Gracie joins the family

On Saturday at 3:00 AM, I woke Clarke up and told him "today is the day" for the next three hours I tried to practice all my relaxation techniques, I took a bath, and even attempted to read a book. By 6:00 the contractions were making my toes curl and they were coming about 4 minutes apart. We called my friend and neighbor Megan to come watch our kids. When we got to the hospital they checked me and I was a 6 1/2, they told me to walk the halls for awhile. It was intense, I had to stop ever couple of minutes andd try to breath threw my contraction. After a couple of painful hours they wanted to check me again and this time I was a 7, I was so disappointed "all that pain for 1/2 a centimeter! I decided it was time for an epidural. It was HEAVEN!!! I was completely relaxed and I even rested. The nurses left me alone and 1 hour later they came to check me again and the nurse said "oh...I see a head." All of a sudden there was a flurry of activity and I pushed through two contractions and my beautiful daughter was born.

1st family picture as a family of 5. I realize how much I am needed when I am gone. Lucy in this pic has jam in her hair, chocolate around her mouth, and she chose her outfit. It was so nice to go home and be together as a family!

Baby Gracie, is so far (knock on wood) my calmest baby. She is a great eater, very alert, and patient with adoring big brother and sister.

1st car trip home. She looks JUST like her big brother Andrew, I will post some pictures of him as a newborn to prove it. We love love love baby Gracie.

Halloween War

So this is what I want my kids to dress up as for Halloween...however.... Lucy only wants to be a Princess and Andrew wants to be Cowboy/Power Ranger/ Ninja/ dog (he added that one yesterday. Since I am due to have baby girl that week, I think I will open the dress up box and let them go crazy, but this picture is going in the album for Halloween 2009 (hah, let's see who gets the last laugh)

Family Reunion in Utah

The Grandkids (or at least 1/2)

Mom and Dad with 7 of their nine kids

Eating dinner outside the lodge we stayed in- so much fun to under the same roof!

Lucy and her big cousins, whom she adored!

This picture is out of order, but this is my parents tennis court. Andrew loved playing his cousins in a 5 yr old variation of tennis

The amazing pool at our lodge, there were two huge watersides. I was so tempted, but being 32 weeks pregnant I thought I might be better watching.

Random picture of me milking a goat with my nieces. I don't think the goat enjoyed it any more then I did :)

Preschool

Here is a picture of Andrew on his first day of Preschool. Lucy was not happy about being left at home so she had to get her backpack too. It is always sad for her when we leave Andrew when he gets to play with such fun new toys. So far Andrew has enjoyed it, but it doesn't seem like it is very educational. I guess we will expect him to learn all his Calculus next year :)

Andrew turns 5 (twice)

I am late, but my sweet Andrew turned 5 at the end of August. We were in Utah visiting family on his actual birthday so we celebrated at a park with cousins and water balloons. When we got home we took his two best friends Simon and Ben to Chuck E Cheese for lunch. Andrew wants to do the exact same thing for his next birthday- we'll see! Happy Birthday Andrewski we love you!

East Coast Trip

To celebrate the completion of another year of school and to enjoy our last glimpse of freedom before we have number three we decided to take a big road trip. It was a wonderful vacation. We spent quality time with family and enjoyed fun sight seeing. Here are a few pics of our vacation, I am sorry it is not in chronological order, I can't figure out how to blog!

This is a picture of Spencer, Suzy and Baby Sydney. We spent a few days with them on our way out and on our way back. We had such a great time with them. The highlight was late night games! Thanks for letting us stay with you in your adorable home. Lucy thinks we need to name our upcoming baby "Baby Syndey."

This is a picture of Andrew and his cousin Jack in Aunt Leslie's huge jacuzzi tub. They added a tiny bit of bubbles and it went crazy. There were seriously more bubbles then I have ever seen.

We enjoyed seeing Kirtland with Suzy and Sydney. Thanks for taking us Suzy!

This was in Boston with my brother Chris, beautiful niece Lauren, and adorable nephew Ryan. We were enjoying some even shmores.

The shmores got the better of Jack. Note to self: marshmallows and grass are not a good combination!

This was a "Duck Tour" we took in downtown Boston. It was in a big WW2 vehicle that could go on land and in the water. It was the perfect way to see Boston; kid friendly, lots of sights, fast, and unique. Thanks Chris and Les, we had a blast!

Games nights again, Clarke even brought in own games just in case. He found another true gamer with cousin Kate.

Lauren giving Lucy her first piano lesson.

It is funny because we saw so many amazing places and did so many fun things, but one of the kids favorite memories from our vacation was swimming in the spa at our hotel in Palmyra. After every tour or place we saw the kids would ask if it was time to go back to the hotel to go swimming. Someday they will realize the significance of the places they saw when they were little...I hope.

The Hill Cumorah was one of my favorite places to see. I always imagined a big mountain (come-on I am from the Rockies) so I was surprised to see that it was a rolling hill.
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We spent a few days in Palmyra. It was beautiful, and it brought all the Church history stories to life.

The Sacred Grove is a place I always imagined seeing, I would picture walking into it pondering Joseph Smith's experience and enjoying the hollowed spirit of the area. In real life the kids were both CRANKY. They cried and complained the entire time, we went as fast as we could but ended up getting lost. It was not the spiritual experience that I always hoped for. Next time NO KIDS!

Clarke and I were able to attend the Palmyra temple. It was one of the highlights of our trip. Clarke and I took turns going, so for my turn I went early hoping for some quiet meditating (something I rarely get with two active kids) so I got to the temple and opened the trunk and my temple clothes were not there- ahhh! I raced the car back to the hotel, found my bag, and raced back. Now I was late and flustered. Then to make matter SOOOO much worse I could not find my recommend. I sat on a seat and tore my wallet apart 10 times and could not find it. Finally a temple worker asked if they could call my bishop. They called him and everything was fine, but I think they held the session up by at least ten minutes. I arrived feeling humbled frazzled and embarrassed. However it was one of the best sessions I have ever attended.

At Niagara Falls we took the whole family on a "Maid of the Mist" boat tour. Clarke loved it and I sat in the back with two wet crying kids. Word to the wise, don't pay for your kids to go until they are at least 10. Niagara Falls was awe-inspiring!

Soccer Camp

Andrew loves sports and I wanted to put him into a soccer class with kids his age the problem is that my city doesn't offer one for 4 year olds so I would need to drive 25 mins to get him into a class, and it would interfere with dinner time. So I decided to do my own soccer camp. I called one friend who is a "Soccer Star" (who has a 5 year old) and asked her to join me on my endeavor. Anyway, it was a HUGE hit. We just had our last day and now I need to put my thinking cap on for what is next.