Happy All My Life

Best Valentine's

2012-02-14T20:17:00.000-08:00

Our family has some fun Valentine traditions, but my very favorite Valentine's Day was five years ago. I had just brought a brand new baby home from the hospital.

If you look at that picture and think Detmer's shirt stepped out of the 1970's, you are right. It is part of an outfit that Kelly received when she was pregnant with Zack, who was born December 23. Someone gave it to her along with a letter explaining that she (the giver) had always wanted a Christmas baby boy, so she bought this outfit in anticipation. She waited and waited, time passed and the little Christmas baby boy never came. In fact, no baby ever came and her arms remained empty as she said good-bye to her dreams of that sweet baby and passed on the outfit.

I, too, dreamed all my life of a baby boy. And five years ago, my dream came true and each day my boy has brought so much joy I am continually grateful for the blessing of him in my life.

I am glad I have this picture of him in that special shirt. When I think of my dream fulfilled, it brings me joy. When I think of others dreams passed by, it gives me compassion. Despite everything, I will never understand how hard it must have been to pass on that sweet little outfit.

The Boy

2012-02-12T19:51:00.001-08:00

My little guy is now FIVE! He had a fun WEEK. I think one of my kids' favorite things about their birthday parties is delivering the invitations. Allie, Detmer, and Kendall all had to get out and take the invitation up to each door and they were giddy with excitement.

We had Detmer's birthday party on his actual birthday. I have always done 10 am parties so the kids don't have to wait all day, but from here on out school is going to be cramping our style, so the party as at 2. "Mom is it 2?" ALL DAY! Detmer was so excited. We had lots to do to get ready (whether real or made up-just to keep him occupied). The party was a huge success (all I need for it to be successful is for the birthday kid to have a blast!). My friend asked me today if I had recovered and told me she could hear the party all the way down the street. Fun was definitely had.

Tonight we had his family party. Detmer requested a chocolate cake with sprinkles. Thank you.

Opening up his birthday bucket.

On Detmer's birthday he got to go on a birthday outing with Dad to Boondocks. He had so much fun and came home exhuasted! I bet he was asleep within five minutes, still flying high.

Detmer is such awesome boy! He has such a passion for life and is so loving. He is the best brother and wants to carry Maci around everywhere. He is such an easy kid. We rarely have any trouble with Detmer. He is also a great friend and loves to play with friends. He constantly makes us laugh and has the craziest imaginations where he can play with any toy for hours. The kids have Valentines boxes they made that I occasionally put little surprises in for them to find. The other day Detmer got a puzzle and he played with the puzzle pieces for hours! I am such a lucky mom to have this guy in my life!

SKI

2012-02-07T20:11:00.000-08:00

If I was a spry young thing like I was when I left the house this morning, I would run out to the van and get the pictures to go with this post. But I've aged about fifty years since then and I really should be in bed at this late hour (9 pm), but I've already talked to anyone who will listen about my fun day (hi Cob!) and it's not out of my system yet.

I might have mentioned that Dave got me ski passes for Christmas. Today we were finally able to go. It was so much fun!!! I'm addicted already and can't wait to go back.

I took two pretty serious spills. The worst one was when I was at the bottom of the hill trying to practice! Not even some sweet spill flying down a black diamond. But man, I am PAYING for that one right now. I also took another pretty bad one where I laid on the ground and I only knew it wasn't the afterlife because there was snow and there is definitely not snow and coats in heaven. But a concerned citizen did rush over to make sure I was still alive. I just started laughing. That was all I could do because I knew I looked like an idiot and I wished they made you wear bright orange if it was your first day or something so everyone could BEWARE!

It was really precious watching all the kids Kendall's size woosh right on by as I slowly and steadily made my way down the mountainside.

I encourage all parent's to take their kids skiing at a young age. Falling is so much easier and more graceful when you are that close to the ground. Although the thought of my tiny children on those chair lifts is enough to make my heart stop (and I've already had enough near death experiences for the day.)

We ended up having such a good time we hit the slopes for five hours straight with no breaks. We took my 11 year old nephew Trevor with us and I thought it would be good to have another novice skiier by my side. Oh my heck, that boy kicked my butt. The only reason he wasn't doing Black Diamonds and back trails was because I told him he could only do that with parental supervision. He took some pretty bad falls but was running around within two minutes of when we got home, whereas Dave and I are both afraid to get up off the couch tonight because it's GOING TO HURT!

I'm so glad Dave took the plunge and bought our tickets. I know if they hadn't been already bought I would have made excuses not to go (I've been wanting to go skiing forever, I just would have been too lazy to figure out a schedule for the kids).

PTC

2012-01-31T20:58:00.000-08:00

Allie at Parent Teacher Conference.

wow

2012-01-28T21:46:00.000-08:00

I try to teach my kids that just because they had a bad minute, that does not mean they have to havea bad hour. A bad hour does not mean a bad day. Things can always improve, especially with a little change in attitude.

With that said, this past week SUUUUUUUCKED. The bad minute turned into a bad hour, the bad hour turned into a bad day, and the bad days stacked up and I was ready for the week to be over.

Today was our Stake Women's Conference. By Thursday night I had talked myself out of going, justifying why it be just fine for me to stay home with my family after such a rough week and all.

Begrudgingly I realized I needed to go.

From the second the meeting started the time I walked out the door, I felt as if I could have been the only person there. Each and every single message seemed to be written just for me. To remind me, uplift, edify me, build my testimony. Each of the speakers addressed some very specific things I needed to hear. I am so grateful that our Heavenly Father continually reminds His stubborn children of His love.

I sat with a group of friends as we listened to the keynote speaker, Susan Bednar (wife of David A). I just love her and how she was so easy to relate to and so real. After she spoke we were to divide into groups. There were eight speakers but each group would only get to hear four of the speakers. As I heard my friends discussing what room they wanted to go to, I felt strongly that I should go to the Young Women's room. I didn't hear anybody else talking about that and I thought it might be more fun to go with friends, but as it came time to separate I knew without a doubt I needed to go to the Young Women's room. Sure enough, there was not a single other girl from my ward there. However, I knew I was lead to go there, because I couldn't have possibly gotten more out of that day than I did from hearing the four speakers I chose. In a future post I want to share my feelings about what I learned today. Hopefully it will be coming soon, before I forget. I have to write all these things down!

Happy New Year

2012-01-26T19:33:00.000-08:00

Of course everyone is aware it is the Chinese New Year. It's been a super fun week for Allie's class. On Monday they had a parade. All the kindergarteners were dressed in their Chinese clothes and holding different Chinese momentos. Allie had a fan and she was so excited about it.

Allie is a distracted performer. As soon as she saw us during the parade she would yell, "DADDY! DETMER! KENDALL! MACI!" She was so excited to see them (I had already been with her getting her changed.) Then every friend she saw she would call out.

Today there was an assembly. Allie's teacher taught about some Chinese traditions, then the kids sang some songs in Chinese. Since, if all goes well, my kids will speak Chinese fluently, I would love to learn more about their traditions and incorporate some into our lives. We'll see if I'm ambitious enough for that.

We are 96 days into the school year. I know because next week I will go in to help celebrate "100 DAYS OF SCHOOL!"

I was so terrified of Allie starting school. We loved our routine and the joy of doing what we want when we want. But as with everything in life, I have tried to move into this next phase gracefully. I admit I LOVE days off and get the blues when it's time to go back to school, but so far we could not have asked for a better experience this year.

Allie has got two (both English and Chinese) of the most amazing teachers. I love both of them so much and pray we continue to be so fortunate.

Out of this week and next (ten school days) I will get to be in Allie's classroom five times. I love it! I love seeing her in action and I especially love how excited she gets when I come to her class. I'm so grateful I get to be available for all these little and big things. Especially grateful that when I had to take Detmer, Kendall, and Maci with me they were as good as gold. Everyone commented on what a good baby Maci is. That girl, what an actress!

Smash

2012-01-22T19:29:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately all the Tebowing in the world couldn't help the Broncos last week, but we had fun showing off our gear at the party we went to last Saturday (the one we had to rush home from in order to watch the Broncos get slaughtered).

Maci was a let down with her smash cake. What the heck? This is the most she ate. I thought she was going to love it. She was not interested. The missing cake is just where I tried to get it going. She had maybe two bites. All of her siblings did better (including Allie who is not pictured).

Maci had her one year check up on Friday. The doctor was super pleased that she is up to 17 pounds and in the 5th percentile. I was just glad to avoid another lecture from him, because I knew she was just fine. She also has two birthmarks. Hopefully she never catches up with Kendall (who is up to eight birthmarks) but the pediatrician did say with Maci having two and Allie having two it makes it seem more genetic and less worrisome about Kendall.

Maci is and always has been such an awesome sleeper. And also loves to just lay in her crib and suck her fingers.

She is IN LOVE with her siblings. She sat with me today in primary and Detmer was right behind us and they would not leave each other alone.

The pediatrician ask me if she was walking and I said, um no she barely started crawling. Which was good because then he acted like she was a total genius when I said she is cruising.

She loves standing (supported) and climbing.

She is very ticklish, especially on her belly.

Every morning when she wakes up and I bring her out from her crib Allie, Detmer, and Kendall make a big fuss over her and she loves it. She claps and waves and bounces up and down.

She is starting to repeat words. I love when they start talking!

I take her to the gym, she's as good as gold. I leave her with Dave, she's good as gold. For me, she pretty much fusses at my feet until I pick her up. Spoiled!

Another reason I love my husband

2012-01-19T21:37:00.000-08:00

I had a basketball game tonight and between taking Allie to dance and running an errand and having Dave pick up Allie from dance and meeting Dave at his basketball game with the other three kids, I didn't have time to go home and change so I asked Dave to bring me a pair of shorts or capris and a black shirt.

(I knew Dave wasn't to be totally trusted so it was totally neccessary for me to change.)

After his game I got into his car and he took the kids in the van, so I grabbed the clothes he brought me and it was this tiny little pair of shorts. I just love that not only did he think I would wear those in public, but he's very familiar with them (they are my "I'm excercising at home and there's not a chance in the world anyone but Dave and the kids will see me" shorts), so he knows how they look on me and it didn't even phase him that I would wear them in public.

(I didn't end up changing.)

2012-01-12T19:56:00.000-08:00

One short year ago, I met this girl. I'm thankful I journal and can look back at the details of her birth, because I've forgotten a lot, but there's also so much I remember.

I remember from the instant I saw her, she was mine. It sounds so obvious, but that was the strongest feeling I had at Maci's birth. She was mine, and she was always meant to be mine. The emotions of having your brand new baby taken away from you is (for me at least) almost a physical pain. I wanted to look at Maci and study her every feature. I wanted to hold and cuddle her and kiss her one million times. But as soon as she came out of me, off she went. And I was anxious and couldn't wait to be with her again. When she came back to me, I couldn't hold her, I was in so much pain. But just being with her soothed me.

After the chaos of her birth and all the visitors and the whirlwind of the night it got dark and quiet and I held her, cuddled her, studied her every feature. Mostly I thanked Heavenly Father the whole entire night for giving me this most amazing little girl. I was so madly in love. I was giddy. I felt such perfect joy.

I remember talking to Cami on the phone in the hospital and going on and on and on and on about every single detail like a high school girl that just got home from her first date.

I would send Maci to the nursery while I slept and as soon as I woke up my first task was to get out of bed and walk to the nursery to get my baby.

I was so proud from the very beginning. I was always excited to tell the nursery workers which one was mine. "Yes, I'm Maci's mom."

We brought her home and she was such a novelty. None of us could believe how lucky we were to have her and I can honestly say that today, we all still feel the same way.

I called my dad earlier in the week to see what day he could do Maci's one year pictures. Since he likes to stop by on the exact birthday we decided to just do it at that time. As luck would have it Aunt Jenn and Aunt Tammy gave Maci these fabulous outfits for her birthday. Thanks Tammy and Jenn, they are perfect! And it is always fun for the third girl to get new clothes of her very own. I just loved the pictures. I raved to my dad about how perfect they turned out but I know I'm easy to please when it comes to this cute face.

She kept turning all the way around and thought she was so funny.

Gifts

2011-12-28T20:28:00.000-08:00

I am lucky that Dave is really good at picking out gifts. This year, he got me a ski pass. I have been wanting to go skiing forever but I have been pregnant or had a baby for the past several winters. I about had a heart attack when I opened it because I was so nervous and since it's already paid for there is no backing out. Now I realize that I am super excited and can't wait to try it out. Hopefully I am an expert skiier. Another thing I'm really excited for is season tickets to the Centerpointe Theater. We love going there. I was a bit nervous about that one, too. I was hoping the next thing I would unwrap would be a babysitter. But thankfully as soon as Kelly found out she offered to watch the kids (I bet it's written in permanent marker on the calendar!).

I am okay at getting gifts for Dave. Some years I think of something totally awesome, and other years I just can't think of anything. Dave is not gracious when he doesn't get something good. He totally has disappointment written all over his face. The first year we were married I didn't wrap Dave's stocking stuffers. Mine were never wrapped so I didn't even think of it. Dave was so disappointed I swear it ruined his Christmas! And he was not afraid to show it.

Long story short, Rock Band for the Wii is no longer made. I looked on KSL but only found sellers who were offering it with the Wii console, which I didn't need. I decided I would call everyone of them to see if anyone would sell me just the Rock Band. I asked Kelly to come with me in case the KSL posters were murderers trying to lure me in with their sweet "Rock Band". She agreed and we planned to go the next morning. That night we were going to go to Temple Square to see the lights. Well, the first person I text from KSL agreed to sell her Rock Band to me at a crazy awesome price, I knew if I waited til the next morning it would be gone (she had just posted it that day). So I text Kelly and she HAD PLANS WHICH DID NOT INCLUDE GOING WITH ME TO AVOID BEING MURDERED! So here is our text conversation, so Dave can fully appreciate the trouble we went to for this awesome gift (which is SO MUCH FUN!!!) I also had to make up a lame excuse to him as to why we weren't going to Temple Square. It was easy with the kids, they were disappointed until they found out they were going to play with cousins.

So I text Kelly...

Me: She just text me back and is giving me an awesome deal. Can you go today at 4:30?
Kelly: Boo, I have to pick jeremy up at 430 & Zack has a practice at 445. Would it help at all for u to drop the kids off while u go? I guess that doesn't solve the problem of u getting murdered...
Me: That would be great, but do you think Trev could come with me?
Kelly: Can Trev come with u to possibly witness and or be murdered? I'm sure he'd love to!
Me: Great, I'll pick him up at 4.

I'm so glad Trev (and Lance!) could go be my protectors and it was all worth it because Dave loves it and so do I (and Allie)!

Review

2011-12-27T20:01:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is the Christmas Eve sibling gift exchange. This year, having four kids and all, we drew names instead of all the kids getting each other gifts. As they exchanged gifts, they gave a love and said what they love about the person they were giving to. It was awesome!

On Christmas morning, Dave woke us up (accidently by really loudly shattering a mirror into a million pieces) at 6:45! It was TORTURE waiting til 8 to wake up the kids.

I'll be honest, we weren't thrilled about going to church on Christmas. Nothing against church. Well, nothing except for it makes me want to harm my children because they are so awful when we are there. But we loaded up and went. I thought it was going to be a slow day at church. I figured a lot of people would "lose track of time" playing with their gifts and the like. Well, it was packed. Everyone was there, and for good reason. The meeting was so amazing! The spirit was so strong and it was time very well spent. I did, in fact, want to cause harm, but only to one of my children (you'd never guess which...). It ended up adding so much to our day rather than taking away.

Allie has been asking for this dang Pillow Pet since last Christmas, or maybe even her fifth birthday. I have thought they are the biggest rip off ever, but everyone I talked to whose kid had one said they loved it. So when they were ten bucks this year, I got one. For twenty, which is what they were last year, I would have held my ground and not bought it.

Cute little Maci looking like a little guy in her (hand me down from Detmer) Rudolph jammies. Poor thing had a cold on Christmas. Thankfully it hasn't slowed her down much. She had NO interest in opening gifts, but loved crawling around and checking in on everyone.

We got the kids their own 3DS this year. I did some painstaking research and decided a 3DS was the best option as far as handheld consoles go. As far as I know, none of my kids had ever touched a DS before (it's possible they've played at a friends house, but I don't think so). So when they opened them Detmer said, "DS is my life!!!" It was a great reaction and he has done his best to make it true that DS is his life. We went mini-golfing today and on our way home Det said, "I can't wait to get home so I can play my DS." Allie is in heaven with hers as well. We didn't even need to buy her any games, as her favorite feature is being able to record herself and play it back again and again and again...

Cookies and milk for Santa.We had so much fun on Christmas Eve playing tons of games. I think it helped the time go by super fast for the kids. We played Minute to Win It, Missionary Tag, Elf Elf Santa (duck duck goose), freeze dance, and the stupid unwrapping a present game that the kids love but I'm never doing again (it sucks for the poor kids who don't get a turn!).

My dad also came over with his gifts, since he knew we would not have time to open them on Christmas. The kids' were so excited to open something as they impatiently waited for Christmas morning.

Christmas Day at Grandpa's. We had a delicious dinner and lots of fun playing.

After my dad's we went to Dave's parents with just enough time to say hi to the Hyer's and the Baldwin's. We got some super cute gifts--I especially can't wait to post pictures of the gift Jenn got for the kids!

Christmas Letter

2011-12-23T20:16:00.000-08:00

I love the Christmas cards and letters we receive in the mail each year. However, I've never sent a Christmas card out. I've never even really considered it, a lot to do with my tumultuous relationship with the post office and also to do with my lazy. And some lack of desire. The blog is as close as I will get, so please enjoy this year's Christmas letter.

Allie: (age 6) Allie is growing like crazy, as evidenced by her conversation with Detmer the other day. They were flipping through the Netflix Queue when they came upon a once beloved favorite. Allie exclaims, "ohhhhhhhhh, I used to love that show when I was little!" (Even way back then?)

She also surprises us with all the words she adds to her vocabulary. The other day I told her we were going to cousins, "tremendous!" She replies.

She is not lacking in the self confidence department, either. She had her dance recital the other day. When we got home and she got into jammies I said, "you sure looked gorgeous tonight at your dance recital." She looked at me, unimpressed. "Um. And I looked gorgeous before my dance recital. Remember? I was wearing my black Christmas shirt and my hair was like this (holds her head in pigtails)." How could I forget?

Detmer: (Age 4) Detmer's highlight of the year came all the way back in January when our precious Maci was born. I think both Dave and I are a little shocked that out of all the children, it was Detmer who formed the strongest bond with our baby girl. I don't think it's an overstatement to say he's obsessed. He wants us to have seven more babies, and will not hear of it if we tell him we aren't having more babies. A couple months ago he said, "Mom, I want our next baby to be a boy." Then he turns to Maci and says in his baby talk voice, "unless it's as cute as Maci, then I want it to be another girl."

So imagine my shock when I picked him up from the gym daycare the other day and he was going on and on about another baby. "Mom, Alex is sooo cute. I love way Alex says, dada. He's SO cuuuuute. Mom?" He pulls out the big guns, "Alex is cuter than Maci!" I was shocked and appalled. Who was this baby that had dethroned Maci? Did I work out side by side with his mom each day? How old was he, anyway? I started asking Detmer some follow up questions and finally discovered the (new) source of his affections:

Detmer has made some good new friends this year, but his number one remains the same. The other day, I asked him to tell me what he wanted me to write in his journal. I wrote as he told me, "I love Daddy. Daddy's my best friend. Daddy does a lot of things for me. Daddy plays with me. I love Daddy." "Okay, great!" I encourage, "anything else? I mean, you can talk about anyone else you want. Is there anyone or anything else you want me to write about?" He thinks for a second, "um. I love Daddy. We like to plays guns. Daddy loves to play with me." "Okay. So that's it then?" I ask. "Nothing else you want me to write? No other important people you want included in there?" He thinks for a second..."nope. That's all." And runs off to play.

Kendall: (age 3) Last week I scheduled Kendall's three year well check. She was not going to be having it. I tried every encouragement I knew how ("you will NOT be getting shots!" "you can get a sucker!") She didn't fall for any of it. I'm attempting to wean her off being so spoiled and getting everything she wants (oops) but after the disaster visit at the dentist, I knew this was not going to go well. So I told her I'd cancel. I "called" the doctor's office. I told them Kendall couldn't make it, but could we stop by and grab Maci some food? (I always pick up a formula sample at the doctor, and Kendall knew that since she went with me to Maci's last appointment.) I told her while we were picking up the formula, I should introduce her to my friend Silas (the doctor's name). She was excited to meet my friend. She said, "how old is she?" Not wanting her to be intimidated that he was a man, I said, "Silas is as big as Daddy. And you are going to love his awesome glasses." The medical assistant did all of Kendall's measurements and I asked her, "Hey can my friend Silas bring in Maci's food. Kendall really wants to meet him." A minute later the doc comes in (wondering why he's handing me formula). He checks Kendall out from head to toe. But she was none the wiser. To this day, she thinks she got out of going to the doctor. And that is the story of how the bamboozler became the bamboozled.

She loves to dance anytime there is music, and this video from back in February will always be one of my faves (curse whoever thought of having the DDR boo a bad dancer! What if your two year old wants to try it?)

Maci: (age ALMOST ONE!!!) I'm a little worried about Maci's post. I don't want any other mom's to feel bad if there babies are a little, well, slow. Just remember, all babies learn at a different pace, and just because Maci is a little more advanced than most babies, it's no reason for other (lesser?) mother's out there to feel bad. But, it's true, just this week at just shy of one year old, my baby Maci has LEARNED TO CRAWL!!! I know. It's crazy. I should probably consider contacting the Discovery channel or something. I sense a "genius babies" special in her very near future. Now, she's not doing it consistently quite yet, but after months of watching her drag her little gut along the floor, she is occasionally getting up on all fours. If she's not careful she might be walking before the age of 2!

We also discovered tonight that she can climb up stairs. I wasn't sure if Dave put her in bed or left her downstairs, so I asked. He walked into the front room and said, "well I THOUGHT she was downstairs but she's right here." She had the biggest smile on her face and was so proud of her accomplishment! (Stair climbing AND crawling in the same week? Uh-oh. Looks like I've got a little over-achiever on my hands!)

Merry Christmas!!!

I LOVE CHRISTMAS!

2011-12-13T21:05:00.000-08:00

I don't get how people do not LOVE the beautiful Christmas season. If you have had emotional trauma related to Christmas (such as I have with Thanksgiving) than I can excuse you from loving all things Christmas. BUT that is the only excuse I can accept. Please allow me to give these three pieces of advice:

#1: You are not TOO busy. Promise. Most who know me know it is my biggest pet peeve to hear people moan and groan about how busy they are (sometimes it's like a contest, I swear!) but this is not acceptable during Christmas. The most important thing is making memories, keeping traditions, spending time with family, and learning about the birth of Jesus. Almost all other things can be set aside. You do not have to say yes to each and every invitation that comes your way.
#2: Go ahead and shop in advance. If you are waiting for a Christmas bonus, that's fine. BUT please be sure you know all the things you want and how you are going to purchase them (online or in store? If in store, what store?) I saw this mom at Target complaining about how bad she HATES CHRISTMAS SHOPPING THIS CLOSE TO CHRISTMAS. You know what? I love it. Probably because I really don't NEED anything. My Christmas shopping has been done for months (in my head). One thing I knew I wanted I kept my eyes open and found the sweetest deal ever and ran to the store to grab it.
#3: My friend's husband had the day off work and I told her she should be out doing something fun. She said, "it's hard to have fun when you don't have money." But really, it's not. I proceeded to give her a list of things she can do for free or very cheap. Please contact me if you need any ideas, but don't cause yourself huge amounts of financial stress at Christmas. If your financial situation doesn't allow you to buy the things you want this year, make it special for your children in whatever way you can. Memories and traditions are what they will remember.

(You are welcome for that helpful list-may it make your season brighter.) Here are some things we have done to make our season bright:

Took the kids to Chuck E Cheese. Maci had lots of fun but was not so good at Deal or No Deal.

Maci was really good at this game though. I don't recall the name of it but I pulled the lever and set Maci's bum on it to stop it and she won 100 tickets. I know it's disgusting that she was crawling around on the floor of Chuck E Cheese but she had to gather her 100 tickets.

This was after we got home from our "Christmas Sweater" party our friends had. It's very unfortunate we did not get a group shot. They had a photo booth at the party, and I heard the pictures turned out terrible so hopefully we get to see them soon!

Tonight we went to Corben's choir concert. I took this picture to show my dad that his phone takes better pics than my camera and could he please be in charge of still shots at Allie's recital tomorrow.

I walked down the stairs the other day and the kids were sitting like this. It's times like these I wish I had a camera surgically attached to my person, but after a very quick trip up the stairs and back down, I gratefully found they held the pose.

This day of our advent calendar said, "family date: movie with popcorn". I like how they are all eating popcorn but none of them are even looking at the TV. Incidentally, we ended up turning off the first ABC Family movie we picked because it was "too scary".

Kendall wanted to feed Maci. Poor Maci. She's pretty much eating upside down. That's can't be comfy.For another advent, the kids' got to open a gift from under the tree. They each got coloring books. They go through coloring books like they are going out of style, plus the coloring books cost a quarter. Win/Win.

Fwee

2011-12-05T20:26:00.000-08:00

I already wrote a very lovely post about Kendall turning "fwee" (as she likes to say). But it disappeared. Actually, worse. It was on my screen and I couldn't save it or post it so I just had to x out. Boo. So here's is a little bit about Kendall:

Kendall is my spoiled and naughty girl, but also a huge charmer. She does the naughtiest stuff but in the funniest way. And even if I wanted to punish her, I swear she has no conscience. She does the same naughty stuff over and over. Just come to my house and find the coloring on the walls/furniture/and as of today PLATES!

Kendall was the easiest baby ever. Seriously rarely fussed, slept great. I think she was about 9 months when things changed and my sweet baby turned into, well, Allie puts it best: "Kendall! You naughty naughty girl." We say that a lot!

She loves Allie, Detmer, Kendall, Disneyland, princesses, Mickey and Minnie, family dates, dates with daddy, monkeys (especially her blankey), cousins, grandparents, Owen and Emmett, coloring. I can't really name her favorite foods because she has no appetite, unless of course it's junk food.

She will not watch TV yet constantly asks "can we watch Netflix?" And I'm like, "YES! Will you PLEASE!!!" But once it's on she's on to the next activity. The one show she will watch is my nemesis: Caillou. Now, I'm no kid-TV hater. Heck I even love Barney! But if you're not familiar with Caillou he's a whiney little brat who talks baby talk and always gets his own way. (hmmm, now that I think about it maybe Kendall's watching it a little too much!)

Kendall loves to sing and dance. The other day we were driving around and she was listening to Dave's iPod and starts singing, "gotta get get. gotta get get." When a song comes on that she likes she needs it turned up as loud as possible. She says, "Mommy, it's my faveut song! Turn it up!"

Cuddling with Grandpa Greg on the night of her birthday-exhausted from so much fun!

Fun birthday at Boondocks!

Kendall and her monkey cake.

!

2011-11-26T21:28:00.000-08:00

I'm so grateful that my sweet little kids get excited about every tiny little thing we do. May they always be so easy to please!

The kids were so excited for Thanksgiving they couldn't even sleep. Seriously. Thanksgiving! I absolutely love their zest for life.

After Thanksgiving dinner we went to a movie. A movie! Could they be more lucky?!

Then we got home Denny was here. Denny!!!

And we did Just Dance on the wii!!!

Foreshadowing: this was taken before the movie started and Kendall was like, "when's the movie going to be over?" Then she fell asleep about 20 minutes in.

Maci squirmed and wiggled until she was on my lap and then fell sound asleep. (Dave and I traded babies'. Maci slept on me, Kendall slept on Dave.)

Allie and Detmer LOVE! (as I've noted) going to the theater but we don't go more than once every few months. It's always funny when the lights go down and the screen turns on they get nervous!

We saw the Muppet Movie and we all loved it (except Dave, who liked it). I did not think it was as good as Muppet's Take Manhatten or the Muppet Christmas Carol but those are two of my all time favorite movies, so it's not really a far comparison!

Topless

2011-11-18T21:07:00.000-08:00

WARNING: This post contains some partial nudity and may not be suitable for children under the age of 13.

This is the kind of post that once I push "publish" I have no chance of running for office. This is the dirt that would come out on me. I've decided to go public with it anyway. I told my kids' about it the other night and their reaction was awesome.

When Dave reads this post, he's going to be so disappointed there is not pictures. (Actually as soon as he figures out what story this is he's going to be like, PLEASE NO! Don't tell me she went public with this!)

As has been well documented, my children LOVE swimming. Every Davis County resident should know that on Wednesday nights (in the winter) from 6 to 845 pm, Surf N Swim offers entrance for $1. That is a deal we can't pass up.

So last year when the dollar nights started in October, I decided to take the children. Dave was working late or something, I can't remember why he never came. I was quite pregnant with our precious Maci.

I got my three beautiful children in their swimsuits, packed a change of clothes, and off we went.

As I watched them play and splash in the pool I was totally satisfied with my decision to come swimming in the freezing temps.

We got out of the pool at closing time (ah, those were the days not having to worry about getting up early the next morning.)

I took the three kids into the locker room for a shower and to change into their jammies so they wouldn't freeze on the way home.

Surf N Swim has the type of shower where four heads come off of one pipe. It's great because I put all the kids in, punch their showers on, and the ones who are not being cleaned are still keeping warm.

My little shivering one year old Kendall was first. I soaped her down, washed her hair, and dressed her nice and cozy in her jammies. I sat her on a bench while I went to wash Allie and Detmer.

As I'm washing Allie's hair, I saw something so horrible out of the corner of my eye. I prayed my eyes were deceiving me. What was it, you may wonder? Man carrying a knife? A shadow lurking behind the bathroom stall? No. Much worse.

My fully dressed Kendall standing IN the shower dancing around, dripping wet in her jammies.

I quickly dressed Allie and Detmer. Kendall was shivering by now.

Please try and understand what I am about to say next. I had three small children. It was of utmost priority that I bring them towels and clothes to change into so they didn't have to ride home in their swimsuits. Now, that took enough time so OBVIOUSLY I didn't bother packing a change of clothes for myself. However, when I got out of the pool and realized how cold it was, I took off my swimsuit and put on only my jacket and pants that I had worn over my swimsuit to the pool.

Our towels were soaking wet.

My baby was soaking wet.

It was freezing cold.

My first priority was to get my kids home to their warm beds.

So I did what any good (non)self-respecting mother would do: I got the kids in the van at lightening speed, slipped off Kendall's jammies, slipped my jacket over her to offer hopefully a little warmth, hopped in the driver's seat, and drove home.

And that, my friends, is how I ended up driving topless around Layton City.

(To be honest my favorite part of this story is when I told my two friends Kristen and Kristen. They literally had their mouths gaping open. Then they were like, "so you just had a shirt on, but no bra." Me: "no. no shirt." Kristen: "so then you were JUST wearing a bra?" Me: "no. no I was not wearing a bra." They couldn't cope with what I had done. They didn't realize my desperation. Then they spent the next several minutes trying to solve the problem for me, not realizing it couldn't be undone. They were like, you should have wrapped up in a wet towel! You should have put your swimsuit back on! And that was when I realize that until they, too, are caught driving around town topless, they will never understand.)

Huck

2011-11-14T21:23:00.000-08:00

Dave is a sentimental guy. He has boxes of stuff he does not want to part with. Sometimes he'll think of getting rid of something but say, "My Grandpa bought this for me" or "My Grandma made this." At which point I gently remind him he's 31 years old and if I kept as much stuff as he did we would have no where to live.

He is letting go nice and easy. But he did have one cherished childhood toy that meant the world to him. He's been excited for years to give it to Detmer, but he had to wait until Detmer was responsible enough to care for it. This toy belonged not only to Dave, but also to his dad. This is a three generation toy. The other night, Detmer earned his rite of passage into Huckhood.

Dave got out his beloved Huck stuffed animal and presented it to Detmer. Detmer's reaction never disappoints. He LOVES this stuffed animal. That night when Dave checked on Detmer he found this:
When I went in his room in the morning to get Maci, he was playing with Huck. Tonight Allie got to stay up and watch a show, but Detmer had to go to bed. He was so mad when he discovered the injustice he held Huck tight the entire time pleading his case (P.S. WHY does it suck so bad to not give my kids everything they want. I just wanted to say "come here precious, of course you can watch a show you wonderful boy." Following through on punishment SUCKS!!!). For some reason when Detmer gets mad or sad for Dave, he uses a British accent. So he clung to Huck and cried "Doddy!!!! Doddy!!!!" Long live Huck!

Ni Hao

2011-11-14T21:01:00.000-08:00

Today Dave and I attended our very first parent teacher conference. We felt like actors posing as grown ups but we didn't make too big of fools of ourselves (well, I guess the teacher could say different...) Her English teacher showed us some of her work and had great things to say. We just love Allie's teacher. She is everything a parent and student could ever want in a teacher. I was out on Saturday and when I came home Allie had a letter written to Santa:

Dear Sata, al I wnt for chrisms is a desg wth al the erts and cfs.

I easily read it: Dear Santa, All I want for Christmas is a desk with all the arts and crafts.

She told me "I asked Daddy to help, but he was too busy playing the computer so I just sounded it out."

The main thing her teacher praised Allie about is her writing and that she is not afraid of spelling things wrong. See how it pays off to have lazy parents? Your welcome, Allie. We do what we can.

When we met with Allie's Chinese teacher, she wanted Allie to demonstrate her Chinese skills. At first the two of them sat there chatting in Chinese. It was so crazy to hear my little baby speaking Chinese. I loved every second, but let's be honest, Chinese is a very different language and it was so weird to hear it coming from my little girl. It was weird for me to have no idea what she was saying. So, what do I do? Start laughing. I was so embarrassed and tried to stop but couldn't. Dave told me later he was going to nudge me to signal me to stop laughing. Ya think? Yeah, I realized it was a little inappropriate but I couldn't help it.

The other day in Allie's primary class she had to pick a service she would do at home. She picked doing the dishes. She walked right in from church and got to work on it! AND she did a great job! She is the biggest help to me.

The other day Allie finally got a beloved "BAGGIE BOOK" from school. She was so excited! She immediately read it three times so she could check it off and get another one. They have to read each book three times before exchanging, so she reads it once to me, once to Dave, and once to Detmer and Kendall. It works out beautifully!

When I picked Allie up from dance last week she wouldn't come out the door and was holding her hands behind her back. As soon as I opened it she showed me her prize and her certificate for "hardest worker". She has been wanting the hardest worker award pretty much since she started dance so this was a big treat for her!

Some.Things.

2011-11-12T20:19:00.000-08:00

Most of these pictures are Octoberish, but while Dave is freezing his butt off at the blowout BYU game tonight, I'll post these in his honor:)Back when the sun used to shine, we took the kids to see the Cougars. Dave took turns taking each of the kids as his date to the games, and this game Grandpa gave us his extra tickets and we all got to go. It was Maci's first game and she definitely loved it:) She was really good. We had so much fun. It was another blowout (thanks to our awesome Independace schedule) but I don't mind a good blowout. It was a blast.

One of the funnest things about a big win is doing the rise and shout lots and lots. The kids, especially Kendall, loved that part.

Over UEA we went to the cabin. As we were driving back home I was in the worst mood ever due to a variety of issues we were having. 15 minutes down the road I see this. So many dang cows blocking the road I couldn't even get through. At first I was like, oh great slow me down even more. But it ended up being the funnest thing that could have happened. The kids and I laughed our heads off as we drove one mile per hour through a million cows that we easily could have reached out and touched.

When I saw this cute picture really small I was like "what are they making pancakes or waffles?" Because if Dave is cooking, it's pancakes or waffles.

I LOVE going to Black Island Farms each fall. It is one of my favorite fall traditions. That place is so much fun and everyone who works there is so nice. The big bonus of this year is that Allie didn't get lost!

Of course I was by myself with the four kids when we went on the Hayride (at Black Island Farms) where they each get to pick a pumpkin. Thank goodness for the kindness of strangers. Everyone was helping us with our pumpkins and someone even held Maci! Plus I was so lucky that my neighbors were there and took my pumpkins and dropped them off at our house!

This girl is in her dress up phase. She usually has on at least one dress up. Usually about four or five different outfits. This I took AFTER she took off her Pooh costume that was on over her leotard!

Disguised

2011-11-02T20:45:00.000-07:00

So we saw about 100 other little fellows with Detmer's same costumer, including his good friend Ty. I personally am not a fan of the generic super hero's but then I guess I shouldn't have bought it for Detmer because he was in love with it and refused to even consider other options!

Kendall was Piglet for the ward party but luckily she still cares a little bit about my influence, so this Piglet costume didn't come out again and instead Kendall was a stylin' cowgirl. I think Piglet could have worked but it's a little too small for her.

Cutest little witch. Okay, this costume I was totally happy with!

Allie's dance group did a flash mob at Burger Stop. It was awesome! A bunch of people were there for the car show when fifty or so girls started dancing. I'm excited for more of these.

The problem with the flash mob: this was the best picture I got of Allie dancing!

Pumpkin carving! Too bad I don't have a picture of how amazing they turned out. (Amazing, at least, for those who like squares and circles. We're very basic with our pumpkin carving.)

Grandma's ward Trunk or Treat. The kids love this and the weather was beautiful this year!

The whole reason Allie decided to be a black cat was because I bought this witch costume and she wanted to b my black cat. Then when I dressed up as a witch she HATED it! She begged me not to do it again. It was hilarious!

Dave's office does a Halloween party each year that the kids' love! They look so forward to their privlidged entry into Daddy's work and especially eating at McDonald's, which is a must for Daddy's work!

We had an awesome Halloween. I love when the weather cooperates. The Cardon's have started an annual (right? Right???) tradition of roasting hot dogs for Trick or Treaters. The kids, or I should say Allie, lasted the shortest amount of time this year. Allie can usually go forever. It was perfect amount of time for the parents.

Awesome and Not Awesome

2011-10-27T20:59:00.000-07:00

AWESOME!!!: I'm not sure who all knew that Dave has been in the middle of a very long and stressful (for me:)) interview process. While we were on our trip we found out Dave got the job. OH YEAH!!! We were so excited. Dave LOVES his job so much and he does such a great job. A couple months ago I was doing my temple recommend interview and the counselor doing my interview, who works with Dave, said, "I just want to tell you what a great job Dave does at work. I wanted you to know he works really hard." I thought that was awesome! I'm so thankful for the hard work Dave does for our family. It's like Diana text Dave and I the other day when Diana and I were taking the kids' to the cabin "sorry Dave, someone has to work while the mama's go play!" And that he does without complaint!

Not Awesome: While at Disneyland we had to say good-bye to our stroller:( This may not sound like a big deal but Dave and I were pretty sentimental about this stroller. I still remember when my dad got it for me (meaning my dad gave Kelly money to purchase a travel system for me). It was my shower when I was pregnant with Allie and I was SO excited. We got our money's worth (or I guess my dad's money:)) out of that thing. It spent many more years pushing two kids then it did pushing one. It even came with us the first time we took Allie and Detmer to Disneyland!

Luckily it happened on Friday. Dave, Allie, and Detmer were walking home from the park and the wheel fell off right outside Disneyland. The funny thing was, Dave asked the front desk if there was anywhere we could put it. The girl at the front desk said, "don't even worry about it. We'll take care of it. You'd be surprised how much this happens. We get at least a couple of these a week." A WEEK? Mostly I'm mad I have to buy another stroller for my baby but, as I said, it served us well so I can't complain!

Good Things

2011-10-19T21:14:00.000-07:00

Every year when I experience the first bitter fall temperatures and the early darkness, I am taken back to that time 8/9 years ago to the coldest most bitter fall I have ever experienced. There are no words to describe those two subsequent fall seasons, but sometimes I go back in my mind and remember how hard it was to breath with that crushing feeling in my chest, let alone do anything else.

Words can't express how grateful I was for the phone calls, emails, and texts I received today. I didn't respond to everyone even thought I wanted to. I didn't know what to say. But I was so touched by each and every person who remembers. I know I will forever. And I was afraid the time would come that everyone around me would start to forget, and each year I remember how blessed I am to have such amazing people in my life that will remember with me forever.

I love this Mormon Message by Jeffrey R Holland-Good Things To Come. I could have made a very similar video myself which is probably why this has always been one of my favorites. I love this quote from President Monson "[Our Heavely Father] softens our winters, but He also brightens our summers." (Full really awesome talk here)

We just got back from our week long vacation, and THAT was a really good thing. Everyone thinks Dave and I are so madly in love with Disneyland, but truthfully we are madly in love with being together as a family for a week (and having a maid and not having to cook or do laundry, ahh...glorious!) Here are some of my most favorite pictures:

Dave took this picture while waiting for Allie and Detmer and I to get off Star Tours so in the future we can pretend like we bought the kids stuff at Disneyland. "Gosh...whatever happened to those ears we bought you?"

Allie got picked out of the crowd to go dance with Phineus and Ferb. I'm not sure Allie even enjoyed it she was concentrating so hard on getting all the moves right! After being the only kid up there for a few minutes, they picked a bunch more kids out of the audience and Detmer and Kendall got to go up and dance. Kendall loved it. Detmer came back and sat by us after about thirty seconds.

Kendall's favorite ride was the carousel! Such a dare devil, that one. The nice part was it was always a short line.

Kendall was the only one who cared about meeting characters and was so excited to meet Pooh!

The whole time Kendall kept saying "I don't want to see Buzz, Mom. I don't want to see Buzz." It was so random. Then when we saw him she's like, "Mom! I want to go hug Buzz!"

Sporting these three in the double plus Kendall in the single is what we have to thank for the thousands of comments we received. Most everyone was super nice. A bunch of "wow, you've got your hands full!" A bunch of "awwws". Only one, "wow you guys must be Mormons!"

Detmer and Jack! Detmer was finally tall enough to go on almost all the rides and he loved it. We rode Big Thunder Mountain probably twenty times. Lots of Space Mountain and Star Tours. He was very excited that he got to go on Tower of Terror AND that he loved it. That's his thing when we talk to anyone about Disneyland, "Mom, did you tell them I went on Tower of Terror?"

So to sum it up it was pretty much the best vacation ever. We spent several hours each day at Disneyland and several hours in the pool. The two favorite places of my kids!

Family

2011-10-02T21:13:00.000-07:00

Last week was the fabulous day dreaded by mother's everywhere: family pictures. I'm just waiting for someone to invent a huge screen where I can look at the pictures as they are being taken so if there is someone who needs to sit up straighter, suck in, stop biting their lip, get their finger out of their mouth (Kendall!) I can make it a quick fix instead of later looking at the pictures and saying "if only..." But with that said, I'm going to call these family pictures a success. What can I say I'm a proud mom and I think these are the cutest babies ever!!!Maci was SOOOO easy. She sat on the grass and I stood behind my dad and talked to her and she smiled the whole time. There's a bunch of other cute ones, and I'm sure they will find their way into a post. I'm in love with that cheezy smile! She does it all the time and we can't get enough!

This cute little stinker was the naughtiest of all. She was being good and happy, but she is just at the stage where her "cheese" face is so cheesy and she was easily bored. Still I loved a bunch of her, too. I've been through all the pictures about a million times trying to decide which ones to put on the wall.

I love this handsome guy and I especially love that we didn't tell him a single thing about how to pose. He totally did the hand in his pocket by choice!

This pose was Allie's choice as well. We said, "K, Allie. Your turn." She walks over, stands like this, snap, and done. Glorious.

My friend gave me the dress Maci is wearing as a gift when Maci was brand new. I loved it so much I planned our whole family picture outfits around it!

Just a little dedication

2011-09-12T21:06:00.000-07:00

This summer was not all fun and games. The dark spot of all when one of my best friends in the whole! entire! world! moved. Boo. Boo for moving. When people move you should say, "well, I will miss you but I'm excited for this new opportunity for you and I wish you luck." But I don't say those things. I say, "COME BAAAAAAACK!!!!!!!"

Lindsay is the beautiful one on the left (Chels is the beautiful one on the right.) If you want I will hook her up with your handsome and available friends and neighbors. Just let me know. She may be the funniest gal you will ever meet. At least half my lingo comes from Linds (and I'm pretty funny). She is really good with music too, so if you are ever wondering if a song/artist is cool or not you can just text her. BUT please don't text if you need to have a full conversation. Just to make quick plans (hey meet you at 7!). Also, please don't serve her warm fried chicken or mexican. And just a warning: at the end of the date it is possible she will run (sprint, even) to her car. Her turn ons include white jeans.

Anyways, most of the time I am doing okay. But then I go to the Downtown Club and there is just an emptiness inside. Then when I saw the sign announcing Women's Conference in church on Sunday, I almost had to walk out so I could shed a tear or two.

This post was meant to include our really fabulous pictures from our first annual day of fitness. But I go to post them, and they turn out like this:

What the...? It's a sign Linds. You need to come back for our second annual day of fitness. This time we will get amazing pictures (maybe let a professional photographer follow us around for the day?). I know our vertical has improved 100%. We will put our last year selves to shame.

Happy Birthday To My Hot Wife

2011-09-04T06:42:00.000-07:00

You know when you listen to a radio station and someone calls in and says "Hi I'm a long time listener, first time caller." That's kind of like how I feel right now. Long time reader first time poster here. Anyways enough about me let's get to the lady of honor today, my Wife. Happy Birthday Kira!!

It's crazy but it seems like just yesterday I was celebrating your 20th birthday with you and now it's the big 3 - 0!! A lot has changed in 10 years hasn't it, babe? I still remember that night of your 20th birthday. Back then you were just known affectionately as my girlfriend. Let me set the scene for you. It was a beautiful hot September 4th night. A sweet couple was sitting at some picnic tables at Barnes Park. The sun had just set on a perfect day and the moon was just starting to descend it's moonbeams down upon us. Across the way was a smiling gal, who to this day I swear was glowing in that moon beam light. We had just stopped at Chevron to pick up some raspberry filled powdered donuts, a favorite treat of mine at the time. As we sat at the table I may or may not have had white powder lining my lips. Which I may have been doing to try and tempt you into kissing me. I mean what is hotter than kissing a guy with powdered lips?

The moment came that it was time to give you your B-day present. Fortunately for you I wasn't like most guys. I didn't pull out flowers or jewelry. Which I had learned were not on the top of your list of things you'd like as presents. So maybe I should say I was fortunate you are not like most women. :)

At this time we had only been dating for about 4 months and we still had about another 4.5 months till we would get engaged but, this crazy guy had the gull to tell you before he gave you your birthday gift that it was something silver, round, shiny, and has a hole in the middle. What could it possibly be you might ask? No, it definitely wasn't a ring. It was none other than a Michael McLean CD. How romantic!! That wasn't all. You reached back into my fancy dancy wrapping paper, a plastic bag, and pulled out an electronic Yahtzee game. Little did I know at the time that I had hit the jackpot with the gifts. I learned several months later that you would sit in your room every night for hours past your bed time listening to the CD, playing Yahtzee, and dreaming of a certain hot guy.

Flashforward 10 years later and we have the most amazing family. I have four of the most beautifully precious kids and a wife that would do anything for us. I couldn't ask for a more amazing woman. I hope it's not to cliche to say my love for her grows more and more with each passing day because it's true. I look at Kira and am so thankful for all she does for us. I am so grateful that she makes us her #1 priority. The memories we have made are priceless and I look forward to many, many more. I may have given her a CD and game for that first birthday together but, she has given me the world. I love you Kira!!! Happy Birthday!

My Buddy

2011-09-03T19:51:00.001-07:00

This is my handsome little buddy at the BYU party, where someone said, "do you know who Ty Detmer is?" He looked at them like they were stupid and said, "yeah...me."

Detmer also started "preschool" this week. Diana asked me if I wanted to do a cousin preschool. Of course I had to ponder and pray about it because 1) I'm selfish. With both my time and Detmer's (last year before kindergarten!) and 2) I'm lazy. Having Detmer gone/occupied leaves me to entertain Kendall and she is our worst kid at entertaining herself. She is also our kid who does not need MORE one on one time! But I knew Detmer would love it so I decided to give it a try.

Of course he needed a brand new back pack and a bunch of school supplies. I actually loved getting him stuff and putting him in the spotlight a little bit since Allie's had so much going on lately.

I got Allie and Detmer those days of the week clothes organizer's and most days I've just pulled Detmer's stuff out and given it to him. I figured he'd be up bright and early on preschool morning, so I just pointed to where his clothes were so he could get up and get dressed. Well, where he saw me point was to a brand new (still had tags) size 3T sweatsuit! He comes into my room in the morning wearing a skin tight SWEATSUIT! I'm going to make him put it back on JUST for the sake of a picture (we didn't have time that morning). It was actually a gift he got awhile ago but had already outgrown it when he got it. This guy if funny!

Detmer's life has definitely changed the most drastically with Allie starting school. Yesterday was glorious with Allie having her early out day and Detmer and Allie were back up to their old antics in no time. It made remember how things used to be (haha last week).

I sure do love my little guy! He's such a good boy!

I keep on taking pictures

2011-08-29T21:04:00.000-07:00

It was brutal.

You dread something, like say getting your car registered. Then you do it and you heave a big sigh of relief and think "I'm glad that's over!"

Well, this whole kindergarten thing is not like that. Because it's never going to be over. We've only just begun. And I dreaded it for a long time and then it ended up being worse than I thought. It's true, I miss my baby girl. But it's so much more than that. My whole life as I have known it is over. It's really tragic. I never got post partum depression or baby blues with my babies, but I think I have it now. Just a really late onset?

Heather got a book for us-"Let Me Hold You Longer". I was determined not to cry in front of Allie (I saved all that for Dave). But when I held my baby girl last night and read that book, it was a struggle, especially this line, "Silly scattered images will represent your past. I keep on taking pictures, never quite sure of your lasts..."

One good last happened today though, as I told Kelly this morning. I am SO thankful this is the last time I have to send my first child to kindergarten.

But enough about me.

Here's how Allie feels about Kindergarten:

Thanks for the shirt Aunt Diana.

Her "first day" is more of a parent meeting. Dave and I stayed the whole time to learn about this whole kindergarten mess we've gotten ourselves into. Allie was in heaven from the first minute! She was disappointed when she found out Dave and I were staying. Darn that little Miss Independant! I took her for testing the next day and she said, "I never want to leave school!" After school we made her favorite breakfast and we gave her a choice of activities. Bowling! Swimming! Arcade! Yeah, she chose feeding the ducks.

Today was her official first day. Meaning I had to drop her off and leave. Ouch. I dropped her off, went to the gym, and had lunch with some friends. I was SO grateful I got to keep busy because believe me when I say I was a big mess just waiting for the clock to turn. Dave said, "now remember school gets out at 1:25 so you don't need to leave here at noon to go get her." Even as I was on my way to pick her up I had thoughts of what if school got out at 1? What if she cried? What if she hated it? Of course, none of that happened. She was so happy and said she loved every minute. She was so cute with Detmer, Kendall, and Maci. Reunited and it felt so good.

After school Allie had dance practice. This girl is going to be exhausted.

Tonight we had a bash at our neighbors for the kick off to the football season. (No Ute fans allowed, although some of the neighbors did crash). It was a blast with good food, friends, face painting, and a trivia game (which, of course, Dave easily dominated). Whew. Welcome to fall.

And hopefully I do more posts this week. Because I DO have three other children and they are doing cute, funny, amazing things everyday. I better get documenting!

bff's

2011-08-18T20:04:00.000-07:00

One of our fun adventures this summer included a visit from the Seager's coming to us from DC. We had such a great time and as always the time Cami is here FLIES by. The whole summer flies by. I can't believe it's almost over. Despite my numerous warnings to Cami about Maci-the-stinker she was still disappointed to see that Maci wouldn't cuddle her namesake.

We had so much fun together even the night my sisters embarrassed me so bad by being snobs to the neighbor. Still, the drinks were good especially when Grandma joined us. Too bad I don't have those pictures available to upload. (Although I bet Giff saved them, probably even printed them and hung them.)

I'm so proud of Cami and how well she is doing. She has been through more in life than most of us would ever dream (or have nightmares) about but she is so tough! She takes such good care of her family and is a good friend to many (but let me warn you: don't get on her bad side:)).

This picture looks staged, but no that was Dallin's actual reaction after his two favorite aunts kissed his cheeks! Can't wait until next summer when we can party again. Going to Grossia's each week is not the same without you, Cami!

That's a wrap

2011-08-16T20:19:00.000-07:00

Allie was so excited for her birthday gift-a leap pad. She has been playing with it in the store since she was about two and is a proud owner. She also got her own snow cone maker.

Smart girl picked peanut butter bars instead of cake!

Allie had SO much fun on her date with Grandpa. He picked her up first thing in the morning and took her to IHOP. Then they went to the Gateway (she was so excited when she got home, "Daddy! I went to your work!") She was soaking wet from the fountains. They also saw Smurfs and went to Target to pick out her present. Allie was on cloud 9 when she got home having such a special day. I think Grandpa Greg is awesome to do this. My mom was the most amazing grandma ever and my dad has worked hard to make the kids feel special even though it doesn't come as naturally (which is pretty much a given with grandpas!) He has once a month sleepovers, takes the kids out for a birthday date, and also has a once a month family home evening where we celebrate that months birthdays.

Allie got ot have a sleepover with Maggie last night. They were so excited and asking to have another sleepover. They have so much fun together.

Allie has got the cutest little friends. The party could not have gone better. Maci slept the whole time and all the girls were awesome to include my Detmer and Kendall in the party. Dave was also home which made it awesome because little girls are in love with Dave. They were literally mauling him and I had to remind him they are in awe of him because not many dads would let that happen. He's so much fun!

My cute neice McKenna made this pin the tail on the pony game. It was a HUGE hit with the girls. They all loved it! Thanks Kenna!

All the girls with the little ponies they found. See Kendall right in with the girls.

Allie pinning the tail. I was impressed that very few of the girls cheated:) It's so funny because with that game it so obvious when you cheat but little kids don't realize it!

Allie also had an awesome chance on Sunday to meet her teacher. Dave's good friend from work is the dad of Allie's teacher so he invited us over to Sunday dinner to meet his daughter before school starts. Now ever since Allie was about two all I've been hearing is how amazing Mrs. Piper the kindergarten teacher is. We were SO excited to have her as a teacher. I had never met her but heard from about 100 different people how amazing she is. When I met her on Sunday it was love at first sight. The woman is amazing, there is no denying that! We had the best time and felt like part of the family! The house was literally built for grandkids with a huge toyroom and an amazing back yard. I am pretty sure the kids want them to adopt us. I am so grateful we had this opportunity. It is not going to be as hard sending my baby off to school when I know she is going to be cared for by such a wonderful person!

Six!

2011-08-04T21:46:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a very happy birthday for my six year old! Lucky girl got to spend her birthday at the cabin, one of her favorite places in the world.

I was shocked she didn't wake up at the crack of dawn, but she had been staying up so late each night I'm sure she was just exhausted. I was glad because it gave me time to get the cabin decorated before she got up. She was so excited to see the decorations and to have her favorite breakfast of pancakes, suasage, and eggs. We let her pick whatever she wanted to do for the day and she picked going to Evanston to tube the river, even though we had done it the day before.

This turned into a great birthday adventure. Her first ride down the river was a short one and she was on my lap. I usually don't want to have a kid on my lap because I don't have enough confidence in the water, but so that she and Detmer could both have a turn (Detmer with Dave) she rode with me. We got a bit of a head start because Dave and Detmer were having trouble getting on their tube. We had a great run with lots of fun rapids, but when we got to the part where we needed to get out of the water before we went down a really fast flowing, deep rapid I couldn't get our tube to the edge. We were heading straight for the rapid, which was incredibly dangerous. Despite having a long talk with Allie and Detmer about what to do in the instance that they were seperated from us/their tube, Allie freaked (which was the number one thing we told them not to do). I paddled as fast and hard as I could but was getting us no where so I put my arm around Allie's waist and said "Allie. Swim hard." She screams, "MOM!!!! NO!!!!" And I tipped us off the tube. Once we were off the tube I had an easy time getting us to shore (although I had non-sleeping nightmares about the incident that kept me awake half the night). I never had to let go of Allie and by the time we reached the shore she was more concerned about our lost tube. Luckily a super nice Evanston cowboy took us right to where he knew it would be. We ran back and found Dave and Detmer had a whole other adventure of their own!

Despite the chaos of the first ride, Allie still wanted to go on the long ride. Luckily that was with Dave although I was sad to miss it. They had a blast and Allie kept telling me how fun it was.

I stopped on my way to the cabin to get a snow cone maker for her birthday, but all the stores I tried were out. Thankfully Heather had one she was willing to share so we made snow cones (Allie's favorite treat, way above cake) for her a treat when she got back from tubing.

(Normally I wouldn't post a picture of someone in their jammies on my blog, but Heather just wears them so well). Heather told Allie the three important things to make kindergarten great (Heather teaches in a kindergarten class). That afternoon on our way to the river I asked Allie what they were and she remembered! (Be a good friend. Read twenty minutes each day. Work hard.)Allie showing off all her birthday loot.

The best kind of birthday cake-pancakes.

Dad and Allie tubing the river.

Ever since the first second I met Allie she has always amazed me. This household is barely going to cope when she starts kindergarten in two weeks! She is such a great friend to Detmer and takes such good care of Kendall and Maci. She has a huge heart and is the best peacemaker and problem solver. She is doing so well with reading and has the craziest memory. We looked at pictures from years ago earlier today and she could tell me all the events surrounding the pictures.

She is so excited to start kindergarten and especially excited to be learning chinese since she will be participating in the Chinese Immersion program. Of course she has no idea what she's in for but I love that she has such a positive attitude about it already!

Since it's her birthday I can say this: I am the luckiest mom in the world to have such an amazing child!!!

My annual post

2011-07-27T20:52:00.000-07:00

I, of course, have to do a post about how much fun we had, or rather *I* had, at our annual 10k this year.

This years post is a little boring. It wasn't

I did a little research project this year. I didn't run at all before the day of the race. I wanted to see how hard it would be without a single bit of training. I don't suggest it. I hadn't planned on doing it that way. In fact a month or two ago when I first started thinking about the race I had all sorts of goals which including running several miles several times a week. I have NO EXCUSE as to why I didn't do it except for that I was too unmotivated to run on the treadmill and too lazy to go when Dave got home.

I thought I was in pretty good shape from my gym classes. But running is just a whole new ball game and the only way to win a race (which I thought I was going to do) is to train for it.

On our way to the race we talked about our goals. I was the only one brave enough to state mine aloud, which was to beat an hour. I am not too prideful to admit that out of my running partners I came in last and didn't beat the hour mark. Guess I should be a little more modest!

These are my awesome running partners, minus my dad. We got to the race so late this year we didn't have time to take pictures beforehand and we had already dropped my dad off at this point.

ManDate

2011-07-15T16:53:00.000-07:00

I met a gal the other day who was pregnant with her eighth baby, all in hopes of giving her one daughter a sister. She already knew she was having her seventh boy. I tried to sympathize with her and told her I only had one boy and three girls. She didn't appreciate my empathy. She said, "that's not the same. Boys don't need brother's. Girls need sister's." And I guess I agree with that. Dave has always wanted a brother because whenever he's invited to golf or to be on a basketball team, it's always with one of his buddies and their brothers. Always.

However, I think having his little boy is curbing his appetite for a brother (which is good because I'm pretty sure he aint getting one).

The other day Dave won tickets to go see Transformers on opening night. The midnight showing. I thought, oh that's too bad it's for the midnight showing, that would have been fun. Even I sometimes underestimate Dave's obsession with seeing movies. He had it all planned out that he was was going to take Detmer.

Luckily it was a Tuesday and Dave didn't have to work. We went bowling as a family that afternoon then came home and put Dave and Detmer to bed at about 5. They got up around 7 and went to Training Table and Cherry Hill for mini golf, then onto The Gateway for the movie (creepy when Dave left the Gateway he had to be back in four hours).

They had the best time and Detmer loved being spoiled by his favorite person in the world. They did a drawing at the movie and Dave won so he and Detmer got to go up and get their prize from the Boondocks dog.

I woke up at 3am and they still weren't home so I called Dave and they were almost here. I fell back asleep and Detmer was so excited to tell me about it in the morning. He told me all about the dog and loved showing off the prizes he won. He would not put them down.

Dave said Detmer fell asleep about 12:40 (which is way longer then I thought he would make it). But I'm so glad he has an awesome dad to have these fun experiences with and Dave finally has someone to go see the man movies with!

Sucker

2011-07-13T21:03:00.000-07:00

SIX MONTHS!!!

My baby's a sucker. Just like her momma. Great Grandma was also a fan of the two finger suck. Who knew it's hereditary!

I was sad when it happened because I know how hard it is to quit. But, it turns out it has been worth it.

Sometimes I try and shove her fingers in her mouth. She is so content when she is sucking. She goes to bed at 7 and usually does not get up until I wake her up to get her ready in the morning. However, I know she is not sleeping that whole time because she takes such long naps. I think she just wakes up and sucks until she goes back to sleep. I do wish I could get her to suck on demand, then maybe she wouldn't be so unpopular. The few times we've tried to get a baby-sitter (other then Kelly, of course) for the kids we get, "um, is Maci coming?" Poor Maci. Lucky for me Grandpa Greg loves her and he even lies when I pick her up and says she was really good!

This baby is spoiled by these people. She loves the siblings. They can almost always make her happy.

She loved the fireworks. There was another baby in our group that screamed the whole time. The screaming baby's dad suggested we have Maci's ears checked:) We were pretty surprised since Maci doesn't generally tend to be a content baby. She surprises us all the time.

Loves daddy, of course. She always takes a bottle for Dave (hallelujah) and gives him big smiles when he gets home.

Had her first solid foods on July 11, one day shy of six months. She liked the taste but didn't most of it came right back out. I think that's normal??? Tonight I was feeding her and she seemed done so I left her in her highchair and was doing dishes when Kendall climed up to finish feeding her. One bite for Kendall, one bite for Maci. Super cute. I even had the video camera right there.

Escape artist. She totally climed out of her jammies and this is how Dave found her the other morning!

Other fun Maci facts at six months old:

She rolls EVERYWHERE! Does NOT stay in one spot.

She is not sitting yet. My other three were early sitters and late rollers so she is changing things up a bit. She sits, but not well.

Her skin is so sensitive I'm still debating if she's going to be a redhead.

She's really tall. No more 3-6 month clothes for Maci:( Okay, so I still shove her in some but I should stop soon.

Fourth

2011-07-08T21:26:00.000-07:00

Before this year, I had only missed Kaysville's Fourth of July celebration once. The summer after I graduated highschool when I was in California with Bart and Amy. Dave had missed it three times, twice on his mission and another year he spent in Evanston. It was hard to make the decision to break our awesome tradition, but we knew our kids would love spending the Fourth at the cabin, so that's what we did this year.

The kids and I went up Wednesday then came back Friday so we could attend Ryan's baptism on Saturday, then headed back up with Dave on Saturday afternoon. We had planned to attend the Evanston parade and festivities but found out the parade was on Saturday so we missed it. I knew the kids would be bummed to miss the parade, but they really only want the candy so I took them to the store and let them each pick out a pack of candy. Then they dressed up and walked around the family room at the cabin and had their own parade. They were so cute waving and throwing candy.

Super Det!!!

The kids were so excited when Grandma and Grandpa showed up to the cabin Sunday afternoon for a short stay. They aren't around my kids too often, so I could tell they were a bit surprised at Maci's less than sunshiney demeanor and they were probably glad it was a short stay, but the kids were thrilled to spend Sunday afternoon with Grandma and wished she could have stayed longer.

This is a picture Dave took of Maci. Yep, she is under there. Poor sensitive skin girl needs all the protection she can get.

One of the best parts of the cabin, riding the gate.

Allie and Detmer enjoyed watching the fireworks with Skyler. We were lucky to have Heather and Steve invite us to their bbq and fireworks. We had such a great time crashing their party!

Hair

2011-06-26T21:19:00.000-07:00

I mentioned in this post about how surprised I was by Maci's light/lack of hair. Here's some of the reasons why. Allie had a ton of dark hair at birth. (By the way, I'm aware that Maci looks way awkward in the "surprise" post. I'm not afraid to admit it. I always think newborns are cute when I'm looking at them. Then I look back and I'm like, "meh".)

This is my newborn Detmer. His hair was lighter but he had quite a bit. In fact, in this post, if you find the picture of Detmer in the green sweater it was that very day that my neice told me Detmer looks like a girl because of his long, curly hair. He got a hair cut the next day.

Kendall's pictures are on the other computer, but this is her and her hair as a newborn.

Then my bald little Maci came along and I was like "who the...?" But now I have come to learn they are duplicate babies. I look at pictures of Allie and Kendall (but especially Allie) at the age Maci is now and it's shocking because it's like, "oh! That's what Maci would look like with hair!"

I have started to get tons of comments, too, on how much Maci looks like her sister's. It's just funny that it took me so long to see it because I was so caught up on the hair!

This cute little kitty below could easily be Maci (except it's Allie. Plus why would I dress Maci up like a kitty? She hasn't even been around for Halloween yet).

Count the Ways

2011-06-06T20:13:00.000-07:00

Here's just a couple reasons why I know I landed a great catch when I married Dave nine years ago:

1. My dad likes him better than he likes me (don't worry, Dad. I'm okay with it:)) The other day my Dad said, "...all married couples fight," then he turns to me and says, "well, except you and Dave but that's because Dave gives you whatever you want." But to my credit a couple weeks ago my brother told me I was an easy wife. It lost it's credibility, though, when Kelly and I both burst out laughing. Then I text Dave and told him-"I hear I'm an easy wife." Yeah, I probably don't have to spell out where he went with that one.

2. Dave was telling me that he saw a story in the news the other day about a woman who was getting props because she had five kids, aged five and under. He said, "but she only had five because she had twins. I was like, whatever! My wife has four under five AND she does it all on her own. I bet the girl in the story has her mom helping her all the time." Made me feel so good he recognized that! (here's a little sidenote: I don't give props to mom's with several kids under a certain age-although I'm sure this woman was super amazing outside of that-but if you are able to have five kids five and under, mostly I just think you are very blessed that your children came so quick and easy. I give more props to the woman with one 11 year old or maybe an eight (Happy Birthday Ryan!) and 16 year old who smiles everyday and finds ways to keep busy despite the fact that her arms are aching for a baby of her own. Same goes for people who celebrate there 70th wedding anniversary. Very blessed that they both lived that long. But I digress...)

3. I sent Dave a text the other day, "Oh my gosh! The kids and I are watching our wedding video and I keep patting you on the back! What the heck?!" He responds, "Really?! Lol! You were probably just congratulating me on scoring such a hot wife."

Blessed

2011-05-30T20:05:00.000-07:00

My sweet little Maci was blessed on May 1, 2011. She looked so beautiful and the day was truly perfect! Maci is a naughty little stinker but she was so good on her blessing day and thankfully she didn't cry. My dad told me that during her blessing Dave was holding her so close, even if all the other men had moved their hands, Dave would have been find holding her. I never take a picture of the blessing circle, because even though it would be fun to have I think it causes too much stress. I wish I had gotten more pictures of Maci with those who came to share her special day. I'm usually so good at picture taking (as in I take so many I can easily delete at least half). My dad has not sent me his yet, so hopefully he got a couple more people. With Grandma and Grandpa Steffensen.

I love this baby girl and am so grateful I get to be her Mom!

Silly family pictures are the best. I think for the next ten-ish years I am only going to have those hanging on the wall. At least then when no one is looking at the camera it looks like it is on purpose!

Allie and Detmer picked out our seats in the second row. I agreed because I knew they would love seeing Maci as she was being blessed and right after. Dave held her most of the meeting as she slept.

Hopefully I remember everyone in her circle:

Dad

Grandpa Greg

Grandpa Bob

Uncle Denny

Uncle Jeremy

Uncle Steve

Uncle Kent

Loran Nikol

Justin Zlotnik

Lynn Wood

Bishop Mark Ericksen

Road Trip

2011-05-23T21:07:00.000-07:00

It started as a business trip, so I almost ended up going without my kids. Of course Maci was always going to come, but even as I was making arrangements to leave my older three it was like a bad dream. Thankfully it worked out so they could come, changing it from a business trip to a pleasure trip. They are so much fun! Every little thing is so exciting and amazing to them. They help me to see joy in the most simple things.

Shirelle knew we were going, but it was a surprise for Giff (probably the best one of his life. I mean, he didn't say it in those exact words, but come on. Your sisters' show up on your front door with six of their children. What could be better?)

We left early Tuesday morning and drove to New Mexico! An 11 hour drive and they were all so perfect! I couldn't believe it. We have always strategically planned to leave on our Disneyland trips in the middle of the night to let the kids sleep for a long part of the drive but I guess that's not neccessary. Shout out to my amazing baby Maci! She was incredible. She barely fussed on the long drive there or back and was SO good as we dragged her around from place to place.

We were at McDonald's and they bought us all sundaes. They brought them back and there was an extra and Kelly was like, "did you get one for Maci?!" Yep, they totally did.

I didn't get a ton of pictures because it was a lot of just good old fashioned hanging out, but this picture below is my favorite:

By far the highlight of the trip was riding in Giff's car (it is this super hideous 1969 white boat-the kids loved it). Poor Kendall got ripped off because I was too lazy to move her carseat. So FINALLY on the last night she got to go for a short and sweet and satisfying spin.

The kids thought it was so awesome to go on a vacation with cousins! We got SO many compliments and I heard that some people were glaring at/annoyed with us but I guess I didn't pay attention to them. I only heard the oohs and ahhs of how cute they all were. Especially my baby Maci, who of course misses all these photo ops since she is in her car seat.

This photo is especially for Cami. She may have a little bit of an opposition to Giff's unruly beard, but look! At least it is trimmed!

Kendall was in love with Giff and everywhere we went, she had to hold his hand. If he forgot, she would chase him holding out her hand.

The kids are still constantly talking about their adventure and love telling everyone how cool it was riding in Giff's car!

PS. Giff the cake is almost gone so I figured it was time to post this.

Easter Weekend

2011-05-14T22:42:00.000-07:00

Easter weekend turned out much different then I had planned, which is kind of our calling card these days. So tomorrow I am not planning on winning a million dollars.

Long story short, when the painters came to begin their work on our house, they asked me where I was going to be staying. "um..." cause I thought I was staying at home. So I called Dave and gave him a big sob story. He called me back twenty minutes later and told me to pack up the kids. He booked a hotel (I always try to tell everyone: he's a smart man. Very, very smart.)

Dave had to work the first day we were there, but still, it was neccessary to immediately jump into our swimsuits and head down to the pool. I wasn't exactly sure what my plan was with four kids and a pool, but I didn't want to let them down. I pushed Maci down in the stroller and she fell asleep. I sat by her while the three kids swam in the shallow area (I didn't want to get wet in case I needed to hold Maci). Well, wouldn't you know at the pool this day was the family of the three Nephites or some other random angels. A family with their 11 year old daughter AND her friend. Two 11 year olds. They completely took over with my kids. Played with them and spoiled them at the pool while I sat by Maci. The timing was perfect. Of course Dave was with us the rest of the time so we were at a much more comfortable 3 to 1 ratio at the pool (we are pretty good at this thanks to Surf N Swim's dollar Wednesday which we've been enjoying for the past couple months). Also, the rest of the time we had the pool all to ourselves. It was just perfect. The kids also made huge strides in their swimming. Allie was swimming the short length of the pool. Detmer loved jumping in and getting thrown around and attempting to swim. Kendall surprised me the most when she decided to start jumping in. The first time she has willingly let her face go in the water. She would say, "Mom, I wanna do canny ball." So she would "canny ball" in and I would catch her.

The kids enjoying one of their favorite hotel activities: laying in bed watching TV.

For one of our adventures we went to the Church History Museum (did I mention our hotel was in Salt Lake?)

My beautiful baby on her first Easter.

All four kids looking at the camera (basically). And this was even taken AFTER church.

My kids are lazy and turned our single stroller into a triple stroller. The things they will do to avoid walking! It was a long walk, though.

(Random story that I don't want to forget). Kendall was afraid of the elevators when we first got to the hotel. She wouldn't get on unless Dave or I was holding her tight. By the end, she couldn't have cared less since we were on the third floor and the pool was on the first. We used it many times each day. Anyway, one of the first times on it she was on top of Maci's stoller holding her breath and we went up. Then as the doors open she shouts "We did it! Yay Kendall and Maci Kayti!"

Love catching these sweet moments on camera. Dave was telling Allie some details about the temple. (I am trying to train Dave to take candid pictures so my children can someday know that I, too, was involved in their upbringing.)

We got comments on our family everywhere we went and they were all so nice (but I have leared that I ignore people who are glaring so there may have been some of that). The most common thing we heard from passersby (thanks to being in Utah) was, "it seems like just yesterday we had our four young kids in tow, now they are all grown." I love my little ones!

Fun

2011-04-18T20:28:00.000-07:00

Saturday our lender held an Easter egg hunt at the Layton Park. I wasn't sure if I really wanted to go but I figured the kids would love it. So we headed over and boy were we in for a treat.

There was an adult egg hunt. Unfortunately, this picture does not even come close to doing the situation justice, but if I would have stepped out any further onto the playing field, I probably would have been tackled. You've never seen adults make such fools of themselves!!! Once we found out there were prizes to be won with the eggs, it was all over. Thank goodness we use the same lender as Kelly and Jeremy, because not only does it make the events a lot more fun, but Corben and Trevor watched after our kids as well as their brothers' so we could all go make idiots of ourselves running around like two year olds trying to pick up Easter eggs! There were hundreds of eggs on the field. I personally collected six. Then I realized my cell phone and/or camera were about to fall out of my jacket. I doubted any of the prizes were valuable enough to risk breaking my camera or phone, so I stopped in the middle of the field to watch all the other adults make idiots of themselves. I only spotted Kelly and I can still picture her sprinting for the hills! Oh man, I could not stop laughing for hours! Dave and Kelly each got a prize egg. Kelly's prize was ten bucks to Joy Luck. Dave's was a haircut. Dave could not quit complaining. He cuts his own hair.

After the prizes were in our pockets and things settled down a bit we were able to take pictures with these giant bunnies. Maci was such a good girl while her parents went insane collecting Easter eggs.

Dave's mom had a "Bridal Tea Party" for the granddaughters on Friday. Allie and Kendall had a lot of fun getting all dressed up and getting make up on.

Maci is wearing the dress that all Dave's sisters' were blessed in. Allie is in Grandma's wedding dress and Kendall is in her "bridal" dress.

My three sweet girls by my wedding dress, which was displayed for the party. I love my beautiful wedding dress. It is not even out of style yet! I think someone could totally still wear it and look beautiful.

Dave's family had an Easter party on Saturday. I was not there and was so proud of Dave for taking a couple pictures!

Dave and three of his four sisters. That's about as good as it gets! (isn't Dave so handsome?!)

I'm so proud of Giff and Shirelle for having their eyes open in this picture! :) It was not an easy feat. It was last Tuesday when we had just got home from being out all day when my door knocks. I opened it and I was seriously like, "Okay, I know you from somewhere." It was these two people! They didn't tell anyone they were coming and just showed up on our doorsteps. It was such an awesome surprise!!! I love having them here. I am trying my best not to pester Giff about three things:

1. Moving back home

2. Having kids

3. Shaving his beard

But since a couple people asked after the last time I posted pictures of him, let me just inform everyone he is keeping his beard until he graduates. So no use harrassing him. Isn't his wife so cute?! We love her and I would say our kids love her but that would be the understatement of the century. Seriously! When they came over on Tuesday we were all sitting on the couches chatting and suddenly I notice DETMER has his feet on her lap and she was tickling his legs. Okay, if you know my shy little Detmer, you can see why this is so amazing. Not too mention Zack thinks she's hot and tells her way too often!!!

Change

2011-04-17T21:59:00.000-07:00

YES! I fixed it and although it is probably something Kendall could have done, I am so pleased I figured it out.

So I (clearly) decided to change the pictures on my blog, since I didn't have one of Maci yet. Why do I ever attempt stuff like that? Is the picture at the top showing up enormously on everyone's computer, or just mine? How the heck do I fix it? I have never had this happen before and it doesn't matter what picture I change it to, it's huge. The first one I changed it to was just Dave and Maci but it was like HELLO Dave. His whole face barely fit on the page so I hurried and picked one where there was lots of people and now there is just a giant bunny at the top of my page. Hopefully it's fixed soon. That is going to drive me crazy!

3

2011-04-10T21:24:00.001-07:00

My pediatrician recommended that I keep Maci in until she was three months. That is in two days. Boooo! I don't like hitting such milestones, because I just want her to be mine. My little tiny baby who is too small to take out.

These two (above) are for Corben. He loves Maci's big alien eyes.

Allie loves doing photo shoots of Maci and I loved this one with her arm around the Care Bear.

This is what Maci does while I excercise. She sits in her swing and stares at me. She LOVES the music on my workout DVD's. I can usually play them again after I finish and she will sit in her swing, but when the music turns off, she gets so fussy.

Last week Maci laughed for the first time and it was awesome! She laughed for such a long time when Allie was tickling her armpit with a paint brush, I even had time to video the last couple seconds. The best part was 1) Allie was so proud of herself for being the first one to get Maci to laugh and 2) All the kids were gathered round her so we all got to enjoy it. Dave was still at work but last night he was tickling her belly and got a good laugh out of her so we've all got to enjoy it.

Green/Game

2011-03-22T23:16:00.000-07:00

Everytime we have gone to church since Maci has been born (which is admittedly not a lot) Dave has gotten all the kids ready for church. I do the hair, but he dresses all of them from head to toe. I wish I had a better picture of Kendall's entire beautiful outfit from Sunday, but I just wanted to post this one with the bows Stephanie got for her. She loved them and they looked so cute on her!

"The holiday" (March madness) fell right upon St. Patrick's day this year and since everyone get the holiday off work (right?) Dave got to get up with the kids this St. Patrick's Day and see the excitement of finding those sneaky leprachauns making a mess of the house, turning the milk green, and leaving a dollar in their shoes. I LOVE "holidays" where you turn milk gree and your kids think it is the greatest day ever. Dave also made some delicious green themed breakfast burritos for dinner.

St. Patricks Day afternoon we left Dave alone with the Madness and went to Dollar Tree to spend the leprachaun dollars. Each of the kids got themselves a super fancy and valuable toy. And Maci did not enjoy the photo shoot. (But Detmer clearly did).

I have so many issues getting videos to post, so I'm doing this sideways since it's the only way I can figure it out. This is when we were watching the BYU game on Saturday and Allie decided to help Maci cheer, all on her own. We're such proud parents.

Worth It

2011-03-20T21:22:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago Dave was laughing when he saw me loading the dishwasher while wearing Maci. I thought nothing of it since that is pretty much how I get anything done!

Lucky Maci got to meet Giff and Shirelle this week. Giff and Shirelle have issues with keeping their eyes open during pictures, so out of about ten, I think three had their eyes open.

This picture is a good illustration of what Allie said the other night. All the kids were playing with Maci and Allie said, "she looks like an alien." I said, "aww. Poor Maci." And Allie goes, "Mom! I meant a cute alien."

And if that wasn't enough when Giff first saw her he exclaimed, "oh my goodness!!! She's the most beautiful thing I've seen in my life!!!" No. Wait. That wasn't quite how it went. Let me try to remember. Oh yeah, it was like this, "is she still jaundice? She looks yellow?"

Maci only lets Great Grandma hold her like this. She usually likes to be sitting up and looking around but she makes a special allowance for Great Grandma so they can have some cuddling time.

Maci had her two month check-up this week. I'm so happy she is 10 pounds 2 ounces, which puts her in the 29th percentile and growing beautifully. She was in the 54th percentile for height and like the 10th for head size. My first two kids were always chubby, tall, with huge heads. Kendall and Maci have been smaller, average height, and tiny heads.

Prettiest yellow alien EVER!!!

shoot

2011-03-17T22:04:00.001-07:00

I just had the most unrelaxing bath ever! So there are a lot of things in the goings on of life lately that made me start thinking of this. I will spare the details and get right to it.

I was thinking about boys and dating and praying that my little daughters or not going to be the same kind of drama queens in that area.

-First of all, sometimes I just want to cut a check and send it to some of the guys I dated. Seriously, why does the guy have to pay for everything? These poor guys work so hard making minimum wage (I never dated any career men until now:)) and then they spend so much of their hard earned cash on some girl who they will most likely lose touch with in the not-to-distant future. There was this one guy, he paid for EVERYTHING we did, even if we were just hanging out with friends and not on an actual date. And while I'll love him til the day I die for being an amazing friend, we both had very different ideas of where we were going with that relationship. I was just too oblivious and immature to say anything.

-I was in love on a daily basis (I will not accept any comments on this post from my high school friends-I know I was so LAME!) It would take all the hands and feet of every person in this house to count how many boys I just knew I was going to marry. I'd like to say that stopped after I "matured" and was out of high school, but it did not. Because...

-Remember when I went to California for like three whole months the summer after graduation and "fell in love" with the first guy I went out with. I'm not going to lie, if he would have said the word I'm certain I would have packed my bags and moved out there because I knew we were meant to be together. If I called him tomorrow, I swear he would not remember me. I didn't even like him! However, I loved the idea of him. Please bless that everyone burned their emails from that time.

-My. poor. mother. She heard every detail of every guy. Whether I had dated him, had wanted to date him, or had wanted to want to date him. Thankfully she was awesome about it but what I wouldn't give to talk to her about it now and hear what she was really thinking during those conversations. I'm so thankful she got to meet the hot guy I landed. I bet that was the happiest day of her life. No wonder she never once said she thought I was too young to marry at the age of 20. She was probably like "halleh-freaking-lujah someone get this girl off the market."

So during my stressful bath I thought maybe I was unusual case. Maybe other girls dating lives are filled with much less drama and total lameness. Then I realized both my sister's dating lives were ten to twenty times more dramatic then mine. Heck, by the time I rolled around my mom was probably relieved because I was the tame one.

Feel free, anyone, everyone, to tell me all about your drama-free dating life so I know it can happen. And that me and my sisters and almost every single one of my friends was an unusual case.

I vow to not think about my daughters' as teenagers for at least seven more years. Boys have it so much easier. I'm sure my little Detmer won't give me a single problem.

Happy Holidays

2011-03-13T13:33:00.000-07:00

It's that time again, people. I hope everyone has been fasting and praying today in prepration for filling out the brackets. March Madness is upon us again and the celebration is well underway. Dave has already spent hours today bonding with the computer and is in in right now taking a nap, most likely dreaming of his picks he will be making in a couple hours. He'll need all the rest he can get since he has to fill out not only his two brackets but help the kids fill out FOUR brackets this year.

When new employees are hired at Dave's work, he and the other managers go have a "meet and greet" lunch. The director asks them to share something they like outside of work, family, and he sometimes says religion. At the last meet and greet when Dave's turn came he said, "since the director didn't exclude us from talking about religion today," (and this is the part I wish I would have been there. It's no secret that Dave is a pretty religious guy and I bet the directors heart stopped for a sec) anyway, he continued, "so I just wanted to share that I've recently been converted to the church of Jimmer."

It's true. Dave's never been quite so into BYU ball. In fact, this year the theme for our March Madness bracket was: "We believe in Jimmer. The Player of the Year. And in the BYU Cougars. And in the Holy Blue Devils." (He'll always have a place for Duke in his heart, although I told him I thought it should say and in Coach Rose, or something).

I text him on Thursday and said, "I feel like I'm having an affair." Why? Because I was watching the BYU game on TV while he was at work. It just felt wrong.

I bet this poor gal is looking forward to the end of the Madness. (I love the coverage ESPN gave that story.)

And if you've not yet learned how to Jimmer, it's not too late.

Visit

2011-03-07T21:13:00.000-08:00

Today was a pretty big deal at the Steffensen home. A couple weeks ago Allie came home from playing at Grandma Marbles and announced she had a lose tooth. My first thought was that I need to call the dentist right away. Then I realized, um, Allie is five and a half, and her loose tooth is just that, a loose teeth (my baby girl? old enough for a loose tooth? what?) When she showed Dave her loose tooth he discovered her permanent tooth was already growing in. Ugh. What? Orthodontic issues for the Steffensen's? Why I never!

As kids do, Allie was constantly fiddling around feeling the tooth with her tounge making it more and more loose. When Allie was born, my sister-in-law gave her a stuffed bear to place her lost teeth in. By some miracle I still have it over five years later and I knew right where it was.

However!

I woke up Sunday morning and Dave had already given the kids breakfast. When Allie came over to me I noticed her tooth was gone. I was like, "Allie!!! Your tooth fell out?" Yeah, she hadn't even realized it. Dave hadn't realized either. Dave and I looked at each other and we both new where it was, resting comfortably in her gut. I knew Allie would freak at the thought of swallowing her tooth, so I told her Daddy must have not seen it in her cereal bowl and washed it down the drain when he was loading dishes. Either way, guess we'll be holding on to that bear a bit longer!

So Allie's first lost tooth was literally (litrally) a lost tooth. When we got to Kelly's last night, Allie showed Kelly her gap. Kelly said, "where's your tooth?" Allie responded, "I lost it." Kelly was like, "I know but where is the tooth?" Allie, "I lost it." Round in circles until I said, "when she says she LOST it..." Then Allie told Kelly about Dave washing it down the drain although I'm not sure she's entirely convinced.

Allie wrote the tooth fairy a note that said, "Dear Tooth Fairy, I lost my tooth but Daddy accidently washed it down the sink. Love, Allie"

I spent the day dreaming up ways of how I would make this a fabulous and amazing experience, getting a visit from the tooth fairy.

Then at about 11:30 last night just as I was about to fall asleep I startled myself awake, ran to my purse, grabbed a buck and put it under her pillow. Didn't even get the note because I didn't want her to wake up and see me! I came sooo close to forgetting!

She woke up this morning earlier then she did on Christmas and was so thrilled to see the $1 from the tooth fairy (whose idea was it to get kids all those presents for Christmas when they are that happy with a dollar?!)

Baby

2011-02-27T11:08:00.000-08:00

I left my Maci Kayte for the first time on Thursday. I wasn't quite ready to leave her yet just because I prefer to be with her. But I wasn't worried and I knew Kelly would spoil her. Dave's work was having a dinner and I couldn't let him have all the fun:) I picked Maci up at the church where Corben was playing basketball. She was wearing these jammies (below) and here eyes were so big and bright. I was sooo happy to be back with her. At Dave's work party everyone kept asking about "the baby" and I was thinking of her all night!She is getting so big. For the longest time I was nervous about her growth but to me her look has totally changed and she no longer looks like a newborn.

Maci got to meet Aunt Tammy and Cooper! My friends did not believe me when I said I have taken a thousand pictures since Maci was born. I looked and it was actually 700. Plus probably fifty or so on our phones. I can't help it, I want to capture everything.~I think Maci is my worst sleeper. Unless it's true what they say and you just forget. I know Kendall was really awesome (I at least remember that far back). It was different with Allie, being my first and not having other responsibilities. She probably slept about the same as Maci but I just slept in longer with her. Detmer...the poor guy...we were so crazy with selling the house, moving, Dave's crazy work schedule. I still feel bad about his sleeping conditions in infancy.

~Maci loves when we talk to her. Baby talk style of course. She is starting to smile a lot when we talk to her.

~She loves chaos already. She is happiest in her swing when we are all doing Just Dance or DDR on the Wii. She doesn't really seem to like the peace and quiet while she is awake.

I think I can finally say nursing is going better. I have stopped praying that someone will knock on my door with a year supply of free formula, so things are definitely looking up. She even sometimes sucks without me harassing her and usually latches on in the first five tries. Why, at this rate in another six months we'll have it down to a science. I think this must be why I breastfeed for so long. Once we finally get the hang of it I'm like, "I worked hard for this! I'm not giving it up!"

~She is starting to like "stuff" better, like her swing and the bouncer (she'd probably like it better if it worked!). She likes to sit up in the boppy. Of course her favorite thing in the world is still being held.

~If there is one thing Allie hates (besides an umbilical stump) it's baby acne. And Maci's got a bad case. Although I don't think Allie thinks it's gross, I think she's just concerned. When she first saw it she said, "(GAAAAAAAAAAASP!!!!!!!!!) MOM! WHAT IS ON MACI'S FACE!" So I explained it the best I could and Allie said, "oh, poor Maci." Any chance her horrible case now means acne will go easy on her in the teen years? Ha!

~Allie asked me what Maci's nickname was going to be. She doesn't really have one yet, although here's an idea: (DAVE!!!) Let's not give her a nickname after an huge, unattractive creature. I admit Kendall MOOSE is fine for now, but it's not going to be so cute in a couple years.

~We do call her Maci Kayte and Maci Kayti a lot but I'm sure a good nickname is brewing and will come out of the woodworks soon.

~I decided that the whole "jealous siblings" thing is an old wives tell someone made up to make us new mom's all excited about how well our kids adjust to a new baby. Not only adjust well, but they think she hung the moon. Especially Kendall. As soon as she wakes up it's, "where's Maci?" Then runs to her to give hugs and kisses. Then when I think of it, I have never actually heard someone say they had a child adjust badly when a new baby was born. Either way I'll take it because I'm so happy they all love her so much!

More Detmer Fun

2011-02-27T10:28:00.000-08:00

Detmer had a fun date at McDonald's (of course!) He loved his gift and true to Detmer form has played with it non-stop since!

Detmer finally got to have his birthday party! I had originally scheduled it for last week. But when you schedule a party and want people to come, you should tell them about it. And that, I forgot to do. Except I had told Diana so she text me and said "is the party still on for tomorrow?" So I text her back and said, "uh, no. I forgot to invite anyone." It was a fun and super easy party. Detmer is so laid back and not an attention hog either so they all just had fun play. Except who told him he could invite Allie? GRRR! They were all playing so great I thought I would just let them play and have fun. Allie kept asking when games were and I told her we were still waiting for Monson. As soon as Monson showed she called everyone for games. Girls and boys do parties very differently and next year I'm thinking she's not going to score an invite.

Detmer's birthday party was "Cars" (as in Disney) themed (since Target had their Cars stuff 50-75% off. Oops. I mean because Detmer LOVES Cars). So the cupcakes are stoplights. Woot Woot! I'm just like my mom with my fancy cakes. I was going to make an excuse and remind everyone that it was not fancy because I just had a baby, but the truth is this is how my kids parties will always be. No table runners, no cupcake flags, no coordinated colors, just lots of fun! (I know for some mom's doing all that IS fun, but not me).

The best part. Helping make the birthday cake and eating the leftover batter. They really couldn't careless about the end result, they enjoy the process. (and yes the DDR is on in the background, which it is about 99% of the day. The kids probably only took a break to bake the cake).
This picture makes me laugh. Kelly did the family birthday party for Detmer. When we have Sunday dinners the kids hate eating dinner because they just want to play. I make them eat so they don't say they are starving when we get home. I kept telling Detmer to eat his soup so we could sing and do presents. Then I just decided to sing and do presents even though he wasn't done, but we didn't have all night. I forgot to tell him he didn't need to finish his soup first. So here he is, with the candle lit and everyone gathered round to sing Happy Birthday, and he's shoving his soup in his mouth trying to finish so he can do presents! Thankfully I finally figured out what he was doing and told him he didn't have to finish.

What Valentine's Means To Me...

2011-02-14T22:48:00.000-08:00

I get to dress my baby in cute clothes with heart shapes. I just love this girl!!!
Taking the kids to "heart attack" Grandpa's house. We were going to surprise him but the kids were so loud when we got there I sent him a text and said, "don't come outside" which piqued his curiosity enough to come running out. Oh well, instead of leaving our heart shaped cookies on the doorstep we went in and visited for a minute. (I felt like I made a billion hearts that would cover the whole house and they actually covered about half his door. Oh well, easier to take down.)

The picture below is just evidence as to why I have had no desire to get professional photos yet. I took about twenty and this beauty is the best one.
Another reason to opt out of professionals for the time being: Detmer has licked his lips so bad he has a red ring around the bottom of his mouth. It was hurting him so bad on his birthday he was crying. He would lick it and I would tell him to stop and he would cry, "I can't stop." Ugh! Maybe we will just have it in his four year pictures as a memory.
Then poor Allie made cookies with Grandma and I guess they smelled so good she was looking at them and burned her lip on the pan that was fresh out of the oven.We had a fun dinner with red and heart shaped themes and Dave left the kids the game of Life for their Valentines. Then we discussed what we did before kids, because Valentines is totally about them. That's probably because we learned how dumb it is to attempt going out on Valentines and we will never do it.

It's also fun to go to the store on Valentines and see all the poor suckers purchasing the over-sized Teddy Bears and grocery store flowers.

I was just reading my Valentines post from last year where I bashed Chuck E Cheese, which is what I do after everytime we go there. You'd think we'd stop going there, especially after I swore it off after Allie's birthday. Well, I saw a sweet deal on the internet and I couldn't resist, because while I loathe the place, my kids adore it. I got a twenty dollar gift certificate for eight bucks. I also had coupons for forty free tokens. I guess it really is about the money because this time we had an absolute blast! We even earned enough tickets to get cotton candy and other stuff-our talents at arcade games are improving. We also must eat less then last year because one pizza was more then enough. Won't ever pay full price again but I'm sure glad I bought the gift certificates!

Uh, the video

2011-02-12T13:47:00.000-08:00

It was brought to my attention that I accidently did a still shot on the post below. I meant to do this video!

Club Can't Handle Us

2011-02-11T22:37:00.000-08:00

Dave's sister decided we should have some FUN before Dave's mom went in for hip surgery, so she put together a HIP HOP party!!! The first game we were in a partnership and each partner drew a body part, like "ear" and "nose" and one partner had to put their nose on the others ear. Allie and Maggie refused to lose and talked Grandma into playing a whole new round. I think they are "cheek" and "hip".

Check out my baby Maci's bandana! So cute! And I love how her arms are like "wussup!"

I especially liked the one pant leg down one pant leg up look Dave sported, inspired by Step Up 2, which was an awesome movie. But please take my advice and skip Step Up 3. It is horrible! I really feel like they should have checked with me before putting my favorite song on the soundtrack of such an awful movie!Try not to be jealous, ladies. The one on the left is all mine. AND take note that he was the champ everytime. I'm such a proud wife. (I even captured Dave's dad participating. Like full out dancing. Trying to steal the "champ" title away from Dave. Hopefully Dave and I can figure out how to get video uploaded from our new video camera because Jenn and Tammy have to see it to believe it.)

If you're not familiar, we played the Wii game "Just Dance". It was my first experience with the game, but definitely not my last. We had such a great time that one is definitely going in our Wii game collection! I was a little jealous, though, since my baby was only three weeks old I couldn't fully participate. Probably for the best, though. I didn't want to intimidate everyone.

Of course it didn't take long before Allie was stripped down to her leotard. She has about fifty of them, but two she really favors and hardly ever takes them off (literally. she wears them to bed under her jammies. sometimes over). I am so glad she loves to dance. I have always loved to dance. Me and my bff used to spend hours making up dances. You might be thinking, "oh, what a cute activity for second graders". But take note, we were in high school. Oops. Did I just admit that. Don't worry, I will never out my partner in crime. And I will never admit how much dancing goes on in this house daily. (But you could probably tell from the video Dave gets lots of practice).

4

2011-02-10T22:32:00.000-08:00

Detmer's silly face is on account of me telling them to say "Happy Birthday" while I took the picture.

Yep, his four is planted firmly in his piece of french toast. I figured since he requested french toast for dinner there would be no cake.

My Detmer boy is four! Now that he is sweetly tucked into bed I'm feeling SO happy about his successful big day, with more celebrations to come. Tomorrow is his date with Grandpa Greg, next week his friend party, and a week from Sunday a family party (hence why I didn't feel guilty about not doing a cake tonight!).

First thing I heard this morning was Allie saying, "Mom, the birthday boy is awake!" Allie spoiled Detmer so much today. The stuff they usually take turns doing like answering the door, sitting on a certain barstool, picking a movie, Allie gave all the honors to the birthday boy. When the door knocked she said, "go ahead, birthday boy."

Detmer LOVES Boondocks (if you haven't yet, check out the Boondocks birthday club. It's awesome!) So I decided to take the kids their for Detmer's birthday. Despite having my huge reservations about taking Maci not only out, but out to Boondocks, after much deliberation I decided to do it. I knew what a big deal it would be to Detmer and it was so worth it. He must have come up to me ten times saying, "Mom! I love Boondocks!" "Mom! I'm having WAY fun!" (and just as I asked of her, Maci slept in her carseat the whole time).

For dinner he picked his favorite: French Toast. I thought he would pick corndogs but after some persuading from Allie it ended up being French Toast, suasage, and scrambled eggs.

At four years old Detmer:

-Still worships his big sis. I've said before, I'm not sure what thoughts are Detmer's and what are just put into his head by Allie. Does Detmer even like French Toast? Maybe, but it's not his favorite food, it's Allie's. I know it was worth it to him to pick it just to please her.

-He LOVES any and every toy. Nothing ever gets cast aside with Detmer. For example last night Grandma and Grandpa Steffensen gave him GI Joe gear and clothes for his birthday. He had not been up more then thirty minutes before he had it all on. He went to bed tonight playing with it.

-We recently put him in a room with Maci. I think he's sleeping much better, since he doesn't stay up til all hours chit chatting with Allie. Dave and I kind of miss hearing them in their giggling but they are all getting a lot more sleep. Detmer was a champ about the room switch. He didn't utter one word of complaint.

-When he's eating, he always wants to know what's healthy so he can build strong bones.

-He has the biggest sweet tooth out of all my kids. He is like me and prefers baked goods over candy.

-He is HORRIBLE to talk to on the phone. We can't understand a word he says. Typical boy.

-He loves the books, activities, and crafts we do in "pre-school" but is not interested in academics. He started working on writing the letter "A" the same time Allie started working on writing "Steffensen". She's an old pro and he-well, we're going to revisit writing in a couple months.

-He's left handed and I'm wondering if that's why he doesn't write well, or if it's just that he's not interested yet. (for the record, I'm not worried, he still has a year to get excited about it).

-He plays so well and so patiently with Kendall. She has to be the ring leader in all things and he let's her be boss.

-He is so sweet with Maci. Everytime he gets home he asked if Maci was missing him.

-He is a Daddy's boy! His favorite part of the day is when Daddy comes home and it is no wonder-Daddy spoils him big time.

-He is super affectionate. He is always quick to say "I love you" and is always complimenting me and his sisters, especially when we are ready for church on Sunday. He'll says, "wow, you look beautiful!" Or some other line, the smart guy.

He is such an easy going, happy, sweet boy. He brings so much joy into our home and family. I'm so grateful to be his mom!!!

Artic Front Brings High Wind, Dangerous Cold

2011-02-01T22:45:00.000-08:00

PS. If it is your own blog, you are allowed to move a PS to the top of the page.
PPS. This post totally got off topic. I was telling a story about our artic night and it turned into a gratitude post, so if the progression doesn't seem natural, well that's how my mind is working.
PPPS. The title of this blog post comes courtesy of KSL's top story today. I thought the fact that this is the top story adds just that extra bit of drama this post needed.
PPPPS. A week or so ago I told Dave I thought Maci had a dimple like Allie. He hadn't noticed. So then, how lucky was I to get this picture of a smiling two week old?! I have never been so lucky with my other kids to capture those two second newborn smiles. No wonder I am so in love with this picture.
And now, on to the actual post:

"Want to hear something depressing?" Dave asked me while we talked on the phone yesterday. Uh, no not really. "The low is nine degrees tonight. And zero tomorrow." Boooo!!!! Remember those unseasonably warm January days? Welcome, February.

So after a particularly long and exhausting day yesterday, all the children were tucked comfortably into bed, except Maci, who cuddled with me on the couch. Dave was in bed as well. All of the sudden I hear a really LOUD noise that did not stop. Dave got out of bed and we gave each other the "what the heck is that?" look before discovering MUCH to our dismay, it was the furnace. After about an hour of trying to figure out what was wrong, no luck. We knew we had to turn the furnace off for the night or risk ruining it by running it all night. Of course, we turned it off. Just before 1 am Dave laid blankets on the floor and hauled the kids all into our room so we could run the space heater. (This is the part where I was really, really sad that Detmer got sick and we had to cancel a sleepover planned at Aunt Diana's.) Our room stayed warm and the kids did great on our floor (although I did have to retrieve Kendall out from under the bed one time when I came back in from feeding Maci).

As soon as we woke up this morning I sent a text to my most wonderful friend across the street. Her husband happens to own a business. HVAC. Because we are lucky that way. "What's John's work number?" She text me back with the number and said, "did your furnace go out?" How did she know we didn't just want to have him over for dinner?:) So about noon Dave called John who said, I'm in my driveway I'll be right there. Then about 12:01 John knocked on the door. Then about 12:15 John headed back home after restoring heat to my home. AND! He acts like it's no big deal. Okay, have you ever got up to feed a baby at three am? It can be hard. BUT, if you've ever got up to feed a baby at 3 am when it's fifty degrees inside...oh man. I could not have survived another night like that.

Amazing. These people who live around me. I want to be more like them.

The night we got home from the hospital Dave and I had not eaten all day. It took us way longer then we thought to get home (we had pharmacy hour issues since it was Sunday). We came home starving, but still with a million things to do. Shortly after we got home, our door knocks. Our friend and neighbor bringing us warm rolls. For one thing my mouth waters just thinking of them, because they were that good. Dave and I downed all of them in about five minutes. It was just the thing we needed and I know it was no coincidence that she showed up at that time with those rolls. Other people (ahem, me) would have thought, "hey they just had a baby, they would probably love some warm rolls". But I never would have actually made some and taken them!

We've received so many delicious meals and we are totally overwhelmed by all the beautiful gifts for Maci and even one sweet neighbor who brought a treat for Allie, Detmer, and Kendall (although I think Dave enjoyed it most) along with something for Maci.

We are so blessed, it is no wonder this baby is so happy.

Proverbs

2011-01-28T16:04:00.000-08:00

"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6

Favorite Things

2011-01-26T22:28:00.000-08:00

The pictures have nothing to do with this post, but you can't have a two week old and not add pictures to a post.

Dave & Kira's naming trend:

Allie: a character in one of our favorite movies

Detmer: one of our favorite athletes

Kendall: a character in one of our favorite TV shows

Maci: one of her favorite aunts. Work with me here, people. After the naming trend of our first three kids, I couldn't just randomly name a fourth. So please transpose the first three letters in CAMi and there you have MACi.

When I was about to deliver Maci I told some of my nurses I thought I was having a boy and they asked if that was why we hadn't picked a girl name. I can honestly say that is not why. We were simply stumped. Nothing came to us. We never, ever argued over names. We just didn't like ANY. We had a similar experience with Kendall but had her name in plenty of time for her birth. We thought something would come to us, but it just didn't. We made a firm decision to not even discuss names until the birth of our baby. It was doing nothing but making us crazy.

Almost as soon as Maci was born I thought, "Maci". When I kissed her cheeks (one hundred times) while I was getting stitched up I kept thinking, "I LOVE YOU MACI!!!" As I was getting stitched Dave and Maci were doing the weigh ins, apgars, and finally off to the nursery. So even though I felt sure of her name, I hadn't had a chance to discuss it with Dave.

As soon as Dave and Maci came in to the recovery room the first thing Dave said was, "I have been thinking about a name and there is only one that sticks out to me." I cringed. I had already named her and I wanted to be the one to bring it up. Then Dave said, "Maci." It was so perfect!!! I felt so happy. We had discussed a few names briefly so it wasn't as if we randomly picked the name out of thin air, but still it could have been any number of names.

Dave had decided early on that if it was a girl, he wanted to name her after someone on his side of the family. I agreed and asked him what names he was thinking of. He literally did not say one name. The entire pregnancy he did not offer up a single option for this family name he had in mind. I decided, again, to just let this go and maybe something will come when she is born.

When we DID discuss Dave's family names, it wasn't pretty. Dave adored each of his grandma's, but their names were Madge Rosina and Olive Pearl. Need I say more?

For my part, I wanted to name her after my grandpa(if Dave didn't come up with anything), whose middle name was Kay. I love the idea of tying generations and family members together through names and have known since I was young that I wanted each of my children to have a family name.

As we discussed a middle name, I remembered a pioneer story from Dave's ancestors that I really loved. I told Dave I thought the little girl in the story was named Kate. We both loved the idea of Maci Kate. However, when we went to confirm it with Dave's mom we learned the baby's name was Katie. Maci Katie did not have quite the same ring. We probably went over at least twenty middle names, including invented ones like "Olivia" as a form of Olive. Things were desperate, as in we had one more day until we had to hand in the birth certificate. I still liked Kay but I liked Maci Kate better. I was reading a magazine that Kelly had brought me while I was in the hospital and read about a girl named "Kayte". I thought this was the perfect solution. It still has "Kay" like Grandpa, but I thought Maci Kayte sounded a little more complete (Plus it didn't rhyme with Macy Grey).

I still remember the first time I heard Dave say, "Maci Steffensen" and I thought it was the most beautiful name I have ever heard. Amazing how that happens.

The Sisters and the Brother

2011-01-20T17:07:00.000-08:00

After Dave walked Maci back to the nursery, they were getting ready to take me to my room and the nurse said, "your kids are so excited!" I said, "my kids are here?" She told me they were in my room. I was so shocked they were already there! I asked the nurse to let Dave know my kids were there so he could hurry and get their gifts into Maci's bassinette. I was wheeled into my room laying flat and shaking out of control (again) and there was Allie, Detmer, Kendall, Kelly, and my dad. It was awesome!!! I hate waiting by myself for anyone to get there and I loved having them there already. They were disappointed that Maci wasn't there yet and she didn't get there for awhile. I reminded them how they would know if it was a boy or a girl: a girl would have a bow, a boy would have a football cap on.

ALLIE:

Allie was SO out of control. I wanted Dr. M to give her some of that relaxor he gave me. We couldn't calm her down for anything. When I reminded her about the bow/cap for girl/boy she said, "MOM! I already know it's a boy." I asked her how she knew and it was because we already have two girls but only one boy. She was SHOCKED when she saw the bow!!! She loved Maci from first sight and could not wait to hold her.

We had Allie up to the hospital by herself on Saturday to spend sometime with me, Dave, and Maci. She was in HEAVEN!!! Her favorite thing was sitting on my moveable bed and watching cartoons. We ordered hamburger and fries from the cafe and the two of us had lunch in bed. Allie had plenty of time to hold Maci and got to go for a walk to see the room where she stayed when she was Maci's age. They also (Allie and Detmer) got to go during their date with Daddy to Smoothie King and get their own smoothie.

Allie loves almost everything about Maci. She made it clear from the start she does NOT want to see Maci's belly button. The other day she was holding her and her blanket slipped and Allie was like, "ahh, someone take her". If she comes to look at her and her belly button is showing, Allie turns away. She loves when Maci is awake and if Maci starts to drift off, Allie's like, "no no stay awake."

DETMER:

Detmer was the perfect gentlemen from the second Maci was born. He kept coming over and rubbing my arm and saying, "I love you Momma." It was the sweetest. He would even get in bed with me and give me hugs and kisses. Everyone kept saying "Detmer wants a brother sooo bad" but I honestly don't think Detmer ever said that it was more like everyone expected him to want a brother, but he has never said a word about it and has loved this new baby from first sight.

Our hospital date with just Detmer was so special. Thank goodness for my brownie. Detmer almost ended up missing his date but when he saw the brownie that came for him (when we ordered lunch) he decided to stay and I had the best time with my sweet guy. We also took Detmer to see the room he stayed in when he was born and had so much fun hanging out with that funny guy.

Detmer also loves it when Maci is awake and loves talking to her. He's not too big on wanting to hold her, which at this point is a kind of a good thing.

KENDALL:

Kendall was exactly how I thought she would be at the hospital. She wanted nothing to do with me and always wanted someone else to be holding her. Mostly Dave.

At home she always wants to be around Maci. We all love the way she says "Maci" so much everyone kept asking her, pointing to Maci, "what's her name?" So now Kendall always points to her and says, "what's her name?" So I tell her something crazy and she says, "no that's Maci." The first time she heard Maci cry she looked at me with this concerned look and she said, "Maci do this: wa." We laughed so hard so now we say, "Kendall, what does Maci do?" Kendall says, "waaa" and laughs. For every other aspect she is our same girl. Loves to be spoiled, expects to get what she wants, suddenly becomes the cuddliest thing on the planet when it is time for bed. She even loves me again and will sit on my lap. Especially if that is where Maci is. Yesterday she was trying to reach Maci and couldn't quite get there and tells me, "I want to pet her." She treats Maci exactly how she treated Kelly's dogs. Luckily she hasn't poked her in the eyeball yet though.

MACI:

On Tuesday night we got permission to "cut the cord" as Uncle Steve likes to call it. She had to come home with a biliblanket. It was weird because the pediatrician said they go on the blanket if they are above 15 and the highest Maci ever got was 14.2. We still can't figure out why they gave it to us. She is still a little bit yellow, but looking better each day.

Yesterday was her first day with no bottles! She is finally learning how to nurse. It's still a long process. Hopefully very soon it will be nice and simple!

I always forget how often a newborn sleeps. I keep thinking, this cannot be right for her to sleep this much! I also can't believe how tiny she is. We love her so much!!! I am so happy to have her here with us. We are so blessed!

Surprise Surprise Surprise

2011-01-18T17:58:00.001-08:00

Maci at a few minutes old.

Surprise #1: After planning for months of having a January 15 baby, my baby was born January 12

Surprise #2: A baby girl! I thought I was having a boy!

Surprise #3: After two dark haired baby girls I got a blondie. Still can't believe it!

Yep, this will be long but believe me this is the condensed version of the birth story. I have fifty Maci stories I want to record so this will be part one of a lot!

-Found out Tuesday we were going to have the baby Wednesday (I might share the story later of how my doctor tricked me into this).

-Doctor told me it would be Wednesday night. I begged for an earlier appointment so I didn't have to sit and think about it all day.

-Dr. Bierer made some calls and told me to come in at 11:30 and the c-section was scheduled for 1:30.

-The pre-op rooms were almost all full. Busy day.

-We got all the prep work done and it went pretty well. I was feeling so beyond excited that I would be holding my baby soon.

-At about 1:15 we were told an emergency c-section came in and we got bumped to 6:00. We were so bummed and especially disappointed because I knew how anxious the kids were to meet our baby. Still, like I told the nurse, I've done the emergency c-section thing. It sucks. We were just grateful that everything was going so well for us and that waiting was an option. It was a very long, hard wait.

-As soon as the time finally came and we were walking to the OR I got the shakes so bad I felt like I was going to pass out. I could barely walk or move.

-I had the most AMAZING anesthisiliologist (I'm not going to look up how to spell that, let's call him Dr. M). He was so kind and friendly and asked if I wanted him to put something in my IV to help me relax. Ya think? I don't know why that is not standard procedure. I was still nervous but had much better control of myself and stopped shaking.

-The epidural part sucked as usual, but hey, it worked this time so I was grateful.

-What transpired between the epidural and the part where Maci came out was so awful I will have nightmares until the day I die. Enough said.

-Except, of course, I have to include the part where Dr. Bierer said, "What the...I couldn't get your last baby out, either, could I?!" Gee, doc. What timing for the words of comfort.

-More things I'm trying to forget about.

-Dr. Bierer exclaims "woah, she's huge!"

-Dave and I were so shocked she was out so fast (especially after the above comment)

-I was taking in all at once "she" and "huge". How huge is my baby girl?

-I got a tiny glimpse of her and they took her to weigh her and I couldn't see her anymore:( Usually I have been able to see them when they are weighed and scored.

-Somebody said she has red hair. I was very anxious to see my huge, red headed baby!

-The doctors having some serious trouble finish up my c-section and me being able to hear bits and pieces of their conversation (even though they were trying to whisper). I thought I might never walk again or something horrible. For the record, Dave knows what happened and he is dying to tell someone. He is not allowed to talk about it in front of me. I never want to know.

-FINALLY Dave brings over my beautiful, TINY, BLONDE baby girl. I got to kiss her precious little face for a minute until she left me AGAIN to go to the nursery.

-Awesome Dr. M moved me to my new bed. Transferring is normally the worst part for me but he did it so smoothly I barely felt like I budged.

-In recovery I was in so much pain, plus I didn't have my baby to take my mind off the pain. It didn't help that I was on the evil Pitocin. I hate that stuff!

-When my sweet Maci came in I couldn't even hold her I was hurting so bad. But at least she was with me at last. For a second then back to the dang nursery!

Introducing!!!

2011-01-16T21:55:00.001-08:00

Maci Kayte Steffensen
January 12, 2011
7 pounds 8 ounces
20 inches

First family picture. Too bad Allie was being such a goof!

Modeling her outfit sent from Aunt Jenn
Modeling the outfit from Aunt Jenn with the hat. The hat was so cute but would't stay on her head! Allie, Detmer, and Kendall were so excited to bring her the little pink monkey.
Maci's first picture with Mom! She is about twenty minutes old in this picture.

Many pictures and a birthstory to come! We are sooooooo excited to have Maci here! We love this baby so much!

See this boy in the suit?

2011-01-04T20:55:00.000-08:00

This is my sweet little SUNBEAM! Detmer started primary on Sunday and was SO excited! He has the cutest teacher ever. She came over to let him know she was his teacher on Saturday night and he talked about Sunbeams all night and all morning Sunday. Dave and I must have been asked twenty times "is it time for Sunbeams yet?" I was so sad Dave and I just got released from primary so we didn't get to watch how his first Sunday went. However, from the full report we received afterward, it was a huge hit. He loved it!When I was taking pictures of Detmer and Dave, Kendall wanted a picture with Daddy. Then after I take her picture she always runs over and says, "I wanna see I wanna see." She has not yet gone to nursery by herself. She had a little cold on Sunday so we came home during nursery.

Two handsome suit guys!Allie had been talking about being Mary on Christmas Eve for months. Try not to be jealous of these beautiful costumes I spent months sewing together. It was fun. It is so nice to blend the true story of Christmas in with the parties so it gives the kids time to think about the meaning of Christmas in a way they really enjoy. Please note Kendall was the star. Not the star of the show, the shining star. You can barely tell in this picture that she is holding it. Although she was also the star of the show. Weren't they all!!!

Guessing Game

2011-01-02T22:06:00.000-08:00

Please entertain me with your guesses!
Boy or Girl?
Weight?
Length?
Name?

This is a 37 week picture taken by Allie.

If you have seen me at all in the past month or so, you may recognize my uniform I am wearing. What happened to all of my maternity clothes? Well, I don't do jeans. My size fits wrong in all the wrong places by the time I reach this point and the size up look like MC Hammer pants, so I always swear off jeans sometime before week 30 (which may or may not be sometime around week 12). I had a pair of cream colored pants I wore a lot with Kendall. They were so comfy. Then Kelly and I discussed (they were a hand-me-down from her) that they should have never been worn in public. I still have several other shirts, but they don't go with black pants, really. They look better with cream pants or jeans, but remember? (see above). So this is pretty much it for me. Good thing it's so flattering. Mind you I do have three different pair of black pants. And if my shirt is being washed (or line dried, since I don't currently have a dryer) I have plenty of billowy sweatshirts.

One should never assume (or mention) that a pregnant gal is going to have her baby "any day now". Because for some of us, that does not happen. It should not be assumed that our baby is coming even one day before 42 weeks. People are constantly asking, "do you ever go early?" No. I don't. I would probably still be pregnant with Allie were it not for the invention of my dear friend the c-section.

This is my first pregnacy that I have not been asked, "when are you due?" told the answer and had the other person shockingly respond, (gasp)"is it twins?"

Friday was my last day at the gym. I have officially started my maternity leave. The day before millions of Americans join the gym, I am done. Friday was awesome, the whole class was dedicated to me (by me). We did all my favorite tracks and it was the perfect way to start my hiatus. It's probably for the best. Some people were starting to get a little jealous of all the attention I was getting. I don't see what the big deal is, though. I know someone who went to the gym the day before she went into labor with twins. Haha!

People always want to know if my other children are excited about the baby and I just lie and say, "yes, they can hardly wait!" The truth is I think by this point of pregnancy kids think it is all some made up game and that no baby is actually coming. However, today Allie actually said, "I can't wait for the baby." So I think at her age she realizes it is getting close.

When Kendall was born I had her in the nursery while Allie and Detmer arrived. I wanted to greet them and then have Dave go get Kendall. When Kendall came in, she had two presents in her crib, one for Allie, one for Detmer. That was a huge highlight for them and they are already talking about what Manase might bring them. There is only one thing packed in my hospital bag so far: the gifts from the baby for Allie, Detmer, and Kendall. That is the only thing I absolutely can't forget!

Number One

2010-12-29T18:36:00.000-08:00

Today was Dave's first day back to work after having over a week long vacation. It was so much fun and I am definitely the one who got the vacation. Over Christmas Dave and I talked about the two different kinds of service people usually do. 1) To be recognized and applauded for their actions. 2) Out of love, where no one knows but them. Both kinds of service are admirable, but I am always in awe of people who are constantly serving without getting accolades from those around them. Dave is that kind of person. He doesn't track his service or make a big deal of it, he just does it. I would be surprised if anyone knew about some of the service he heas been up to this year. And he spends most of his time serving where it matters most, right in his home. For example:

-While he was off work, I did not change one single diaper unless Dave was asleep or gone. He didn't announce his plan to me. In fact, I'm not even sure if he realized it (he probably did) but I wanted him to know I realized it and appreciated it so much.

-I didn't get any kids into jammies.

-I didn't brush any teeth (except my own, surprisingly I didn't make Dave do that).

-During his time off, Dave did not plan one single thing for himself. He did plan several family activities.

-He taught the kids how to play Monopoly. They loved it! And he does not impatient with them. The first game was over two hours, the second one was probably even longer!

-Back in the summer when I had such bad morning sickness, I missed at least two months of church. Dave took all three children every single week!!! I do not know of many men that would do this. He never once just decided to take a day off, never once asked if one of the kids could stay home with me. Now, you may know our children as perfect little angels:) but they walk through those chapel doors and they don't hear "shhh, be still". They hear "run around, cry, crawl under benches, talk as loud as possible." I break a sweat at church when Dave is there to help, I'm still amazed that he did this by himself for so long (and a couple times since) and never once complained.

Well, I could go on but I'm sure Dave is embarrassed enough! I just wanted to make sure he knows I recognize all he does for our family, because though you may not believe it, I don't always show it. He is one in a million and we are so lucky to have him!!!

My Loves

2010-12-26T23:09:00.000-08:00

We had a great Christmas. I wish I would have gotten a better picture of my kids in their matching Christmas jammies. I bought those things last year to make sure they would match. Luckily they'll wear them again. Poor Kendall. I bought her a size two but she may wear them for two more years they are so long on her!

Christmas Eve is my favorite. We went to the Cardon cousins and played and played and played. The kids are so excited and wild-I love it! The kids fell asleep on the ride home. Thanks to my awesome dad, who had the kids sleep over on the Sunday before Christmas, Dave and I had NO WRAPPING to do on Christmas Eve. It was glorious. I told him to count that as our present, but of course he didn't listen. Hopefully he listened when I told him to make it a yearly tradition:)!!! We also had a very fun performance by the kids on Christmas Eve. I hope I post pictures of it when my dad sends them to me next week.

Dave and I felt ten years old this Christmas. We could not even sleep this year we were so excited for the kids to get their gifts. Detmer woke us up at five to go to the bathroom and we tossed and turned until 8 when Allie finally got up. We couldn't bear to make her wait much longer, so went and woke up Detmer and Kendall. Having young kids is the best. I just love them and their excitement. They make us so happy!Kendall shows off her loot. She was mostly happy she got cookies for breakfast. I thought she would just wander around and look at everyone's gifts, but she was very excited to unwrap her gifts. She was also VERY slow. I kept trying to help her along and she was not having it.

Detmer got an R/C car from my dad, but my dad forgot to get batteries for it, so Detmer just sat and drooled over it. I've mentioned he is the funnest kid to buy for because he LOVES everything. Last year after each gift he said, "it's just what I always wanted." This year he said, "this is the best Christmas ever!!!" He and Allie were both ready to get back home about five minutes after we walked out the door because they wanted to play with their toys.

This is Allie and her famous Barbie house. For anyone who didn't hear the national news bulletin, Dave built this thing! I looked everywhere for a Barbie house and if it was one hundred bucks or less, it looked like it would break in five minutes. I secretly thought of this idea to have Dave make one and waited for the right time to approach him about it. After showing him some houses online, he came up with the idea all on his own. I had conviently kept this very sturdy wood piece to use and Dave did the rest. It has been her favorite thing. She's been playing with it non-stop!

My favorite gift this year was from Allie. She made it in primary weeks ago and diligently kept it under the tree. Christmas morning she immediately brought it to me, so excited. It was a note in an envelope that said, "to Mom and Detmer, Allie". She is pretty good at sounding words out but writes in short hand-as in she gets bored after the first two letters so it said, "Mom, I wi he u wi ba." She told me, "it says, Mom I will help you with the baby." Then, she took it to Detmer. It said, "Detmer I wi pl wi." It says, of course, "Detmer I will play with you." And I know she will be true to her word. She is such a sweetheart.

I also was very excited to get my new video camera! Our current video camera is all sorts of broken, but it still works (usually) so we've been using it. However, I wanted something good for when the baby comes and the one Dave got me is perfect. It will fit right in his pocket with the camera.

A few days before Christmas, Santa called. Allie was so nervous during the call and Kendall was just here and there. After starting with "Hi Santa." And informing him she wants Barney for Christmas, she started singing Happy Birthday to you. Detmer, however, was very calm and cool. You'd think he talks to Santa everyday.

Three Santas

2010-12-20T22:03:00.000-08:00

I loved this Santa! He was at our ward party and he did a great job. This was after Kendall already sat on Santa's lap, so she just waved from a distance. Allie told Santa she'll be grateful for whatever she gets. Awesome Santa #2. Dave got in trouble by Santa for putting a crying baby on his lap, but we did need our token "baby crying on Santa's lap" picture.

This boy loves Santa. Detmer has never cried on Santa's lap. He is the most appreciative boy, too. He is the one who has not stopped playing with the gift he got from Santa.
I don't have a picture of Santa number 3. Maybe Kelly will post pictures next September for us all to enjoy. Kelly was in charge of her wards Christmas party and she could not find a Santa anywhere. The Santa from the past retired this year. Another guy they tried to get was going out of town but was willing to rent out his suit. Kelly suggested Dave but I had to laugh at that. I mean, just because he has made his modeling debut does not mean he can act. Desperately, Kelly asked my dad. A tricky thing because he did just have major surgery less then two months ago and he does not know how to say no. But of course, he was happy and willing to do it and Kelly said he did an awesome job. I can't wait to see pictures. Thank goodness for my amazing Dad! It was only about four days before that she got it all worked out, too.

Below is me and my cute Kendall with Detmer's beloved Power Ranger toy.Look at that glowing face! I think Santa picked the right gift.

The Christmas Village was awesome this year! It was such a nice night. We didn't just have to rush through to keep from getting frostbite. The kids had a blast playing.
I told Dave to take a picture of the kids in their church Christmas outfits. But I didn't specify that if Allie had candy cane on her face, he should wash it first. Also, "cheese" "Merry Christmas" "Happy Holidays" all great phrases to say during a picture. "Ho ho ho"? Not so much. Still, I love these little cuties, even if they look like big nerds in their Christmas clothes.

2010-12-14T20:19:00.001-08:00

Dave got me a new laptop for an early Christmas present. Oh my gosh, I love it!!! Like with our cellphones, we are probably about the last people on the planet to make such a purchase and I'm glad to see what all the fuss is about.

The only problem is all my pictures are on the computer. I don't mind blogging without pictures, because I love to go back and read and re-live through my posts. However, the children only appreciate the pictures. Everytime I turn on the computer Kendall comes running over and says, "I want to see Kendall" so I show her pictures of herself on the blog and I'm ready for some new ones! But that will have to wait because I'm too cozy sitting on my couch tonight, so here are some random things.

Dave took me on a surprise date yesterday. I teased him because we went to a movie as part of the date and I could have only guessed that since going to a movie is his favorite thing in the whole world. However, I was very grateful that HE got a baby-sitter and I didn't have to worry about a single thing! We saw Harry Potter and it was sooo good!!! I hated the first Harry Potter but then after I was forced (by my bookclub) to read the book I watched it again and loved it. I have loved all the movies since. Dave and I also loved all the books. I personally don't think the movies are even worth watching without reading the books!

Dave also took Allie and Detmer last week to see Tangled in 3D. They loved it. The best part was Allie and Detmer's excitement over going to the movie. They are like there dad and think the movie theater is the most exciting place ever.

We got Eclipse from Netflix. I think we got it the first day it released. Anyway, I'm not a huge Twilight fan, but I thought this movie was the worst one yet. Dave thought it was the best one yet. Who wants to be the tie-breaker?

I would also like to congratulate Dave on his new position at work. It is a position he set his sights on when he very first started with Fidelity and it has been awesome to see all his hardwork recognized. So far he has been loving it. I feel very fortunate, as a wife, that Dave has always loved his job. He could probably be happy working at the dump, he's got a great attitude about things. He hardly ever complained at all last month when he was going in early and getting up at 5:30 while the rest of us slept several more hours. I also take partial credit for him getting the job because I did a really awesome mock interview for him. I even wore a dress.

Two

2010-11-30T21:10:00.000-08:00

(For some reason, I can't move my pictures without a bunch of hassle, so this picture is at the top, even though I talk about it at the bottom:))

My sweet baby girl is two!!! I was so excited for her party to finally give her the present that has been sitting in the garage for a month. I knew she would love it! (The rest of the pictures are random and I don't want to move them, but just a little showing off of my cute baby!)

Making her birthday cake.

LOVED the Christmas tree and decorations and has surprisingly not taken the ornaments off the tree...yet.
Not into this whole winter thing. It's the whole spend an hour to get dressed, go outside for two minutes, come in screaming from cold-hand-pain.
Kendall and her favorite guy.

Allie and Detmer were so cute wrapping her gifts and carefully placing them on the birthday table. About a half hour before her party, she opened them! Allie and Detmer were devestated, but I assured them the great thing about two year olds is they quickly forget, and she would be very surprised when she opened them. To be honest, she saw the horse MANY times before she knew it was hers. We were too lazy to hide it very well.

We had a couple of ideas of what to put on her cake, and decided on making her a Netflix cake. It is a running joke in this household. Kendall WILL NOT sit and watch TV. Not for one single second. I have so many friends who can pop in Einsteins for their ten month old and they watch the whole thing and Kendall just refuses. And YET. Several times a day, "I wanna watch Netflix. I wanna watch Netflix." She is constantly asking! If not for Netflix she says, "I wanna watch Barney." If she liked to watch TV half as much as she ACTS like she wants to watch TV, well, I would have a lot of free time!

We put Kendall in a toddler bed about a month ago. Dave was anxious to get her in it, because he didn't want to put up two cribs. I agreed to try it but secretly I was planning on getting her after she cried for two minutes, cuddling her for an hour as an apology, then sticking her back in her crib for the night while assuring Dave putting up the other crib won't be that bad. She did amazing! We can't believe how well she has done. Now the really scary part, putting her in with Allie and Detmer. Yep, three kids in one room. I like my baby to have their own room and I have never shared a room with my baby. That should be interesting. But I'm happy part one went so well. However, I'm pretty sure sometimes she doesn't even take a nap, she just waits until she feels it's been a sufficient amount of time that I will think she has napped. Like today she was calling me and I went into get her and she was sitting in the rocking chair in her room. She had probably been there the whole time thinking, "is she going to buy it if I call her now?" She ALWAYS wakes up happy. We know she is awake because she just says, "MOMMY! MOMMY!" If Allie or Detmer get her out of bed, she crawls into our room. On Sunday she came crawling right for me until she heard the news that Daddy was home and she quickly changed direction and crawled to his side of the bed.

She LOVES calling Dave at work. She brings me the phone a hundred times a day, "I want hello Daddy." She getts giddy with excitement every single time she calls him. It is the sure fire thing to put her in a good mood.

On the night of her birthday party, she was doing her favorite thing: taking a bubble bath. She gets in and says, "I want pony." So I hand her the pony. She says, "I want other pony." So I give her the other pony and she says, "thank you Mommy." Then about fifty times throughout her bath she said, "Mom." I said what she said, "I love you." Dave was out watching TV so she would scream, "DAAAAD!" He'd say, "what Kendall?" She would should, "LOVE YOU!" It was so cute and I finally kicked her out after about an hour. She loves bubbles.

She loves to make people laugh. In the van she always makes funny noises then turns to Detmer and says, "funny Betberr? Funny?" She also points out everytime she sees a housecar (RV) and "Christmas lights!" Used to be Halloween, then Thanksgiving. If someone else points it out and she can't see it she says, "where Mom? Where?" She hates to be stuck at red lights. If we are stopped she says, "go mom!" Until we are going.

She is just like Allie and Detmer and loves cousins and likes Kelly better then she likes me. I can bribe her to do anything in the morning because I say, "if you want to go play with cousins..." (Kelly and I work out together in the mornings) as soon as we pull into the gym if she sees there van she gets SO excited and shouts, "SUZZINS! SUZZINS!"

Man, I could go on for a thousand pages about all the funny and cute things she says and does. We love her so much and she is so fun! She plays so cute and loves all her toys. She loves Allie and Detmer so much. She hates when she gets up in the morning and they are still in bed. She so wants to go wake them up. And they adore her. They love doing little favors for her and they spoil her so much.

For Kendall's very birthday, she got to go to Build-A-Bear and Grandma Marbles got her a bear. She was so cute! She loved picking out her bear and was very sure about the dress she wanted. She said she wanted to name the bear "Grandma". We called the bear Maddi, but this morning she came in and said, "where's Grandma?" Then finds Maddi and says, "Ohhh." That's why Maddi had to get glasses just like Grandma's. And Kendall is obsessed with glasses, but surprisingly Maddi/Grandma's glasses are still in one piece. We had dinner at Applebee's and when they sang happy birthday to her she had this look like, "what the heck?" but just clapped right along with the staff.

3 Truths & 1 Lie

2010-11-10T20:28:00.000-08:00

1. There is a gal in our ward who is an awesome artist. A guy in our ward is an aspiring actor. Together, they decided he would pose as Jesus to inspire some of her paintings. Good for her, and good for his portfolio. He is a kind of small guy, though. A couple Sunday's ago she knocks on our door and asks to come in and sit down. Then she asked Dave if he would model as Jesus for her. With his nice hands and his broad shoulders, mind you. When he played two truths and a lie at work he mentioned he was asked to model as Jesus, but of course, no one picked that as the lie. It was only a matter of time before he was discovered.

2. The glucose test that pregnant women have to do causes me huge amounts of anxiety. This was the first time I had to drink the orange drink and I thought about it for weeks. The paper of instructions says THREE times to be sure your test is done exactly one hour after you finish the drink. We got to our appointment at 5:39 and I told them, "I need to do the glucose test at 5:49." I stared at my phone waiting for 5:49. It came and I thought surely, they know what they are doing. Finally at 5:55 I went up and said, "um, I was due to take the glucose test at 5:49?" The receptionist replies, "oh. it's too late now." WHAT?!!! I was so mad! She called the medical assistant who was at fault and she took my blood anyway, and then said, "well, you're going to have to do it again, but you're going to have to do the three hour test." Please raise your hand if you feel I should be reimbursed for my time, driving expenses, and emotional trauma caused by her mistake. Thanks, I thought so too.

3. How do you like this song I wrote? Okay, so I didn't write it, but I could have. For Halloween we went back to my dad's old neighborhood. All night Allie kept asking to go to Grandpa's. We had already gone, I thought she wanted to go back because cousins just went. Finally Dave figured out she meant Grandpa's old house. I told her we could go there while Dave, Detmer, and Kendall (who were so done) waited in the van. We knocked and the guy who answered was really friendly. Just before we left she muttered "this used to be my Grandpa's house." The guy at the door said, "what?" I told him, "she just wanted to tell you her Grandpa used to live here." A very long story short, the guy invited us in, offered to let us take a tour, and chatted with us for at least ten minutes (my apologies to Dave, Detmer, and Kendall in the van). I appreciated it so much. It was nice to go in and look around. It all really happened, even if my only tangible memories are a couple of boxes of things cluttering my basement and Kelly's. He also said I could come back anytime. I might.

The lie: You might be surprised to learn my baby daughter will not be named Betty Jean. If you recall this post, I asked for suggestions on naming my baby boy. The reason being Dave and I had picked out a girl name, so I only needed a boy name. The joke is on me. Just as quickly as our daughter's name came, it left. Both Dave and I, on cue, started feeling less then excited about the name (we actually have two possibilities). Who knows, maybe my daughter will be Betty Jean. The rest of that post was true, including Dave disputing using Jean for a middle name. Incidently, Dave's mom's middle name (along with 50% of the female population) is Marie. You might think it's a no brainer to use that. BOTH our names rhyme with Marie (think: Bree Marie). And you thought you had problems.

Best Prank Ever

2010-11-09T20:57:00.000-08:00

You might have noticed me and the good people at Kosy 106.5 and FM 100 are in the Christmas spirit. I look so forward to the Christmas tunes. The past couple years, the start time has been so random. It's like three o'clock on November 4. So Dave called me this year to inform me the Christmas music had started. I could practically hear Denny's blood pressure go up. He would like to outlaw listening to Christmas music before Thanksgiving.

On Sunday, Kelly had the best idea ever. The Cardon's and some neighbors hung their Christmas lights on Saturday, so on Sunday the Cardon's asked the neighbors to turn on their lights. That way when Denny came for dinner he was welcomed to a winter wonderland. As if that wasn't enough (and it probably was) Kelly made Christmas sugar cookies and had Christmas music blaring on the radio. You can guess (if you know Denny at all) he wasn't in the house two minutes before he began his rant. "Thanksgiving? What's Thanksgiving? Isn't it Christmas?" He said sarcastically. Denny doesn't know the meaning of "I don't care". He is he has an opinion on everything, and it's a strong one.

(Hey Denny-Wasn't Jennifer Aniston HOT in her last movie? Oh my gosh, have you seen The Blindside? So good! And what about The Office? That's what she said. Could you please give Limo a hug for me? If I could stomach it I would put something like go utes but I don't want to taint my blog.)

I have two legitimate questions for anyone interested in this hot topic:

#1. Why doesn't anybody ever accuse me of skipping Halloween? I pull out my Christmas music before Halloween, but everyone is only concerned about precious Thanksgiving?

#2. People make the accusation that others are "skipping Thanksgiving", but what does that mean exactly? Is it simply listening to Christmas music? Should you not go Christmas shopping until after Thanksgiving? I'm truly curious. It's probably just a matter of opinion.

But this year, before you accuse me of skipping Thanksgiving, please tell me how I can do so.

I. Hate. Thanksgiving.

After I had Allie and the rest of the children came, I lost a lot of the bitterness that came when my mom died. I found joy in everything again. Almost everything. But somehow, it didn't happen with Thanksgiving. It has sucked every single year since my mom died.

The first was obviously horrible. We were all in such a deep depression and my mom was more painfully absent then ever as we tried to celebrate whatever it is you celebrate on Thanksgiving (overeating of food that's not that good?)

The second Thanksgiving was even worse. Ryan had just died. And what's worse then being around a lot of people who are as miserable as you are? Being around people who aren't miserable at all. This was the worst "holiday" I have ever had in my life. I still remember playing a game that night with a bunch of people laughing and talking and thinking that I was going to die.

To try and make Thanksgiving a little less horrible, three different years I asked three different people (I mean four) who had made endless offers of "ANYTHING I can do to help" to help. That's when I first realized when most people say "Anything I can do to help" means "anything I can do to help as long as it fits into my schedule and doesn't cause me the least bit of inconvience."

Do I sound bitter at all?

And I didn't even include the real doozies.

A couple of years I made some attempts at turning this holiday around and making it really special, but those all failed so this year I'm anxiously awaiting Black Friday, a better holiday then Thanksgiving.

Just for fun, want to know what our two options are for Thanksgiving this year? No. No, you really don't.

Until next time, Merry Christmas!!!

One more

2010-10-31T22:11:00.000-07:00

I had to do one more Halloween post for Aunt Jenn and Nathan so they could see how awesome Detmer looks in Nathan's motorcycle outfit. I was uncomfortable with him wearing his (way too small) Batman costume. I was happy when Donna told me about this outfit that may possibly fit Detmer, and even happier that he loved it so much. The first time we put it on him, Dave finished getting him ready and he announced, "I look awesome as Justin Bieber."

Allie's very original idea for her Halloween costume (like, back in August) was Super Girl. I was excited about this. We have a Superman cape and I was picturing something like what Phoebe wears (you know-The One With the Halloween Party). Red skirt, blue shirt, cape, done. When I started putting it together Allie was totally turned off and changed her mind about being Supergirl and moved onto other ideas. About two days before Halloween, she brought up the idea again, that she wanted to be Supergirl, but with her pink cape. I said I didn't think anyone would know who she was with a pink cape. So Friday morning we get a catalog in the mail. Who is on the cover? Supergirl and her pink cape. Allie runs it into me, "see, Mom! Supergirl DOES have a pink cape." She went to a birthday party that afternoon as a cowgirl and while she was gone, I put together almost an exact replica of the Supergirl costume from the catalog (except different colors) with stuff we had lying around the house. She was soooo happy. Even though she doesn't look it in this picture.

I love taking Allie trick-or-treating. For a kid who doesn't have much of a sweet tooth, she sure does love the thrill of the hunt. She didn't care about the cold or the rain. She would have kept going much longer if Detmer and Kendall hadn't given up in such a big way. She didn't complain once and she just makes the whole night so fun with her happy attitude.

We had so much fun carving pumpkins. This year the children were really able to enjoy it. Kendall loved getting the guts out.Trunk-or-treating with cousins.

Kendall enjoying her Halloween dinner, which was, of course: brains (speghetti), sea monster with exploding guts (salad and dressing), eyeballs (meatballs), grapes (also meatballs, I realized too late I wasn't creative enough and called two things meatballs), mummy (bread), and to drink, blood (kool-aid). The children are not big dessert people and I didn't want to waste stuff just for the sake of the Halloween dinner. I thought of the perfect thing. Worms (gummy) in mud (pudding). They love gummy worms and pudding, but do you think they would touch it? Nope. Detmer did eat his and the rest got tossed.

Lucky 13

2010-10-28T19:45:00.000-07:00

Last Monday, with thirteen days left until the big Trick-or-Treat and 13 weeks left until the baby comes I decided it would be the perfect week of spooky (or not so spooky) celebrations. It was a fun and busy week!

Monday: We went to Black Island Farms, which is such an awesome place. If you haven't gone, definitely get it on the schedule for next year. It's a little pricey, but there is always coupons in the Home Town Values magazine, and it's worth it (I would say, if you happen to be paying yourself). We stayed almost four hours before we had to drag the kids to the van, and we didn't even have time to do everything we wanted. If it wasn't so cold/dark/late we could have easily stayed another couple hours. I wish I could post all the pictures, there are so many fun activities. Kendall's favorite was the little petting zoo area. The animals were so active and friendly.

Tuesday: My birthday date package #3, which was the play "Clue" at the Rogers Memorial Theater. Dave and I had so much fun and the play was awesome. It's my favorite one that I have seen there.

Wednesday: We went swimming at Spook N' Swim. Or Surf N' Spook. We couldn't decide which sounded better. Wednesday at Surf N' Swim is only $1 per person. I wasn't thrilled about swimming in October, but the kids were, and I figured even if we only stayed a bit it was worth the dollar. We stayed almost two hours, so it was totally worth it. The spookiest part was getting the kids all showered, dried off, and dressed in jammies before heading out into the cold night. No wonder I was the only sucker parent there! Every other kid in the place was with a grandparent, and there was less then twenty people that came the whole night. I would do it all the time if my kids could shower/dry/dress themselves. As it is, I'm sure they'll sucker me into it at least a couple more times this winter.

Thursday: This will sound lame to everybody else, but it is one of my kids favorite things to do. We went to Target (we're usually a bit fancier and go to Toys R Us) and I let them browse through the toys. I'm not sure if my children even realize toys are available for purchase.

Friday: We went to a Halloween party with the Cardon's. By the time we trick-or-treat on Saturday, we will have had seven different events that call for the children to be dressed up. And they love it everytime!!!

Saturday: I had this bright idea. I was exhausted by Saturday (um, I know I know I'm exhausted everyday). I had been on my own Wednesday, Thursday, and again all day Saturday. So I remember a couple years ago my friend who had a baby near Halloween painted her belly orange and let her children draw a jack-o-lantern on her belly. I was not quite that ambitious but I did get out the markers and told the children they could draw a scary face on my belly. If you ever decide to do this, here's a few tips:

-Young children will most likely think "why am I wasting my artist abilities on Mom's belly, when I could be decorating my own belly. And legs. And face. And arms." And since the fun was not to be stopped, I let them proceed. But if you do let them proceed, remember a few more tips.

-Don't do it when you have church the next day. Even washable markers take a couple days to disappear.

-Don't do it when your children have been asked to be photographed as inspiration for someone's paintings.

-Especially not if one of them is giving a talk, because you always feel like a better Mom if your child is up in front of the primary giving a talk and they don't have marker on their face.

Get Away

2010-10-14T21:25:00.000-07:00

This year for my birthday Dave got me a "date package". The first one was the circus and last week we did the second date, which was a family trip down to stay in a hotel and go to the Cougar game. Since Friday is our last day with bragging rights before we get slaughtered by TCU, I better hurry and do this post:) Sorry, Cougs, but when you lose to the Aggies my team spirit really dwindles.

We had an awesome time at the hotel and were less then enthused about the game. Lucky us, it ended up to be the best game of the year (to that point, I'm sure when we slaughter TCU on Saturday that will be even better:)). The children were so super excited about their new Cougar clothes and Dave mentioned that he got some pictures but they didn't turn out very well. Uh, he was right. We'll have to do another picture with the new Cougar clothes.

The children did surprisingly well at the game, although I think it's always nice to offer Dave a reminder as to why it is not the right time in our lives to get season tickets. We were surrounded by the nicest people. They were so super patient, even when Kendall was literally climbing on the guy next to her. And I was so glad the soda that spilled all over everyone's coats that were on the ground did not belong to us, nor did we spill it.

As a sidenote, Dave is really fun to watch football with. He knows everything that is happening in the game and always knows what the call is going to be. If the entire stadium is a booing a call the refs made and Dave sides with the refs, I know the refs are right. He's just a man of many talents, I guess. Plus he doesn't all bent out of shape if his team loses. Actually, that should read he doesn't show how bent out of shape he is if his team loses.

We spent four days at the hotel and had planned to do a lot of things with the children, but really they were happiest to just swim. We would eat breakfast, swim, nap, swim, lunch, swim. They are better in the water then me and this is the first time we've stayed in a hotel that all three of them wanted to do nothing but swim.

We did go to the Living Planet Aquarium. It was pretty fun. I would recommend it over the zoo (that's not saying much-I hate the zoo). I hate when places for children charge an huge amount for adults, since obviously the kids need supervision. $7 for kids $13 for adults. Lame. Detmer and Kendall had fun petting stingrays, starfish, and anything they could touch. Allie was freaked out even by the sharks in the tank! (But was happy for this photo op in the fake boat).

Things That Matter Most

2010-10-13T20:49:00.000-07:00

One day last year, I sat on my bed and cried. The kind of tears where you start to wonder where they are coming from and if they will ever run out. It was, literally, the worst day of my life. Dave took care of the children while my sobs went from hysterical, to a little more calm, and back. I felt like I would never be happy again. I thought I wouldn't be able to face anyone for days. Around bedtime that night, Dave brought the children in for prayer and scriptures. Sometimes, when we can't find our kid scriptures or we're too lazy to go get them, we just tell a scripture story. On this particular night I know Dave was inspired to tell the story of when Jesus and his disciples got caught in a storm on the Sea of Galilee, and Jesus' disciples woke him to calm the sea. The words to one of my favorite hymns came into my head:

The winds and the waves shall obey Thy will
Peace be still!
Whether the wrath of the storm tossed sea,
or demons, or men or whatever it be,
No waters can swallow the ship where lies,
The Master of ocean and earth and skies.

They all shall sweetly obey Thy will
Peace be still, peace be still.

More quickly then I dreamed possible, I was healed. My problem was there, just the same as it was that night. But peace overtook me and I was comforted and have worried very little about it since.

When the missionaries came to our house a couple months ago and challenged Dave and I to find someone to hear the message of the gospel, that is why I said yes. I don't know everything about this life. Some questions concerning the church will never be answered for me in this life. I am not a scripture scholar and I am constantly reminding myself to be a better example of the Savior. I won't get fame, fortune, or prestige by introducing the gospel to someone. But I truly want everyone I know and love, and those I don't know, to know the peace the gospel brings.

A couple days ago one of my friends took me off guard when she made the comment, "why can't we just live and let live." She disagreed with something she heard from a church leader and said, "if what they are doing does not effect me, why should I care?" I was surprised, because the whole message of the gospel is that we do care about everyone around us. That's why my parents went to Scotland when they were young. Dave to Texas, and my brother's to Connecticut, Canada, and even onto the next life. The choices of the people in those places were not effecting their lives, but they knew the importance of the message they had to bring! After they grew to know and love the people it was even more rewarding to see them accept it!

A couple weeks ago when I attended the General Relief Society Conference. What touched me the most was not one of the talks or the songs, but to see how much we, as women of the church love our prophet! I think he could have just stood there and not said a word and everyone would have been satisfied (watch the first 10 seconds of his talk and you will see what I mean). I did love President Monson's talk and have been working to keep my windows clean!

My favorite talk during General Conference was this one, by Mervyn B. Arnold. I also loved
this one, by President Uchtdorf. (I posted the link to the text but I definitely recommend listening if you can, and I know everyone wants to listen to my favorite talks. I'm sure posting the audio is possible, but not with my limited computer capabilities) I LOVE this line from President Uchtdorf's talk: "It is so easy for the basic gospel message to get lost amidst the deluge of information that hits us from all sides." I barely heard it the first time around but as I listened to his talk a couple days later, I realized what a prophetic statement that truly was.

Fall Fun

2010-10-04T19:18:00.000-07:00

-We took the children to Frightmares a week ago. It was awesome! There was nobody there and we got right on every ride. The girls were so excited to pull out there Halloween clothes and Detmer does not understand why he doesn't get to have festive clothes (I guess he didn't hear the rule). So I cheered him up by telling him he can match Dad in their awesome Cougar shirts. It totally worked.

-Today I sent Dave a text: "What should we have for dinner? Marinated chicken or chicken enchiladas?" He responds, "chicken". That about sums up how much help I've gotten with dinner in our eight years of marriage.

-Yep. I turned on the sprinklers for the children last week. Several times.

-I'm so happy that I know exactly what everyone in my family is getting for their main Christmas gift! I'm not exactly sure with Dave, but I have a couple ideas, which is more then I can say about last year. I better start hinting to Dave so he has some ideas for me. At first I was going to ask for this, then I decided I'd rather get this, so we don't have to worry about ours losing it's charge when the baby comes. By the way, I haven't done any research on what kind of video camera is the best so if anyone has one they love, please let me know.

-Speaking of video cameras and baby's coming, I really want to record this baby being born. I think the hospital should have volunteers available for such an occasion. Dave is busy trying to take pictures and do his thing. I want him to enjoy it without stressing about recording. However, I would love to see a tiny, goopy, fresh from the womb newborn whenever I want. Dave got 12 seconds of video footage with our camera when Kendall was born and I can't get enough of it.

-I don't even remember the last time we went to the Treehouse Museum before last week, but when I told Allie we were going she was like, "oh the place where I dress like a cowgirl? And a firefighter?" Um, I had no clue. And people say kids don't remember. As it turns out, she was exactly right. -We made Halloween sugar cookies tonight. I can't tell you how happy I am to cross that off my Fall list. See, my children hate sugar cookies. They love making them and they love frosting, so twice a year (Halloween and Christmas) I make the world's biggest mess in my kitchen and spend hours laboring to make a bunch of cookies that I'll throw away later when they've been frosted and the frosting has been licked off. I gave Detmer his haunted house to frost and he instead frosted some dough. Allie frosted her ghost beautifully and didn't even pretend to take a bite of it.

As an aside, I've been meaning to ask Allie and Detmer how they can tell the twins apart, because I can't. When they got here today I asked Allie "how did you know that was Jace?" She said, "cause Brody has fat cheeks." So tonight I tried to see if the cheeks were fat and call their name based on that. No dice. I can tell them apart more based on personality. One behaves a certain way and one behaves another.

-22 week 4 day belly picture

Fun Date

2010-09-23T21:39:00.000-07:00

Last night Dave and I took Allie and Detmer to the circus. It was part of my birthday present and Dave had already made arrangements for his mom to watch Kendall. I debated all day on whether or not we should take her. I hated to think of her missing the fun, and Allie and Detmer hated it worse. They asked a million times why Kendall wasn't coming. Allie said to Kendall on Tuesday, "Kendall, do you want to go to Grandma's tomorrow? Me and Detmer have to stay home and do chores." She thought for sure Kendall was so offended at the exclusion. However, she loves hanging out with her grandma and was so excited when I dropped her off. Turns out I was very happy we didn't take her, especially as I went out for water/bathroom breaks and saw all the poor parents out in the foyer with their kids. Thank goodness we had an option.

It was so fun to just spoil Allie and Detmer. Allie sat on my lap the whole time, and Detmer on Dave's, which is interesting because they normally aren't lap sitters. Maybe because that space is usually occupied by Kendall? I don't know, but it was nice to spoil them!

We got to the circus early to take in the pre-show. Allie and Detmer loved that and thought it was the circus! When Allie and I went to the bathroom during intermission Allie told me, "Mom, I changed my mind. I don't want to be a ballerina, I want to be a circus girl." Allie was totally concerned for the safety of everybody. When they were up high she would ask, "Mom, are those real people." When I told her yes she would ask how they are not falling. She needing to know nobody was at risk. When the guy came out with the tigers, "Mom, are those real tigers?" So concerned!

Detmer just loved the thrill of it and especially loved when the motorcycle guys came out. He also loved when they jumped on trampolines and told Dave, pointing to the jumpers, "that ones going to be me and that ones going to be Allie." This morning he was still talking about it. He said, "My favorite part was the motorcylce guy, and, of course, when they walked on the ropes." He always says "of course" it's so funny!

My favorite part was during the pre-show where Allie got to perform a little dance. I wish I could post videos. She was so into it!

Allie and Detmer wanted to go back to the circus right away. They were disappointed when we told them it only comes once a year!

On being the mom

2010-09-21T11:49:00.000-07:00

Usually, it's a pretty awesome gig. But at this point, I will be lucky to have any self-esteem left by January.

Example 1: Allie walks in the bathroom while I am changing. Gets a look of disgust on her face and says, "Mom, you look fat." I told her that is such a rude thing to say and it hurt my feelings. SHE starts to cry and says, "that's not what I meant to say." So I ask, "what did you mean to say?" "I meant to say, 'when are we going to the dentist?'" So at least she had a really good cover. Didn't stop her from saying it again a couple days later. The first time I told her I wouldn't tell Dave (only because she was so embarrassed) the second time I told her I'm telling Daddy (I told him the first time, just not in front of her because I thought she felt sufficiently bad). So I tell him and his response was, "she's just being honest." Oh, well thank you SO MUCH. He realizes his error and stumbles, "um, because she just thought, that's what she perceives..." He should have just said he meant to say when are we going to the dentist.

Example 2: We're in the kitchen, I'm making dinner while the children are at the bar. Allie says, "Mom, if I were you I would NOT wear those glasses." Just a couple sidenotes. Number one, I have ALWAYS hated wearing glasses, but I'm so blind that even with my contacts in I can barely see. Number 2, I have always hated wearing glasses even BEFORE Kendall bent these ones so they sit sideways on my face. Number 3, last year I was set on getting LASIK. But how could I bring myself to spend that much money on myself? Wouldn't I rather get my family season passes to Disneyland? Gee, Allie, I am so sorry I wanted you to enjoy the finer things in life so I gave up my vision on your behalf. Guess if we are going to Disneyland next year? Nope. But at least I will NOT be wearing these terrible glasses.

Example 3: I admit, I bated them on this one. For some reason they were talking before church on Sunday about whose nice and whose mean. So I ask if everyone in the family is nice or mean. Of course, everyone (Allie, Detmer, Kendall, Daddy) was nice. "Is Mommy nice or mean?" Allie and Detmer both agreed, "mean". We get home from church and the children are wondering where their french toast is. I make them french toast every Sunday. I said, "mean Mom's don't make their children french toast." "Pleeeeeeeeeease Mommmmm!!!!!!!!" "Nope, sorry, I'm too mean." So Allie says, "sometimes you're not mean." That's the best she could do: sometimes you're not mean.

But at least if I've had a long day, I can count on a warm dinner on the table. And they throw me the ultimate Mother's Day and Birthday celebrations, so I can remember that I'm truly appreciated.

To be completely fair, last night for family night Dave asked everyone to share a blessing. When it was Allie's turn she said, "it's someone whose beautiful. Someone who looks really good in her glasses..." Maybe she's learning?

Baby

2010-09-09T21:34:00.001-07:00

We just celebrated our big half way party, so I want to do an update on my baby. We were actually half way through the pregnancy last week but I was so sick that day I couldn't get in the partying mood. Tonight was so much fun. All you have to do around here is blow up balloons and you officially have a party.

First off, a favor from anyone who is reading this. Could you please name my baby? Okay, thanks. Just let me know what you decide. Good news. You only need to pick a boy name. If it is a girl, her name will be Betty Jean. Except the other week Dave told me he wanted to chose a different middle name besides Jean. I said, "Great! What is it?" Which is when he broke the number one rule of baby naming and said he didn't know. That is just not allowed. If you want to replace a name, you keep your mouth shut until you know what you are replacing it with. Names are not something to be taken lightly. They are thought over, changed, and prayed about until the perfect combo is found, so you must not ever cast aside a name with no replacement. I loved having a name so early with Allie, Detmer, and little Betty Jean. I wish they all came so easily.

With my other pregnancies when people said, "how are you feeling?" I usally just said, "fine, thanks." But I really haven't done that this time. It all started in the beginning. You might recall I was very sick. More sick then I have ever been in my life. People would say, "how are you?" I would say, "fine thanks." Then the other person would say, "oh, you are sooooo lucky, I was always SOOO sick with MY pregnancies." I also had a neighbor tell me, "you better let us know when you are pregnant so we can help you." I secretly knew this was just her code for wanting to be the first to know I was pregnant. But still, I made sure everybody knew how sick I was just in case they wanted to offer to help with the kids or bring in some dinner, you know. I never turn down service. That way no one can say, (gasp) "you should have told me how sick you were!" Cause I did. I was just trying to give everyone some service opportunities. So, now, if you ask me how I am doing I will probably tell you. Just ask my poor bishop who got more info then he bargained for on Sunday. Don't worry, he is about the kindest man alive and acted like he couldn't have been more interested. Still, he was probably wishing I would have said, "fine thanks."

Last week, I officially lost the use of my left leg. It happened right on cue. With my 2nd, 3rd, 4th it has happened right around week 20. This week, it has been feeling amazing. It has barely bothered me at all. This is a huge blessing because I usually get no relief from it for about eight weeks, so even if it comes back I'm grateful for everyday I can move!

I have cried the least amount with this pregnancy then any of my other's. Usually lame books and movies make me cry (you should have seen me reading The Wedding when I was pregnant with Detmer) but not this time. This is good because I hate crying and my kids HATE when I cry. Considering the circumstances, you may think I would be full of tears. But maybe I am running out. That would be great. Unfortunately, they are probably just waiting for an onslaught next month.

So according to the myths, my lack of tears would mean boy. You are supposed to be less hormonal with a boy. Of course, less tears does not really mean less hormones:) A girl according to the myth that girls still your beauty. My complexion is worse then it was at sixteen. The way I am carrying, so far, also says girl but I'm not going to go by that because four babies in five years, things are bound to change. My friend asked me the other day what the chinese gender chart says I'm having. I told her I didn't check. She was like, "check! that thing is always right!" It's funny, because she has three boys, which is probably why it was right for her. According to that, I also have three boys (so it was right with Detmer). However this time, it says girl.

The other night I had a little scare. I was freaked out, my doctor's office was closed, and I told Dave I will not sleep a wink tonight. But then, when I got in bed the baby was moving around so crazy it comforted me so much and I fell right to sleep. Love being able to feel the movements! The best part of pregnancy for sure!

Our baby is now called "Manase" instead of Michael Jackson. Tonight I asked Allie and Detmer questions about Manase and videotaped while Allie and Detmer answered. I asked Allie why she is most excited for Manase and she said, "because of his name". So I guess she is in for a surprise when the baby is either A) a girl or B) a boy named ______ (Remember? You are deciding.)

Provo's kinda sleep til about September 4th

2010-09-03T11:15:00.000-07:00

The children are excitedly anticipating tomorrow's big game! Unfortunately they won't be attending, but I'm sure Kelly will have it on for them. I wish they sold warm weather season tickets. Tomorrow's game is so inviting, but come a month or two and the two degree weather, not so much. It will be fun when they are older to go as a family. Dave wanted to get two season tickets this year. It'd be nice if I had a nanny (aka: Mom) like most of my friends, but I think I went to two games last year and it's not worth the stress of having someone watch the kids. Can't believe no one wants my three angels for a Saturday or six during the fall. I had a difficult time convincing Dave of that. I should have just let him buy the two tickets and put him in charge of finding someone to watch the kids. He wouldn't have invited me to another game for years!

Allie had a super fun date with Grandpa Greg. She was so excited and couldn't wait for the clock to say "five zero zero" so it would be time to go. The anticipation was well worth it. She came home so excited to tell me every detail. She even repeated some parts, "and Mom, did I tell you that..." You can hardly even see Grandpa's two black eyes, bruised forehead, and scraped up face. It hasn't exactly been his day, his week, his month...but he still took time for his date with Allie and she was so grateful (so was I-I LOVE seeing her so happy!). She felt so special and even put on a bracelet. Fancy girl.

I think Detmer's gray tooth is getting a little lighter, or maybe I'm imagining that since I now know there is nothing we can do about it. He couldn't care much less about his gray tooth, he know's he's still my handsome boy. The other day he was out riding his trike and I kept saying, "wow, look at that fast guy!" "whose the fastest guy in the world!" "that guy is awesome!" He pulls his trike right up in front of me, puts his hand on his chest and says, "Mom, see this guy on the bike?" Yes, I say. "See this guy in the red shirt?" Yes. "This," still with hand on chest, "is me." He is so funny, so much fun, and such a sweetheart. This weather has been so ideal for us. We've spent so much time everyday outside, not too hot, not too cold. Detmer loves riding his scooter and bike, but is still not interested in his two wheeler. At all.

Kendall makes me laugh all day. When she wants to be held she says, "I want doingies." I use to always say that when I would hoist her: "doingie" and she caught on. I say, "hi gorgeous" and she says, "hi gijis". Almost all her sentances start with "I want" I want taste. I want milk. I want cuddle. I want 'side (outside of course). We always do the I love you sign and she says, "I love you" and holds up her first finger, totally thinks she signing it. She loves riding her bike as well and loves to play at the park. (this is the part I was going to upload a video of Kendall, but can't figure out how).

Dave, it's your lucky day.

dad

2010-08-17T23:13:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago, my brother came into town. The day he was leaving my dad hosted a lunch at his house.

As always happens when we're going to Grandpa's, the children were anxious all morning asking if it was time yet.

I talked to my dad the day before and asked what time. He said one. Or maybe one thirty. Or one. He had a doctor's appointment at twelve and thought he'd be home by one, but maybe make it one thirty to be safe.

We showed up at 1:30 and he wasn't back yet. My dad is notoriously late so no one was surprised. Everyone kept asking me what his doctor's appointment was for. A routine check-up, I guess, is what I told them.

Probably twenty minutes later, my dad got home. This is one of those things I will remember vividly forever, no matter how much I want to forget.

Everyone was sitting in the living room and I was in the kitchen looking in the cupboard for a sippy cup for Kendall. My grandma asked my dad what the doctor said. He hesitated. "Are you diabetic?" She asked. I got a sick feeling in my stomach and prayed he was not diabetic. He said, no, his sugars were great. "What is it then?" My grandma asked.

Cancer.

I'm sure we all know those people who are sick and complaining all the time. My dad is not one of them. I had no idea he was not feeling well. Even when he's coughing up a lung and can barely talk in a whisper he says, "it sounds worse then it is".

I have one memory of my dad being sick. He got an pneumonia when I was eleven. Even then, I think the only reason I remember is because my uncle was dying and my dad couldn't be around him.

I don't have a single memory of my dad ever taking a nap or even laying down to rest.

Every day and night, I just pray that he will not have to suffer. I guess that is not realistic, since he is already suffering to an extent both physically and emotionally, but that is my number one hope. Last night Dave gave him a really nice blessing.

As I read the Ensign this weekend, I love what Boyd K. Packer said, "...pray--always pray. An unseen power will hold your hand..."

And we've been doing a lot of praying. Right now is a hard time with too many questions and not enough answers.

This is what I know: Next week, my dad has two consultations to discuss his options. He will have surgery to remove the cancer. All of it. That is the only option.

Next July, my dad will beat me in the 10k, again.

My love

2010-08-03T21:22:00.000-07:00

My sweet little girl is officially five. I am pretty sure she had a perfect birthday. This was probably the funnest one yet, as far as Allie actually getting and anticipating what was going on.

This was her first year having a birthday party. Jeremy made invitations (so it's thanks to him that the party happened, I think the actual invitations is the hardest part). It was really fun to watch her and Detmer excitedly run up to the doors and give the invitation. A bummer about a summer birthday is there is always going to be a couple people out of town, but Allie was SO happy with her party. Tonight I asked her what her favorite part of the day was and she said, "when my friend's came". We did a fairy party with all games being fairy centered, made some fairy body glitter, and had cupcakes with fairy dust on top and the favorite, fairy floats to drink. Dave scored a huge bag of fairy candy (who even knew that existed?) which totally added to the party favor bags, which were another huge hit.

For her family activity, she picked Chuck E. Cheese's, where you can feed your family of five for as much as your monthly mortgage. The children love it so much, though. Even Kendall had a blast.

On Sunday we had her family party, and she was more excited for that then her friend party, since she's obsessed with her cousins. She's been asking for a donut maker or cupcake maker ever since last Christmas. These dang things (in case you're not familiar) are about thirty bucks and look like total crap, as in they will break after one use and the donuts/cupcakes will not be edible. A couple weeks ago my sisters' and I were out shopping and I found on a donut maker for six dollars!!! I was so happy. I was totally going to buy it for thirty (if she is still asking for it after nearly a year...) For six bucks, I don't care if it breaks after one use and the donuts are disgusting (I will be much more shocked if it works beautifully and/or serves delicious donuts). Hopefully, it gets this whole thing out of her system.

Grandma and Grandpa Steffensen gave Allie a trip to Cherry Hill for her birthday. She's been asking to go all summer long so I knew she would love this gift. I decided to ask Kelly to watch Detmer and Kendall so I could just focus on Allie and not be so stressed out the whole time. When we first got there, I thought it would be a total bust. Allie didn't want to do anything but swim in the pool (um, could have done that for a whole lot less $$$). I had to laugh when I paid and the girl said something about how cheap it is to get in. Hmm. I guess I just don't get the Cherry Hill thing because I think it's as over-priced as Lagoon for all of it's three water slides. Anyway, we ended up having the best time ever! It was so perfect and I will always remember it as such a great day. Allie normally does not like to do things without Detmer, and I'm glad they love to play together, but this was really one of the first things we've done where she and I really got to have fun and enjoy each other, whereas usually I'm watching her and Detmer play from the sidelines. She was so funny in the lazy river. She hated it and I couldn't figure out why and finally I realized from a comment she made she was afraid of riding on my lap because she thought she was smashing Michael Jackson! So then we decided to just walk around it and that was a total blast. I could have floated in a tube all day, but she giggled almost the whole time we walked. About two hours into the day she decided she would brave the big blue slide. I told her she only had to do it once and we would never do it again if she didn't like it. In typical five year old fashion, as soon as we got done she was like, "let's do that again!" So we did those over and over. It was awesome. After four hours I was done. I started trying to talk her into leaving and telling her we had to get ready for her birthday party, but she was still have so much fun. After FIVE HOURS I finally made her get out. She would have stayed til closing, too bad her mom is so lazy. We had such a great time, I may have to make that a yearly tradition to take each of the kids one on one. (Sidenote: I wanted to take tons of pictures at Cherry Hill so Sunday night I downloaded all my pictures so I'd have a clean memory stick, I charged the camera Monday morning and grabbed it when we came home from the gym. I went to take my first picture and "no memory stick" waaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!)

Injured

2010-07-27T21:44:00.000-07:00

Scrapes, bruises, bumps, cuts, and falls have always been abundant around here. This summer my children, like most, have not gone a day without a scraped up knee.

Well, that's all small stuff. We've received our first real injury. I wish it had been stitches or even a broken arm. Then you get your cast off and go on your way and no one ever knows what happened.

Allie and Detmer love to climb in Kendall's crib with her when she first wakes up. They always have. Allie did it when Detmer was a baby. The other day after I got Kendall out, Detmer wanted to stay in. He was jumping up and down, obviously very hard, and hit his mouth. He screamed. I remember holding him and being surprised he was crying for so long. I couldn't see anything. No blood or anything so I was surprised how upset he was. I remember specifically the next day taking the children to try their first soft pretzel and Detmer couldn't eat his because his teeth were hurting. It hurt him to eat for a couple days, but I still didn't see anything so I didn't think too much of it, except that it would heal soon.

On Friday when I was brushing his teeth, I noticed his front tooth looked discolored. I literally said a quick prayer that whatever it was would brush off. It didn't and after looking closer, his gums were swollen as well. Of course this happened Friday night, when I couldn't all the dentist. I was sick about it over the weekend. I called the dentist first thing Monday morning and they got me right in.

By then, it was a bit more grey. The dentist said there could be several outcomes. It could stay like it is. It could get infected. It could have nerve damage, in which case he would need nerve therapy. He could need a root canal. Any of these would result in a crown, which would mostly match his other teeth. Turns out he hit his tooth so hard, it cracked. Not all the way through, but bad enough that if (when?) he hits again, it will probably break at the crack and half of it will fall out, then he will end up with the crown. That is kind of the one I'm thinking will happen. He's already got a bloody lip today. He's rough. He's a boy.

Today, it is even more grey and quite obvious. I'm thinking now along with fielding endless "what are those?" in regards to Kendall's birthmarks, I'm going to also be fielding, "what happened to his tooth?" I'm so bummed. I picture him on his first day of kindergarten with his grey tooth smile. I know there are much worse things, it goes without saying, but I'm sure someone will still say it.

Tonight I took Allie and Detmer to Surf N Swim. It was the most crowded it's been, and Detmer likes to stay shallow while Allie likes to go deep. I stood in the middle of them to keep an eye on both. Detmer was just playing, but I could tell he didn't know where I was. After a minute I walked over to him and when he looked over and saw me he got the happiest look on his face and said, "Mommy!" Why can't I protect him from any pain???

th-th-that that don't kill me, can only make me stronger

2010-07-25T21:48:00.000-07:00

This is me and my friend Jen, for anyone who is wondering what I look like thirty seconds after I finish the race.

Yesterday was our second annual 10k and it was awesome!

I'd like to officially dedicate this race to my best friend, Corben. The night before the race I was running around getting my clothes ready, water bottle filled, playlist ready. Dave had brought my iPod inside and downloaded a couple new songs for me. He borrowed his mom's ipod to use during the race. As I was getting my stuff together I asked Dave, "did you just leave my headphones in the diaper bag, because I didn't see them in here." He then informed me that he was going to be using my headphones.

Um.

Please recall my obsession with my ipod while running. There is no run without an ipod in my world. It was 9:45 and we had planned to go to bed at 9, so a trip to the store to get headphones was not on the agenda. I called Corben and asked him to send his headphones with Kelly in the morning. I was very nervous he'd forget, but he didn't. He put them in the van pinned to a note that told Kelly what they were for and wished her good luck. I really love him!!!

During last year's 5k, I decided to dedicate a mile to someone/something and try and focus on that throughout the mile. That's my motivation/inspiration!

Mile 1: To my ipod, of course. Without whom this could have never been possible. I slave over picking out my playlist, as each song has to have the exact right tempo. I sing along the whole time. Whose not going to run just a little faster with Kanye singing in your ear "work it, make it, do it makes us longer, better, faster, STRONGER".

Mile 2: My fellow runners never cease to amaze me. There was a blind lady holding onto a rope attached to her guide. Talk about an extra challenge for both runners. A special thanks to the girl who picked up my dad's wallet.

Mile 3: My running partners, my dad (he may even read my blog this week since he's featured:)) and Kelly. I better be running 10k's with my grown children at age 56 (or is it 57?)! And Kelly, psht. Six kids. Need I say more.

Mile 4: DAVE!!! He was also my running partner, but he deserved a mile all his own. He decided, ummmmmm, about a week ago to run the 10k and smoked all of us. However, he inspires me for totally different reasons. A family gym membership is a huge luxury and he has never once complained about the expense or suggested it costs to much or that we need to cancel it. If you heard the way he talks to me, you'd be pretty sure I have the body of Angelina Jolie. Four months pregnant? Two weeks post-partum? It doesn't matter, his compliments always come fast and furious. I giggle and roll my eyes, but please, a couple million compliments a week never hurt anyone.

Mile 5: My amazing children! I hope they love running. While I was running, thoughts crossed through my mind of ten years down the road and having some of them run the race with us.

Mile 6: The parade attendees. I could not have made it through the last part of the race without them. They cheer and clap and squirt water. It made me keep pushing when I was soooo done! Also, the volunteers. Handing out the water and cheering us on.

NO THANK YOU TO...

My Dad's pack. I graciously offered to wear it around my waist (yep, one of those). I made a joke before the race started, "what if it falls off and everything scatters and they have to stop the race for me to pick up my stuff." We all laughed. When it actually happened, it was not funny. It didn't fall off, but it slowly unzipped while I was running and I noticed at about the time my dad's wallet went flying out. I could have been trampled. It sucked and I got to minus ten minutes from my time for the emotional strain of embarrassment and the physical strain of running backwards to pick it up, and while running undoing a safety pin from my bib, hooking two of the zipper ties together, and then tying them very tight. Did I mention it sucked!

My pride. I wanted to tell all the parade watchers all my excuses for why I didn't take first place this year. I spent a better part of the last half of the race trying to convince myself it does not matter where I place, I just want to finish the race!

3:45 am. That is the middle of the night, not when my alarm should be going off.

These two comments at the finish line: From my dad, "I was worried. When I passed you, you didn't look good." That's pretty much what everyone wants to hear at the end of a six mile run. From Kelly, "yeah, we'd been wondering where you were." I wasn't THAT far behind.

Allie

2010-07-13T11:31:00.000-07:00

This morning, I asked Allie if she wanted to tell me what I should write in her journal. She was excited for this idea and here is what she came up with:

I love my Mom and Dad and I would also like my Teddy Bears are for I don't have a dream and sometimes my Mommy and Daddy let me cuddle at night. I love to play the computer. I love my baby because I'm excited and I'm excited for the baby to be borned. I wish Kendall would give me the sunglasses and I want to have lots of fun with my Care Bears. Me and Kendall have lots of fun with my bears and stuffed animals and I wish I could have a cat. I really want a dog. Love my mama. I love my Dada. And I really love to play the computer. I would like to play on the computer and I love watching TV and I really love you. Detmer and Kendall are playing with each other and I really love to play with Kendall. Playing with Detmer is great. I love Mommy and Daddy and I love to wear a hat. I love coloring and be helpful be grateful be good. I love when the 4th of July is here.

Grateful

2010-07-12T20:25:00.000-07:00

As you might have guessed, I love to have babies. Love them from the second I start dreaming of them. Even more when they're in my belly. Mostly, when I get to hold and love them.

Pregnancy, however, does not agree with me. I'm grateful that we have been able to easily get pregnant, and I always look forward to meeting my baby, but I don't have that pregnancy glow about me. My friend the other day said, "I feel so great, I keep forgetting I'm pregnant."

That doesn't happen to me. I try to be a healthy person while I'm not pregnant. I drink several bottles of water a day, eat my fruits and veggies, excercise, etc. As soon as I become pregnant, I get sick almost immediately. Taking one sip of water is a challenge and please don't even say the word veggies. When I was planning to take the children to the cabin with Dave's family last month, I got out the grocery ad to try and plan our meals and started to cry it made me so sick just looking at it. I couldn't step foot in a grocery store. Several of the meals Dave wanted to eat I had to ask him not to, because of the smell.

I've always fallen victim to pretty bad morning sickness, but I was no match for what happened this time. I was half expecting at my first doctor appointment to find out something was terribly wrong with me. I had never felt so bad in my life. I couldn't do anything. My days consisted of laying on the recliner while the children played (they have been too amazing for words during these few months). I didn't take care of any of my usual responsibilities. If Dave was home, I rarely even got up from my recliner. Laying down, but not down flat, at least gave me a tiny bit of relief. Even wake up in the night to use the bathroom brought on horrible waves of naseau. Two nights out of three I cried myself to sleep thinking, "I can't do this again in the morning." Dave would tickle my back and offer any comfort he could.

I was so grateful to Dave for stepping up. Changing every diaper, doing every dish, brushing every tooth (except mine), cleaning the house for the appraiser to come. But he doesn't cook.

So my sister did that for me, when she could. Along with, of course, taking my children as often as possible. One night I was picking up my children from her care and she had dinner on the stove. Sure, she had her family of eight plus my three children to feed, but I hadn't had a warm meal in a long while so I asked if I could have some. This was a Wednesday night. I ate the dinner and it was so good. I told my sister I still couldn't cook, but my appetite was back enough to the point where I could eat, and if I had some warm, nutritous meals to eat, I really think that would help me feel better.

The next day, the compassionate service leader from the ward called. She said she had just heard I was sick, and the ward would like to bring in some meals. Of course I felt silly. I was worried people would hear about it and think I was a big baby, because it's just morning sickness. But I knew this was a blessing from Heavenly Father, and expressing my thanks I said we would love two meals. It was perfect timing and I felt bad to watch my baby Kendall devouring this food, it had been so long since she'd had a proper meal (my dad had to reassure me my children were not going to be malnourished after this stint.)

I prayed that my sickness would ease up so I could take care of my family. One morning, the thought came to me that I should ask Dave to give me a priesthood blessing (this is a long reference, I couldn't find a definition). For a second I dismissed the thought. I almost felt guilty asking for a blessing. Here Heavenly Father had blessed me so much to be pregnant and I was asking for more. Then I realized, Heavenly Father wants me to feel better. He wants me to take care of my home, family, church callings. I needed to have faith to ask Heavenly Father if it was his will. I asked Dave to give me a blessing when we were at my dad's and my dad assisted.

That Tuesday my sister (yep, again) had the children, they had slept over. So I spent a lot of time sleeping and that afternoon was able to go to a restaurant with my sister's that I wasn't sure I'd be able to go to if I was sick. I didn't think much of it until the next day, when I was back to my busy schedule attending to my children. I went to the gym and got an awesome work-out. Around two o'clock that day I realized I had been conducting business as usual, for the most part. I called Dave at work and told him the great news and prayed that my "feeling better" was here to stay. Instead of wanting to crawl out of my own skin, I have just felt the regular bouts of naseau that usually accompany me all throughout pregnacy.

I am constantly reminded of Heavenly Father's love for each of His children, as individuals. He has blessed our family more then we could ever express, and yet he continues to bless us with more. He blesses me with my precious fourth child, and yet when I ask for more, to feel better, He gives that to me as well. It was a sweet reminder that He is on my side, wanting the best for me and my family.

Graduates

2010-07-06T21:30:00.001-07:00

Last week Allie and Detmer graduated from their first round of swimming lessons! They had such a great time and were sad when it was over. They have always loved swimming and loved spending two weeks being little fish.

I had originally signed up Kendall and myself to do a mom and tot class. When we showed up the first day, I got nervous as to whether or not I made the right choice, since that meant I'd be swimming with Kendall and wouldn't be watching Allie and Detmer. I thought maybe I would ask the head lady if I should be watching. They called Allie and Detmer's name and I walked them over to their pool and Kendall practically leapt in. I knew immediately I made the right choice. If I hadn't signed Kendall up, I would have spent the whole time not watching Allie and Detmer, but trying to keep Kendall out of the water. I was bummed I didn't get to watch Allie and Detmer's lessons but I was lucky to have a friend there who took pictures of them during class. We also stayed almost everyday for a couple hours after lessons to swim. I love Surf N Swim for small children. It's really shallow and I felt like I could keep a pretty good eye on them. We can't wait to go back.

My Baby part 2

2010-06-28T19:10:00.000-07:00

-Due in January

-Kendall + this baby = almost 26 months apart. 8 more than Allie and Detmer. 4 more than Detmer and Kendall

-The children have named baby "Michael Jackson". I think it's hilarious. Dave is not amused. Allie hugs me: "Mom, I'm hugging you and Michael Jackson." What's not to love? It's better then Kissala.

-Detmer wants a brother. Allie was saying she wanted a sister. She really wanted Kendall to be a sister so I was afraid she'd be think what she wants is what she gets (which is only the case 99% of the time). I said, "Allie, but what if it's a boy?" She said, "Then I'll be proud. I'll love either one."

-We will find out the sex sometime in January:)

-When we told Allie and Detmer, Allie said, "are you going to the hospital in the morning?" Her favorite thing about getting a new sibling is the opportunity for multiple sleepovers. Detmer looked down my shirt and said, "but I don't see a baby."

-Do I think it's a boy or girl? I don't have strong feelings yet. If I were to judge by my previous pregnancies, there would need to be four different sexes of baby, because they've all been very different.

-Telling Dave was awesome. Both of us were 100% sure we were pregnant because, why wouldn't we be? I still wanted to try and surprise him as much as I could, though, so I decided to test before he went to work, knowing he would expect me to tell him one night when he got home from work. The only problem was, this lead me to get zero sleep because I was so excited and nervous that I wouldn't wake up before he left. After tossing and turning all night I took the test at four a.m. and left it on the bathroom counter for Dave to find. The test was really light, and Dave likes a dark test, but I knew I could wait. I laid in bed with a huge smile on my face until Dave got up. When he saw the test he came out and laid by me and said, "you know you're not supposed to confuse me like that!" I said, "and you know I'm not going to leave a negative test for you to find." He thought he saw a faint line and I reminded him that it doesn't matter how faint. We were both so excited and giddy there in the early morning hours. Allie had come into bed with us, which we NEVER allow, but I was so excited I let it slide. She was giggling so much that morning, I guess she felt the excitement in the air. We wanted to wait for Detmer so we hadn't even told her but I'll always remember how happy she was that morning!

My Baby

2010-06-24T19:22:00.000-07:00

I wanted to do an update about my baby girl, Kendall. But it will have to wait. I'm too tired. It's not even 8:30 and I'm going to bed.

Man, growing baby number 4 is exhausting work!

What fun is

2010-06-17T12:55:00.000-07:00

I'm pleased to report that the simple anticipation of our Lagoon passes was enough to make the torture worth it. The children were so excited and had such a fun time. Wait. That should say Allie and Detmer had a fun time. I sure do with Lagoon had more family rides then the four they have. Kendall likes rides, but only if she is with me or Dave, so she mostly watched.

We spent last weekend at the cabin. It was so sweet on Sunday morning when Allie was "reading" the Friend to Detmer. Listening to her, you would have thought she could read every word. Detmer was intrigued, whether it was made up or not .

Yes, this is last weekend. It snowed horribly! This picture doesn't even do it justice.
The children LOVE to play "bus stop" which they play more like charades with words. This is a two-headed monster.

Tuesday Allie put on her dancing clothes, brought her CD player out to the living room and danced for an hour. It was awesome.

Yesterday was the perect day to feed the ducks and play at the park.
Dave and I got a good laugh when Detmer came out in these jammies last night. The picture does not do justice for how small they were. Size 6-9 months. (When Allie put a diaper on her bear, Detmer decided he needed to put a diaper on a stuffed animal as well, so he's looking for his victim.)
Allie has been busy today potty training her care bear. Everytime Allie goes to the bathroom "Boo Boo" does too. Allie told me, "Mom, she is potty-training but still has some accidents so she still needs to be in a diaper." And proceeded to put one of Kendall's diapers on her. I loved it!