It's Crazy How Fast Time Flies

It has been FOREVER since I posted. I have so many posts that have been started but not finished. I have so many events to cover in the lives of our family. I think that it will take me forever to get caught up. I will endeavor to get "caught up" as soon as possible. We are having trouble downloading our pictures from the camera. Hopefully we will be able to get that figured out soon.

School is out and now the fun begins. We are going to have to find lots of ways to entertain ourselves over the next few months. We are going to be starting our adventures next week by travelling to Utah for the baptism of one of our cousins, Ashlyn Rose Strong. Ashlyn turned 8 at the beginning of May. Ashlyn and Rachel are about one month apart in age. We are so glad to have so many cousins!! We love each and every one of them.

Rachel will be turning 8 years old (sniff, sniff) on Sunday, May 31st. It's hard to believe that my little girl will be old enough to be baptized. She has been looking forward to getting baptized ever since Katelyn was baptized about 18 months ago. Eight became her favorite number. She has been counting down the months, days, etc. until her birthday. Rachel's baptism is going to be on June 20th. We are going to be combining with another boy in our ward. We wanted to wait until then so that we could allow more of our family members to be able to be here for the baptism. We are grateful for the sacrifices that our family make for us.

Keep watching for more posts in the coming weeks!!

Taylor Swift's "Love Story" meets Coldplay's "Viva la Vida"

Check out this super cool video and song. If you love Taylor Swift's song "Love Story" you will love this arrangement by two Utah music artists. It is totally awesome!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0v3d6SFcDys&feature=player_embedded

Breakfast with Santa

On Saturday, December 6, we went to have breakfast with Santa at the Red Mountain Multi-Generational Center in East Mesa. This year we attended with our Smith Cousins and our Shope Cousins. We had a yummy breakfast and then had our pictures taken with Santa. Afterwards the kids were able to go outsids and play in the snow. They had lots of fun playing together.

Katelyn, Rachel and Bridget with Santa

Logan and Braeden playing in the snow together.

All of the "girl" cousins having fun together.

Another picture of the "girl cousins" playing in the snow together.

After the breakfast was over, we headed over to Red Mountain Park to watch Braeden play in his last soccer game. We were so glad that we were able to watch Braeden play.

We always have fun with our cousins!!

Bridget's First Lost Tooth

On December 19, 2008, Bridget lost her first tooth. Rachel, helped her to pull it out. She had been wiggling it for a few days. She was so excited to make out her first envelope for the tooth fairy. Rachel helped her to make out the envelope. She has had lots of experience making out envelopes for the tooth fairy. She even remembered to put the date in the lower corner on the back of the envelope. What a helper she is!

The tooth fairy wasn't able to make it the first night that her tooth was under her pillow because she was busy helping Santa get ready for Christmas. As you all know, he is very busy this time of year and needs all of the extra help that he can get. She is such a good fairy to help Santa out! Bridget was so excited when she woke up the second morning to find 5 one-dollar bills under her pillow. Do you think that I could get rich if I pulled all of my teeth out? LOL

I can't believe that my "baby" is old enough to lose teeth already.

Happy Birthday Katelyn

Katelyn celebrated her 9th birthday on November 25th. It's hard to believe that she is 9 years old. I can still remember when they laid her on my stomach after she was born. We were so happy to have our baby girl join our family! Katelyn was born on Thanksgiving day. With my pregnancy with Katelyn, I had gestational diabetes and had to be monitored at the end of my pregnancy. I remember being at the hospital for a stress test on the Tuesday before she was born. A nurse came into the room and told me that I was having contractions during the stress test. I told her that she didn't need to check me because I had a doctor's appointment that afternoon. When I went to the doctor's appointment, Dr. Prochnicki checked me and told me that I was dialated to a 3+. I was excited to finally meet my baby girl! He also told me not to have the baby on Thanksgiving Day. Katelyn must have heard him and thought that it would be great to be born on that day, just because he had said not to. When Dr. Prochnicki came in around 12:00 noon (we had been there since around 4:00 a.m.) to break my water, I remember telling him that it was his fault that we were there.

We had a great nurse for most of my labor. Her name was Seanna. She stayed a little after her shift so that she could be there when Katelyn was born. She attended the singles ward in our Stake and knew my sister April. Some time around 5:00 p.m. Seanna came in and said that we could try "practicing" pushing. She had only counted to about 4 when she said to stop because she could already see her head. She immediately called Dr. Prochnicki who came right down to the hospital for the delivery. My labor with Katelyn was pretty easy and the pushing was a cinch. Heavenly Father must have known that after my experience with Hunter, he had better bless me with an easy delivery. I only had to push two pushes before Katelyn was out.

When she was born, she weighed 7 lbs. 6 ozs. I thought she was tiny. She is not so tiny anymore. Some times when I am waking her up for school in the morning, I will "lay" her in my lap. She hangs way over now my lap now. It's hard to believe that she was ever my smallest baby. I am pretty sure that she will be taller than me. Thank goodness for that!

It's hard to believe that it has already been a year since she was baptized. Katelyn chose to go to Amazing Jake's for her birthday. I told her that she could invite one friend to go with us. She chose to invite a young girl in her class at school, Madison Klein. She has been such a good friend to Katelyn. She has been in Katelyn's class for a few years now.

Katelyn had asked to have cookies brought to her class to celebrate her birthday. She really loves the chocolate chunk cookies from Costco and that was what she chose. It was kind of funny when I took the cookies to her class, several of the students in her class came up to me and asked me if they could go with us to Amazing Jake's. I felt kind of bad when I had to say that she could only invite one friend. Can you imagine taking any more kids to Amazing Jake's? I can't, that would have been crazy.

We had been to Amazing Jake's one time previously with our Smith cousins. The girls knew what to expect and could hardly wait to go again. We enjoyed eating the buffet after when we first got there that afternoon and then we had a little snack later on in the evening. Their buffet is really good with lots of choices to enjoy.

After a few hours at Amazing Jakes, we headed home so that Katelyn could open the rest of her presents. She had previously opened her gift from Madison and her guitar from Rachel and Bridget. She opened a new Barbie, Alexa, from the Diamond Castle, a High School Musical Dance Mat, and a Dora "Adventure Globe" toy to play on the TV. Katelyn had also wanted to make chocolate milkshakes. About one week before her birthday, she had made chocolate milkshakes in Speech with her Speech teacher. She had been talking about how much fun that was and wanted to do it for her birthday.

We are so glad to have Katelyn as a part of our family. She is a great "big" sister to both of her sisters. We love you Katelyn!!

Sacrament Primary Program

On October 26, 2008, we had our yearly Primary Sacrament Program. Each of the girls was given a speaking part for the program. They each did a pretty good job of memorizing their parts.
Katelyn's part was "Heavenly Father has given us temples to bless our lives. Families can be together forever because of temples."
Rachel's part was "Because I am His child, I will serve Him with all my heart, might, mind and strength."
Bridget's part was "I know that Jesus lives and that He loves me."
The girls were all decked out in their finest Sunday best. I had bought them fabulous dresses at Costco (gotta love Costco dresses). Too bad Katelyn will be too big for them after this year. Why do they have to grow up? The night before the program, I spent time making fabulous hair bows to match their dresses. The morning of the program, my friend, Gini J., had come over to help me make their bracelets and necklaces (thanks Gini). They looked fabulous, if I say so myself.
We had some really great family members who came to watch the program. Grandpa Rudd, Grandma Gaddie and Auntie April, Brycen and Brielle all came to watch. We are so grateful for our fmaily and the support that they are to us.

Another Lost Tooth

Rachel has recently lost another tooth. It is a much anticipated event in our family because the tooth fairy brings $5.00 for each lost tooth. Rachel was so excited to save her money to buy something on her field trip. She chose to buy a harmonica. When will I ever learn? LOL