In The Pursuit Of Happiness #7

Moms are DA BOMB. Today my sweetheart of a mom picked me up from work and even helped me pick up my babies from Miss Lynn -the best PreSchool teacher in the world. Lance had our van but needed to sleep earlier because of all of his extra hours over the weekend.

Today it made me happy to see my mom and Granny kicking it in Granny's mini-van, toolin' around town. When I got in, they told me tales of Albertsons lines & sales, tales of shaking their hands infront of the car vents with people thinking they're crazy in the winter, and they even simultaneously applauded that other cars who stopped for ducks even though it nearly made mom rear-end them! They're quite a pair, and I love them dearly.

In The Pursuit Of Happiness #6

Today I saw Lance for seconds. He worked a double shift last night (3PM to 7AM) then came home for 8 hours and went back for another double -same hours. What makes me happy? NOT that he's working that hard, but that he's working that hard for us. My gratitude can't be put in to words, but I do need to say thank you, Lance. I love you.

In The Pursuit Of Happiness #5

FARMER'S MARKET TODAY! One of the happiest pieces of my day -of my summer! I love going to the Cache Valley Farmer's Market. This morning we headed out for some breakfast and lingering in the great out-doors! Ella was excited to go -as was Chim-Char, her Pokemon. No, I probably didn't spell it right, but I can't say that I really care. The fact that I know his name is disturbing enough.

Lance and I quickly figured out that kids stop whining (it was a bit nippy) when you give them SUGAR! Look at this beautiful flower loli-pop!
Mia got a new flower for her hair and a very blue and sticky face.

I didn't take a picture of it, but we stopped by my friend Steph's booth "Little Bright Boat" and saw some of her FABULOUS creations! Ella got a fun home-sewn dinosaur, whom she seems to be absolutely crazy about. Thanks Steph! We'll see you a lot this summer! :)

Can you see the blue glow?

This is the "pick me up" look. It was a lovely morning -definitely full of happiness!

*If you missed it, the "pursuit of happiness" is a series of 8 (one daily) things that just make me happy that day. It's fun to recognize how good life is!

In The Pursuit Of Happiness #4

Today there were some potentially dangerous fumes at work and I never made it inside of the building. I waited outside of the building for about an hour after being dropped off for work, then waiting to get a hold of Lance, then waiting for him to come back... Due to my pregnancy, the owner of the company gave me the option of leaving.

What makes me happy today is the extra time I got to spend with my little girls. Though I'm no super-mom with educational activities all lined up, I just don't feel that any time I get with them is wasted.

In The Pursuit Of Happiness #3

Today I found myself tirelessly giggling about our Mia-Babes and her new word: SHOE. It's the funniest thing I've ever heard a kid put say-shoe is a great word anyway, but when Mia says it, the "sh" sound comes from the middle of her mouth, not with the front/ teeth -it's just hilarious.
We have a total bedtime routine, and after bath when I let Mia loose with her jammies on, she goes to the pile of clothes I have set out for tomorrow and picks up the shoes. She'll bring them to me and just say shoe shoe shoe over and over -man, I had tears in my eyes. I love my baby!

POUNCE, baybee, YEAH

As expected, last weekend was packed with much more than just Ella’s birthday party. Saturday night after the party, Lance and I headed home to get the girls to bed. Ella got new goggles from Auntie Mach and had lots of fun in the tub with them! Here she is with Mia during tub-time. Ella looked too cute not to get some pix taken.

After baths, Lance and the kiddos headed to bed (Lance worked on Mother’s Day) and I got to head back to my parent’s house for some sibling rivalry! All the babies had disappeared and we were left to our own devices to play some serious POUNCE. Now, for those who aren’t familiar with this evil little game, here it is: everyone has their own distinct deck of cards (I recommend you snaggle some from Vegas –they sell them CHEAP from all different hotels –so of course, I was Bellagio…Ooo.) and you have 4 personal discard piles to take from (in order) and 1 pile of 13 cards to eliminate –which determines the winner. The middle of the table is where the action happens. Everyone is building stacks from ace through king of the different suits. If you have the next card that belongs in a stack, you slap it down before someone else does. You can have TONS of stacks out there –it becomes mind-boggling and confusing. …It’s been known to make the weak (ahem, Sarah) dizzy! Score is kept based on how many cards you have out there in stacks, minus how many cards were left in the eliminating pile –sometimes you have a negative score. For some bizarre reason, my family has latched on to this horrible game and seems to think it’s more fascinating and entertaining than “Mormon Bridge” or “Kick the Dog”- my personal favorite. That’s CRAP! This game requires serious brain power and you have to be very aware and savvy. NOT for the faint of heart, definitely NOT for those who can’t handle the occasional jab and cheat accusation. …Yes, you run into the occasional cheater-head, and I could potentially be one of the bigger culprits (not more that SEUAO!), however, that’s completely beside the point. I believe that all MY necessary tactics are justifiable if we’re not playing a game that I personally prefer… And I’m PREGNANT. There are allowances for this kind of heightened, um, vulnerable state.It was SUCH a great night. I love my siblings SO much –they are a total blast to hang out with. The opportunity is so rare with babies galore, so these nights are absolutely precious to me.

The fam. Left to right, Allen, Mary, Sarah, Seuao, Rachael.

Lexie-Loo.

Allen: up close and personal.

Mar-Y Chewyton.

Sawa Bo-Nana

The Wow.

A BERRY excited Mach.

THE GAME.

In The Pursuit Of Happiness #2

Today is Ella's birthday. 'Nuff said.

5 years ago

5 years ago I was awake at 3:09 AM and delivered my first child. Elizabeth Diana came into this world after many prayers, and much pain.

I’d developed high blood pressure over my first pregnancy. It had gotten to the point that my LDS Nurse-Midwives group wanted me to come back to LDS Hospital (in the Avenues in SLC) 2x every week for fetal-non-stress tests. This is where you get strapped to a machine to hang out as your baby gets monitored for a while, then you get an ultrasound to measure the amount of fluid in the uterus –to ensure the baby’s overall health. I was about 2 weeks early and had come to my standard appointment on May 12th. They had a doctor review my results in a different room after the ultrasound, who reviewed the whole picture –to which his direct words were: “It’s time to put you out of your misery.” YAY!!! They escorted me to my room and had me change. I lost my super cute silver hoop earrings at the hospital over that visit, but that’s small potatoes. I remember sitting down in that bed still thinking to myself that I’ll believe it when I see it. Of course I knew there was a baby inside, but the reality of holding this individual and actually caring for it was foreign. I did ask the folks in charge if I could ease my vehicle out of the 2-hour parking, to which I got a firm “no”. I’d even tried to see if I could possibly come back that afternoon after I moved the half-finished laundry and again received a firm “no”.

Out came the cell phone! I was on pitocin and was 2cm dilated. I called EVERYBODY. I had some family come down from Logan and at one point or another most all of my family members spent some labor time with me.Labor was ROUGH!!! I had back-labor and had contractions every 2 minutes or less for hours and hours. The crappy anesthesiologist was SUCH a jerk! Ok, I have a hyper sensitive back, and when folks poke at it, it makes me jump –it’s excruciating. *My current doctor (bless her HEART) tells me that I just have more nerves in my lower back than most people, she sees it often, and it is fixable with some happy-meds that can be administered before the epidural procedure ever starts –NOW I know. So this jerk from LDS Hospital was mean to me about the process “if I can’t push on your back like this I won’t be able to get the epidural in” –Lance almost decked him, as I’d waited WAY TOO long to have this done. I waited because of my mom’s high-pressure sales in “natural” childbirth as she magically had 5 for 6 kids drug-free, and I was sobbing.Epidural in, no relief! ½ of one leg was numb, and my only option was to wait some more until the next anesthesiologist came on duty. I’d gone over some Lamaze breathing techniques with my mom and was simply holding it together and breathing through this excruciating pain, so I don’t feel like people really understood what I was going through! GRRR.

14 hours of pitocin-induced back-labor with no relief was enough to do me in, I remember thinking there was no way I’d survive another contraction. The next anesthesiologist came in and saved my life. I remember telling Lance to give him a kiss for me as I drifted off to sleep with some actual relief. 3 hours later at 3AM I was pushing Ella out with numb legs and a bit of a smile on my face. My sweet late-working sister Mary had stuck around for the birth but had dozed off in the corner of some waiting room and no one could find her in time to witness the messy miracle. :) After I’d delivered her, Ella was a bit lethargic. I don’t remember her apgar score or anything like that, but she perked up after a few moments. When they placed her in my hands and I looked down at her, I remember thinking to myself; “that’s my face” –the first and last time I saw myself in the way she looks!

Ladies, we all know we don’t forget the pain (HUGE wives-tail), however, there is absolutely nothing we wouldn’t have done in order to bring these angels in our lives. Happy birthday, Ella.

In The Pursuit Of Happiness #1

My darling friend Joni tagged me for an 8-day-blog update: something that made me happy today.
Today I listened to “Far Away” by Nickelback about 6 times in a row on my i-pod. All I could think about was Lance. It was a throw-back reminder of how passionately and sincerely I do love him, and how I felt about him when we separated and came back together. I hate how we get so caught up in everyday life that we forget how much people mean to us. So this reminder made me happy today.
Lyrics:

This time, This place Misused, Mistakes
Too long, Too late Who was I to make you wait
Just one chance Just one breath
Just in case there's just one left
'Cause you know, you know, you know
[CHORUS]
That I love you I have loved you all along
And I miss you Been far away for far too long
I keep dreaming you'll be with me and you'll never go
Stop breathing if I don't see you anymore

On my knees, I'll ask Last chance for one last dance
'Cause with you, I'd withstand All of hell to hold your hand
I'd give it all I'd give for us Give anything but I won't give up
'Cause you know, you know, you know
[CHORUS]
So far away Been far away for far too long
So far away Been far away for far too long
But you know, you know, you know
I wanted I wanted you to stay 'Cause I needed I need to hear you say
That I love you I have loved you all along
And I forgive you For being away for far too long
So keep breathing'Cause I'm not leaving you anymore
Believe it Hold on to me and, never let me go
Keep breathing'Cause I'm not leaving you anymore
Believe it Hold on to me and, never let me go
Keep breathing Hold on to me and, never let me go
Keep breathing Hold on to me and, never let me go
-Nickelback

Dino-Mite Birthday Party!

Ella's birthday party was a great success! Here's our star at the beginning of the day!

Here I am, gearing up for the fun... If you look carefully, yes, you'll see our un-hung curtains -wanna do that today, hunny? And you'll also see a little hand reaching up on the night-stand getting into mischief. Babies rock! We all met at Willow Park. Left to right, we have Candace, Scotty (holding Chaston), Debbie, Donny, and Granny's back.

The kids started out playing on all the toys (YAY for parks!). Mia actually did the slide without too much trauma! Here's Uncle Seuao letting her go and Nanny waiting to catch her!

BTW- THANK YOU MARY for lending us Benny's jacket. In all our rushing for the day we didn't pack warmer clothes for the kids -and it turned pretty nippy in the evening.

Apprehensive, yeah, but you GOTTA be able to work a slide, man. Go Mia!

Can you see the joy? Me neither.

AAH! SOLID TERRA FIRMA!

Here's the birthday girl on the slide! That's a pregnant Lex in the background!

We had some fun frames that the kids were able to put some foamy dinosaur stickers on for something fun to take home. Yes, next to Ella is one of her MANY Pokemon.

Here's Lex and Noah!

Left to right, Mary, Benny-babes, Lex, Rach's eyes and nose, Noah, Ella, Me and Scotty.
Here's Ella and cousin Aneesa!
Simple craft, lots of fun.

Mia kept herself busy with the wagon.

ELLA GOT A NEW BIKE! We were SO nervous about her getting on it, but the excitement and motivation were really high -the girl jumped on and went for it! Thank goodness for training wheels.

She's showing Aneesa here.

Lots of excitement!

Ella's two grandma's are in the picture here -there's Nanny on the left and Debbie on the right.

Amidst the chill, the candles were ROUGH to get lit! Thanks Scotty and Lance!

The cake is a DARLING dinosaur -orange flavored (mmm, delish!) with Green and Orange colors -Ella's favorite. My little princess. Not. THANK YOU KAREN (dear dear friend of mine)- QUEEN O' CAKES!

Side Bar: if you look at the bottom of the cake, you'll see where the green icing is all mashed in... Remember the BLUE jacket I was wearing at the beginning of the day? Yeah, my boob got the cake. Luckily few noticed. ...Token casualty.

Mobile Mia!

Still mobile, but taking a rest! Here's Mia with her cousins Lily and Noah.

To my family and Lance's, THANK YOU all SO dearly for the lovely gifts and amazing display of love and support for us and for Ella in celebration of her 5th birthday! Thanks to Erin, too, who was a HUGE help to me with wrangling kiddos, picture taking, and overall sanity keeping.

In looking at the chaos, there was just so much love. My little Ella is such a jewel in this family -she deserves to be celebrated. I'm so grateful to be her mom. Her real birthday is tomorrow, and I simply can't believe that she has 5 long years under her belt. I love you, sweetie!