Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Thanksgiving Blessing

We had a great thanksgiving week. Nathan had the whole week off and we enjoyed every minute of it together. Monday Elise and Brycen both had school, so Nathan and I were off Christmas shopping. It was so fun to be able to do it together, and not have to worry about finding a sitter, Kayla slept through the whole thing. Tuesday we made the drive all the way down to Draper for an In-N-Out Burger, it was a thanksgiving feast in itself.
Making the most of where we were, went and visited some family on the south end of the valley. Wednesday we took family pictures up at Silver Lake in the snow and froze, but it was so beautiful. It made me want to hit the slopes and go skiing, which I haven't done for a few years. On the way home we of course stopped and had another In-N-Out Burger since Nathan's Dad with us, he need to join in the tastiness. We also tried animal style fries, a definte new favorite. Thursday we got up and cooked and then had dinner in Centerville with Nathan's family. It was delicious! Everything was wonderful, Nathan's sister Heidi had even found Mom's Orange drink recipe to make it feel a little more complete. It was such a nice day as well, Elise went out and made a tiny snowman, Elise didn't even have a coat. I love all the thought she put into this little frosty friend.Friday and Saturday I spent the days cleaning the house and putting up the Christmas tree, in preparation of Kayla's blessing on Sunday. Nathan attended the temple with his siblings and Dad Friday, and then Saturday got to go to the last BYU game. Sunday morning we were able to bless Kayla here at the house. It all turned out wonderful, her father gave her a beautiful blessing, and she looked like a doll in her dress. After we had waffles and fruit. We were so thankful for all that were here and missed those who weren't. I am just thankful for such an amazing weekend.


Nathan's Dad with some of the grand kids. We were sorely missing the rest.

Kayla with her Great-Grandparents, (Nathan's Moms parents)

Kayla and Me with my parents

Our two Beautiful Girls

And the Dress, not to forget the sweater I bought on-line from Scotland that was handmade and completely gorgeous. (gotta love etsy)

I plan on getting some more photos done of Kayla in her dress, hopefully next week, I will have to post them after I get them done.

Friday, November 20, 2009

Jelly Bean at 2 months



I took Kayla in for her two month check up yesterday and it was quite the day. I got all three kids bathed and ready and myself ready and we got to the doctors for what I thought was our 10:15 appointment to find out that, my appointment was at 1:15. At least I was early and hadn't missed it. I told my pediatrician and she felt so bad, I told her not to feel bad that its what happens when you have THREE kids. Then when we came back for the appointment, Kayla of course had a HUGE blow-out in her diaper and had made a huge mess all over her shirt, it was wonderful, but I still think she is adorable. Kayla weighs 11 pounds, and 12 ounces and is now 23 inches long. I can't believe how much she has grown. It breaks my heart. I just don't understand how you can feel like your pregnant for an eternity but they grow up so fast once you get them here. She got her shots which was no fun, and her brother and sister were quite concerned for her. Elise planned on holding her hand but since the appointment was later she was at school. Brycen kept telling her, "Kayla it will just take just two seconds." We are enjoying Kayla and love to get her to smile and coo. We are so glad she is part of our family.
Saddest sight ever with her little band-aids on those chubby thighs....
I bought this shirt when I was 40 weeks pregnant. It says "worth the wait" with a snail on it, so of course we had to get it since I was still waiting to actually get this little girl here, and since her sister loves snails so much...
Whenever Brycen sees Kayla smile he always says, "Kayla has a great smile," I have to agree!

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Swine flu at our House

I want to type this all out so I remember this last two weeks and all that it was...

Friday October 30: We are driving home from Ogden and Nathan mentions that his throat hurts, about 5 minutes later he says his shoulders hurt and he thinks he is getting sick. I tell him to come home and get in bed and take it easy. I start cleaning for Kayla's blessing that we are planning on Sunday. Nathan starts having a low grade fever in the evening

Saturday October 31: Nathan gets up feels alright at least better, than last night. By early afternoon he starts to feel crummy again. Fevers starts again. We think about cancelling the blessing, but figure we will wait till tomorrow to see how he feels. I go buy the food for the blessing and take the kids Trick or Treating. Poor Nathan misses it all upstairs in bed.

Sunday November 1: Nathan feels terrible in many ways, still very sore achy, still had a fever, and disappointed that we are now cancelling the blessing. We notify everyone that we will be postponing the blessing for another day. Nathan's dad comes and gets him and takes him to the doctor. He calls me from the doctors to tell me he has swine flu. I quickly start sanitizing the house and move mine and Kayla's stuff out of the room so that he can quarantine himself to our room. He gets home and his Dad feels his prescription for the Tamiflu ($85). We spend the day in our separate quarters him upstairs me and the kids downstairs. Going back and forth to help him food and medicine. I start sleeping downstairs to keep Kayla and I from getting sick. We were glad we had cancelled so no one else would get sick from us.

Monday November 2: I call anyone I can to find out what to do to prevent the kids from getting sick and if they can still go to school and what not. Kids don't have fevers so they can go to school. Drive Elise to and from school. Don't want to carpool in case we get the other kids sick. Nathan still achy and still had a fever. We still spend the day quarantined from Nathan. I just keep hoping and praying that no one else gets sick. Find out from Nathan's Dad that you can go get tickets from the Davis County Health Department for H1N1 vaccinations, at the Davis county fair grounds. Put the kids in the car and head right down there to get tickets. Got three tickets for the next day for 4:00, feeling of relief.

Tuesday November 3: Same thing, Nathan still not feeling well. Take Elise back and forth to school. After school we head up to the Davis County Conference Center to get there for our shots. Meet Nathan's Dad there who is also getting the shot and helping me with the kids. I get my shot, Brycen brave as can be gets his shot. Elise not so brave, and very frightened gets her shot. Super glad Grandpa was there to help me. Elise is then not so afraid of shots, since she didn't even know they had given it to her. That evening Nathan's fever finally goes away we feel like the worst is over for him.

Wednesday November 4: Wake up and Brycen is sitting by me on the couch he is eating a jawbreaker from Halloween I am holding Kayla. He coughs, I don't think much of it he coughs again and something tells me to get up and take his temperature. Sure enough he has a fever and is getting swine flu. I take him upstairs and we put him in his room. Nathan sets up a small TV in his room, so he can watch movies. I try not to freak out knowing he has just coughed on Kayla. I start calling the doctors office get him an appointment. Take Brycen to the doctor. Yep, they figure its swine flu since there is nothing else wrong with him, no strep throat, no ear infection. They tell me they don't recommend giving him Tamiflu since he is not at high risk and they don't think it will do much for him. They give me the prescription but its up to me. The doctor puts a refill on it for if Elise gets sick. Think about keeping Elise home. Her teacher calls and tells me she can come to school since she has no symptoms. I drive her down to school. Go get juice boxes for Brycen, and other supplies at the store realizing that my worst fears are coming true and we are all going to get sick. Go to fill Tamiflu but it will cost $116 dollars I decide to go with the doctors advice and not feel it, plus we didn't see that it did anything for Nathan. Come home and drop my cell phone in the toilet, it fell right out of my pocket. Can today get any worse? I spend most of the evening in tears not knowing what to do. One of the sweetest things that happened that I wish I had a picture of was how Elise would sit outside Brycens door and talk to him and entertain him. They were so sad not to be able to play with each other. We also decided and realized that we wouldn't be headed to San Fransisco on Friday. Nathan cancelled the hotel, I was sad to not be getting out of town, and not being able to see my cousin Kelly.

Thursday November 5: Brycen is really starting to get sick, luckily Nathan is feeling better and has already had it so he and Brycen hang out quarantined together. I drive Elise to and from school and try to take care of my two sick boys. Nathan really helped with making sure Brycen had Motrin and Tylenol in him. That night I also had Nathan give me and all the kids blessings. I knew it wouldn't mean that we wouldn't get sick but I knew it would at least help me through it.

Friday November 6: Nathan was able to go to work, I don't really think he was really ready to, but knew his boss was needing him there. About 10:00 I took my temperature and realized that the itchy throat I had was for real as I was starting to get a fever. So I tried not to hold Kayla which was very hard for me and wore a mask all day. Thankfully all my friends and neighbors helped out. We had, had dinner brought to us Wednesday, Thursday and then they were also doing it Friday and Saturday which was a huge help. They also took Elise to and from school, I didn't feel well and Brycen really didn't feel well and I didn't know how I would get her there and back. I called everywhere trying to find out what I should do to help Kayla from getting it. Most places said the same as everywhere that I had heard all week long. Just wash your hands really well, and keep your Lysol handy. My hands were raw from washing and I smelled like the Lysol can and I was still getting sick. My doctor finally called and talked to me and told me to get on the Tamiflu and to just not have close contact with Kayla. The doctor also reassured me that she didn't think that Kayla would get it since I was nursing her and that it was the best thing I could do for her. So I borrowed another great neighbors pump and started that endeavor for feeding Kayla. I had offers from everyone to help me and come get Elise and Kayla, I just couldn't bare to not have them HOME. Plus I didn't want anyone else getting sick from us. Nathan ended up having to work late because the radios at work hadn't been working because of the refinery explosion at the refinery in Woods Cross. He got home around 7 and then stepped up and took care of Kayla and me. He went and got my Tamiflu ($88) and dinner and all.

Saturday November 7: I woke up feeling pretty good, I stopped trying to pump to feed Kayla and just wore a mask and washed well. It was so hard to pump, and I felt like I was getting germs all over the bottle. Plus I wasn't coughing much. So I wore a mask again all day and had a fever that morning but after that was able to feel a lot better than Friday. That afternoon I took Elise's temperature and sure enough she was getting a fever, she also started coughing, so Nathan once again went and filled the Tamiflu prescription ($120). We got it in Elise as soon as we could and she had the least amount of symptoms and only coughed a handful of times. I was so glad, she and Kayla were the ones I feared the most with getting Swine Flu. Elise had premature lungs so any cold she gets usually hurts her a bunch. I was so blessed to know she was getting sick and to get the medicine in her, so she didn't get so sick. I also remember feeling at peace and not feeling scared and frantic and knowing that it was because of the blessing Nathan had given me.
Sunday November 8: We all just hung around and were lazy all day. None of us really had fevers and I knew we were going to be okay.
Monday November 9: I kept the kids home just to be sure. Brycen also had a fever again so I took him to the doctor worried he had a second infection. He didn't just still the swine flu so we went home and took naps.
Tuesday - till now: We are doing fine and all recovered. Brycen still coughs a bit but doing well. I am so glad to know that we made it through Swine Flu. It cost a bunch with prescriptions and in co-pays but we survived. Now we have met our prescription deductible so that will be good for the rest of the year.
I know that Heavenly Father blessed us and watched over us. I am thankful for all the help we received and all the help that was offered. I am just sorry to anyone else who may get Swine Flu, cause it is no FUN! I know that we were blessed despite the fact that we all got sick, cause it could of been worse.

Monday, November 2, 2009

Halloween

What a weekend we had! Nathan wasn't feeling well, so I took the kids Trick or Treating. Elise and Brycen were so in to it and loved it all. I was thankful for the nice weather so they weren't freezing. Elise was our beautiful Snow White and she loved it when anyone told her how cute she was, and how she looked just like Snow White. Brycen enjoyed being the one dwarf, and had to try to be Grumpy literally, especially while getting candy. Kayla got to be wrapped up and carried by mom as our poisoned apple for our themed Halloween. When the kids got home they poured all their candy out on the floor and went through it all. It brought back memories of doing the same thing when I was a kid and trading for my favorites with my brothers and sisters. We wished Nathan would of been with us, Sunday we found out he has H1N1, poor guy. He has been in our room all weekend trying not to get us all sick. I am glad that the rest of are all feeling well, and hope it remains.
our handsome Grumpy

our little poisoned apple

our beautiful Snow White


All three of my cute kiddos!


Wednesday, October 28, 2009

School Pictures

Elise got her school pictures here this week, I was super excited to see them. They turned out as wonderful as a mom can hope. I am so glad that Elise is loving Kindergarten and going to school. She has handled it all so well, with so much joy and excitement. We are super proud of her and all she is learning. My favorite part about getting her school pictures was when I pulled them out of the envelope and sat down to look at them. Elise grabbed the envelope and grabbed out the advertisement and was so excited because her picture was on a water bottle. I thought I'd share both photos with everyone.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

First Two Weeks


On Saturday Kayla will be two weeks old. She is for sure my biggest distraction in life right now, I could sit and hold or even just watch her for hours. With this being our third I know how FAST life will go and I am trying to enjoy every moment of it even the 3 am feedings. She has been really great so far and is quite content. Elise and Brycen are enjoying every moment of her, Elise like to read books to her and bring her toys, Brycen likes to pat her on the head and say "Oh Kayla what are we going to do with you?" With all that life has brought I am thankful for all the help and support we have received. Most of all I am thankful for Nathan and all the support and love he has shown, he is a wonderful father and husband. I feel so complete and blessed to have such a wonderful spouse and three beautiful healthy children. Having Nathan have to go to Houston the first of this week proved to me what I already knew of how much I love and need him around. I am thankful for the great care he has taken of me and the kids. May we have many more weeks of fun and love with our new addition to our family whom we are all loving and snuggling. Enjoy the photos!

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Miss Jellybean


We finally got our overdue little girl here today. She is absolutely perfect and we are all excited and happy she made it. She weighes 8 lbs and 1 ounce, and is 20 inches long. She looks like her dad and has blonder hair than her brother and sister ever had. She is a complete angel. Her name is Kayla Jean which comes from both of her grandmothers middle names Nathan's mom was Diana Kay and my mom was Suzanne Jean. Brycen wanted to name her Jellybean, so Kayla Jean Jellybean was as close as we could get. I am sure it will be a nickname for years to come. We are so glad to have her as part of our family.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Preschool for Brycen and a Broken Arm


Today Brycen got to start Preschool. He was excited all morning long and couldn't wait to go. He was excited to take his new Nike backpack. Elise gave him tips all morning long of what preschool would be like. It was super cute. It was crazy to take him and be on my own for the afternoon. He loved going to school at Ms. Sarah's and I hope she survives the class full of boys with only two little girls. We are excited to see him learn and grow and are so proud of him and his excitement to learn. We know he will do great. You can also see his broken arm. He jumped off a trampoline and landed putting all his weight on his arm. He is such the trooper and never seems to complain. He loves to get his cast wrapped and changed to a new color, it is originally neon yellow. It actually got to be part of my birthday fun as he did it the night before and we spent the morning of my birthday at the orthopedic specialist getting it put into a cast. After we headed to the donut shop and I called my Dad to tell him I had passed on the tradition. I broke my leg on a tramp at the age of 5 and got treated to donuts for being so brave, so I figured my son need to get to enjoy it as well. Isn't life ironic!
PREGNANCY UPDATE:
While both the kids were at school, I got to see the doctor and we have an inducement scheduled for Saturday morning. Unless she decides to come on her own earlier. This little girl is too comfortable and enjoying being held by her grandma's in heaven so we will have to try something to get her, here. We will let you all know how it goes, thanks for all the phone calls, and concern.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

New Game

I just had to share this...
Elise got home from school yesterday and told me she played a new game at school and she was so excited. She said its just like golf ball hunting mom, you have to pick up the scraps of paper on the floor and I got 3 and won. She then showed me her new shiny sticker. I was pretty proud and had to laugh...

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Nesting


Well I am being brave here, because at 39 weeks, I don't think I have any hope of a good picture. Here I am in my perfect shirt for my mood completely nesting. I have been scrubbing down everything, sewing, and stock piling groceries. We are looking forward to greeting and loving this new addition to our family here soon.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Kindergarten

First Day of School, First Day of School!

All I could think that morning was that line from Finding Nemo, Elise as a toddler loved that movie and we watched it a million times. I finally understood what Marlin felt, and wondered how in the world we weren't still at the stage of watching Finding Nemo a million times. Where has the time gone?

Thursday was Elise's first day of kindergarten. She loved it all. Nathan took the day off and was there to help me drop her off. Which was helpful since yes I did cry. She was excited all morning long and couldn't wait to go. Her teacher is Ms. Lambson and we think it will be a great year for her. She has enjoyed all of it so far. I love to hear and find out all that she does and learns already. I get to drive her and two other kids from our neighborhood and its so fun to hear them laugh, giggle, and interact in the car with me and with each other on the way there. Here are some photos of her in her cute little uniforms.


I just can't believe my little girl is so grown up and going to school. It was a hard moment for me and I don't look forward to doing it next year with Brycen, cause I am sure it will be just as hard.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Golf Ball Hunting Tales


Well as the summer has continued we have continued with the golf ball hunting craze at our house. Nathan's Dad Steve has also joined in and is as hooked as Nathan is. Along with finding golf balls, they recently found a rattlesnake. I am just glad it didn't find them and bite them, it really was quite the scare. We have so many golf balls now that we have put them organized into large 18 gallon totes into the garage. The kids get all the colored balls, Elise loves the pink, and Brycen the yellow, so those are still all over the house. I am just not sure what we will do when the 18 gallon totes are full.
Some interesting facts from the hunting:
Golf ball colors we have found: yellow, pink, orange, green, blue, purple, silver, and gold
The most found in one day was 197 golf balls
The most found so far in one month was July with about 1,100
The total of golf balls we have in the storage bins in the garage is 3,749
The type we have most of is Titleist
Yes, we have a spread sheet on the computer with the complete type, name, and count of each kind
Anyone want to buy any!

Elise drew this portrait of Brycen Golf Ball Hunting, I LOVE IT!
This is an old photo but I enjoy it and seeing the creativity that the kids had with the colored golf balls to arrange them this way. I walked in the front room and found them this way and grabbed the camera. Glad they can use them as part of the decor of our home.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Summer


Since being married to Nathan summer always has included some sort of Baseball game. We have traveled to many games, even as far as Atlanta. We love to make it to Spring training in Phoenix and one day hope to travel to all the stadiums. It always means good weather and summer fun if we are at a ball game. Last night we made it to the Salt Lake Bee's for family night. We had a great time enjoying the game, eating ice cream, getting sticky fingers from cotton candy, and trying to stay cool.
One of the highlights last night was when the announcer announced that Center fielder Brad Coon was up for bat, and Elise turned to her dad and asked, "Where is the Raccoon?" It was a good laugh for us all. We had a great night and were grateful to have Nathan's dad with us and all the more fun it made it.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Me


33 Weeks!

Just so everyone can see what Elise was talking about, in Motherhood Maternity.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Still Blogging


JUNE
June wasn't as crazy as May but still eventful, and went by way to quick. Nathan went to Canada for 2 WEEKS for work which was tough. I kept busy trying to fill up the shed and clean out anything I could. I went through closets and decorations. I just wish I were actually done. I still feel like I have a ton to do, as we get closer to September. We had planned to make it back to Nauvoo in June the day after Nathan was to return from Canada, but it didn't work out. I was so burnt out from having him gone and then Nathan's dad came down with Pneumonia and the kids didn't feel well. Fearing the worst that we would get out there and get sicker, we postponed it till next year. So something to look forward too. We instead went to Park City for the week. We rented a condo and had a fun time vacationing in UTAH. We really enjoyed our selves and it was so much more low key than hauling ourselves to Nauvoo. We had wanted to see the Marriott location in Park City so this was the perfect opportunity and I recommend it to anyone, we were far enough gone but close enough to know if we needed to come home we could. We could see the Alpine slide out our bedroom window. Nathan took the kids on the slide and the coaster which they both loved. Brycen was in heaven that there was miniature golf there as well. I was happy for the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and the carmel apple I enjoyed. We also got some fishing in at Deer Creek and at Strawberry. Nathan's Dad Steve came up one day to go fishing with us. The kids caught as many fish as they could. It was such beautiful scenery we really enjoyed ourselves. The fish were a junk fish but the kids didn't know it and they just had fun reeling them in. The best was they were biting all the time, so the kids weren't too bored waiting around. Nathan even caught some craw fish.





I love being up in Heber and that area, it always reminds me of when I was dating and feel in love with Nathan, it is also one of the first things I did with him as I met his family, we were going up to cut down a Christmas tree. We also dream one day of retiring and moving to a house in Heber its just so beautiful up there. Being in Park City we also of course made it to the outlets. Being pregnant we have had some funny comments from the kids. This had to be one of the best. As we walked in to Motherhood Maternity for me, as I was in need of some pants, Brycen pulled his usually boy not wanting to shop act and said I don't want to go in this store mom. I said Brycen we need to for me because I am pregnant, and Elise pipes in as loud as can be, " Yea Bryce we need to cause Mom has a really BIG belly." The entire store was laughing. Oh you gotta love what kids say. June went by quick and I quickly realized how much I love having Nathan home two weeks in Canada was no fun, I just love having my family all TOGETHER!