First Day of School....First Day of School!!

Madisen started 1st grade today.

I just kept looking at her standing there with her backpack on thinking, "gosh she is big!"

Emily wanted to start school today too. She went and got her shoes on, and stood by the door next to Madisen in her backwards pj's with milk spots. :)

When Madisen left, Emily threw a fit because she couldn't go with Madisen.

She kept saying, "I 'nna go! I 'nna go!"

Growing up my dad would give us father blessings before heading to school the next day.

But since we had everyone over last night for Avery's birthday party we forgot to. So tonight as tradition we will be doing that for her. I hope Madisen likes her class and teacher this year.

Birthday Girl

Our sweet little Avery turned four. I always tell her she is growing to fast and I am going to put a brick on her head so she can't grow anymore. She then responds, "But I am going to eat my food and grow big to get married like you mom!"

 Avery was born on August 21st at 9:39am. She came exactly two weeks early on the exact day I wanted her to come. Madisen was born the the 21st of April, so I thought it would be neat to have both girls born in 'A' months, and on the 21st day. And I got my wish!  

Avery's birthday story...

Around 5pm the night before Avery was born, I started itching, which wasn't unusual because I had many moments through the last few weeks that I would itch really bad, due to the ICP disease (Intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy) I had. But as the night went on, the itching got worse and worse. I had red marks and botches all over my body. So at midnight we decided to go in and make sure everything was ok with our baby girl. They decided to keep me and monitor the baby. 

After a few hours, around 2am, they decided to go ahead and induce me so they put a tablet up me to get the dilating process started. Usually it takes several tablets and several hours to even start dilating but I dilated right away but was still itching so bad. I remembered when I had Madisen that as soon as they broke my water, the itching completely stopped. Which was great! So I asked if they could break my water, but boy, that was a bad idea! I don't know what was worse the itching or the immediate contractions! They were so intense that I was doubled over in pain. My back and stomach hurt so bad. I wished I would have asked for the epidural before asking the doctor to break my water.

They gave me something in the mean time, but all it did was make me super drowsy to the point where I was mumbling and I couldn't keep my eyes focused on anything still feeling the pain of the the contractions. (I'm a baby...I don't know how women did it without an epidural!?)

I had to wait 4 hours before the lady finally showed up to give me an epidural. And she was the rudest, meanest lady I have ever met. Ryan and I joked later(much later) that she must have been in the military for several years before becoming an anesthesiologist! 

After the epidural kicked in, which took another hour or so,I finally drifted off to sleep at 7am. 

A nurse came in to check on me and I remember looking at the clock and it read 9:30. I was still pretty out of it, but she wanted to see how much I had dilated. As she did, she gave this wide-eyed look of shock and quickly said, "this baby's head is almost out!"

 Several nurses came running in the room and started quickly putting things together to get me ready to push.

Several minutes passed and doctor came in and threw on some gloves and looked at me, came over and said, "Give me one good push."

I was still half out of it and really wasn't sure what was happening. I coughed and said, "Already?" 

And that's all it took. The next thing I knew our baby was out and ready to take on the world! 

However when they handed me Avery she was wrapped in a blue blanket. I wouldn't have notice the color of the blanket, except a nurse, said, "It's a boy! How cute!" I looked up in shock and confusion as we had been expecting a girl, so my face probably looked like a deer caught in head-lights! Then Dr. Carlson said, "No, no it's a girl alright!" 

The nurse that had said that said, "Oh, I am sorry I just saw the blue blanket and assumed it was a boy."

From the momemt the nurse checked me till Avery made her way out it had only been 9 minutes! Everything happened so fast, it was nice not feeling any pain, but I was kind of sad that I didn't get to experience the "pushing" part. I know weird huh? 

Happy Birthday Avery!!!!

We are so glad you came to our family!
We love you.

I had to get a few pictures of her before church yesterday.

I made her a rainbow cake and had some friends and the missionaries over. We opened presents before church and did our traditional breakfast in bed. 

Missouri trip cut short...bowling instead!

We were on our way to Missouri this last weekend to see some good friends of ours that we haven't seen in 6 years! Ryan went to high school with Brady and Brady's wife, Yvonne and I have become really good friends too. Their oldest boy was getting baptized and we wanted to be there.  But as we were driving through Oklahoma Ryan and I both got a strong impression to turn around. I was actually feeling uneasy about it but didn't know why and when Ryan said he felt we needed to turn around I knew we did too. We were in the middle of a bad rain storm and the storm was traveling the same way we were headed. We don't know why or what would have happened, if anything, but as soon as we made the decision to go back we felt it was the right one and the storm that we were going through had ended as we were traveling in the opposite direction-home. We were sad that we couldn't see our friends, but we are so grateful for the still small voice and the promptings of the spirit to keep our family safe. 

So now that our plans to see our good friends in Missouri weren't going to happen the girls were very disappointed as we talked about it all week. They were excited to meet them and to play at their house.  

So to brighten our moods we took the girls bowling later that day and had a great time! 

Emily enjoyed rolling the ball down the lane with help from Dad.

Yes! Strike!

 Ryan showing me his "strike" pose.

Avery would throw the ball and sprint off each time, so all the pictures I have of her is of the back of her head and shoes running away. I had to walk her back and get this picture of her.

 Madisen caught on pretty fast and she was a great little bowler.

B-52 Bombers

Back in May I was asked if I wanted to join a softball team with some of the ward members. I was hesitant at first because I hadn't played in over 12 years! And I didn't want to be the person that held the team back, so I wasn't sure. I didn't know if it was going to be super competitive or just more for fun. I reluctantly agreed to join and I am so glad I did!! It was great to be back on a "team" again. I love playing volleyball in high school and in college and the same with tennis. Being part of a team is so fun, even in 100+ degree heat! It's like what they say, "No pain, no gain" right? Or something.

Here's a few pictures of our last game of the season....

Shannon and I...."We're going to CRUSH them".

 Me up at bat...hit a fly ball over third base, but it was sadly caught. Darn!

Guess I need to work on that.

Here I am at 2nd base...and missed a grounder that hit- more like SMASHED, my foot and bounced clear out to the outfield. 

It was fast,

 And it hurt.

"Whoops!" 

Guess I need to work on that too.

Our team, the B-52 Bombers: 

Shannon and David Evans, Dawni, Tim and Amanda Adams, Richard, Amy Duncan, Jaconb and John Sneed, Me, Chelsea Upton, Randall, and Kevin Doty. (...and some cute little girl on the end ;)

(missing Janna and Wade Stephens). 

Since the fall is so nice here in Texas, we are starting games again in just two weeks! 

Surprises... Continue!

Jeannette, Sean's wife planned a surprise party for him at her parent's house. We all showed up at 5pm and waited for Sean to get there around 5:30pm. He had no idea where he was being taken too, as he was blind folded and when he walked in and took off the blind fold, I think "surprised" was an understatement.  

Sean had friends from all over show up and the house was full of family, and friends. We ate and hung out for 3-4 hours and just had a great time. The girls stayed at Dad and Trudy's with a babysitter. 

Here is a project Tammy worked on for Sean's party. Pictures of the boys when they were younger. Now look at them...

Crazy punks. :)

Erin, Nate, Mom, Ryan and I 

Awesome Erin!

Erin and Nate looking good.

Dad and Trudy

 Nice legs...

Blowing out his candles.

Happy Birthday Sean. We are glad you were born.

We love you!

3 days of SURPRISES!

Last weekend, Ryan took two days off from work and as a family we ventured out early (4am early!) in our mini van stuffed with pillows, sleeping bags, blankets, suitcases and snacks galore to SURPRISE his family, his two brothers and their wives, in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

It was Ryan's little brother, Sean's 30th birthday and we all wanted to be there with him. Ryan's Dad and his wife, Trudy knew we were coming but no one else did. Also Ryan's mom came from Utah to Surprise Sean as well.

We arrived at 4pm-exactly 12 hours later, and hung out with Dad and Trudy till 6pm where everyone was getting together for dinner at a nice Mexican Restaurant.

We causally walked in like we were lost and said, "Do you guys know if this is a good place to eat?"

The looks on their faces' were awesome. Wish we could have had a picture of that!

We did a lot of this...

Ryan hugging Jeanette, Sean's wife.

Hugging Sean

After a few minutes of THAT surprise wearing off, I texted Ryan's mom to come in. She poked her head in and asked, "Does anyone know where the bathroom is?"

More hugs...

I think we GOT Sean pretty good....

He was crying and laughing!

Happy Birthday Sean!

Sean and Jeanette

Ryan and Jeanette have a hard time being by each other... Seriously, you guys. JUST get along! :)

Nate and Erin

 The three trouble-makers.

Avery, Dad and Trudy

I LOVE this picture, not because Ryan and I are ignoring everyone around us as we read over the menu deciding what to order...but because Emily pretty much inhaled that bean dip. She couldn't eat it fast enouggh and ate one and half bowls all by herself! You know what that means...nasty diaper later. Yep. "Eww" is right.

 The girls with Uncle Sean

Some weirdo.

It was such a great night! Dinner was fabulous...(thanks Dad and Trudy!)

After dinner we headed over to Dad and Trudy's house and partied more!

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Day 2 of Surprises: 

Dad and Trudy surprised the girls by taking them (and us) to the North Pole!!

 (Did you know the North Pole is in Colorado Springs??  Yeah...I didn't either.) The North Pole is a great place for kids, they have rides, shops, food, and SANTA CLAUSE of course.

Trudy with madisen, Dad with Avery

This ride was a bit fast for Madisen, so she and Trudy got off, but Avery loved it!

 Waiting in line...

The girls riding motorcycles...hopefully this is the only time they will ride them.

We all got to ride on a train...

 Avery ran off, but here is Madisen and Emily with the conductor.

(Random thought: I have an uncle who drives trains in northern Utah, parts of Wyoming and Idaho. So if you see a train while passing through those parts, give a wave to my uncle Alma! He's great!)

The girls got to see Santa Clause and tell him what they wanted for Christmas. Emily ran right up to him and gave him a hug. We were all SURPRISED by that!

 As the girls were sitting on his lap, Avery and Emily were petting his beard and pulling on it, asking if it was real. It was really funny. Madisen told Santa she wanted a Rapunzel barbie. Avery told Santa she wanted a barbie with rainbow wings on it's back. And Emily just said, "Bu" and "Di". lol. 

Later we went to Santa's workshop and the girls got to pick out one toy that they wanted...Madisen picked out Rapunzel, but later put it back for a unicorn. Avery picked out Cinderalla and the Prince play toys and Emily picked out a baby with a pacifier. Uncle Nate also got the girls little cute dogs with HUGE eyes, and animal puppets. We were all spoiled by Dad and Trudy! (Thank you!)

It was an awesome day! 

More surprises to continue.....