Monday, January 18, 2010

Our 6 year old



This last week Elise turned SIX!
I kind of can't believe it, but we are loving it anyway. She keeps us laughing, and is a wonderful big sister to both Brycen and Kayla. We don't know what we would do with out her. Elise we love you and we are so glad you are part of our family FOREVER.


We had a birthday party on Wednesday that was dinner with family and one large pink snail cake. We were planning on a friend party but the fun of Strep Throat for the family has put that on hold. She got a bunch of fun toys and has loved playing with them all. Thanks to all family who helped remember and celebrate our Lisey!

Here are some photos from years past. It just makes me miss my baby, Lisey which I tell her all the time...


Newborn

with her baby brother Brycen


Her fun style

Always a helper

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Christmas 2009




I know I know I am a bit behind. Considering I got the tree down just a week ago its not to bad. The holidays were great, and busy as always. It seemed I didn't have enough time no matter what I did. My time seemed to go just as quick as ever. We had some great times the month of December. We went to the lights at Willard Bay which has been a fun tradition. Elise had a dentist emergency and had to have a baby root canal, she was such a trooper. Nathan got to fly down to Vegas with his Dad to meet up with his brother and cheer on the Cougars. They all froze but had a great time, I hope its a tradition that will continue. My cousin Kelly was in town for the Holidays so we got to spend a day together. We went sledding in Bountiful with Nathan's Dad. We got to see lots of family and enjoy being together as a family.

Opening Gifts

So tired little Kayla


The kids Snowman they built with their Dad


Visiting with cute Tess (Kelly's Baby)

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.