CHRISTMAS!!!

Life has been crazy at the Mangum house. We never seem to have a minute to catch up on all that is going on. Here's a picture of the family with Santa Clause at This is the Place Heritage Park. We went for FHE and had fun. It was cold, but we survived.

Lounging at the Lot

Three Peas in a Pod!

Our Little Mozart!

Ali has taken quite a liking to playing the piano. Who knows, maybe in a few years her dad will even let her take lessons.

Happy Halloween!!

Pic 1: Brook in the school parade.

Pic 2: Pumpkin Fun!

Pic 3: What adorable kids!

Missionary Homecoming

It's a little hard to see, but my brother Jordan has come home from his mission. He returned from Mexico, so of course I speak mostly in Spanish to him. It's good to have him home, and great to have another Spanish speaker in the family.

4th of July

Vacation

Since I'm not so clever with words, I think pictures will work better.

Time to Update

I know that it's been awhile since we have updated the blog. Life has been busy at our house. And as always people like pictures. I have a few pictures to show some of the things that are going on at our house.

Here Ali has learned to soothe herself by sucking her thumb. She now requires a blanket to hold in the one hand, and her other hand with the thumb in the mouth.

Here's Ali right after a bath

Here's James acting all cool

And sometimes they all are very good children. Why the decided to share the same bed is beyond us, but we didn't mind, becuase we didn't have to share our bed with one of them.

The Stanley Cup

As most of you know, Doug is a big fan of hockey, and especially the Detroit Red Wings. Since we don't have cable and can't watch too many of the regular season games, and even some of the playoff games I have had to do it online. The last few weeks I have been able to watch the Stanley Cup Finals on regular free TV. Unfortunately the games have been played while I have been busy with other meetings and visits. I have taped the last games and then watched them late into the night. (Heather sometimes wants to watch a movie when I get home so we watch her movie first and have all the kids asleep, and then I finally get to turn on the Hockey game.) I was hoping for Detroit to finish it off in Game 5 at home, but that didn't turn out too well, but a great game to watch. As I was leaving for my visits on Wednesday, Heather was joking that she wasn't going to tape the game and I was a little worried. I know she wouldn't do that to me. When I got home I made sure nobody told me what happened, but I did make sure that if the Red Wings won that she taped the celebration afterwards as well. Before I could watch my game we had to see Heather's movie first so we watched the "Bee Movie" and had the kids asleep. I turned on my game and stayed up 'til 2:00 am to watch, and that was fast forwarding through the commercials. Needless to say I got to watch my favorite team hoist the cup. What a wonderful game! GO REDWINGS!!!!

Congratulations to Heather!!

Heather has finally finished and graduated from Institute. She only took 10 short years to do it. Some people go to school for ten years, so she's not the only one, it just that they call them doctors, and we call her mom. Heather is really proud that she finished it. She loves to check off things from her list, and this is one more check mark. Congrats Heather!! We love you!

Easter - The Real Deal

Brooke Lynn MangumRachel Donna Mangum

James Douglas Mangum
Alice Katherine Mangum
Ali with her sweater

The family minus Ali. (It was too cold to take her out.)

Pre- Easter

We were trying on different Easter clothes and thought that we should get a good picture. While these clothes are cute, we found better for Easter. As a side note, Ali is wearing a dress that Brooke wore on Easter many years ago. Somehow we have managed to keep it clean all these years.

Dad can do hair too!!

Just because Ali is sick, and mom is in the hospital, doesn't mean that our little girls can't have cute hair! Doug is very proud of his talents in doing hair. He likes to braid hair oddly enough, and is pretty good at it. Brooke and Rachel didn't think that thier hair was anything too spectacular, but dad was sure proud of what he'd done.

Like Father, Like Son

For most of Doug's family they should recognize this as a pattern in our family. Ben and Doug pulled a similar stunt when they were about James's age. James now has a favorite pass time of getting into the flour, sugar, powdered milk, etc... He pulls the chair up and climbs onto the counter top to have some fun. This time it wasn't too bad, but there have been times where the entire floor is covered in white powdery sutff. James was a little sad that dad caught him in the act this time and soon wanted to give dad a hug and apologize. But just because he said he was sorry didn't mean that he wouldn't do it again. Only 30 minutes later was he caught trying to get into the jars again, only he wasn't quick enough before mom and dad caught him and put a stop to it.

Before Ali got sick

Here's a picture of Ali before she got sick in her Sunday dress. She was much happier like this and we hope that she can come home soon and be happy again. She is such a sweet little baby!

Can you tell how happy Ali is?

Here is a close up of Ali with the oxygen tubes up her nose. She isn't too happy to be here, and niether are mom and dad. Luckily enough we caught it before it got really bad. Also in the first picture you can see all the wires and tubes.

PS Check out the belly button and how far it sticks out!! Don't worry, the doctors say it's ok and that it should heal all by itself.

Update on Ali

I wish that I had some pictures to post for this one but I don't. I see if I can get some pictures tomorrow to post. Ali was admited to Primary Children's Hospital tonight because she has RSV. Mom, Dad, and family are hoping that she can come home soon. Doug didn't think that Ali was too bad, but thought that Mom should take her to be looked at just in case. While at the hospital, Doug was tempted to just take Ali home and forget the whole thing. As the afternoon went on, things got a little worse. Ali was admited and taken to a room. At around 9:00 pm she was put on oxygen to get her oxygen levels up. They also started an IV as she was dehydrated a little and needed some fluid. Dad is very glad that there are doctors who can help, but he just wishes that his little baby girl can come home. On the bright side I got to see Lifeflight take off from the roof, and they also gave me a rootbeer slushy, and it's not every day that you get to experience that.
I, Doug, also want to take the time to express my love for the Savior, and all that he has done for my family. I also am very grateful for the knowledge of an Eternal Family. I love my wife, and am glad that she is willing to say the night at the hospital with my baby. I wish that I could be there and hold both of them. I know that they will be watched over and taken care of. I know that my family has been blessed much by the gospel. The Lord has watched over me and my family in many instances. Heather and Ali, I hope that you come home soon. Love Douglas

PIctures of Ali

I know that many have been asking for more pictures of Ali. Here are a few that we just took. We will be better at posting more pictures. We just need to get in the habbit of taking pictures.

Our first Tooth

This is actually Brooke's first tooth to fall out. She was eating dinner, and got so excited that she lost a tooth. Shortly after dinner she came running to tell us that she had another lose tooth! I hope the tooth fairy has set aside some good funds for the Mangum family.