It's a Boy!

Just a quick post to say that we are having another boy. I haven't even looked at boy names because I wanted a girl, so now I must start the search for a good boy name. I am a little worried for three boys that will wrestle the house to rubble and for the teenage years of always needing to keep the house stocked with food. It will be a good thing to have another boy and I am very grateful for the one girl that I did get. It is nice to KNOW that our family is now complete and that we have everyone here.

Christmas Card 2009

It now appears that we are not going to get a Christmas card out again this year. So I will do a run down of our year. We have had a busy year.

Ryan:

Ryan finished up his MBA and graduated in May. We are very proud of him. We bought a house in Lehi and moved in July. He continued to work for Moog throughout the year but He was offered a new job at a company called KS Marketing and he will start working for this new company in January. He will have a much better commute and I am sure that the environment will be much better and he will be much happier at the new company. He will also be able to use all of his talents and skills to a greater level and be a benefit to this company. We are very excited for this new opportunity.

Brooke:

I am doing fine. Earlier this year (on Mother's Day) I was given a feeling that we were not done having children. So we agreed to have one more baby. The baby is due in May. We will find out what we are having later this year. I am enjoying being a stay at home mom and I enjoy laughing daily at the things the kids say and do.

Anikka:

Anikka turned 8 this year and was baptized by her father. She has adjusted well to the move and is enjoying 3rd grade. We love that she is on the A track and goes to school from 8 am to 2:30 pm. She has discovered that she likes to wake up early and read for her daily 30 minute homework and then be done for the rest of the day. She is still an amazing big sister and very helpful to her brothers.

Bennett:

Ben is so funny and wound so tight. He introduces himself as Bennett but he will answer to either name and is mostly Ben at home. Ben turned 5 in July and since his birthday was so late in the year we decided to do another year of preschool and start kindergarten next year. I am so happy with this decision. Ben is doing really well at preschool and has started picking up on sight words. He does like to let every other child know that he is the oldest often. He is usually very pleasant until something unpredictable happens like when Mac touches something that he shouldn't.

Mac:

Mac is such a handful. He speaks very well and I am amazed by the stuff he comes up with to say. Like a phrase that he came up with on his own and says often, "Open the Light!" Ryan really loves that because a direct traslation of turn on the light in Vietnamese in open the light. Mac turned 2 in April and I think he will always keep us on our toes. He likes anything that Ben likes and is Ben's constant shadow. He is still a little bit of a Mama's boy and loves to cuddle. I hope he is kind to the new baby and is fine sharing his Mom.

We have had a great year and have been so blessed. We are grateful for the Church and the Gospel in our lives. We are grateful for the new events that will happen in the next year.

The Car

I love going for drives, road trips and I love just being in the car. So if any one wants to invites us anyplace we will be very happy to go. Our kids are also very good in the car. I think I have trained them very well to enjoy going places like me. Another reason I love being in the car is that we get to overhear what the kids are saying to one another.

Ben said to Anikka "I 'member' lots of things, I remember things for a long, long, long, long, long, long time. I have a good memory. I remember things good."

Anikka said " Oh yeah, What happened yesterday?"

Ben replied "I remember, but I am not going to tell you."

Kids are just great and a treasure trove of good laughs.

We had a good Thanksgiving the only problem was that it was just too short. I need another week of everyone being home and not having any thing else to do. Hopefully Christmas will get here quickly so we can have nearly two weeks of no work and no school.

Vacation and Sleepwalking

I know that I have a boring pictureless blog but I don't like to put up pictures. I will make myself do it on occasion but mostly I just don't. Sorry.

On Saturday November 7th I left to go on a vacation with my Sister and our Parents. We went to southern Utah and visited Zion's and Bryce Canyon. It was one of the better vacations we have had. I think it was that my Dad went this time so Tawnya had someone to go with her on the harder hikes, and so we did not have to spend too much time together. It was a good time except they made me go on a three mile hike that was called "The World's Best Three-Mile Hike." It was really beautiful and wonderful except for the last .5 miles which was stunning and really hard. I am pregnant. We returned really tired on Wednesday the 11th. I don't think that my kids missed me at all. Well, maybe Mac missed me a little bit. They do have so much fun with Ryan. He made them all secret agent badges and he is just fun. I often feel that he is the better parent.

A few nights ago I was in bed watching TV and I see a dark shadow walk by my room and then I see the shadow go to the office chair and begin to sit in it. I jump up and say "Anikka the is not the bathroom, what are you doing?" She just stumbled into the bathroom and I then notice what she is wearing. She is fully clothed including her boots. I ask her why she is wearing her school clothes and her boots and she just stared at me. I remind her that she is done and that we need to go change in her clothes and get into her jammies. She then walks into my room and sits on my bed and I say "What are you doing?" and she starts getting a little bit upset and starts saying " I, uh, I can't find it." I asked"what?" She says "it, what I am looking for." " So what are you looking for?" I said. By now she is pretty upset with tears starting to brim her eyes and she says with a deep breath " the sandwich." So I am trying so hard not to laugh and I say okay as I guide her back to her room and get her changed into her jammies. When I tried to get her to help me in putting on her jammies she would only lift her legs one at a time so I could get her dressed. The next morning she woke up very confused that she was wearing jammies because she went to sleep wearing the clothes she wanted to wear to school that day. Then I told her about her adventures that night and she just laughed and laughed because she could not remember a thing. We also asked her not to wear her clothes to bed again, and to definatly not wear her boots to bed.

Patience

What worked for me in the past sure isn't working for me now and I am slow to catch up. I don't really want to catch up because then all the rules will change again. I don't know how it is with anyone else but I sure have a lot more patience with my children when they are younger. Ben is giving me fits lately, real literal screaming fits. I used to be pretty lucky when shopping with my kids in stores that we have had very few fits. I have only had to remove them from the store on two occasions. Yesterday we went to Costco to buy Anikka a coat and to look at what kind of pajamas they had. They did not have the one pair of jammies in Ben's size that he liked. There was another style and he started whining about the one he liked. He has been whining A LOT lately so I put the jammies down and said when you whine you do not get anything. Then we proceeded to leave the store with Ben screaming but we had to buy the coat first so we stood in the thankfully short line for a short period of time. We were the ones everyone was looking at and probably judging. It was embarassing but the biggest problem is I don't think that Ben got that when he screams like that he does not get his way. He is still screaming and whining today about everything. If I ask him to clean his room he answers with a screeching wail. I also don't know what good "time out" does. It just doesn't seem to work for my kids. Discipline is so hard. Ben is 90% of time a awesome little boy and he is so reverent in church except for this last Sunday when I had to take him out from the chapel for a fit. Maybe it is just this week? I am hoping it is a growth spurt that has him all onery like this and in a few weeks we can get back to our old way of doing things. I hope I can learn to develop more patience with my kids because they are all only going to get older.

Pajama Day

Today is a pajama day. It is snowing and I am so tired and we don't have any thing else going on. I really like these days. It started too early. I think the wind woke up Mac a 5 am and he woke up crying about spiders and he did not go back to sleep until 10:30. Ben and I woke up at 5:30 and he was able to go back to sleep and I was not. I have never been a good sleeper when I am pregnant and it just gets worse as I am further along and worse when the baby gets here. I like these pajama days and I will take them as often as I can.

Last week while driving in the car Anikka asked Ryan who he loved more Ben or Mac. Mac starts chanting, "Mac, Mac, Mac, Mac" at the top of his lungs. I start laughing and Ryan successfully did not laugh when he answered that he loved both of them equally. Poor Ben sure has to put up with a lot with his bully of a little brother.

Hard Day

I went to a funeral today. It was for my college roommate's older brother. He was killed by a drunk driver during the Las Vegas Ragnar Race. My roommate is such an amazing person and they come from such a wonderful, close-knit and spectacular Family. They are from Star Valley, Wyoming. I love that place and am forever grateful to have roommates from there that could introduce me to such a great place. I wanted to post this so that I could remember the very inspiring words that were spoken today. My roommates father got up to speak and the congregation sniffled throughout his talk. He spoke about how difficult this has been to bury his only son. He said that if he had known that this was coming He would have done everything in his power to stop it, He said that is a gulf of difference between him and our Heavenly Father. He said he needed to grow more like his son to become more pure of heart so that he will be able also to see the face of God. He spoke of the comfort he recieved from being inspired to memorize scriptures 3 weeks ago not knowing then what he would need it for. The scriptures were D&C 101, 14-16. I am grateful to have known and know that amazing family and I can only hope to raise my children half as well as they have raised theirs.

Good News

I had my ultrasound appointment yesterday and there was a little baby in there and I was even able to hear the heartbeat. What a relief, and this has been the absolute weirdest pregnancy I have ever had. I am grateful for this good turn of events. We are happy to be adding to our family and I really would like to have another girl but we will take what we get.

Giving My Kids a Complex

4 times in the last 6 days our smoke alarm has been going off and it is so loud and there is also an annoying voice that repeats "fire" over and over again. We figured out that it is steam from the shower that is setting off the alarm. Ben is so scared. Sunday night he was up 6 or 7 times in the night saying he heard the alarm and that his alarm keeps going off since the light changes from green to red occasionally. This morning the alarm went off and woke Ben and Mac up with tears. Ben accused me of taking too long of a shower, He said that I need to get in the shower, wash my hair and get out. On the plus side the children are suitably scared of the alarm and it did wake them all up. Hopefully we can get it all figured out soon and without having to take 5 minute, really cold showers.

What We Have Been Up To

So good news first:

Anikka started 3rd grade here in Lehi

Ben started pre-school

Mac is still 2

I am pregnant

Bad news:

3rd grade is harder than she thought

pre-school is ten minutes away

Mac is 2

I'm worried about miscarriage

I thought I was pregnant before I expected my first period and so I took a pregnancy test and it was negative. So much for testing up to 5 days early. The day, which was a Saturday, I expected my period I had period cramps but nothing else. Really weird. I continued cramping through out the week and still kept getting a negative result for the pregnancy test. By Friday I tried to make an appointment to see my doctor and couldn't get in. I took another pregnancy test and it was positive, barely. That night the cramping moved to my left back (kidney area) and was really painful. We went to the ER and they did an ultrasound and found something in my uterus and told me it was not a tubal pregnancy and to see my regular Dr. On Tuesday I went to see my normal doctor and he gave me some anti infection medicine that helped with the cramping and had me schedule another ultrasound for when I was 7 weeks along. The medicine worked and I don't have any more pain. So I went in for the ultrasound and we saw an empty uterus and it was measuring 5 weeks instead of 7 weeks. It really scared me and I heard the term "blighting ovum". That day I was so convinced that I was going to miscarry and it was just a matter of time. The next day the doctor's office called and said it is looking like a "normal early pregnancy" but just in case come back in three weeks and have another ultrasound, in the meantime if you have any bleeding come right in. I am still worried. I am hoping everything is going to be just fine. If everything does turn out to be fine and good, we will be expecting the baby May 6. If not we will try again.

Busy, Busy, Busy

We had a super busy end of July! We closed on our house on the 17th of July. So it is now ours. On the 18th we went to Ikea. It was my first time. I liked it. We bought some very nice shelves and we took them immediately to our new house and set them up for the sole purpose of unpacking things to put things away quickly. The next day was Ben's 5th birthday and unfortunately I had already packed the camera. He received all the Star Wars things that he could possibly want and Ryan the Man decorated the cake to look like Obi Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker fighting in the lava (Star Wars 3). Ben liked it a lot. Then we took a load out to the new house. The rest of the week was spent taking out random stuff to the new house.

We had been planning to have the big move on Saturday the 25th with little help but it was decided to move on Thursday the 23rd because there would be more help that evening. So we moved. I felt really pretty settled in the new house but there was a big feeling of not being done because we still had to clean the old house. That stunk. I hate cleaning the old places. We finished cleaning that day with some help of the neighbors. On Saturday night we had our first house guests. Ryan's brother came to visit from New York. I really enjoyed having them stay with us. On Sunday we went to our new ward for the first time. It was so loud! It made our kids seem like they were really well behaved. It was fun and I am really looking forward to being here.
On Friday, July 30 We had the start of Camp Jeppesen. The Family gets together in Mantua at Grandma and Grandpa "Jeppies" house. We even get t-shirts that say Camp Jeppesen on them with our own squirrel mascot. I really like Ryan's family and we all had a great time being together and letting the kids play.
School starts on August 20th here and I am so not prepared. I have not gone school shopping yet and I don't know when I will get a chance to go. We just bought a house and we are on a major budget. I am in a major love-hate relationship with our budget. Ryan loves the budget, it really suits his personality. I have always been the spender and so I now just can't run to the mall and get a little something here and there.
I feel like I have had to grow up a lot these last couple of months. This was my first move that I have done on my own with little help from my mom. It has made me have to face being a grown up more than I ever had. It wasn't as much fun and excitment as there has been in the past moves. This time it was just a lot of work that I was responsible for. I am very happy to be settled. We unpacked every box before Ryan returned to work and it is nice to have our own house. I am still trying to get used to it and to try and get a routine going. The kids are happy and used to our new house already. I am really looking forward to the new friends we will have.

Mac's Pretties

Mac found some nail polish and asked his Aunt Meagan to put it on him so she painted his toe nails. Mac has been very proud of them and shows everyone his "pretties". When we were driving the other day Ryan asked Mac where his pretties were and Mac pointed in his shoes "there" and then Ryan turned to Ben and asked him where his pretties were and Ben disgustedly said " I don't have pretties, I have Handsomes" I love boys!

June

We have had a fun June. Ben had "picture day " at the Bat Cave. His Characters were all very happy to be there.Anikka advanced to her green/white belt. I love this studio so much and I am so sad that we are moving away from it. I will miss the program so much and so will Anikka.

Anikka turned 8 on June 11. She wanted chocolate dipped strawberries on her cake and she wanted Beans and Rice for dinner. She loves her beans and rice.

Ben enjoying the party. He is so excited that his birthday is next. He can not wait for July 19 to get here.

Anikka's Baptism. It was so nice and quick. Ben was able to give a talk and He loved it. Anikka was able to get ready after the Baptism in record time and beat Ryan out of the bathroom by a good 5 minutes. After Ryan confirmed Anikka a member of our Church he got a little teary-eyed. I thought that was so nice to see. We are so grateful to the family members that were able to make it there and super grateful to our friends that made the journey. We have some great friends.


Ryan and I celebrated our 11 year anniversary by cleaning the house and getting ready for the Baptism the next day. Not the best anniversary ever and we didn't exchange presents because we are buying a house. Never the less I am very grateful to be married to such an amazing man I really did marry the perfect man for me and I really like being married. I am Blessed!

This is a painting Ryan did for the Karate studio as a thank you for all they did for Anikka. I love the painting and am sad to see it go but we got a picture of it. He is so talented.

Mac has been a crazy little two-year-old and it only seems to get worse as the kid gets older. We went to a park that had a big duck pond and as it was time to leave Ryan was letting the kids say goodbye to the ducks and Mac got a little too close to the water and as Ryan went to grab him Mac saw him coming and took off running right into the water. He fell to his knees and was soaked. Ryan had no choice but to step in to his ankle to retreive our crazy boy. Ryan and I have been certainly blessed (cursed?) with three very active children. I sure love them all but I occasionally wish for a child the is content with quietly driving a car across the kitchen floor for an hour.

Our house is coming along nicely. When we last looked at it all the drywall was up and it is ready to paint. I am getting really excited to move and I would really like to have a specific date of when it will be done. All we are getting now is that our home inspection will be the week of the 15th. It will all happen soon enough.

Girls Colorado Trip

My Mom, Sister Tawnya and I planned a girls trip. We have seemed to get it in about every three years (when my babies are old enough to leave them with Dad for an extended period of time). We left early Saturday the 23rd and drove straight to Glenwood Springs, Colorado. It took about five hours. I loved it there and it is a great kid destination. We shopped the main street and took a walk that night. On our walk Tawnya and I were stopped by a group of four less fortunate people that asked for change. Tawnya gave what she had in her pocket and was very kind. As we walked away Tawnya asked if I was a little uncomfortable and I said I was and asked if she felt that way as well. She said a few months ago yes but now these people are just like my clients and I know that they are harmless and pretty good people. Tawnya is a Defense Attorney. She likes her job. The next morning we visited the Glenwood Caverns that were great. We then drove up over a Mountain Pass to get to Denver. We stayed at my Aunt Charlotte's house and it was really nice to have the comforts of home and family. On Monday we went shopping and to a movie and just relaxed. Then on Tuesday we drove to Steamboat Springs, and ate at the worst place of the trip. The Ore House, it just wasn't good. On Wednesday, We shopped again and then came home late that night. It was a overall great trip filled with relaxation and all the fun things that we like to do. Here's to the next trip in three years.

Anikka has her last day of school today and next year will be a third grader. She is such a trooper to be fine starting a new school next year. I really appreciate her and her ability to adjust to new things. Yea! For Summer!

Mother's Day

Usually Mother's Day is not my favorite holiday. It is because my birthday is on the 11th and so I get one present for both celebrations. Ryan really doesn't mind that. He really likes the two for one deal he gets. On Sunday, We were sitting somewhat quietly during the Sacrament and I experienced a major spiritual prompting, I am talking the whole bosom burning thing, That we need to have another baby. I turned to Ryan and told him "we are supposed to have another baby, " and he took one look at me and said "okay". For some time we had discussed being done and I had been praying about being done and asking if there was another spirit up there that needed to come to our family to let me know otherwise we were done. So I guess we are not done. It is neat how right it feels and I am getting more excited. The kids have always talked about us having another baby, I guess they knew something that we didn't know. Ryan joked a few days later that it was a good thing that I recieved that little inspiration because if it had been him he would not have done anything about it. So my hope is to get pregnant in September so I can have another summer baby because I sure love that time of year to have a newborn. Whew four kids seems like so many. I hope we can handle them all.

Ben's Futures

On the way home from Pre-school Ben told the carpool his futures. He told everyone that he and Anna (a girl that lives behind us and is in the same pre-school class) are going to marry because it is in their futures. They will also live in a basement when they get married. He also let everyone know that poor Mac does not have any futures. When I asked Ben why Mac does not have any futures, he said "I haven't seen any". Anikka said "that is not true I did his and he is going to marry Samantha or Holland, I can't remember." Then it clicked for me and I got it. A month or so ago I showed Anikka how to play the game MASH. That is a fun, silly game that you play to see who you are going to marry and where you will live and how many kids you will have and so forth. Anikka has been playing the game often and also plays one for the boys and that is how Ben got his idea of futures.

Mac's Birthday

Mac turned two on April 30th. We had the hardest time trying to decide what to get him for his birthday. He has so many hand me down toys. We settled for bath toys and chalk.

He seemed to have a good time. When you ask him how old he his he will always say "three".

He already thinks he is older than he really is.

On Friday May 1st we attended Ryan's MBA graduation. We are very proud of him. The kids lasted all of twenty minutes. Good thing Ryan was hooded and walked in those first twenty minutes. My children are all very, very active. They have a really hard time sitting still. Even Anikka who is nearly 8 just can't sit still. I often look around at church and see all these other families with their quiet little children quietly looking at books. Then there are our children who need to break out the snacks 5 minutes after arriving at church (keeping in mind this is 30 minutes after eating breakfast.) Ben needs Ryan to draw some highly irreverent pictures of Mario brothers characters, evil He-Man characters mainly Trapjaw and Skeletor, and "Dark" Vadar. Then Ben will color and he will mostly be quiet unless Mac gets too close to him or colors on his picture then he will breakdown. Anikka just seems to never be comfortable. She is always shifting around like her underwear is always riding up or something. She just can't sit still. Mac is always trying to go out of his way to entertain who ever sits behind us. He has to stand up and smile, and climb on the arm of the bench and "ride" it and then he will hang on the back of the bench in front of us, he also likes to poke the poeple that sit in front of us as an attempt to get them to turn around and smile at him. Just any way to get attention. I still have some hope that my kids will grow out of the wiggly stage but Anikka has made it hard to imagine that any of them will ever sit still EVER. Oh, well They are my children and I do love them.

Catching Up

April has been a good month for us so far. Ryan had a birthday on the 3rd and it was not one of his better birthday's. We bought him an apple turnover and stuck a candle in it and that was his "cake". We then said goodbye and sent him off to work and didn't see him again until 11:00 pm. We did buy him a nice TV a couple of weeks before so no one needs to feel bad for him for his mediocre birthday.

Mac is growing like crazy. I was able to get these cute pictures of Mac and how well he plays with our cats.This picture is of Mac going "night night" with Thor. Our cats are so gentle with the kids and they are really good cats. They do love Anikka the most and sleep with her every night.

This picture is of Mac and Loki's favorite game. When Loki is sleeping on the couch Mac will sneak up close to the couch until Loki puts his paw on Mac's head and then Mac just giggles. They have done it so many times and I am glad I was able to take a picture of it.
And now the best for last. Ryan and I bought a house in Lehi. This picture is of the model home but our house will look just like this one. We are pretty excited. The timing is really good right now to buy the house. I know that there are five nurseries in the ward that we will be moving into and the neighborhood is packed full with kids. I am so excited to live by so many young families. I will miss Heber and living so close to my family but I think that I need to become a little more independent at this time in my life. The house is to be built and will be done in mid to late July. Again, really good timing.

I Survived!

Hooray to me for surviving this past week. Ryan left for a training meeting in Buffalo last Tuesday and I hate when he is gone. I just don't sleep well when he is not home. He had a good time and I was exhausted. Ryan is the one that wakes up when any of the kids wake up for any reason in the night. Mac decided on Wednesday night that he needed to wake up at 10:30 and not go back to sleep until 1:00. Now it is Monday and I still feel so tired. Good thing next week is Spring Break and super good thing that this weekend is General Conference. Maybe I can catch up on rest, relaxation and general feelings of goodness then.

Long Time

So, I have now discovered how easy it is to get out of the habit of writing things down. It all started while I was looking for wedding pictures to post and still I haven't put any up. So over the last month or so we have just been hanging out and waiting for spring. Early in February the kids and I went on an "adventure" when I was making a left hand turn on a cold, snowy evening and slid off the road. Within a minute a policewoman stopped to see if we were okay. I was able to call my Dad and brother to come and tow us out. Hooray for cell phones! After a half hour of trying and hitting a barbwire fence and knocking off the head light. We decided to throw in the towell and call a tow truck. The car is good. The headlight just popped right back in.
A highlight of the month was that we were able to take our first family extended (6 hours each way) road trip to Boise, yes that's right, Boise . All three kids did very well. It made us as parents a little more hopeful for future road trips.
I am starting to get really sick of school and schedules. I am really excited for summer and summer break. I am excited to have everyone home and to just be able to do what we want to do. Unfortunatly that optimism ends after only a few weeks of having everyone and doing whatever we want. Ah, the pitiful life of someone who thinks their own grass is pretty green and fine but that grass on the other side of the fence sure looks perfect. Never satisfied. Good thing Celestial progress takes a lifetime!

Funny Boys

In the car going home from my Parents house Ben asked us this question. "Do you know how Jesus makes our bodies?" "How?" Ben said "He decorates us." That just makes me feel pretty.

Mac was pretty whiny one night and everyone was helping Anikka clean her room so no one was paying too much attention to Mac until he finally grabbed Ryan's leg and in his one year old language said "I Stinky." Ryan could not stop laughing. It just might be his first sentence and something to use to embarrass him later.

Happiness Found

My number one and two happiest memories are very close together and they run into each other. So I will just write them together. My number one happiest memory is my wedding day. It was June 26, 1998. I remember arriving at the temple first (early, of course) and being so nervous that Ryan wasn't there. He arrived right on time and I sighed a breath of relief. We were married by the sweetest man named Ned Winder. Ned Winder was Ryan's Dad's mission president and he married all the Jeppesen boys to their spouses. I remember how choked up my Dad was after the ceremony and how he stifled a sob when we hugged and that was the closest I came to crying that day. It was so wonderful to be married to him for all time and eternity. Our Luncheon was at the Sherwood Hills golf club. It was good. Then our reception was at the Jeppesen home in Mantua. It was so beautiful and the perfect spot for a reception. My Aunt Cynthia made our amazing chocolate iced wedding cake. I had always told my Mom that I wanted a chocolate iced wedding cake and she always said, no those things are just not done. It was however the absolute best tasting wedding cake ever. We left the reception as quickly as we could and drove to Park City which leads to my second most happy memory of our Honeymoon. We spent two nights in Park City then we left to drive to Oregon. We had the best time. Highlights of the trip were the seaplane ride and all of the beautiful sights. I just love road trips and I am very much in love with my husband even after all this time. I really want to take a road trip with all of my kids someday to show them all the cool sights there are in the world.

Closer to Happiness

Here is my continuing list of my most happy days. These do not have too much order.
5. The day we met Mac. I went in for a regular check-up on April 30 (his due date was May 10) and I told the Dr. that day would be a really good day to have the baby and asked if we could try to make that happen. He laughed and stripped the membranes and I started labor. It was my second most difficult delivery. Mac also had the cord wrapped around his neck tightly which caused his heart rate to drop a little bit, but no one seemed to be too concerned and we held off the delivery a few minutes for Ryan to get there. Mac was born at 10:03 pm. When we first saw Mac we were blown away by his long blond hair. It was so amazing. The first thing that Ryan said when he saw him was "he looks like Jeff!" He really is such a joy!
4. The day we met Ben. Ben was my easiest delivery. On July 19 I went to a regular Dr. appointment and the Dr. said wow I think you are going to have a baby today and I said "That can't happen, I have another week." Ben's due date was the 21st and I planned on going over it. I went home to see if I would start contracting and called Ryan and told him to go home and pack for us, because I hadn't packed yet because I had another week. I was so excited to meet him and the whole thing seemed very laid-back. Ben was born at 9:57 pm. The next day when we took him home from the hospital we got stuck in a cloudburst that was so scary. But we made it home just fine and have a great memory from the second day of Ben's life.
3. When we had an ultrasound with Anikka we were very excited to find out if she was a boy or a girl. The tech couldn't tell and said if she had to guess she would say 70% for a girl. It was not great odds so we bought all of our 0-3 month clothes in neutral colors which has been so great with her two brothers. Anikka was a week late and I went in for a regular check-up and the Dr. stripped the membranes and that sent me into labor. She was my hardest delivery because I was dialated to a 7 before I recieved my epidural. When she was born the Dr. said "wow she's big. She's big like a boy, Oh Wait" That really confused me and I had to ask Ryan if she was really a girl. Anikka was born at 7:13 pm. We had been prepared with two names to name her if she was a girl. She would have been Elijah if she had been a boy. So Ryan turned to me and said "what should we name her, Anikka or Allyse?" I said "I don't know, What do you think?" He said he didn't know and we then turned to my Mom who was holding Anikka and she said "She is not an Ally, She is such an Anikka!" Ryan and I both said that it sounded good to us and that is how she got her name.
I will finish the next two happy days in my life on another day.

Something That Stuck

In our house we really try to stress taking care of one another. Anikka is in charge of taking care of Ben and Mac and helping them with what they need. Ben is in charge of taking care of Mac and helping him with his needs. They are siblings and really need to learn to love each other. Last night I was helping Anikka wash her hair, Mac was standing by me watching, and we got some shampoo in her eyes and she starts screaming. We immediately start rinsing out her eyes and then Mac arrived with a towel that he got out of the closet and starts giving it to Anikka. He seemed very concerned and kept saying "Ah, Ah" which is what he calls her. It appears that some of what we are trying to teach is sticking. It also proves the old addage of "what goes around, comes around." It is nice to see that first hand. I sure love to see all children care for their siblings. They all do it so uniquely. It sure puts Eternal Families into perspective. I really know why our Heavenly Father created the family unit. There is nothing more special than families.

Chasing Happiness

I have been reading a pretty interesting psychology book called "Change Your Brain, Change Your Life". In it the author tells you to write down in great detail 10 of your happiest memories. Since this is my journal I thought I would write them down here. These are in some particular order but not much.
10. When I was a kid my family always struggled with having enough money. One year it was particularly bad so my Dad got a second job on top of the 10-12 hour days he was already working. His second job was a paper route really early in the morning. I remember that I got to go with him one morning. I thought it was so much fun to just spend time with him and drop off news papers at doorsteps. After we were done he took me to get doughnuts for breakfast.
9. In 4th grade we were living in Lakewood Colorado. I remember being friendly with most kids but not really having a good friend until later that year. My teacher Mrs. DeGuire must have noticed that or something because she chose me for a little program that they had started at the school. They started a program called young Ichthyologist's basically we were able to go to the library before school and feed the fish and learn a little bit about them. It was just nice to be chosen for something.
8. My senior year in high school I was able to go on a trip to Virginia and New York with my Mom, Grandma, 2 aunts and some cousins. We went to see Les Miserables. It was just nice to spend a long time with two of my favorite family members.
7. I remember the two years of living in Payson to be some of the happiest times in my life. We lived there during my 7th and 8th grades. I had two best friends named Shelby and Janet. I also met other amazing and wonderful people there. We always had so much fun together. Looking back I worry that Janet didn't have as much fun as Shelby and I did. Some of the fun was at Janet's expense. We had so many fun sleepovers. My life those two years was pretty carefree. I loved living in Payson and still love Shelby and Janet for all the great memories that we have.
6. Ryan and I got married in June and I got a job at K-Mart. It was not very fun but a worthy life experience. I had to work long hours around Christmas and was feeling pretty sad about it. On Christmas Eve I worked until 9:00 that evening and Ryan picked me up after work. When we got home the, Christmas tree was lit and had all of our sweet home made ornaments on it and underneath the tree were a lot of presents that hadn't been there before. Ryan had gone shopping several times while I was at work and bought me presents. He very specifically got me nice comfortable shoes that I could wear to work. He was so thoughtful and that year I learned how much he loves Christmas. It was really one of the best Christmas' ever.

I will stop now and save the other five for next time

My, Oh My!

I haven't posted pictures in a while so I thought I would post some to show what we have been doing this past month. This is the kids in their Christmas clothes on Sunday Dec. 22nd. We opened these presents that morning mostly because I really wanted to see them in their cute clothes. I think I can be pretty impatient at times with waiting for presents. For an example, just ask Ryan why we got engaged on Feb. 7 instead of Feb. 14 like he was planning.

So these pictures are of Ben and his big bump. He was spinning in the living room and crashed into the corner of the TV. It is the biggest bump we have yet encountered in our 7 1/2 years of child rearing.

This is Mac posing for the camera. He loves to have his picture taken and then to run and look at himself on the back of the camera.

Here is Mac looking into the camera trying to figure it all out.

After contemplating when to get Anikka's ears pierced for a while now. We just went and got them done. On Monday we went to the mall in Orem and waited until it was Anikka's turn. She picked out the June birthstone earrings and she had to try not to cry and she succeeded, Although we did have to tell her to breathe. The last two days she has been feeling pretty sick and has a fever today. Her cheeks always flush so red when she has a fever. But she is still pretty happy about her earrings.

When I went to the closet to get out the thermometer, I was startled by Ben. He was sitting in the dark closet playing Anikka's Nintendo DS. He has quickly became obsessed with video games. It is now all he talks about. I hear at least every hour "Mom, can I play the Wii." I am pretty close to packing it away in a closet for a few years. If only Ryan didn't like it so much. I do have to be honest that it is pretty fun to play.

Life is good even with the bumps!

Spectacular Ryan

On Tuesday I felt the need to parent (tell my children what I want them to do) Anikka. I told her I needed to stress something of great importance to her. She asked what that meant and I told her that I needed to tell her something very important. I said "Anikka when you get bigger and start looking for a man to marry I want you to find someone who is spectacular, special, and one of a kind to marry." She turned to me with a sad look on her face and said "But Dad is already married." We told her that we were sure there would be at least one guy out there near her age that will fill the criteria for her, then she will be able to marry him. I love that Ryan is such an amazing Dad to our children that Anikka isn't quite sure if there is another man out there that is as cool as her Dad.