Embarrasing Moment!!!

My calling in my ward is the organist. Obviouslly my ward is dificient in piano/organ players because I am not that great of a pianist, let alone organist. Well anyway, today I was playing the organ in church and when it was time to play the introduction of the closing hymn, I went to play on the keys, but I could barely hear the notes coming out. I tried over and over, so finally I decided to press a button called tutti thinking that it would make the pedal louder! Boy did it make it louder!!!!
I woke up everyone in the congregation and probably a few people a few rooms down because that first note after I pushed the tutti button was SO LOUD!! The bishop even jumped up in his seat because it probably freaked him out hearing such a loud note in a sacrement meeting!
My face was SO red and afterwards, I think people were thinking, "is it appropriate to laugh right now or not?" Our dear Stake President was also sitting right in front of the organ, and I am wondering what he thought of this most embarrasing mistake!!

I guess it's like what my mom said. I am not getting paid to play the organ in church, all I can do is my very best, and if that means I have to wake a few people up in church every once and a while, I guess that is my best!

It's Official!

I am proud to announce that we have a baby who is sleeping through the whole entire night!!!! She is 7 weeks old! How lucky am I? I was having a very difficult time getting up a couple of times a night with Elle since I was getting a full nights sleep while I was pregnant and now that she is sleeping all night long, I now feel like a real person! No more sleep deprivation. It is a wonderful feeling to get some good sleep, and you really do take that for grated when you are getting good sleep!

Thank you baby Ellie for being such a wonderful baby and a super sleeper!
(We are going in for Ellie's 2 month appointment today even though she will be 2 months next week!) Let's see how much she has grown!

Elle's Baby Blessing

On Sunday, Regan blessed Elle Michelle Fackrell. It was so amazing to watch my husband bless our baby in church. I just feel so blessed to have a huband that is able to use his priesthood. This sacrement meeting was extra special for everyone who attended because it was also the Primary Program. Riley played a solo on his violin in front of the whole congregation. He played I am a Child Of God and he played it SO well! I couldn't believe that he didn't freak out under all of that pressure! He and I had a violin lesson everyday ever since Elle was born, and I even bribed him with a Walle Leapster Game if he memorized it; which he did!!! I couldn't have been a prouder mom with my baby being blessed and my little boy playing his violin!

Elle looked gorgeous in her blessing dress. My mom and I picked it out a few weeks earlier because that is my mom's tradition; buy the blessing dress. Anyway, we had everyone over to our home for dinner afterwards and it was great to see the family & friends support system we have.

I got the coolest picture of everyone who was in the circle blessing Elle! I got on top of our 2nd floor landing and took a picture of Regan, my dad, my brother and my new brother in law with Elle in the middle!

I am so grateful for a new little girl in our family!

Super Capes!

Last week, I made a SuperMan/Batman and Supergirl/Crown capes for Riley and Sunny at Enrichment. They were going to be for Christmas, but when Riley and Sunny found where I had hid them, I realized that they would not make it until Christmas! So, ever since then, they have worn these capes and pretended to be super heros all over the place! At least the 4 hours I spent on them has not gone to waist! Don't they look SO cute in these capes?

Last Call

I am doing the private thing on my blog this weekend, so if I haven't gotten your email address so that I can add you, please leave a comment with your email address, or email me at suzukiviolin at hotmail.com. I don't want to leave anyone out, so please leave the email address!

Don't feel wierd leaving your email address if we haven't talked for a while, and you just like to check up on our family! I don't want to leave anyone out! Well, I want to leave the wierdo people out I guess!

Thanks,
Andrea

Going Private

YEP, I have decided to go Private with my family blog because there are just TOO many wierdo people out there and I need to protect my family. Last night there was a thing about blogs and how other people can steal your family pictures and do wierd things with them, so the private issue is pretty much a must!

Please: a. Leave a comment on this post with your email address
b. Email me at suzukiviolin@hotmail.com with your email address
c. Facebook me with your email address
d. call me with your email address
So that I can invite you to my family blog!!! I would love to have everyone be invited that wants to continue to see my blog and my cute family grow up-just not the wierdo people!

I will officially go private in 2 weeks, so don't forget to leave me your email address; even if you think I have it!
Love, Andrea

Happy Halloween!!

We had a great Halloween this year!
It was quite a busy day between visiting all of our family, Cornbellies, trick or treating and a friend party, but it was so much fun. Regan took the kids around to get candy, and Ellie and I stayed home giving the candy away. Too bad we only had about 25 kids come to our house though! Anyway, we went to a friend party, put the kids to sleep at their house, and watched a scary movie together (We watched Taking Lives from Cleanflicks!)

Cornbellies!

My mom and dad took us to Cornbellies on Halloween and it was so much fun! I think the funniest thing about the whole activity was Riley being so scared of the huge lizzard (kind of like a spook alley inside) and not wanting to go in it again, and Sunny going through it 3 times with my dad because she loved it so much! Wow-they are so different from each other!

There were so many fun activities to do and we had so much fun hanging out with Grammy and Grampy at Cornbellies and Halloween!
Thanks Mom and Dad-you are so awesome!

Pumpkin Land

We went to a place in Utah county called Pumpkin Land with Regan's mom and Grandma last week. It was a fun little Garden store full of pumpkins and activities. The only bad thing about the day was that there were a lot of gross mice! I have taught my little 4 year old to be afraid of mice because when he saw a mouse, he started to scream and was running away from it!

Busy October!

We have had a busy October! Between visiting the Witches at Gardner Village, parties at school, dressing up in costumes and carving pumpkins, we have had a fun month! Sunny had her Joy school Halloween Party last week and it was so cute to get all of the kids together and get a picture of them in their cute costumes! While we were carving pumpkins, Sunny wanted to keep eating the seeds, even if they were still attached to the slimy part! YUCK!





We have had a busy October! Between visiting the Witches at Gardner Village, parties at school, dressing up in costumes and carving pumpkins, we have had a fun month! Sunny had her Joy school Halloween Party last week and it was so cute to get all of the kids together and get a picture of them in their cute costumes! While we were carving pumpkins, Sunny wanted to keep eating the seeds, even if they were still attached to the slimy part! YUCK!

Riley & Sunny

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Family Pictures

My friend Danielle took our family pictures and Elle's baby pictures and they turned out SO cute! I actually had tears in my eyes when I saw the picture of Riley, Sunny and Elle sitting so close together! I kept on thinking, Regan and I made these beautiful children-and that is what they all are: BEAUTIFUL!

Halloween Pictures

My Little Diva

Here is a picture of my little Diva...Sunny! She is so funny, cute, dramatic and she is a parrot (copies everything anyone says). This shirt she is wearing says "Mom is my Stylist". That is exactly how I feel every morning. After the kids are out of the bathtub, I have to figure out what they all will wear for the day, get them dressed, comb through hair, style the hair, spray the hair, get the shoes on etc. Fortunatly for me, I absolutly love to do hair even though I am not that great at it. That is why it is wonderful that Riley has beautiful locks of curls and now I will have 2 girls hair to do with matching bows!!!

If the Savior stood Beside Me...

A few months ago, Regan was out of town, and I was left home alone with the kids. When this happens, I sometimes can freak myself out at any kind of sound that they house makes. This particular night, I thought I heard something and started hypervenalating. The 1st thing that came into my mind was a new primary song that Riley has been learning. It instantly comforted me and I was able to go back to sleep without being scared.

I am thankful for the peace that the gospel gives me and the strength that I have because of the knowledge that I have. I am far from perfect--there are still so many things that I am working on daily as a mother, as a wife, as a friend and as an individual, but as I am working through those, I feel like I can grow and grow because of that peace the gospel gives me.

Here are the lyrics to the Primary Song that comforted me so much that night!

If the Savior stood beside me, would I do the things I do?
Would I think of His commandments and try harder to be true?
Would I follow His example? Would I live more righteously,
If I could see the Savior standing nigh, watching over me?

If the Savior stood beside me, would I say the things I say?
Would my words be true and kind if He were never far away?
Would I try to share the gospel? Would I speak more reverently
If I could see the Savior standing nigh, watching over me?

If the Savior stood beside me, would my thoughts be clean and pure?
Would His presence give me strength and hope, and courage to endure?
Would His counsel guide my actions? Would I choose more worthily
If I could see the Savior standing nigh, watching over me?

He is always near me, though I do not see Him there
And because He loves me dearly, I am in His watchful care
So I'll be the kind of person that I know I'd like to be
If I could see the Savior standing nigh, watching over me.

The Halloween Party!!

Last night, my mom and dad had everyone over for the 1st annual McKell Family Halloween Party! My dad said that since our family is growing and growing, we need to start the tradition of a Halloween Party! We had SO much fun thanks to mom and dad! My dad made the coolest spook alley ever. He even made it kid friendly for Riley and Sunny with a Halloween Light Up Mickey Mouse and Pooh Bear. After they went through the friendly one, the rest of us went through the not so friendly one! Let's just say that I was screaming so loud at the end! My dad made a tunnel that we had to crawl through, then made walls and at the end of the spook alley, I saw something that I thought was just pinned to the walls, but all of a sudden, it started to move and then come closer to me!!!!!

It was a 7 foot 2 inch FRANKENSTEIN coming for us! It was SO SO SO SCARY!
My dad rented this guy that is really 6'8 in real life, and when he is in his Frankenstein Costume, his shoes make him 7'2! Dad-that was SO awesome-way to go!

We had good food, fun games, and fun costumes! We even painted a Halloween Mural and went to the good old Farmer Rasmussen's house to get pumpkins! I can't remember how long we have gone to his house for pumpkins, but it has been a very long time!

This was such a fun party and something that we will definently look forward to every year as our family is growing and growing!

Midway Weekend

My family decided spur of the moment to take a long weekend vacation to Midway since the kids had school off. Midway is by Heber, just up from Provo Canyon. It was such an awesome weekend, but unfortunatly, Regan didn't go with us because he was working and spending time with his brother who was in town. Anyway, my parents rented a condo in the Zermatt Resort in Midway which was awesome!! The kids did a lot of swimming, we went to Park City, we did the Zip Line at the Olympic Park (which I was extremely scared to do, but I did it and it was so amazing!), the family swam in the Crater at the homestead, we went to an awesome diner in Oakley, played games, watched movies and had a fun time with each other!

Thanks mom and dad for always having fun things planned for our family! I have so many amazing memories of family trips all because of my mom and dad. Riley and Sunny absolutly love spending time with my siblings, and this weekend was no exception!