Day Family Blog

Family Visits

2012-02-13T22:34:00.005-07:00

I have to admit that the best part about being down here is being able to see more of my extended family. Since my grandparents are living in Provo throughout the year many different visitors stop in to see them. Since we now live 10 minutes away we get to join in the fun. Well last week my brother Kenny and his wife Brittani and their son Shiloh came to visit from Missouri. We got to hang out with them a few times and it was awesome to catch up with them. We got to celebrate Shiloh and Britt's birthday's with them. My sister Hea from Rexburg came down with her kids so it was quite the family party. Here is a picture of all of my mom's grandkids.

Then we got to see 2 of my cousins that I haven't seen in forever and their kids. Grandma's house was overflowing with people. Sadly they had come for a funeral, but it was still great to be able to see them again after such a long time.

The last picture is of all of the great grandkids that were at my grandma's house that day. What a posterity! I love my family!

Sittin' Pretty

2012-02-02T13:03:00.002-07:00

Well Becca acquired a new skill last week. She learned how to sit all by her little lonesome. She loves the better views. She is growing up too quickly. But not quickly enough for the kids. They want to know when she will walk and talk!

Things That Make Me Smile

2012-01-28T21:22:00.007-07:00

I was just thinking the other day of a few things that made me smile recently.

One was that I opened my can of pears and realized that the reason that I hadn't loved my own canned pears before is that I canned them too late. I LOVE really ripe pears and would can them at that point. Well this past year I canned them "too early" so that I could can while my sister was in town. Well I just opened my first bottle of last years pears and they were DIVINE!

A week ago we were playing outside in the absolute beautiful weather. Spencer was climbing a rock in the front yard and jumping off it over and over again. Each time he would climb up he would hug me (I was sitting on the next rock over) and he would say "Oh I love you too much!" He is such a sweetheart.

I spent my "8 Weeks to a Better You" challenge money to print some of my digital scrapbooking pages. I caught up on Maddie's first scrapbook (which sadly only goes to age 3). I have quite a bit of the past 2 years pages on my computer but don't have the $100 or more to print them.

Becca has been sleeping through the night again and doing it without the help of her paci! I know I just cursed my sleep for tonight. One night she woke up at 4, I went in to try and see if she would take her paci. Her blanket was over her head so I took it off, she stopped crying and went back to sleep YAY!!

Brad and I switched the side of the bed that we sleep on and no joke I have stopped having my psycho someone is going to kill me dreams. It has been over a month and none. Whereas on the other side of the bed honestly it happened 4 out 0f 7 nights. Is that possible that the side of the bed effects me? It was something about that window and (weird as it may sound) the electric outlet that was giving me some really bad vibes.

I have a husband who works so hard for us every day. I know that I would not be able to keep up the positive attitude that he does. Work is really tough right now but he keeps at it and will make it work. I smile to think how lucky I am.

The last one was that one night Maddie was throwing a major bedtime fit so we just left her to cry. Camille was really effected by it and asked if she could go give her a hug. I let her. As I was sitting feeding Becca I started to hear Camille's beautiful little voice singing her a lullaby. That just melted my heart. I have lots to smile about!

Here are a few random pictures to make you smile ;) I didn't realize as I was putting them on that these all have to do with at least semi naked children. Sorry.

Private Bloggers

2012-01-28T21:14:00.003-07:00

Calling all private bloggers (well at least the ones that I know). Can you please leave a post or email me your blog address. I magically deleted that list off of my sidebar as well. My email is jan279@gmail.com Thanks !

About to Cry

2012-01-19T10:57:00.002-07:00

So I just deleted ALL of my sidebar widgets on accident. That means that all of the cute things that the girls said in the past year are gone, permanently. Thankfully I just copied and pasted the 2010 sayings into my blog book, but not the 2011. I really want to cry! Any techie out there that would know how to find it out there in cyber space?

5 Months

2012-01-15T13:42:00.008-07:00

Becca is now 5 months old. With moving and the holidays it really has flown by much more quickly than I like. She is still such a sweetheart. Night times are not as angelic as they used to be. I haven't figured out why a 5 month old would decide that they need to poop at 4 in the morning or how to reverse that habit.

She has the sweetest little smile that reflects on her whole face and into her eyes. When she gives her biggest smile she gets these cute circles on her cheeks that just stick out and ask to be pinched. She has tried out oatmeal and she even swallowed it a few times, but then just stuck out her tongue for the rest of the feeding.

She still is obsessed with her hands and tongue and I am excited that in the last few weeks she has begun to discover her feet. I just love the playing with their own feet stage. She loves to grab and pull (with great force I might add) my hair while feeding. She laughs but still not often and is starting to be more vocal and babble. With so many people around her who are always talking it is surprising that she would even try to "voice her opinion" on things. On Christmas she learned to roll from her back to her tummy but still doesn't do it often.

We love Becca Bo to death! Some of us more literally than others (it really must be God's hands that protect these little ones from the over exuberance of love from their siblings!)

One Thing I Love

2012-01-12T13:41:00.006-07:00

There is one thing I absolutely love about this house. We are right along the main road that people drive past all the time. Let me explain because that really sounds like a downer. Our driveway and front yard are on a slower neighborhood street. But Honey gets so much more interaction than she did with the horse pasture behind us. In our ward we are known by the people with the beautiful friendly dog. People even admit to bringing her treats on their runs past our house. Also with the swing set in back and this warm winter the kids are out playing with her a lot more.

But the thing I really love is bus time. The kids will sit at the back window and wait for Camille's bus to drop her off. You can see in the picture that even Honey sits and waits for the event. Then we all run out to meet her. Camille loves to run down the side hill to be met by a very enthusiastic Spencer. It really is such a happy part of my day.

So no I don't love having to worry about people seeing me if I walk around in my robe, but the good definitely outweighs the bad.

Advice Please

2012-01-12T08:45:00.005-07:00

Ok so I have some questions for the audience.

What do you do to help a 5 m old paci loving baby to sleep when she has a stuffy nose and can't suck her paci without killing herself? I know wait until her cold is gone, but that makes for quite a bit of crying. I know feed her when she cries and is sleepy but that makes for quite a bit of pain for me.
What do I do for said 5 month old who loves to suck on her hands and always has freezing hands in the middle of the night. She won't stay swaddled and she won't keep her hands out of her mouth. Is there anything to do to keep her hands warm? I tried socks but those just got soaking and ended up making her hands even colder.
How does one cope with kids getting home from school at 3:45. We have a snack soon after and then the kids aren't hungry for dinner? We all eat lunch around 11 so we are starving by the time she gets home. I guess I could do it in groups instead of all of us snacking at the same time.
Have you ever made your child do something that they don't want to do but you want them to. I mean something big like take piano lessons. I really want Camille to be in a choir but she would rather have the treats they get at soccer than sing songs other than princess songs. Do I make her choose a choir since it is my money and I know she will thrive at singing?
Does anyone know of a lotion that works really well for super dry cracked winter skin? It needs to be something that doesn't make them scream and cry with pain.
Lastly how do I tell a school teacher nicely at Parent Teacher Conferences that it is not ok that my child has only read to an adult once in her more than 2 months of being in her classs? I don't want to be rude, but it really is unacceptable. I know there is probably a reason behind it so I guess I will listen first before complaining :)

I think those were the things that I wanted help with. Thanks in advance!

Here is a picture just to liven this post up :)

Our Saddest Day in Long Time

2012-01-08T13:36:00.002-07:00

Our family has been best friends with the Keyser Family since we moved into our home in Logan almost 5 years ago. If you read my blog at all you will have seen their family spread through out our lives for the past 5 years.

Our friendship (mine with Shannon in particular was just meant to be). You know you are meant to be friends when you move into a new ward and you are pregnant and you sit next to someone who is due the day before you are. And to make it even better you discover that she already has a girl a month younger than Camille. Then it just puts the cherry on the top when you both get pregnant with your third child and they both turn out to be crazy little boys. Oh yeah and our husbands like each other too :) Anyway our families are matches made in heaven.

We obviously just moved away but that wasn't really all that sad because we knew something bigger was coming. In 2 days the Keysers are moving to Denmark for 3 years! Chad will be getting his PhD over there. We were able to say bye to them at a party on a Friday night. We got to see a few or our Logan friends there too which was a lot of fun. Then on Saturday they came and had lunch with us. It was so much fun and so amazingly sad.

You take for granted friendships sometimes. I feel like I make friends pretty easily. I am in a new city and feel that the people here are great, but they just aren't Shannon. I will miss the way we could just talk and understand everything about each other. The way that we never had that getting to know you stage. The way we could be ourselves always. It just seems that we have always been friends. My greatest consolation is knowing that we can keep in contact through skype.

We are so excited for them and wish them the best of luck. Shannon thanks for all of the time we spent together! We love you guys!

Christmas 2011

2011-12-26T14:05:00.001-07:00

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. I am still constnatly amazed at how fun it is to live closer to family. We got to spend Christmas Eve with my sister Rach and her family and with Grandma and Grandpa Jensen and Roxanna. We had tons of yummy finger foods, did a nativity play with a run away Joseph, and had a fun Christmas sing along.

Christmas morning we opened presents while the cinnamon rolls cooked in the oven, love that smell! We had a pretty small Christmas this year, but I was so happy that the kids were happy with what they got and never once asked if there were more presents.

We went to church at 11 so we took the opportunity to snap a few pictures of us all dressed up. It was pretty amazing that we got one with everyone looking pleasantly at the camera. Although it isn't ideal for vacation purposes I do love having Christmas on Sunday because it really helps us all to remember the Savior on that very important day.

For Christmas lunch we headed up to Brad's sister, Jen's house. We had yummy food and played a really fun game. In the evening some went to Grandma Sorenson's house and others went to finish wrapping presents. We started the Christmas celebration really late at Brad's family's house and we literally opened the last present around 11:45 pm. It was a really fun really long day. (I will post pictures of this part of the day when my broken, then unbroken, now broken camera again becomes unbroken :)

Deja Vu

2011-12-21T20:09:00.002-07:00

Ever since we have been in Springville I will be in Walmart and feel like I recognize tons of people. Who knows maybe I really did see a lot of them during my BYU years. But tonight at Home Depot in Provo a really strange thing happened. First I saw an Elder that served in my mission in Spain. Then I saw a teacher that I taught with at Payson Middle School. Then I saw a lady from my ward in Springville and finally I saw a guy who played basketball at Eastern Arizona College at the same time that I did. I was honestly a bit weirded out by how many random people I saw at this random Home Depot. I will have to try that Home Depot again and see who else I meet up with.

Day Family Christmas 2011

2011-12-20T15:48:00.003-07:00

I didn't send a Christmas card this year so this will just have to do:

Dear Family and Friends,

If you would have asked me a year ago where I thought I would be December 2011 I definitely would not have guessed Springville Utah. This has been quite a year of change for us. It all began in January when Brad purchased the original plating shop that he had worked in, in Provo. We knew there were risk involved but we didn’t think moving would be one of them. We finally decided to come down here when Brad was working more in Provo than in Logan. Here is a synopsis of each of us:

Camille (6) loves and thrives in 1st grade. She still misses her Logan friends, but adjusted so much better than I had feared. She has made a lot of new friends, but her new friend Taylor is who we hear most about. She is finally learning that reading on your own is fun. It is so fun to hear her reading to her siblings. She still has an amazing imagination, loves princesses and has an amazing desire to help out.

Maddie (4) of course has adjusted very quickly to the move. She now has a neighborhood preschool that she participates in that is with 6 other girls from her primary class. She is starting to blossom in her drawing and writing skills. I would almost say she is potty trained too  She is still the first that would be willing to give up something to make someone else happy.

Spencer (2) is all boy. He is so crazy and so fun. He loves cars and animals and to hit his sisters (he also loves to play with Maddie’s hair which she absolutely hates). His vocabulary is growing rapidly and he LOVES to sing. He is also a really big helper and loves to get himself a blue plate, blue spoon and blue cup… watch out if the blue items are dirty because even the neighbors could hear those tantrums.

Rebecca Jane (4m) joined our family on Monday August 15. She arrived safe and with tons of beautiful dark hair. Becca is such a happy baby. She is currently obsessed with eating her hands. She is getting to where she can laugh, which is so much fun. She is generally an even tempered baby and just loves to be with all of us. She is adored by all of her siblings especially her sisters.

Brad has been working like crazy. It is during times like these (although we miss him because he is rarely home) I really appreciate him. He works harder than anyone I know. He goes into work around 5am and comes home late. He is so dedicated to making his business work. He still finds time to wrestle with the kids and do his time consuming church callings. We love this daddy of ours!!

I still feel as if I am just trying to survive my crazy life. Moving didn’t help to make it any less crazy. Miche has consumed me. Each day I feel guilty and I wish that I had been able to spend less time doing business and more time with the kids. I think I manage pretty well but I will be glad when my Miche inventory is gone and I can stop being a working mom.

We feel so blessed at this Christmas season to recognize the Savior’s hand in our lives. He continues to direct our lives. We know that he cares about the intimate details of our lives and is able to bring us peace during our times of trial. We have felt that peace over and over again throughout this year. We hope you too can feel of his love and peace. Merry Christmas!

Love,
Brad, Janelle, Camille, Maddie, Bencie, and Becca

8 Week to a Better Me

2011-12-15T22:29:00.003-07:00

Well I only have a week and a half left of the 8 week challenge. So far I have lived up to my goal and will hopefully surpass it. I have officially gotten rid of all of the baby weight!! That always feels good. I still have perfect points so I will rejoice in the whooping $30 I will get at the end of the challenge.

I do have to say one thing about this whole endeavor. I am all for challenging things, but I really don't agree with being on a diet around Christmas. It kind of takes a lot of fun out of the whole season. I mean who wants to make Christmas cookies with the kids when I can't eat the dough or even like my fingers? I am sticking with it cuz that is my goal, but I seriously feel like I would be able to enjoy the season more if I could eat all of the yummy sweets that go with it.

Home Sweet Home

2011-12-13T21:14:00.005-07:00

Well we have been here in Springville for over a month. I feel quite at home here now. I am loving that there is less snow here than there is in Logan. I really like how there are more youth in our ward and that I get to work with them. I love that there are a lot of people my age with kids my age (Maddie's preschool is made up of 6 other girls that are all in her sunbeams class). I LOVE getting to be closer to my family. It is so nice to pop in and see my grandparents and my Aunt Jill. I need to be better about visiting my sister, but that 10 minute drive across the freeway just seems to be too much :) I love that there is a "playground" in our back yard.

I miss my friends. I miss not having people that I know I can call on to trade babysitting. I don't love that Camille's teacher sends her home with "see bob run" type books and that Camille has never read to any adults while at school. I do love that her teacher does lots of fun activities which makes Camille love school. I am glad that Camille has found a really good friend at school and that she has learned to ride the bus and that I now have the schedule down and haven't forgotten about her since that first early out Wednesday. I do not love that we live on a stinkin' mountain and anywhere you run it is impossible to get back to our house without the help of Honey pulling me up the stinkin' hill. I do not love the fact that I am still not completely unpacked and that I cannot find my camera charger and therefore I can't get the pictures of the house I took off of my dead camera. I better figure that one out before Christmas really begins. Anyway we are settling in quite nicely and as I knew we would we are enjoying life here.

Night Time Woes

2011-12-06T12:33:00.002-07:00

For the past 2 nights I have had to clean the toilet and bathroom floor from Camille's vomit on Sunday and Maddie's diarrhea last night. I am not sure which is more vile. We now have a rule that the kids aren't even allowed to talk to Becca ;) I can't even imagine how sad it would be if she was sick. Thankfully it seems to be a one night bug. Camille stayed home from school yesterday but is fine today. I am expecting Spencer to be sick tonight :(

Orchestration

2011-12-04T21:05:00.002-07:00

Have you ever been in one of those situations where you knew that Lord was conducting your life into a beautiful symphony? I was a part of one of those experiences this week. We have been looking for renters and the only people who have been interested were slightly lame. Just not the kind of people that we want to bring into a neighborhood that we love.

Well a few days ago we got an email from a lady in Texas who said she was really interested in our home. When I told Brad about her we both just thought it felt right. I talked to her on the phone, she sent a friend of hers over to check out the house. The friend said that they had checked out a much newer home that was only $50 more expensive, but that they still wanted to be in our home. It is kind of a cool how their story unfolded.

The husband of the family had lost his job. The wife got a totally random impression that they should move to Logan and the next day or so the perfect job opened for her and she was hired. Then as she was looking for a place to stay she got another distinct impression that she needed to call about our home. The rest is history. What a blessing for us to find a great family to live in our house! It was just a testimony to me that the Lord is at work a lot more in our lives than we might normally recognize. Who knew that finding renters could be a spiritual experience!

My Cursed Teeth

2011-12-01T23:11:00.002-07:00

So I have bad teeth. I broke out a filling while flossing a few weeks ago which hurt a ton. Just goes tot show that flossing isn't always what it is cracked up to be. During the x-rays the dentist found an abscessed tooth on the other side of my mouth (which I had broken previously while prego with Becca). So now I am 0nly 25 and had my 3rd root canal... ok ok I am 33 and only on my 2nd root canal, but still things aren't looking very promising.

There was a lot of infection so a different endodontist (I had to see a specialist because the infection was so bad) cleaned out my tooth and filled it with stinky disinfectant stuff. I will go in again in 2 weeks to fill it back up. Then I they will put a beautiful crown on top. I just hope that the new filling on the other tooth stops hurting. The dentist will pay for it to be redone if he put it in wrong, won't he? Because I don't want to have any more dental bills right before Christmas :(

I Love Reward Points

2011-11-28T22:32:00.002-07:00

Ok so we use credit cards, there I admitted it. We pay off our card each month so don't judge us too much. :) But anyway I just wanted to thank Discover rewards for financing my Christmas. I just bought all of the kids presents and 2 of Brad's siblings presents and only spent $60. And I still have a $50 Kohl's card left! I am feeling pretty happy about Christmas shopping being almost over and done with and it won't be breaking the bank this year! Thanks Discover Card.

The Things I am Most Thankful For

2011-11-23T23:21:00.002-07:00

I just wanted to make a post of some of the things that I feel very grateful for in my life:

My wonderful husband who works so hard for our family
My helpful Camille
My huggable Maddie
My active Spencer
My smiley Rebecca
My babies head is just fine
My children loving to listen to Fablehaven in the car with me
My worries about Camille starting a new school were all in vain, she loves it here
My wonderful, loving parents
My fun to be with siblings
My generous grandparents
My friends who support and lift me up
My in laws who make me feel a part of their family
My business partner and friend
My health, I may not be the weight I want to be, but really I am so lucky to be so healthy
My relationship with the Savior
My membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
My testimony of the gospel
My warm house that is becoming my home
My current city is warmer than Logan
My country and all those that fight to make it free
My eyes to see the beautiful sunsets
My ears to hear Brad playing the guitar
My mouth to taste YUMMY food
My nose to smell the amazing apple cinnamon air freshener that I am obsessed with
My dog
My challenges and overcoming those challenges
My ability to afford food and other necessities
My van that runs well
MY LIFE!

Just thought I would mention a few things that I sometimes forget when life gets rough. I am truly blessed.

Sigh of Relief and a Bit of Laughter

2011-11-21T20:12:00.002-07:00

About a month ago our Dr in Logan seemed a bit surprised and concerned that Becca's soft spot was almost gone. It was at her 2 month check and it usually doesn't close up until 4 months. She said that I should watch and make sure it was ok. What did that mean. How am I supposed to know if it is ok. So I went in to see a Dr here to get her checked because I didn't want to wait 2 months if this was something really bad. He checked and he too was surprised that he could barely find the spot. So he had us go to the hospital to get her skull X-rayed to make sure that the plates weren't fusing prematurely. Of course that left me to worry about skull surgeries and the like. Anyway the results came back today and she is just fine. He told me I only have to worry if her skull starts getting deformed. I have to laugh at that because like I have to be told to get worried if her head starts looking deformed. Doctors!

On a funny note I have to share a story. My kids generally get sent to time out for whining or crying and not usually because they did something wrong. Well during family home evening Spencer jumped on Maddie's head and hurt her. We told him to go to time out. He ran to our bedroom shut the door for a few seconds and then opened the door and came running out saying I'm happy. It was just so funny and Brad and I busted up laughing. Of course he gave Maddie a big hug and said sorry, he is such a good little guy.

What Was I Thinking?

2011-11-19T17:10:00.002-07:00

Brad is in Logan today working on the house. So for a nice relaxing Saturday activity I decided to get the kids pictures taken at JcPenney. :) Actually the picture taking went relatively well and was pretty smooth. Spencer started crying as soon as we went back to take pictures, but thankfully the photographer was good and got him to stop and even to smile. The pictures turned out pretty cute.

The real fun part came when I decided to walk around the mall with 3 kids and a car seat to see if we could find a kids play area. I naively thought we could go down the escalator and walk around and find it. Well my kids have never been on an escalator. Camille went down alone with no problems. Maddie started down but once her step started moving she freaked out and tried to walk back up. She was stepping on her dress and I was worried she would trip and cut herself. That was scary. Thankfully she got off without hurting herself. But she was freaked and Spencer was screaming. A lady offered to hold Spencer's had but he went limp and fell to the floor screaming. At this time I noticed about a dozen behind me watching the drama and waiting to use the escalator. AHHHH!! Thankfully 2 ladies helped. One held Maddies's hand, one held the car seat and I carried Spencer. One lady as she passed said I was brave, but we all know she meant stupid. Won't be doing that again for awhile. Anyway we survived and came out conquerors!

A Little Pick Me Up

2011-11-16T09:48:00.002-07:00

Life after a move is challenging. I miss my house, I miss my friends, I miss my pediatrician,... I miss Logan. I needed this little pick me up and thought I would share.

It is so wonderful to know that we have a loving Savior who knows and cares for us each individually. I know I have it good now and know that life will only get better with time.

Scary Conversation

2011-11-10T13:15:00.003-07:00

So Maddie and I had the following conversation which is really causing me a lot of concern:

Me: You are really becoming a good problem solver.

Maddie: Yup I can solve lots of problems. Except I can't solve the problem of going potty in the toilet all the time. Maybe I will figure it out when I am 5.

Me: Good

Maddie: Or maybe when I am 6 or 7. Yeah I think I will figure it out when I am 7.

AHHHH!! That better not be a self fulfilling prophecy.

Finally Reconnected

2011-11-09T21:25:00.003-07:00

WE HAVE INTERNET AGAIN!!!! It is REALLY hard running a business without internet, thanks to Emily for taking over that for me. Things have been going really well and relatively smoothly since we moved to Springville. That is until today. I went to pick up Camille from school and I was doing good, I was a few minutes early. On the way out I picked up my cell phone which had been upstairs while I was down organizing Miche stuff. Well I noticed that I had 6 missed calls. The first message was from the school letting me know that today was an early out day and Camille was waiting in the office. Brad got to her from his work before I did. She waited for almost 45 minutes. Needless to say she was crying. She wasn't mad, but she was really sad that I forgot her. Who has early out on Wednesday? Truth is I would have forgotten if it was on Friday too. Hopefully the trauma of this day will help me to remember in the future. I will post some more details of the house and such, but just wanted to say hi and tell you how glad I am to be able to blog again :)

Moving

2011-11-03T23:43:00.002-06:00

It is so weird to think that we left our home today in Logan and we won't be going back. It still hasn't hit that we are moving for real. I don't think I ever want to move again. Unfortunately we could very possibly move again if we decide to buy and not just rent. Even though I felt like we were planning and packing ahead we were not ready for the move. We got all of the big things into the truck and then you have that last bit of packing which is all of the stuff you don't need or don't know where it belongs so you just throw them randomly into different boxes and bags. Hopefully I will spend time to go through those as we unpack. Thankfully since we don't have any renters yet we didn't have to make our house spotless. We left a few things there and left a whole lot of messes to be cleaned up later. So anyway Springville here we come!

Halloween 2011

2011-11-01T21:43:00.009-06:00

Since Halloween was moving week for us we didn't do nearly as much as we have done in the past. We skipped the pumpkin stew and party at our house. I was kind of bummed about that, but really that wouldn't have been smart. We had our 5th and final trick or treating outing with the Keyser's. We are so sad to "leave them behind" but they are moving to Denmark at the beginning of the new year so that lessens the sadness. We did go and enjoy dinner at their house after we went around the block. Not much else to say so here are the pictures.

8 Weeks to a Better You!

2011-10-31T09:33:00.002-06:00

Well I did this challenge about a year ago. I got perfect points and earned 50 bucks or so. I felt really good about the accomplishment, but right when it ended I gained 10 lbs for Christmas and got pregnant. So this challenge is hopefully just what I need to get back on track. It is sad because I exercised religiously during the pregnancy and haven't exercised one single time since Becca was born 2 1/2 months ago. I don't even have the I am too tired excuse. Becca slept 12 hours STRAIGHT last night and 11 hours the night before. So I am just LAZY!!

Anyway check out the challenge: http://8weekstoabetteryou.blogspot.com/ I guess it's not too late if you want to join in :)

Carving Pumpkins

2011-10-30T21:51:00.005-06:00

We got 5 pretty good sized pumpkins from our garden this year. One was thrown in the road by some jerky person a few weeks before Halloween (so lame), and one was rotting from the inside out. So we only carved 3. Each of the kids got to pick the design. We had a fun Sunday afternoon carving activity. It is so funny to see the kids when the touch the inside gunk, it freaks them out :) Here are the pics: (PS Camille has a natural talent for taking pictures, I always give her the camera now to document that I really am a part of the family).

Moving Festivities

2011-10-30T14:28:00.006-06:00

So what would you suggest doing the weekend before you move? Would you have a 3 day Miche Open house in your garage? Would you invite 7 other kids over for a goodbye party ? Would you throw another goodbye party and have 47 people over at your house? Probably not, but we did :) Yup I'm crazy, but it was all a lot of fun. Thankfully Shannon stayed for the kids party because right in the middle I had some Miche customers come, YIKES! She helped all 10 of them to frost their cookies. We have loved living in Logan and will miss all of the amazing people we met!

Pumpkin Walk 2011

2011-10-27T21:52:00.012-06:00

Both Camille and Maddie went on field trips to the Pumpkin walk. I love this Logan tradition. Each year there are always a few that are amazing. I just want to put a few up that were my favorite.

Baby Me

2011-10-26T23:03:00.003-06:00

Who does that baby look like? That was me and my oldest sister Rachael. I think Becca might actually look like me... it is about time that one of my kids resembles me. Almost everyone thinks that the kids look so much like Brad, but not so much me.

Since we are "talking" about babies I thought I would mention something interesting that I noticed about the 1st child vs the 4th. Now this has a lot to do with personalities of the children, but with Camille I had a graph that I filled out each time she ate. I would plot which side she started feeding on and how long she ate on each side. I remember watching the clock and making sure she ate evenly on both sides. I would worry if she went too long without eating. Then there was the graph for how long she slept and when. Truth is with Camille I was grasping at straws to find a way to get her to sleep. (Wow looking back I sure sound OCD).

Now with Rebecca I honestly can't even tell you how many times a day I feed her. I feed her when she wakes up. It could be 2 hours or 5 hours later. I couldn't tell you which side she ate on or how long she ate for. It just doesn't really matter. She sleeps so good that I don't worry about that either. Of course the main reason is that Becca is so laid back, but also it is so much easier being a second time mother because you realize that most of the things you do or don't do won't kill your baby so there is no real need to stress about them. I am just grateful that the stress of being a first time mom doesn't last forever because at least for me it was very stressful and now there are other things I prefer to stress about.

Random Updates

2011-10-22T21:45:00.001-06:00

Rebecca is as amazing as ever. She is obsessed with her tongue and I can rarely get a picture with it not sticking out.

Spencer is becoming more and more boy like as each day passes. He now loves to yell excitedly and hit his sisters. He and Maddie have become such good friends since they spend most of their days together wreaking havoc. His vocabulary is increasing a lot and it is so fun to hear him become more and more fluent.

Maddie is loving preschool except on the days when she tells me that no one would play with her. It just breaks my heart. She still is hit and miss on going potty in the toilet. Some days she has no accidents and other days I find 4 pair of underwear lying on the bathroom floor. Yesterday I asked her (when I saw writings on the garage door) if she had colored there and she innocently said, "Not today."

Camille is loving 1st grade. She is really emerging as a reader now that she understands that she can read books that are better than "see mit run". She is obsessed with her best friend Hero and they do everything at school together. She said that she would rather stay here in Logan than be with daddy in Provo.

We have decided that at least for now we are going to rent. We found a 4 bedroom, 2 car garage home in Springville. Honey is even allowed to come. The best part is it is a month to month contract and about a 5 minute drive to Brad's work! We will be packing up Thursday November 3rd, heading down for Aunt Melissa's wedding in SLC area on the 4th, and then unpacking on Saturday the 5th. Wish me luck packing up the house with 4 kids and "no" husband.

First Smile

2011-10-18T20:59:00.003-06:00

Here is Becca's first smile caught on a camera. She has a super big, cheesy, squinty-eyed, crooked... much like my own, smile. I just love this stage.

I Love This

2011-10-18T20:51:00.002-06:00

Camille came up with a way to keep Becca's paci in. :) It totally worked, she couldn't spit it out even when she tried. Funny thing is she doesn't even need it, but all of us do feel really sad on the rare occasion that she gives us a good cry. Truth is if I had thought of this 5 years ago when Camille would spit out her paci 20 times a night I might have gotten a lot more sleep.

2 Month Photo Shoot

2011-10-17T22:04:00.015-06:00

My little girl is growing up so fast. We went in for her checkup today and here are her stats: 11 lbs 15 ozs (77th percentile) and 24 1/4 inches (97th percentile). Her head is in the 20th percentile (wouldn't notice that because it is so covered by her dark hair :) We said goodbye to our pediatrician that we have had for over 4 years. She cried when she found out we were moving. That really made me feel special.

I realized when I got out her 3-6 month clothes that Rebecca is a season behind. I had thought that she was only born 2 months later than the last kid, but hadn't realized that she was born 4 months after the girls. So I have a tub full of super cute summer clothes. In order to alleviate my "depression" on not being able to dress her in these cute clothes I decided to do a fashion show. You know it is always so fun to see the 3 girls wearing the same outfits. I know I went a little overboard but this may be our last girl so I just can't stand not being able to use these outfits again. Here she is in all of her cuteness .

In A Pickle: Advice Requested

2011-10-10T12:32:00.004-06:00

So I feel so torn right now when it comes to moving. Do we buy or do we rent? We can use some of our stock for a down payment and have @ a $850 payment. This would get us a 22oo sq-ft home that is fully finished and has a fully fenced yard. Brad loves the house but the kitchen is really too small for my liking. (It feels kind of like settling). I'm mostly frustrated because the houses I like aren't in my price range and if they are they go under contract so fast that we never even get a chance. (It is super hard house hunting online).

Or do we rent a 2000 sq-ft home for $1,100 that doesn't allow pets? We don't have to use our stock this way, but I love my dog and don't just want to give her up. The few places that allow animals are much higher rent and have a much bigger pet deposit to go on top of the first and last month rent deposit. Also how do we afford that rent when we are used to our $750 mortgage?

We are going to be renting our Logan home hopefully for @$1,000. Is it crazy to own 2 homes during this economy. Is it crazy to pass by this buyers market? (In all actuality it isn't a buyers market unless you have enough time to buy a short sale). Is it really better to pay into a house instead of wasting money renting? I just want to get this figured out because Brad is now working weekdays in Provo and we miss him and would like to see him daily :) Let me know what you think... don't be offended if we don't take your advice though ;)

That Was a Challenge

2011-09-29T18:14:00.003-06:00

Have you ever tried to go grocery shopping with a baby in a car seat and 2 kids? It is basically impossible with the carrier. Once that thing is in the cart there is no room for groceries. So this time I thought I would try taking 2 carts around the store (I saw someone else do it the week before). Let me just say that it wasn't that easy.

So next time you are in the store and you see a mother with 3 fussy kids pushing 2 carts, please don't give her crusties or groan when you have to get out of her way 3 separate times. It isn't like she is enjoying herself either.

PS I ordered a baby sling as soon as I got home :) It was free, only had to pay the shipping!

Becca's Blessing

2011-09-26T20:44:00.009-06:00

What a great weekend this was! My sister Heather was able to come down from Rexburg to be with us for 2 days! She brought up her 2 girls so my kids had a blast. It made for a great environment for us to can. Of course Rebecca was as angelic as ever and slept through most of it. We were able to can both peaches and pears. Canning goes so much faster when you have someone helping and so much more fun when you have someone to talk with. Friday night Brad went camping so we got to have a girls night and watched the new Jane Eyre movie and stayed up late talking. So much fun!

Saturday we did more canning and went to Relief Society General Meeting in the evening. That was amazing! After that it was cleaning time and it awesome to have Heather here to help us get ready for Rebecca's baby blessing. After canning and visitors and being a tired mother of 4 you can guess that there was plenty of messes to clean. Heather kept me focused and even mopped the floor! THANKS HEA!!

Sunday was a great day. Brad gave Rebecca a beautiful blessing. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful, beautiful little girl. It was terrific weather, we had tons of family come and had a wonderful picnic outside. We were able to have a 4 generation picture on both sides of Brad's family. It was sad to see everyone go and especially sad to have Heather leave. It was so much fun being with her. Thanks to everyone who came and to all of those that wish they could be there, but couldn't make it. We love you all!

Crazy Weekend

2011-09-20T17:51:00.004-06:00

We had quite the whirlwind weekend. For those of you that don't know Brad owns 2 businesses. Well the same business, but one is here in Logan and one is in Provo. Brad decided that the 2 offices needed to have a weekend retreat to Park City(with lots of meetings). We took Camille out of school early on Friday and headed up there. 7 employees and their families came up to be there for the meetings and to have fun together. It was pretty crazy but pretty fun. Brad said that they got a lot done and what they got done was definitely worth the money. We stayed over Friday and Saturday nights.

On Saturday we were in our hotel room getting dinner ready. Nothing really crazy was happening, but next thing we know Spencer tripped and landed right on the corner of the coffee table. Blood everywhere! Brad took him to the emergency room on the hotel shuttle. I met some ladies that were in the van at the time and they just said he was the sweetest little boy and didn't cry at all. He ended up just getting it glued and steri stripped shut. They had to give him some medicine to relax him so they could get close to the wound. When he got home he was basically drunk. Spencer is a belligerent drunk. He couldn't walk straight and almost fell and cracked his head on the same coffee table at least twice. He wouldn't let us put him to bed and when he finally let Brad he talked to himself until midnight (and woke up at 6). He has never complained about the injury since that night.

On Sunday we tried to go to church. Well we did go and take the sacrament, but as soon as that was over Maddie had a need to pee so I took her out. When we went to walk back in Bra

d was in the foyer with the rest of the crazy kids and we decided just to leave. We headed to West Valley to celebrate Aunt Melissa's birthday. Of course that was fun to see lots of family and to eat good food. Later that night we headed down to Provo to spend the night at my Grandma and Grandpa Jensen's house. It was great catching up with them. Grandma just loved holding sweet Rebecca.

Monday we spent looking at houses. That is right. For those of you that we haven't told we have come to the conclusion that Brad needs to be working at the Provo shop and not the Logan shop. There is just so much a greater need for him there. So we went house hunting. We saw a few that we liked and a lot more that we didn't. It is really hard looking for houses in a city that you don't live in. Maddie stayed with Grandma while we looked, but Camille had a blast coming with us and imagining which room would be hers. For the evening we went over to my sister Rach's house and enjoyed being with her family. After dinner and dessert we headed back home.

What a weekend. Very productive, but very long.

1 Month

2011-09-15T21:48:00.004-06:00

That month sure passed quickly. Rebecca is such an angel so honestly there isn't much to say about her first month. I guess I can praise her for her wonderful mellow disposition and express my gratitude for the fact that she only wakes up once during the night. For the past week she has slept each night for 7 hours straight. Honestly an angel. She eats well, she takes love well, and is about 11 lbs and 22 1/2 inches of cuteness! We sure do love her.

Bear Lake 2011

2011-09-03T20:50:00.002-06:00

During 2009 we went to Bear Lake about 3 or 4 times but last year we didn't go at all. Even though we didn't have time to make a vacation out of it this year we were able to do a day trip. My mom had to fly home Saturday evening but my sisters and their families were at Bear Lake for Labor Day weekend so we decided to go up and my mom would just leave from there. It was quick trip, but we had a lot of fun. The kids of course loved playing in the sand and later swimming in the pool and going down the slide. At first I adamantly refused to go on a jet ski, but changed my mind when I decided to take Maddie with me. She had a lot of fun taking it easy. We ended the day by crashing their meal at my Aunt Marde and Uncle Ross's home away from home. The only sad part of the day was that the lines to get raspberry shakes were so long that we had to pass that up. It was a great day!

2 Weeks Old

2011-08-29T15:52:00.012-06:00

Wow 2 weeks can pass so quickly. It is amazing how much newborns change in the first weeks. She is starting to lose that orange tint and soon will be as pale as the rest of us. As for that hair I wonder if it will stay that dark. At her 2 week appointment she weighed 9 lbs 1 oz (75th percentile) and was 21.75 inches (93rd percentile). Let me give you a brief overview of Rebecca and how she has effected our family life.

First of all she is a little angel. The only time she really gets screaming is when Spencer accidentally kicks her in the head or lays on her. She is more into individual whines and then will wait patiently to be saved. She handles the much love that she receives quite well. The other kids love to hold her and LOVE to feed her a bottle. She is already very aware and alert.

Camille wouldn't leave Rebecca's side for the first 48 hours and still has issues leaving her alone when she is napping or eating. Camille has definitely adapted to the new baby the easiest. She is a super big helper and loves to get diapers, pick out her clothes and do anything related to Rebecca. She also enjoys accessorizing her and making sure she isn't lonely when she sleeps.

Maddie isn't super interested in Rebecca. She might ask to hold her once a week but otherwise she just doesn't care much. Maddie was the biggest challenge the first week, but it seems that Grannie and her magical touch has gotten Maddie really excited about going potty in the toilet all the time and on time (no more emergencies). We will just see if it lasts for me.

Spencer likes to kiss Rebecca on the head. He is pretty good at being soft and all of the times he has hurt her it has been inadvertently. The first week he was acting like a crazy man, but seems to be falling back into his normal easy nature.

Overall we are adapting well. Rebecca only wakes up 1 or 2 times in the night and goes right back to sleep so even I am adapting well. Sometimes it is all very overwhelming and one time I didn't realize Spencer and Maddie were playing outside naked. They are definitely partners in crime and mischief. Thankfully my mom has been here this whole week. She is such an amazing person and such an amazing help. Hopefully we can survive without her.

Maddie Goes to Preschool

2011-08-26T15:50:00.002-06:00

Maddie

Grade: MWF afternoon preschool

Age: 4
Height: 3 feet 7 inches
Weight: 44 lbs

Hair color: blonde

Favorites:
Animal: Bunny
Food: blue berry muffins
Game: Candy Land

Toy: Tiana barbie

Thing to do: play in the dirt with Spencer
Book: Any book that we have in the house
Color: Pink
Movie: Princess and the Frog

Song: ?
Primary Song: I Love to See the Temple

My best friends are: Grannie, Rachel, Megan

Other friends I like to play with: Lexi, Spencer and Camille
Things I like to do with my friends: Play princess
If I had another pet it would be a: Cat

Named: Rosetta
What people like about me: I'm cute and share good

Things I can do really well: Give Spencer things I have and he wants

Drastic Growth Spurt

2011-08-25T13:53:00.003-06:00

Do you want to know when the biggest and fastest growth spurt occurs? It happens when you go to the hospital and leave at home a 24 month old toddler and then you come home 2 days later and now you have a 2 year old boy. It is amazing how huge Spencer looks when compared to little Rebecca. With Rebecca having jaundice (not bad enough to be under lights but worrisome enough to have to get checked for 5 days straight) these 2 have completely opposite complexions.

My 1st Grader!

2011-08-24T13:46:00.005-06:00

Camille

Age: 6 1/2
Height: 4 feet 1 inch
Weight: 51 lbs

Hair color: dark blonde

Favorites:
Animal: Cat
Food: chicken legs, taquitos, shrimp, Don Buri, and cinnamon rolls
Game: Go Fish

Toy: Tangled barbie

Thing to do: Play with Rebecca
Book: Birthday Bunnies
Color: Pink
Movie: Barbie Movies

Song: Party in the USA
Primary Song: How Firm a Foundation

My best friends are: Hailee and Hero

Other friends I like to play with: cousins Maya and Leah
Things I like to do with my friends: Play princess
If I had another pet it would be a: Cat

Named: Annalise
What people like about me: I'm cute? I'm nice?

Things I can do really well: Be nice and making pictures

Apology

2011-08-18T12:00:00.002-06:00

I think with my birthing story I talked about 3 people out of natural birthing and that was not my intention. I would not recommend getting induced and not using an epidural and I would definitely suggest taking some sort of breathing class to get you prepared. I didn't do that so I didn't feel as mentally prepared as I wanted to be. So please don't let my post take away your conviction to do a natural child birth. Just be better mentally prepared for the pain than I was. You really will feel a great sense of accomplishment and I think that I am feeling much better much faster because I didn't use an epidural. Anyway I was just feeling bad that I made it sound so awful.

AWESOME BLESSING

2011-08-17T17:11:00.002-06:00

Right now as I mentally prepare for all the bills will start coming in we kind of hate our insurance. (With a separate $7,500 maternity insurance who wouldn't) But as for today I have great feelings towards them. We just found out we have supplemental accident insurance, who knew. This means that Spencer's little rendezvous at the emergency room cost us nothing! What a sweet blessing!

Family of 6!!

2011-08-15T22:57:00.011-06:00

So as I said in a previous post I had a scheduled induction for today. My Dr had told me to call in at 6, but I thought that was just a suggestion. So I did some laundry and stuff before I was going to call and then at 6:45 the hospital called me to ask if I was coming. They said they had just turned someone else away because they were waiting for me. I told them to let her in so they told me to come at 7:30 instead. What a great classic Janelle blunder to start it all off :)

We dropped off the kids at a friends house and got to the hospital at 7:45. Did paper work, dressed in robes, strapped to monitors, hooked up to an IV and got the antibiotic running through me, and started the pitocin drip all by 8:45. Got some contractions, but nothing major. At 10:30 Dr Horsley broke my water (I was at a 3 1/2 cm) and I asked them to cut the pit because I thought my body would just do it itself like it did with Camille once my water broke. We did 20 minutes of walking around the hospital and the contractions completely went away. Obviously my body totally didn't want to go into labor.

So around 11:35 we started the juice up again and the nurse pumped it up faster this time. Contractions started to get stronger and come faster. I should have known at that point that my body had given in and was working so I didn't need the pitocin anymore. So I wanted to do this labor naturally, but really hadn't prepared myself by learning any techniques. By 2:30 I was in some major pain and I told Brad that if I wasn't at a 5 yet I was going to give up and get an epidural. She checked me at 2:40 and I was at a 7. Right then I told her I wanted to push so they went into super drive, getting ready and getting the Dr there. It took all of my will power to not push.

Once the Dr was dressed he told me I was at a 10 and I could push. 4 or 5 pushes later she was out. Now saying it that way makes it sound like that was easy. Those 4 pushes were the most agonizing pain I have ever endured. If I had to push more than that I probably would have died :) Or at least I felt that way. They told me I was so quiet, but I sure remember crying and yelling. At one point when I was pushing I asked "Is it working?" And then the head comes out and man does that feel good. She was born at 2:54 pm

I find it hard to put into words how a natural birth feels. Some women find it to be almost a spiritual experience. My take is it was just SUPER PAINFUL!!! Yesterday I would have said I would NEVER do that again, but today the painful memories are already fading. I didn't find it more fulfilling just more painful. I do have a new respect for pioneer women who gave birth out on the plains (how did they do that?) and it gave me a sense of pride and accomplishment, but that is about all. That being said I don't know if it is the exercise or the natural birth, but I feel AMAZINGLY good for just delivering a baby. Maybe somehow not having an epidural makes you heal better. I would never be induced without an epidural again, but I think if I could labor at home that would be a different story.

The kids were able to come to the hospital and see Rebecca later that afternoon. Camille is in love! She just wanted to hold her and didn't want to ever leave. She even cried when she left because she was worried that Rebecca would look different when she comes back in 2 days. Maddie sort of held her, but mostly just wanted to leave. Spencer was curious and wanted to hold her too and cried when he had to let her go. We are going to have to keep a extra careful eye on him from now on.

One last sobering thing. When she finally came out Dr Horsley showed us that she had a true knot in her cord. He very seriously said that we were very blessed that I didn't deliver a stillborn baby. I truly thank the Lord that he protected our little one and that she is so perfect. I feel so blessed to be a mother and am so excited to add Rebecca to our family. Thanks for all the prayers and love I am sure they helped in keeping our baby safe!

Rebecca's Here!!!!!

2011-08-15T21:24:00.004-06:00

Rebecca made her way into the world today at 2:54 pm. She weighed 8 lbs 4 ozs and was 20.5 inches long. I was really shocked that she was not bigger, especially since I always measure so big and she went 2 weeks longer than the others. I will share the details tomorrow, but wanted to post a picture of her cuteness :) Look at all that wavy dark hair!

Christmas Eve X 10

2011-08-14T21:27:00.002-06:00

I made it through 2 1/2 days at the county fair and I am still pregnant, can you believe it :)

Here is a description of my current state of mind: Imagine the excitement and nervousness you felt as an 10 year old on Christmas Eve. You were so excited about what Santa would bring you and it took you half the night to fall asleep and then you woke up at 5 am so ready to open presents. Well that is about how I feel right now ... multiplied by 10.

I am getting induced tomorrow!!! With Spencer I got told that day I needed to be induced so until now I have never known what day one of my children would be born. It is a very different feeling and frankly I don't really like it, but at the same time I don't like the thought of waiting until she is ready to come out on her own :)

So even though today was the Sabbath we did some cleaning up, packed for the hospital and the kids stay at Grandma's, had some good quality family time. Now I am stressing out about the fact that I don't want to get an epidural, but I haven't really prepared myself by learning any techniques. Ideally I wanted to labor at home until it was too late to get an epidural, but now I am going to be strapped into that bed or at least into the IV at the hospital. I know they will probably pressure me into getting one too.

Anyway wish me luck and I will let you know how it all plays out soon.

Camping 2011

2011-08-05T17:17:00.004-06:00

This year due to pregnancy, Brad's young men's calling, trips to Provo, and Miche stuff getting in the way we never went on a proper camping trip. So in order to do something outdoorsy we invited our friends the Dunn's up to Logan canyon to eat pizza and make s'mores. It was a fast trip up, but we had a great time. The kids all got along well and we were able to have some good adult conversations. Camille just loves to play with Isaac because he is so willing to be her prince (the photo of the two of them looks like some sort of engagement picture :) It wasn't really camping, but it was as close as we got to it this year. Here are a few pictures.

What's Taking So Long?

2011-08-04T14:36:00.003-06:00

I have never been pregnant this long before. Lets just say I was spoiled and nature is putting me in my place. Thankfully I really still feel good, but am just getting antsy. I am not really even progressing so it seems that Baby Rebecca is willing to stay in my womb indefinitely. I had a Dr appointment yesterday and I am still at a 1 and not effaced at all. He couldn't even strip my membranes because I am not thinned out enough. Her head was down so that is good, but I am not so sure if it still is. I am pretty sure that she is still doing flips and that is why nothing is happening.

Today I had my neighbor do some reflexology stuff on my feet (which killed) that is supposed to help tell my body it is time to contract and go into labor. We will see if it helps. I really just think my body wants to keep her in there a while longer. Problem is I need to be available for the Cache County Fair next Thur-Sat. We have a Miche booth that I need to at least check in on. So I either need to have this baby by Monday the 8th or wait until Monday the 15th. Too bad I obviously have no say in this :) I would love it if you sent some birthing vibes my way!

Oh My Children!

2011-08-01T13:30:00.000-06:00

I just have to share a few funny things about the kiddos.

Camille told me the other day that when she prays for things she isn't really thankful for them she just says them because she knows she should. She said that the only things she is really thankful for are her family and toys. Maybe we should have a lesson on hypocrisy for FHE :)

Spencer is into copying every word that we say now a days. Well he also likes to copy actions too. So now he will say "potty" and he will turn sideways and try to cross his legs and hop to the bathroom (this is exactly what happens almost every time that Maddie needs to go to the bathroom). It is his only example that he has of what potty means. She better not ruin him :) But anyway it is hilarious!

Maddie oh Maddie! She forgot to put on her underwear yesterday for church! Thankfully her teacher gently let me know. Then later her teacher proceeded to tell me some of the wonderful things that Maddie shared in class. They were learning about obedience and the teacher asked her what we tell her to do. She said "poop in the toilet." Which then reminded her that she immediately had to go tot the bathroom and couldn't wait.

Later the teacher asked what else her mom tells her to do that she can obey. Maddie said that I am too tired with the new baby to tell her to do anything so Brad is the only one who tells her to do things. That busted me up because if anything I have become more demanding and bossy as delivery gets closer. Too funny.

Tooth #5

2011-07-29T15:14:00.004-06:00

Camille's smile just keeps getting more and more holey. I just thought I would share her cute smile. This one came out while eating caramel popcorn. Of course we also found another loose one this morning ;) When do they start to grow up more slowly? Now I am all caught up on blogging so I can have the baby :)

Williams Family Reunion

2011-07-29T14:18:00.006-06:00

So the crazy amazing thing about these 2 reunions is that they both happened to be in Park City and were back to back. It totally worked out wonderfully. We came to my parents time share Saturday night and stayed until Wednesday morning. We were all able to have the whole family together on Monday which was a lot of fun. We felt really blessed to be able to spend some time with my brother, his wife and baby Shiloh before they move to Missouri. Again we had a lot of fun swimming, eating good food, staying up way too late talking, going to see Harry Potter, doing the Alpine Slides (I took the pictures), going to the Olympic Park, BEATING MY SISTER AT TWISTER!, going on a nature walk and again just enjoyed spending time together.

PS my mom is recovering from foot surgery on her bunions and on a heal spur (OUCH!)

Day Family Reunion

2011-07-29T14:13:00.005-06:00

We had our first annual Day Family reunion. Brad's parents have a time share in Park City and at one point and time during the week everyone was able to be up there, unfortunately not all of us were ever there at the same time, maybe next time. We had a great time in the pool, going on walks, watching movies, playing games, going on the ski lift, walking down Main Street, visiting the cat at the bookstore on Main Street, playing with cousins, doing makeovers, getting faces painted, eating good food, relaxing, and just enjoying each other's company. We were there from Thursday evening until Saturday night. It was a lot of fun for us all.

Still No Action

2011-07-27T14:10:00.001-06:00

I just have to gripe that I am still only dilated to a 1. Rebecca is head down, but pushing on my pelvis instead of my cervix. She is probably either going to be really late (by my standards) or I will get induced, which I really would prefer not to do. Maybe my water will break again and it will all be over and done with quickly.

Guess the Birth Date

2011-07-22T14:39:00.003-06:00

My family loves to do guessing the Birth Date challenges. I may even give you a little treat if you win. So the challenge is to guess the date of Rebecca's arrival and her weight. Here is some back ground info on the other 3's births.

Camille was due April 10th. My water broke and she came 18 days early on March 23rd. She was 7 lbs 4 ozs
Maddie was due May 11th. I went into labor and she came exactly 18 days early on April 24th. She was 8 lbs 1 oz
Spencer was due July 8th. I was dilated to a 1 or so when he turned sideways so they turned him back around and induced me 2 weeks early and he was born June 24th. He was 8 lbs even.
Baby Rebecca is due on August 16th (needless to say I am hoping/expecting her to come early). At 36 weeks I am only dilated to a 1.

So give it a guess :)

36 Weeks

2011-07-19T13:43:00.006-06:00

I have been hoping that this would be a more exciting post and I could tell you I was dilated to a 3 or something awesome like that, but no such luck. I am only dilated to a 1. The issue is that she is head down, but off to the side. So we are hoping that she doesn't pull a Spencer and turn sideways this late in the game.

Anyway I didn't ask, but now I know I am safe to go on our family vacation to Park City later this week. (Camille had prepared a note for me to give to the Dr saying "She has to go to Park City" just in case he said no.)

I am still feeling really good and sleeping well. I get heartburn at night, but I am lucky enough that it doesn't effect my sleep. Anyway hope this little girl doesn't decide she wants to hide from the heat and stay in my belly longer than I want her to. Here is a picture of me in my 36 week glory :).

Here is the post of me with Maddie and Spencer at 36 weeks.

Little Scare

2011-07-17T19:26:00.002-06:00

This evening we went on a family walk and then ended with a snack on the porch. Well we were playing around (nothing super rough, but we weren't basket weaving). Anyway suddenly Spencer started crying and holding his arm in a strange way and kept saying "hurt". We couldn't tell what was the matter, but after 20 minutes he was still crying and wouldn't move his arm. So we decided that Brad would take him to insta care. Well that closed at 8 so they had to go to the emergency room. Bencie had calmed down, but would still cry when Brad tried to move his arm. There was a long wait, but they finally got called back.

When they twisted his arm to do one of the positions for the X-ray Brad said that Spencie instantly got better. As it turned out he had dislocated his elbow (nursemaid elbow) and they had popped it back in when doing the X-ray's. They came home around 11 and I have never seen Spencer so happy and hyper. It was so nice to see him come back healed. It was almost as if it never even happened. This was the first "emergency" that we have ever had with any of our kids and thankfully it wasn't a big one.

Logan Canyon Excursion

2011-07-11T16:48:00.008-06:00

We have been so busy this summer that we haven't really had the opportunity to do any camping. So for Family Home Evening we decided to take Honey up with us up the canyon to play in the water. The place that we usually go to was flooded over (we had lots of rain and snow in the mountains this year and all the melt off has caused major flooding). Thankfully we could still go to the other side, but we couldn't walk along the board walk because it wasn't there in some places. Here are some pictures of the fun we had. I just love Maddie's face on the family picture. She is deathly afraid of any insect and must have seen a fly ;)

My Knight in Shining Armor

2011-07-07T14:56:00.002-06:00

Ok so this is a layered story. First layer: A few weeks back we stayed for about 3 days in Provo while Brad worked down there. We got to see lots of family (some from Samoa), play with cousins and sleep at a different houses each night. But that really has nothing to do with the story line (just "useless" fluff that I won't blog about, but thought I might be interested in remember some day.) Back to the plot. I was cleaning up the van after this mini trip and must have accidentally left my wallet in the bag I was using for my trash bag. I have no proof that this is really what happened, but it has been a month and still no wallet and that is what I believed happened. I even had an impression to check the garbage when I was looking for it, but didn't. So bye bye wallet, hope you are safe in the dump.

Second Layer: I have spent lots of time trying to remember all of the credit cards that I need to get reissued and all of the bills that I need to get switched over. There are always some random bills like Planet Fitness that get forgotten and $25 fees that inevitably come. Thankfully they are all very nice about reversing the fees when they find out I am an idiot and threw away my own wallet. :) Hopefully all of that is taken care of now.

Third Layer: I decided after a month that it was about time that I get my driver's license again since something like that is bound to get you in trouble. So I decided the kids and I would ride the bus and go the the Driver's Licence Division and just get a new one real quickly. So I found the nearest bus stop (about 3 blocks away) and we set out on our adventure. We drove on the bus around the route only to pass by the stop. The kids love the bus so they weren't too bummed to take the 30 minute route over again.

About this time I start to get really irritated with this old man that is teasing my kids. It was mostly in a playful way, but he also kept getting after Maddie for putting her feet on the seat. I mean here I am stressed about finding the right stop, trying to keep the kids in their seats and holding a stroller and I am supposed to care about her putting her feet on the seat? Anyway we finally make it to our stop. We get off and then it hits me. I am on the other side of Logan's biggest street (admittedly not a huge street) with no stop lights in sight and 3 kids to boot. It was also 12:15 and we were hungry. We tried walking a block, but Maddie took about 3 steps in the time that the rest of us took 100. We would never make it across the road alive and there was no way I was going to wait for that bus with that scary man still on it. So I called Brad and he picked us up. YAY! It was so nice to have a simple answer to our dilemma. Sure I didn't get my license, but we got home safely and hopefully we will never have to sit near that man on the bus again :) Thank you my knight in shining armor for saving us!

Growing Up Too Fast

2011-07-07T13:58:00.003-06:00

So Camille has been cracking me up with a few comments she said lately.

C: I like the FedEx Man.

M: He is nice.

C: I don't like him because he is nice I like him because he looks good.

LAUGH!

C: I like Charlie better than Ben (names have been changed)

M: Why?

C: Because Charlie is so much better looking than Ben.

I just find that so humorous that she already notices how these grown up men are handsome. She has yet to talk about someone her age being cute, but I am sure that will come soon too. Thankfully she is still convinced she wants to marry her cousin Colby, that might keep her from having a 1st grade romance :)

Amazing

2011-07-07T11:44:00.006-06:00

So I posted a while back that we tried to get Spencer into the big boy bed, but after 2 tries he just wasn't interested. Well we knew that baby would be going straight to the crib (since I can't sleep with a baby in my room at all) so we had to take more drastic measures. One night Brad took off the front of the crib and instantly the crib had no more appeal to Spencer.

Since that day he has slept in his big boy bed for nights and naps without a problem. I am telling you he is an angel child. I remember the first few weeks after transitioning to a toddler bed were really rough for the girls. But for Spencer in the last 2 weeks there was only one nap time that he decided to play and not sleep. Since the swamp cooler is in his bedroom window on really hot days I have to keep the door open during nap time so the house doesn't reach 80 degrees. Anyway he will lay in his bed and eventually go to sleep. Another awesome thing is he wakes up later and a lot happier now. Maybe he enjoys the freedom to wake up when he wants and then slowly transition by playing in his room alone.

He has caused me no grief at all... AMAZING!!!

As I sit here thinking about Spencer I realize that he really is an amazing kid. Sure he has his feet stomping tantrums, but overall he is a really good toddler. When you tell him to lay down and go to bed... he does. One morning I woke him up on accident and brought him out to the kitchen and he was super cranky. So I put him back on his bed and told him he could come out when he was happy. I kept the door open and left. Quite a bit later I remembered I had put him in time out and when I got him he was just sitting right where I had left him with a big smile on his face. He really is such a good natured kid! We love ya Bencie.

Some Artwork

2011-06-30T14:29:00.001-06:00

In an attempt to clean up the playroom I came across a stash of drawings that Camille had hidden from me so that I wouldn't throw them away. I have a tendency to go through throwing away frenzies. Well anyway I took pictures of the good ones so that I could throw them all away. I just wanted to show the awesome puff sleeves that Camille draws. Yes even the men have puff sleeves...too funny ;)

Here is a drawing by Maddie of our family. This one is from awhile back. She was so excited that she finally could make people like Camille.

Can My Baby Really Be 2?

2011-06-26T21:26:00.008-06:00

I just can't believe that my baby is 2 years old. He had all sorts of parties and loved being sung to each time. I even saw him go stand next to the cake I made and he started singing his version of Happy Birthday to himself. So cute! For his main party we had some friends over for a BBQ and dessert. It was lots of fun with perfect weather.

I went to have his pictures taken on Saturday and the little stink would not smile for anything. He wasn't crying, but wasn't showing his happy side. Of course I come home and I get nothing but great shots with cheese and smiles aplenty. I just think he is the cutest!

Here are a few things about Spencie:

He loves animals especially dogs and horses. He can often be heard late into the night practicing his barnyard talk.
He loves to eat and can often be found around the table after a meal finishing off his sisters' food.
He is a well rounded mixture of seriousness, silliness, cuteness, and happiness. He loves to throw feet stomping tantrums and to give hugs.
He is definitely a little boy that loves cars, tools, weapons, balls, and rough housing, but at the same time he wants his fingernails painted like his sisters and likes to read princess books.
He has about 50 nicknames
He can say a lot of words, but even still he will look at you in earnest and ramble off in his own language...and sometimes he will laugh at himself like he just told you a great joke.
He loves to hit his sister's with swords and to chase them around the house and make them scream.
He absolutely adores Brad and when Brad is home Spencer insists that Brad does everything for him.
He is amazingly picky when it comes to his clothing. He refuses to wear any diapers except the "bees". He picks out his own clothes and basically wants to wear his Elmo shirt and frog pants everyday. I can sometimes get him to wear other things, but it is a hard fight, he has his own style for sure.

Big Boy Bed

2011-06-18T22:05:00.003-06:00

Well we kind of forgot that we needed to get Spencie into a big boy bed before the baby came. So last weekend we got it down and tried it out. It was amazing. He went to bed quietly and slept in about an hour later than usual. Of course I am not naive and new that the real test would be the days after.

On the second night we heard a bit more noise, but it calmed down somewhat quickly. I went in later around 10 to check on him and he as sitting on his chair with the light on playing quietly with a toy. He looked at me like "help I can't control myself and really want to go to sleep". Since then he doesn't want to sleep on the bed and instead always wants to sleep in his crib. So basically unless we take down the crib he will never learn to sleep in his big boy bed. Anyway he will learn, but I guess we better change our game plan.

Tooth #4

2011-06-18T22:02:00.004-06:00

I was sitting at the computer (what I do almost ever nap time) and Camille comes up with a surprised look on her face. I guess she had swung her arm too much while walking up the stairs and knocked her own tooth out. I tell you this girl has some random ways of losing teeth. So now she had a gap on the top and on the bottom. Her smile makes me smile :)

2 Months to Go

2011-06-16T21:49:00.000-06:00

Ok so hopefully not 2 whole months, but technically I do have 2 months left until my due date. I have never made it past 38 weeks and I hope not to have to this time around. Being pregnant for as little time possible in August sounds like a good idea to me. I really can't imagine with all the painful contractions I get and how low she seems that I could make it all the way to my due date.

I always worried that each pregnancy would get harder, but really I feel like besides the sickness in the beginning that this has been my best pregnancy. I just really feel good. I am sure it has to do with the fact that I started this pregnancy in the best shape I had been in a long time. I still exercise almost every morning which I know helps me out a lot too. Unfortunately I still am gaining a lot of weight, but try not to care about that too much. I am still sleeping through the night and don't even wake up to go to the bathroom. Life is good!

Eating an Apple

2011-05-31T15:52:00.003-06:00

A few days ago we noticed that Camille had her 3rd loose tooth. It is on the bottom next to the 2 front she had already lost. She decided that she wanted to eat an apple to help the process along. Well she bit into the apple and a little into it we were shocked by her screaming. Sure enough her mouth was full of blood, but much to her surprise her top front tooth was sticking out sideways and straight forward. We didn't even know that tooth was loose. She kept crying and wouldn't let any of us touch her and then she just pulled out her own tooth. It was amazingly loose, but I still that was pretty brave of her. Now she has the cutest gap in her smile. Like her aunt says she looks like the girl from "UP". Funny that after closer examination she actually has 2 more loose teeth. Good times!

My Imagination Running Wild

2011-05-31T15:38:00.004-06:00

Well if my imagination would have come true; then today would have been one of the scariest days of my life. When I was pregnant with Maddie I got this dark spot on my cheek, like a really huge freckle. I never thought much of it, but my Aunt who is a nurse told me I should check it out. My OB said it was definitely not something from pregnancy which is what I had always assumed. So last week I went to a dermatologist and he said he wasn't sure so he wanted to take a biopsy of it. Of course a search of melanoma on the internet got me a little worried.

Then this past week I had a time where I felt like I was leaking amniotic fluid. After that I even swore that I was going into labor. I took a rest but the contractions kept coming. So I just knew at my Dr appointment today they were going to say yes you are leaking and like it says online they would check me into the hospital for a week to treat me with antibiotics and have to pump me full of meds to keep me out of labor and give me steroids to help the babies lungs grow.

Well thankfully my wild imaginations were wrong. The biopsy came back clear, it is just a sun spot. At my OB appointment the nurse said I would know if my water was leaking because I would be wet all the time. So no hospital stay for me! It is funny how your mind can almost talk you into feeling symptoms. So anyway I am just glad that the bad things that could have been happening aren't. Now if only the weight that I saw on the scale was my imagination I would be on cloud 9 :)

Major Backfire

2011-05-29T22:04:00.004-06:00

Ok so I think that I have mentioned that Maddie has some serious dependence issues. She wants us to feed her, she wants us to get her dressed, she can't pull down her own underwear, she won't buckle her own car seat, etc. Well we found a plan that really worked for her. The racing method or the "beat" method. (I know, I know you should never use competition as motivation, but we are running thin on options of ways to motivate this girl). We would tell her to see if she could beat Camille at getting dressed. And it was amazing the results we saw! She would run down stairs and get dressed all by herself and run up so excited to beat Camille.

Well fast forward another week and Camille started to realize that she wanted the attention and "satisfaction" of beating Maddie. So Camille has joined in the game and will not let Maddie beat her...ever. So Maddie is getting herself dressed now but it is honestly followed by sounds that you would expect to hear during World War 3. She absolutely flips out each and every time that Camille beats her. Unfortunately Camille is like me and "innocently" likes to drive people crazy, she thrives on making Maddie upset the same way I thrived on making my siblings upset.

Fortunately Maddie is slowly realizing that this beating game is not working for her so instead she is getting into surprising me. If she gets dressed without me knowing that makes her really happy. I guess we will have to focus on surprises instead of the competition. Sometimes I just wish there was a clear guide to parenting that worked for all children. I guess I will just keep praying and trying my hardest. Man I love that girl :)

Preschool Graduation

2011-05-28T13:21:00.005-06:00

Well we missed most of Maddie's graduation. We did get there in time to see her "walk" but missed the photo presentation. I guess I shouldn't feel too bad since she really isn't even graduating because she will be back next year. Plus is a preschool graduation really necessary :) She really enjoyed preschool this semester. I don't know if I could ever go back to home preschool. So anyway here are a few pictures of her in her graduation robes, she refused to wear the cap, but still looks cute!

Random Things I Love About My Family

2011-05-20T14:07:00.000-06:00

Here are some random things that I have been thinking about that make me smile.

I love that Camille is upset by the fact that almost every verse of scriptures starts with the word "and". It really bugs her and she only likes to read the verses that start with a different word. Who notices that? :)
I love that Maddie does not over analyze everything. She is a go with the flow kind of girl and in this house of over thinkers it is great to have someone who is just generally happy with whatever is going on around her.
I love that when my kids want my attention instead of yelling my name they say Yodelayheehoo and Spencer can't say it so he say HooHoo over and over again. I love that!
I love that Brad will go to the store and I think man I wish he would buy me a root beer float and low and behold he comes home with ice cream and root beer!
I love that last night I had a conversation with Camille about who was going to be in charge of the Terrestrial kingdom. Because if Heavenly Father and Jesus are in charge of the Celestial Kingdom then someone else will have to be in charge "of the moon".
I love that the only detail I can EVER get out of Maddie about preschool is what she has for snack, which she can describe in great detail ;).
I love that Spencer will just go over and lay on Honey. He is my kind of kid. This morning Spencer was chasing Honey around the bar while Honey had a noise making straw in her mouth and Honey was making it whistle and he just thought that was hilarious.
I love that Brad wakes up really early to go to the gym so that I don't have to.
I love that Camille is so willing to help me around the house. She unloads the dishwasher without a complaint and seems to enjoy doing other household chores with me.
I love that every time Maddie sits near me she claims that she can feel the baby kicking her even though I never feel the baby at those times.
I love that it is 9:15 and Spencer has been in bed for over 45 minutes and he still is making wild animal noises.
I love that Brad is such an optimistic person and helps me to see the good in things.

I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family! Now if only I could remember that through the day when the kids are doing not such lovable things. I guess that is my quest.

Last Day of Kindergarten :(

2011-05-19T17:20:00.000-06:00

Camille is so sad to have kindergarten be over and I am just in shock. Seriously how did a whole school year pass? Also who can believe that school would end on May 19th? Something about needing a week to test the kindergartners.

I was fortunate to be able to go into Camille's classroom almost weekly so I got to know the fun kids in her class and got to know Mrs Packard a bit too. Camille had a great experience and has really learned a lot. I was always slightly surprised at her demeanor in class. She would never challenge her teacher if she said something wrong (which Brad was known for doing) and really isn't one of the kids that raises her hand to answer everything (which both Brad and I would do). She enjoys school, but she is not as competitive as I thought she would be (which is a good thing because again Brad and I are overly competitive). I am not making judgments just observations that took me by surprise.

I am learning about the adjustment from school to summer break. Camille already has our playing school schedule figured out. 2 days of play school one day off, 2 days on 1 day off. She might drive me crazy :)Here are some pictures of her on the last day of school. Bye Bye Kindergarten!

SPRING IS HERE!!!

2011-05-16T21:36:00.013-06:00

Ok I honestly had a shock today when I realized that May is already 1/2 way done. I totally thought that I had blogged a week ago because wasn't Easter only 2 weeks ago? I am 6 months pregnant today and time is just going too fast. My main goal before "time runs out" is to get the other 3 kids scrapbooks up to date... no small feat since I am a year behind on all of them. Anyway I wanted to show some of the pictures that Camille took of the flowers... and then the ones I took of the kiddos with the same flowers. I was quite impressed with Camille's photo skills. Do not ask me how this worked, but Camille said she pushed the button and then ran to try and get in the picture. I guess my camera is slow enough that she was actually able to run into the picture. Weird huh.

Baby Animal Days

2011-04-26T13:37:00.013-06:00

We have made this a tradition that we go to each year that we are here in Cache Valley. The first time I went I was pregnant with Maddie and about ready to pop. It is fun to see how each year each of the kids reacts differently to the animals.

Last year Camille was too scared to ride the ponies, but did it this year. As always the smell really bugs her so she isn't too interested in getting too close to the animals.

Maddie didn't want anyone to even stand near her when she rode the pony. She was scared of the bigger animals this year and didn't want to get near them. She almost touched a goat which looked like a dog to her.

Spencer loved the pony ride and like me; is definitely an animal person. He would run up and pet any animal that they let him (except for the bunnies because they scratched him). But he let the cow lick his hand and was just in heaven. He thought the train ride was pretty awesome too.

We were glad that some of Brad's family could come up to Logan and be with us. It was nice weather and a great afternoon activity!

Easter 2011

2011-04-26T13:28:00.014-06:00

We had a very different Easter this year. It was the first time that we did Easter here at our home alone. It was relaxing and nice yet we kind of felt like we missed out on being with family. We did our own turkey dinner, got a new Bishop in our ward (so no real Easter talks), had an Easter egg hunt, and went through our special Easter Lesson. It was very low key. But there are still plenty of pictures that need to be shared so here is the main reason for this post:

Maddie Turned 4!

2011-04-24T13:13:00.003-06:00

This is our busy time of year with so many birthday's packed together. Since Maddie's birthday was on Easter this year we had her party the day before. We started out the morning getting professional pictures taken. In the afternoon her 2 friends came over. We played a game, had an Easter egg hunt, opened presents and ate cake and ice cream. Very low key, but they had a great time.

One of Maddie's great traits is that she is really laid back in many ways. She didn't tell me daily for months in advance what she wanted for her birthday, or what kind of cake she needed, or who she HAD to invite to her party. She is a go with the flow kind of girl so she was happy with whatever her birthday entailed. Was she disappointed that her castle cake ended up like this? ... No.

She ended up with an Easter egg cake from Smith's which she was perfectly happy with.

Was she disappointed that she only had 2 friends at her party (plus Camille's friend Myra)? ... No. We could have had a party with just her and Camille and I think she would have even been happy with that.

Did she ever once say where are more of my presents?... No. Maddie truly is amazing that way. She is truly happy with whatever she gets.

Did Maddie ever complain that someone else got more eggs than she did?... No she was happy to find any.

Right after her party Grandma and Grandpa Day and Sarah came up to go to Baby Animal Days. I will have a separate post of those pictures. Then we all went out to eat and Maddie was shocked when they came and sang Happy Birthday to her. We came home and opened presents again and finally off to bed :)

On Easter we sang to her and had a special cinnamon roll breakfast, and not surprisingly it was Camille who insisted there be a special birthday breakfast and not Maddie :) We sure do love our 4 year old. How time flies!

I Need Professional Help

2011-04-22T16:15:00.005-06:00

I consider all of you professionals so I am seeking your advice. I mostly need the advice from you mother's on a few issues I have been having lately:

The first is the easiest, but bugs me to no end. What am I supposed to pay my babysitter? $5 an hour seems like the same rate I got back when I was in the babysitting pool, but I don't' know how much more I can afford. But with 4 kids can I ethically only give them $5/hour (I am thinking ahead here). What mathematical logarithm do you use to decide what to pay your babysitters?

Ok the second is (again thinking ahead) where do I put the baby to sleep? Since we have a full room dedicated to Miche bags we only have 3 bedrooms and a pretty small play room. With each of the other kids I was able to move them out of the baby room and make room for the baby. I know I am spoiled, but since I had the room why wouldn't I do that. So how does it work having a newborn in with a 2 year old? I really have a hard time imagining Spencer staying asleep and in his toddler bed while the baby is crying in the night or during nap time. (I don't do babies in my room for more than a few nights, they just make too many baby grunt noises.) So advice on what you would do would be wonderful.

I remembered another. The great paper debate. We have a home business so there is a lot of scrap paper in our house. Well that gets used plus any paper that is left in the printer. My question is how do I get them to stop using so much paper and how do I stop them from crying when I don't keep every single piece of art that they make. We have drawings everywhere and I secretly throw away 85% of it. Don't even get me started on the amount of papers they come home with from school. White boards involve markers and that ruins clothes. I just don't know how to let them be creative without wasting so much paper. Advice?

The last is Maddie is turning 4 in 2 days and I would still say that she is only slightly potty trained. I feel like we have done so many different things and it just doesn't seem to work. Treats don't work, offering bribes don't work, making her feel like a baby doesn't work (I know I shouldn't but it is more than a tad bit frustrating), putting her on the potty frequently doesn't work for the poop, and so forth. On the positive side she never has accidents at church or preschool (she saves it all for home). For awhile it seemed like she wanted to be trained and did it perfectly, but it is old news now and therefore not worth her attention. So recently she has been having 4 poop accidents a day plus some pee accidents. I literally have been thinking about taking her to a child psychologist because I am just out of ideas here. It still basically comes down to it always being an emergency and if we don't run her to the bathroom in the right amount of time she pees or poops her pants.

As a continuation of that, I always put her in a diaper at night. She never pees in her diaper but the night that you put her in undies she pees the bed. What is that about? I highly doubt that her need for attention is that ingrained in her subconscious that she wills herself to pee on the nights she wears underwear. Anyway all I can say is HELP!!!! Any child development people out there to tell me this is normal because I don't think this is normal for a 4 year old. Anyone else dealt with abnormally hard potty trainees? I would love to hear what you did.

Thanks in advance for your advice :) Have a great weekend!

Sister's Retreat

2011-04-18T21:06:00.005-06:00

About a month ago my sister Heather got the idea that we should do Time Out For Women together as sisters. Well after looking at the dates and delivery schedules we decided that none of the dates would really work for us. But the idea was planted in our heads and we decided that we still wanted to get together and play for a bit. So this weekend the three of us met at Temple Square and had our first ever (and not to be the last) Sister's Retreat. We met up Friday around 2. We first watched the Joseph Smith movie, which I hadn't seen before and made me cry like a baby. It is so amazing all that he went through in his life. Then we sat around and enjoyed the warmth and scenery and then joined a tour group just as they were going onto the Conference Center roof. If you haven't done that you should because who ever heard of rivers and fields on a roof, I hadn't but they were there. We did a quick in and out of the Family History Library and then did a semi quick walk through of the Church History Museum.

By then we were starving so we headed over to the Red Iguana 2 and let me say that if you like Mexican food (authentic Mexican food) then you most definitely have to try this place out. It was amazingly good. Then we headed over to our Aunt Marde's house, who so graciously let us sleep in the basement as she was packing to go on vacation. We made cookies, chatted with Marde, ate jelly beans and cheetos, and stayed up until 2:30 (I was mostly asleep before then but awake enough to interject my comments every now and then.

We slept in until 8:40 which was nice. We got ready and then we headed over to Gardner Village. We meet our other sister Brittani over there and we spent the day walking through the shops, buying treats and just enjoying each other's company. We finished it off with a super yummy lunch at Archibald's. It was such a fun time. Of course we now have plans to do the next Sister's Retreat in Navoo and the next in London (we will see if I can get that one changed to Spain). Thanks to you husbands who let your 4 wives leave you at home with the kiddos! It really was great of you to do that for us! I love you girls!!

5 Months

2011-04-16T21:24:00.000-06:00

In some ways I really feel like this pregnancy is going fast, but then I think 4 more months... you have got to be kidding me this is going so slowly :) There isn't much to say, but I did want to share a picture of the 5 month belly. I am feeling well and Brad felt the baby move for the first time yesterday!

We still haven't fully decided on a name yet which is really strange for us. The name I love has 9 letters and all of us (including Bradley and I) have 7 letters in our names. Brad is really hung up on that fact and hasn't consented to let me have my way just yet :) With all the others I just felt like we knew what their names were. Strange thing is we totally have a boy name picked out, but the 7 letter girl name that we both like is alluding us.

Other than that everything is going perfectly. I am still exercising most days and it is nice to have switched from the "wow she exercises everyday but is still getting fatter" stares to the "oh how sweet she is pregnant and exercising" looks. I am hoping this exercise will help me to pop this baby right out :) Here's to 4 more months.

Spring Break

2011-04-09T20:37:00.005-06:00

So for a while we had planned to go to Tucson for Spring Break and then that changed to a trip to Zion's National Park. Well neither of those worked out so we decided that we would do something much more simple. Brad works in Provo 2 days a week so the kids and I decided to join him. We got a hotel for one night and went down and played with my family for 2 days. It was a lot of fun. We got to go out to eat with my grandparents, chat with my cousin Vanessa and her husband since they were down visiting too, we went swimming at the hotel pool with my sister Rach and her girls and my S-I-L Britt, we ate free breakfast at the hotel, we played with cousins and I talked with my sister, and we ate at my brother's restaurant.

So although it wasn't the most exciting of Spring Breaks it was great fun because I got to spend so much time with people I love and don't get to see very often. We only took pictures once, that is how much fun we had :) They look like 2 different sets of twins height wise, but look nothing alike otherwise. Camille is 10 months younger than Maya and Maddie is exactly 1 year younger than Tessia.

Tangled No More

2011-04-09T18:17:00.006-06:00

Well Maddie chopped her own hair off in various places a few months ago and since then I have been wanting to get her hair evened out. After I got my hair cut both of the girls kept saying they wanted their hair short like mine. Well this week We finally surprised Daddy and they both got their hair cut. This was Maddie's first hair cut and I have to say I LOVE her hair short. I love Camille's too! I think Maddie's shorter hair makes her look so much older too. Anyway here are the pictures:

Camille Before:

Camille After:

Maddie Before:

Maddie After:

Speaking of Tangled we here in our house are obsessed with it. We watch it almost daily and the days we don't we listen to the songs on You Tube. Best Movie EVER!! Even Spencer loves it and hums along with the songs.

And the Winners Are...

2011-03-29T09:10:00.004-06:00

54% of you voted correctly... we are having princess #3. Camille cried for an hour because she really wanted Maddie to have her own prince so that she didn't have to share Spencer anymore :) I felt a bit depressed myself especially since it was a dark and gloomy day yesterday. But the idea is growing on me :) I know I just need to look through my girl clothes and I will be ecstatic. She is perfectly healthy and beautiful so for that I rejoice. Don't get me wrong I love my girls, but I really wanted a boy to even out our family. And of course Brad (mostly in jest) says I guess we will just have to have another one. Now we just need to agree on a name. Oh yeah she moved so much that they never really got a cute little profile of her so instead you get a crotch shot :)

Happy Birthday Camille!!

2011-03-23T17:38:00.002-06:00

I now have a 6 year old. How did that happen? We just had Camille's birthday party with 8 beautiful princesses. It was a lot of fun. She wanted a Princess, Cat party... meaning they all dress up as princesses but the cake would be a cat. I tried my best on the, but it was not spectacular. We played princess memory, told the story of Snow White, played pass the poison apple, danced, had a treasure hunt, sang, ate cake, opened presents and had a few minutes left for them to just play. Camille thoroughly enjoyed herself. We finished off the day with Family Movie night and pizza.

Party in Rexburg

2011-03-22T18:30:00.005-06:00

I haven't been able to find a Miche rep in Rexburg so every now and again my sister will set me up a party and I use it as an excuse to spend a weekend with her. This time I brought the kids and we came up Saturday evening and stayed until Monday evening. We had a lot of fun just being together. It was interesting the dynamics of the kids this time. Camille and Colby finally hit it off for the first time ever. He was more than happy to be her prince and of course she was ecstatic to be his princess.

Camille would take breaks from Colby and play with Renae. When ever they get together there is dressing up and dancing involved.

With Camille out of the way Maddie and Sadie were inseparable. They play really well and rarely even argue.

Spencer of course was loved by all, but Mason especially loved to play with and entertain him. Spencer loved all the attention and all of the boy toys.

So we had a great little trip to Rexburg. Thanks Hea for letting us come! Sure beats having to drive to Tucson to visit.

4 Months

2011-03-16T12:56:00.005-06:00

I am 4 months along today and I thought I would post a picture of my belly progress. Here is a post from my last pregnancy, I think exercising is helping me to stay smaller, but maybe not. I am almost to the point where I am obviously pregnant. We find out in a week and a half if we are having another princess or prince. Do the poll on the side to vote if it is a boy or a girl. :)

I just wanted to share an interesteing fact about my pregnant self: I am also not like other pregnant women who hate to wear their maternity clothes. I don't really need to wear them yet, but I just thought about all of those clothes that I can only wear for such a short amount of time so I figured I better get some use out of the winter ones before summer is here. So I opened up my maternity clothes bin yesterday and almost cried with excitement. I am not a person with lots of clothes options so when I open 15 new outfits at once I get a little giddy. Needless to say today I am wearing super comfy lounge pants. I may keep these ones on forever.

Sunny Day

2011-03-14T13:31:00.000-06:00

So like I said there have been some sunny days this month too. I thought I would document those cute pictures as well. I like to be rid of my huge snow piles so I will shovel them into the road and on our drive way and the kids help to smash them. It does honestly make them melt faster.

So it doesn't look sunny from some of these pictures, but it was. Yes my children look like homeless children running free that haven't had their hair brushed in weeks... well maybe they haven't, but at least they are having fun :)

Trying to get Maddie to hold still and look at the camera is basically impossible, but this is a great picture anyway.

Who knew that life outside could be such a fun and interesting place to explore. He just can't get enough of it and now will go to the door and ask to go outside all the time.

Snowy Days

2011-03-07T13:14:00.001-07:00

Well I never documented our marvelous snow men that we made as a family this year. I swear we could make a better snowman if our house was on the opposite side of the road. The sun never hits our lawn and therefore the snow never becomes the perfect snowman snow. I also did let the kids go out and enjoy the snow a few time too. We have had some crazy weather this year: dry months and then we got a lot of snow in February. March is turning out to be a mixture of rain, snow and sun. I guess I will take them all this month in hopes that April will decide to be only sunny :) One can dream. Anyway on to the pictures.

Spencer LOVES Honey and says her name 25 times better than Mommy. Whenever we are outside he finds her. Spencer loves to be outside in the snow, but doesn't actually like to touch the snow.

Camille chilling in the snow. They are so much more like their daddy in the fact that they can really enjoy the snow despite the cold.

I just love this picture of my 2 beautiful girls.

Spencer just wanted to run away so that I would never take him inside again. Honestly we are going to have an easy summer with him. He LOVES to be outside.

Maddie is a little more cautious with the snow, but loves it too. I just love this typical almost smile that we frequently get from Maddie.

Pregnancy Brain

2011-02-28T13:29:00.003-07:00

Have you ever gone to the grocery store with your 3 kids, taken off all of your coats and then realized that the only person who forgot to get out of their pajamas and dressed was you? :) I was in a shirt that was too short, high water pants, and food smudges all over. I looked LOVELY. Oh yeah and I forgot to brush my hair too. I swear pregnancy brain is a real thing!

New Nephew

2011-02-27T09:15:00.007-07:00

So I didn't realize that I kind of let things lapse for awhile and now I am trying to play catch up. For instance on January 30th my brother Kenny and his wife Brittani brought Shiloh into the world. He came over 2 weeks early and was a miracle! He was tiny (by our families expectations) but has sure gotten bigger quickly. What a cutie with a full head of honey colored hair.

We were able to go down to Provo for his blessing which they held in their home. That was a cool experience (one which I had never had before). What was also great was that all of my family except for my Dad were able to be there too. 1 of my aunts from CA and one from Samoa were there too! We had a great time together. Here are a few of the pictures to help remind me of the fun we had. Th first is a picture of all 11 grandkids and the other is my family minus my Dad.

Cleaning Out the Camera

2011-02-24T13:22:00.009-07:00

Here are some of the fun pictures that I don't necessarily want to blog about, but were cute enough to post.

Spencer loves to get out the dishes. Sometimes I am lucky and he "sets" the table for me.

This is the best picture I could get of Maddie's personal barber shop attempt.

The best day of the month is Miche delivery day. Talk about fun climbing.

Spencie pretending to talk to Daddy on the phone.

After about 50 pictures I finally got Maddie to look at the camera ;)

3 Month Mini Bump

2011-02-17T14:45:00.004-07:00

Tell me if you agree with Camille or am I right that I currently still have a mini bump. Here is a conversation she and I had after she found out that the baby is currently the size of a lemon:

C: Compared to how big the baby really is your tummy is huge.

M: Thanks, how big do you think my tummy looks?

C: Your tummy looks like a pumpkin.

M: A PUMPKIN! Do you remember how big a pumpkin really is?

C: Yeah. Show me what your belly would look like if it were a pumpkin.

I put my arms out to show her how big that really is.

C: Ok maybe not a big pumpkin but one of those white pumpkins we saw at the store for decoration.

Thanks Camille and I was just thinking I was doing pretty good :) Anyway here is my first belly shot. Still not over all day sickness, but I am optimistic (some of the times).

Random Thoughts

2011-02-14T11:29:00.003-07:00

I have been having some interesting thoughts mill around my mind lately and I thought that I would get them out. Some are very random and some are major concerns that I deal with daily.

Why is it that the only words you can understand on graffiti are the really bad words?

Maddie suffers from what I would call an insatiable lack of independence. Think about your typical 3 to 4 year old and they are all about doing everything by themselves. About the only thing that Maddie likes to do without help is jump out of the car. She won't get dressed alone, she won't get on the toilet alone, she sometimes even refuses to feed herself. It is strange and SUPER annoying, even though super independent kids are trying in their own rite, this is really hard.

Camille said that if we prayed hard enough Heavenly Father would let Honey have babies. Do I just need more faith or are there limitations to what he is willing do? Obviously I know the answer but I don't even dare go there.

Do you know that the far left lane on the freeway if for passing and not considered the "fast lane". Just because a person is driving over the speed limit does not give them the right to drive permanently in that lane. That lane is for people like me to pass people like them :) I get my lead foot from my dad.

Spencer sounds just like Boo in Monsters Inc (which by the way Camille has been obsessed with and insists on calling Monsters Incorporated) He has the same singsongy voice that is so cute, but says few words that are recognizable.

Daddy is amazing. Since he is gone 2 days a week he took off Friday from work to give me a relaxing day. I got my hair cut, he mopped the floor, I got a nap, we played at the mall with the kids. It was the BEST day in a really long time. Thanks hun!

I have entered the second trimester!!! Now I am waiting patiently to start to feel better. I love the 2nd trimester, it is what makes pregnancies so fun. Eating what you want, starting to see your cute belly bulge, feeling those first kicks... I LOVE IT!!

Anyway those are a few things that I have been thinking about lately. BTW our heater is working again. Not that I need it because today it is 52 degrees!!!!!!!!!! Can I already start to get my hopes up in February that spring is near? Probably not, but I will take the warm days you give me.

IT'S COLD!!

2011-02-08T20:45:00.002-07:00

2 nights ago our heater was making some funky loud whining noises and it officially died yesterday afternoon. Needless to say last night was a bit cold in our house, but we all bundled up and slept well. Amazingly when we woke up the temp was 59, which if you think about it isn't too bad. This could have happened on a night that was way below freezing and not just 27 degrees. Anyway thanks to some great friends today we lived off of space heaters.

A friend came over to check out what was wrong after his work. The motor is dead, but thankfully and hopefully we can afford to fix that. So hopefully tomorrow we will be back to central heat, but in the meantime we sure are glad that we have electricity to plug in all of those space heaters. Hope you are sleeping warm tonight too.

Complaint of a Pregnant Woman

2011-02-07T22:03:00.004-07:00

I just have to complain a little... cuz I want to. If food doesn't start to seem appetizing soon I am going to cry. I love food, but right now it only seems like is a necessary evil. Even though eating doesn't make me feel better chewing often does. Seriously if I am chewing I almost feel better. So if I am not eating I am chewing gum. Needless to say I am not one of those people that don't gain weight during the first trimester. Anyway I am hoping in a week or so things will start to get better. Can something please just sound good to eat before I barf. :)

Sad News

2011-01-31T21:50:00.002-07:00

Ok some of you (probably most of you) will not understand why the following news is so sad. We just got a letter in the mail today saying that Honey has Severe Hip Dysplasia... not borderline or mild, but severe. That means she will never get to be a mommy. It has been my dream for a long time to breed golden retrievers and we paid a pretty penny for Honey so that we could breed her. But this is a condition (that I have to learn more about) but is genetic and you can't breed your dog if they have it. Anyway it is strange to say, but I almost feel like I have lost something. Just think of all those cute puppies that I will never get to hold :( It also makes me sad to think that this will eventually cause her a lot of pain too. My poor Honey!

10 Leaps Forward, 6 Steps Back

2011-01-28T17:37:00.004-07:00

I am so happy to finally be writing this post. Last week I kind of nonchalantly asked Maddie when she was going to be a big girl and go in the toilet all the time and not wear pull ups. She said now and honestly just like that she started wearing underwear all day. She has only had one accident when she couldn't unbutton her pants. Just like that she is potty trained!!!!! She is still in pull ups at night, but I can live with that indefinitely. I am SOOOO happy for her and happy to not have to have 3 in diapers. With both Camille and Maddie it has been a matter of them finally deciding they wanted to be potty trained and then it was almost an instantaneous change. It's been a week now so...YAY FOR MADDIE!!!

Not to lessen the enthusiasm I have for her potty training, but she is still managing to drive me crazy. 3 of the steps back come from her eating (or lack thereof) antics. Let me explain every mealtime with Maddie. While sitting and not eating she says "I'm hungry" So eat your food. "I can't. I have a tummy ache and my tummy says that I can't eat this food". Of course if any sort of sweet is introduced the tummy ache amazingly vanishes. The harder we push her to eat the slower she goes. We don't snack all day either so I am not sure how to help her. Every day I warn her that Spencer will eat her left over food when he is done and every day she says she doesn't care and every day she cries when it is gone. It gets really frustrating.

The other 3 steps backwards comes from her recent habit of lying. Here is one of our not so truthful conversations:

Jan: Why did you put lotion on Spencer's hair?

Mad: I didn't do that. Spencer did.

J: He isn't big enough to open that bottle and do it himself.

M: Well I taught him how to do it, but he did it.

J: No I don't think so.

M: Yes when I was a baby I taught him to do it.

J: When you were a baby he was in heaven.

M: Well when we were in heaven together I taught him to do it. So he did it and not me.

Then there was the cutting of the hair that likewise was blamed on Spencer. She and Spencer are little partners in crime with her as the master mind.

But she is potty trained so I will enjoy the 10 leaps forward and try not to focus on the 6 steps back :)

Random Cuteness

2011-01-25T20:53:00.005-07:00

So I need to share a few random cute things. First of all Spencer got his first haircut. I can't believe how much older it makes him look.

We are trying to make Saturday's family fun day so we went swimming at a local high school. It is amazing what a year has done for Camille's confidence in the water. She was so brave. Spencer basically had a death grip on Brad the whole time. Maddie was crazy and care free as ever.

Camille probably said a few of her funniest things yet. She asked if she could have some bubble gum and I said no. She quickly told me that she would run it under water to get rid of all the sugar, so it would be healthy :)

On Sunday's I try and make Camille wear tights, but she if very sensitive to touch. She cannot stand the seam at the end of her toes. So I let her wear my nude color knee high. Anyway she said "Mommy if people look at my legs they will probably think that I speak Spanish." Sure they will see past your blonde hair and blue eyes and see your slightly colored legs and thing you are Hispanic... Oh man that was great!