Merry Christmas

At this time of year we start to review the events from the past year and count our blessings.  So here are some highlights from our family.

Brandon survived his first year at his new job.  He has enjoyed the challenges and also the people that he works with.  He made it through a marathon two weeks of twelve hour shifts at work because of a major wildfire.  We counted ourselves very lucky, knowing we weren't in danger, but saddened as we watched footage of houses burning.  He ran a couple of races with coworkers and managed to acclimate to the higher elevation during his daily runs.  Brandon drove with the kids to Las Vegas for his sister's wedding, a very long drive with just one parent.  Brandon spent most of the year serving in the Sunday school at church but was called to lead the music in Primary in September.  He was glad that the previous leader had taught all the songs for the program but he only had five Sundays to learn the music himself.  But he is enjoying working with the kids and our kids like seeing him in Primary.

Marybeth started the year with a couple of callings at church, in the Young Women's and also playing the organ.  The organ calling was a first, there were a lot of phone calls home for advice.  By February she was released from the Young Women's and called to lead the music in Primary.  This was also a new experience but she had a lot of fun teaching songs and trying to come up with ways to make it fun.  The highlight was probably the baking soda and vinegar.  She enjoyed taking the kids to all the nearby parks and made the drive back to Idaho during Spring Break.  Another long drive with just one parent, but Crystal was nice enough to let us break the drive up by stopping at her house.  Because of being pregnant Marybeth was unable to make it to the wedding this summer and she told she would only keep one of her callings at church after having the baby.  So in September she passed the baton for the Primary music to Brandon.  After baby she is just trying to make sure the kids get where they need to be and make sure no major damage is done while she is taking care of someone else.

William didn't mind having a short summer vacation because his birthday was during school, a first for him.  He is in the third grade and is really enjoying school.  He was very excited for his birthday, getting to go scouts and getting baptized.  Both sets of grandparents were able to make it out to share in his experience.  William declared that his favorite author is Rick Riordan and read all of the books in his Kane Chronicles series and the Heroes of Olympus series.  Of course now he has to find something else to read while he waits for the next book.  He loves to read.

Caitlyn was in charge of most of the playing at the beginning of the year and her younger siblings definitely miss her since she has started school.  She did enjoy having William home for the summer, swimming and playing at the spray park, and she filled in a reading chart to earn a prize.  She has since decided she likes to read.  She mastered the bike without training wheels, overcoming her fear of getting hurt since William got hurt learning to ride.  She started kindergarten and she loves it.  She was glad to have the many breaks that they have already had but she is really doing well.  She enjoyed her birthday, the best part might have been the field trip that ended up being on her birthday.

Britton thinks that she should be able to do everything William and Caitlyn do.  She has enjoyed going to Primary, she couldn't wait for that, and has definitely enjoyed having a parent there for most of the year.  She loved the pool this summer and keeps asking if we can go back to the spray park.  She has a great smile and knows exactly when to use it to her advantage.  She is learning how to get along while William and Caitlyn are at school, going to the park helps.  She waited very impatiently for her birthday but was happy it was on a Saturday because she got to eat cake on her birthday.

Bradley got to go to nursery at church the very first Sunday of the year.  It probably would have helped if he would have overlapped Britton a little.  He absolutely hated it for the first six months.  He has since decided that it is okay to go to nursery and actually asks to go.  This is good since the first little while was filled with tears, screaming, and Brandon spending a lot of time in nursery.  Bradley is definitely two and has figured out how to climb up on the counters to get things he wants.  Unfortunately he gets caught because he can't get down by himself.  He also thinks that he can do anything his siblings do and he has given up naps, mostly because he didn't wake up happy from naps and he wouldn't go to bed at night after naps.  He spends a lot of time giving loves to Grant.

Grant arrived right on time, a few days early would have been nice but he wasn't late.  He felt the need to surpass his siblings in weight and did it with style.  He is mostly happy, tolerates all the love for the most part, but really likes to be held.  He has a great smile and will sometimes giggle at the other kids.  He has been a great sleeper at night, a definite plus.

Our family has been very blessed this year.  We have definitely felt the love of our Heavenly Father and our Savior, Jesus Christ.  We are so thankful for this time of year, a time to reflect upon that love.  We hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas season.

Four is Awesome

Britton had a birthday.  She was so excited for her birthday this year, a little sad that she had to wait so long because she is the last birthday in the year.  Of course she is now asking when her next birthday is and asking when she gets to go to school.

 Our sweet Britton, she knows exactly when to turn on the charm and cuteness.

 Her favorite show late is Jake and the Neverland Pirates from Disney.  So she was excited to get her own Jake telescope and headband.

 Blowing out the candles, I was just glad that she didn't burn her hair because she got a little close to the candles before actually getting them out.

 She requested the green b.

 Enjoying cake and ice cream.

 The kids told Grant he couldn't have any cake, but he didn't seem to mind.  Guess he doesn't know what he is missing.

I convinced Britton to let me make her a Rainbow cake.  I followed the tutorial here, I think that she said yes because of the skittles on the top.  After I got it put together she asked me if I could make the rainbow just green, she was okay with all the colors but the green layer was her favorite.

Britton is a sweetheart, most of the time.   She definitely knows how to push her siblings button, especially Bradley's, but she is always ready with a hug and a kiss.  She is 100 percentile for both height and weight and is just a tad bit stubborn, which must come from Brandon's family right?  She is a big helper, the only thing she enjoys about William and Caitlyn being at school is that she gets to be such a big helper.  And she loves giving loves to Grant, which he tolerates.

More Halloween

I know that this is really late but that should be expected by now.  The kids made out like bandits in the candy department this year.  Between Boo at the Zoo, Trunk or Treat, and then our street they had a ton of candy.

Boo at the Zoo was freezing this year.  Last year it was pretty nice, even though it gets dark really early at the zoo cause it is on the side of the mountain.

 Captain America recognized their shirts.  There weren't many people who did.

 So cold the kids wore hats most of the time and their gloves.

 But luckily the hats were monster hats, so they were still in costume.

On Halloween we went to a party at the station and then drove like crazy to make it to the Trunk or Treat.  We barely made it before all the families closed up shop.  In all the craziness I didn't get any pictures of the kids.  I think Brandon took some but I'm not going to go and find them.

This is Grant's Halloween outfit that Brandon picked out a week or so before he was born and he outgrew it by the time Halloween came along.  The sleeves were so short on him.  But since he was mostly snug in the baby wrap no one saw the outfit.

So I made him a hat and he was a baseball.  We did get a few comments about that and it kept his head nice and warm.  I think he was the most comfortable at the zoo because he was so bundled.

Demigods

We absolutely love the books by Rick Riordan.  We like the Percy Jackson series and Heroes of Olympus better than the Kane Chronicles, but we have read them all.  Because of this love, these are the books we have been reading at night this summer, William has been reading them on his own also.  So when it came time to decide what to do for Halloween costumes William wanted to be Leo from the Heroes of Olympus series.  He convinced his sisters to be characters also, Bradley didn't have a choice.

So here they are.  Caitlyn is supposed to be Piper, Britton is Annabeth complete with Yankees hat, and Bradley is Jason.  Brandon thought this was a great idea because we would just have to make their t-shirts, find the daggers and sword, an army jacket and a Yankees hat.  Of course he left the shirts up to me after he bought them and the paint.  So I found the designs online, printed them out, traced it onto freezer paper, and meticulously cut it out.  The painting went really nicely, but this design was smaller and more complicated than the last time I used the freezer paper.  I told Brandon that next time he gets to execute his grand ideas.  The orange shirts say Camp Half-Blood and the purple shirt says Camp Jupiter.  The kids are pretty excited, they even asked if they could just wear the shirts anytime after Halloween.

Look Who's Six

Caitlyn had a birthday.  She was very excited about her birthday, partly because she got to open some of her presents early while Grandma and Grandpa Isle where here.  She was also very excited that her birthday was during school.  She got to go on a field trip to a pumpkin patch on her birthday so it was a pretty exciting day.

 She got some monkey bread for breakfast and got to open presents before school.

 The kids are starting to get used to the idea that we have cake and ice cream on Saturday so Brandon can celebrate with us.  Caitlyn decided she wanted an ice cream cake, the only stipulation was it had to be pink.  So Strawberry ice cream and I tinted the dream whip pink.  It's hard to see but her name is written in pink gel icing.  She also requested oreo candle holders.

 She blew out her candles, one breath each.

She approved of the cake, polished off the ginormous piece we gave her.  She had a great birthday and is really enjoying school.

Baptism and Blessing

So William turned 8 this year.  He was a little sad to learn that our stake does baptisms at the end of the month because he had to wait a whole month.  I told him that I had to wait a whole month when I was eight.  This didn't make him feel any better.  But he was very excited to get baptized and we are so proud of him.

 William and Brandon all dressed and ready.

 All the kids wanted to be in the pictures.  Caitlyn wasn't very happy when I told her she had to be in Sunday clothes for the baptism.

 Our family after the baptism.  Since both sets of Grandparents were in town we blessed Grant after the baptism.  So they wouldn't have to worry about two trips.  Mom told me that she was glad Grant decided to come early enough that we could do both.  My parents were nice enough to stay a week with us to help me out, help get ready for the baptism and hold the baby a lot.  The blessing outfit fit him, mainly because he eats constantly.  Not sure exactly how big he is right now but at nine days he weighed in at 9lbs 12oz.  His dr was impressed by the fact that he gained just over a pound in a week.

 The boys together.

 All the men who were there to support William.

 Family.  Brent and Cami drove down also.  It is nice that they are close enough we can go to each others events.

Our friend Alyssa was able to come also.  We consider her another member of our family, and she is the reason Brandon got a job out here, so we were really glad that she could be with us.  The kids were really excited to see her, they always get really excited even if they are just seeing her on TV.  It was a really special day, I just can't believe William is actually 8.

He's Here!!!

Grant Heber

9lbs 4oz 21 inches

That's right, our monster baby is here.  Took him long enough.  I've decided that our boy babies are just stubborn about being born.  Not that our girls were all that early, but there were earlier than the boys.  I didn't go over this time, but I made it exactly to my due date.  I had awesome nurses, but I must say this: don't tell a woman in labor to stop pushing when the baby's head has started to come out, especially if she hasn't had an epidural cause it just isn't happening.  Luckily the on call doctor runs fast and is a good catch.  Everyone was surprised at how large he was.  I had been told to expect another 8 lb baby, but not quite as big as Bradley, and that estimate was from an ultrasound at 34 weeks.  The doctor who delivered Grant guessed that he would be 8 and change so was shocked when the nurse put him on the scale.

The lovely after delivery picture, no Grant isn't actually screaming, and my expression is weird because Brandon had already taken a picture but the flash didn't go off and I was ready for the first one but not the second one.  Our really awesome home teacher came to sit in our house while the kids slept, and ended up talking to Britton in the wee hours of the night and holding Bradley.  

 The kids were all really excited about baby Grant.  Britton didn't complain much about us not using the name she wanted.  This was after school for Caitlyn and William.  Brandon was good enough to make sure they got there on time and did their homework.  All while I relaxed at the hospital, can you call it relaxing when they have to come check on you every four hours or so?  And poor Grant kept getting pricked on the heel because he was so big and they were worried about his blood sugar dropping too low.

 Just waiting to go home.  Don't you love the chubby cheeks?  He likes to be on his side, a little strange to me because none of the other kids went to their side from the get go.

 Bradley insisted on his own picture after climbing on the bed.  He has been pretty good about there being a new baby.  And it is cute to hear him try to say Grant.

 Britton insisted on her own picture, with the couch.  I'm not sure why the couch is important and I have no idea why she is posing like this but she said the picture was good.

At home.  I was just excited to sleep in my own bed.  It is nice that the beds in the mother/baby area are more comfortable than the beds in the labor/delivery area but that doesn't actually make them comfortable.  There may not be a whole lot of activity on the blog for a while.  I am personally planning on sleeping a lot of the time that Brandon has off from work.  And in case anyone wants to know, Grant is just a name we really liked and Heber is a family name from my mom's side of the family and Brandon's grandma's also.

39 weeks

So we are a week away from my due date.  I have had people at church look amazed that I am that close, and they always ask if I am just done.  I just have to shake my head and tell them that I'm not surprised that I am still pregnant, none of our kids have been even a week before their due dates.  I am hoping that I don't go over my due date like I did last time but I'm not holding my breath.  But we did discover something.  Brandon was trying to get the kids to settle down for family home evening so he had every stand up, stretch their arms up high, and then bend over and touch their toes.  Guess what?  I can touch my toes.

 

 I made Brandon take a picture just so I had proof.

Yep, seven days before my due date and I can touch my toes.  This is partly because the baby had dropped down a bit but still, I can touch my toes.  I was really excited.

Labor Day Weekend

Just thought I would share some of our adventures from Labor Day weekend.  Brandon ran in the Dirty dash with some coworkers.  It was supposed to be in August but then the race had so many people sign up they had to move to a bigger venue and the race was moved to Labor Day weekend.  So we had to get the kids up early, which they don't really like, but they really enjoyed the ride because of what we saw out the windows.

 Hot air balloons.  Brandon thought this picture was funny, but since we were driving it was purely accidental.

 Every Labor Day weekend the city hosts the Balloon Classic. 

Three days worth of hot air balloons.  Two nights they have a Glow, the balloons stay on the ground lit up by their burners.  We didn't take the kids to either one of those.  The balloons didn't launch Sunday morning, I think because of weather, but they did go up Saturday and Monday.

 Brandon and his coworkers all clean before the race.  And looking so happy.

Just waiting to start.

 The kids were not happy about all the waiting but we finally saw them.

 At the finish line.  Which was more water than mud.

Dirty at the end but still looking pretty happy.

Monday we decided  to try and see the balloons take off.  I only agreed because the balloons take off here in town.  My mom was always threatening to take us to the balloon festival in Driggs, I say threatening because she told us we would be getting up around three in the morning.  Because there was a weather delay we did manage to get to the park before all the balloons had taken off.  Unfortunately there was no where close to park so Brandon dropped us off at the corner and we watched and waited for him to find us.

Even from the edge of the park we were able to hear the burners and watch the balloons take off.

 The Wyoming balloon.

 This was Caitlyn's favorite balloon because it had a unicorn.

 All the balloons were in a field in the middle of the park and they were all inflating at the same time.

 Brandon found us and we moved closer after eating donuts.

 The kids liked the Smokey Bear balloon.  It was the only shape balloon, but all the balloons were gorgeous.

There was so much to look at it was hard to get the kids' attention.  Bradley was in seventh heaven, he kept yelling "hot balloon" and he still wonders where they went.  It was fun to see them floating around that weekend.

August Celebrations

I should be better about getting things up when they happen, then I wouldn't have to lump everything together.  On the other hand we kind of lumped everything time wise during the month of August.  We celebrated our 9th anniversary.  I realized that I have been pregnant for four of our anniversaries, would have been five but Bradley was born in July.  We ate Chinese food, watched The Hunger Games and Brandon went to work.

The next day was Brandon's birthday.  Brandon claims that because of this he will never forget our anniversary.  He had to work early on his birthday, and it was the first time in about eight years that he had to work on his birthday, but that meant we got to have cake and ice cream with everyone that night.

 I found this cake online last year and cannot find the site anymore.  But the cake is surrounded by KitKats, just stick them in the frosting, and has Whoppers on top.  The cake was chocolate, and I probably should have used a white or yellow cake because it was a little bit of a chocolate overload.  But the kids were excited, mainly because they were pulling candy off the cake for the next couple of days.

 Such a handsome fella.  Can't believe he is 31 right?

Shortly after Brandon's birthday is William's birthday.  See what I mean by the lumping of events?  William was really excited that his birthday was during school, every other school year school started after his birthday.  So he was excited to take snacks and be there on his birthday.

 We surprised him with a bike before breakfast.  The girls managed to keep it a secret for three weeks.

 Everyone ready to take William and Caitlyn to school.  Mostly happy.

Because of Brandon's schedule, which is great for errands and stuff for me and the little kids but not so great for the ones in school, I have convinced the kids that birthday dinners and cake and ice cream will be on Saturdays.  William wanted pizza and ice cream cake.

 The ice cream cake.  I got an awesome recipe for ice cream cake from the book Devil's Food Cake by Josi S. Kilpack.  You can find the recipes from the book online.  It is called Died and Gone to Heaven Cake.

Inside the cake.  William requested chocolate ice cream.  Of course now the girls are starting to put in requests for their birthday cakes and dinners.  It is hard convincing Britton she has to wait three months.  But we made it through August.  I can't believe William is 8.  He was very excited that his birthday was on a Tuesday because Scouts is on Wednesdays so he got to go right after his birthday.