Day 3

On the third day, we hit the road again and drove to the metropolis of Thermopolis Wyoming. Not a booming city, but there were some things we enjoyed there. We swam in the largest mineral pool in Wyoming, it was the perfect temperature so even Lily could get in!

We went to a Dinosaur Museum and took a tour to this actual dig site on the mountain. It was pretty cool. The bumps in the ground are actually dinosaur footprints, and then there are bones you can see stuck in there too.

Here I am holding a dinosaur tooth.

Jed and Lily on the way up to the dig site.

Just outside the museum there was a deer that let us get pretty close to it. By the time I got my camera out, the deer got farther away, but if you squint you can see it in the background on the dirt road.

Madelyn finally decided to let Jed sacrifice her to the T-Rex. A little more drama in this photo would have been a lot more effective! Maybe like a crazed look in Jed's eyes and a petrified Madelyn....

Hannah driving the dinosaur truck.

Cute kids if I do say so myself.

Madelyn was starting to get a little spooked out at this place. I could relate, I remember going to the dinosaur museum in Vernal Utah with my family and they have mechanical moving dinosaurs....really creepy.

The coolest thing about the drive to Thermopolis were these awesome tunnels. You don't get to drive through a mountain every day. The rock mountains we drove through were incredible. They were HUGE!! I had to bend my head down in my seat just so I could see the top of them.

We found this big horn sheep on the side of the road. They can climb vertical rocks with such ease!

We got pretty close to this guy with our car.

About an hour or so into our drive, Madelyn felt a little sick. Luckily we took care of this in time to spare the car.

Vacation 2010: Days 1&2

So the last week before school started, our family decided to up and go on a road trip. We did a little planning and packed up and headed up to Swan Valley. Blogger is being really frustrating and won't let me put the pictures in order, sooo.....this will be a backwards journey through days 1 and 2!! On the second day Grandma Donna and Grandpa Jody came up to share a beautiful day on the lake. We fished on Palisades from the boat and didn't catch a single fish. But, that was ok, because then the highlight was swimming in the lake! Everyone except Lily and I...

The girls and Grandma chillin on the front of the boat with snacks.

Even though they didn't have much luck on the lake, they had great luck at the creek right by the cabin.

Drew displaying his catch.

Jed's family's cabin is right around the corner from the Palisades hike. So everyone was a good sport to indulge me in a hike. Although, you really can't get far on the rocky trail with a small wheeled stroller. Hannah was not enjoying the ride too much, it was a little too extreme for her.

Jed was amazing and stuck it out with the stroller FAR longer than I would have. But, eventually they decided to turn around and go back to the car. Drew and I pushed forward and kept on hiking. We stopped at the creek and tried to catch minnows. They are too fast for us. We got spooked when we heard something rustling in the bushes beside the trail....and turned around too!

The kids all pumped to go on VACATION!!

Summer Highlights

Summer went way too fast. We were able to have some fun times, here is a taste of what we did:

We went with some friends and had a BBQ at Rigby Lake. The kids loved playing. They have made some nice improvements there. Hannah had fun throwing mud and running into the water.

Drew and Jed swam out and did the water slide. That is Drew on the slide and Jed right there in the water waiting for him.

Drew and I were working on this sand castle--which was futile. Hannah enjoyed personifying Godzilla and made sure we did not make much progress on the castle....

We drove out in the desert and with some time spent on the bumpiest road ever, we found a lush little campground infested with mosquitos!! We pioneered some herbal mosquito repellant--we will not make that mistake again! But we did have a really fun time. Jed is starting a fire without matches which he did successfully! Very impressive! ;)

Two cute little girls enjoying the campfire.

Just a cute picture of Jed with some of his girlies.

We had a good share of exhausted kids this summer. Lily is having a shnooze while the rest of us played in our pool. I just love her suit!

Hannah exhausted in the car.

For family home evening one night, the kids and I went to the zoo with some of Jed's family. We did this while the men were out of town drilling wells.

Madelyn feeding the goats.

We ventured out with our family to hike Cress Creek and Grandma Donna and Grandpa Jody met us up there. It was a hot day, but we had a lot of fun. The kids were very preoccupied with the treats they packed on the way up...

until we found this...

everyone got their turn holding the lizard.

A lot of fun.

Ready for some hiking!

Jed's been cruising this little puppy around our house with the kids, which of course they all enjoy. If you look hard enough you can see that it put Lily to sleep!

What a maniac! Caught like 3 feet of air that time... :)

Madelyn doing her swimming lesson assessment. She did really well this year.

Drew did really well also. He has gotten so much more brave in the water. They both really liked it and we had a lot more fun in our swimming pool this year too.

Well, that about wraps up the highlights....the computer didn't upload all the pictures I told it too. Oh well, I'm sure it was enough! We had a good summer and made some good memories! Now we've put away the pool, put away the popsicles and traded them in for books!! I love fall too!!!

I always Want to Remember...

the little things that bring the joy to motherhood.

I always want to remember tiny fingers, tiny toes, tiny pigtails, gummy grins.

I always want to remember how Drew opens his arms wide open and puckers his lips signaling to me its time for a hug and kiss.

I always want to remember Hannah's little prayers "Hen Fodder, faiful foi fammy, pees bess..."

I always want to remember what happens when we put food in front of Hannah before we've said a blessing; she somewhat bows her head and totally shovels food in during the whole prayer.

I always want to remember Madelyn's compassion. When Jed felt sick, he laid down to rest while I finished dinner. I asked her to kindly go bring him to dinner. When she came back in tears, I asked what was wrong, she was just so worried about her daddy being sick.

I always want to remember Lily's big eyes. Whenever she hears Hannah coming or is startled her eyes get so big the whites of her eyes nearly glow.

I always want to remember our Friday night pizza parties.
I always want to remember the time in primary where the sharing time teacher was explaining that the water we drink comes from rivers. "No it doesn't!! It comes from WELLS!!" said Madelyn. Funny.

I always want to remember the snuggles.

I always want to remember laughing together.
I always want to remember Drew and Madelyn brushing and playing with my hair while I read to them.

I always want to remember how sometimes when I lay down at night and have a chance to think, I am overwhelmed with how much I love my husband and kids that it brings me to tears.

I always want to remember Hannah's crazy escapades, such as the birthday suit cleaning the church incident that escalated from there...

I always want to remember our little adventures: lizards, hiking, campfires, getting eaten alive while wearing herbal armor, getting lost on dirt roads perhaps going to be attacked by wild coyotes...

I always want to remember how Hannah was ready to move on in life while we were roasting marshmellows. She randomly said "bybye daddy, bybye mommy, bybye dwooby, bybye sissy..............taint you." Then she wandered off a bit past the car and then turned around.

I want to remember these things and SO much more because before you know it they'll be in 1st grade, and their fingers too big to put olives on, and just because I really do have the greatest job and family that I love so much!!

These guys are the greatest!!

Lily's Blessing

Lily's Blessing was August 1, 2010. We had so many family members come and support Lily and our family which really made the event wonderful! It was great to spend time with so much family.

I took a few pictures of Lily on her big day. My sister-in-law Julie taught me how to make the fabric flower for her headband and I thought it turned out really cute!! (thanks Julie!)

I caught the tail end of a smile here. I thought Lily looked just beautiful. She is such a sweetheart and we love having her as part of our family. I could snuggle her all day long and really wish that I could because she has already grown so much!!

We got a picture with all of my side of the family and here they are. We took pictures with Jed's side too, but unfortunately not on my camera.

My sister Julie also called from Nova Scotia and she got to talk to most of our family that was here visiting. It was nice that even though she is so far away, she still got to be part of the big day too!!

Some unfortunate things also happened this day. After work the next Monday Jed told me two of his brothers had been throwing up and feeling sick. I contacted all of my side of the family and the reports escalated from there. Pretty much every family that were in attendance reported sickness, except for our little family and my parents. Our family ate leftoevers all week long and never got sick, so I'm pretty sure it wasn't the food. We think it must have been some sort of bug because everyone ate different things and still got sick. A pretty aggressive bug!! I still feel so sorry and embarrassed that it ever happened. Hopefully everyone can regain their trust in me..... :)

Keeping It Cool!

So far this summer, the kids and I have ventured up to Rexburg to the Splash Park a couple of times. It is so fun to have a little water park like that not too far away, plus they get to visit Grandma and Grandpa Nelson afterwards. The first time we went Hannah just wandered around mooching off everyone's picnic. The second visit she braved some water fountains, of course with the accompaniment of her bag of chips and sippy.

Soggy chips....mmmmm

I am grateful for this flourescent "swimsoup" that helps me keep track of this little girl.


Drew and Madelyn racing down the slides.

Hannah sharing her soggy chips with Lily!

Baby Steps

Here is a little update on how things are running in our family:

Jed: Jed has been a HUGE help to me since we have had Lily. He has taken over making his lunches (which I hope to start doing again...soon) to help me get a few more minutes of sleep in the mornings. He has more than doubled the number of diapers he has changed in his entire fatherhood experience, he used to be able to count that on one hand!! But he even does it without being asked or without giving me a hard time about it. The kids and I woke up to a perfectly clean house every morning that first week and to a hot breakfast. Jed makes a way better mom than me! He is the greatest and I couldn't do it without him for sure. Thanks hun.

Jeannette: I am trying my best to get adjusted and have been learning a lot in the process. I really am feeling my limitations and know that I could never be the mom I am supposed to be without heavenly help. It is just not possible. I took all four kids to the grocery store for the first time last week--a major accomplishment. It was pretty crazy yet funny. I had Hannah in the back of the cart with the groceries, Lily in her seat in the front, and Madelyn and Drew walking. Lily cried loudly for about 10 minutes in the store and I got a lot of turned heads, looks, and "You've got your hands full"s. But the best was yet to come. Only a few items were opened and nibbled on by Hannah, which was better than I expected. In the check out Hannah refused to be in the cart any more, so she got out. Drew and Madelyn were awesome helpers and bagged all the groceries even being careful of the eggs and bread! I placed some bags and a watermelon on the bottom of the cart and the rest of the cart was packed, no hope for Hannah to get a ride to the car. So I had Drew and Madelyn on either side of Hannah each holding a hand and then Drew held onto the cart. We went out of the store and off rolls my watermelon down the slight decline and into the parking lot. A kind lady catches it for me and it was luckily unharmed. Rather than place the watermelon back underneath the cart--susceptible to the same tragedy--I carried it in one arm and pushed the loaded cart with baby included to the side of the walkway. During the commotion of the rogue watermelon, my little train of children had detached themselves from the cart and Hannah was throwing a full-blown fit in the middle of the pedestrian crossing right outside the store--laying on the asphalt. There were several onlooking cars, since they were all stopped there just to let us through. Here are Drew and Madelyn trying to coax Hannah to get up and hold hands again with little success. With some coaxing from me she finally got up and we were able to let the traffic through. I caught the glance of a straight faced car driver and then just started to smile and laugh to myself. It must have looked rather nuts. Luckily I was able to find the humor IN the moment which was wonderful. And I learned a big lesson: I had gone into the store with very low expectations. I knew catastrophe would come. It wasn't a matter of "if" it was "when" and "how." So when it came, I was able to deal with it with a light heart. So, baby steps....baby steps to learning how to be a mother of 4.

Drew: Drew has just finished his last season of t-ball, he was a real slugger. He is way excited about pitching machine next year. I have to tell another story: the other day the kids and I were driving home from town and on our way there are a lot of 4-way stops. At one stop I was the first to arrive, but the car to my right pulled up and hardly stopped and drove right in front. I said "Hey!" and the kids asked me why I said that. I told them a man didn't follow the rules and didn't take his turn at the right time. I took that moment to ask the kids why we have rules and why it is important to follow the rules. The kids gave me their answers " to keep us safe" etc. And I kept going with it for a bit until Drew said, "But mom, what if he had an emergency and was headed to the hospital." I just said, "That's very nice of you to think that." Then Drew said, "I think we should just forgive him." So that pretty much ended my shpeal. Here I was trying to adjust the happenings to suit my purpose, when Drew really had the better lesson. Baby steps again--listen to my kids, sometimes they are wiser than I.

Madelyn: Madelyn has been learning to be a very good sister. She is learning more patience, as we all are. She is doing a lot better at talking things through with her little sister and she is really good at holding Lily. She is a really good girl with a very compassionate heart.

Hannah: Hannah likes to sing "keen up keen up every....keen up keen up every" when it is time to pick up. She is starting to be a bit softer with Lily, she still tries to hit her every day though too.....baby steps. I think she is starting to adjust and get used to Lily being here, but often is torn between wanting to be a little girl and wanting to be a big girl.

Lily: Is growing fast. She is more than 10 pounds now. She eats frequently and still likes to party at night instead of the day. Sometimes I don't mind being up for hours at night because I don't ever get to spend one on one time with Lily. She just gets held while I try to do everything else that needs done and attended to during the day. She loves to be held and definitely prefers our bed to hers. She is a sweetie and we love her lots.

Our family is doing well and we are learning A LOT. Mostly how much we DON'T know!! Oh boy...

During the last few weeks I have been able to spend a lot of time reading the conference Ensign while I have fed Lily. It has helped me tons with perspective, patience, and really trying hard to have faith and hope and a positive attitude--not that I am perfect in any way shape or form with any of those things. One talk I read came from Pres. Uchtdorf which was directed to the priesthood, but I found a paragraph that I think applies equally to motherhood:

"Let us always remember that one of the reasons God has entrusted [motherhood] to us is to help prepare us for eternal blessings by refining our natures through the patience which [motherhood] service requires."

I'm grateful I have a chance to be refined as I learn to be a mother of more children. I just hope that in the refiner's fire I come out better than I came in and that I don't get burned!!