Friday, December 31, 2010

Getting Even

It has been a long while since I last blogged. I need to update this quite a bit. I really don't have time now and I don't have all the pictures that I need. However, I did want to share this. We are going to be welcoming a new little girl to our family in May. Everything looks good and I am feeling good. We had an ultra sound and they said that the placenta looks healthy and it is on the back of the uterus, so I am able to feel the movements earlier and more often. All of us, except for Chad, were expecting a boy. We were pleasantly surprised with finding out that we have another girl. My daughters were especially pleased. We are so grateful to be able to have her in our family and look forward to the day we can hold and snuggle her. Here is a picture of the latest ultra sound.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Our Vacation

We have had such a fun summer. My mom came at the beginning of July and then drove back to Utah with me and my three youngest kids. It was 20 hours altogether. We stopped at the halfway point in North Platte, NE. We went to this place called Fort Cody. It was pretty cool with all the little figurines that we saw and it had a lot of stuff from Buffalo Bill Cody. It was a nice place to get out and stretch our legs. The place we stayed didn't have a pool, so I went to Walmart and got something for everyone to keep themselves entertained. We had a good breakfast and then continued on our way. We got to my mom's house at around 5. The kids were really good on the way there.
Sydnee has a cousin that is a few months younger than she is and they got along really well, once they got to know each other. My older kids came during the next week with my brother-in-law on his semi. They were able to make a lot of reconnection's with friends from when we lived there.
One of the highlights of our trips was that Tori and I got to go to Cedar City to the Shakespearean Festival. This is a tradition with my family. It was Tori's first year and she had a blast. We saw "The Merchant of Venice", "Macbeth", "Much Ado About Nothing", and "Pride and Prejudice". We usually only go to the three main Shakespeare plays, but my mom really wanted to see Pride and Prejudice that we went a day early. It was so great to have that extra day. I wish we could do that every year and not necessarily go to a play on the extra day. One of the funny things that happened, Tori brought all her shoes that she has been wearing that are a size 4-5 and her feet wouldn't fit into any of them. We went to the shoe store and had her foot measured and she is a size 8! I couldn't believe it! We had to go and get her all new shoes.
It was so much fun spending time at my mom's house and my sister Kim's house. I loved spending time with all of my family. I really felt that I bonded with my family in ways that I haven't before. It actually made leaving all that harder. All of our kids got a long, we played games, watched shows, and hung out. It doesn't sound all that exciting, but it was one of the best times I have ever had with my family. It was nice to be around my in-laws too. It was fun to be there when my sister-in-law had her baby. I was able to hold him and realized that I had forgotten how tiny newborns are.
As a last minute decision, I was able to attend Education Week with my mom and two of my sisters. I truly believe that Heavenly Father wanted me to go to that to hear certain messages that I heard. I went to one class that talked about Zion vs. Babylon. Do we have more Zion homes or Babylon homes? Are we living a life that puts us in Zion or Babylon? It was really good. Another one talked about how we need to teach our kids to be achievers and leaders among their peers. My favorite one was the one that Sheri Dew presented. She talked about the importance of being a righteous influence in our lives. That is so perfect to teach my kids about while they are around their friends that aren't LDS , but also in our own home. I absolutely loved it. I hope Brahnson can go to education week next year when he will be 14. I wish that he could have gone this year, but he missed the cut off by a week and a half. I really hope that my husband can be with me next year.
I then had to drive home with all five kids by myself. We stopped in NE. again. It was a little more contentious then on the drive up, but we made it. We continued home the next day and it was so good to see my husband. I was gone for 5 weeks and we really missed each other.
I am so grateful that I was able to go. I am very grateful to my sister-in-law Jen for being willing to have my kids at their house for two weeks while I was elsewhere.
This vacation came right at the right time for me. I had just the right experiences and now I am ready to move forward with everything. The only bad thing about this vacation, apart from not having my husband with me, is that I forgot my camera! Hopefully, I'll be able to get some pictures from people that were there with me.
I am looking forward to the kids going back to school and resuming my life here. I don't know why I need to live away from my family in Utah, but I trust Heavenly Father and His plan for me. I am already looking forward to going back next year. My kids are too!

Saturday, July 10, 2010

#6 will still come, just a little bit later.

I am so grateful for the tender mercies that Heavenly Father gives me. Last April, I found a really good deal on a flight for my mom to come and visit me. I had a very strong prompting from the spirit that I needed to get that flight for her on July 7th. I thought it was because she could use a change of scenery while my dad is out of the country. I never thought that she needed to be here for me to give me the extra help and support that I needed.

July 8th, the day after she got here, she came with me to my regular OB appointment. I was 17 1/2 weeks along. I was really hoping to be able to talk my Dr. into giving me an ultrasound to see if the baby was a boy or a girl. I was going to be going out of town and my normal 20 week ultra sound was going to have to be 23 week ultra sound. I really wanted one before I went out of town. The nurse came into the room and did all my vitals and then tried to see if we could hear the baby's heartbeat. She couldn't find it. She had another nurse come in and she couldn't find it either. They were going to have to give me an ultra sound to see if they could see a heartbeat. The Dr. came in and asked all her questions and then afterward had me go in to the ultrasound room. It was then that she saw that there was no heartbeat or movement of any kind. I was shocked! I have had a miscarriage before, but had had cramping and bleeding to go with it. I have had none of that.

I was so glad that my mom was there with me. Otherwise, I would have had one of my older kids with me or I would have been alone. Chad was working. The nurses, residents, and Dr.s were so good to me and took great care of me. I was a weeping wreck along with my mom, but I felt the spirit close to me. The hospital staff said that they were going to do thier best to be able to take care of everything that same day. I stayed in the back office while they scheduled the procedure for later that afternoon. It just so happened that the OB that was on call at the hospital was an expert in the kind of procedure that I needed. If I had been two weeks farther along, I would have had to go into labor and given birth to the fetus. As it was, I was able to be put out the whole time and didn't feel a thing. The Dr. said that when she examined the placenta that it didn't look healthy.

I was considering getting my tubes tied, and Chad supported me in whatever I wanted to do with that. A little later, before the procedure, he came to me and told me that we were not supposed to get my tubes tied and that this little spirit still needed to come to our family. Something had gone wrong with the body. This information also helped the kids cope with this loss. They took it pretty hard too. I am so grateful for Chad and for him sharing his answers to prayers with me. He has been a great comfort to me through all of this.

I am so grateful of my knowledge of this gospel and knowing that Heavenly Father wants us to be happy and that He is in charge, is keeping my spirits up. He has really been holding my hand through all of this and has blessed me with several "tender mercies" through this time. He has blessed me with a wonderful family and friends that have all been there. I have been truly humbled by all the love and prayers that I have felt during this time of trial. My dad always taught me to pray for trials to become a stronger person. I didn't pray for this, but my testimony has been boosted through this process. I have become a stronger person. Thanks to everyone that has supported me and prayed for me and my family. I love you all!

Sunday, May 9, 2010

# SIX!!

We just wanted to let people know that we are expecting our 6th and final child. I am due Dec. 12. I have my babies 31/2 weeks early, so we are planning for him to arrive around Nov.17. Yes, Chad and I both feel that we will be having a little boy join our family. Time will tell, but I bet that we are right! The kids are so excited. Brahnson actually took the time to hold and play with a baby today during church. I am happy that this baby is already loved and wanted. Jorden keeps asking if he can feel the baby. I told him it's a little early to be doing that. Camren keeps coming up with all sorts of names. Tori is just plain excited. Sydnee, when we told her that mommy had a baby in her tummy, she said "NO!" She'll come around and I am sure she will be my best helper. Usually, we tell people as soon as we get the positive pregnancy test. This time it has been fun for Chad and I to share a secret for a little while. I am currently 9 weeks along. The Dr. did an ultra sound and said that baby looked great! More updates to come..... Love you all!

Monday, April 12, 2010

Nauvoo

I keep thinking that I will be better at this blogging thing, and I am not! We just continue with our life from day to day. We still really love it here in Wisconsin.
We recently took our first trip to Nauvoo. My mom and my sister's family were going to be there and so we decided to go down there for one night and spend time with them. I forgot my camera, but my sister said she would send some pictures that she took. I'll post those later. It was so fun to see some of my family.
It should only take about 4 hours to drive to Nauvoo. Well, it took us nine. We left at 6:30 in the morning so that we could get another full day in Nauvoo. We were only staying one night and thought that we would make the most of our time. We were about an hour and a half away from Nauvoo when we thought that we would go straight to Carthage and do that first before we went to Nauvoo. We didn't have the exact address and so we just put "Carthage, IL" in our GPS. We didn't know this but, THERE ARE TWO CARTHAGE, IL!! The time of arrival was really close and we knew that the Carthage we wanted to go to was close to Nauvoo, so we thought nothing of it. The GPS took us back an hour and half the opposite way we wanted to go! When we got to the place that the GPS said was Carthage, we were in the middle of nowhere! It was a cross roads with farm land on each of the four corners. We knew that it wasn't a big community, but we thought we should see some sort of sign of a city. We continued driving for about 15 minutes and came to a town called Dixon. We went to the local Library and looked up the actual address of the Carthage Jail and then put it in our GPS, IT WAS THREE HOURS AWAY in the opposite direction that we were going!!! This was around lunch time and so we went to a park and made our lunch and let the kids play a little bit. We continued on our way and got to Nauvoo at 3:30 in the afternoon.We had to get to Nauvoo to pick up tickets for the show that was later that night. We were supposed to pick up our 16 tickets by 2:00p.m. and there was no way that we were going to be able to do that. We don't have a cell phone and so all I could do was say a prayer that they wouldn't give our tickets away. I got to the Visitor's Center and they said that they had just left a message on our home phone and were wondering if we were going to pick them up. Luckily, I got there just in time, before they would have given them to somebody else. We never found time to make it to Carthage. But, we had a good time while we were there and my kids got a new perspective for the trials that the early saints had to endure and how they lived day to day. When we were headed back home the next night, we were in a torrential thunder and lightning storm that had tornado warnings everywhere. It was the scariest drive home that I ever have experienced!
I am grateful that we were able to go and enjoy most of the parts of Nauvoo. I was getting homesick for my mom and it was fun to see her along with my sister's family. All of the kids got a long really well. Living so close to Nauvoo, I am sure we will make it back again and see the other stuff that we didn't get time to do.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Big Update!

I have a lot of updating to do with this blog! I haven't had the time to update this. So, here is the scoop. We were able to go to Utah for Christmas this year. Camren was able to go earlier with his grandpa in his big truck. It helped us out because it was one less child in the car for when we drove there. We made it in 20 hours driving. We were able to be there two weeks! We spent Camren's birthday, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, My birthday, New Year's Eve, and some of New Year's Day. We left on New Year's day and drove back without stopping anywhere to spend the night. We left at 10 a.m. Utah time and got home at 7 a.m Wisconsin time the next morning. It was a hard drive, but everyone was glad to get it over with.
Camren turned 12 while we were there. We were able to celebrate it at Chad's mom's house. We were also able to ordain him a deacon while we were there. The picture below is Camren with both his grandpas, his great-grandpa, and his dad. I love generational pictures!




I thought this picture of my dad and Sydnee was too cute not to share! Every time I look at a picture of my dad, I miss him! I haven't been able to see him a whole lot lately because he has been out of town with his business. We are so grateful that we were able to catch him home for some of our time while we were there.

The ordination took place at Chad's parents' ward house. There were several of his uncles and grandpas there. We have lived out-of -town a lot and with that, we don't get to have a lot of our family share in these kinds of events. It was so nice to have so much support by both our families on Camren's special day!




After the ordination, we enjoyed soup and rolls for dinner and then we just had to have my mom's pies for dessert. There is nothing that Camren likes better than my mom's pies!












It was also fun for everyone to see Sydnee. She wasn't even walking when we left for Wisconsin. We haven't been back in a year and a half with all of our family since. She loved all the attention she got when she sang all of her songs. She particularly liked singing "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" and "Jingle Bells".




A few weeks after we got home, Sydnee and I went to tour the Fire Station here. It was very nice. We learned that there is only three people in Middleton that are considered payed fireman. The rest of them are volunteer firefighters.











Sydnee liked seeing all the big trucks and was happy to be able to go inside one to explore!


They also had a lot of fire trucks and such from the past. On the walls they wrote minutes from meetings that were from the early 1900's.


I am so grateful for my family. Heavenly Father has blessed us so much. We have such a wonderful family and we live in such a great place.
Last week, I had an experience that shows me just how much Heavenly Father is aware of us and that if we ask Him for things, He answers! I was finishing reading my book last Saturday. I was reading the "Undaunted" by Gerald Lund. It is a really good book. Anyway, I finished reading it about 1 in the morning. I was so tired! I needed to be up early because we had people coming to dinner after church and I needed to do some dinner preparations. I was saying my prayers and told Heavenly Father that I needed to get up by 6 a.m. I was too tired to set the alarm. I went to sleep, not really thinking about what I had asked. The next thing I knew, our light in our bedroom turned on and Sydnee came in and said "Mommy, it's time to wake up!" I looked over at the clock and it read 6 a.m. straight up! It wasn't a minute before or after! I then remembered what I had asked in my prayer before falling asleep and was amazed how Heavenly Father answers even the littlest of requests! I was also thinking that I should have asked for 6:30 a.m. instead! :)