The Merrill Family

9 months later...

2011-10-02T20:24:00.000-07:00

So apparently the lag time on blog posts is 9 months when you have 7 kids 9 and under. (yes, I've been researching this first-hand.)

I promise at least a few good catch-up posts full of all our summer exploits (for all 5 of my readers - hi, guys).

For now, here are a few pics of Emma, who is now NINE months old! It's like a before and after photo fest. Also she's just too precious. (in our totally unbiased opinion. Also I seem to love parenthesis.)

Needless to say, we all love her!

Christmas Delivery

2010-12-26T13:01:00.000-08:00

Emma Lynne Merrill
born December 18, 2010
7 pounds 11 ounces
20 inches
pure sweetness!

Her siblings are so excited to finally meet her!

Grandma got to be here for her birth

Our nativity was extra meaningful with our own newborn to love and celebrate

Of course Christmas was fun

but our new little Emma is the best Christmas gift our family has ever had!

Summer (mostly) fun

2010-07-24T14:20:00.000-07:00

The past few months have been busy, just for a change of pace..
We packed up the house and moved 35 miles north, wondering the whole time if this was really worth it. (drive 80 miles in traffic on I-15 for a few days in a row and I think you'd reach the same conclusion we did!)

So we're now settled in our cozy little spot in the salt lake valley, with a great big view and a tiny little backyard. We unpacked the important stuff and then strangely ran out of motivation and left the nonessentials in boxes in the storage unit, I mean, garage.

Otherwise, the summer has been full of kiddie fun. Grandma came to visit for a week and we loved having her here! Lots of swimming, bbqs, and family time.

Here's a pic-loaded rundown of our latest adventures!

Micaela and Rachel have taken up a restaurant game, and I'm usually the beneficiary! We like to encourage service.. :)

Lizzie turned 7 and had a lowkey mid-move birthday party..

We squeezed a 12 foot trampoline in the backyard - it barely fit wall to wall! (thanks, Grandma!)

Lots of swimming and splashing, of course

We got to see our good friends the Kemps for a bit as they came through Utah!

And of course, the summer basics - we visited Mars

And held a 15 foot snake

We've been enjoying the view from our patio:

and the view from up high

Since this is utah and pioneer day is as big as the 4th of July, we had to make a stop at the pioneer park - the kids had a blast, and then we spent the night recovering from heat stroke. :) It was 103 that day - good planning on our part!

Joseph had to ride in the handcart

All in all, a successful summer so far!

Happy Birthday Joseph

2010-05-01T18:20:00.000-07:00

Look at this face

Can't you just feel the joy that radiates from this sweet little guy? He has brought so much extra love and happiness to our family this year. Even the older kids all agree - Jojo is the sweetest babe ever. We're so happy he's part of our family.

He had a great first birthday - the kids blew up about 50 balloons and surrounded him in a baby balloon pit.. we let him destroy all the magazines.. and the crayon boxes.. good baby times. He loved this play table! (ok, we got it out of storage - by the 6th kid you end up recycling some toys! hey, it's new to him..)

He liked the candle more than the cake. We had a semi-dangerous moment here. Absent minded mommy + one year old baby + burning flame = not a good plan.

Nice one.

He made a respectable one year old mess

And he had some help with his presents

We love you, Joseph! Happy 1st Birthday!

He's done!

2010-05-01T18:08:00.001-07:00

I've gotten a little behind with the blog lately (not that that's anything new), but the fact that we have these pictures forces my hand..
Congratulations on finishing business school, Jason!

That fifth degree is quite an accomplishment! ;) Let's play unscramble Jason's initials... BABEMEMMSMBA

A few more family pics from the same day

It's been quite an interesting 2 years for our family, but I'm sure we'll look back with fondness on this, um, wonderful student-family experience. Then again, it may just become a blur with all the.. other.. student-family experiences we've had! :)
Congrats, Jason!

Welcome to Alaska

2010-05-01T18:01:00.000-07:00

I mean Utah in the spring...

April 30th sledding anyone?

Happy Day!

2010-02-14T18:54:00.000-08:00

Micaela was baptized last week!

It was a very happy day. We were all so excited for her, and she was just beaming the whole time. We're so proud of her choices and the girl she is becoming.

I can't believe our oldest is 8. Time really does fly.
Congratulations, Micaela!

Procrasti-nation

2010-01-22T00:21:00.000-08:00

Um, Happy Thanksgiving, Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, Happy Birthday me, Happy New Year, Happy Birthday Micaela... yep, that about covers it. Whew, this blogging stuff is hard work! :P

6 Months

2009-11-26T23:38:00.000-08:00

I have to sneak this post in before he turns 7 months next week. :)

Yes, Joseph Samuel (named after both of his great-grandfathers on Dad's side, but known around here as JoJo and lots of variations on that theme..) has been with us for 6 months. We're still grateful every day that we have him and that he made it through his scary post-birth revival experience. Six months later he's 17 pounds, 28 inches, and very healthy, and we are so grateful for that. He is a good-natured, easy-going, big-smiling, sweet baby boy!

Naked baby pic!

Preppy church boy:

The Mother of All Trips

2009-11-22T19:07:00.000-08:00

Over the course of 2 1/2 weeks, we (by 'we' I mean me, my mom, and the 6 kids) visited 19 states, drove 6,365 miles, visited lots of wonderful old friends, saw over a dozen historical sites, and generally just had a fabulous experience.

Beware that just reading this post will probably be exhausting, though.. :)

First stop: Denver, CO, with a visit to our old house, "Sam-and-Ben's park" (complete with Sam and Ben!), Dinner and bedtime stories with the Smith's (thank you!), and a visit with our dear friends the Tillemann-Dick's.

Then we drove straight through to Washington, DC - over 2400 miles from home! We went on a tour of the Capitol, a visit to the White House, the National Archives, the Smithsonian (and of course the carousel), and a visit to my aunt Teri in Virginia.

We left Grandma in DC for her work conference and headed to New York City. All summer long while Jason was working in Manhattan, Micaela wanted desperately to go to the Statue of Liberty. So we took the ferry from the Jersey side and had the craziest 4 hours of the trip. I'm glad we did it, but I probably wouldn't do it again without additional adults and multiple strollers.. But the kids loved it, and security didn't kick us out. What more can you ask for?

We took a wrong turn coming out of the Lincoln Tunnel and got to see the Empire State Building up close!

Then it was straight up to New Hampshire to stay with the wonderful Jones family, who seriously should be officially sainted for hosting us for 4 days and nights! (Thank you!) The kids had a blast together - we played in leaves, went apple picking/pumpkin jumping.. :) and back to the old Sachem playground. The last time Micaela was there, she was 3 years old! While we were in New Hampshire, we were so happy to be able to see the Wards (we were just in time for Hadlie's birthday!) and the Kemps (thank you, too!), the Joseph Smith Memorial, Dartmouth campus, and some of our old stomping grounds.

Still hanging in there? We're about half done! :)
We said a fond farewell to our dear friends in New Hampshire and drove down to meet Grandma in Pennsylvania. We had a fun and very educational time there - this stop alone counts for at least a few months of American history homeschooling! We visited Valley Forge and got to be revolutionary war soldiers for the day, then marched over to downtown Philadelphia to visit the Betsy Ross house, the Liberty Bell, and Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were signed.

Next we drove through NYC for the third time and I took this picture on the GW bridge - isn't it weird?

Just thought I'd throw that in there. Anyway, our next stop was Cape Cod and the Plimoth Plantation. Since our Bradford family hails from William Bradford and all those Mayflower types, we went to meet our long-lost ancestor (played by some unsuspecting Bostonian who didn't know he was about to meet his namesake 14 generations hence.. William Bradford met William Bradford Merrill. They were both very impressed..) :) We climbed aboard the Mayflower II, saw the oh-so-exciting Plymouth Rock, then got some clam chowder and took it to the beach. After all the hours in the car and trying to be on their best manners at historical sites (notice I said 'trying'), the kids were ecstatic to be running free around the beach, splashing in the freezing water and chasing sea gulls. Oh, and I love this picture of William pushing big brother Andrew..

Since we couldn't get much farther east than Cape Cod, we decided it was time to start heading west again. Most of the return trip was spent doing a church history tour. Our stop in Palmyra, NY, was amazing. We visited the Hill Cumorah and the Sacred Grove, and took a tour of Joseph Smith's family home. We also got to know the Palmyra police dept since I locked my keys in the car with Joseph and Andrew inside. Nice one. Aside from our run-in with the kind people of the Palmyra PD, we had a spiritually uplifting visit.. :)

Brave Grandma - we love you!

Then of course we had to go to Niagara Falls!

Safety's always our top concern..

By this point we were ready to drive straight home, but we stopped in Nauvoo and Winter Quarters to get the full church history experience, and we're so glad we did. In Nauvoo we got to ride a real covered wagon, oxen and all, and see the rebuilt Nauvoo Temple. Winter Quarters has an amazing monument, with a small temple built on the same plot as the cemetery where the early pioneers are buried. The visitors center there has great things for the kids to do - dress up as pioneers, pull a handcart, the works.

We stayed in at least a dozen hotels..

We saw amazing stretches of our country, complete with beautiful sunsets..

and lots of these - the kids were fascinated with them..

This guy

and this little guy

were both angels, which really made the trip enjoyable for all. Thank you, thank you, Grandma for making this trip possible for all of us! And thank you to all our dear friends who housed us, fed us, put up with our chaos, and still loved us when we left! If you ever have the chance to take a 7000 mile trip back and forth across this great country of ours, I highly recommend it. :)

A few pics

2009-09-20T20:05:00.000-07:00

I really haven't even turned on my computer much the past few months, so my camera memory cards are full (plus my computer still has only one free gb of space, which isn't terribly helpful) and the blogging thing hasn't been happening. But here are a few that made it to my desktop!

We've done a lot of swimming this summer

Joseph has grown so much!

Look at those eyes

And.. that's all I've got for now. Rachel's 5th birthday and multiple trips will have to wait in the blogging black hole until I free up some space on my hard drive and find that usb cable..

Gotta love Utah

2009-09-20T19:48:00.000-07:00

I saw this posted by a manager at a local store.. it just cracked me up..

Proof we're all still alive

2009-07-12T15:16:00.000-07:00

It may surprise you to learn that life is a little bit crazy around here. With Dad gone to New York for the summer and six little kids who seem to have confiscated all of Mom's energy and shared it more or less equally amongst themselves, we tend to have some interesting times. (Oh, and apparently blogging while they're all awake = not a good idea.. go figure..) But we're all still here, and we're determined that we are GOING to MAKE IT through the summer!

And some recent happenings...

Our friends the Smiths came to visit - we were so happy to see them! Thanks for coming by!

Jason came home for the 4th of July and we had a fabulous weekend together and did lots of fun things with the whole family. We went to watch fireworks by the Provo temple, and it took us over an hour to get home! (that's less than 10 miles away..) Next year we might just watch them with binoculars..

We're so glad that Grandma's here to help and spend time with us!

ok, and this picture just cracks me up

and look how yummy this is - got this lemon blueberry pound cake recipe out of a vegetarian cookbook (the dessert section is pretty good.. apparently there are a lot of yummy desserts without meat) yum!

A few more good poundcake recipes and we might really make it through the next 5 weeks! :)

Brothers

2009-07-12T15:07:00.000-07:00

happy boy

2009-06-23T21:44:00.000-07:00

I love the first new smiles stage!

goofy smile

And this one's great - love the pinky.. makes me want to give him some grey poupon

More Mischief

2009-06-23T21:38:00.000-07:00

William's really on a roll lately!

..like a {cute} weed..

2009-06-12T13:39:00.000-07:00

Joseph is growing so fast - I'm not entirely sure how he's doing it, since he seems to spit up pretty much everything he eats.. but still, he's almost 12 pounds - two more pounds (probably 2 more weeks) from now, he'll have doubled his birth weight. That means I can give him rice cereal, right? I guess probably not this young..

Here he is at 4 weeks old

this picture cracks me up - they're making the same face as far as I can tell

Andrew really loves his baby brother & takes good care of him

And here he is at 5 weeks old - chubby cheeks!

And with Dad, who finally got to come home for a visit after being gone for 3 whole weeks!

What's wrong with this picture?

2009-06-12T13:37:00.001-07:00

William really loves the bath - it doesn't even have to be HIS bath - anyone's bath will do.

Shoot like a girl

2009-06-12T13:27:00.000-07:00

Once I pulled our monstrosity of a van out of the driveway (it won't fit in the garage) the girls were able to actually use the basketball hoop. They were pretty good - I think they'd beat me in a game of pig...

More Pics!

2009-05-14T21:47:00.000-07:00

Our little man will be 2 weeks old tomorrow! It really does go so fast.. after they're born. :)

We love our baby Joseph!

Joseph is here!

2009-05-04T21:51:00.000-07:00

Our new baby Joseph Samuel was born May 1st at 2:44pm! He was 7 lbs, 20 inches.

He gave us quite a scare and had to be revived after he was born - apparently his cord was way too short - about 8 inches long! (as opposed to the 2-3 feet long it's supposed to be) After a long, stalling labor (18 hours) and several heart rate drops, we got to the end and his heartrate plummeted. It was barely beating when he was born, and he wasn't breathing. Fortunately they were able to get him going, but then they had to rush him to the nursery and do all kinds of mean things to him.. Poor little guy! We had to stay an extra day, but we're home now and everything seems to be going well. (Except for the 3 kids with pneumonia, but that's another story.. Jason and Andrew were in the ER at the same hospital as Joseph and I were being discharged - Andrew got a chest xray, IV antibiotics, and breathing treatments - he's had a rough time, too!)

Here's a last belly shot on the way to the hospital

All wired up..

I finally got to see him!

A few hours old

Sad IV!

One day old

With Dad

Micaela took this one!

Micaela was the only one well enough to visit.

Finally home - three days old, and getting jaundiced.. :)

We love our tough little guy and we're so grateful that he's okay and home with us!

And we're back!

2009-04-17T20:55:00.001-07:00

The funny thing about having less than 1 gig of free space on the computer is that it's surprisingly hard to upload 16 gigs worth of memory cards onto it. Funny how that works.. But thanks to my lovely new external hard drive, we're back in [pic overload] business!

We've had a great 6 weeks here in happy valley, although we're drowning in clothes since we apparently need the summer and winter wardrobes out at the same time - 80 degrees one day, 20 the next.. running in sprinklers, digging the car out of a snow bank - that's spring life in utah for you. After 6 'springs' in New Hampshire (constant snow banks mixed with ice storms) we'll definitely take it!

We took advantage of one of the sunny days recently and took the kids to the garden at Thanksgiving Point. We thought we were going to the tulip festival, but we were 3 days too early for that - oops.. It was still beautiful, and great to be out of the house!

Kids with 9month pregnant mommy:

and with Grandma...

Feeding the fish - probably the highlight

Classic - he's not too happy with the forced hug

that's better..

stop and smell the hyacinth

We're trying to keep busy around here (not that that's much of a challenge) while we wait for our new baby boy. Now that I have a few free gigs on the old clunker, I'll (hopefully) be back before 6 more weeks go by!

Easter

2009-04-17T20:51:00.000-07:00

We had a nice Easter - took the kids to a huge easter egg "hunt" - not sure why they called it a hunt since all 50,000 candy eggs were laid out all over the football field, but the kids loved it.

Easter morning:

we're running out of room on that couch!

William pic overload

2009-04-17T20:42:00.000-07:00

Just because it's fun...

Chubby cheeks!

Shades

Peekaboo, William style

Aww...

And last but not least, Vampire Hair! (If you haven't seen twilight - and I really can't blame you - just skip this one.. I swear half their movie budget went into mousse and hair gel) aka william straight out of the bath

Andrew turns 3

2009-04-17T20:36:00.000-07:00

Our first son had a great third birthday complete with a few hours at Chuck E Cheese and too many presents for a three year old! Now he refers to everything in the house by "it's my birthday present!"

Happy Birthday, Andrew!

Ultrasound Fun

2009-03-01T20:31:00.000-08:00

I've always wanted to have a 3D ultrasound, and my OB's office does them (yay for utah!).. so here are some pics from about a week ago:

Playing the harmonica:

And a little video - the html's not working, so here's a link if you want to see!

http://s16.photobucket.com/albums/b27/merrillfam/?action=view&current=3dus22009.flv

Long lost update

2009-01-19T20:45:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been my typical month since the last update, and of course a lot has happened around here. Instead of posting 10 posts at once like I did last time I updated, I'll just go ahead and put the whole barrage of photos in this one big fat slideshow...

So Christmas was fabulous - lots of family, presents, food, 3 weeks worth of garbage collection, etc. One of my favorite highlights was the nativity.. the girls were too cute. And we could hear them because the boys were in bed.

Get this - at 10pm on Christmas Eve I discovered that, oops, we have no stockings, or at least I can't find them anywhere (I looked for an hour). So at 11pm on Christmas Eve, my mom pulls out some adorable fleece and MAKES my girls these stockings. (ok, I did the letters..) ;) Is that awesome or what? That's love, people.

Christmas morning was a big party - the kids all loved their gifts, and my mom and sisters were there for the whole thing - it was a lot of fun. And it's always funny to see what the kids actually end up liking the most. Andrew definitely loved his camera and wore out the batteries within an hour. (I don't know where he gets it!)

Speaking of which, Jason won a Wii at a business [school] conference (the only way we would have ever gotten a game system - I'm not the world's biggest fan, and wanted to sell it when he told me about it..) and after a few hours of yelling/crying at the tv while they figured out how to work it, the kids now love it and ask for it all day. Fortunately we got enough remotes that Jason doesn't have to fight them for one.. because he probably would.

Two days after Christmas (on my 28th birthday - yay, now I'm old), Jason's mom came to visit and stayed for the next week. It was great to see her, and the kids always have so much fun playing with Grandma Merrill. Also this picture is priceless.

On January 6th, Micaela turned 7 years old! She's such a sweet girl and always a big help (she even knows where the backup diaper stash is!) We love having Micaela in our family!

And since all that fun apparently wasn't enough to wear us completely out...

We decided kind of at the last minute to throw in a trip to California! When you combine a week's worth of free hotel nights from rewards points (thanks, mom!) and super nice friends who work at Disneyland offering to let us in for free, (oh yeah, and an 80 degree heat wave in southern CA) it's pretty hard to say no! So our kids got their first trip to Disneyland, and their first time playing on a beach.

(I think everyone needs a picture of them in a swimsuit at 6 months pregnant, don't you?)
We spent our third day there in San Diego visiting Jason's ailing grandma - she's 89 and a total sweetheart. The kids got to meet the rest of Jason's family for the first time - Micaela especially had a blast with her cousin Kyle (my favorite quote from her - "Wow, we're the exact same age AND the same size - that's soo awesome!" haha)

So that brings us up to today. Or to 2 days ago when we got home.. and I still haven't touched the van.. :)

Oh yeah, and we found out (um, a while ago..) that we're having another BOY! We're excited to even up the score here and add another little guy for these two to play with:

Happy New Year, everyone!

Ready for Christmas!

2008-12-16T20:00:00.000-08:00

We are excited for Christmas in this house. The kids call everything we do lately a Christmas party.

We made probably 5 dozen sugar cookies, and out of that barely got 3 plates of edible cookies to take to our neighbors. We had lots of fun and made a huge mess.

Busy Boy

2008-12-16T19:51:00.000-08:00

William is good at being a toddler. He's so much fun, but we have to keep right on top of what he's doing to keep him safe!

I love his adorable face and wild baby hair.

All I want for Christmas is my 4 front teeth

2008-12-16T19:32:00.000-08:00

Poor Micaela seems to lose her teeth 4 at a time. Well, she has them pulled 4 at a time. She has plenty of room for those adult teeth to grow in now.

Before, baby teeth intact:

After, admiring her new space:

Also, in the past 2 weeks Micaela has gotten very into playing the piano and has learned a bunch of new songs. She practices (very briefly) at least 20 times a day. It's amazing what kids can do when they (all of a sudden, mysteriously) get motivated!

Crazy trip

2008-12-16T18:50:00.000-08:00

Jason and I went to Europe! Crazy, huh? He had job interviews in Switzerland and Hungary, which we nearly missed due to most of our original flight plan being cancelled because of plane malfunctions, stupidity, etc. But we got everything rearranged and he narrowly made it to both interviews. It was a crazy few days, though!
In between red-eye flights and trains, we got to see parts of Zurich and Budapest. (Jason served his mission in Hungary and lived in Budapest for several months, so that was a fun little trip down memory lane.) My mom and sister were so nice to take care of our kids so we could take our first vacation alone since our honeymoon! (thanks, Mom and Holly!)

Here's a pic of us near our hotel in Zurich:

(you'd think I could have gotten someone else to take that instead of taking it myself at that great flattering angle..) :)

Our hotel sat on this lake:

This was the view from the train station in Zurich. Most of the buildings there looked pretty similar to this one:

And one of us in Hero's Square in Budapest:

10 times the Hollywood average!

2008-11-11T12:23:00.001-08:00

Today is our 8th wedding anniversary! Eight years ago today we got married in the Mt. Timpanogos temple. It snowed every day that week except for our wedding day, and we had a beautiful snow carpet all around.. And a short sleeved dress purchased in June for a wedding originally planned for September. But we pushed it back to the Saturday when everyone could make it to the wedding and got November 11th, 2000. Check out how cheesy this is - on 11/11/11, it will be our 11th anniversary. That's the kind of cheese you can't buy in stores. So we like the number 11. You know, 11 carseats, 11 student loans, etc.

I'm kind of embarassed to admit that we didn't realize we were getting married on Veteran's Day until the day of. Didn't quite make it on the radar (we love and support the troops but are apparently clueless). Yesterday Micaela asked "Mommy, why is your anniversary on veterinarian's day?" Good question. "Because we love animals, Micaela."

Anyway, the whole day was amazing, and then we got to go on our honeymoon to the Bahamas! And that was the last time we had fun. No, just kidding! Pretty sure we've had some good times. :) Here are some pictures of the big day:

Here's our cake topper. We actually brought this home with us (to our little cabin in vermont) and when we unpacked it, the groom's head had been broken off. I thought that was pretty funny, but of course not at all applicable or appropriate to our situation...

Happy Anniversary! I love you!

You knew it was coming..

2008-11-07T21:49:00.000-08:00

Our yearly announcement... ;)
A new Merrill on the way!
Disclaimer: Yes, we have a lot of kids. And we'll probably have more.

Now that that's out on the table, let's all take a deep breath and watch this little video of #6 coming next May!

We're so excited to welcome another member of our family!

Roar

2008-11-01T21:50:00.000-07:00

I loved Andrew's dinosaur costume. His 2 year old roar made it soo much cuter, too.

And his sisters, in varying degrees of happiness..

I'm pretty sure their candy's already gone.

Helowen iz kuman soon

2008-10-30T19:33:00.000-07:00

Maybe we should work more on spelling. :) I got out the Halloween stickers and the kids made about a dozen 'cards' - Lizzie made the one above. She loves that (creative) phonetic spelling.

Today we got to play in [our neighbor's] leaves. We kept trying to rake our own, but could only manage about a 6 inch pile of aspen leaves, so the kids were more than happy to help the neighbors (who have no kids at home) rake theirs. And then throw them back around the lawn again, of course.

And of course the (last-minute) pumpkin carving, always fun. Apparently up on top of the table.

These are the kinds of holiday things that I confess to dreading.. but then when they're over of course we all love it and build great memories and all that good stuff.

Good luck to all of us tomorrow...

Stand up guy

2008-10-22T14:59:00.001-07:00

William is standing up and loving it! He can take several steps but is generally scared of walking still. (Mom's fine with that.)

He pushes himself up and stands there laughing, and then takes a step or two and sits back down. There's no falling - he just decides to sit back down. (I don't know where he gets that whole being conservative thing from...)

I love the arms for balance:

So excited!

Proud of himself.. or something..

A snapshot of life here - beautiful weather and colors! (And nearly constant dress up clothes)

Family Miracle, I mean Portrait

2008-09-29T22:26:00.000-07:00

We had a (miraculously) successful family portrait session! And it was free, unless you count the gallons of gas required to get the Beast up to south fork park. I brought my camera and tripod, set it all up, and my sister did the snapping and the shaking of the skittles bag to try to bribe the kids to look in her direction. I can't believe we got one!

Afterwards I couldn't help but snap a few more..

PS - You'll all be seeing that family picture in your Christmas card, so.. you know, just try to act surprised. ;)

Who says summer's over?

2008-09-25T19:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday it was 85 degrees and gorgeous. 3pm rolled around and we pretty much had nothing to do (ok, we could have cleaned our messy house, but come on..) so we dug out the swim suits and towels, packed a picnic dinner, and headed up provo canyon!
Ok, so by the time we had everything together, swim suits attached to the appropriate body parts, changed diapers twice, had 3 time outs, got everyone in the car, found my keys, got out of the car and went potty, and got everyone BACK in the car, it was 4:30. Still worth it.
We headed up to Deer Creek reservoir and were the only ones there! It was so beautiful, and the kids had a total party. Jason left campus and met us there an hour later, and we had a great little family end-of-summer picnic. Complete with full fall colors. :)

Happy Birthday, William!

2008-09-21T22:25:00.000-07:00

One year and ten minutes ago, William was born! He has been the sweetest, most fun baby - just a complete joy to have in our family.

But he had a sad birthday. He just wasn't happy. He's getting molars and maybe a cold and was just kind of miserable all day. He didn't even want his cake, and this boy eats more than I do!

He's just not a happy birthday boy - look how sad!

That picture was from when we took away a toy he had just opened to give him this one.. should've known better - I mean, what is this, our first kid? :)

He didn't want to eat the cake, but he definitely destroyed it.

Good job, William!

It was all I could do to get this smile out of him.

Happy 1st Birthday, William! We love you!

The Beast

2008-09-09T21:34:00.000-07:00

When you think about buying something nice that will make your life easier, you probably aren't thinking of a GIGANTIC white BEAST that barely fits in the driveway (forget the garage!)... but that's what we did..

This is the beautiful part:

The AISLE down the middle that SEPARATES our kids!!! That deserves ALL CAPS! It's truly a beautiful thing. But it gets very ugly gas mileage.

With our family, it really was inevitable.

Back to (home)School

2008-09-09T21:22:00.000-07:00

After our trip to Nevada was over, it was time to hit the books! And the crayons. And unfortunately, the fingerpaint.

We had a great first day of school - everyone was excited to start.

our school/toy room:

Hard at "work"

While I was helping Lizzie with her math, Micaela surprised me with, "Mom, look, I can spell cardiovascular!" Where does she come up with this stuff? And if she can spell cardiovascular, why can't she spell any words that start with a w-h?

Those off-guard moments are the best part of homeschooling!

Ranch Heaven

2008-09-09T20:51:00.000-07:00

Forget Disneyland - we got to go to a kid's paradise in:

Stephanie and her family were so awesome to have us over! (Seriously, can you imagine me descending on them with my 5 crazy kiddos?) :) We got to ride a horse, feed some cows, swim in not one but TWO natural springs, catch guppies, go 4-wheeling, play in the lawn-pool and jump on the giant trampoline for hours on end.

The best part was being able to attend Tyler's baptism. We are so proud of you, Tyler, and of your wonderful family!

Comfort food

2008-08-11T12:50:00.000-07:00

I made pancakes this morning.

And now that you're done dying of shock... I get to show you the highlight of my morning. William picked up his pancake, took one bite, and then used the rest of the pancake as a blankie to suck his thumb with. So adorable.

I might be making pancakes more often.

The Royal Treatment

2008-08-11T12:45:00.000-07:00

Lindon has a princess festival at the most adorable 'real' castle, and proceeds go to charity. (princessfestival.org) When I heard about this, it was a no-brainer. Even my going-on-5-feet-tall 6yo Micaela still dresses up - she's still my girliest girl.

They "rode" in a magic carriage, saved Rapunzel, curtsied before the king, tried on Cinderella's slipper, and danced with the prince. It was amazing.

Happy Birthday Jason!

2008-08-11T12:41:00.001-07:00

Now you're OLD! Ha Ha.
Jason turned 30 on August 9th. He very unselfishly got up early with the kids and did the whole morning routine because I was off running my first half marathon - what a guy! But it doesn't stop there - that afternoon, he put on a smile and came to my extended family reunion. I'm going to have to assign him an honorary birthday later so he can get the full experience for his thirtieth!

And he let the kids help open his presents. One in a million. :)

Reunions & Arranged Marriages

2008-08-11T12:35:00.000-07:00

Stephanie brought her kids to visit last week, and it was so good to see them! (cross-ref Steph & Jason's link) Thanks for making the trek down to happy valley!

Look at this girl - what a cutie!

Sarah and William had fun getting acquainted. (Their marriage is already arranged, much to the dismay of all the other baby boys out there...)

We love you guys!

Just because..

2008-08-11T12:29:00.000-07:00

Really, where else would I show off a few of my latest kid pics? Doing it here keeps me from annoying people in person..

I take way too many pictures. I have over 800 pictures just from the first week of August. Seriously, so many pics. ;)

Gratitude

2008-07-29T08:59:00.000-07:00

There's really nothing like having sick kids to make you grateful to have healthy kids.

We're on our 9th day of barfing kids here, and it really makes me grateful that my kids have a virus, and not a chronic health problem. So many parents struggle with health issues - the worry, time, and everything that goes with it. So today I'm just very grateful that my kids are [generally] healthy.

And I'm off to start on a huge nasty pile of laundry that you do not want to know about!

I love my kiddos.

Odds & Ends

2008-07-26T07:52:00.000-07:00

Here's a little journal-type update on life around here.
Back in May (the day after our moving truck arrived here in utah, actually), my little sister Holly fell at work and broke her ankle and leg in 3 places and needed a surgery where they put 11 screws and a really long metal plate in her leg. She's been staying here at my place so we (my mom, who also lives here, and I) can take care of her - we love having her around! (Even though the circumstances are less than ideal - poor Holly!) Here she is, 2 months post-surgery.

Not to be outdone, my poor mom fell last week and broke FOUR bones in her foot. Four metatarsals, three of which decided to go for a little trip after they broke and are now elsewhere in her foot. Poor mom! Luckily her arms are still (mostly) okay, so she can still hold her favorite baby..

The crutches (and bed trays) are getting lots of use around here.

In other news, we've brought our personal-record-setting long stretch of barf-free time to an end. All 5 kids have the stomach flu. Well, technically Andrew hasn't barfed yet, but he's (gasp) sitting still (!!) a lot, and doesn't look so great, so I'm surrounding him with towels and bowls just in case. The silver lining in this is that it means that William probably doesn't have an intestinal blockage from that little plastic toy he swallowed - he started barfing first and I was getting pretty nervous about that!

Also since I posted last, we had a wonderful visit with Dad (aka Jason). Last weekend he was here for 3 whole days. Three days in July - that's how much these poor kids got to see their dad! Hopefully they won't be scarred for life.. The saddest thing happened a few weeks ago - Rachel got out of the car in a parking lot at some store and saw a man walking along... she got all excited and said "Daddy! It's Daddy! Mom, I see Dad!" To which Lizzie so wisely replied "Rachel, no, that's not Dad." And Rachel said "Oh, yeah, Daddy lives at the airport now." Don't worry, Rachey - Dad will move back in with us pretty soon. That one nearly became kid quote of the week.

So mainly this summer we've been doing a lot of playing outside in our new neighborhood, making new friends, and enjoying the canyons. We love the pool, but the rivers and waterfalls are lots more fun! It is ridiculously beautiful here - I love it.

We haven't been doing much in the way of school, and we haven't been practicing these at all:

We got a membership to thanksgiving point and visited the dinosaur museum and children's gardens a few weeks ago:

Keeping Andrew alive is a pretty full-time job in this new, less-than-secured environment. All the kids have grown up a lot this summer. Here's William, who is no longer happy to be sitting down..

Speaking of growing up, here's a dorky picture of me at about 18months - I love thinking about what my babies will look like grown up. If they're anything like me, they'll look exactly like they did as babies.. :)

Happy July everyone. We're going to be enjoying it a lot more now that our swamp cooler (hate those things) is fixed! (thanks dad)

Slip-n-slide

2008-07-14T21:53:00.000-07:00

Sloped yard + slip-n-slide + 95 degrees = FUN!

Some of the neighborhood girls came over, and we had a ton of slipping sliding fun. Now they want to do it every day.. :)

And who can blame them?

Happy Independence Day!

2008-07-04T08:25:00.000-07:00

God Save the Flag
By Oliver Wendell Holmes

Washed in the blood of the brave and the blooming,
Snatched from the altars of insolent foes,
Burning with star-fires, but never consuming,
Flash its broad ribbons of lily and rose.

Vainly the prophets of Baal would rend it,
Vainly his worshippers pray for its fall;
Thousands have died for it, millions defend it,
Emblem of justice and mercy to all;

Justice that reddens the sky with her terrors,
Mercy that comes with her white-handed train,
Soothing all passions, redeeming all errors,
Sheathing the sabre and breaking the chain.

Borne on the deluge of all usurpations,
Drifted our Ark o’er the desolate seas,
Bearing the rainbow of hope to the nations,
Torn from the storm-cloud and flung to the breeze!

God bless the Flag and its loyal defenders,
While its broad folds o’er the battle-field wave,
Till the dim star-wreath rekindle its splendors,
Washed from its stains in the blood of the brave!

Little boys

2008-07-03T19:50:00.000-07:00

I love little boys! I have to admit that (after my active girls) I was scared to have boys.. but they are so much fun! (And not really more active than my super high energy girls, either)

Andrew painted the bathroom with pink princess toothpaste...

and then wielded the toilet wand like a sword. (fortunately I hadn't used it in a while so it was sparkling clean..)

His new haircut makes him look older!

Mood swings

2008-07-03T19:42:00.000-07:00

After 5 or so years of pregnancy, I could probably write a whole book about my own mood swings, but this is actually about William.. he's just so fun to snap pictures of. And those baby mood swings could rival my own!

doesn't he look depressed? sad!

this is what he usually looks like.. what a happy guy!

....with the Joneses

2008-07-03T19:29:00.000-07:00

We had such a blast when the Jones family came to see us this week!

Andrew and Micaela were friends when they were toddlers, but haven't seen each other in over 3 years.

Here's a little flashback:

It was a great reunion - they had so much fun together!

Ella and Rachel were born just days apart at the same hospital.

Little Isaac loved playing with William.

It's so good to see old friends!

I'm so glad when Daddy comes home

2008-06-21T22:09:00.000-07:00

We had a great Father's day visit from Daddy, who's still working hard in Colorado.

We miss you when you're gone, Dad!

Backyard Fun

2008-06-21T21:57:00.000-07:00

We've been having tons of fun in our new backyard.

ok, Jeni, I'll bite..

2008-06-13T20:08:00.000-07:00

:)
I've been 'tagged.' Or I should say, I've been tagged again. Others have tried to tag me before, to no avail. But I just love Jeni to death, so here goes...

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?
Ten years ago today, I had just barely graduated high school. I was 17. I worked full time taking customer service calls for an electrical company (yay for utah county job opportunities..) for a whopping $9.50 an hour. And I was beyond excited about starting college at Dartmouth in the fall. That seems like 2 lifetimes ago! Oh, and it also seems weird that 10 years ago, I left home about a mile from where I now live. I've come full circle in the Happy Valley game...

2. What are 5 things on my to-do list today?
I'm going to answer this one for tomorrow. Tomorrow I need to: 1) Finally unload the grass out of the lawnmower bag before it stinks us out of the garage (sorry folks, but you get the gory details).. 2) Shower! The fact that this makes it on to my to-do list should tell you something that you probably didn't want to know about me.. 3) Last-minute father's day shopping 4) Insert a long list of house cleaning chores here that probably won't get done.. and my favorite - 5) Take my kids to the carnival- Orem Summerfest. They always talk about it for weeks to come, and it's such a blast - I love taking them to fairs and carnivals!

3) What are some snacks I enjoy?
I'm going to have to stick with foods that don't require chewing because right now I'm in serious need of a root canal and anything chewier than yogurt isn't working out so much. I have some super delicious fudge in the house, which is fabulous, but I'd love to have a big salad and I'm looking forward to the day when chewing isn't torture!

4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire
I'd travel a lot, eat really good food (once that root canal's done) and set up a fund for relieving financial stress - I have 10 names in mind already - and I'd probably spend a lot of time keeping tabs on the stock market to see if I was still a billionaire. :)

5) Places I've lived (in order)
Mexico, Utah, Massachusetts, Utah, New Hampshire, Colorado, Utah (are we noticing a pattern here?)
Life is crazy!

I'm tagging:
all 3 people who read my blog - you know who you are, now get busy!

8 months of fun

2008-05-25T21:11:00.000-07:00

On the same day that Lizzie turned 5 years old, William turned 8 months old. He is the sweetest, most precious adorable baby boy ever... no parental bias speaking there..

I can't believe how big he is and how much older he looks now - he's like a toddler with a baby face! (No kidding - 22 pounds, 31 inches- my 8-month-old is 5 inches shy of being 3 feet tall!)

And one of big brother in his much-loved goggles..

Happy Birthday Elizabeth!

2008-05-25T20:53:00.000-07:00

Lizzie turned 5 on May 21st! I asked her what she wanted for her birthday and she said she wanted "some boy stuff and some girl stuff because I like to play with boy stuff and girl stuff too" - how cute is that? So she wanted some slime aliens, a flashlight, and "some girl stuff".. :)

Happy Birthday, Lizzie - we love you!

Our New House

2008-05-25T20:07:00.000-07:00

We made it! We now live in Lindon and have a beautiful view of Utah Valley and a fabulous neighborhood. Our backyard is pretty much a park where the neighborhood kids all gather.

We love it here - it's the perfect place for our family.

Decisions, Decisions

2008-04-23T17:29:00.001-07:00

And the results are in!

Our house sold! But we have to be out May 12th. That's 2 and a half weeks from now!

We're going to BYU's business school. Can you say scholarship and low cost of living? That will make it so that we can send our kids to college eventually.. yay!

And William got 2 out of the 4 teeth coming in. And he also got 3 shots today.. poor little guy. So I can't really say that he's any happier yet, but he should be in a few days.

3 out of 3's not bad! We're feeling very blessed and grateful for how things have gone so far. Now for the fun part - a really rushed out of state move!

Still waiting...

2008-04-17T07:39:00.000-07:00

(insert hold music here)

Yes, we are still waiting 1) to find out which business school Jason will be attending this fall. And we're still waiting 2) for someone to come along and snatch up our house. And we're also still waiting 3) for poor William's top teeth to come all the way in - he's had one corner of a tooth poking through for nearly 2 weeks now!

I'd settle for 2 out of 3 on those.

Poor little guy.

Buy My House!

2008-04-12T12:08:00.001-07:00

I never want to buy a house again.

okay, maybe we will... eventually.

But seriously, this trying to show a house with 5 small kids and trying to sell a mid-sized house in a bad market is not what I would suggest if you're looking for a good time.

Doesn't anyone want to buy my house? :)

Happy Easter!

2008-03-23T16:53:00.000-07:00

Haircuts

2008-03-18T16:08:00.001-07:00

I was sad to see their long(ish) hair go, but you have to cut it eventually, right?

Before

After

And one of Andrew! (He didn't get a haircut... yet.)

Say Cheesy!

2008-03-13T10:37:00.001-07:00

Kids' fake camera smiles crack me up!

(please excuse the un-brushed hair.. now everyone knows that I hadn't brushed their hair within at least 3 minutes of taking this picture - shocking!) :)

Get out the napkins!

2008-03-13T10:32:00.000-07:00

William LOVES food!
For dinner last night, he had applesauce and Grandma's potato cheese soup, and he loved both of them, much to my mommy surprise. It was his first time eating from a spoon and we apparently skipped right past the cereal and "baby's first" baby food jars and went straight to adult food. For the record, I fully plan on giving him all those good baby foods, but it was fun to see him eating normal food and loving it!

Oh, and he drinks from a cup just fine, too!

Grandma loves me!

Micaela's first concert

2008-03-13T10:28:00.000-07:00

No, she didn't play in a concert (she's already done that at church, haha) but she did go to her first orchestra concert and loved it. (ok, we left at intermission, but she loved the first half of the concert!) They played the Carnival of the Animals (by Saint-Saens) and she had fun picking out the animal noises.

She wanted to get all dressed up for the concert, and how could I say no?

She's super excited!

Double stroller expert

2008-03-08T22:00:00.000-08:00

I think this is our fifth double stroller, and I love it! It's the graco quattro-tour duo and it is heavy but durable (which is important since we seem to kill them relatively quickly) and can hold taller and heavier kids than most front-back double strollers. Our double jogger stroller is fabulous, too - the front wheel swivels and it's a dream to push, but too wide for shopping or even fitting through most doors.

Anyway, here is a picture. Now stare at this and picture yourself at the grocery store, and you'll get a good little glimpse into our crazy but wonderful life.

And just for fun here's a close-up of my rambunctious little Andrew:

Pure Childhood

2008-02-28T21:17:00.000-08:00

How fun is that? I love it that my girls have sisters.

Caught in the act!

2008-02-28T21:12:00.001-08:00

Time for a big boy bed!

5 Little Monkeys...

2008-02-01T13:36:00.000-08:00

Jumping on the couch!

I finally got them to sit down.. and grabbed the camera!

He's growing up!

2008-02-01T13:31:00.000-08:00

Last week, William turned 4 months old.

And 3 days later, he got his FIRST TOOTH!! Seriously! That's way too fast.

Oh, and he's a thumb sucker now.. what a cutie.

Trip to PA

2008-02-01T12:58:00.000-08:00

Well, my mom finished her mission!

We're so proud of you, mom!

To celebrate with her, Micaela, William and I travelled to Gettysburg, PA to spend the last few days of the mission with her. We had a great time, and since we got back, Micaela has asked a few times if I would take her tracting. :)

William finally got to meet his Grandma!

This is Micaela and me at the Gettysburg civil war battlefields.. she loved the cannons!

We took a little drive through Amish Country after Mom was released.

Micaela got an Amish-made bonnet and wore it for the next 5 days straight!

Congrats on finishing a great mission, Mom!

Micaela is 6 years old!!

2008-01-06T15:22:00.000-08:00

Micaela is 6 years old today!

We no longer have 5 kids, 5 and under! (Not that we're all of a sudden normal or anything.. haha)

Micaela has been such a joy and such a big help in our family already.

She had her friend party yesterday and got all dolled up for the occasion. She LOVES getting all dressed up and fancy -I even put some lipstick on her - she was in heaven!

We are so proud of our big girl!

Happy Birthday Micaela!!

Bad nicknames

2008-01-06T15:17:00.000-08:00

For those of you who have had to endure an hour or two in our home with our kids.. you know that we have some pretty bad nicknames for our kids. Like therapy-worthy nicknames.. :) For example, we've been known to call Elizabeth 'Bizzel-Squizz.' I have no idea where any of these nicknames came from - I suppose they've just grown and mutated from early, normal-sounding nicknames.

William's current term of endearment is "Billiams." I'm sure it will get much worse as the years go on..

Fun times

2008-01-06T15:14:00.000-08:00

Activity table from Pottery Barn Kids: $200

Huge tub of tinkertoys from Toys R Us: $30

Four siblings playing together for nearly 2 hours: PRICELESS!

A Blessed Baby

2007-12-30T17:13:00.000-08:00

We had William's baby blessing last sunday (dec 23) at my dad's house in Orem, UT. Several of our friends and family members were able to come (thanks everyone!) - it was wonderful.

Here's one of the proud parents:

The blessing participants:

Andrew was feeling brave and went in for his first kiss.. (sorry Sophie!)

Now William is a blessed baby!

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-24T22:07:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

ok, and one of Micaela

2007-12-16T20:58:00.001-08:00

This just cracks me up a little.. Oh, and she's wearing a little mermaid costume there, while eating a sucker and watching pbs.

Holy depth of field, Batman!

2007-12-16T20:53:00.000-08:00

Seriously.. for all you photo nuts out there, this is probably, what, like a 1cm field depth or something. I didn't alter or touch this pic at all except to shrink the file size. Half the pics I took had one eye in focus and the other blurry even though they're in roughly the same plane. I need to tell my lens to calm down a bit..

Even more pics of William

2007-12-16T20:51:00.000-08:00

I just can't help it..

At least we don't have that issue of having a million pictures of the first baby and none of the later ones! Each kid will definitely have way more baby pictures than they could ever want..

Big Boy Part 2

2007-12-16T20:48:00.000-08:00

Here's my 2 month old baby in [unwashed] size 12-18months pants from, of course, the babyGap. Those 6-12's I got him for the winter aren't going to last him much longer.. :(

But he's a happy big boy!

Big Boy

2007-12-09T10:28:00.000-08:00

At his 2-month checkup, William was 15 pounds and 27 inches! He's a big boy!

What I love about the West

2007-11-23T22:49:00.000-08:00

.
.
The SKY!

This was our view on the drive home from Girl Scouts (which was just up the road from our neighborhood). How amazing is that?

Girl Scouts!

2007-11-23T22:45:00.000-08:00

Well, Daisy Scouts to be precise.. Kindergarten-age girls are Daisy Scouts, then 1st graders are Brownie Scouts, and then they're officially a "Girl Scout" after a few years or so... I think... I was never a girl scout, but I have eaten enough girl scout cookies in my life to know that this is one fabulous organization. :)
Anyway, Micaela joined our local daisy scout troop! They had their first meeting a few weeks ago, and of course Micaela LOVED it! They had a little circle time meeting where the troop leader explained how the program will work and what we'll be doing, and then craft time (they decorated picture frames with daisies, cute!) and a big group hug at the end.
On the way out, Micaela said "Mommy, I want to go to girl scouts every week for my whole life!" :)

(um, she's just a bit taller than those other 5-yr-old girls..)

Baby Smiles!!

2007-11-23T22:38:00.000-08:00

I just LOVE it when babies wake up and realize that there are other people around and start SMILING! It's got to be the best thing in the world.

Here he is getting ready...

And the big smile!!

William's already 2 months old!

Honey, where are the kids?

2007-11-15T13:21:00.000-08:00

Oh, they're just out back playing on the cliff!

And Christmas picture out-takes - they don't look so happy in this one..

(Oh, and by the way, there was a nice big grassy ledge a few feet beneath those rocks and a golf course a bit farther down... they weren't really on a cliff!)

And just to be fair..

2007-11-05T07:56:00.000-08:00

After all the dozens of pictures of William that I've posted over the past month, I thought I should maybe take one or two of my other FOUR CHILDREN! :)

Micaela in all her 5-year-old post-church glory:

Lizzie and Rachel - they really do like each other!

Funny face (her ears aren't really that big... i think..)

And my big boy Andrew:

That's kind of a lot of kids.. :)

Future career?

2007-11-05T07:55:00.000-08:00

I think she's got real talent..

That's one excited ballerina.

Fun in the leaves!

2007-11-05T07:51:00.000-08:00

They had a blast! And then they had a long bath..

It took me a LONG time to get all the leaves out of Andrew's diaper! :) (How do they do that??) Poor little guy..

Halloween

2007-11-05T07:44:00.000-08:00

Halloween was COLD here - about 30 degrees when we went trick or treating. So they just tossed on some dress up clothes from the basement (low-maintenance halloween this year!) and some coats and fleece pants and off we went!

And some pumpkin carving:

This is so typical

2007-10-30T20:28:00.000-07:00

of my life right now!

Multi-tasking...

I really just needed to bring him and the basket upstairs.. :)

The Many (baby) Faces of William

2007-10-30T20:20:00.000-07:00

Happy Baby!

Sad Baby..

(I don't think he likes that hood..)

Calm Baby

I just love this one.

5 weeks old!

Three weeks old!

2007-10-15T08:29:00.000-07:00

This time flies by SO fast, but it's so precious - I just want to hold him and look at him all day. (But instead I hold him all NIGHT!) :)

He's getting longer and fatter! Most of his 0-3month clothes are getting too small already..

awwww...

Have you ever seen a cuter face?

A little half-smile.

"How's my hair?"

One of Jason, Micaela, & Lizzie playing on the couch - aren't they cute?

2 weeks old already!

2007-10-07T12:19:00.000-07:00

Why is it that the last 2 weeks of pregnancy go on for 6 months and the first 2 weeks of the baby's life are over in about half an hour?? So not fair!

William is 2 weeks old already. At his 2 week checkup he weighed 9 pounds 11 ounces and was 23 inches long. (I knew they didn't measure him right at the hospital - so he was more like 22.5 or 23inches at birth..) Anyway, I would like to say that he's sleeping longer stretches here in his old age, but sadly that's just not the case. This adding 10% of your weight per week thing takes a lot of eating to maintain, apparently!

He's still a sweet baby and we still love having him here!
And honestly, I'm just impressed that we're all still alive! That is an achievement.

And now for a pic overload!
Four days old:

Four days old with dad:

First "bath":

Five days old, with Lizzie:

With Micaela:

Rachel loves him, too!

Andrew loves having a brother!

A bit jaundiced, but still cute..

One week old:

Cute little toes!

8 days old with Rachel:

10 days old:

I love this one - cross-eyed!

Time flies! I'll be back with another onslaught of pictures soon..

William is here!

2007-09-26T21:42:00.000-07:00

Our baby William was (finally) born Friday, September 21st at 11:10pm! My water broke at 3pm, but I wasn't in labor. We checked into the hospital at about 6:30, still not in labor. At 9:00 they decided to start some pitocin to get things going. And things definitely got going!

Contractions started about 9:30, and he was born about an hour and a half later!! It was a fast, crazy, all-natural (besides the pitocin) childbirth - aside from that, everything went great! :)

He weighed 8 pounds, 7.4 ounces and was about 23 inches long, and the nurse was kind of freaking out about his head being 14 1/2 inches around - I'll have to look up what the average is..

William is a total angel - sweet, happy, and always hungry. We are loving every minute of having him. Our kids all LOVE him to death! (almost literally..) Even Andrew got so excited when he saw him and loves to pat his head and put blankets on him.

Here's our family before: (right before we left for the hospital!)

And AFTER: (at the hospital)

We LOVE having William in our family!!

Summer update

2007-08-28T19:33:00.000-07:00

The summer was pretty good to us - no major traumas, everyone's alive, and we even accomplished a few things here and there!
Everything worked out well with my mom - her surgery was successful and we had a few good weeks together before she headed back out on her mission - this time to Pennsylvania! So far she is loving it there! Here she is at the airport with Micaela:

We took a trip to Utah for a week or so in the end of July and got to visit with lots of friends and family. We took the kids up provo canyon and let them get their feet wet in the river, and then up to deer creek reservoir for a muddy romp on the receding beach line - it was disgusting, but a lot of fun.
Our friends Bryce and Lisa (and their adorable daughter Sophie) came to visit for a few days this month - it was SO fun to see them again!
We tried to keep homeschooling through the summer (just a little bit each day) but that quickly fell to the sidelines.. But we started up in full swing last Monday (Aug 20) having school time from 9-12 each day. We're learning Ancient History, math, some Chinese, Spanish, some science, and a bit of spelling here and there. So far it's going really well! Here are a few pics of our first day of school "party"

And one more recent picture that I snapped during Sophie's photo shoot - pretty sure I didn't brush their hair that day.. :)

And last but not least we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our fifth baby who could make his appearance any day now! (But who will probably wait it out for a few more weeks..) He's looking pretty big in there:

Everything's all set for him to make his big debut.. Except we haven't found a babysitter yet.. hmm - anyone interested? ;) (minor details..)
That's all for now. Stay tuned for the big birth announcement post, hopefully coming soon!

Long Update

2007-07-04T19:01:00.000-07:00

It's been almost 6 weeks since I posted last - bad blogger!
It's been a busy 6 weeks, though - the blog had to take a backseat for a bit... :)
From May 28-June 2, we had 11 houseguests. At one time. We had a total of 6 adults and 11 kids in our house for several days - it was pretty crazy! Not to mention that 10 of those kids were under the age of 10.. Then they left and we all got sick for 2 weeks and were fairly bedridden.
After that funride we got a call from my mom, who is/was serving a mission in Osorno, Chile. She had a gallbladder attack and was told by the doctors down there (after an ultrasound) that she needed to have her gallbladder out ASAP and (this is the kicker) that she also probably had kidney cancer! So she was on a plane pretty quickly and arrived here (at our place) on June 12. Jenna, Holly, and Rob all were able to join in the homecoming reunion!
Since then she's had several doctor appointments and a surgery and is now recuperating. The alleged kidney cancer was actually a "normal aberration" and just an unusual but completely fine way that the kidney can form. (yay!) She hopes to go back to being a full-time missionary when she gets the medical all-clear, although they tell us she'll probably be reassigned somewhere a bit closer..

The kids are all doing okay, apart from Andrew getting sick 2 more times with high fevers and having 6 teeth coming in at the same time (poor little guy!) and Micaela and Rachel losing toenails from various injuries that I won't go into in the interest of everyone keeping down their dinners.. :) (Wow, run-on sentence anyone?)

In happier news, Micaela had her first violin performance last Sunday! She and I played a violin duet of Give Said the Little Stream in relief society, by request of one of the counselors giving a lesson on service. She was SO excited and not nervous at all. Afterward, she asked me if we could do it again soon. I guess we have a little performer on our hands!

Here are a few pictures from the past month or so:

8 of our 11 visitors: (My cousin Chris and his family)

Homecoming reunion: (not the best picture, but that's ok)

I know I've taken more pictures.. they must be around here somewhere..
More posts coming soon! (less than 6 weeks from now we hope!)

Happy Birthday, Elizabeth!

2007-05-23T18:43:00.000-07:00

Our Lizzie turned 4 on May 21st!
The cake may have been pink, but this girl is ALL tomboy! I let her pick out any wrapping paper she wanted (out of an aisle of almost exclusively pink/princess/dora paper) and she absolutely would not have anything but the Spiderman wrapping paper.
We went to ChuckECheese for lunch, and she chose the plastic bugs for her prize when she turned in her tickets. And for the record, she did ask for BLUE frosting.. but I already had the pink stuff out.. :)
She loved her presents - plastic animals (what she asked for), Peter Pan (thanks Aunt Nancy!), a stuffed animal, and a "new" bike (ok, I got it for $5 at a yard sale, but don't tell her!).

Spiderman wrapping paper

Peter Pan!