What's Been Happening!

WOW! Has it really been that long since I have posted something on my blog? Where has the summer gone!

Well, first of, we had another little girl come into our family on June 11. J is such a good baby.

For those of you that care, here is a little tale of what happened. I was scheduled to have her on June 14, one whole week before my due date. On the 8th and 9th, both K and JJ got the stomach bug that was going around and were throwing up. What a fun night that was!!

The next day (the 10th), I went out to weed in my garden and by afternoon was feeling horrible. I went to lay down and starting throwing up myself. I had caught the stinking stomach bug the girls had. Contractions were coming on, but not too close. After Jared got home from work and we had some dinner, my contractions were about 3 to 5 minutes apart. Because I am on Lovenox my whole pregnancy to prevent blood clots, they usually want me at the hospital when I am having contractions no closer than 10 minutes. With JJ and J, I was in denial that it is really time for the them to come!

We called my brother to come watch my kids so that we could go to the hospital. Because I was throwing up and was a little dehydrated, they said that is what put my body into labor. The nurse gave me some fluids and my contractions slowed down and spread themselves out a lot further.

While we were at the hospital, I had called my brother to see how the girls were doing and he said that E was now throwing up. As a mother, I could not be laying in the hospital while my baby was at home sick. I kept praying that my contractions would stop or at least slow down enough that they would release me and I could go take care of my baby. They finally released me around 11:00 p.m. and we raced home to take care of E. My parents had come home from camping to stay the night because they thought for sure that the doctors would not release me.

E started to feel better that night and slept through the night. I was still having contractions through the night, but didn't want to leave my family sick. The next morning, I got up and started getting ready and the contractions came back! We were back at the hospital by 7:00 a.m. and J was born at 11:00. What a whirlwind to get our baby here!

I didn't get a lot of pictures of her, but here is one of my girls around the 4th of July.
K has started Kindergarten. She is loving it! Here is a pictures of her at her table. The first week of school, they made a gingerbread man and then read the story of the gingerbread man who ran away. Their class gingerbread man ran away and all week long they have been looking for him. It was a way for the kids to get to know the school. They finally found the gingerbread man on Friday!
I have had lots of mixed emotions about K starting kindergarten. I know that she is ready to start and needs this, but I just wasn't ready. I believe now that she has been in school, I am starting to be okay with this. She has to grow up sometime right!
She can't be my 5 year old forever!

The Last Month in a Nutshell

I have been completely absent from blogging, and I don't think it will get any better! I wish it would, but life is hitting us hard.

Here are a few things we have been up to. Kylee graduated from Preschool this last month. I am not ready for her to go to kindergarten. She certainly is and is really excited to now go to school EVERY day. I just don't want her growing up. I want her to be my little girl forever and I know once they get into school, they just grow up fast and time becomes light speed. I am glad that she has an October birthday so that she didn't make the deadline and I got to spend an extra year with her!!

Jayce is doing much better on her speech. We found out that she is Hyposensitive in her mouth, meaning she has low sensitivity and it makes it hard for her to talk in that she isn't sure how much pressure to put on certain parts of her mouth to make sounds. I was so happy to find this out, because I was getting pretty frustrated with the whole speech thing and she just hasn't caught on to it as fast as Kylee did.

Emily is Emily! This is one child that I don't want to grow up either. I don't want any of my girls to grow up. They are really fun at their ages and I just love them to death.

Gymnastics Meet

Kylee has been taking gymnastics for about 2 months now and just LOVES it. Jared bought some tickets and took her to a University of Utah gymnastics meet. She was in heaven. Jared said she just sat and clapped and would raise her hands with the gymnasts. It has been really fun to watch her do gymnastics.

Saturday, Jared had also taken Jayce and Kylee down to see his grandparents and help them out in their garden. I didn't go down because I don't do very well traveling long distances! Anyway, it was just Emily and me at home and it was really fun. She plays really well by herself and I got lots accomplished around the house, cleaned bathrooms, ironed Jared's shirts, and my favorite part, worked on the girls quilt. I have been doing some throw pillows, regular pillowcases, and shams. This week I hope to get the curtains and bedskirt done. We haven't even bought the bed yet!!! We have got to get the bed and dresser this week so that I can put their room all together and enjoy it!!!

New Project

I have been shown some new projects!!! I decided that I wanted to do a quilt for the girls bedroom when we move them downstairs. A friend has been showing me the ropes and I am just loving it!! Here is a picture of their quilt top finished. I just need to put the backing on and then the binding. I am surprises at how much I have loved it. Once Heidi helped me break the quilt down into section and we took it little by little, they are pretty easy!

Happy Easter

Since this year Easter is on a Sunday, our ward did their Easter program yesterday. I decided since it was our Easter program, that the girls should get their Easter dresses. I LOVE buying dresses for the girls. They also love it, especially Kylee, she struts, twirls, and flips her hair. She is quite more girly and dramatic than me or my sister ever were growing up. She must get it from Jared! :)
Here is a picture of the girls with their dad. Jared came home from all his meetings to help get us to church, so I hurried and snagged him to get a picture with the girls!

Weekly Menu

I know that I have been a big slacker when it comes to blogging. No excuses here, just lazy!

Thursday - Beef and bean burritos

Friday - Honey lime enchiladas

Monday - Sweet and sour chicken

Tuesday - Chicken poppy seed salad

Wednesday - Meatloaf and potatoes

Thursday - Taco soup

Friday - Southwest Egg Rolls

Monday - Chicken pot pie

Tuesday - Garlic chicken with bowtie pasta

Wednesday - Taco salads

Gone Painting

This last weekend, Jared and I got the great idea to paint our house!!! We have wanted to do it for a VERY long time, but it finally came to pass this last weekend, since it was a long and Jared would be home to help!! Both us have been very tired of the white walls. Especially ours because I have NO decorations up! Friday we went and picked up the paint and supplies and then got going on Saturday morning. We painted the dining room, family room, hallway, and entryway. I LOVED the color I picked. How many of you pick the color you want and then when you paint it ends up being a different color, maybe a little too dark? I found a perfect solution that has worked for me. I find the color I like and then when they are mixing it up, I have them do it half formula. It ends up being exactly the color I wanted and not too dark!!! Try it next time!!

Anyway, we got up Monday and finished painting one wall downstairs and the office. We then ran out of paint and in a couple of weeks, when we get more time, we will finishing painting the kitchen and the other wall going downstairs. Pictures will come, but I have to figure out where to hang my stuff again. Rearranging and all that!!

Update on the Pregnancy

I went in last week for two ultrasounds. Yup, you read that right. I had to go into Maternal Fetal because I had the blood clot with Jayce and they always have to do some checks to make sure I am okay and the baby is okay. I also had to get one for my doctor.

The baby looks healthy and no we don't know what the gender is!!! Jared really wanted to find out, but I need that little bit of excitement to look forward too on delivery day! There are some concerns with me. My placenta is kind of close to my cervix. For right now, they are just going to watch me and make sure everything is okay. My doctor said that if it does get close, they will have to do a c-section, which is what I have anyway, so it should be fine. I am still a little nervous. I have been nervous since we found out we were having this one. I think it is because this is number 4 and I am getting a little older!!! Anyway, here are some cute pictures of the little man (or girl!!!)

Cute profile picture with the arm up!

Both Jared and I really like this picture. You can see the baby's belly on the left and then his legs go up the other side to form a V. The legs look really long to me!! This baby was just a kicking his or her legs tons before this picture.

Cookies, Cookies, Cookies

Last night, the girls and I made some sugar cookies. My friend Jen has a GREAT recipe. Thanks Jen. They were amazing. It made a ton of sugar cookies too. I don't have a heart shaped cookie cutter, so we just did circles. Jayce wanted the frosting orange, so I guess it is a good thing that we didn't do hearts!! Anyway if you are in the mood for sugar cookies, check out this recipe. It is DELISH!!!!

The Dancing Queens

My girls just LOVE to dance. They certainly didn't get that from me!!! Kylee is a ham when she dances, quite the little performer! Jayce loves to spin in dresses, and Emily, well, what can I say about little Mayham!!! Here is a video I took of the girls dancing. You all know how it goes, when the camera is on they don't quite perform their best ever!! They were always wanting to look at the pictures and then of course Kylee and Jayce get into a fight at the end! But, at least you can get the idea!

Date Night

I gave Jared the 12 Daytz of Christmas for Christmas. I found the cute idea from here. Check it out. It is so cute!! Some people are so stinking creative!!! Jared and I are not very good at making time for ourselves very often. We do it every now and then, but not at often as I both think we would like. I thought this idea was a great way to get us doing some fun, creative dates, like we used to do before we were married.

Anyway, the first date of Christmas was to go to dinner and a movie. We invited some friends to come. We went to dinner and then went and saw Blind Side. THAT is such a great show. I think it really hit home with Jared. I think he really loved playing football in high school and had some great times. I really enjoyed it myself! It was a great feel good movie.

Kylee Skiing

Last Saturday, my dad decided he wanted to do a "Beginner's Day" skiing. My sister-in-law hadn't been for years and I have been wanting to take Kylee. I was about Kylee's age when I first started skiing. We went to Alta (by far the best resort, no snowboarders allowed). And that is nothing against snowboarders personally, Jared is a snowboarder, but when you are a skier, at least for me, some snowboarders are out of control, just like I am sure that for some snowboarders, skiers are out of control.

Anyway back to the story, we went and rented some ski's for Kylee. They were TINY!! She was so excited and kept asking when we were going to be in the mountains. Well, it was kind of a frustrating day, she liked it, but would get angry and throw a few fits. We just went on the rope tow for a few hours to get the hang of skiing and then at 3:00, the lifts are free until 4:30. We went on the lift once and that was it for Kylee. She wasn't quite ready, but when we got done with the lift, she wanted to head back to the rope tow. She loved that. By the end of the day, she was going up the rope tow herself and skiing down the hill herself. She didn't want to stop and eat a snack, have hot chocolate, or even go the bathroom. She just wanted to go fast down the hill.

The first part of the day I used a hula hoop to hold her back and help her down the hill. She kept telling me to let go so she could go faster. What a crazy gal. She was upset when we got home and had to take the skis back. She wanted to keep them for the next time we go skiing.

Here is a picture of Kylee getting ready to go. She was not very patient waiting for me to get my skiis on.

I always thought it was so stinking cute to see little kids skiing and now here I have one of my own!
Tyler, Christine, and me! Don't look too closely. I couldn't get my pants to button up, so I hope there are no pictures that are a little revealing!!
Kylee coming down the hill with my dad.
My dad and Kylee going up the rope tow. This was sure a workout! By the end of the day, my arms felt like they were going to be pulled out of my sockets!
Don't I look so very graceful on the rope tow!! I HATE these things!!
Me skiing backwards trying to teach Kylee had to do pizza slices to go slow!
Christine looks fabulous on the rope tow!
Me trying for the first time to go up the rope tow with Kylee. It was a little tricky!!!

Weekly Menu

Here is what we are doing for dinner for the next two weeks. Anders, if you want the grocery list, let me know!!!

Wednesday -Outback Chicken
Thursday - Meatballs
Friday - Pizza and Breadsticks

Monday - Crockpot Chicken Rollups
Tuesday - Roast Beef Sandwiches
Wednesday - Chicken and Broccoli
Thursday - BBQ Sandwiches
Friday - Pizza

Monday - Chicken Noodle Soup
Tuesday - Meatloaf (or Pasta and Breadsticks)

My Girls

It is so AMAZING to me how different each child can be. Let me show you, Kylee is our independent little one who has to do EVERYTHING herself, even her hair.

Jayce is my tender-hearted little one, who tells me she misses me when I come walking out of the bathroom!

Emily is our tough cookie. She can really hold her own against her older sisters. With some of the cousins on my side of the family, she is known as the little one, but not to be underestimated!! I just had to show you a video of Miss Emily.

New Year's Resolutions

So, I finally decided to put up my New Year's Resolutions. I kind of forgot about some of them by the end of the year, so here they are as some of my resolutions.

1. Read scriptures every morning and pray every morning and evening.
2. Read 1 book a month, 12 books a year.
3. Organize pictures to be put on DVDs
4. Make quilts for girls (butterfly and flower) for their NEW room downstairs!
5. Exercise at least 30 minutes 6x per week
6. Go to temple once a month
7. 1 planned date per month with hubs
8. 15 min uninterrupted play time with kids each day
9. Craft night every Saturday night
10. 3 free meals a week (meaning, eat healthy during the week and have my treats on the weekend!!)

Let's see how I do this year!!!