Our Christmas Letter .... 2012

If you'd like to see our 2012 Edition of our Annual Christmas Letter --- head on over here.

Starting in January I'll be shutting this one down.    So be sure to head on over to our new family blog address  at cwrfamily.blogspot.com


Take Care

Operation Redirect.

If you like to follow my blog ... I've changed it a bit so change your bookmarks to www.cwrfamily.blogspot.com    (C= chris  W=wendy R=Randolph)  This should be an easier address to remember, and besides this blog site is having issues and has for a long time.  So I want to start somewhere fresh.  I'm working on rolling over all the posts so you might see things that look "new" but really aren't.  


I'll probably shut this one down in a month once I get the new site set up the way I want it.   I'll most likely set that one to private in the near future as well.  So if you read this blog and would like an invite once I go private with it please leave me a message or send an email.    Remember you can find me on facebook too... and my goal for this upcoming year is to really get going on the blogging again, it's my way of doing my family history. 

Look who's a year already!

I can hardly believe she's already 1! 

I decided to do an unplanned photo shoot with her this morning that

lasted for about 10 minutes.  And I finally feel like I have a keeper image! 

I wish she would have one of those all out smiles, but she's still

cute like this. 

Maybe next time!

I love this little girl! 

My handsome 5 year old!!

I love this little boy so much and can hardly believe that he's old enough for Kindergarten already!  It's a bit lonely even though I still have Esther (his 1 year old sister) at home.

But he is so excited to be going to school finally and everyday he gets too impatient about having

to wait till 12:10pm to go to school.  Yep, he has afternoon Kindergarten.

But he's loving it, and today just happens to be "Orange" day at school. 

 

Happy 1st Birthday Esther!!!

A year ago today I was in the hospital waiting to have this precious little girl !  I can hardly believe that it's been a year already!  She started walking nearly 2 weeks ago, and has been so excited about it, that she actually tries to "run".   She now has 6 teeth that have broken through the gums.  

She likes cantaloupe, watermelon, strawberries, grapes. 

Bread, animal crackers, cereal.  

She sleeps from about 7:30pm at night till about 7am in the morning.  

Takes two naps a day still. 

She loves playing with her "drum" toy. 

She uses the baby sign for "more",  and "milk", "eat/food".  

She has the prettiest eye lashes that go with the perfectly round, wide open eyes!  

She sometimes will answer "yes/no" questions when asked them, with the 

appropriate head movement. 

She loves being outside! She loves our dog Amber. And now, calls 

every animal "amba"  

She says, "Mama"  and "dada" very well. 

and says a word that sounds like "brea" for "bread". 

Ethan has a special bond with her.  Pretty much from the beginning.  He beams when he sees her, and her eyes light up and a big smile flash across her face when he comes into the room.  He can seriously make her do the "belly laugh".   

She likes to grab mommy's keys, play with the "phones".  She likes anything that plays music. 

I love this little lady!  She's been an absolute blessing to our family. And she has so many people that love and adore her!  I look forward to this upcoming year and all the milestones she'll reach by the time she's 2! 

September 6, 2011 

September 6, 2012

A few teasers....

I've been a  LITTLE busy lately. 

But that's okay. 

I feel ALIVE.  Probably for a few reasons 1) getting out and walking the last few days a few times a day to take my children to and from school.  2) I've been busy behind my camera once again.  And I LOVE IT!! 

I've gone from having 6 kids home all day for summer, to having just 2 until next Wednesday the 29th!

Life is good! 

I have desires to keep this blog up more frequently now that my baby is not such a newborn anymore.

I have goals and ideas and someday I'll achieve most, if not all of them.

Here's a snapshot of some things I've been busy with.  

FIRST AND FOREMOST:  This little Lady is now 11 months old (when the picture was take just a few weeks ago). She's gotten so grown up so fast.  She'll be one in just two weeks!!  She is such a precious sweetheart though.   And we love her tons.   (This is my daughter Esther)   

Here's a recent family shoot I did.  They happen to be family and it was fun spending time with them, that I wouldn't otherwise have gotten.  There kids are so cute. And along with being cute, they were really wiggly too.  So we didn't get too many pictures before the little guy fell into the water.  And I probably would have really tried for more things, but I felt bad for him, because he was so cold and wet.  It was still lots of fun though.  Thanks Christensen Family!

Here's a little Princess who I offered to take pictures of for her parents since I knew her mother at college back in the days of Ricks College (1997-1998) living on College Avenue in Rexburg, Idaho.  Fun times. 

And this photo shoot was still fun despite not being able to use the location they intially wanted because of some construction. Luckily this spot was right across the street.  And even though there were other groups that were busy doing pictures too, we still managed to get some family shots that turned out cute. 

 Or at least I think so.  

Not to mention my other children that needed me as well. But one of these days I'll get the hang of being super mom!

We've been a little MIA ....

I've been trying to access blogger from Internet Explorer and have nothing but problems.  So after weeks of being frustrated I've gone to Firefox... and guess what ???    It's letting me do a new post!!  YAY!!! 

Might not be a big deal to any of you, but to me, it's HUGE!!!   So many days I've wanted to blog about something but because I wasn't able to access it at the time, it's gone to the back of my priority list. 

So here's a family update: 

Chris.... still busy working as an accountant at his job, and he's been there for almost 7 years come this July.

Wendy .... taking on the yearbook project for the school our children currently attend and has announced this is the last year she'll be doing it.  

(We've now lived in our home for 11 years!!  As of the beginning of March) and now we're in the process of doing an addition.  Next step.... either test for asbestos and lead and/or  find someone to draw up our plans for the addition that we'd like to do.   We'll get back to that after our little rendezvous in California to see my brother get married.  

Kaylee ... She's less than a month away from turning 13!!!  I seriously can't believe it!   And if you get a moment and know my daughter  --- we're creating a surprise book for her at the end of the month and any advice, memories, favorite book lists, recipes  -- really anything you'd like to share with her that she might know how many people are pulling for her and support her, that she can refer to over and over again through the next several years would be awesome.   Remember SHHHHH!!!!! 

But she's also involved with an after school ballroom class and loves doing that.  She's also really great with her baby sister.

Katherine.... She's also involved with the after school ballroom class, and has a really fun time with that.  She also loves to read!  She's reading all the time, I sometimes have to force a book out of her hands just to get her to come help me with dinner.

Heidi ... Just finished up performing a one night program talking about the history of Utah with the rest of the 4th grade students at her school.  And is finally participating in a sport --- soccer!  She picked it and asked if she could play and we agreed.  So now, I'm quickly trying to learn all about soccer because I don't know very much.  But the good thing is, she's a rather natural player and is doing good as a forward. She's pretty aggressive with it and we're looking forward to seeing her grow in this sport.

Thomas ... Now 7 years old and has been since January is busy playing soccer as well.  He's a different kind of  player than Heidi and seems to be geared more as a defensive player.  And his reading has been improving a great deal as we've been reading scriptures regularly now for nearly 2 months.

Ethan ... He is so ANXIOUS and gives an "evil" laugh every day when he counts down how many more days until his birthday.  (April 10)  We dyed eggs for Easter the other night and he got so wowed by the simplest things and get really excited.  I love seeing how he thinks about those around him and the things around him. He's constantly asking questions and learning lots.

Esther ... Nearly 7 months old has reached so many milestones this last month.  She's crawling and sitting up on her own, she claps her hands, eating food more regularly, she's starting to sit up while in her bed, and sleeps on her tummy.   My favorite thing that she does lately, she gets her hands on the floor and has her feet on the floor with her bum in the air and then she puts her head on the floor between her hands as if to do a somersault.  She's getting so big so fast and I'm trying to soak up every moment of it.


We've been without our cable subscription for nearly 2 months and it's been AWESOME!!  As a couple Chris and I are becoming closer and we're a team all the way!  We're reading scriptures as a family and I can tell a difference in attitudes.  However, with all the good things, we still have some night owls -- yes, you know the kind, the ones who don't want to go to bed.  Yeah, we're working on that still.   So there's a little update on us.  And more posts to come with pictures later.   

Choices, Choices.....

Okay so let me begin by saying, that I am long over due for a new hair style!!! 

I mean it's totally pathetic ... I repeat PATHETIC that I have pretty much had the same styled hair most of my married life.  I did go short for a little spell and discoverd that I don't like short hair on me.  And of course, with just having a new baby about 5 months ago, I'm really feeling the itch to do something fun, flirty and creative with my hair.  So I'm going out on a limb here and will let "YOU" decide which hair cut I'm getting this coming Saturday. (I hope it can happen Saturday!) And I have been considering some hi-lights -- but mostly I picked these pictures because of the cut.  So here's how it'll work, on the side -----> there is a "survey/quiz" and it'll have these options. Just vote for the two you like best.   And come Friday I'll go with the one that has the most votes. 

First one while I was pregnant back in August 2011--

BEFORE:

POTENTIALLY AFTERS:

A)

 B)

C)

Do you have another suggestion ?  Leave a comment with the link to the picture.

Option D --- Top picture with brown color and layers

Had to do it that way because, I couldn't save the picture.

I'll revisit this on Friay.

This is what I spent my time doing on Christmas Eve...

So this year I set out to make home made stockings.  I picked the fabric up at JoAnn's while they had all their fleece at 50% off. Which did save me a lot of money.  I had Heidi and Katherine with me at the time while I picked out the different prints. And I was happy to find out when we got home and showed everyone which print we picked out for them that they all liked our choices.  Esther is the only one that really didn't have a say and probably won't be able to let us know for a few more years still.  I was able to cut them out just fine and had an idea of what I wanted them to turn out like, but I can guarantee you that they all look different.  The first ones had the most noticeable flaws, and by the end I was able to almost master the look I was shooting for in the beginning.  So the way I see it ... they all have CHARACTER!  And they are home made with love and time which is way more than one from the store would be.  The kids didn't see any of them completed before they went to bed on Christmas Eve -- as I stayed up most of the night sewing and cutting out the last 8 pieces that weren't cut out already.   And for the top (white) part I just used fleece there as well. And I think they all turned out cute -- but what do you know I think I'm a little biased.  I used strap material in white and black for the loops that were sewn in to the stocking as I sewed up the edges.  Now our Christmas's will have a little more fun and personality with these delightful additions.  We missed out on having any stockings up for decorations this year until Christmas morning, but at least now they are made and will be the ones we use for the next several years. 

  Above from left to right :  Heidi,  Thomas, Ethan,  and Esther

Below from left to right:  Chris (aka DAD), Wendy (aka MOM), Kaylee and Katherine

So what did you make this year?  Any plans to make new items for next year? 

Our Christmas Letter for 2011

Esther at 2 months

So another month has past and my little girl is now two months old.

 ( Again more for my benefit than anyone else's and this was started on November 9th and now it's the 12th ...oops that goes to show you what life with a newborn can be like.) 

• You love to sit in the swing.
• Your brothers and sisters love to hold you.  
• You were blessed on the day you tuned 2 months old. 
• You are starting to show smiles and the kids get all excited when you start to smile for them. 
• You are still very spitty, and can be quite gassy.  
• You love your pacifier ( and I love it too) 
• You love to be snuggled and wrapped up in your blankets.  
• You sleep well when you actually fall asleep.  
• You had your first Halloween and we dressed you up as a ballerina. You are so cute!

First picture was taken on October 31st, 2011  and the second picture was taken Oct 23, 2011 -- you are growing so fast, and I know this is just the start of more fun times to come.  We love you Esther!

1 month old already.

This was started a few days ago ... on October 6th. 
(This is mostly for me so I don't forget how you develop and progress) 

Okay so Esther....

Today you are 1 month old and sadly I'm writing this at the end of the day and you are starting to fuss and need attention.  So hold on a minute while I go and grab you.....


.... I'm back.

Things I've noticed about you this last month that you've been our little girl

• You have 3 sisters and 2 brothers that ADORE you.  Ethan is always saying how you are beautiful and the cutest in the whole world. And that you are a princess.  And Heidi is always asking me when I talk to her on the phone if you are still cute.  And I think that everyone else totally agrees. 
• Everyone loves to hold you even if it's just for a few minutes.  And any time you are crying everyone at least your brothers and sisters think it's because you are hungry and they promptly yell out ... "Feed ESTHER mom!! She's hungry"  or "Mom! Make her be quiet".  But really you aren't that noisy and I just have to explain that babies make noise.  
• Speaking of noise you are starting to experiment with your voice.  And occasionally you will make some noise and it's so pretty to hear. I can hardly wait till you are able to say, " I love you Mom ...You are the best!"  or some variation of that phrase.  
• You tend to like your binky. 
• You love for me to hold you. And swaddle you with the pink fuzzy blanket. 
• You weighed 8lbs 4oz at birth and we aren't really sure what your actual length was at birth there was/is some confusion on that. But your hospital tag said 19 1/2 inches.  And by your two week check up you weighed 9 lbs 3 oz, and you were 20 1/2 or 3/4 inches long.  ( Don't blame me,  I haven't been getting much sleep lately)  ***** I took you in to the Dr. on the 7th and found out that you weigh 9lbs 12 oz. 
• You have been known so far for two major "blowouts".  Once on our way to see a house with a Realtor and I absentmindedly forgot to make sure the bag was stocked with extra clothes and such and you basically went home naked other than a clean diaper that I did have. 
• You sleep really well, mostly.  And usually I am only getting up with you once during the night for a feeding.  But don't go thinking you've been miss little perfect by any means.... because we have had a few rough nights where I'm only getting 2 hours of sleep.  But somehow I manage to push through the tiredness the next day and do some of my "motherly duties" for you and for the other 5 children.  
• You are nursing really well, and pretty much have put yourself on your own feeding schedule, but I do have to keep you on it during the daytime or we have a rough night together. 

It's been a whole month and I've fallen so in love with you Esther! I can hardly wait to see what this next month and all those other months after that bring about.  

Part two of Esther's birth story....

After I heard the first cries ... I could see her briefly and a bit far away. But I could see this little lady had some dark hair and what seemed like a lot to me!

I was still on the operating table because I still needed to be stitched up but first they did the tubal ligation, so yes -- it's permanent as much as we have any control over the matter. And it's a good thing that we had determined we were done having kids, because the doctor would have recommended to us not to have any more. He discovered the walls of the uterus were very, very thin - which is not ideal for pregnancy.

And I was also informed that we got Esther out just in time, because the doctor told me that there was some meconium in the amniotic fluid, but luckily not to the point that it was going to cause her problems. I know that I couldn't have done this without the help of my husband and I'm so thankful he was there for the birth!

So after a morning of feeling lots of contractions that were very painful and hurting I had the baby within 4 1/2 hours of the onset of my contractions...

Here I am 3 weeks later and I love not feeling pregnant anymore, and my feet have finally gone back to their normal size and my baby girl is so fun to have around. The rest of the kids are doting on her all the time, and the older girls always want to hold her.

When the kids came in to the hospital to see Esther after school on the 6th ... they were all in 'instant' love with her.

I'm still having major feelings of being overwhelmed with all the tasks that I should be doing on top of taking care of a newborn, in addition to healing from a major surgery. But I just need to constantly remind myself that it will take time and I will feel "normal" again.

I can't complain too much though because my little beauty sleeps pretty well at night... especially if she's swaddled! Like last night she fell asleep at 12 am and made noise around 2:30ish in the morning but when I came to check on her, she was still sound asleep. So I let her be, and laid back down and she stayed asleep till 6am. But of course, these nights of sleeping well don't make up for the sleepless nights I had at the end of the pregnancy and even the last few weeks ....


I would like to put up some pictures... but I think it would be easier to just put together some scrapbook pages and post those instead.  But here is a picture of our cute little girl at 1 week old. 

 ESTHER CAROLINE  

8 lbs 4oz   19 1/2" 

Sept 6th

Sit Right Back and I'll tell you a tale ....

PART 1

What a crazy last few weeks I've had. First off, on Labor Day which was the 5th of September we didn't do a whole lot of anything. Just trying to make sure that the items needed in my absence at the hospital would be in the house, so we took care of picking up those few things that I hadn't gotten to yet. And then come that evening we had already been planning on going to the Orem Owlz baseball game that was happening that evening. Well, it all started off because we didn't know that the game time was an hour earlier than normal. ( I don't know how we didn't notice that before we got to the ball park that night). So when we got to the game it was already the top of the 3rd inning.

Yes I was at the ball game the night before I was scheduled to have my baby!! I was having contractions on and off all throughout the day but nothing that seemed time-able or regular to indicate I was in labor at all. So I made it through the ball game, and at the end we were ready to leave because we were still waiting to hear from the hospital to know what time to report to get ready for the c-section. So we were leaving the ball park and the event staff was handing out little "fat boy" ice cream sandwiches were GOOD!!

We hopped in our van and headed home, and halfway home we got a call on my cell phone, but doofus me left the phone in the bag which I put in the back of the van. We missed the call but found out that it was labor and delivery calling me. So I called them back (which I'm surprised that they called that number anyway as I had given them my home phone and Chris's cell numbers to contact us through). They told us that our c-section was scheduled for 9:30 am the next morning and that I needed to be there by 7:30am in order get prepped and be ready in time. All the kids were excited because now everything started to seem so real.... and I, well I started to CRY because all of a sudden here is this time that I thought would never get here, and I wasn't sure I wanted it to happen yet. I'm chalking that up to pregnancy hormones.... haha...

So now, I couldn't put off packing my hospital bag anymore... I needed it ready to go in the morning!! I had mostly everything together, but I had to double check and then add a few things I hadn't put together yet. We thought we would have a really crazy morning trying to get the kids to school and our 4 year old Ethan to whomever would be watching him. When it dawned on us that I only had to be at the hospital from 7:30 till it was time, and that Chris could easily be a driver and get everyone to school and the sitters etc.... we worked it out to have Chris's sister Amy watch Ethan for us, and we were able to just drop of the older school kids at school about 15 minutes earlier than they should have been there. So that was the plan to shoot for as of the night before.... Well I tried to sleep as best I could.... and knowing how lousy sleep I had been getting for the previous few weeks I'd be surprised if I had any better sleep tonight. Well, after I had everything ready and a bag ready with some supplies in it for Ethan I attempted to get some sleep. Well, I had contractions still coming into the evening and they had all been painful even the ones throughout the day time. So I was just trying to relax and not think anything of it.

I was trying to get some sleep and trying, and trying... but I ended up having a few contractions almost every hour and they were WAKING ME UP!! they HURT!! OUCH.... Around 4:30 (maybe even earlier but this is when I started keeping track) I realized I was having contractions about every 5 - 7 minutes apart and they hurt like nothing I'd ever experienced before!! Okay well maybe I had experienced it before but I couldn't remember how bad and intense they were from before. Well, I eventually had to start breathing to get through these, and I was crying because they were causing me A LOT of pain. And everyone else was SLEEPING, so I was jealous too!!!

I tried not to think anything of it, and just tried to work through each contraction, and finally around 5:30 I decided I needed to get my shower, because who was I kidding I wasn't really going to get any sleep. I showered and had a few while in the process of taking my shower .... so I braced myself against the walls for some support.

Chris was up around 6am and I was in tears and updated him on the condition I had been going through for the last hour and half. Now things seemed to be more serious and real, and we had to get the kids ready ... and take with us, so that Chris could just take me to the hospital, and then turn around and drop off the kids without needing to go home to get them ready or anything. SO .... it was an EARLY morning for our family, we aren't used to being up that early! And I was exhausted.

So we arrived at the hospital about 10 - 15 minutes earlier than we were told to be there, and when I arrived I said how I was scheduled for a c-section but that I was in labor as well and had been contracting since 4:30am. Once I was sitting in a wheelchair I told Chris to take the rest of them and hurry and get back!! They pulled me into my pre-op room and who ever tried to get my IV started wasn't very good or I just had retarded veins that wouldn't cooperate, so it took three attempts to fnally get one in, and the placement of it couldn't have been worse. It ended up in my right arm (which I am right handed) and it was in the crook of the arm. ANNOYING to say the least.

But the nurse checked me to see how much time they had to get the OR ready and I was at a 5 by the time I got there, and I was only at a 1.5 on Friday the 2nd of Sept. So I was for sure in labor and being a huge baby about it. I didn't want anymore pain.... !!!! And the whole time I was anxious for Chris to make it back!!

The Doctor who was supposed to do the surgery at 9:30 wasn't even in the hospital or close by, so luckily another doctor with the same office was there, and stepped up and took over. They got me into the OR around 8:30ish to get the spinal block in place, and once that was in place within just a few minutes I was in HEAVEN... no more pain. Which of course, meant no more control of my legs either. The nurse checked me again and in an hours time I went from a 5 to a 7!! She was not waiting to be born any longer -- today was the DAY!

Just after that Chris was in the OR with me in his "scrub" gear with the camera in hand and was there to hold my hand finally!! I don't think I have ever loved him more than at that very moment when our eyes met and we knew what was about to take place. And within just a few minutes about 10 or 15 - I heard the first cries of our little daughter Esther Caroline Randolph!! Boy what a set of lungs she has!!

Pictures to come later.... (Blogger isn't letting me load them right now)

Twas the night before .....

Well tonight is the last night in my life that I will ever be pregnant. Kind of a bitter sweet moment for me. But my body is so ready to have this little angel join our family. I have been having painful contractions throughout the day, but nothing that is timeable or consistent to make me think that I might be in labor. So now that we have gone to the baseball game and got our call on the way home from the game to say that the c-section is scheduled for 9:30am and we have to report by 7:30am. I hope I can get some sleep tonight, which I'll be surprised if I can sleep because of how miserable the last few weeks have been during the night. But at least this is the last night to sleep being pregnant and then tomorrow night I start the whole not being able to sleep because I have a newborn. I've been terribly emotional this entire pregnancy and the slightest little things will set me off into crying. And I kind of feel like that now. I know what I'm doing is special, and that I'll just fall in love with her the minute she's put into my arms. The kids are all EXCITED to meet little Esther tomorrow after school. And it was really hard to actually get them to go to bed tonight, I just hope that everyone can wake up an hour earlier than they are used to in order for me to get to the hospital at the right time. I do feel like an EPIC FAILURE as far as cleaning up the house goes because the kitchen and living room aren't tidied and I don't have energy to do a darn thing about it. Hopefully my kids will kick into gear and get things done while I'm away for a few days. (Crossing my fingers) I still can't believe I'm about to have another baby and a little girl at that!! It's been several years now since I've had a little girl and now that little girl is 9 years old!! Well, this is the one time I've waited till the last minute to pack my bag... actually most of it is done, I just need to make sure that everything is actually in there now. So I should go, and maybe try to wash up the kitchen dishes at least so that Chris doesn't have to deal with them tomorrow. I can't believe another incredible journey is going to begin tomorrow morning. I'm nervous, excited, tired, sad, and scared all in one. But I know with my husband close by I can make it through anything, and with all the friends and family praying for me and wishing my family an I the best... that things will be okay. So I'm signing off for a few days, and when I'm back I'll have pictures to share!!!

Maternity Pictures from August 16th, 2011

So I had a great friend of mine who is talented and just plain AWESOME take some pictures of me a few weeks ago.   Here are some of my favorites.   And now, it's just a few more days until the arrival of our little Esther girl.   Tuesday SEPT 6th will be her birthday ....UNLESS something changes between now (Sept 2nd) and then.   Chris is taking me out tonight for a "last FRIDAY date night" before we have a baby again.  And last night on top of all the regular pregnancy pains and ailments... I stepped on a bee or wasp and ended up with a "sting".   YES it hurt!!!  YES I cried!!!  YES it throbbed most of the night causing me to get very little sleep!!  YES this resulted in me taking a two hour nap today!!   

But Chris being his funny self ... when he realized that I was stung and I was hysterical and completely freaking out and crying like a big baby ... said something like, " Oh my, I think you are allergic your foot is already swelling up"     REMINDER:  I have had swollen feet for 2 months now.   I wasn't laughing when he first said it, but about 15 - 20 minutes later it came back to my mind and I was laughing in the middle of crying ....If that is even possible.

I like this picture ALOT... except you can really see how fat and ugly my feet are and have been. haha.

 

Tonight was our LUCKY NIGHT!!!

NO!!!! The baby isn't here yet.

But we did head out to the OREM OWLZ baseball game again tonight. The weather was great!! We had cloudy skies and the sun wasn't in our eyes, it wasn't too hot, we even had a few rain sprinkles but nothing too heavy.

But before we experience all the rain sprinkles, we were prepared to pay for parking as we always do, and the parking people waved us on in, so we parked for free. YAY!!!

While in the ball park, we were waiting for the game to start and one of the staff people asked if we had any kids that would like to do one of their in between innings games. So three of our five (Thomas, Heidi and Katherine)were in the little "HOT DOG" race. One of them represented Ketchup, while another was Mustard, and the other was Relish. And you watched a screen on the scoreboard, and then the kids more or less "spaz" out and pretend to race while basically staying in place. (Heidi was so wild, she even fell down!) We were laughing so HARD. They did a great job and with three of our kids in the "contest" we were guaranteed to come home winners. The result: Heidi who played the part of MUSTARD won the race and won an envelope full of "prizes". There were 3 Little Ceasars pizza vouchers that can be used there in the park. And three upgrade seat tickets. And several other free kids meal coupons that we may or may not use. THe other two kids ended up with a couple of free "Crazy Bread" coupons to use in a Little Ceasars location. Can you say S.C.O.R.E !!! YAY HEIDI. So we redeemed one of the pizza vouchers while at the game tonight.

Next Katherine ended up with one of the foul balls (AGAIN) I've lost count of how many we've gotten because of her. Oh, and I forgot that they were giving away "PENS" at the beginning of the game as well. So all of us ended up with a pack of three pens with string on them so you can hang them around your neck.

Then Thomas discovered that some booth was giving away some stuff and saw some squishy balls that just happened to be blue. And he went up and asked them if they had any of the balls, and the people gave him one, matter of fact they gave all of our kids one when they went up to the booth. Crazy times.

THEN.... there was another contest they were doing between innings and Kaylee ended up winning this one. And got three vouchers to redeem at Trafalga for any 2 activities. SWEET!! ( So as Thomas said...." Tonight was our LUCKY NIGHT!")

Not to mention the Owlz won the game 4-3 after the top of the 9th.

What a night. We definitely had some fun. Planning a fun day for tomorrow as well. Hope the weather will cooperate. Not sure exactly what we'll do, but hopefully it ends up being a good fun day for our family. Maybe I'll talk my husband into going out in the evening for one last little date night before the baby comes. haha.. (I'll see how that goes, though)

Happy Anniversary to my Mother and Father in law ....Part 2

We had a great weekend. Well mostly.

I made it through the entire Anniversary weekend celebrations for my in laws, and now Im ready to have my baby anytime she's ready!!

We started off with a family picture session on Saturday morning. IT. WAS. HOT!! and right when my little family was up for our family picture, the photographer was starting to take pictures and OUCH.... I was having a contraction right when she snapped the first picture....

YEah I know I look lovely don't I ?

But really this is how most of the pictures turned out... not with me having contractions, but just not as good as I was hoping.  But it's okay because we'll have to get a new picture taken for Christmas this year because we'll have our little Esther here within 2 weeks or less from tomorrow.

So we had group pictures taken of EVERYONE, those didn't turn out so great either ...

then of course, we had Grandma and Grandpa with all 21 grandchildren -- yeah that didn't work so well either.  I guess the point is that we have everyone in the picture regardless of whether they are all happy or not. 

We ended back at my sister in laws house for the big celebration open house and there was a decent turn out and lots of extended family that showed up.  So it was really fun to see all of them.  The book I made was well liked by everyone who saw it. Or rather I was told that they liked it.

Here are pictures of the quilt that was made for them.

This book was 193 pages  --- consisting of pictures that were donated and given to me to use for this project.  It took up pretty much my entire summer, and suffered from swollen feet most nights because of it.  But I do have to say there was a point that I was working on it, and I really did just want to throw in the towel and stop working on it altogether because I did frustrated here and there.   My house got neglected and is still suffering from the neglect all summer long.  (Except my bathroom is mostly clean right now but that's about it.)



But I stuck with this project, and kept forging onward, and there was a moment where I was overcome with extreme emotion and got a little teary eyed, because I realized how special this was, and the love and hard work that was put into it will really mean a lot to all of those who look at this through the years. 

I WAS GOING TO POST A PICTURE HERE OR TWO OR THREE, but it's not cooperating, and I'm going to get off now because my feet are really starting to hurt.  Wish I had a lap top right now, so I could sit back in my recliner and still be able to use the computer. 
 

Happy Anniversary to my Mother and Father in law ....Part 1

Tonight was the part 1 in a 2 part celebration for my in laws 50th Anniversary!!

My husband and I along with all of his siblings and their spouses or fiance gathered with his parents up in Salt Lake City at the top of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building at the The Roof Restaurant for a special evening. We enjoyed the food, and the company and the conversation, and the time came for the "tributes".

Each of the children took a few moments to make a special comment or two about their parents and share memories. They all did a great job!! I of course, was crying the whole time and had tears coming out my eyes the majority of the night. But there was definitely a special sweet spirit in that room with all of us tonight.

I did get a little HOT and uncomfortable but I managed to make it through. I did however have to stand and pace a little in what little space existed so that I could ease some of the pain in my back. After all the tributes were done, we presented to them the two gifts that we had all chipped in for. One being a beautiful custom made quilt and the other .... the project I was working on all summer long. I had gathered pictures from all of my husband's siblings and spent many hours scanning and putting together an Anniversary book for them. It was all digital and we had it printed. I think they liked it, and that's what I've been hoping to hear. It really is a special book, filled with love and lots of memories. One to be treasured for years to come!!

Now, we get to go tomorrow for Day 2 of celebrating and this will start off with a Family Picture.... I just seriously hope that it goes off without any problems and not too much chaos!! And then onto my sister in laws house for the rest of the day. I'm just hoping that my little baby decides to wait till after tomorrow before she wants to come. It really will make things a lot easier if she waits. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures tomorrow. Tonight I didn't get too many, but I'll make up for it tomorrow.

Final week of Summer Break

Here I am at the closing of another summer break and my kids are about to start school once again. This year I'll have four in school ALL day and one little guy at home for just a few days until we have our little Esther. Then I'll have the two at home. I'm sure Ethan will be such a big help with his little sister that I'll just savor up each moment I get to spend with the two of them.

So as that time comes closer and closer, I can't help but feel like this summer has just flown by. Mainly because I was undertaking a huge project that I just finished up this last weekend. I'm glad to have that out of the way, and now I can really focus on getting my house dejunked now. The dejunking was put aside when I took on this project through delegation and then got sucked into it. But it can be revealed shortly what exactly it was, but until then it will have to remain a surprise.

I can't believe my children are growing so fast!! I'll have a first grader, a fourth grader, 6th grader and one in 7th grade this year. I seriously can't be this old already. Not to mention that baby 6, our little Esther will be here in just a few short weeks. But I guess it is possible to have all of this, when I started having kids in my early 20's.

The one thing about pregnancy that I wish I could capture would be movements this baby has been making for the last several months. I could do without the swollen feet, the pain in my back and other pregnancy side effects that make it feel like a miserable experience. But the movement I love!! Even the hurtful movements like she's trying to bust out of there... haha.

I'm still not quite ready for the little lady but I do believe I can get caught up within the next week or so and get to where I was hoping to be at the beginning of the summer before I had to take on a huge project that became my life for the last 2 months. But that's okay... it's all working out.

I'm completely overwhelmed with the thought of adding another child, but know that everything will work out somehow. I just need to have faith and know that I can do this. The kids are all excited, and Ethan seems to be the most excited. With school starting up and a new baby coming really soon.... the house work needs to be getting done on a regular basis, and as of late because of my project things were getting left undone. And by the time I've had a minute to do something, I chose to snooze, or sit down and do nothing instead. So I've got my work cut out for me and need to get a school schedule completed so that my kids will know what needs to be done and when. (And hoping that they will adapt to that very quickly).

So now I get ready to resume my normal life and get things back on track and develop our schedule all while feeling the life within me moving around as a constant reminder that things are about to change again. Here's to getting things done and not feeling quite so overwhelmed about being a new mommy again.