David and Angie's Wedding

A couple weekends ago, Callie, Quinten and I went home for my little brother's wedding. It was such a quick trip; I always find myself needing one more day when I go home- just one day to sit at my parent's house and do nothing. It never happens... I'm just glad we got to be home for a couple days. We had such a great time!! Callie was asked by David and Angie to be the flower girl in the wedding party. She was thrilled, of course. The wedding was great, the reception was so much fun, and we had a great time with family and friends. We LOVED Angie's family- they were so wonderful. I always think it's a good sign when you get great in-laws; David is very lucky. I had it easy the day of the wedding- my Dad and stepmom kept Quinten for me, so I was pretty much on my own. Callie ran around with her cousins the whole time and loved every minute of it. She looked beautiful, of course, and everyone kept telling me how pretty and sweet she was. I think so!! There will probably be a lot of pictures to follow- mostly for the sake of the family who may not have seen them. Sorry to everyone else who may find them boring. :)

This is Callie showing off her cool shoes. These were her gift from Angie, who was wearing matching shoes. Callie LOVED them.
This picture is totally out of order... not sure how that happened. I know it's blurry, but I had to put it in because the story behind it is so funny. It's blurry because I was shaking because I was laughing. This is Callie walking down the aisle of the church with the ring bearer behind her. As she drops a pile of leaves, he comes behind her and stomps on the pile with both feet. It was hilarious. He was such a cute kid.
Isn't she just so pretty??
Callie with Grandma and Grandpa before they left for the church. It was great- they took Callie to the rehearsal on Friday night and I got to stay home, and they took her to the church early for pictures on Saturday and I got to come later. Unfortunately, I forgot her pretty sash (as you can see in this picture, it's missing). I had to make a mad dash down to the church to take it to her, which really cut into my getting ready time and my dropping off Quinten time. We still made it; it was just a little more rushed than I had hoped it would be. My sister Karen was my saving grace- she watched Quinten and let me use her car so I could run to the church.

My cute parents.
My little brother Damon, his date Nikelle (someone tell me how to spell her name so I can get it right, please....), and my sister Honor. I tried to convince Damon he didn't need a date because he could just hang out with me since I didn't have a "date" (Andrew, of course) with me. He didn't go for that. Want to know what he told me?? "I guess if I can't find a date I can hang out with you." Talk about being chopped liver....
Honor and her husband Matt. And the ball of sweater she is holding is Quinn.
My sister, Karen, and I.
Cousins: Jacob, Callie and Brielle. They ran all over that reception area. It was so fun to watch all the fun they were having. :)
Angie and Callie showing off their matching shoes.
Angie, David and Callie just before I dragged Callie home; she would have stayed all night if I had let her.
This is the day after the wedding. Grandma with Quinten and Callie. We love going home to visit. Callie cries everytime we say goodbye to my parents- she hates to leave them. We wish we lived closer to home so we could visit more often. I tried to console her by reminding her that her other two sisters had to stay home and didn't get to come at all... she liked that. :) As a sidenote, Alexa and Leah had a great time with Andrew and Grandma and PopPop Hench, who took care of them while Andrew was at work. So, we think everyone won over the course of the weekend.

The Babies

This is a picture of Quinten (on the right) and his cousin, Quinn. Honor, my sister, laughs and says Quinten looks like he has a hairpiece on... OK, he needs another haircut. This picture was taken just before my brother's wedding last weekend when I was home. Quinn was born just three short months after Quinten. Today was his blessing day. We wish we could have been there!! We had intended on getting pictures of all the new babies together while I was home: Quinten, Quinn, Charlotte (my brother's baby born in August) and Ryker (my cousin's baby born in June)... I ruined it by leaving Quinten at my Dad's house during the wedding. Sorry everyone!! Just think of the torture we will have to go through next summer when we try to get pictures of all of them and they will be mobile! Ugh...will we manage to get a decent picture?? My sister, Siri's baby will also be added to the group by then; she is due the middle of January with another boy. It's just been a baby season for our family- what fun! I love it that they will have cousins to play with when we all get together.
I plan on posting wedding pictures soon. I've got some great ones of Callie, the flower/leaf girl. I'm just too tired to do it right now.

Toothless Grin

So, here's the picture of Alexa's toothless smile in all it's glory. For some reason, she had a hard time smiling a REAL smile for me... So, this will have to do. I am also pleased to report that the other bottom tooth is now loose as well. She is thrilled.
Alexa heard from Kinzlee that if she wrote a letter to the Tooth Fairy, she would respond. Kinzlee asked the Tooth Fairy what she did with all the teeth she collected. Alexa, of course decided that a proper question would be: how do you get the teeth to other people? After all, "she can't give them to babies, their teeth just grow in by themselves." She also decided that it was illogical for the Tooth Fairy to give them to adults because the teeth would be too small. So, a big THANK YOU to the Tooth Fairy who came to Kinzlee's house and told her that she gave the teeth to other people. I hope you had a good laugh at our expense... especially when you heard what the Tooth Fairy had to come up with in order to satisfy our curious daughter.

So Cute

My good friend, Melissa, was at Old Navy last night and found these shirts for our girls. Aren't they so cute?? Kinzlee called this morning and told Alexa that her Mom had bought them matching shirts and she wanted them to wear them today. Alexa ran down to her house and left for school from there, so I had to catch them on the way home. We just love Kinzlee. If she wanted to move into my house tomorrow, she'd be welcome. We will be more than sad when they move... devastated would be an appropriate word, I think. Let's just not talk about it, OK??

I am a LIAR...

Yes, I am a liar. But, what choice do you have when your six year old is about to ruin the novelty of the Tooth Fairy for the rest of the family?? Alexa lost her first tooth this morning. It's obviously been loose all week, so she's had too much time to think about what will happen to the tooth when it finally falls out. This was a conversation we had at the dinner table this week...unfortunately, Andrew wasn't there, so I had no backup...

Alexa: Mom, is the Tooth Fairy real?
Me: Well, what do you think?
Alexa: I want you to tell me the truth. Is it or not?
Me: I really want to know if you think the Tooth Fairy is real.
Alexa: I think maybe it's real, but I want you to tell me if it is or not.
Me: Well, I think there is a fairy who does come and take your tooth and replaces it with money.
Alexa (staring RIGHT into my face): And that's the truth?
Me: Sure.

WHAT CHOICE DID I HAVE???? She had yet to lose a tooth. The other girls were sitting there. I couldn't possibly ruin it for the whole family before we even got started. They already don't believe in the Easter Bunny because of her. (Long story) I can't let her superior logic ruin everyone's fun all the time. Can't I put on some of the girls' dress-up fairy wings and be a fairy for a few minutes when they lose a tooth? I'm sure there is a way to justify lying to all my girls right in their faces...
I will put up a picture of Alexa- I just need to take one first. :) She pulled it out herself while brushing her teeth this morning. I hope they are all that easy.

Callie Starts Preschool

Callie started preschool a couple weeks ago. Excited doesn't even describe the way she felt. She is so happy to be in school and I am happy to have her gone a couple times a week. What do I do with only two kids at home?? It hasn't exactly been what I envisioned yet, but hopefully we will settle into a routine soon. What I did the first day of school with the two little ones should be a post of its own...I'll just say it was not what I wanted to be doing. Callie wanted everyone to see her backpack in this picture. Yes, it's almost as big as she is. She was quite jealous of Alexa's first day of school post and the comments that people left. Alexa claimed they were HER comments and Callie was determined to have comments for her first day of school as well. So, if you feel inclined... Callie will be thrilled. :)

I just put this in because I thought it was a funny picture of Leah. She is a little sad when Callie leaves, but we are managing. I was hoping that it would end up being nap time for her, but she has since decided that naps are no longer a necessary part of her schedule... she's killing me.
The walkway to preschool is rock shaped like feet. Leah thought they were cool.
Miss Keri, Callie's teacher. Thank goodness for hand sanitizer... We have been living with bottles of the stuff all over our house lately. Yes, I am paranoid.
Callie and her best friend, Jaide. They kind of stick together like glue... it's really cute.

Quinten

I just thought I would add this picture because he's so cute. Quinten is the sweetest, most lovable, best baby ever. He's already three months old... can you believe that?! We all just think he's great.

Purging

So, a few days ago the girls decided to play in my closet while I was getting ready in the morning. They do this often; however, this particular day was "get all of Mom's shoes out" day. As I watched them and was irritated at the mess I would no doubt be cleaning up later, I realized there were a lot of shoes that I haven't worn in a LONG time. So, I decided that maybe it was time to purge my closet. The top picture shows all the shoes that were in my closet (I bet half of my shoes are flip flops, which I suppose is fitting since I live in St. George...); the bottom shows what I have left. I've decided to do the same with my clothes. Why do I keep things that I continuously pass by year after year?? So, if I haven't worn it in the last two seasons, it's history. I think I won't have much left when I am done, but it will feel good to get rid of the junk. How much does one person need anyway?

What Exactly Do I DO???

I've been asking myself this question the last couple weeks. Maybe it's the whole school starting and getting into a routine thing that has stemmed my questioning. Everyone has something that they do, right? Well, I've been having a tough time figuring out exactly what that thing is for me. I don't like to scrapbook, I don't decorate, paint, refinish furniture, make jewelry, or anything of the sort. I actually hate most crafts and quite honestly, even if I liked them, I am not good at any of them. I don't bike, go to the gym, do yoga; I can't run yet because my hips still ache from having a baby. And let's be serious- I haven't really ran for any good length of time since I trained for the marathon when I was pregnant with Leah. I'm actually a fairly good cook, but don't like it- I only do it out of necessity. I don't bake, crochet, knit or make quilts; I can sew, but I'd rather buy it than make it... I have incredibly crafty sisters who are always coming up with some cool thing to make. I didn't get that gene; it totally and completely passed me by. I'm not that great of a housekeeper- my house is never spotless. I'm not a party planner- I buy my kids' birthday cakes if they want something cool- I would never even WANT to attempt to make a cool cake. I don't like wrapping gifts to make them look beautiful- I think it's a waste of paper and ribbons, actually. I don't sing, play the piano, or any other musical instrument for that matter. I don't speak any foreign languages. So, WHAT DO I DO???

The question has truly tortured me. And then I decided this: everyday I raise three little girls and a tiny baby boy. It is an exhausting and somewhat daunting task at times. It's not glamorous, most of the time I don't get a thank you for it, quite frequently no one even notices the hours and hard work I put into it. Most of the time the job I have performed looks like I never even did it. And yet, I do it again and again, always knowing that the outcome will be the same. Right now, with these four little kids living in my home, it doesn't matter that I don't DO anything else. Someday when my four little ones are not so time consuming, maybe I will want to decorate or paint a wall in my house. Maybe making dinner will become a pleasant experience instead of a burden. Maybe I will have the time to run without feeling rushed. But, for right now maybe it's a good thing that I don't DO anything. There are no projects undone, waiting for me to finish them; I'm not longing to be somewhere else because I know there is nowhere I need to be. For now I will do my dishes, finish my laundry, pick up my living room, and if I'm not too tired when it's all done, I will read a good book. For now, I am content doing nothing.

Quinten's First Haircut

So, we did it. Actually, my friend Selma did it. Quinten's hair officially became an eyesore and had to be cut. It was out of control. It was unmanageable. It was just too darn long. On Saturday I was walking Callie down to play with Selma's kids and she invited us in for a short visit to her hair salon (aka her kitchen...). It was quick and painless and he looks a million times better than he did. So, thanks for saving Quinten from more bad hair days because of his mother's lack of ability to do a boy's hair. Selma, I owe you! And, thanks for taking the pictures to document this big event. :) Ice cream? Let me know when you want to go!
The before shot. Look how long it looks!!
The after shot.... so much better.

Our First Grader

Today was the first day of school. WE ARE SO GLAD!! It was time for everyone's sake. Alexa was practically bouncing off the walls waiting to leave... that will teach her to get up early, huh? :) Alexa's teacher is Mrs. Bosh. And, the real highlight of the whole thing is that her best friend, Kinzlee is in her class. They are thrilled! And, as you can tell from the picture below, they wanted to dress the same for the first day of school. They both had these dresses that we probably bought last year (Melissa, is that right?? I can't remember). They wore leggings under them because they are getting a little short to be dresses... Kinzlee has managed to grow more than Lex- surprise, surprise. Alexa's can still almost pass for a dress. Anyway, they thought it was cool and loved that their teacher said something about it. Funny girls. I snapped the picture below after their walk home- they were both red, hot and sweaty... and I think they were both chanting something about air conditioning. We love Kinzlee and will be pretty much devastated when they move.... or they could just decide to stay.....
Alexa loved every minute of her first day and can't wait to go back. Lunch was great, three recesses were great, the waterbottle in the back of her chair is great- you get the idea. I'm so happy that she is happy and that this transition was conpletely painless for her.

Everything at home went well, too. Callie and Leah had a great day together- luckily. If someone could promise me that everyday would be like today, I would be a happy mommy. Wishful thinking, right?? We'll just have to wait and see what the year holds for us. Callie doesn't start Preschool till September, so she's a little antsy now that Alexa has started school. We'll just have to stay busy enough until then!
Kinzlee and Alexa after their walk home. We are so lucky to live just a few blocks from the school in such a great neighborhood. I am lucky that I don't have to take Alexa and pick her up everyday!

Quinten's Hair

OK, we know he was born with a lot of hair, but it just keeps getting longer and longer... This last picture was taken yesterday- It is so long that the whole curl thing it is doing was not intentional. And I'll admit, in the picture it looks stupid. I promise it doesn't look as stupid in person. His hair is the first and sometimes only thing people comment on. I know he has a ton of hair, but he has a cute face too; let's focus on that for awhile... So, do you cut a two month old baby's hair or do you just let it grow?? I don't know. I've never done this whole boy thing before....

Quinten's Blessing

Yesterday we blessed Quinten. It was a great day. We somehow managed to get to the church by 8:35... miraculous, I know. All of Andrew's family in town was able to come and be with us. It was the first blessing of all my kids that my parents had to miss. However, spending three weeks with them in July more than makes up for it. Andrew gave him a great blessing and Quinten was fairly quiet through the whole thing. Actually, I couldn't hear him at all, but Andrew said he was a little fussy at first. He slept through most of church and all through lunch afterwards- even with a crowd of noisy people in our house. He woke up just as the last people were leaving. So, that will explain all the pictures with him in his carseat- we didn't want to wake him, so we left him alone.

Like my flip flops?? I was wearing real shoes earlier...
It was a different experience listening to the blessing of our little boy as opposed to our three girls. I kept expecting Andrew to say "she" (which he didn't). Quinten is a special little boy- we love him so much.


The cousins. It's completely impossible to get a good picture of that many kids. Poor Brandon and Austin, who are the oldest by quite a bit- I always feel bad that they have to pose for cousin pictures with our unruly little ones.

We're here... Really.

So, I've been on a blogging sabbatical of sorts. It's been quite nice. Now, of course, it will take me three weeks to catch up from all that we have done in the last month and all that I missed before this little break I took. The kids and I have been traveling the last few weeks. We drove to my parents house for two weeks and then spent a week at the Oregon coast with my parents and as many of my siblings who could make it. We had an amazing vacation. Andrew flew up for the trip to the Ocean and then drove home with us. We are all feeling the effects of being spoiled having so much family around. Quinten thinks he needs to be held all the time, the girls, who played with cousins almost nonstop, want friends here to fill the void, and I miss having my mom in the same house as me to pick up my slack with the kids! We will slowly get back to normal- it will just take some time. We missed the worst of the July heat here in St. George and I think a trip to Washington will become our tradition every July. We nearly froze when we first got there, but loved every minute of the dramatic climate change. I've lived away for long enough that it no longer feels completely comfortable going home. My parent's house is always the same and I love that- it's everything else that feels odd. Some major differences:
1. There are hardly any mini vans. Funny that I would notice, but there are just SO MANY here.
2. I am a young parent- people stared at me if I had all the kids with me. And, a few times I only had Quinten and people would make comments like, "Oh, just wait till he starts crawling, you'll love that stage." Hello. Done that a few times. BTW, hate that stage....
And, I saw people that looked at least fifteen years older than me who had small babies in strollers with no other children... weird.
3. I felt like in any public place I watched my kids like a hawk for fear that someone would try to snatch them away from me. Yes... a little paranoid, I know.
4. Rain doesn't stop anyone from doing anything. You just go along like it wasn't really there and you don't really change plans.
5. People have really pale skin in Washington... even if they think they look tan. :)
6. My parent's ward had the tiniest primary. And, I think my kids were the loudest kids in Sacrament meeting. It was kind of embarrassing.
7. Traffic, traffic, traffic. I am SO not used to it anymore.
8. The produce is incredible there. My kids lived off of fresh raspberries while we were there. I loved it.

I love going home to visit. It's never long enough and I'm always sad to leave, despite all the things that I'm not used to anymore. I'm really just spoiled living where I do right now- I know that. I will consider it a great blessing because you never know when it could change.
So, I will post pictures from our adventures soon- I just need to sort through all of them.

Callie's Day... FInally!!

Yesterday was Callie's birthday. We have a definite birthday season in our house and Callie is the tail end of it. It's hard for her to have to wait through the rest of our birthdays since she is the last one in our family for the whole year- especially because Leah, Quinten and I are are within a couple weeks of each other. So, we try to make her day exactly how she wants it to be. Hopefully we did just that this year. Her birthday celebration(s) lasted three days, which is unheard of in our house. On Thursday we took Callie and her best friend Jaide to Pirate Island Pizza for dinner. Grandma Louisa and Aunt Andrea met us there.
This is the girls while we are waiting for our table. We had a great time, but Andrew and I are positive you pay for the atmosphere more than the food... not an easy thing for us because we love good food.
Saturday was Callie's actual birthday. She didn't wake up till almost 9 o'clock... she looks a little tired in this picture, huh? We tried to rush the morning festivities because she wanted to go hiking for her birthday.
Callie is all about music. Seriously. You'd think she was 14, not 4. Her presents consisted of a guitar, Hannah Montana and Jonas Brothers CD's, and a Camp Rock dance mat. Not to mention the Camp Rock microphone from Grandma and PopPop, the Tinkerbell soundtrack from Andrea and Mike, and all the music junk she already has.... trust me, the list is LONG.
We headed to Zion National Park for the morning with Andrea. We "hiked" the trail to the start of the Narrows. We got to ride the buses through the park, played in the river, saw some not so wild squirrels who had no problem getting too close for comfort, and almost got caught in a torrential downpour. Just as we made it back to the bus, the clouds let loose. We timed it perfectly. And because of the cloudcover, it was perfect hiking weather. We had a great time.
I added this picture just because I thought it was beautiful. You'll notice the blue sky- I now know how flash flooding can occur before you even realize what is happening. The weather changes so fast!
Today we spent Father's Day with the family. Callie got to have her"family party" while we celebrated. We sang to her and she blew out her candles. Cupcakes with ultra pink frosting (so gross) and root beer floats were her requests. I think she was happy with her weekend. We love her so much. She has the funnest personality- we love that she loves to perform. It's great to watch her dance and sing all over our house. We hope it is something she will always enjoy. Happy Birthday, Callie!!

I'll Be Completely Honest With You...

So, I'm not one to hide what I'm thinking- I'm fairly open about how I feel when it comes to life's issues. So, here the latest: I hate nursing. I've always hated it, never thought it was this great mother child bonding experience, and all the benefits of it- well, I can refute the claim on several of them. Some of you may know that I didn't nurse Alexa. It was one of the most miserable experiences of my life. She couldn't do it, I was in so much pain that I could hardly stand it, and I just wasn't producing any milk... yeah, it was probably stress related or something- I will admit to that. I can remember laying in bed when she was a few days old and hearing her in the bassinet next to me and wanting to cry while I thought to myself, "Do I really have to get up and try to feed her?" It was awful. So, we switched her to formula when she was a couple weeks old and she did great. I felt guilty about it for a long time. It didn't help that I lived in Provo where everyone has babies and I swear I was the only one not nursing. OK, I know that can't be true, but it felt like it. I felt somewhat like a failure that the only thing I really had to do for this little baby was feed her and I couldn't even do it the "best" way. OK- so, I got over it. It was really a good thing for me to experience for a few reasons. It allowed me to truly decide for myself that I really didn't care what other people thought, and that has really stuck with me. Anyone who knows me now knows that is my attitude on almost everything. I'm not looking for approval from anyone and I am completely content to do what works best for me, not what is accepted as the norm. So, I told myself after Alexa that with future kids, it didn't matter how they were fed. If they could nurse- great; if not, I'd be the first person to stick a bottle in their hungry little mouths. For some bizarre reason, Callie and Leah had no problems nursing- I nursed them both for a full year and hated every minute of it. Sure, it's convenient in the middle of the night to not get out of bed to make a bottle and yeah, formula can get expensive, but the other "benefits"? Callie and Leah were both plagued with ear infections, had tubes put in, and are still my sick children. Alexa is NEVER sick. So I don't buy the whole "breastfed babies are healthier" bit. And for the "breastfed babies learn faster and are smarter"- do you know Alexa? You can't tell me she is behind because she was bottlefed. She is WAY beyond her years and I don't say that to brag- it's just the truth. So, this brings me to little Quinten. The kid can't suck for anything. In the hospital it would take me 45 minutes to get him to latch on so he could eat for 3 minutes. 2 lactations specialists and 4 nurses later they decided it may just take him a couple weeks to catch on- they had no answers for me. Well, a couple weeks later and the kid still didn't do it. He's too little to starve until he figures it out... which was one of the nurses suggestions. NO THANKS. So, I'm done. I'm done pumping and feeding him bottles- it's driving me CRAZY. I'm done trying. He's just not going to do it and I am happily switching him to formula. My nursing days are over and I am more than relieved to see them fade into the distant past. Besides, bottlefed babies can be fed by their Daddy, which means I get to leave my house sometimes for more than two hours at a time. Who can complain about that?? OK- thanks for reading my lengthy soapbox sob story... leave it to me to tell everyone all the junk no one really wants to talk about.

Updates

So, Quinten is now over two weeks old. He is doing great. He's actually gaining weight- we just wish he would gain it faster. He is so tiny that we have spent the first two weeks changing his clothes about ten times a day because he pees out of every diaper he wears- his legs are too skinny. And ten times a day is no joke- just ask my Mom. Sad, huh?? Well, sad for me. I have been doing one load of laundry a day that is just his clothes and blankets to try to keep up with him. Hopefully we will pass this obstacle soon. He is such a good baby- as all fourth children should be. He still is a little confused about day and night, but we will get there.
As for me- I feel great. I'm tired of course, but other than that things feel pretty much back to normal. More than anything it's just nice to be wearing normal clothes again. I am SICK of matenity clothes. I have AMAZING friends and neighbors who have taken great care of my kids and our family since before Quinten arrived. While my Mom was here she made the comment that I live in a neighborhood from another era: the kids just run around from house to house and everyone watches out for everyone. It's true- we live on a great street with great people. We are very blessed.
I have lots more pictures to post- my birthday, Leah's birthday, Callie's dance recital, Alexa's last day of school, family pictures... hopefully I will get to it soon. Until then, you will have to be content with just Quinten. Isn't he cute??

I know he looks sad and pathetic in this picture.... but. he was asleep and looked so cute till the flash went off on my camera.... I must have really bugged him. :)