The "tulip" festival

My cousin was recently baptised in Eagle Mountain and I was asked to give the Holy Ghost talk. We decided to make a day of it and visit Scott's sister, Ginger, at the same time. It happened to be the Tulip Festival that day and although there were very little in bloom due to the weather, the grounds and company were still beautiful.








Paige thinks she's part of their family

Fun Random pictures

Sometimes they do get along

First bloody nose

Only dad could sleep like this

Monkey see, monkey do



Why does dad keep making me dress like Erkel?

This was 5 minutes after leaving preschool.

Scott did Ashley's hair and was quite proud of it (as was I!)

Easter

Easter was full of events this year. To begin the "week" of events, we started with Troy and Sonja's (Scott's brother and sister in law) temple sealing followed by an early Easter dinner. While participating in dinner, they had thrown together a huge easter egg event for the kids. Paige and Ashley had tons of fun and really got into it, especially having fun with cousins.






Next on the list of events was the easter egg dyeing. Paige didn't quite understand the difference between dyeing and dying. We had a lot of fun picking colors for our eggs. Paige wrote our names down on different eggs and Ashley just wanted to drop the eggs in the glasses. After the egg dyeing, we had a family home evening on the true meaning of Easter. When we asked Paige what Easter was about, she answered with the usual bunny, candy etc. We then gave the lesson on the crucifixion and resurrection. Paige really soaked up true purpose and it was later instilled in her brain when she gave a short talk about it in primary. We are so proud of our Paige and her ability to understand the simplicities of the gospel.




Next came Easter morning. Can I just say that the easter bunny is still trying to get into the swing of things at our house and wasn't as prepared on the candy front or the hiding of the eggs until the last minute. It didn't matter, Paige and Ashley still had a great time finding the eggs and then they wanted to hide them all over again. They didn't hardly eat any of the candy and we ended up taking it to Scott's work anyways. Then we put on their beautiful Easter dresses and did up their hair with Paige actually letting me straighten hers. Pictures are always interesting because they never look at the camera at the same time! Next, off to church to celebrate the true meaning of Easter.


After church, we went up to Logan for a yummy meal where once again, the kids had another easter egg hunt. You can never have too many of those. How grateful I am for the sacrifice Jesus gave of when he died for me and the beautiful gift of the resurrection that alows each of us to return to live with him and our families again.

Paige's parent day

Paige's preschool had their semi-anual parent's day. She is such a smarty and loves to go to preschool. We were excited to see all that she had learned. The first thing they did was sing the "red" song. I knew this was coming because she had been singing it to me all week. There are a lot of different styles to sing it such as holding her nose (the skunk style) and opera stle. Next was a little jaunt on the balance beam and then a somersault on the mat. She went so fast that I could not capture her in any worthwhile images. She also identified notes on a piano with a little story and pictures but when it came time to sit under the guitar as they were identifying instruments, she refused. She wanted to sit under the flute. Oh our sweet yet stubborn little Paige. Paige has such a desire to learn. She soaks up everything. She has started to read because she wants to know what all of the billboards say. She gets so mad at us when we pass them too quick and she can't repeat all of the letters in the title. After Scott and her teacher had a discussion on Paige reading, she began to give Paige books so that she can learn words. She has been cruising right through them and is all the way up to the 13th book. We are constantly amazed at how she will read everything(that's simple of course) and is constantly asking for our help in pronouncing stuff. She has such a memory and as we read the book of mormon, she wants to know about Nephi and Lehi vs Laman and Lemuel. She loves the story of the tree of life and getting the plates from Laban. We finally showed her the movies so she could picture all that she was reading.







We love our smart little Paige who can manuever the laptop better than we can. We love her desire to sing and even makes up her own songs. We love her creativity as she makes "tents" with all of the blankets in the house. We love her desire to cook and how she'll bring her stool into the kitchen right next to me so she can pour and stir. We love her snuggles and although she doesn't like our kisses, we love to tease her with them anyways. We love her strong personality and although it is a challenge, we know that this will be a blessing for her. We love when her sweet spirit occasionally comes out to help and love Ashley. We know that we will see more of it with Brett, whom she already has a desire to meet. We are grateful for our fun little Paige and love her more than these words can express.

I'm getting fat!!!

This pregnancy has been a little bit different than with the girls. First of all, I was sick all through the first trimester. The minute the second trimest hit, I was feeling much better but had my pregnancy induced asthma hit. I armed myself with my inhaler and my peepee pads so that I could tolerate the constant coughing. I'm so tired all of the time. I don't know if it's because I have two constant children, am a little bit older or if I've just gotten lazier. I have definitely been terrible about my eating habits and it's been reflecting on the scale. With me girls, I only gained twenty pounds with each of them. I've already hit that mark with this little guy and I still have 3 more months to go. I have no will power when it comes to ice cream, donuts or cookies.
We've had a couple worries come up. Some bloodwork I had drawn came back with a high feta alpha protein. It indicated that the baby might have spina bifida. I know that false positives are highly associated with all of those labs so I wasn't worried during the ultrasound but because of our history of having a son with down syndrome we're always a little more cautious. When we had the big ultrasound, the baby checked out just fine. He (yes, that's right. A little boy!!) is right on for his weight and growth with no abnormalities that could be seen. No evidence of spina bifida. The perinatologist spoke to us and checked everything after the ultrasound. He scared us with the news that I had a complete placenta previa which is when the placenta completely covers the cervix making it impossible for a vaginal birth and the risks and complications associated with it are early delivery, bleeding/hemorrhaging and possible death for me and the baby. We were completely surprised. The doctor than left and the US tech came back in just for a quick look. Then we headed home. For the next three weeks, I heard scary stories from my labor and delivery coworkers about the risks of placenta previa. In my mind, I was preparing for months on bedrest with two small children as well as emergency c-sections and bleeding out complications. A month following that US, I had the US tech and my work check on my progress. As she was looking, there was no indication of a placenta previa. My thoughts were a miracle had taken place and the load on my shoulders had immediately ceased. I took this info to my OB and she was pleasantly surprised as well as cautious that the placenta had moved that quickly. I was sent back to the perinatologist for another look and confirmation. When I went back, the US tech was looking all over my abdomen but was unable to find the placenta previa. She told me she thought I had never had it and when she looked back at her pictures and records, it was confirmed. But she could not go against the doctor's opinion (even when he got mad at her for missing such a huge problem). I then eased her worries by sharing the news of the US from my work and confirming that I had never had the placenta previa. When the perinatologist came into check, he also stated that they must have "overlooked" something and that I did not have the previous diagnosis. (On a side note, they had forgotten about me in the waiting room after I had been there over an hour and Scott had to go back to work. Only when a person who was there after me went back ahead of me did the receptionist call back to see why the wait. They had marked me down as a noshow when I had been over 20minutes early. I was a little emotional because Scott had to leave but was relieved with the outcome. Just had to make a record of it for my journal.)
We are so excited for this little boy, whom we've decided to name Brett Koamalu (peaceful courage in Hawaiian). Even Paige has been patting my stomach and wondering why Brett's not here yet. As I get fatter and more uncomfortable, I realize what a gift I've been given through being able to carry this child.

Catch up

I've been a complete slacker on keeping updated on my blog. Here is the last 4 months in a nutshell. We've been keeping busy with a few fun playdates as well as some fun date nights for Scott and I. Here are some pretty blurry images of a playdate the girls had with some friends.



We've been to a couple of plays but I can only remember one of them (sad memory, huh). The one we really enjoyed was "Bandito rides again" presented by Pickleville Playhouse in Logan. We took Scott's mom as a Christmas present and we laughed our heads off. It's great to see such amazing talent and people who are naturally funny (like Scott!!!). We also attended the symphony and heard some amazing voices sing fun Diva like songs. I am blessed with a husband who tolerates and even enjoys the arts in such various forms. And he doesn't even have to give up his studly athletic ways to appreciate the arts! That was one of the things I prayed for in a husband.

With the Ogden Temple closing for renovations, we've tried to get in as much as possible. In January, we performed temple sealings with Scott's family on members of his family. It always means just a bit more when the work you are performing are on your own family members. We even managed to get some names for our son from the experience. What do you think of Oscar or Ernie? Okay, we weren't thrilled either but had a good laugh. Next was our own ward temple day. How blessed we've been to take advantage of this day set aside for our ward members to participate in the blessings of the temple. My sister, Angela and her husband also came down to do a session with us. Neither one of them had been through it so it was nice to share a beautiful session with them. Next my mom came down with my twin sister, Megan and her husband. It was the same situation for Megan and Trent, who hadn't been through this temple before. My mom hadn't been through it alot even though she's from Ogden. She was proud of the fact that she was able to attend the original dedication. We have been so blessed to have a temple so close to us although we haven't put in the regular effort to attend. Now that we'll have to travel a ways to attend the temple, I think the effort will mean a little bit more to us and we will make temple attendance a priority in our home!


Another fun date night we attended was the Marraige Celebration put on by the Utah Marraige Coalition. I have always believed that Scott and I share an amazing marraige but after almost 10 years we needed to be reminded of that. We attended seminars that helped us identify our spending habits (what we argue about the most) as well as how to implement play in our marraige and keep it fun! We also learned about keeping the fire in our marraige and not just in a sexual way. We've kind of gone back to simple hugs and kisses and in this seminar we learned that a long kiss and hug can go a long way. The keynote speakers were the Bytheways. They were so fun and taught us 5 things to do to help our marraiges. We have learned so much from this fun date night and look forward to implementing these ideas in our marraige. It was also fun to attend with our good friends, the Nielsons. They were great company.


Both Scott and I celebrated our 32nd birthdays. We've found that the older we get, the less important our birthdays are. They were low key affairs with Scott getting breakfast in bed and I received a massage.
Another play date we had was sledding up in Eden at the Nielson's. They had received tons of snow and had built it up to make a slide. It was bright and beautiful outside. Ashley was a trooper and would keep trudging up the path to go again. Paige was extremely tired and therefore a little grumpy. She didn't want to take turns but when it was her turn, she loved going on the tube down the slide. It was funny to watch Scott and Zach work on the slide. They are bigger kids than our own. It was a fun day and when we finally came in for down time, movie and games, Paige was much happier.






And there it is in a nutshell!