Worth the Wait

Here is the newest member of our family: Lily Marie Denning. She came to us on June 11th at 7:08 A.M.--my body still has never figured out how to go into labor in the DAY.... I was ok with that though because I was scheduled to be induced at 7 AM anyway and I really didn't want to be. At 1:30 in the morning my body finally kicked it in gear and went into labor a week after my due date.
It was nice because I told the nurse I was going to have the baby naturally and she didn't put in an IV. They usually do just "in case," but this was so much nicer because Jed and I walked miles around the hospital...okay probably not, since we were walking at a snails pace. I think the walking made me progress a lot quicker. When they had me lay down every hour or so to see how I was doing, the contractions would slow down quite a bit. In the halls walking I would have 2 or 3 in one hallway. At about 6 AM they called the doctor because I was at an 8. He checked me, broke my water, and then said he was going to get dressed. Things took off then. It seemed like it took forever for him to dress because then I was starting to feel the pressure!! When he got back he told me to go ahead and push, so I did and with another half push she was out!!
She took the cake for "biggest baby" in our family. She weighed 8 pounds 12 ounces, she knocked Drew out of his spot at 8 lb 9 0z.
It is such a blessing to have her here and she seems to be healthy and doing well. She is a beautiful little girl with lots of dark hair.



So precious!

Getting her first bath from Dad.

The whole fam. Yes I am way chubby in this picture. I am just now beginning to see my ankle bone definition again!! I swelled up a ton with this pregnancy. It was crazy. Flip flops were tight.

Our family is adjusting pretty well. Of course Hannah is having the toughest time with it. She got sick about this same time and so we weren't sure if she was acting out because she was sick or jealous. But now she says things like "no baby!" when I'm feeding her....I've been down this road before. I know it is just a matter of time before it improves. She does help with throwing diapers away and when she sees the baby she says "cute!" So I know she likes her. Drew and Madelyn love her and love to hold her and kiss her hair.

We are just so happy to have her with us, she really is sweet. We're so grateful things went as well as they did!

Tee Time

T-ball season is in full swing!! Ha Ha. Madelyn and Drew are playing on the same team which is a lot of fun. This is Drew's last year with t-ball and I think it is a lot of fun for him to be the big kid. He has a great hit and loves getting "outs." Madelyn is enjoying it too, although sometimes I think she is more interested in impressing the boys....(not already!)

Hannah and Daddy chilling together.

Madelyn making it to home!! She keeps getting better and better as the games go on. I still think her favorite part may be the treat afterwards though! :)

Here is the team. T-ball always provides for great entertainment and some good laughs. We love it.

A Fun-Filled Weekend

Last weekend we decided to take our little family fishing. We gave Drew some fishing supplies for his birthday and he was anxious to use his new box and gear. We headed up to the Rexburg ponds and had no idea the success and fun we were in for!! Each of us caught 3+ fish...well excluding Jed who didn't even get a chance to cast because he was so busy loading hooks and unhooking fish!!

Hannah had a blast and loved watching the wildlife. There were ducks, and of course fish, and an osprey that kept diving into the water to catch fish--that was neat.

Madelyn was pretty funny, since there was so much action she enjoyed the fishing. That is, until she got it onto the sand. She would drop her pole and run away screaming and saying that the fish was "wild and crazy" because it would flop around so much. One of the times I had to go rescue her pole because a fish was flopping back into the water and taking the pole with it!

Drew absolutely loved fishing. Loved it. We had packed a picnic dinner and he would not even think about dropping the fishing for a bite to eat. We ended up eating dinner in the dark off the tailgate of the truck at about 9:30.

My mom tried her hand at fishing too and caught two fish! She hadn't been fishing since she was 8 years old....she had a good time. There is us with our stringer full of fish, notice Drew would not put down his fishing pole for the picture...

This day was also my dad's birthday. I think he had a good time seeing the kids catch so many fish and experience pure delight!

On Sunday we enjoyed the regional conference and the open day it left us afterward. Jed suggested we go hike the Menan Butte. We had a great time. The kids were amazing and kept trudging up the mountain with no complaining!! We learned a lot of good lessons from our hike from the simple "stink bugs like volcanoes" to more complex ideas like the blessings of family and the support they offer and holding to the iron rod, and feeling the accomplishment of doing hard things.

The best part of it all was that a man on top of the butte thought I only looked 5 months pregnant. :0 My look of shock! He was extremely nice, and it must have been a long time since his wife had been pregnant because I am plainly past that!!!!

Me and my tough kids on top of the world!! I guess there was a little complaining--Hannah was upset that I wouldn't let her just run off the side of the mountain...sometimes moms are just no fun.

Jed and I celebrated our anniversary this Monday. It's been a great 7 years and we've had so many adventures together. I'm so grateful to have him, he's my best friend ever!

I had to put this picture in of Drew's artwork. I was amazed at the detail in his butterfly picture. He definitely is a perfectionist. It is perfectly symmetrical and he is so careful about his coloring. I had to document it before it got attacked by his little sister!

On Wednesday I was able to take the girls and go to Drew's kindergarten graduation. They had a program and sang lots of songs, then they were presented with their "diplomas." The graduation caps were really clever and cute. We, I should say "he," made it through kindergarten! I just can't believe we made it through this year of school. He did really well, even with a move in the school year. I'm just excited to have him home. I am really not looking forward to him being gone all day next year. I just like having my kids with me....most of the time! :)

Things are just moving along around here. I'm down to just 2 weeks left in this pregnancy and I am starting to get ancy. I'm ready to stop worrying about what having 4 kids will be like, and I'm just ready to get in the groove and get used to our new family dynamics. But there will be more worries when she is here, that is just how it goes for me....worry worry worry. :)

What We've Been Up To

In April we celebrated Drew's 6th birthday. I can't believe he is getting so old. He is getting to be a really good boy and we love him in our family. Drew got a remote control car from us, and it was really hard to keep it a secret from him. The days are long gone that you can sneak anything by the kids without much effort. He saw it before his birthday and just asked and asked about it and what it was for.....we almost had to give it to him a day early. He loves it and is very responsible at making sure the battery pack is charged, even if he has to set his alarm for 5 AM to unplug it. We have had a lot of fun flying the kite he got in our yard. I don't think I ever got a kite to fly when I was young, so it has been fun for all of us!

We took the kids to the Earth Day Celebration. Jed and I wondered how come we always go to that thing, because it really isn't all that exciting. We vowed that this year was going to be our last. They usually hand out reusable grocery bags and Great Harvest has some free food, but this year really wasn't that great. The kids enjoyed just being out and about on a fairly nice day.

Since we recently have polished our skills as kite flyers, we decided to go to the local Kite Festival after the Earth Day party. We went there with our plastic Bakugan kite ready to show everyone up....or else thats what our kids thought. :) We saw some amazing kites--this one was like 150 ft long.

Hannah loved just playing around on grass and being outside.

This is Hannah displaying her prowess at flying a kite--even in intense wind.

We went out for pizza afterwards, and the kids called that day "the best day ever!!" So glad they had a good time, even though we didn't get any reusable grocery bags......

Madelyn dancing with Hannah. She was really loving it and I thought it was so cute.

Hannah's hair is starting to get longer, so I can actually style it and leave it down--I think it makes her look so grown up! And yes she still loves to climb as you can see.


Drew and Madelyn have been excelling in their reading. Madelyn made it through the first level of her "school" and is reading really well. Drew wanted to be part of the party so in one day he read 12 pages in his workbook, plus read 2 more pretty good sized chapter books. In a couple days he was able to finish his level. We treat them to a party when they finish a level, so off to Blast Off we went!

It was great fun! No one else was there at first so I even went in the tunnels....at 9 mos pregnant it wasn't a pretty sight I'm sure!! I have since decided that when I end up being overdue, we should go to Blast Off and I will start crawling through those tunnels.... Later on, Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Casey and cousin Macie were able to join in the fun with us. It was great!


This last weekend we headed out to the regional scout jamboree and had a lot of fun. Drew is getting really excited to be in Scouts. There was tons of fun things to see and do.



We waited a long time in line for this attraction, but it was worth it. I was really glad that Madelyn made it up there by herself. I was nervous a large pregnant mother would have to go and rescue her...and possibly pop the toy.

My husband and I truly are ONE.

So this isn't exactly a new thing. But Jed suffers, I mean literally suffers, from sympathetic wife syndrome. This happens with every pregnancy, but this one has been just a little unreal. Jed has suffered sore pregnant hips along with me, along with a few other pregnancy symptoms. Now the syndrome is branching away from being exclusively pregnancy related symptoms. This last week I had a day where I felt like I had food poisoning. I was the only one who was experiencing the stuff that goes along with that....until the next day. Then Jed all the sudden experienced the same thing. Another example, I was eating Grape Nuts one morning and the hard cereal broke the retainer off the back one of my teeth. A few days later I went in to get it fixed. The fix wasn't as good as the original glue job and my teeth rub against the retainer a lot making my teeth really sore. Well the morning after I told Jed that, he woke up with swollen gums that his bottom teeth were rubbing against!!!! WEIRD!!! The craziest part about it all is that this time the sympathetic syndrome is starting to go BOTH ways. Jed hit his head at work one day that gave him a scar on his forehead. Later that week, I woke up with a matching scar and no clue how I got it!!

Now Jed wants me to quit talking to him....
He just better not make any wrong moves...because I know how to get him back!!! :)

The top 10 signs you are reaching the end of pregnancy...

10. Your children greet you with, "Wow mom, you are BIG!"
9. Each of the family pictures your children draw include a stick figure mom with a big round circle in the center.
8. Your heart feels as if you have just run a marathon each time you heave yourself from side to side in the middle of the night.
7. Your maternity clothes are getting small.
6. You are embarrassed about exposing your middle at the doctor due to the red scratch marks on it.
5. You eat more than your husband.
4. You always underestimate your size when it comes to squeezing through tight spaces.
3. As a result of stressing so much about the weigh-in at the doctor, you actually cause yourself to have high blood pressure...
2. You sweat profusely at night, even though you have no blankets on and it is 67 degrees.
1. The lady temple workers take one look at you and decide to wait for the handicap stall to open up for you to dress in.

Gotta love the last little bit of being pregnant!!

Spring Break!

It's been such a great week! Last Saturday night my sister and her family came for a visit. It was a very special treat because they live in Nova Scotia and I hadn't seen her family for a long time!! They were able to spend some time with our family and it was really a lot of fun to have them here. It was almost like getting brand new cousins for my children, but it didn't take long at all for them to warm up to them! They played nerf wars with their nerf guns for pretty much 3 days straight. Their cousins even purchased their own arms so they could really go at it!!

It was really fun to catch up with family, enjoy some fun games, and enjoy our little ones!! On Monday night we celebrated my mom's birthday and held a talent show. Drew and Madelyn presented some of their art work and Madelyn sang a solo of her favorite primary song. It is hard to keep her away from the spotlight. Like I said in one of my previous posts, she did not get that from me!!

Thanks for visiting us! We had such a wonderful time!!


Right before their departure.

Enjoying some cool ice cream refreshment after yet another intense nerf war.

Hannah just being cute with a large flower!

For the weekend we headed up to Jed's family's cabin in Swan Valley. We had a really fun time with our family. It's amazing how much more you can relax just a little ways away from home. It was so nice to enjoy conference and celebrate easter. The city put on an Easter egg hunt, which we decided to go to. We usually avoid those ever since our experience with parents pushing..and fighting over candy......but we gave this egg hunt a chance. It turned out to be really fun. There weren't tons of people and they had lunch and prizes too. Hannah won a bike and Drew won an easter basket. Madelyn was ok about not winning, since Hannah is too little to ride the bike and wear the barbie helmet!!

Here is Madelyn in the snowy field of eggs!

It was frigid, but it is hard to dampen young spirits when candy is involved.

Hannah was content with one egg when she discovered what was inside. So daddy had to help her find just a couple more.

The loot.

The big score. Hannah does love to go for rides on her new bike, and even stand on it....but that is what you would expect from Hannah. :)

Then on Sunday we were able to enjoy more General Conference. I love conference, and I especially loved that conference was on Easter weekend. We headed back home and had a birthday celebration for Grandpa Jody. We had such a party week!! We also were able to go visit our little Ellie's headstone and bring the meaning to Easter to home for our little family. We're so grateful for the love of the Savior and the wonderful gift He has given to each of us.

Here is me and all my little ones!