600/IMG_0178+Quick+Edit.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgycIVa7LmvZQ7J28z7IomOixXu8-Dchy_9MK6VMtumg5bt3gghl260ove6DDv5omhX60Fh401vlpYQ_8rB-Q11R69dn_SfcNrLhxF4nnaCn1Zd8hkwvLmy7DgoRJW3Wp00i3VfqA9mNrI/s400/IMG_0178+Quick+Edit.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407675505008089970" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhddDjW8ktg8Ihz6HoRFsoG6CdklPIikCikUQ8ZOqaA2h2Woh0R5eaFDIzpylpZ7ptnrpib5uGcLP022naElCcvUXVgLW87E6Vqp7uzSqvetmKWY6Qtrpi4jKxnzSHeXmVkziS7AL9RUXM/s1600/IMG_0168+Quick+Edit.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhddDjW8ktg8Ihz6HoRFsoG6CdklPIikCikUQ8ZOqaA2h2Woh0R5eaFDIzpylpZ7ptnrpib5uGcLP022naElCcvUXVgLW87E6Vqp7uzSqvetmKWY6Qtrpi4jKxnzSHeXmVkziS7AL9RUXM/s400/IMG_0168+Quick+Edit.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407675497029944658" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/SwvsNfAVyjI/AAAAAAAAB8s/A1n-w9vGAl0/s1600/IMG_0154+Quick+Edit.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/SwvsNfAVyjI/AAAAAAAAB8s/A1n-w9vGAl0/s400/IMG_0154+Quick+Edit.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407675493993794098" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/SwvsMy4ngtI/AAAAAAAAB8k/GIXKEOJvpok/s1600/IMG_0145+B%26W.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/SwvsMy4ngtI/AAAAAAAAB8k/GIXKEOJvpok/s400/IMG_0145+B%26W.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407675482150240978" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/SwvsMimVQKI/AAAAAAAAB8c/G1dIY891efI/s1600/IMG_0130+Epps+Quick+Edit.jpg" style="text-decoration: none;"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PbBgK_zWq48/SwvsMimVQKI/AAAAAAAAB8c/G1dIY891efI/s400/IMG_0130+Epps+Quick+Edit.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407675477778579618" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">So there you have it. I am in love with all of these photos! In fact, I have looked at them everyday for the past week trying to decide which ones I am going to put in my family room and which ones I am going to give to family. There are so many others that I loves that I did not post on here. So much fun! </div><div style="text-align: center;">Thanks again to Natalie for taking such amazing photos of our family even if they were not perfectly posed, they describe us perfectly. If anyone lives in Utah or wants to get their pictures taken in Utah, visit her site <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-large;"><a href="http://natalieparkphotography.blogspot.com/">HERE</a> . </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Not only is she talented, but she's reasonable! Give her business and trust me, you will not be disappointed!</span></div>The Epps Famhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12951758960345691260noreply@blogger.com12