Kendall and Melissa's Growing Clan

Temple Square

2012-01-29T16:57:00.006-06:00

On Christmas Eve I really wanted to take the kids to see Temple Square in Salt Lake City with all of their Christmas lights and Nativity displays. We opened our Christmas Eve gifts, which were homemade hats and scarves for the whole family, and we bundled up to head North.We parked about a half mile from Temple Square and rode the train the rest of the way, which was one of the kids' favorite parts of the entire night. My brother and his wife and my sister also came with us. It was great to spend some time with them and so nice to have extra adult hands to help with the kids, since Temple Square was packed.Right outside the gates to Temple Square there was a bagpipe player who absolutely loved our yellow hats. He said they made him "feel all warm like sunshine." So we took our picture with him.
The Temple was beautiful, as always. And the lights were fabulous. Even though it was very cold, it was a wonderful way to get into the true feeling of Christmas.
We haven't used our camera very much at night, so we ended up playing with the settings quite a bit and some of our pictures are a little interesting, but we did get some beautiful shots.
I think this was my favorite Nativity that they had displayed. It was in the middle of this big reflective pool of water with these beautiful glowing candles floating on top of the water. It was so peaceful.
They had these beautiful metal lanterns displayed all over that had Christmas scenes depicted on them. I told Kendall I want him to make me some to line my driveway. ;)
Ammon had brought his tripod for his camera, so he set it up and we all actually got into a picture together. We were pretty frozen by this point, but still smiling.
We also watched the narrated Nativity that they have and it was quite beautiful as well. It was really hard to get pictures of though, so I don't have any great ones.
Being here really felt like home. I have so many memories of being on Temple Square. In fact the first date that Kendall took me on was around Christmas time up at Temple Square. It felt a little like deja vu, but so many things have changed since then. In the past 12 years we have been married for 8 1/2 years, moved 3 times, and had 4 beautiful children. But Temple Square will always be a place of beauty, peace and good memories for me.

Christmas Part 2

2012-01-29T16:33:00.004-06:00

Here is our second Christmas celebration. Christmas Eve was the day that we were able to get together with Kendall's sister and let the kids all exchange gifts with each other. Here we have Talmage, Sadie, Hali, Avri, Kendall and Rigdon all ready to open gifts.
On the other couch we have the other adults in the family: Scott, Kennessa with sleeping Natalia, Grandpa Reed, Great Grandma Powell, Grandma Kim with baby Ethan, Aaron and Josh.
Sweet sleeping girl...
We decided to have all the kids make gifts for each other. Avri and Talmage worked with Kendall to make Harry Potter wands for each of the cousins over a year old. They were each very unique, but unfortunately we never managed to get pictures of them. Kendall's sister Kennessa helped her kids make some really cute gifts. The girls both got some adorable flower hair clips, which they clip to anything and everything that they wear, not just in their hair.Kennessa also made an awesome Batman mask for Talmage. He just happened to be wearing a Batman shirt when he opened it! He felt like a real super hero!
Rigdon got some soft bean bags to throw around, which is one of his very favorite past times. Here he is with his brand new wand tucked away and throwing his new bean bags.
What good time we had, and the kids had a blast playing with their cousins again.

A Frigid Mistake

2012-01-29T15:50:00.004-06:00

We left Illinois on the Thursday before Christmas, right after Kendall got home from work. We left about 2:30 in the afternoon. The kids were so excited to get to Utah that they got into the van about an hour before we left. :) So we started our very long journey. The weather worked out quite nicely (which I spent about a month stressing about) and we didn't have to make any stops until about 6:30 or 7:00 when we stopped at McDonald's to let the kids play and have some dinner. Then we got back in the car and got ready for bed and settled in for a long night of driving.

The trip was going exactly according to plan until about 3:00 am. We had made it through Illinois, Iowa and all of Nebraska and were into Wyoming at this point. This is always the scariest part of the trip in the winter because it is SOOO cold, always windy, no cell coverage, and the gas stations are few and far between. But when we passed one gas station we still had about a quarter of a tank of gas and we didn't want to stop and wake all of the kids up. So we figured we would wait until the next station. Little did we know the next station wasn't for quite a few miles. So we drove, and drove, the gas light came on, the needle dropped below empty, still driving...

I knew that if we ran out of gas we would all about freeze to death in our car waiting for daylight and someone to stop and help us. So the prayers started. I know that the Lord basically pushed us to the next gas station - the only one in miles. We got off the freeway and found the station, only to find out that it was closed. The pumps actually did accept credit cards, but there was a gate that was padlocked, keeping our van about 50 feet away from the pump. Kendall walked all around the station looking for an empty gas can or something that we could use to put gas in to get to to the van. Keep in mind it is only 10 degrees outside and we didn't have coats or gloves or anything. The largest container that he could find was a Gatorade bottle. :( So he started filling the bottle and running the gas, one Gatorade bottle at a time to the van to pour it into the tank. I Felt really bad that I wasn't doing anything so I went in search for another container. All I could find was a 12 oz Sobe bottle, but that was better than nothing. So between the two of us we ran back and forth, over and over again trying to get enough gas into the van to at least get us to the next gas station. I was literally colder than I have ever been in my life, and I was convulsing as I tried to pour the gas into the tank. After about half an hour of this we had about 1 1/2 gallons in the tank and we decided it would probably be enough to get us to the next station. I would have loved to have watched the security cameras the next morning. When Kendall got into the van his fingers were white from frost bite and we hear from the back seat Talmage's little voice, "Mommy, what are you doing?" What do you reply to that?

Needless to say, we learned our lesson. Fill up when your tank is about half way! Especially in Wyoming!! The rest of the trip went smoothly and we even made the trip in record time! The last time we drove this was when Rigdon was 8 days old and it took us 24 hours on the road with all of the stops that we had to make. This time we managed to make it in 18 hours!! We got all the way to Lehi (only 5 minutes from Kendall's parents' house) when both girls started puking in the back seat. I guess they either both get car sick, or else Sadie can't handle the sound of someone puking right behind her. haha. So we had a big mess or clean up when we got there.

We pulled in about 8:30 in the morning, which was a few hours earlier than we had expected; so we all had a chance to get bathed and even take naps before the family reunion that we had that night. We got to spend a lot of time with Uncle Aaron, who left to go on his mission right about the time Sadie was born. So Talmage and Avri were basically babies the last time they saw him.
We also got to meet Melissa, the kids' soon-to-be aunt. She is such a doll and we all just love her and can't wait for their wedding in May!
Then that night we went to the Family Reunion. The kids didn't hardly remember Great Grandma Brady, but it was a good reunion with lots of family that we haven't seen in years! The girls still had their curlers in at this point, but I promise I took them out before the party started.
See? Curlers all out.
We had a delicious dinner, karaoke, and a white elephant gift exchange.

It was so good to see so many cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents and be able to catch up with them a little bit. We were really glad that all the planets aligned in order for us to leave one day earlier than our original plan so that we could make it to the reunion.

First Christmas

2012-01-29T15:16:00.003-06:00

We celebrated Christmas a little differently this year. My sister was getting married just 4 days after Christmas in Utah, so we made the trek across the country once again with 4 kids. Since we were going to be doing so much traveling we gave the kids their gifts from us on the 22nd, before we left. It was a very early celebration, but it was really nice to have a smaller amount of gifts, and the kids didn't get tired of opening them.

Rigdon got to really try his hand at opening presents for the first time. He has grown up a lot in the 3 months since his birthday.
You can see Rigdon's new chair in the background. This was his homemade gift from Mom this year. Now all four kids have "matching" chairs - with all different fabrics.
Kendall made Avri a little Castle for her rats to sleep in. She was so excited to put it in their cage for them.
I made a drawstring backpack for Sadie to put all of her stuff in. There is never a time that I don't see Sadie with an arm full of things for her baby dolls.
For Talmage, Kendall made him a whole binder full of detailed Lego instructions. He has all sorts of things that he can make out of legos now. The duck on the table behind him is one of the examples.
The other things that the kids got were activities to keep them busy in the car all the way to and from Utah. My parents were able to come over and open gifts with us, and we got really lucky to have my brother in town as well! He had come out to get all set up with his new job with Caterpillar, so it was really fun to have him with us. Stay tuned for Christmas Parts 2 and 3.

The Big 5!

2012-01-29T14:35:00.005-06:00

This post is exactly one month and 20 days late, but here we are. :) On December 8th Talmage turned 5 years old! Because Kendall was on second shift at the time we didn't have a chance to celebrate his birthday on the 8th. The following night we had our little family birthday party for him. He started by opening presents,and playing with them a little bit.
After presents we went to Kendall's work party that they put on for the kids of the company. The kids all got to see Santa and they each got really nice gifts from him.
They had all sorts of activities for the kids to do. I think the kids' favorite was the balloon artist. They each got to pick their own creation (except Rigdon who was too young).
They did a cupcake walk and each of them got to win a bunch of goodies there.
Even Rigdon.
After all of the partying we went home and opened a few more presents. He doesn't look very excited about this lantern, but I think it's one of his favorites. I frequently find him looking at books in bed by lantern light, long after we put him to bed.
He even got some Spiderman Walkie-Talkies.
Trying hard to wait until the end of the song before he blows out those candles...
We also had a very late dinner of hamburgers. Talmage wanted orange cupcakes for his birthday dessert, and the kids each decorated their own with candies.

Talmage is such a great source of smiles in our home, with his cute dimple. He is a mini engineer, always trying to figure out how something works, or just how hard you have to push it before it will break. He is in preschool at the local museum and absolutely loves all of the science that he is learning there. He is a very intelligent and sweet boy, always good for big hugs. We love you so much Talmage!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

2011-11-30T21:29:00.000-06:00

We had a very nice Thanksgiving this year. We went to my parents' house to make dinner. For lunch we had a nice veggie tray and crackers and cheese.
And it was complete when we were able to watch "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" while we ate. I realized that in 28 years I have NEVER seen that show!
Rigdon was free to help himself. His favorites were the carrots and olives with the crackers in a close third.
After lunch we were able to open a fun little package from my sister-in-law, Allison. She made these darling age-approriate folder games for each of the kids. Avri got one to practice subtraction facts, Talmage got one for ordering the alphabet and Sadie got one for matching complex patterns. They also got a letter from Aunt Allison explaining the games that she had made for them as a gift and giving them their one rule: They have to remember how much she loves them every time they play. :)
They couldn't wait to get busy playing their games.
Sadie was so proud of hers that she didn't want anyone else to touch it. So she found a great hiding place in Grandma's house to put it and then forgot where she had put it. So we have to go back and scour the house for it.
While we were waiting for the final touches on dinner we read 3 Thanksgiving books. Two of them were new for the kids, and we learned lots of new things about Thanksgiving.
Grandma needed help making one last pie...
And Grandpa needed help setting up the outdoor nativity, which Avri was very willing to help with.
I am so thankful that I live so close to my parents and that we are able to spend so much time with them. We really miss Utah and being close to all of the rest of our family. But seeing so many people here who don't have any family close by makes me realize how blessed I am. I have always loved my family, but if there is one thing that I have learned from becoming a mother more than anything else (except maybe patience) it is love. I didn't really know what love was before I was married. And then having Avri taught me an entirely new kind of love. When I had more than one child it was truly an amazing experience to see that love grow. Love is never divided, like time is. It is only magnified and intensified. I am so thankful for the opportunity to be a wife and a mother to 4 beautiful children. I am truly a blessed person.

Music Video

2011-11-17T08:38:00.005-06:00

I have tried to shelter my kids from Lady Gaga, but alas, it was to no avail. We went to see Puss In Boots at the theatre the other night and a preview for Chipwrecked had the chipmunks singing "Bad Romance." So the kids have been asking me to find the song online. Once we found it this is what we got:

Anxiety?

2011-11-09T03:07:00.002-06:00

I was awakened at 2:45 this morning (just a few minutes ago) to sobbing sounds. I got up to investigate the sound and found Avri laying in her bed completely distressed. She was sobbing hard enough that she could barely tell me what she was so sad about. After a few minutes I finally got out of her that she had not finished her homework packet for school the previous night before she had gotten out her pet rat to play with it. She told me that Daddy had told her she could play with her rat and so she did, but her homework packet wasn't done yet and then she proceeded to sob to me that she was so sorry that she was making bad choices. ...WHOA!!

First of all, her homework packet is something she gets to decide when she wants to do. It isn't due until Friday morning each week, so if it isn't done by Tuesday, that's okay! Secondly, since when does this wake a person up in the middle of the night and make you feel such remorse that you sob this hard? I talked her down from her anxiety attack and explained to her that she wasn't making bad decisions. I told her that it is also important for her to play with her rats because they need attention and exercise and that she will have plenty of time tomorrow to work on her homework packet. But I can't help but be concerned about a 6 yr old who is having anxiety attacks in the middle of the night.

Do you ever feel like you are just completely un-certified to be a mother and handle these kinds of things? I have absolutely no experience with this kind of stuff! I have always known that Avri is a rule follower. She may not LIKE the rules and she will tell you that, but she always works so hard to follow those rules. But I had no idea that she was stressing over them SOOO much! Makes me really think about the way that I parent. Am I too hard on her? Is it just a trait that she carries? Wow. Okay, I think I'm going back to bed. Maybe something will come to me in my sleep.

Reading and Writing

2011-09-28T16:45:00.003-05:00

We are so proud of Avri. She has come so far academically in the past year that I have just watched in amazement. She has really blossomed as both a reader and a writer. She has turned into the child who reads the cereal box, the road signs, my text messages, and anything else she can get her hands on. It is awesome. She also LOVES to write and her spellings are still quite inventive, but getting better all the time. A few days ago she decided to write a letter to Aunt Allison. So she did. I didn't help her at all. In fact, I didn't know that she was doing it until she was all done. Allison got the letter and put a post about it on her blog. So I thought I would link to it here. I think she has rather good handwriting and pretty good spelling for someone who is barely 6 years old!

Summer Surprise

2011-09-24T10:55:00.004-05:00

I am finally getting around to posting about July. That only makes me only about 2-3 months behind, right? Oh well.

My brother Ammon and his wife Allison were planning on coming to Illinois for a vacation and also to interview for a job with Caterpillar. They told us that they would be getting here on July 5th, so they were going to miss Avri's birthday on the 4th. We were really sad that they wouldn't make it for her birthday. But on Sunday the 3rd, we got home from church and had a scavenger hunt in our front yard which led us to the back yard where our prize was Ammon and Allison!! (And some Pop Rocks that they brought for us!) We were so excited that they surprised us and got here early. The house was a huge mess because of the birthday party the day before and we were remodeling and painting the master bedroom (which turns the entire house into a disorganized mess). But they didn't seem to mind too much. Here is Sadie with her buddy Allison.
For the 4th of July we celebrated Avri's birthday all day. We started in the morning with breakfast at my parents house, cooked on our brand new fire grill - designed and made by Ammon!! Here he is showing us how it works.
It was really smoky, but here is part of the grill. It has a large cooking surface, but also has a grill and a rotisserie that are attachments. We are excited to do a lot more cooking on it and get really good at using it.
The kids kept themselves entertained which breakfast was cooking.
Then Avri opened her birthday presents. Accessories for her dollhouse...
And lots of new hair things, headbands, and a cute hat.
Rigdon got to know Ammon and Allison really well over the next couple of weeks. The last time we had seen these two was for their wedding when Rigdon was only 2 weeks old!!
Who doesn't love Christmas paper in July?
That night we went to a bbq party in Elmwood with a bunch of friends. They lit some fireworks,
and smoke bombsand my parents brought glowsticks while we waited for the fireworks to start.Avri just loves her holiday birthday, and I'm so glad. We love her so much and are so happy that she is such a unique and special part of our family. And we were really glad that Ammon and Allison were able to be there for her day!

Hair Experiment - Complete

2011-09-24T10:11:00.005-05:00

We have officially ended the hair growth experiment. Kendall has always wondered how long his hair would grow in one year. So here was the experiment. His only stipulation (or mine) was that if he had a job interview that he needed to look nice for he would end early. He has had half a dozen interviews lately, hence the early finish. Here are the results!

January 1st (for the kids' reactions see my post here.)
February 1st
March 1st
April 1st - April was a nice month. ;)
May 1st
June 1st
July 1st
It's even long enough for him to wear Avri's new pretty headbands. Now THAT takes a very secure man.
For some reason we missed taking a picture in August, so we have...

Sept 1st
Sorry, these pictures are all terrible because the lighting in our living room is awful at night. I kept teasing him about having a mid-life crisis and trying to imitate Justin Beiber.
So we had a little fun playing with it before we cut it all off. He was sad that he couldn't be Wolverine for Halloween.
MacGyver anyone? Wow. So glad he hasn't ever had a mullet.
I learned that I have no idea how to cut a Mohawk. I'm hopeless.
And a very nice little pony tail.
Now THAT is a haircut!
I found my husband again. Isn't he so handsome? I sure love this man.
We learned this his hair really does grow about 1/2 inch every month - which is supposed to be average for most people. It doesn't really speed up or slow down, just plods right along. And I will be happy if he doesn't do that again for a very long time.

**I just noticed in this last picture where Rigdon gets his eyes!! I think they look exactly like Kendall's!

A Very Wet Birthday Party

2011-08-19T21:10:00.006-05:00

Avri planned her first real birthday party with friends this year. She came up with all of the games herself, and it was actually very simple to put together. I think I spent more time on the invitations than on the rest of the party.

Party day was HOT HOT HOT and very humid. So we were extremely glad to be playing in water. As we were getting things set up we let Rigdon play in one of the water buckets. He was having so much fun that I went to get the camera. It was so humid and hot that the lens immediately steamed up and it took a looooong time to clear. Have I ever mentioned that I hate humidity?
For party favors Avri picked bubbles and squirt guns.
As the guests were all arriving we found a worm/caterpillar thing and so Talmage decided to let it climb up his bare chest. The kids LOVED watching that!
Getting ready for a water balloon toss... Thanks to Kendall, who spent the entire morning filling literally hundreds of water balloons!
After the tossing, the kids all wanted balloons broken over their heads. And it DID feel good.
Next we did a water race. We divided into 2 teams. Each team had a big bucket filled with water and smaller empty one and 2 sponges. They were SUPPOSED to fill the sponge and pass it down the line, empty it into their bucket and try to be the first team to completely fill their bucket. This team really got the idea of it.
The other team had all of the boys, and the 2 little kids (3 yr olds) and they totally didn't get it. They ran around crazy instead of staying in formation. But those boys were inventive in getting ALL of the water into the bucket, and they ended up winning!

The "girl" team followed all the rules and were so dainty about squeezing their sponges.
Next was a version of Duck Duck Goose. The person who was "It" filled the sponge with water and the person who got the goose got water squeezed over their heads. They had so much fun with this one!
Then we played on the slip 'n slide and ran in the sprinklers, just to make sure every inch of us was drenched.
We sang happy birthday and cut the cake and had bomb pops - to go along with the 4th of July birthday!

I admit I was a little worried about how crazy 12 little kids was going to be, but they were so much fun! They didn't get out of control at all, and everyone had a great time!

Rigdon's 9-month Stats

2011-07-23T16:17:00.008-05:00

I have been meaning to do this post for a month and a half now. Rigdon USED to be 9 months and these were his stats at his check-up:

Height: 30.25" (100%ile)
Weight: 25 lbs 12 oz (>100%ile)
Head: 19 cm (95%ile)

The good news is that he has greatly slowed down the growth. He has only gained a few ounces in the last 3 months. He now weighs 26 lbs 4 oz (which is exactly what Sadie weighed at her 2 year appointment, hehe).
He has now had 3 haircuts, and not because I am obsessive about it. I don't cut it until it is hanging way down his ears. He grows hair like crazy! But it is still just a blond! Here are the boys with their matching summer cuts.
Rigdon wears size 5 diapers already and 18-24 month clothing.
He loves berries of every kind and doesn't care that they turn him blue, or red, or black.
He's a little beach bum, just like his brother. He tans really easily and doesn't even wear sunscreen unless we are going to be in the direct sun for a long time. His hair also bleaches super blond in the sun.
He is curious about everything and seems to be a very fast learner.
Our kids' new favorite meal is "long noodle soup" which is really just Ramen. Rigdon loves to slurp it in and it is so funny watching him slurp the entire noodle in, faster than I can do it!
He enjoys helping do the dishes.
He can often be found standing at the window if the older kids are playing outside. He loves being in the middle of all of the action.
He is a popcorn buddy. He lOvEs the stuff!
Rigdon and Talmage are good little friends. Here they are watching super hero shows together.
At 10 months he loves to climb the stairs, though I don't trust him to do it on his own yet. He crawls everywhere and is FAST about it. He also likes to bear crawl, up on hands and feet. He is a very good eater, though he is starting to decide that there are some foods that he doesn't like as much as others. His personality is showing more and more. He is a very happy and smiley baby, but when he gets really tired he turns kind of mean and tries to hit and whines. He is way too strong, and is frequently the cause of painful (but unintentional) pinching or scratching. He has a small amount of stranger anxiety, but it doesn't take him too long to warm up. But he seems to be a good judge of character and trusts people who are trustworthy, but doesn't trust true "strangers." He is still a bit of a mama's boy and needs a little mama-lovin' every so often. He likes to come to me for a few minutes and give me big hugs, and then he's off again to be a busy little boy. We all just L.O.V.E. him to pieces.

I've had a couple of requests for the side-by-side "Which baby am I?" comparison. So here it is. Can you guess?

Wildlife Prairie Park

2011-07-23T14:04:00.004-05:00

Only a mile from my parents' house is an animal park that is similar to a zoo, however the animals are more in their natural habitats. The down side is that you don't always see the animals because they have large areas fenced in for their homes. But it feels a bit more wild than the zoo. We took the kids a few weeks ago and had a lot of fun.Avri wanted to be a butterfly, and her arms are the antennae.
We got really close to this black bear, but couldn't get a very good picture of it.
We also rode the train around the park which was a lot of fun.

Time for some close-ups of the sweaty little people.
Rigdon is such a smiley little guy, even when he's hot and sweaty.
These two girls are getting to be such close friends. They are so cute when they play together.

So It Begins

2011-07-23T13:53:00.001-05:00

Rigdon has begun to break things.
And he doesn't just break things, he shatters them! What 9 month old do you know that can pull a nightlight out of the wall with such force that it completely shatters the plastic? We are in for an expensive childhood with this boy.

Dance Showcase

2011-07-20T20:40:00.007-05:00

My parents have been taking dance classes for about a year and a half now. They are having so much fun with them! They had their dance showcase in the middle of June and so we all got dressed nice and went to see them dance and get some pictures and videos for them. The girls wanted some pretty hairdo's.And Talmage has those eyes...
It was fun to see them dance and they are getting so good at it.
They had a short "intermission" so that the dancers could change costumes and everyone in the audience got to dance. Talmage and Sadie stole the show there.
It was so funny to watch him spin Sadie. But she was having a blast! (As a side note, her legs aren't twisted, she has her shoes on the wrong feet, which she does about 98% of the time. She says she likes it that way.)
Everyone got flowers...
For the last 2 numbers they were doing something a little different. One number was a line dance and the other was a double swing number, where each man had 2 women partners. So my Dad asked me to come and be his second partner. So I even got to be a little part of the showcase, which was fun.

The End of Kindergarten

2011-07-20T20:01:00.003-05:00

At Avri's End-of-Year Concert we got a few pictures, though she was hard to see and find, since the entire school was on the stage at once! The concert was very long and the gym was very hot, but it was still fun to see her singing her heart out to the songs she had been working on all year.

Where's Waldo...I mean Avri?
The happy baby waiting for the concert to start. Let's face it though, this baby is always happy.
All done, and time to go home!
We can't seem to get enough pictures of this little face.
Avri receiving her end-of-the-year awards from the principal. We are so proud of our little smarty!
Daddy was thoughtful enough to get her a bouquet of flowers.
Avri and Mrs. Stepping, her WONDERFUL kindergarten teacher.
Avri has always been our most academic child. This is the girl who taught herself the entire alphabet at 14 months and was speaking in full sentences by about 16 months. Now that she is 6 she can tell time, count up to any number through about 999, and she is reading CHAPTER books! So far this summer she has read over 250 pages from chapter books. She is currently on Charlotte's Web and she really doesn't even need help. She can read from the scriptures almost flawlessly and has the most amazing vocabulary. Avri can reason better than half of the adults that I know and she is our "rule follower." She is always so worried about people who aren't following the rules (or the commandments) and always wants to know very specific ages that she can do things so that she doesn't break the rules and do things too early. In fact, I remember when Avri was 3 and I knew that if I worked with her a little she would be able to pick up reading. But she told me so matter-of-factly that I thought she was 15 "Mom, 3-yr-olds don't read." And that was that. She would not let me teach her until she was almost 5. Needless to say, she got the best marks you could get and the only complaint her teacher ever had was that she sometimes drifted into her own little world. :) We think the problem was that she would get bored and tune out and then have a hard time knowing when to come back to earth. We are so proud of our Avri and all of her accomplishments!!

Field Trip to the Dairy Farm

2011-07-20T19:08:00.007-05:00

It seems strange to write about the end of the school year when we are already more than half way through the summer. :) At the end of the year Avri's class had a field trip to a dairy farm. I was able to go as a chaperone (thanks to my mom watching the rest of my gaggle of children). Avri was more than a little excited about this field trip because 1) it was her first field trip and 2) her life's ambition is to become a "farmer's wife." We have no idea where this dream came from but it has been the same for a couple of years now, which is a big deal for Avri.

To start out the kids got to pet a baby lamb. They learned about the difference between hair and fur and wool.
Isn't that a cute face?
We all watched one of the calves drink a bottle of water.
And then we got to walk around and let them suck on our fingers! They have the roughest tongues!! And they suck as hard as Rigdon. ;)
She caught a chicken from the chicken house and let the kids pet it. It had so many beautiful colors! They also saw how the eggs are all different shades of brown and white.
There were a few ponies on the farm, and even a couple of darling foals.
She taught the kids lots of interesting things about the cows and I felt a bond with them, knowing how much work it is to make milk all day. :) I didn't realize that cows (just like humans) have to have a baby to start lactating, and that they dry up after about 10 months or so.
They got to see the milking barn and the machine that does the milking, as well as where the milk goes after. The "farmer's wife" who was giving the tour was great with the kids and Avri really enjoyed the whole thing.
I like this picture because it doesn't make Avri look as big as she is. :) She is growing up way too fast for my liking.

Mother's Day Vacation

2011-06-28T21:41:00.008-05:00

Over Mother's Day weekend we decided to take a little mini vacation to Nauvoo. Kendall and I were wanting to go to the temple and we thought it would be fun to stay in one of the Inns at Nauvoo and swim in the pool with the kids. So that's what we did. Friday night we checked into the Inn. My parents also came and they stayed with the kids, taking them swimming and putting them to bed while Kendall and I had the opportunity to volunteer to clean the temple. What a cool experience that was. There were a lot of volunteers on that particular night, and so the cleaning organizers decided to clean the tower. The only time they ever let anyone go into the tower is when it is being cleaned. So we got to climb all 5 flights of stairs that are in the tower, all the way to the top and see the amazing view from there. We cleaned from about 8 until 10 pm and then went back to the Inn. The following morning we were able to go through a session at the temple along with my parents. Some good friends of ours have quadruplets (3 boys and 1 girl) who are now 19 years old. One of the boys is already on his mission, and the other two boys went through the temple during the session that we attended. Their sister was kind enough to come to Nauvoo and watch all of the kids for us. That was very cool to be there with them. They have such a wonderful family. The kids have babysat for us on numerous occasions and Kendall helped all 3 of the boys get their Eagles, so they have a special place in our hearts and it was really neat to be there for this exciting time in their lives.
We took a few pictures on the temple grounds. I have such a good looking family!
Rigdon LOVES being on Kendall's shoulders, pulling on and drooling in his hair.
Stepping on shadows. ;)
The kids were really drawn to this statue of Joseph Smith for some reason.
We are so fortunate to live so close to my parents. They are such wonderful grandparents and we are so grateful that they spend so much time and effort getting to know the kids. Not all kids get to be so closer to grandparents.
We also took a little drive along the Mississippi River while we were there. We got to see LOTS of turtles sunning themselves on the logs.
And even some baby geese.
Before we headed home on Saturday we stopped at a very fun (and HUGE) park to play. Everyone got on the swings,
and they even had a merry-go-round.
On Sunday I woke to breakfast in bed. Talmage helped Kendall with my breakfast which was a big muffin, about half a gallon of orange juice and 1/2 pound of bacon. I shared. :)

Kendall made wrist corsages for me, my mom, and his mom. But since we couldn't give the one to his mom (who is 1300 miles away) we gave it to the neighbor lady who has 7 kids and no husband to help spoil her.
It was a really nice weekend. I got to take it easy on Mother's Day and the kids gave me a bunch of books that I have been wanting. I got a couple of Little Critter books, an Eric Carle book all about animals that I just love, and the Official Illustrated Guide for the Twilight Saga. I still haven't read much of it yet since it isn't an audiobook, but I am looking forward to getting through it, even slowly.

Even though Mother's Day was over a month ago, I want to say how much I love being a mother. When I was growing up I always knew that I wanted to be a mother. I wanted to get a degree to become a teacher, but it was always secondary to wanting to be a mom. My children teach me so much more than I teach them and I just love their spirits that are too big for their little bodies. There is such a bond that I could have never guessed at, and I would have never believed that one person could have so much love inside them. Before Talmage was born I worried that I wouldn't be able to love a second child as much as I loved the first one. But it is such an amazing and eye-opening experience to have a second, and then a third and fourth child and having the amazing experience of having the love in your heart multiply exponentially. I am so grateful to be fortunate enough to have 4 beautiful children and have the opportunity to be sealed together as a family for eternity. And it wouldn't be right to say all of this without saying thank you to my amazing husband who has made it possible to bring these children into the world. Kendall has taught me how to have fun with them and how to make the most of all of our time together. Without him I am sure that I would get caught up in the day-to-day tasks, and I would miss so many opportunities to have fun and make memories. Happy Mother's Day to all of your women out there, whether you are mothers or not. We are all important women and daughters of a loving Heavenly Father.

Mother's Day Spoon

2011-05-22T21:08:00.002-05:00

For Mother's Day this year Kendall decided to make his mom a spoon, using his new hobby and skills. He had never tried carving detail like words into a spoon, but he decided to try it this time. I thought it turned out very pretty.
I actually gave him the idea to glaze it to help the letters really "pop" and so he tried that and was very happy with the results.
I'm guessing that it probably won't get used for eating, so we put a ribbon on it so that she can at least hang it on the wall. :)
I'm so proud of my husband and all of his wonderful and amazing talents and skills. He really is a jack of all trades and he is constantly amazing me with all of the things that he is good at. And Happy Mother's Day to the wonderful woman who raised him.

Lakeview Museum

2011-05-22T20:45:00.006-05:00

The Jim Henson exhibit came to the Lakeview Museum, so we took the kids over for a FHE activity and had a lot of fun. We couldn't take pictures of the actual puppets, but the kids had fun seeing some of their favorite Sesame Street and Muppet Babies characters.

At the end of the exhibit they had some fun activities for the kids. They could put on their own puppet shows...and even design their own puppets.And the Discovery Center is always a favorite.And who doesn't love a giant PINPRESSION?
Who is the cute chubby baby?

2011-05-22T20:41:00.002-05:00

What do you do with a 7 month old when you are just too tired to chase him around?This works for at least 20 minutes.

Some Favorite Elders

2011-05-22T20:35:00.003-05:00

We love to have the Elders over for dinner. These are our favorites!

Elder Doulan, Elder Dahl, Elder Craven and Elder Harrison

These particular missionaries are so good at giving us messages that are really geared towards the kids. They have stories and magic tricks that tell us a good message and the kids really love it. Funny story, one night the Elders stopped by after the kids were already in bed. Avri was really sad the next morning that she had missed them and asked "Did you do magic tricks without us?" All I could picture in my mind was all of us adults sitting around doing tricks that were meant for the 4-yr olds. haha. Glad the kids love the missionaries so much.

Summer already?

2011-05-22T20:15:00.003-05:00

It's already time for the garden. This is actually a really old picture. I need to get some new pics of the garden up. Soon. They are coming.
Avri has a new skill in making dandelion jewelry. I'm sure she would sell you some. :)
I walked into Talmage's room the other morning to this. Poor little boy who was wishing he was outside. Don't mind the too-little Spider Man jammies.
And we've already started the food preservation process. Mmmm. LOVE the strawberry freezer jam.
Daddy and Grandpa took the kids out to fly a kite one cold windy day.
Sadie was REALLY enjoying herself. haha.

Innocent

2011-05-22T20:02:00.002-05:00

There is nothing so sweet and innocent as a sleeping child. I admit, I love these little rugrats.

Easter

2011-05-22T15:37:00.007-05:00

We had a wonderful and simple Easter this year. My parents went to Michigan to visit my Grandma, so it was just us this year. I was feeling a bit ba-humbug about the whole thing and very overwhelmed with everything going on, so thank goodness for Kendall and his preparations.

The Easter bunny did visit us this year and brought the kids butterfly nets, hid the eggs and then built a barricade so that the kids couldn't peak into the living room before the egg hunt began. Do you remember last year's barricade?
Well, we go through yogurt rather quickly these days and so it was a much larger barricade this year:Yup, it really was as tall as the piano. The kids had a BLAST breaking through it. I think it is going to have to be a tradition since it is the highlight of their entire Easter celebrating.

The Easter Bunny even brought me a new pink pocket knife for my keychain, since mine was falling apart. Kendall and I got camp chairs for the whole family and they are a huge hit. Guess we need to plan a camping trip now. :)
Bed-head Sadie with a mouthful of candy, of course.
We also had a very special treat. A few weeks prior to Easter Grandpa found this cacoon in his bushes as he was trimming them. He put it in this container and we kept it in our house for quite a few weeks. We figured it had probably died.
But late the night before Easter out emerged... a giant silk moth. It's wing span was about 6 inches and it was really beautiful!
Everyone (that wanted to) got to hold it. This picture makes me laugh. Talmage wasn't so sure that he liked it. And as soon as it moved he KNEW he didn't like it.
But Avri is our little nature child and loved it, of course.
Even Rigdon tried to eat it. But I didn't get a picture because I was too busy trying to get it away from him. And Kendall of course had to get in on the action. The kids thought it was pretty hysterical.It hung out in the house for a few days while its wings dried out enough that it could fly. Then we let her go.

On a more religious tone, I was really amazed at how much the kids understood about Easter and the reason that we celebrate this wonderful holiday. I was teaching Sunbeams on Easter and so I put quite a bit of work into planning some activities that would help them grasp the Christ-centered aspects, rather than the candy aspects and my own kids loved all of that stuff as well. I was so proud of my children and their smart little answers to all of the questions about the Atonement and the crucifiction as well as the Resurrection. I have such a testimony that Jesus Christ is our Savior and that he died for us and atoned for our sins in the Garden of Gethsemane. I know that he was resurrected and that he lives today and that he loves each and every one of us and feels our pains, as well as our frustrations, big and small. I am so grateful for this knowledge in my life and I hope that I can pass this love on to my children and that they will never question my faith or testimony.

Much A'Do About Hair

2011-05-17T13:50:00.001-05:00

As I was going through some recent pictures I noticed a strong hair theme. Here goes:

Kendall's hair growth experiment is still going strong. Here he is May 1st. It measured 5 cm long.
Now that Rigdon is getting a little bit older I have started up on an occasional hair-do or two on the girls again. Here are some pictures of some of the latest ones. Ballet recital:
For "Fashion Disaster Day" at school we did a bun-hawk:

Rainbow Day at school:
And a bit of a grown-up do, the Waterfall French Braid:
Sadie's hair is also getting a lot longer, and we were finally able to give her some decent french braids.
And she couldn't be left out of the crazy hair style:
Rigdon is proving to be quite the little hair grower himself. Here he is at exactly 7 months, getting his second big haircut! Let's hope he keeps his beautiful thick hair!

Finally, some videos of Rigdon

2011-04-23T10:37:00.009-05:00

I do not have luck with uploading videos. They take me like an hour and a half to upload even a small one. But I have been working on a few videos of Rigdon and here they are. Some are old, and some are brand new. But I put his age at the beginning. Feel free to watch them or skip them. :)

First time eating rice cereal - December 29th - almost 4 months

Rigdon sucking on his tongue - February 2nd - almost 5 months
I thought this was so cute!

Making Rigdon laugh - February 8th - 5 months
This is just a normal lunch time around here.

Rigdon Tries a Pickle - April 14th - 7 months
This one is funny!

Sorry this next one is super out of focus. I set it up and didn't realize how blurry it was until after the fact. :( I'm still learning about the video setting on our new camera and I guess I need a bit more practice. haha.

Rigdon signing "more" - April 23rd - 7 1/2 months

Ballet Recital

2011-04-17T20:58:00.006-05:00

Avri had her very first ballet recital last weekend. She was really nervous about it, but didn't really want to admit that she was nervous until after it was over. I think it was a good experience for her to be on stage and perform and she felt good about it when it was all over.

All ready for the recital.
A close-up of that hair-do. She got tons of compliments on it.
She wanted her picture taken by the gorgeous spring flowers in the front yard.
Talmage and Sadie waiting outside for the show to get started.
Talmage's blue eyes are going to steal some girl's heart one day.
Show time!

Avri was a little behind everyone else during the recital, which she didn't do during practice. She was just being really timid. But I was so proud of her!
Avri has been very conscious of modesty lately and this costume REALLY upset her. It was a fight all week about it and she kept saying it was so ugly because it wasn't modest. She told her teacher that it wasn't modest and she wanted to wear a sweater. So they compromised and Avri got to wear the sweater for all of the rehearsals and after the show, but not during the performance. I was really proud of her for standing up for what she thought was right. Good girl, Avri!
She looks so sad. I think this is how she handled her nerves. She actually looks almost short in her class, but that is because it is supposed to be a class for ages 6-11 and she is still 5.
We all went to Steak and Shake for shakes after the performance. The kids loved that.

Growth Stats

2011-03-31T14:26:00.004-05:00

I took Rigdon in for his 6 month check-up and found out that he had RSV. So I totally forgot to put his stats up. But here they are:

Rigdon

Height: 28.5" ~100%ile
Weight: 23.5 lbs WELL over 100%ile
Head: 18.25"

In comparison to the other kids at 6 months, he is an inch and a half taller than any of them and weighs 5 1/2 lbs more than the girls did and 2 1/2 lbs more than Talmage did, and he was a chunk! His head is almost 2" bigger around than Sadie's was at the same age. Amazing. He is so big!

Sadie had her 3 year check-up on the same day. Her stats are as follows:

Sadie

Height: 37.5" 50%ile
Weight: 30.2 lbs 50%ile

That's right. Rigdon is less than 8 pounds behind Sadie. I was comparing her stats to Avri's and Sadie is almost exactly the same size as Avri was at 24 months. Sadie is our smallest child. And Rigdon is our biggest. I guess that's why when Sadie sat on Rigdon the other day he didn't even complain.

Picture Fun

2011-03-31T14:20:00.000-05:00

We have been having fun learning how to take pictures with our new camera. A nice side benefit of learning how to use the camera is that we remember to take pictures of our kids as they grow up way too fast. :) Here are a few random pictures that don't really deserve their own posts, but they are fun anyway.Talmage is never without a weapon in his hands.
The kids were being very quiet one day. This is where they were hiding.
Getting some lovin' from Grandma.
Learning how to play soccer.
Cute kiddos. Notice here that Rigdon is almost as big as Sadie.
A friend in our back yard.

Mercedes Third Birthday

2011-03-30T16:04:00.006-05:00

My baby girl turned 3 this past Friday.
She got some new summer clothes from Grandma Kim and Grandpa Reed,
a Little People Castle with extra people from Grandma and Grandpa Dietz,a spring microphone from Rigdon,
"Don't Break the Ice" from Talmage,
a kitchen mixer from Avri,
and a shopping cart that has a place to put her baby doll from Mom and Dad.
Strike a pose Mercedes!
The missionaries even came by to wish her a happy birthday and brought her a DVD and a little card that they had made. I couldn't believe that they would remember her birthday! We have some fantastic missionaries in the ward right now.

Sadie wanted a yellow kitty cat cake. She got to help pick out all of the M&Ms to put on the kitty cat, which I think was her favorite part! She got to have chicken nuggets and french fries for dinner (her very favorite).
Mercedes is such a fun little person to have in our family. She is probably the most strong-willed person in the family, but brings so much fun and personality to our Clan. She is cute as can be and has the sweetest little voice. She finally decided to be potty trained and hasn't had many accidents since. She is learning her ABC's really well and wants to know what EVERYTHING says, so I'm thinking she will want to start learning how to read before long. She adores playing house and almost always has a baby in her hands or is cooking something in her kitchen. We just love Mercedes to pieces and have had such a fun 3 years with this little girl in our home.

March Madness

2011-03-30T15:14:00.006-05:00

We've had a busy month! Here's what we've been up to...

A little of this,
and a little of that.
Playing with toads that we found in the garden - Yay for garden season!! I'm so excited to see our seeds popping up for the tomatoes and broccoli and cabbage. Not to mention all of the flowers popping out of the ground. It has really lifted my spirits! But back to the toads:
Enjoying the on-again, off-again nice weather.
Taking a few bike rides as a family while we try to teach both Talmage and Avri how to ride two-wheelers.
And a LOT of nebulizer treatments. Rigdon got RSV in the middle of the month and we had a couple of scary days where he wasn't breathing so well. But after a priesthood blessing and lots of albuterol treatments he is doing much better. All 4 of the kids were on the nebulizer, since they all had awful coughs and they took turns having fevers. We barricaded ourselves in the house for a week to keep all of our germs to ourselves (and I REALLY missed going to the gym). But we feel very fortunate that we went all winter without really getting too sick. Too bad they had to get sick the week that it was like 70 degrees outside!

First Annual St. Patrick's Day

2011-03-30T14:37:00.005-05:00

This year we celebrated our family's first annual St. Patrick's Day! I say that because I have always thought it was the dumbest holiday. But I decided to start some fun traditions this year and we had so much fun that I can't wait until next March 17th!

For Family Night we made a leprechaun trap. We bated it with real fool's gold and put a sign up that said "Do Not Climb Ladder." Those leprechauns don't like to follow rules. We told the kids the folklore about leprechauns. We found a cute video clip called Leprechaun's Gold on YouTube and the kids loved it. Here they are checking to see if we caught the leprechaun.But nope, just gold coins. Avri almost stuck her hand in the trap, but because of the video, they were nervous that the gold they found in the trap would turn into bees. hehe. Sadie was fearless and dug right in!
The Leprechaun's Gold was really magical gold that turns into chocolate and it is, in the words of Avri "the creamiest and most delicious chocolate you've ever tasted!"

But that little leprechaun didn't like that we tried to trap him, so he played a couple of tricks on us. He turned our milk green...
and our jello green...
and even our toilet water green!
We also tried, for the first time, Corned Beef and Cabbage for dinner. I was pretty sure it sounded gross, but it was actually quite good. I don't think I want it to be on my weekly or even monthly menu, but I think we will have it every year. The kids seemed to really like it and ate it all.

It just happened to be my week to teach preschool and we had preschool on St. Patrick's Day so we made Blarney Stones, and used potato stamps to paint clovers. We also discovered that pretzels make good clovers. We had green snacks and danced to a St. Patrick's Day song and read a book called "The Leprechaun's Gold" by Pamela Duncan Edwards. It was a good story, and the kids loved looking for 4-leafed clovers in the illustrations. It was a good way for the kids to see the difference between 3- and 4-leafed clovers.

Hope you had a good St. Patrick's Day! And if you have other fun traditions or pranks from your leprechauns leave a message! I need more ideas for next year!

Snow Cave

2011-03-23T20:36:00.004-05:00

I managed to lose a memory card that had a bunch of pictures on it, and I finally found it. So some of these are a little old, but better late than never.

Back at the beginning of February when we had that huge snow storm and had T.O.N.S. of snow, Kendall decided to pile all of the snow from our front yard into one massive pile in the front so that he could go snow caving. (I think he's missing his mountain snow!) So after the snow packed down for a couple of days he dug out a cave that was big enough for him and Talmage to sleep in. Avri decided she didn't want to chance being cold.

Talmage was more than thrilled to be not only camping, but out in a cave in the snow! Does it get any better than that for a 4 year old boy? (Or a 28 year old boy for that matter. :) ) I think not. He looked up at Kendall as they were heading out to the cave and said "Dad, you're the best dad in the whole world. I love you." Here is a picture from outside the cave. The boys are all snuggled in and the door is blocked to keep in their heat.

I was pretty sure with the size of the snow mountain in our front yard that we would have snow until at least May. But then we got this really warm weird weather and two week later this was all that was left of our massive blizzard. You can see exactly where the cave part was.

The snow has been gone for a while now and the flowers are finally coming. So I guess we didn't have snow until May like I thought we might. Thank goodness! Or I would move to Arizona.

6 months already?

2011-03-09T20:36:00.006-06:00

Has it really already been 6 months? I am always amazed how it feels like my babies were just born yesterday, but how it feels like they just...belong...like they've always been here. Rigdon continues to warm our hearts. He is the sweetest baby. He is full of big smiles, belly chuckles, and as happy-go-lucky as they come.
He is...well...BIG! He continues to live up to his nickname of Big Rig. I won't have stats on height and weight for another week and a half, but he is in 12-18 month clothing if that gives you an idea. My arm goes dead after holding him for more than about 15 minutes and if he falls asleep on my lap my legs will go numb.

Rigdon is a fantastic sleeper. He sleeps through the kids, a room full of screaming toddlers at the gym, conche shell blowing...you name it, he can sleep through it.
He is LOVING solid foods. We started him when he was little, a little less than 4 months, by doctor's orders. This was totally not my style, and he didn't really get the hang of it until he was closer to 6 months anyway. But it helping to reduce the amount of spit-up and reflux that he has had.
He fell asleep face down on his hands the other day. I got him up from his nap and was laughing so hard. I had to get a picture. Poor kid looks like we beat him. If you look closely though, you can see both hands, and even his fingernail prints. (You might have to make the picture bigger though.)
The other kids love to entertain him. If he is fussing there is usually at least one volunteer to play with him. Avri has been the best lately about making him happy, getting him to laugh, and reading him books. Talmage loves making him laugh with funny noises in the car and Sadie is always giving him new toys to play with.

I was looking at all of the kids' pictures from when they were 6 months and I thought I'd put up a little comparison. Can you guess who is who?

New Glasses

2011-03-09T19:53:00.005-06:00

Mercedes got new glasses today. She has had her old pair for almost 2 years - not bad considering she isn't even 3 years old yet. But going to get her new glasses made me feel a little nostalgic. Here she is with her very first pair of glasses at 13 months old.I cried when she was trying them on. I was so sad that my baby had to wear glasses. Then she got them and was so stinking cute in them! And she has been remarkably careful with them. She wasn't even walking yet when she first got them. Now she is so much older and has outgrown these frames. So...
We upgraded to these ones today. I know they don't look THAT different. But they do to me. She looks so much older.
But still a stinkin' cutie bug!

Babyfood

2011-03-09T16:31:00.005-06:00

vs

This is a shout-out for homemade baby food. I have known lots of people who make all of their own babyfood. I always thought "That's great for them, but I just think it sounds like a lot of work." But lately, I've been making my own babyfood and it couldn't be easier! Here are the reasons I LOVE making my own:

1) Cheaper
2) Tastes better
3) Smells better
4) Looks better
5) Healthier
6) I KNOW what is in the food I'm giving my baby
7) Doesn't take any longer
8) Rigdon is eating the same foods as the rest of us

I wish that someone would have challenged me to make my own babyfood, even for one week, way back when I had Avri. I could have saved a small fortune, and felt good about what I was giving my kids. At least I have figured it out for my last. But for those of you mommies who read my blog, I challenge you to try it for just a week and see if you like it too!

(If you want tips or want to know how to get started leave me a message and I'll send you an email!)

Splurge

2011-03-09T15:34:00.004-06:00

Happy Valentine's Day to us!
This camera does everything except make us look as skinny as we want to be. (But I'm sure we could find some software for that.) But for that, we have splurged on something else:

Memberships to Gold's Gym!We said all the way through college that when we graduated we would get memberships to a gym. Well Kendall has been graduated for almost 3 years and me for almost 6! We have been trying to avoid the cost of the gym, but with 4 kids it just wasn't happening. Kendall and I have gone every day this week and intend to continue doing so. We are both incredibly sore and tired, but it is the most wonderful feeling! I know I'm not any skinnier than I was a few days ago, but I look at myself differently knowing that I am actually doing something about it. The step class that I went to this morning totally kicked my butt, and I can't wait to go back on Friday and do it again. But there was a fleeting moment when I wondered if they would have to just sweep my heap of a body off to the side after class. However, I made it through, still smiling and was even able to carry Rigdon to the van afterward. :) Here's to new beginnings!

We chose Gold's Gym because it was affordable, had the weights that Kendall wanted, the classes that I wanted, and most importantly free babysitting with good hours. The kids think it is a big treat to go to the gym and play and I feel like it's a great break to get away and work my heart out.

What would happen if...

2011-03-09T13:36:00.004-06:00

Talmage has entered a phase that I remember my brother being in years ago. I call it the "What would happen if" phase. I think a lot of boys go through this, and for my brother it is a phase that produced a lot of funny stories and lasted a long time. So here are the two latest stories from Talmage. And I must apologize for the run-on sentences, but this is almost word-for-word how he said it.Story #1: (Talmage coming inside after playing out in the snow.) "Mom. What would happen if a really big bird that had a really sharp beak came and it pecked at our roof and put a big hole in the roof and it came all the way through and then the bird got our family?" (Here he mimes a bird pecking someone on the top of the head.) I then reply "I don't know Talmage. What if that happened?" to which he responds with large eyes "I don't know. That would be weird."

Story #2: (Later on the same day, as I am doing dishes Talmage comes to me for a little visit.) "Mom, when I get older and then I go on a mission, and then I come back from my mission, can we go to the church and all of the girls will line up and I can pick one to marry?"
Me: (Trying desperately not to laugh) "You want ALL of the girls to line up? What about the ones who are already married?"
Talmage: "I will just pick somebody else."
Me: "That sounds like a pretty good idea. But what if you don't know one of them?
Talmage: "Then I will just go to the next girl. I will pick Aubrey. I will marry her.
Me: "What if she doesn't WANT to marry you?"
Talmage: "Then I will pick Maggie."
Me: "Okay Talmage. Sounds like you have it all planned out."

I am glad that he is using that big ole' brain of his.

Hair Experiment: Part I

2011-03-09T13:23:00.006-06:00

For years, Kendall has wanted to shave his head completely bald on the first day of the year and see how long it grows in a year. He picked this year as the year to try this experiment. Here we are so far:

January 1: 0 cm
February 1: 1.2 cm
March 1: 2.3 cmAnd here is where I admit that I am glad my husband has hair. This will be an interesting experiment. =P I think I've already talked him into keeping the back trimmed and leaving the top to grow. Or at least being open to the idea of cutting it if it gets out if control.

Ooops

2011-03-08T15:16:00.003-06:00

It is now March. Kendall had a birthday in January. I had a birthday in February. I haven't blogged about either. :-( I just haven't been able to keep up with anything since Rigdon was born!

Kendall turned 28 on January 11th. We had a simple birthday celebration. We gave him gifts, made a special dinner for him, made Chocolate mousse with raspberries for dessert (he doesn't like cake) and did our best to make him feel special. For dinner we went for a summer theme: barbecue pulled pork sandwiches, jello, and homemade potato salad. Kendall and I went out to dinner at Five Guys Burgers and Fries the weekend before his birthday. It is brand new in the area and was VERY busy, but it was yummy.

I turned 28 on February 17th. Kendall spoiled me (as he always does) with lots of nice gifts, and we had my favorite, Chicken Pot Pie. I have a recipe that is to die for. I. LOVE. IT. But it is so time consuming to make that we hardly ever have it. So Kendall helped me the night before make a couple of pies, one to cook for my birthday and one to freeze for later. Does it get any better than that? He also made me Grasshopper Pie. It is my dear friend Chelsea's recipe and it is heavenly. We haven't had it for years. But it was fantastic.

On Valentine's Day we were supposed to have our swing dance class. However, the teacher ended up with the flu and class was canceled. So we had to think of some last minute plans. We went to Hickory River, which isn't terribly romantic, but delicious none-the-less. (I'm finding a very prominent food theme in this post.) After we had dinner we did some shopping. I know what you're thinking: Exciting Valentine's Day! But it is so nice to go somewhere and hold hands with each other instead of the kids while we shop. We decided to get a combined gift this year. Something that we've wanted for a long time but it was just too expensive. I won't tell now. That will be a different post. So to finish up our cheap Valentine's date we came home and watched a movie while the kids were sleeping. It was actually a very relaxing night.

On a more personal note, I am more in love with my wonderful husband every day that I am alive. I knew that I was in love with him way back in 2000 while we were still dating. And I was the happiest woman alive on the day that we were married in 2003. But now, in 2011, he has given me the world. We have 4 beautiful children a wonderful marriage and home and I am more in love with him than I could have possibly understood the day that we were married. Time, sacrifice and trials have made us stronger together and brought us closer together. I don't think that there has been a single day since I met Kendall that he has not made me laugh. I love you so much, Kendall. Thank you for being my eVeRyThInG!

Snowgirl

2011-03-08T14:58:00.004-06:00

Avri made her first "Snowgirl" all by herself. She stands about as tall as Talmage. Her eyes and mouth are hard to find because they, too, are made from snow. Avri was very specific that this was a girl. Want proof?
She has snow curls. (At least that is what she told me those lumps of snow were down the side of her head.)

Taking pictures

2011-03-08T14:42:00.003-06:00

Progression of pictures:

1) What are you doing, Mom?
2) Oh, it flashes! Big smiles!!
3) Mom's taking pictures, everyone in...

P.S. Isn't this big chubby kid the cutest? I eat him up!!

How's this for random?

2011-02-23T15:36:00.003-06:00

I told Sadie she would earn a behavior ticket if she took her nap by herself. Guess I need to specify that I would like it to be in her bed.Kids who love books and reading make me smile.Talmage can't wait for Rigdon to be old enough to play with. So for now he will settle with laying on the floor next to his brother. This is a very common scene in our house.

First Visit from the Toothfairy

2011-02-23T15:19:00.003-06:00

We have had our first (and second) visit from the tooth fairy in a long line of soon-to-come visits. Avri has had 2 loose teeth for a very long time. In fact they had been loose so long that I had completely forgotten about them. Then a couple of weeks ago Avri told me that she was eating and felt her tooth "rip" and I remembered all too well that strange feeling of "ripping" when those teeth break free. So we started working on her tooth to get it out. I worked on it for a little bit and then Kendall just reached in and pulled it out for her.

Once we got it out I realized the her adult teeth were already through. Both of the bottom front ones! Avri put her tooth under her pillow and the tooth fairy brought a whole dollar! I've heard that is the going rate for teeth these days. Wow. If each of my children loose all 20 teeth that will be roughly $80 that the tooth fairy will be bringing into our home over the next few years. I would like to know where she is getting her money!

Since her second adult tooth was already through the skin we spent the next day working on the next tooth - and this time I was the one to pull it out. It was not easy! She has the tiniest teeth! But we got it out and had a second visit from the tooth fairy. Two teeth in two nights! This is kind of a weird picture, but Avri is suddenly in this weird stage that she can't smile normally. Add the fact that she is trying to show her gaping hole and you get a weirder-than-normal expression.

Snowed In

2011-02-23T14:45:00.001-06:00

February began with the biggest snow storm that Illinois has had in a very long time. School was canceled on Tuesday in anticipation of all of the snow. And good thing, because the buses wouldn't have made it around by the end of school. Kendall was sent home from work shortly after noon so that he wouldn't get snowed in at work. Everything was canceled on Wednesday, including doctors offices and Kendall's work. It took Kendall most of the day to shovel us out of the house. But we had some fun too. Here is Kendall working on his latest spoon. He enjoyed the time off work!
My mom came and picked up the 3 oldest kids on Tuesday at lunch time and took them home with her. That meant that they were snowed in with Grandma and Grandpa for 2 days!! They had so much fun. They drank hot chocolate, made bead necklaces (Talmage gave his to a little crush in his primary class), slept on cots that Grandpa made for them, played in the snow a little bit and just had a great time. I really appreciated having them gone since I was sick during the whole week and with my pounding head it was nice to have a couple of quiet days. Rigdon, however, really missed the entertainment that they endlessly provide.I started getting sick a few days before the snow hit, but my Monday I was so miserable that I scheduled a doctor appointment for Tuesday morning. Luckily they could get me in before the snow hit. I had bronchitis and a sinus infection. The combination was nasty. I had a fever of 103.8 for two days and a cough that hurt my lungs terribly. But I got on my medication and was feeling much better by the end of the week.

School ended up being canceled for the remainder of the week (4 days in all!) and Avri's teacher said that it was the first time in her 34 years of teaching that she had ever seen that. The kids got lots of time to play in the snow. Kendall (being the fun dad that he is) piled the snow from the driveway and sidewalk out in the middle of the yard into a huge mountain. He said it was because he missed his Utah mountains so much that he decided to make one of his own.
Going out to start shoveling.

Once the mountain had settled for a couple of days, the kids went sledding.
And then after the sledding came the snow cave... but that is another post for another day. :)

Oh, and the sun finally came out, so here I am sunning my laundry in the living room. haha. All those baby poop stains just disappearing!

Sunday Best

2011-01-27T20:56:00.000-06:00

Grandma Kim made the girls some beautiful new matching dresses and mailed them to us. The girls were SO excited to wear their new dresses to church. Sadie said "I am just like a princess!" and Avri stood in front of the mirror doing curtsies. :) I tried to get some pictures of them in their beautiful dresses. I couldn't get them to hold still for a decent picture. Here's what we got:Talmage couldn't be left out of the photo shoot. And his picture turned out the best! Go figure.
What a bunch of sillies.
But I sure love 'em!

Behavior Tickets

2011-01-26T21:28:00.003-06:00

Avri went through a little phase a few weeks back where she didn't want to go to school, which seemed strange because she loves everything about school. So I got to the bottom of it and found out that she was terrified of getting her name on the board. She got her name on the board two days in a row and it completely mortified her, so she was afraid to even go to school anymore. Through talking to the teacher we decided that Avri needed a bit more positive reinforcement both at home and at school. So...we came up with Good Behavior Tickets!
Every day that she does not get her name on the board she earns a good behavior ticket. If she gets her name on the board she does not get a ticket and if she gets a check mark then she loses a ticket. (She hasn't lost one yet.) I really liked the idea of having her earn tickets toward rewards. We gave every reward a "price" so that we can start teaching the value of saving up towards something bigger. One ticket can get you a piece of candy, 3 tickets=time on the computer, 5 tickets lets you choose a special activity with Mom and Dad, etc.

Then we realized that we couldn't just do this for Avri. The other kids were going to want to earn tickets as well. AND it gives me the added bonus of a lot of leverage with the kids at nap times, bed time, clean up time, etc.

The kids have absolutely LOVED this whole system and I'm happy because I have an immediate reward system to use. Win, win! The kids have had outings to McDonalds, and Chuck E. Cheese. Talmage picked out a new coloring book with paints and used up almost all of the orange paint on the first picture. haha.Avri bought a new book about puppies, and on another trip bought Nazie. She has a bit of a dog fettish, no?
I am always so happy when Kendall and I are able to come up with a system that works well for more than a week at a time.

Learning to Sit Up

2011-01-26T15:42:00.003-06:00

We've been helping Rigdon learn how to sit up. Here is my make shift way of keeping him from hurting himself. :)
As soon as I sit him up in any way the kids just think it's time to play with him. He loves it, I love it - it is great all the way around. Sadie hands him toys and Talmage comes over to play as if they were the same age. It makes me smile every time.
Kendall has a less cushioned way of helping him sit up. He's only 4 months, for crying out loud and Kendall has him in a box. :) I guess he doesn't want cushioned sissies for sons. haha. Didn't really seem to bother Rigdon too much.
I just love how Rigdon is in a smiley phase right now. All you have to do is look at him or give him the slightest attention and you get one of his heart-warming smiles. Love it.

Stitches Again

2011-01-26T15:10:00.004-06:00

This last Thursday at dinner time Avri was messing around on her chair (big surprise there!) and she slipped and fell and hit her mouth on the back of the chair. She bust the skin right open in the same place that she had stitches last February. So we took her in again. It wasn't nearly as hard to make the decision this time to take her in. And it didn't turn my stomach like last time either. So I was able to be a lot more calm. In fact, this time I actually watched him stitch her up. I just hope that she heals up as well as she did the first time.

First, we went to Prompt Care since they are just down the street. But they decided that since it was a face wound and we wanted the smallest amount of scarring possible that it would be best to send us to the emergency room.
So we went to the same hospital that we went to last time. Only they have totally remodeled and everything was really nice and cheery. They even had a tv in the room that she could watch while we waited - not that there was anything interesting on.
Waiting for the numbing to set in.
All done! (She was afraid to smile because she thought it might open up the stitches.)
Only 3 stitches this time! :)
As we were sitting in the hospital waiting I felt a strong sense of deja vu. I realized that Avri was wearing the very same pajamas, they are just a bit smaller this year. haha. Here she is almost a year ago with her first set of stitches.
Anyone know how to get her to be less accident prone and clumsy? Tips would be great!

Arguments of a 2 year old

2011-01-19T15:43:00.002-06:00

*Note: The following story does not paint my sweet little angel in a very good light. However, it is one that makes me laugh and I don't want to forget it so that when Mercedes has a little 2 year old daughter who is more stubborn than you can imagine she will know exactly where it comes from!

I understand that Mercedes is a third child, and so she learns things at a different rate as, say, a first child. But this conversation was ridiculous!

Sadie: I want to take my milk downstairs.
Me: No Sadie, you know the rule is no milk downstairs.
Sadie: Well, MY rule is that I can drink milk downstairs.
Me: No it is not! You have the same rules as everyone else.
Sadie: That is not my rule.
Me: Mercedes, I am the mom and you are the child. You do not make the rules, I make the rules.
Sadie: I am NOT a CHILD! (oh really?)
Me: Hmm. Yes you are.
Sadie: I am going to run away and I will not be your friend.
Me: (Silence. What do you say to that?)
Sadie storms down the hall toward her bedroom. Half way there she turns around and yells: "I am running away now. And I will come back when you don't talk to me anymore!"

Wow. We must be getting close to the horrid age of 3! I had a long talk with Sadie about what makes her happier, yelling at mommy and arguing a fight that she will not win, or asking for a drink of milk in the kitchen where she knows that she can have it. She would not answer. This child can be more tight-lipped than anyone I know. But I knew she heard me when a few minutes later she came to me and said "Mommy, can I have a drink of milk in the kitchen?" HAHA! I won the battle of stubbornness!

Rigdon is 4 months old!

2011-01-13T14:58:00.002-06:00

With Rigdon being our last baby I was really planning on holding on to every moment with him. And really, I have been. But it just seems to be going by all too fast. My little new born is now the size of most one year olds and just getting bigger every day. But he is so wonderful and sweet. We just adore him.

He is starting to hold himself up really well. We got him a Bumbo and he thinks it is rather cool to sit in it while the kids dote on him, bringing him toys and making funny faces at him to try to get a smile or a laugh out of him.
He doesn't fit in the stroller very well anymore...
The doctor told us that to try to get him to spit up a bit less, we should start him on rice cereal early. It didn't go very well. It always makes such a mess to try to teach kids how to swallow solids. But Rigdon seemed just a little too young at 3 1/2 months. He wasn't really interested in it, so it all came back out.
Only a couple of weeks later he is seeming a bit more interested in eating, so I will give it a try again soon. He is on medication to help the stomach pains, but the only way to stop the spitting up is to thicken the food.

The next big step was his first haircut. I was trying so hard to wait to cut his hair because I didn't want him to look any older than he already does. But it was getting really bad. He looks so cute with his new haircut.
A couple of weeks ago he really found his hands and figured out the connection that allows him to move them and get what he wants. So now he grabs everything and it all goes to the mouth. He also found his toes about the same time and pulled them to his mouth as well. This led to rolling. On Saturday, January 8th (one day before he was 4 months) he rolled over. Kendall and I were enjoying a (very rare) quiet breakfast together (Grandma and Grandpa had the 3 older kids) when we saw Rigdon roll from his back to his front for the first time. And it only took the one time for him to figure it all out. By the end of the weekend he could roll back to front, front to back, over both shoulders, and windmill himself in a circle. So he is a mover now!

Tuesday Rigdon had his 4 month doctor's appointment. His stats are as follows:

Height - 27 1/4" (greater than 95%ile)
Weight - 19 lbs 12 oz (greater than 95%ile)
Head circumference - 17.4" (90%ile)

He is one huge kid! But even the doctor was saying, he really isn't that fat, he is just a really big boy. He has a long torso and he has a solid body build. I guess he is just storing up size so that he can accordion out to a 7 foot tall man.

Rigdon is such a good baby. He is easy going, loves attention from anywhere he can get it, and moves all day long. He has been a good sleeper, too. I feed him about 9:00 at night and put him to bed and he sleeps all night. He used to get up around 7:00 or 7:30, but lately he has been getting up between 5:00 and 6:00 in the morning. Still, not bad for such a young baby. I certainly can't complain. He also makes his share of noise around the house. He talks very loudly, and we figure he is just trying to keep up with the rest of the family. We just love our Big Rig!

A Very Merry Christmas

2011-01-07T08:29:00.004-06:00

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. Our kids are at such a fun age and it was fairly quiet, which was a big bonus for me. Since we have a baby things tend to be crazy enough without a lot of "extra" stuff going on, so it was great to have a quiet year.

This year for the first time we acted out the Christmas story, on a very small scale, as we read the Bible story on Christmas Eve. My parents came to our house and we had a nice ham dinner and then my Dad narrated the story from the Bible. For characters we only had a Mary, Joseph, Angel, and baby Jesus. Here the kids are waiting to start our story. We obviously don't have great costumes, since I'm pretty sure that neither Mary nor the angel were wearing hot pink. But they were all excited to have a costume of sorts to wear.
A very pregnant Mary and "Jofes" as Talmage kept saying. Try as he may, he could not say "Joseph."
I took a video of Sadie being the angel, but I guess I didn't get any pictures. But here is a picture of our baby Jesus in his laundry basket/manger. :)
Christmas morning came around and the kids just couldn't wait to start opening presents.

Even Rigdon enjoyed Christmas since he got help for most of the day with all of the adults around. He loves to take naps when Grandpa is holding him. My dad really knows how to make kids comfortable!
Sadie, so cute in her chef's hat and apron.
Sadie with her Christmas loot.
Talmage and his load of goods.
Avri with her new Barbies from Santa.
And with all of her other gifts.
Sadie's gift from Santa was a huge hit this year. The kids have been very busy playing with it.
Kendall made a new table top for the table downstairs. It's a much nicer wood and a bit bigger.
Then he made a lego top to go with it! One side has lego baseplates and the other is just plain wood, but has raised edges. It works great for doing puzzles because the pieces don't fall off the table.
This has been such a huge hit. The kids just LOVE getting out the legos now. We had the legos before and they played with them occasionally, but having the table has made a BIG difference!
It was a wonderful Christmas. We talked to the rest of our family on the phone and through Skype and ate delicious food and had a great time playing and resting.

December Activities

2011-01-06T13:35:00.004-06:00

December was a busy month, as it always is. I'm sure I won't remember everything, but I'll try to hit some of the highlights. The month started out with Kendall giving me an early Christmas present that he made for me! Isn't she a beauty?!?
The top is granite that he polished up for me and then he got a table for free off Craigslist and gave her a little face lift with a new paint job and a new top. The granite is so beautiful! It is black with gold and blue flecks that sparkle in the sunlight. When the sun shines in through the windows in the morning it really shines!!

Next up was playgroup at our house. I held a Polar Express party. Everyone came dressed in pj's and we read the story and then watched the movie and had hot chocolate. It was a lot of fun and as you can see we had a pretty full house! This was a picture of most of the kids as we were getting the movie started. The moms had a good time visiting.
The following night was our church Christmas Party. It was also a Polar Express theme, which is why I wanted to get the little ones interested in Polar Express before they went, so that they would be excited about it. We all went dressed in pajamas (again), only this party had a special visitor.
The primary kids sang a Christmas song. My children, however, chose to just stand there and listen. :) Silly kids. Just after this picture Sadie decided that she didn't like being left out, so she went right up with the other kids.
Next up was a little project that Avri and Daddy worked on together. Avri was invited to a birthday party that had a "Harry Potter" theme. We were just a little more than excited. And Avri designed this wand and together she and Daddy made it as a gift for her friend Campbell. He just LOVED it!
The rest of the month was filled with Christmas and winter-related activities. Last year we bought an advent calendar that has 26 little presents and each one is a wooden box with an opening door. So the idea is that we have a different activity or surprise for each day in December. One of the activities was playing in the snow. The ever so wonderful Kendall, went outside and made, not a snow man, but a snow dragon! Talmage named it Elliot (after Pete's Dragon). We got quite a few comments and people that came by to take pictures of the great big huge dragon in our yard. It used almost all of the snow that we had!
After it had been in the yard for a while we got a warm spell and it started melting. So Kendall then turned it into a slide. :) After the 60 degree day and rain that we had it is now just sort of a smallish pile of snow.

Other advent activities included the Festival of Lights, Christmas coloring pages, writing letters to Santa, playing games as a family, cutting out snowflakes, going to Chuck E. Cheese, reading Christmas stories from the Friend magazine, delivering gifts to the neighbors, and having movie parties together as a family with Christmas movies and dinner on a blanket in front of the TV. It was a very fun-filled month. But it is somewhat nice to be back to the normal craziness of having a "routine." At least as much as we can have with four little kids. :)

Talmage Turns 4

2011-01-06T09:23:00.005-06:00

It's been almost a month now, but on December 8th my little boy turned 4 years old!! I told Talmage that he could have a birthday party this year with friends. He new immediately what the theme was going to be: super heroes, of course! He debated on the guest list for a while. First he came up with a long list that included pretty much everyone he knew. Then he decided that it was going to be a "boys only" party and he cut the list down to four other boys.

As the boys were showing up we had super hero logos for them to choose from and color. They were supposed to be for pinning on the capes that I made for each of the boys. But Talmage was the only one who wanted to wear a cape at first, so it turned out to be just a coloring activity. :)

Next we had all of the super heroes take turns handcuffing the "Evil Dr. Porkchop" and taking him to jail. They loved getting a turn to use the handcuffs.
Then we got to play a memory match game with all of the super heroes. I wasn't sure that all of the boys would be very good at memory, but it was a huge hit! Next we went upstairs to open up presents. Kids at this age are so cute. They get so excited about the gift that they brought that they can barely contain themselves!
He got a few super hero action figure type toys, and this fun bowling set.
Next we had cake and sherbet. We looked for Superman ice cream but never found any, so we went with the next best thing: rainbow sherbet! Here is the cake that I made for the party.
Next the boys wanted to do a little bowling. So they took the game downstairs and Kendall helped them get all set up while I cleaned up from cake and ice cream.
Then, they played musical chairs. I was nervous that they would have a hard time being "out" but they did just fine. They played this for a looooong time. We had put together a playlist of all of the super hero theme songs and the kids got to play musical chairs to it. It was at this point that the other kids decided they wanted to put on their capes. They could see Talmage's cape billowing in the wind as he ran around and they decided that was cool.
For our final activity we took the kids upstairs again where the Evil Dr. Porkchop had escaped from prison and needed to be caught yet again. Only this time, they were each playing the role of Spiderman. They each received a can of silly string and they all stood in a big line and...
they got him!
This part was a little crazy, so we didn't get any pictures during the actual activity, just the after effects. But I think that this was the highlight of the party! The kids absolutely LOVED it! And they were all so excited that they got to take their capes home, which made me feel better about all of the time that I had put into making them. :)

A couple days later was Talmage's actual birthday, and so we had his special birthday dinner, which he picked hamburgers, french fries and orange jello. Just like a miniature Kendall. :) We had another cake for this night.
And of course, opened presents.
He had such a fun birthday. It was a little confusing to him celebrating on two different days because he thought that he had two birthdays and couldn't figure out if that meant that he was actually 5. But once we cleared up the fact that he was still only 4, he was just as happy as could be.

This was the first friend birthday party that I have done for my kids - I know, I'm a lame mom. But now the girls are planning their parties. We will see if they will get them this year or have to wait a bit. I think Avri is definitely overdue for one. It was a lot of work, but also lots of fun, and some good memories!

Haircuts

2011-01-05T20:48:00.000-06:00

Back in October I decided to donate my hair again to Locks of Love. I donated it a little over a year ago, and it had grown 10 inches, so I decided to do it again. So here are the pictures of my new do!
It is shorter than I've ever had it before, so it took me a while to get used to it, but I decided that I really like it. It is already growing out quite a bit. I hope some little girl gets a great little wig out of this!Kendall not only cut his hair, but decided to completely shave it off. For years Kendall has wondered how fast his hair really grows. He has always wanted to shave it on the first day of the year and see how much it grows in one year. So here he is, January 1, 2011.
The kids reactions were absolutely hilarious! Talmage took one look at Kendall and said "No! I don't want your hair cut all off." Sadie just stared at him with a smile on her face and Avri started laughing and said "Dad, you are so silly." haha. It has taken me some time to get used to my bald husband. I think I have talked Kendall into maybe getting haircuts just to keep it looking clean. We will see how it plays out through the year.

And for our final haircut, I present Rigdon Lee Powell and his first haircut (besides the one he had right before he was born).I really didn't want to cut my baby's hair. But it was getting a bit ridiculous. So I gave in. I just don't think I should have to give haircuts before they are even 4 months old. But I guess Rigdon has been a whole new ballgame in more way than one in this family. :) My mom had to hold him pretty tight to keep him from getting stabbed with the scissors. But he did better than I thought he would. Here he is with his new haircut. I didn't think it was possible for this little sweety to get any cuter!

And now for November...

2011-01-05T15:17:00.005-06:00

Here are some of the events from November...

Kendall grew a mustache for "Movember." I think he was more glad to shave it off than I was!
He took it off in stages so that he could do a Charlie Chaplin stache.
Kendall finished carving yet another beautiful spoon. This one is sturdy because it is an ice cream scoop. It works well!
Rigdon found his thumb. :) We took it away from him, but it was so cute that I had to get a picture first.
Avri started to learn how to do her own hair! haha. She has to figure it out some time. Half of the time she looks like a homeless child, but she is getting better. And I'm proud of her to doing more than just combing it.
When Kendall went on his November campout we had a friend over whose husband was also at the campout. The kids were so cute, all lined up watching Elmo and eating popcorn.
Rigdon gets cuter ever day.
Silly family.
Rigdon is quickly gaining on Sadie. She better start eating better or her little brother will be bigger than her.
As a side note, I just realized that in the last few pictures that I have put on here of Sadie, she doesn't have her glasses on. She does still wear them, but sometimes she doesn't put them on after her nap. We may some day get to a point where she doesn't need them anymore, but that time is not yet.

Kendall and I took a Salsa Dance class together, along with my parents. It was a bit slow-paced for us, but it was a lot of fun. It was in the evening and so the babysitter put the kids to bed at night. One night we came home and this is where Talmage was sleeping. For a few nights we kept finding him in the same place. We had to tell him not to do it anymore, but it was kind of cute.
Thanksgiving was delicious! Always love that. Our tradition has become that we decorate for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. It gives us the whole weekend to get it all done and an extra day of Kendall being home. The kids had so much fun finding places to put all of the Christmas decorations. And this was a nice year that I didn't have to worry about any of the kids pulling things off the tree. We will be back to that again next year, but for this year we had a little break.

If I remember correctly, I took this picture because it was a rare moment when all three of the kids were doing what they were supposed to be doing, and nobody was fighting. When we get ready to go anywhere I always tell the kids to wait by the door when they are ready and they all just happened to listen the first time! It is nice to have the kids getting a little bit older and a little more independent. Though I do miss all of the innocence that comes with little ones.
(Wow, Talmage looks a bit scary in this one!)

More of October

2011-01-05T14:44:00.003-06:00

October was a busy month, trying to get our schedules all to fit together. Grandma took Avri to ballet classes every Wednesday. Talmage had an All-Sports class that he absolutely loved. For some reason I can't find any pictures from it. I'll have to add those once I find them.
Rigdon spent the entire month working very hard on growing way too fast. He has gained roughly 3/4 lb every week of his life. I think he is finally starting to slow down just a little. Good thing too, or I would have to get a wheel barrow to haul the kid around in!
Sadie has grown up so much in the past couple of months. Bringing home a new baby always makes the youngest child grow up so much. And Sadie is no exception. She talks all day long and is so intelligent. She is our most stubborn child (which is really saying something!) but also the one that makes us laugh the most. She loves to be beautiful and every time she feels extra pretty she has to find her Daddy and says "How my look?" which means "How do I look?"
Rigdon helps with laundry sometimes.
And our yogurt cup collection continues to grow.
And I think that brings us up to date through the month of October!

Celebrating Halloween

2011-01-05T13:42:00.007-06:00

Now that my finances are all caught up from the last 6 months, I need to work on catching up this blog! So I will start about where I left off, which was just before Halloween. Since we had only been home for a couple of weeks from Utah and I still had a newborn, I was pretty laid back about celebrating Halloween. It was unusually warm for being October (which was wonderful because we could still get outside with the baby) so we played in the leaves a lot.

The week just before Halloween my sister came home from Utah for a visit and to celebrate her birthday. Since she was here my Grandma and Grandpa decided to come down from Michigan for a visit. So we had lots of company and did lots of playing. We all went to the zoo one day, which was lots of fun.
Here are the kids with their Great-Grandparents. Rigdon was being so cute just staring up at Grandma. And of course the other three are being silly as usual.
Then we carved pumpkins. Kendall and I tag-teamed this year. I cleaned out the insides with the kids one night and Kendall did the actual carving the next night. Talmage picked the spider, in honor of Spiderman.
Avri said that she just wanted 2 hearts. We tried to talk her into something a little more elaborate, but once Avri has made up her mind it is hard to change it.
Sadie picked a bat which was surprising to me. For such a sweet little girl, she has a real flair for scary things. Her very favorite movie (which she currently asks to watch about 3 times a day) is Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
Kendall decided to carve a pumpkin of his own as well. Here it is without the lights.
But when you light it up it is really cool! Here is a picture of my cute hubby 15-ish years ago!
And finally, pictures of the kids playing in the leaves. Notice they are still wearing shorts!

With Halloween being on Sunday we decided not to trick-or-treat on Halloween. So we used the church Halloween party as our celebration and candy experience. We decided to just go with random costumes this year rather than a theme. Avri really wanted to be a fairly princess, so I had about 2 hours to make a dress to go with the wings that she so desperately wanted to wear. She was so excited about the dress. She said she looked "Just like a princess" which made me happy to see that she was pleased with such a simple thing.
Rigdon made a darling little tiger.
Aunt Amber was Super Girl. But she changed out of her costume after just a little while because Talmage kept telling her how much more he liked her costume than his own. Hers was shiny and had boots. :) She didn't want to make him feel bad about his costume.
For Halloween we stayed up late and watched "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken" with everyone and ate popcorn and drank orange pop. It's so nice to have little kids who are so easily pleased. :)

Rigdon at 6 weeks

2010-10-25T10:26:00.005-05:00

Here are some random pictures of our 6 week old giant. We sure love this chunk! At 6 weeks he weighs 14 pounds - a feat the other kids took about 3 months to acquire! Here's my cute boy in his overalls.
And a close-up of those cheeks!
And one with a sneeze. :o)
Nap time with Grandpa.
Enjoying some tummy time. Can you believe how blond his hair is getting?
Enjoying some time talking with Daddy.
Rigdon was trying to sleep while Sadie was trying to get him to hold onto Nemo. I kept telling her to leave him alone before she woke him up. Silly me! He's a fourth child. The only thing that wakes him up is the house being too quiet!
Sadie just adores her baby brother!
Rigdon trying out the bunk bed with his big brother. Could Talmage's eyes get any bigger?
And story time with Avri. It was so cute, I sat him in her lap and she read him her library book from school. He actually fell asleep while she was reading to him. So precious!
This picture shows his true feelings about tummy time. Sleeping with a little smile on his face. :)

Ammon and Allison Dietz

2010-10-23T15:56:00.005-05:00

My little brother is married! And to the sweetest and most beautiful bride ever. We were so glad that we were able to make the trip to Utah to be a part of their perfect and beautiful day. My sister was kind enough to watch all 4 kids while Kendall and I attended the wedding in the Mount Timpanogos Temple. It was beautiful and so peaceful to be in the temple. It has been a long time since I've been to a temple sealing. And being in THAT temple for the wedding brought back so many wonderful memories of my perfect day over 7 years ago. Between that and the after-baby hormones I needed a few tissues.

After some pictures we had a delicious luncheon and then a little time to get the kids some naps and then get ready for the reception. They had their reception at Somewhere Inn Time - the same reception center that Kendall and I used when we got married. But they had a beautiful outdoor reception. Everyone looked so nice, the turnout was great, the weather perfect, and the couple so happy. And now for pictures...Enjoying some lunch. YUM!
Getting ready...
Congratulations Ammon and Allison. We are SOOO happy for you and glad that you have joined REAL life. :) Welcome to the family, Allison. We love you both!

Another Trip to Utah

2010-10-23T14:48:00.008-05:00

Our second trip to Utah for the year was a crazy one. We were so glad that we were able to make the trip so soon after Rigdon was born. We didn't know for sure if we would be going until about 2 days before we left. But Rigdon and I both got the all clear from our doctors, we hastily packed some bags and drove across the country with 4 kids, ages 8 days-5 years. Here are some disjointed thoughts and pictures from our stay in Utah.

The night we left was the Father & Sons campout in our ward in Peoria. Kendall was so sad that he was going to miss it, that he took his tent and had his own little campout in his parents' back yard. Here is Kendall with his boys.
Rigdon only stayed for a little while, and then he needed Mom for dinner. Talmage had so much fun sleeping outside. They could have left the tent open all night, since Utah doesn't have hardly any bugs, but Grandma has kittens, and they wanted to play. So they closed up and had a fun night in the tent.
Our sweet friends, the Kimballs, drove from Colorado to Utah while we were there (we will pretend like it was just to see us!) so we got together and went to lunch and then visited at the park while the kids played. Our girls are 2 days apart, and now our boys are 2 1/2 weeks apart. It was so fun to be able to see them again, and especially to see their sweet new baby boy.
The moms cheered from the sidelines in the "feeding section" while the Dads and kids played.
Rigdon Lee and Tanner Lee, born 2 1/2 weeks apart. Tanner is older, but I think Rigdon is actually bigger.
Kendall and Danny, proud papas again...this time with their sons!
A little friend train on the slide...
They sure thought it was funny when Danny came down the slide to get them!
It's a good thing the kids have a Daddy to play with. I don't know if he'll ever grow up. ;)
Sadie and Brookie, two little princesses holding hands.
Avri acts like such a mother to Brookie, but just loves her.
One night we went to my brother and his wife's new apartment and they even started a movie for the kids. I just love my family. It's so fun to spend time with them and see how much they adore my kids - something we have in common!
It took Rigdon exactly 12 days to get his first little fat rolls on his legs. He's going to be a roly-poly guy!
I love newborn baby looks - kind of vacant like they are wondering what they are doing in this strange place with all of these weird people.
Rigdon lost his umbilical stump on our way across the country, so we left it somewhere in Nebraska. Since that was gone, we could start tummy time, and this is his first one. He doesn't look very happy here, but he actually really likes sleeping on his tummy. He curls his short little legs into his body and snoozes away.
Such a peaceful little man. Sad that he only got to wear this church outfit twice before it was too small for him. :( What's funny is that the pants still fit fine. He has such short little legs and a long solid torso.

Week One

2010-10-23T13:48:00.005-05:00

I am so far behind on this blog, but I am desperately going to try to catch up. And I'm going to start with the first week of Rigdon's life...

All snug in his carseat, ready to go home from the hospital. I was so sad to see how big he was when we put him in his carseat for the first time. I'm grateful that his size makes him a bit sturdier (he may need the extra help with 3 older siblings). But I was really hoping to keep our last baby little for a while. And he didn't even start out little. But he is oh so sweet.
I've been doing all of his night feedings in the living room so that I don't wake up the rest of the family. So all of our necessities have been right smack in the middle of the living room in our "baby station." But he hasn't actually slept in the pack-n-play. He spent the first couple of weeks sleeping in Mom and Dad's room and then moved into his crib in the "Big Boy Room." Talmage has been THRILLED to be finally sharing his room. He's been waiting for this for months - ever since we found out we were having a boy!
Daddy was so excited to bring home his Big Rig that he decorated! He also surprised me by installing a new shower head, the kind that you can take off the wall. So now even Avri showers and has been able to do it all by herself.
The big kids all LOVED having balloons around the house for a while. Until they all magically disappeared one night after they went to bed.
He was a big baby, but he still looks so tiny in his swing.
Being held by his big sister and giving her a big grin.
First bath at home! You can tell how much he enjoyed that! We hadn't even taken his hospital bracelet off yet. But he did not like being naked very much.
Finally happy, now that he's wrapped in a nice warm towel.
He is such a happy little baby. He started smiling only a few hours after he was born and he has only smiled more and more frequently the older he gets. In fact, Rigdon is the child that I can feel the strongest love coming from him. If I've been away for a couple of hours or if someone else has been holding him, I can pick him up and he grins up at me or gives a big sigh and cuddles into me. It's like he's actually telling me how much he loves me and how happy he is to have me back. I've even gotten a couple of almost giggles out of him. He is endlessly melting my heart.
Rigdon had his first haircut before he was even born. When they did my episiotomy they actually clipped a little of his hair. If you look toward the front of his hair you can see the missing chunk of hair. :) It was a nice clean cut, which made it stand out even more! But now, 6 weeks later you can't tell at all.
Rigdon has so much hair!! And it's even more unusual because it is so blond. The girls were both almost bald, and Talmage had a good amount of hair, but not like this! The first little while his hair looked almost silver. It was such a beautiful color. It is still a gorgeous blond color, and getting even lighter and longer. I may have to trim it up if it keeps growing at this rate.

Rigdon had a little bit of jaundice the first week or so. Not enough to need lights, but enough that they said to put him in a sunny window and we had to have him tested a couple of times before we could be cleared to travel across the country. I thought for sure he would hate it! He cried every time I changed his diaper because he didn't like being undressed. But I guess he's like his Daddy and loves to bask in the warm sunlight. He just laid there for like 3 days in a row just loving it!

Trying out the new shades while sunbathing.
Rigdon always has his hands right up by his face. We have to swaddle them right down against his sides when he's sleeping so that he doesn't smack himself awake.
Rigdon, welcome to our family. We have been waiting so long for your arrival and are so glad you are here. We love you so very much!

Introducing Rigdon Lee Powell

2010-09-10T20:14:00.002-05:00

We arrived at Proctor Hospital on Sept 9th at 7:00 am and they starting getting me admitted and hooked up to monitors. A little over an hour later I was on the oxytocin and starting to contract. The monitors were having a hard time picking up the baby's heartbeat because of the massive amounts of fluid around him. So we had to move the monitors around every few minutes. Look at that belly!! I don't miss it one bit!!
Kendall brought me a gift after a few hours. Aren't they gorgeous?
And he found a new Willow Tree Statue that I didn't have. It is so perfect. I, of course, cried.
After a few hours of contractions the baby's head was down low enough that they decided to put a tiny little hole in the sac to see if we could drain off a little bit of the fluid. They also put an internal monitor on the baby's head so that we could keep him monitored better. The very small hole was just enough to release a much bigger hole and we had some major flooding! The nurse was guessing that I lost about 10 pounds of fluid - over a gallon! My stomach was so much smaller already!

The labor was about 12 hours total, which was a lot longer than I thought it would be. I was getting a bit discouraged. But he was a very big boy and he delivered "sunny side up" which makes for an even more difficult delivery. I had to have an episiotomy because of his size. But he was nice and pink and got great APGAR scores, 8 and 9. He was also WIDE awake for quite a few hours just taking everything in.
Rigdon Lee Powell was born at 8:14 pm on Sept 9th. He weighed in at 9 lbs 13 oz and he was 20 1/2 inches long! Looks like the nickname "Big Rig" is a keeper. He was almost 2 pounds bigger than Mercedes, who was my biggest baby up to now. Look at that big guy! He doesn't even look like a newborn! He is completely solid. :)
I must say that this was an extremely difficult labor and delivery for me. My epidural was not being very cooperative since I was completely numb in my back and legs, but I could feel the contractions absolutely killing me! Not a very pleasant combination. But as soon as this beautiful baby boy was handed to me I was all smiles. It never ceases to amaze me what a mother will go through for these amazing little spirits who come straight from Heavenly Father into our arms and our hearts.
It was love at first sight.
Our first "family" photo (without the other kids). All I can say is that I am extremely exhausted and super swollen from hours of labor and fluids being pumped into me, but I was one proud mommy.
The proud Daddy can't seem to get enough of his little man!
So sweet. And chunky cheeks already. :)
Kendall's favorite part about newborns...cuddle time!
Rigdon is so comfortable with Daddy, no matter what the position.
So far Rigdon has been a very fat and happy little baby. He nurses like a champion and thinks he is always hungry. He sleeps wonderfully (so far!) and he is just content. He is 24 hours old and we don't have a single complaint about our perfect little boy.
And look at all that hair! He is somewhere between blond and brown right now, but he has tons of downy soft hair. They had to wash it 3 times after he was born!
Giving an almost smile for Daddy.
He's been quite alert at times. He loves to just look around and see what he can and take it all in.
This morning my mom brought Talmage and Sadie to meet Rigdon for the first time. Avri was at school. Sadie was nervous just for a couple of minutes. But once she got to hold him, she was hooked! Here is Talmage telling me that he was right, Rigdon has blond hair "just like me!"
I didn't think Talmage would care much about having a new baby around. But he is SOOO excited. He wants to start sharing his toys immediately.
Sadie has been practicing how to hold a baby. See?
And now she finally gets to put her skills to good use.
Avri got to come tonight, after school was out and Grandma and Grandpa had taken the kids to a movie. She is a professional with babies by now.
Grandma and Grandpa didn't take long to warm up to him. (That's an understatement!)

My Dad was also thoughtful and brought me some beautiful flowers, so the room looks so nice and cheery!
This morning after I got a shower Rigdon was so alert and interactive. I just can't get enough of him!

Welcome to our family Rigdon. We are finally complete and we love you more than you could ever know. We are so glad that you are here, safe and sound, and that we get to start our lives together.

End of days

2010-09-08T13:29:00.004-05:00

I haven't written down any of the details of this pregnancy anywhere and since the end of this one has been so different I thought I would document it a little bit.

The beginning of this pregnancy was fairly similar to my other pregnancies, though more difficult since I am older and had more weight to start with. I was very sick at the beginning of this pregnancy, which made me think that we were going to have another girl. But there has been no question that we are getting another little boy, and we couldn't be more excited!

By week 16 I was able to feel him moving around, which was at least 4 weeks earlier than any of my others! And he has proven to be quite the active baby throughout the entire pregnancy! All the way along I have measured either right on, or maybe one week ahead, as far as centimeters to weeks of pregnancy. Then I went to my 34 week appointment. It had only been 2 weeks since my last appointment, but in those two weeks I grew 5 cm and gained 8 pounds!! They were concerned about what would cause such a huge growth in such a short amount of time, but I could really feel it. So they did an ultrasound and sure enough, he was measuring almost 4 weeks ahead. So they told me that they wouldn't change the due date but that there was a possibility that he could come early, or he might just stay nice and toasty and be a very big baby.

Sure enough, at 35 weeks I started having false labor. I had contractions about 7 minutes apart for about 6 hours, but they were only about 30 second long, so I knew it wasn't time yet. Since then I've had at least 2 other false labors for hours at a time, but nothing that turned into the arrival of our newest family member. But it sure makes for a tired and very sore mommy the next day when I've been in labor for hours.

Over the course of the next few weeks I didn't have any huge growth jumps, but lots and lots of contractions, both practice and intense. Each week as I would go into the doctor I would get the bad news that I was still only dilated to a 1 or slightly more than 1, but that all of the labor I was going through really wasn't doing a whole lot, except exhaust me. By 38 weeks I wanted to go in and have them schedule an induction for 39 weeks, however the doctor did not agree with that I had quite the miserable day. They did another ultrasound which estimated the baby's weight to be at 9 lbs 11 oz and said that there was excess fluid around the baby, but my cervix "was not favorable for induction." The doctor then proceeded to scare me with the possibility of the baby delivering the head, but the shoulders getting stuck, which can cause bone fractures and other major problems for mother and baby. So I came home and cried all day. A c-section would solve the problem of a big baby, but would mean that I would not be able to travel to Utah for my brother's wedding and a much longer and more difficult recovery time.

Over the next couple of days with lots of prayers and some fasting I was able to find some people who were able to comfort me and I felt that I would be able to delivery this baby vaginally and that everything would be okay. I had been given a blessing that things would go smoothly, and I was determined to have faith.

Today I had my 39 week appointment. I am still only dilated to a loose 1, but baby's head is quite low. I am now measuring 44 cm!! Today's ultrasound showed a weight of 9 lbs 4 oz, which is a whole pound smaller than I thought it would be at this point, but still a pretty big boy. My blood pressure was VERY high when they first took it, but I think this was aided by the fact that I was crying and very upset. So they got pretty concerned and started checking other measurements and statistics. They agreed to induce tomorrow morning. :) The baby looks wonderfully healthy and plenty strong. He is doing "practice breathing movements" which show that the lungs should be fully developed and he is moving and active and still a big chunk.
The kids are thrilled to meet their new baby brother tomorrow and I couldn't be more excited about having this cute little wadded up baby on the outside of me rather than the inside. I just love newborns. We are still praying that everything goes smoothly and that we will not need to do a c-section. If everything is great and I'm recovering properly and the baby doesn't have any problems with jaundice or anything else, we will still be able to leave in a little over a week for Utah and make it to the wedding.

Rigdon, we are so thrilled to have you join our family and can't tell you how happy we are that it is almost time to meet you!

Evolution of Pregnancy

2010-08-31T11:16:00.005-05:00

Proof that you really do get bigger with each pregnancy...

Right before Avrianna was born...(I was so proud of my HUGE tummy. haha!)

Right before Talmage was born...
Right before Mercedes was born...
Before Rigdon is born...That is a belly measuring at 44 cm!! Lots of fluid and a big boy = very uncomfortable and large mommy. Good thing I already love this little guy!!

First Day of Kindergarten

2010-08-31T10:22:00.007-05:00

Tuesday was Avri's first day of kindergarten!! I can't believe she is getting so big.

All ready to head to the bus stop.
Waiting for the bus. You can kind of see her nice black eye that she got almost a week ago! Of course our little "Bonky" would have a black eye for the first day of school. She and Talmage collided heads and Avri was the only one to show any signs of the collision.
She was SOOO excited to go to school. Not a bit nervous. I spent half the morning crying.
And there's the bus.
Yes, I followed the bus to school and we got some pictures at the school as well. I think I was in the majority of parents though. There were as many parents at the kindergarten line-up as there were kindergartners!

Getting off the bus at school for the first time.
And she knew right where to go, too. Didn't even notice my mom standing there taking pictures of her!
She is so grown up. *sniff, sniff*
She went and got in the front of the line. Nobody minded, but we'll have to work on that.

She has been doing great! She brings home and "conduct report" every day and the teacher has only had shining things to say about her. She already has a new best friend that she eats lunch with and plays with on the playground and she is absolutely loving everything about kindergarten. And I'm not crying anymore when she leaves. :)

Bedroom Redecorating

2010-08-20T19:13:00.003-05:00

We have been working (somewhat slowly) on redecorating the kids' bedrooms. Here is the before picture of the blah tan walls. The ceiling fan is new though. Avri was SOOO excited about the addition. We actually painted it Mother's Day weekend while Avri was in Michigan with my parents. She was so excited to come home to the new room!
Ready to see Pepto Bismol pink? As we started painting, Kendall called it the Death By Pink room. It left a pink glow down the hall. But as we've added a few things to the walls and put the furniture in, I actually really like it now.

I bought matching bedspreads for the girls and they just love them! They love the butterflies that they have on their decorative pillows.
Then we got a few flowers to dress up the dresser. Now, I just need to make the curtains. I've had the material for a couple of months now and I'm just waiting for either time or a burst of energy.
The boys' room is a bit further from being done. But Talmage is in a destructive mode, so we won't be painting until he stops ruining things. This is the general color scheme that we will be using.
We bought a loft bunk bed for them, and we are just leaving the bottom bunk out until the Big Rig is ready for it. Until then he has a little place to play. :) So with the bunk bed and the crib it's a bit of a tight fit, so we had to put the dresser in the closet. However, the one that we had was too tall. But on my way home one night I saw a dresser on the side of the road with all of the garbage. It was painted all off-white and looked like it had been sitting in a garage for quite a while. So we cleaned her up, and painted her. I went bold...
I'm really happy with the results. It's bright, but matches great and I'm proud of myself for not being boring. :)
There is still a lot to come, but it's coming along.

Enjoying summer

2010-08-20T18:37:00.003-05:00

We've been enjoying summer, and trying to stay cool. We've spent many days outside playing in the water. This is a good place to eat messy foods like Popsicles and cupcakes.
We continue to play with yogurt cups when it is too hot or too rainy outside.
We also take a lot of baths since we seem to be constantly sweaty. But bath time is never so fun as when Daddy is in charge.
Nap time is hard. We just look out the window and wish we were playing. (One day during nap time I heard some little feet getting their shoes on and getting ready to go outside. I asked Sadie what she was doing and she informed me that she was going outside to catch birds. I guess she wasn't closing her eyes like she had been told.)
As I get bigger and less comfortable I've been letting the kids do a lot of things on their own. One of those things is getting dressed in whatever they choose. Avri was particularly proud of this concoction. We called it her "Fancy Nancy" outfit. Luckily we weren't going anywhere that day.
We have been trying to eat the food from our garden, but it puts out way more food than we can keep up with. Here is Kendall grilling up some delicious zuccini from the garden.
While we were in Utah we got the kids each their own Book of Mormon. They were more than thrilled!!
We seem to stay way too busy and the kids just keep getting so big! But we're having lots of fun being so busy. And now we are really looking forward to the cooler fall weather!

Trip to Utah (Part 2)

2010-08-20T17:24:00.002-05:00

One of the other reasons that we went to Utah was for a family reunion for my mom's side of the family. We stayed up in Heber in some cabins and had a lot of fun. I need to gather pictures from my parents...they have some great ones of Kendall and the kids doing a big swing. (I wasn't allowed to swing since Rigdon didn't fit into the harness.)

At night it cooled way down (which I totally enjoyed!) and we had a nice fire and made s'mores. We had bought these marshmallows that were the size of my fist! One marshmallow filled the entire large graham cracker. They were crazy! But made for delicious gooey-ness.
Grandpa decided to read the kids a story before we tucked them into their bunk beds.
The highlight for Kendall was the new skill that he picked up. My Uncle Bill is about as scout master as they come. He brought some materials and taught those who wanted to learn, how to carve spoons. Kendall was very determined and picked it up rather quickly! This was his first finished spoon! I think he did awesome!!
It was so fun to see all of the family again and see everyone's kids getting so grown up! Avri just loved having so many girls that were close to her age. And they even started a "girl's club" which Kendall was informed that he couldn't join. We left from camping to come straight home. It was a long and tiring trip and definitely not any of our favorite car ride, but for a fifth of the cost of flying we will endure. ;)

Trip to Utah (Part 1)

2010-07-30T20:51:00.008-05:00

This post is all jumbled, as far as what order we did things in. But since I have pregnancy brain and we've been home for 5 weeks, we will just put the pictures here, in no particular order.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous the entire time we were in Utah. It was in the high 70's low 80's during the day and cooled off so nicely at night. We were LOVING the dry heat!! I seriously forgot how much nicer it is! One warm day we went to a little splash park for the kids to play. They were a little timid at first, but warmed up to it pretty quickly and had a lot of fun!
We went to the new Trafalga (in Lehi) where Kendall's brother Preston works. The kids had so much fun playing. Sadie loved these tunnels and was being so cute in this little bubble. Unfortunately, all the other kids left and she couldn't find her way down, so I had to crawl my 7 month pregnant body up through all of the tunnels to get her out. Fun times!
This was their favorite ride, The Pirate Ship. They wanted to ride it over and over. Sadie laughed so hard on this ride!!
Now THIS was funny. This ride takes you to the top and then drops you down a little bit, bounces you back up and then back down in a frog-hopping-fashion. Avri FREAKED out! She literally sCrEaMeD every time it went down...during the entire ride. I got a video, but we were all laughing so hard and the camera was shaking pretty bad. But it was the adults' entertainment for the day!
They also rode the planes...
and the train...
and the carousel...
We all had a great day.
Avri and her cousin Hali had a lot of fun spending time together, and they even had a sleep-over two nights in a row. But after a long day of playing hard they were pretty tired.
And Talmage almost fell asleep at the bar eating lunch!
We also spent a good deal of time while we were in Utah visiting different family members and friends. We spent one morning at Grandma Powell's house. We got an updated picture of all of us together to keep on the fridge.
I don't look so short standing next to Grandma. But Kendall sure looks tall!
We seemed to eat a lot while we were there too, which makes me happy. Sadie has always been our pickiest eater, but when she finds something she likes she stuffs her face! Little chipmunk!
Another fun activity that we did was bowling. Kendall's sister Amber was up from Delta with her family for a couple of days and so we all went bowling. We had to get two lanes, but the kids all had a great time. And guess who won? Sadie, of course. Her first time bowling. I guess she's a natural. Sadie bowled a 119!! Kendall came in 2nd with 109, then Avri got a 79, Talmage a 77, and me...dead last with 75. Pretty pathetic! Bowling was more difficult than I thought at 7 months pregnant. But it was still fun, mostly to watch the kids and their reactions!
Talmage, of course, had to use the orange ball.

Sadie found a new love. Kittens. Grandma had two little kittens, and Sadie taught herself how to open the doors so that any time we were at Grandma's house she was outside looking for or playing with the kitties. This one was pretty patient with her.
Sadie was surprisingly gentle with the kitty and would literally cry and throw a fit any time we left because she wanted the kitty. It scratched Avri once or twice, which solidified in her mind that she is a dog person. But not Sadie. She has been pretending to be a kitty ever since we got home from Utah!

Baby Blessing and Family

2010-07-30T20:33:00.002-05:00

One of the big events that we went to Utah for was the baby blessing of Natalia Grace Malan. Kendall's older sister Kennessa and Josh had their first baby and waited to bless her until the 4th of July so that we could be there for it! Somehow I managed to not get any pictures of the darling little princess. But it was fun to be with family and Kendall enjoyed being able to be in the circle. We also had a few family pictures done while we were there.
After the blessing we had a little brunch at the park. Sadie totally attached herself to Aunt Colette. She wouldn't leave her side! We didn't get to see her much since she was up from Arizona and we hit the end of her stay.
An updated picture of the kids with Great Grandma and Grandpa Brady.

A Stop in Colorado

2010-07-30T19:57:00.006-05:00

I'm finally going to attempt to update the blog with our trip to Utah (from which we have been home now for almost 3 weeks!). We left on Friday afternoon and drove through the night to get to Utah. I say we, but what I really mean is Kendall. Kendall drove through the night and I stayed awake as much as a 7 month pregnant woman can stay awake.

We went by way of Colorado so that we could go and visit our dear friends, the Kimballs. We told them that we would most likely get to their place around 7:00 am. However, with the light traffic of driving through the night and Kendall's speed we got to their house about 5:00 am. Rather than wake them up we decided to take a little nap in the van outside their house for a couple of hours. The kids only slept until 6:00 and so I took them for a little walk around the neighborhood. We looked lovely.

After 15 hours and a night spent in the car we looked bedraggled and homeless. In fact here's a funny story. We saw another lady walking with her oldest daughter who was about 16 and her youngest who was less than 2 years old. She smiled at me and said "It does get easier, Mom." I must have looked pretty bad. She came and found us a little while later with her phone number and said that she wanted to give us the opportunity to go out and her daughter would watch the kids. haha! I told her we were only in Colorado for a couple of hours, but thanks anyway.

I enjoyed visiting with my pregnancy buddy. Heather and I had babies 2 days apart. Mercedes and Brooke are only 2 days apart. Neither one of us found out beforehand what the gender of the babies were, so it was fun to be surprised with two little girls. Now, Heather is expecting a little boy 3 weeks before we are expecting our little boy. Here we are in all our first-thing-in-the-morning glory, matching bellies yet again.Danny and Kendall had fun catching up with each other. They have been friends since Elementary, so they enjoyed the time to visit as well. The kids all had a blast playing together.
Sadie and Brookie haven't really ever played together since we moved before they ever had a chance. But they were the cutest little friends, holding hands everywhere they went and giving lots of hugs. I'm sad we don't live closer so they could get together and play.
The kids took turns driving the Jeep around. Oh my heavens, we got some funny videos!! Smashing into the tree, getting stuck on the curb, one time Sadie even dumped Brooke right out of the Jeep! Poor little Brookie. It made for quite the video though.
They made us a fabulous breakfast of Belgian Waffles, homemade heavenly syrup (I can't remember what it was really called, but that's what I call it) and lots of fruit. Very yummy. It added quite a bit of time to our trip, but it was so much fun to see our friends again.

While we were there, we drove by Kendall's old house. He lived in Denver for a year when he was about 12 years old. So we went and found the house. Kendall said the area has grown a ton! But he had fun seeing his old house again.
We thought Denver was beautiful! And my first reaction when I got out of the car was that I could breathe because there wasn't humidity!! Yay!! During our walk the kids were quite interested and curious about the sprinkler systems. They didn't understand why people would hide these sprinklers in their lawn that would just pop up and spray water when nobody was even playing in it! Too funny.

Getting bigger!

2010-07-22T15:13:00.005-05:00

I really haven't been very good at taking pictures of my belly as I get bigger and bigger. But I do have a couple I thought I'd share. And all of you who have been pregnant can sympathize. :) hehe. I found this picture from the week we were in Nebraska. I was 24 weeks at this point. I just happened to be wearing the same outfit yesterday, so I had Kendall take another picture of me. (Ignore the messy hair/no make-up look. We were in the garden in what feels like 120 degree weather.) This is 32 weeks pregnant, so 8 weeks later. I still have 8 weeks of growing to go. Where do you think I can put it?I sure hope he decides to just get stronger and not much bigger. :) I can hope, right?

As a side note, I took the kids to run some errands today and Talmage said really excitedly "Maybe there will be TWO in there!" Avri's response was "Then your belly would be REALLY big. Maybe it would POP!" I think Avri has the right idea as to how I feel.

Birthday Girl!

2010-07-15T19:18:00.004-05:00

The Fourth of July this year was a big day for Avri. She turned 5 years old! I can't believe how grown up she is. We celebrated her birthday in Utah this year and her baby cousin Natalia was blessed that day as well. So we had a full day of celebrations with the family.Avri wasn't completely particular about her birthday this year, but she did say that she wanted a Disney Princess party and she wanted to get a lunchbox. So we bought her a cake this year (I know, I'm a slacker, but we didn't get into Utah until about 8:00 pm the night before, so making a cake was out of the question) that had 3 Disney Princesses on it. There is a light that goes underneath the dress of one of them and she thought that was pretty cool.
As she opened presents she realized her dream of a Princess party. She got so many Princess gifts!! Everyone spoiled that girl rotten with puzzles and toys and coloring books and socks and all sorts of Princess stuff. And since she will be starting kindergarten in just a little over a month she also got a Princess backback, a lunch box and drink holder, and a sleeping towel for quiet time. She will be starting into full-day kindergarten and she is thrilled! She got a pencil box and a bunch of school supplies as well, from Grandma, so we will have very little to shop for before school starts!Then yesterday we took our five year old to the doctor for her well-child-check-up and to get her kindergarten shots. We knew she was tall, but we couldn't believe the numbers! She is 4'1" tall which puts her way off the charts for her age, probably around 110% or 115%-ile! She is the average height of most 7 1/2 year olds! Her weight was 50.3 lbs, which was about 93%-ile. The nurse practitioner said at this rate she will most likely be about 5'10" as an adult. So we will see how that plays out. She said that she is pretty heavy for her age, but with her height she could weigh 10 pounds more and they wouldn't be concerned. :) haha. Our tall skinny grasshopper, just like her Daddy! She had to get two shots and she cried a little, but overall was quite brave and hasn't complained about them once. But she did thank the nurses for helping her to not get sick.

Avri, we love you so much and we are so proud of you and the grown up lady you are becoming! You are such a great little helper around the house and are so smart. We are proud of your love of learning and that you are reading so well. You are compassionate and friendly and such a beautiful girl. We are so blessed to have you be a part of our family! Happy Birthday Bonkie!