Ice Fishing..

What a blast! I forgot how much fun it is. The kids were a little nervous at first and Hayden still hasn't made it out with us yet because he's always had something going on (and to tell you the truth.. I think he's scared) but soon. We'll get him out there too and just like the others.. he'll see how much fun and how safe it really is.

Sledding

We took the kids sledding and had a blast. It was a perfect day.. not cold (ok, not that cold) just perfect. We played and then had a picnic in the snow. Everybody loved it!

Chetty Chetty Bang Bang we love you!

9 years ago this evening is when it all started.. My parents called wanting to have a game night (I had been to the Dr. earlier that day and was to be started the following Monday.. The Dr. was going out of town for the weekend and assured me that I wasn't ready). So in an effort to hurry and clean up I vacuumed the living room while waiting for them to come down. I felt pretty crampy while vacuuming but there was work to be done so I didn't think anything of it.

As my parents, Kelly & I were playing games I was hurting worse.. every few minutes. I had never really started labor on my own so I had no clue how it felt. I was the score keeper. As I kept score, at the bottom of the score card I was also keeping track of how far apart what I thought might be contractions were too not saying a word to anyone else. Everyone was laughing and having a good time (except for me every 4-5 minutes). I kept saying "don't make me laugh, don't make me laugh."

After a while of giggling and having fun my mom realized that I was keeping track of more than the score and that I couldn't laugh & giggle along with them every few minutes. She leaned over and looked at the score card and said "are you having contractions?" "Yes" I replied. So she started keeping track of them herself. Every 3-4 minutes at that time. She looked at me and said "Stacy, you're in labor." At that point I was a little nervous.. I didn't have a thing packed. After all... I had until Monday to worry about it. By this time I couldn't even walk. Kelly & my Mom were rushing around the house throwing things in bags and my Dad had run home to grab a suitcase. I just stood in the hall and held onto the wall. We were frantically trying to get a hold of Kelly's parents who were on call to watch the other kids but they weren't answering.

The other kids were already in bed so my Dad agreed to stay the night at our house. We piled into the bronco to head to the hospital.. it was just like in the movies.. I could of sworn that Kelly was hitting every bump in the road and pot hole on purpose..I was hollering at him for TRYING to make me uncomfortable and my Mom was defending him trying to tell me that there were no potholes that he was swerving to hit. I could of hurt them both at that point.

As we got to the hospital I couldn't even get down out of the truck.. I felt that if I even tried everything would fall out & hit the ground. We get up to the room and was surprised to learn that I was dilated to an 8. Good.. that meant that I could have my epidural!! From then on is sort of a blur.. the stinkin picture of the dove on the wall was making me mad, the nurse (poor lady.. had a wandering eye so seriously everytime she looked at me I was getting even madder.. at her eyes) I really wanted to just beat her up and tell her that I didn't even know where she was looking... "duh, I'm over here", I was claustrophobic and wanted to tear out all the tubes and just the fact that Kelly (the one who hit all the bumps and potholes on the way to the hospital) was standing close to me made me even madder too. Also.. the anesthesiologist was taking forever! My Mom tells me I started speaking in tongues that night.. some of the things that came out of my mouth surprised us all.. I was mean to the nurse, I was mean to my Mom and I was mean to Kelly. I spoke like a sailor. About an hour later he was here... it was all worth it and all better.. I fell instantly in love!


Happy 9th Birthday Chet.. I love you!

Happy New Year!

Sheesh.. it's been a long time since I've gotten the chance and taken it to write.

Christmas is here & gone and now it's the New Year. This upcoming year I hope the very best for everyone. I hope that all my loved ones stay safe and healthy and that all your 2009 dreams and goals happen.

2008 was a big year for our family.. we took a lot of big steps. Here are a few of them..

- My baby went in to the first grade which means that all of my kiddos are in school full day (I was so lonely there for a bit)

- Kolton started his first year of High School

- Hayden started his first year of Jr. High

- Wyatt had his tonsils out

- We got our kitchen done so we didn't have to cook on the patio anymore (huge step!! lol)

- Chet turned 8 and was baptized

- Hayden went on his very first scout camp, turned 12 and was ordained a Deacon

- Jasmyn lost her very first tooth (while Chet & Hayden lost about 6 each within about a 2 week period.. poor tooth fairy!)

- We went on vacation and spent maybe 5 days of the week with car breakdowns (what's a vacation without hiccups?)

- During one of those car breakdowns (2 flat tires at the same time) Wyatt had a super special experience he will never forget

- Kelly & I celebrated our 16th anniversary

- We lost a dear Grandma, an Aunt and a Cousin but gained a new niece and have one on the way

- Kolton & his Weber High Sophomore Football team went undefeated 9-0 and so they lettered the whole sophomore team. (Yay Weber!!)

- Kelly's work slowed down so much that they laid off a bunch and then put the guys left on 4 days a week so that means every Monday Kelly & I get to spend the day together with no interruptions :)

- Kolton turned 16

We are looking forward to a New Year and the next steps each of us will take. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I love this time of year.. I love decorating and I love the magical feeling

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was wonderful! We ate at Mom & Dad's. There were about 28 of us. It is always so nice to eat & visit with family we don't get to see that often. After dinner we went up to the gym and played off dinner. There are so many things to do there.. bars, ropes, zip chords, climbing walls, trampolines every where, mats, balance beams and so much more. My Mom & Dad were hilarious and even Aunt Donna did back flips.. she's amazing (she's almost 80!) I couldn't take pics fast enough

Merit Badge

Hayden just got done doing the Hunters Safety Merit Badge along with some kids in our ward. I was tempted to take it just because of a deal I had with my dad back when I was a teenager but had too many things going on during this class. I did make it to the shooting part of it though. Not only did I go because I love to shoot targets but between you & me I went also because the thought of 3 men taking 8-9 boys shooting scared the heck out of me. They were all safe though and I was surprised at how organzied it was. I had this image of 3 men and all these boys walking around with loaded guns and shooting anything and everything they could. Yikes! I never did tell Kelly though that that was one of the reasons I wanted to go

it's for real!!

So one of our chickens finally laid an egg.. for real. Since I've already cried wolf once it took some convincing but the fact that it was a lot smaller than the rogers eggs I buy from walmart, it was still warm and it had a feathers stuck to it the kids finally believed me. And boy.. were they excited! In fact, Wyatt wanted to name it and keep it forever (in his room) since we came to the conclusion that his was his chicken that laid it since the feathers stuck to it were black. It is still sitting in the fridge because nobody has the heart to eat it.. ewww! Does it make sense to have chickens and still buy eggs? Well, we have only gotten one egg so far but even if we were getting a dozen a day... I think I would still buy them. It's hard for me to eat anything I knew personally

Happy Thanksgiving!

I would feel so ungrateful to not mention Thanksgiving and how blessed I am. There are so many things that I am thankful for.. here are a few of them

I am so blessed to be married to such a wonderful guy. It doesn't matter where we are or what we are doing.. we have fun together. We are inseparable. We laugh, we joke, we tease, we play and just love being together. He is such a hard worker who busts his behind everday for his family. He is an awesome Dad and an awesome husband. He is my best friend..

Also I am blessed to have the most wonderful kids in the world. They are so caring. I love to see the way they love and care about eachother. They are all so strong but so sensitive. I'm the parent but they teach me soooo much. Not to mention the fact that they are hilarious!

I am so thankful for our family and friends who are always there for us. The love & support they show us especially when we need it the most. I have such wonderful parents who have always been there and awesome brothers & sisters (to me they are sisters.. the sisters I never had. I can't stand the word inlaw) who we are so close to.

I am also thankful for our health. We don't realize how important this is sometimes until it's too late. We are so lucky to be as healthy as we are. No matter what.. things could always be worse!

I am thankful for a nice warm home. I love the fact that my kids are growing up where I grew up.. climbing the same trees, sleeping in the same room, going to the same schools and even having some of the same teachers. We are so lucky to live where we live.

I am also thankful for the freedoms we enjoy. I am so grateful to the men & women who have sacrificed so we can have & enjoy these freedoms.

I hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Saturday Adventure

Ever dream of the perfect day? A day where everyone gets along wonderfully.. no bickering, no complaining, no arguing, no drama.. just a perfect day. A day where everything goes as planned (or if you're like us.. don't make plans.. just fly be the seat of your pants and wing it).



Well today we had one of those days. Kolton & Hayden had gone down to Provo to attend the BYU game with the ward so it was just us & the younger 3. Kelly & I hit a couple yard sales in the morning and had been talking about how we wanted to spend our day. We wanted to do something fun and only having 3 kids was a huge difference. We had them hurry & shower, get cleaned up, packed a back pack and were off... We had an adventure to take



A few months previous our state got this neat new transportation system. We had been anxious to take it but just hadn't. Well, today was the day. We didn't tell the kids where we were headed we just headed. We got on the train just a few miles from our house and headed south. So once on the train the kids were anxious to know where we were going.. We kept telling them we were going on an adventure. They loved it.. I loved it! I loved looking at each of the kids as they were looking out the train window with wonder, excitement and a little bit of where in the heck are Mom & Dad taking us in their eyes. They were all smiles



We rode Frontrunner down to salt lake and from there hopped on Trax to the Jordan Commons & the Mayan. By this time the kids were starting to figure out where we were headed. They were super surprised when they looked up as we were walking across the parking lot to see Grandma & Grandpa. They had been to a meeting in Salt Lake so it worked out perfect that we could meet up together.
It was so fun to be with them. I also called Kolton's cell and found out they were on their way back from Provo so our neighbor dropped Kolton & Hayden off at the Mayan too. They were able to ride Trax & Frontrunner home with us. What an awesome day!

Happy Halloween.......er

Even Cooper & Kirby dressed up. Kirby was a piggy (self explanatory) and Cooper was a hot dog (and yes.. Kirby tried to eat Cooper's costume)... I tell ya.. that Kirby is the goofiest dog... he eats everything!

Funny.. trying to take pics of these guys is like trying to take pics of a baby... They look away everytime I go to push the button. Cooper has never liked his picture taken but Kirby used to love it (he used to follow me around and beg for his picture to be taken).. he even looks away now too.

Halloween

Chet & Jasmyn on their way to school (wyatt was sick that day and Kolton & Hayden didn't get to dress up for school).. it was cake getting only 2 kids dressed for school this year. Chet changed his mind so many times on what he wanted to be so he was a little bit of everything.. LOL. We wore a little of this and a little of that and then I made him a sign out of a pizza box that said "100% Recycled". He loved it... (easiest costume ever!) I don't think I've met anyone so indecisive... poor guy has the hardest time making decisions sometimes.

Jasmyn was a cute little witch but decided she didn't want to wear her wig at the last minute because it was too itchy

Cute pumpkins huh? Pumpkin carving was a little stressful this year.. by the time we got dinner & homework over with we were in a race to get some pumpkins carved and of course couldn't find a decent knife.. we thought they turned out cute though. Carving pumpkins is one of my favorite things about Halloween (that and picking them out).. I love lighting the candle, stepping back and seeing them come to life. (Kolton carved Jack the pumpkin King and he was my favorite)