Slideshow:
Hamilton Newsletter
March 2017
FAMILY: March was a
fun month, as we enjoyed some warmer temps as well as some snowy days J Heidi’s birthday was
on the 6th (see her section for more details) – it was a wonderful
day & she felt very loved J
We went to St. George on the 10th to celebrate Grandpa Potts’
birthday. Mom and Grandpa went to lunch while the girls and grandma had a
picnic at Tonaquint Park and had fun at the Splash park. On the 11th,
Heidi took the older girls to the Sleeping Beauty Ballet at the Heritage
Theater – and for shakes at DQ afterwards. It was a lot of fun & the ballet
was great! St. Patrick’s Day was fun this year with new shirts, Lucky Charms
for breakfast, green drinks, and handing out mint brownies to neighbors. The
evening of the 18th, the girls decided to play monopoly and daddy
joined in. It lasted almost 3 hours before they called it quits, but McKinley won!
We got some sad news that Sister Crandall from our ward passed away on her
mission. We all attended her funeral on the 13th & it was neat
to learn more about her. On the 25th, Heidi took McKinley &
Ireland to women’s conference at the stake center & they went to Arby’s
afterwards. It was a great night. The 26th was Link’s 4th
angelversary. It was on a Sunday this year & we enjoyed going to church,
visiting his bench, and stopping at the Cedar City temple. Also this month,
sadly we got news that Uncle Joseph has cancer. We are so sad and are praying
for him every day! We also watched Divit for a couple weeks so grandma &
grandpa could drive to California and be with cousins there. She was good,
except for not being able to resist diapers (even ones up high) and trashs :/ Also, we downloaded an app called Marco Polo
which lets you take short videos and it has been fun catching up with the
Bealers, Bensons, and all of Heidi’s family. Pretty much every day someone
posts a video and we all love to see more of our family & friends. We took
Sydney to the vet this month - she’s
been having LOTS of accidents downstairs. Thankfully, diabetes and UTI were
ruled out, but it looks like Sydney’s kidneys are starting to decline. We are
enjoying every day with her.
JASON: Jason has had a month of sickness (again). His throat
was hurting and he was tired and after a couple weeks of that, he finally went
into the doctor and was diagnosed with having the Epstein Barr virus, which is
related to Mono. It has made him very tired and in pain, and there’s not much
they can do about it, and they don’t have any idea how long it will last. L He’s missed some work
this month and after he got the diagnoses, he brought his laptop home for a
week to rest and work when he could. We’re hoping he feels better soon!
HEIDI: Heidi embraced
her 38th birthday and enjoyed her time with family. The girls
brought her breakfast in bed (Girl Scout cookie thin mint cereal – her pick J), they each made gifts
for her – McKinley made a colorful popcicle stick picture frame with the 2 of
them in it. Ireland made a glow-in-the-dark letter and decorated letter “H” and
Kezia made her a nice card and a pot with seeds in it. Jason got her an
external hard drive to plug into the xbox with. Unfortunately, it hasn’t work
like she thought & the external hard drive doesn’t “see” all her files, but
for now it’s good enough. Mom & Dad took Heidi to lunch at the Brick House,
and they watched the girls so Jason could take her out to Rusty’s for dinner. Afterwards,
we had chocolate Costo cake (yummy!) and ice cream. She also got lots of sweet
messages & texts from family & friends. It was a truly wonderful day.
On the 27th, Heidi got a call from the Share coordinator, telling
her there was a family at the hospital who had an infant that they suspected
SIDS & she asked Heidi to come. It was a very humbling experience –
especially with it being only the day after Link’s angelversary, and in the
same room in the ER. Heidi tried to offer as much comfort, compassion, and hope
as possible. We are so sad for their loss. Heidi continues to work out. She did a 10-mile
run with the cedar city running club one Saturday, and that was fun J She has also loved
watching her new daffodils and crocuses come up in the front J
McKINLEY:
-McKinley went with her dad to a cello concert at the local church and she was REALLY excited about it. She said they were VERY talented & it made her want to practice more on her cello J
-McKinley has been so good in the kitchen lately. She made dinner once, and dessert twice! They were all very yummy – thanks McKinley!
-McKinley is so excited for her upcoming play Seussical! She has been doing extra morning practices and is still going to her Tuesday/Thursday practices as well.
-Mom surprised McKinley on St. Patrick’s day & we went out to The Pastry Pub for lunch – it was yummy!
-On the 21st, mom & dad went with McKinley to New Beginnings for Young Women, since she starts YW this year. It was very good and McKinley got to sing a special song with the older young women. She did wonderfully, and we were all touched & impressed, though still astonished McKinley is almost old enough to go to YW!!
-McKinley went to the SUU Science Fair (with her “You Look Great in those Genes” project) on March 31st and had a lot of fun! She got to hang out there all day with her friends from North and even have lunch there, too. Mom and dad came to see her for a bit and are very proud of her!
-McKinley went with her dad to a cello concert at the local church and she was REALLY excited about it. She said they were VERY talented & it made her want to practice more on her cello J
-McKinley has been so good in the kitchen lately. She made dinner once, and dessert twice! They were all very yummy – thanks McKinley!
-McKinley is so excited for her upcoming play Seussical! She has been doing extra morning practices and is still going to her Tuesday/Thursday practices as well.
-Mom surprised McKinley on St. Patrick’s day & we went out to The Pastry Pub for lunch – it was yummy!
-On the 21st, mom & dad went with McKinley to New Beginnings for Young Women, since she starts YW this year. It was very good and McKinley got to sing a special song with the older young women. She did wonderfully, and we were all touched & impressed, though still astonished McKinley is almost old enough to go to YW!!
-McKinley went to the SUU Science Fair (with her “You Look Great in those Genes” project) on March 31st and had a lot of fun! She got to hang out there all day with her friends from North and even have lunch there, too. Mom and dad came to see her for a bit and are very proud of her!
IRELAND:
-Ireland continues to do well in gymnastics and enjoys her teacher & her class.
-Ireland’s science fair project this year set out to see if watching screen time affects how much we remember things. She liked it because she got to watch screen time as part of her project. Aunt Trisha & Aunt Cindy also participated. We worked hard on analyzing the data & making the board look cute. Unfortunately, Ireland didn’t win (she was very sad and cried in the bathroom), but we are still so proud of her and know she did great.
-Ireland got to go to St. George and spend the day with Mahina as part of Mahina’s belated birthday present. Mahina could only pick one friend to take & she chose Ireland J They had fun playing at the arcades, the bumper/squirting boats, and going out to eat. She had a ton of fun!
-Ireland’s feet have been very itchy lately and she’s had to use some athlete’s foot medicine.
-One day, mom got a call from the Vogts that Ireland’s expander had come apart and was making her gums bleed. Eric went to pick her up and dad met her at the Orthodontists, but they were not there, so mom picked her up and went to the dentist, who pulled one of her teeth and got the expander out. It was very painful, but Ireland was brave. The orthodontist said she’s almost done with her first phase of braces – yay!!!
-Ireland has been going to almost all of McKinley’s Seussical rehearsals since she’s at school with her & waits to be picked up. She’s so familiar with the play, she could easily have been in it!
KEZIA:
-Kezi has been so patient about letting Noelle sleep in her room. Finally, we made the little guest room downstairs more live-able. Mom stapled sheets on the sections of the ceiling that didn’t have sheetrock and we hung sheets between the room and the toy area. It’s really pretty cute now & Kezia has even started pinning things to her wall. J
-Kezia had a couple fun days with Adelaide. They played a lot and Addi & Olivia even stayed for a late movie night & we watched Moana.
-Kezi was sad to hear about Sister Crandall. She was her Primary Teacher for a couple years in a row & they even exchanged a couple letters while she was on her mission.
-One day Kezia asked mom “how do you get the ironic priesthood?” J
-One night, in the middle of the night, Kezia ran into our room, went into the bathroom, and went back into the hall. Mom got up and it looked like she was going back downstairs, but when we kept hearing noises, dad got up to check it out. Kezia had her backpack on and was walking around the kitchen. Dad had to stand in front of her to get her to stop and then escort our sleep-walking girl back to her bed J
-At East Elementary, it was teacher appreciation week. Kezia took it VERY serious & made sure she had something for every day for her teachers, including strawberries and chocolates. The funnest day was crazy hair day when we spray painted her hair pink & she looked a lot like Princess Poppy from the movie Trolls!
-Kezia started soccer at the end of the month. She got a purple jersey – AGAIN! – 3rd time in a row! Someone must know how much she loves purple! She doesn’t know anyone in her team this time, but she is excited to get playing!
LINK: - Four entire years since you’ve left us, our sweet boy. Our duder-dude. We miss you SO very much. We are so very grateful for every love note you leave, every guidance you give, every protection you provide. We know we are watched over and we love you SO much! Please keep encouraging us and helping us with missionary work, compassionate work, and family history. Thank you for being there in the hospital to help the family who lost their little 1-month-old baby girl. We love you and miss you EVERY day Link.
-Ireland continues to do well in gymnastics and enjoys her teacher & her class.
-Ireland’s science fair project this year set out to see if watching screen time affects how much we remember things. She liked it because she got to watch screen time as part of her project. Aunt Trisha & Aunt Cindy also participated. We worked hard on analyzing the data & making the board look cute. Unfortunately, Ireland didn’t win (she was very sad and cried in the bathroom), but we are still so proud of her and know she did great.
-Ireland got to go to St. George and spend the day with Mahina as part of Mahina’s belated birthday present. Mahina could only pick one friend to take & she chose Ireland J They had fun playing at the arcades, the bumper/squirting boats, and going out to eat. She had a ton of fun!
-Ireland’s feet have been very itchy lately and she’s had to use some athlete’s foot medicine.
-One day, mom got a call from the Vogts that Ireland’s expander had come apart and was making her gums bleed. Eric went to pick her up and dad met her at the Orthodontists, but they were not there, so mom picked her up and went to the dentist, who pulled one of her teeth and got the expander out. It was very painful, but Ireland was brave. The orthodontist said she’s almost done with her first phase of braces – yay!!!
-Ireland has been going to almost all of McKinley’s Seussical rehearsals since she’s at school with her & waits to be picked up. She’s so familiar with the play, she could easily have been in it!
KEZIA:
-Kezi has been so patient about letting Noelle sleep in her room. Finally, we made the little guest room downstairs more live-able. Mom stapled sheets on the sections of the ceiling that didn’t have sheetrock and we hung sheets between the room and the toy area. It’s really pretty cute now & Kezia has even started pinning things to her wall. J
-Kezia had a couple fun days with Adelaide. They played a lot and Addi & Olivia even stayed for a late movie night & we watched Moana.
-Kezi was sad to hear about Sister Crandall. She was her Primary Teacher for a couple years in a row & they even exchanged a couple letters while she was on her mission.
-One day Kezia asked mom “how do you get the ironic priesthood?” J
-One night, in the middle of the night, Kezia ran into our room, went into the bathroom, and went back into the hall. Mom got up and it looked like she was going back downstairs, but when we kept hearing noises, dad got up to check it out. Kezia had her backpack on and was walking around the kitchen. Dad had to stand in front of her to get her to stop and then escort our sleep-walking girl back to her bed J
-At East Elementary, it was teacher appreciation week. Kezia took it VERY serious & made sure she had something for every day for her teachers, including strawberries and chocolates. The funnest day was crazy hair day when we spray painted her hair pink & she looked a lot like Princess Poppy from the movie Trolls!
-Kezia started soccer at the end of the month. She got a purple jersey – AGAIN! – 3rd time in a row! Someone must know how much she loves purple! She doesn’t know anyone in her team this time, but she is excited to get playing!
LINK: - Four entire years since you’ve left us, our sweet boy. Our duder-dude. We miss you SO very much. We are so very grateful for every love note you leave, every guidance you give, every protection you provide. We know we are watched over and we love you SO much! Please keep encouraging us and helping us with missionary work, compassionate work, and family history. Thank you for being there in the hospital to help the family who lost their little 1-month-old baby girl. We love you and miss you EVERY day Link.
NOELLE:
-Noelle continues to try even the most patient of persons J We were all watching a movie downstairs and didn’t even notice that she had taken a brown marker and colored ALL over the white carpet down there L And then on the couches. And the wall. It seems to never ever end. She also loves to get into the sugar. And the salt. We can’t ever leave them on the table.
-We love Noelle’s prayer. One day at lunch she prayed “And please bless Swiper to NOT swipe my jam!”
-One day Noelle was upset at daddy. She yelled at him “you are NOT my shining star!”
-Noelle says to mom “Santa Claus will bring you presents for your birthday!”
-One day Noelle just decided she was going to be a big girl like her sisters and take care of her plate after meals. She’s such a helper! Except when she puts paper plates in the sink or real plates in the trash or drips syrup all over the floor on her way to the sink or freaks out when we’re at a restaurant (the Brick House) & gets SUPER mad that she can’t take care of her plate J
-For some reason, Noelle is still infatuated with daddy’s bathroom drawer. It started with floss, then Q-tips, then pretty much everything else, including his cologne. We have to put it all up! For some reason, she doesn’t care much about mom’s bathroom drawer.
-We’ve noticed Noelle has a longer attention span now. She will sit almost through a whole movie (if it’s an animated one), and she is loving longer books, too! J
-Noelle was puking for a couple days this month L
-Noelle likes to say “last year” – like “Kezia! You get to go to school last year!”
-Noelle found an ant outside. She brought a cup out there with water & came in a few minutes later. She said “I sprayed the ant with water! He’s all clean now!”
-Bad mom moment with Noelle this month. One evening, she heard Noelle running around, and by the time mom found her, she had colored all over her face, arms, etc with a purple marker. The next morning, we were running late & wipies were not getting the marker off, so mom decided to try a magic eraser. There must have been a chemical in there because it burned Noelle’s face -L - even though we tried to rinse it off, it still looked so sad. Mom felt terrible. Lesson learned on that one L
-Mom wanted to have Mommy & Noelle time one day & Noelle didn’t want to. Mom asked “don’t you want to spend time with me?” Noelle answered “No – I want to spend time with Dora.”
-While watching a movie one night, Noelle brought everyone a drink of water all the way downstairs!! Thank you big girl!
-Noelle says “Please put some salt on my cereal!” (she calls sugar salt)
-One afternoon mom said “Noelle, do you want a tortilla or a sandwich for lunch?” Noelle answered “I just want mac and cheese for hours and hours.”
-Noelle has no regard for anyone’s water cups. She drinks freely out of everyone’s. One day she was drinking out of mom’s cup and she said “I’m just going to have one bit of your water, okay mom?”
-There was a small picture of Jesus on our dash & while we were driving, Noelle noticed it and said “Jesus is holding on mom! He’s holding on!”
-Noelle has quite the procedure for taking a nap or going to bed. She has to make sure ALL her friends (cars, teddy bears, stuffed animals, dolls, Link bear) are positioned just right and covered up exactly right before she can hop in. She also needs her “my own blanket” which has her name on it J
-Noelle continues to try even the most patient of persons J We were all watching a movie downstairs and didn’t even notice that she had taken a brown marker and colored ALL over the white carpet down there L And then on the couches. And the wall. It seems to never ever end. She also loves to get into the sugar. And the salt. We can’t ever leave them on the table.
-We love Noelle’s prayer. One day at lunch she prayed “And please bless Swiper to NOT swipe my jam!”
-One day Noelle was upset at daddy. She yelled at him “you are NOT my shining star!”
-Noelle says to mom “Santa Claus will bring you presents for your birthday!”
-One day Noelle just decided she was going to be a big girl like her sisters and take care of her plate after meals. She’s such a helper! Except when she puts paper plates in the sink or real plates in the trash or drips syrup all over the floor on her way to the sink or freaks out when we’re at a restaurant (the Brick House) & gets SUPER mad that she can’t take care of her plate J
-For some reason, Noelle is still infatuated with daddy’s bathroom drawer. It started with floss, then Q-tips, then pretty much everything else, including his cologne. We have to put it all up! For some reason, she doesn’t care much about mom’s bathroom drawer.
-We’ve noticed Noelle has a longer attention span now. She will sit almost through a whole movie (if it’s an animated one), and she is loving longer books, too! J
-Noelle was puking for a couple days this month L
-Noelle likes to say “last year” – like “Kezia! You get to go to school last year!”
-Noelle found an ant outside. She brought a cup out there with water & came in a few minutes later. She said “I sprayed the ant with water! He’s all clean now!”
-Bad mom moment with Noelle this month. One evening, she heard Noelle running around, and by the time mom found her, she had colored all over her face, arms, etc with a purple marker. The next morning, we were running late & wipies were not getting the marker off, so mom decided to try a magic eraser. There must have been a chemical in there because it burned Noelle’s face -L - even though we tried to rinse it off, it still looked so sad. Mom felt terrible. Lesson learned on that one L
-Mom wanted to have Mommy & Noelle time one day & Noelle didn’t want to. Mom asked “don’t you want to spend time with me?” Noelle answered “No – I want to spend time with Dora.”
-While watching a movie one night, Noelle brought everyone a drink of water all the way downstairs!! Thank you big girl!
-Noelle says “Please put some salt on my cereal!” (she calls sugar salt)
-One afternoon mom said “Noelle, do you want a tortilla or a sandwich for lunch?” Noelle answered “I just want mac and cheese for hours and hours.”
-Noelle has no regard for anyone’s water cups. She drinks freely out of everyone’s. One day she was drinking out of mom’s cup and she said “I’m just going to have one bit of your water, okay mom?”
-There was a small picture of Jesus on our dash & while we were driving, Noelle noticed it and said “Jesus is holding on mom! He’s holding on!”
-Noelle has quite the procedure for taking a nap or going to bed. She has to make sure ALL her friends (cars, teddy bears, stuffed animals, dolls, Link bear) are positioned just right and covered up exactly right before she can hop in. She also needs her “my own blanket” which has her name on it J
OAKLYN:
-Cute Miss O – We are all still overwhelmed by the adorable-ness of you!!!
-We have a really cute video of Oaklyn flailing her arms when Baby Signing Time comes on. It’s SO SO cute!
-She is also trying REALLY hard to clap her hands. She LOVES it when we all gather around her & clap our hands. She gets so excited and is really close to getting those hands together J
-We had to lower her crib mattress because she is pulling up on everything!! She also rolls all over her crib all night long. Sometimes she’s on her side. Sometimes on her tummy. Sometimes on her back. Her favorite to pull up on is the ottoman.
-Mom had a sad, scary night/day in the middle of the month. Oaklyn’s Snuza alarm went off & it wasn’t in the wrong place or anything. It went off at 6am, and mom was so shaken she couldn’t go back to sleep. Then that evening Oaklyn threw up a TON of prunes. It was ALL over her mattress, hair, sleep sack, everything. She had to have a bath & threw up twice more while dad was getting the new mattress on. Then mom was even more anxious and hardly slept at all that night. Thankfully, her Snuza hasn’t gone off again and she was only sick for a day, but it was really awful.
-Oaklyn is starting to really get around. She isn’t quite crawling yet, but she can get from laying to sitting easily, and then she gets on all fours. Lays down on her tummy, and sits up again. Not the most efficient, but she’s getting places & we’ll need to get the gate up soon.
-Oaklyn LOVES the swing outside. She just squeals and snorts and almost seems like she’s crying, but she’s laughing. It’s so cute.
-She continues to eat solid foods really great. The mac and cheese and sweet potatoes are still her favorite.
-She still is waking up 1-3 times a night, though she did have a few nights this week where she slept 5-7 hours at a time, which was really nice.
-No teeth yet, but we keep checking!
-Not only is she pulling up on everything, but she’s starting to try and let go with one hand. Eeek! She usually does well, but she has also fallen a LOT. Mom hears her hit her head and comes running L
-Oaklyn sure LOVES to eat her toes! One day when those teeth come in, she’s not going to be happy!
-Not completely sure if she knows what it means, but she has signed eat!
