5 days old

Here's the new little lady after bath time today in her outfit she came home in.

Natalie Hope

Welcome to Natalie Hope! She came on Tuesday at 3:38 pm after a short labor. You can ask me for details if you want but I will say one thing: epidurals are a glorious thing. She weighed in at 7lbs 4oz, and was 18 1/2 inches long.

A content and quiet girl.

A very happy Mommy.A comfy cuddle with Daddy.Meeting the sisters.A new family photo.

windows of heaven

Okay, so the title may seem like a bit of an exaggeration, but not to me. Friday was the day that I had been wishing for since moving into this house. WE GOT NEW WINDOWS! We didn't really expect to notice an immediate difference, but we have. It no longer feels like a breeze is blowing through the room. I got up this morning to a blustery rainy day and didn't know it until I looked outside, it is SOO much quieter. Here are some before and after pics.

After: (I didn't take a "before" inside picture because I didn't realize how different it would look.)

BEFORE:

AFTER:BEFORE:AFTER: BEFORE:AFTER:

moving to the state of denial

I decided to do something that I have never done before, take some belly pictures. I usually think about it the day after having the baby. So here we are at 36 weeks. Thank you to my wonderful photographer, Cali.

I also wanted to report that today is my 29th birthday. Don't worry, I am not expecting any calls, presents, cards full of cash . . . I am just reporting the events as any good blogger would. I have decided though that this is my first 29th birthday. I think that for at least a couple more years I will be having 29th birthdays, until I feel like my twenties are really over. Though driving a minivan and having 3.9 children have been kind of hinting to me that I am not as young as I used to be.

slow news day

Let me apologize in advance to those of you who are a bit more refined than me. I just had to share this because it made me laugh so hard. I went to ksl.com and this news article caught my eye with this description: "Mourners will gather today to pay tribute to what workers say was a reliable and well-liked toilet."

Here's a link to the rest of the article that includes phrases like "On Carl's Jr.'s Facebook page, a spokesman says, "Our thoughts go out to the surviving men's room urinal and porcelain sink." I almost wish I could be there for the services and get my own "Kaboom" toilet wand. Brilliant.

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=5459925

bowled over

Our ward had family home evening last night at fat catz. The girls have been counting down the days ever since they found out about it. When we were on our way home Scott said, "Pizza and bowling, what more could you ask for?" Cali said, "More bowling." So true. Ian had a hard time giving other people turns to bowl so we had to take him over to the arcade most of the night. That seemed to be just as good to him as he spent his time running from one thing to the next every few seconds. Here he is trying out the racecar. Kimi probably won't be happy that the picture I managed to get was her gutter ball. Cali got a strike on her final turn, she thinks thanks to all of her practice on the Wii.

Ian's other love

You know what they say about animals being able to predict earthquakes and such? I think Ian's spidey sense is telling him something is going down soon with Mommy, but he is not sure what. He has begun to cling to me like a life-preserver. I am the only one he wants to change diapers, put him to bed, get him up from bed, feed, sit on laps, read stories, etc. He has started to go crazy when I leave his sight and has to get in between me and the girls when I try to do things for them.

So how do I cook meals and shower with out a major meltdown? Wall-e. I know it isn't the greatest thing to plunk him down in front of, but Wall-e keeps him happy, so I do what I have to. Thank you, Pixar, for helping me stay sane. The weeks to come may get a little interesting.

little ballet west

Cali came home from school on Monday and told me that they had an assembly line at school that day. I was a bit confused until she told me it was Ballet West. "Oh, an assembly"

So anyways, she was inspired by it and decided to give us a little taste at family home evening complete with an outfit that she assembled herself. Note that she wore a tight tee over a big tee in order to have a tutu. It was quite the dance number, sorry I couldn't post the video.

on christmas day in the morning

Well, I am finally getting around to posting about Christmas. I didn't realize until I got the pictures off of my camera this morning that I only took about 5 pictures and videos. We were just having too much fun. (That and the lighting stunk because I couldn't convince them to wait for the sun so we would have better lighting. Silly kids.)

Kimi got the latest singing Barbie from Santa. Just ask me if I can sing all the songs by heart yet.

Once Ian opened a big pack of Hot Wheels cars (Choo-Choos) he wasn't interested in opening anything else. He used the other presents to drive on.

After we got our presents opened at our house we headed over to Grandma's house. Here's Cali and Kimi opening presents from Grandma C. with some of their cute cousins.This is where Ian spent most of the day once we got back home. So many choo-choos. He is watching me write this post right now and is going crazy about the picture of all the choo-choos.

Scott and I both agree that this was our best Christmas since we have gotten married. It is great to have the little people around to make everything 100 times more exciting.

Merry Christmas

white christmas

We have been hit with snow storm after snow storm lately, but it is great to have a white Christmas. These pictures are from the first storm last weekend.

Everybody working together to dig us out.Ian marched after his daddy shoveling the sidewalk. Ian discovers a new ball, a SNOWball. This made it so that he was frozen solid by the time we could get him to come inside.

OH, you better watch out . . .

I was surprised when I pulled this trio out of Cali's backpack. I don't know if it was the menacing eyebrows and fiery belly on the one on the left, the razor toothed ballerina in the middle, or the three eyes on the belly of the one on the right that I found to be the most festive. Merry Christmas, OR ELSE.

must be santa

We just had our ward party with the visit from Santa that I am always thankful for because it saves me from the line at the mall. Ian was running around like a wild man so he didn't get a photo. Next year, buddy.

christmas pageantry

Kimi decided that for family home evening last night we should start practicing our Christmas pageant that we do with the kids at Christmas. If you heard Pres. Eyering on Sunday he talked about this tradition with his family. I imagine his children looking and acting cherubic and holy through theirs (aside from pegging Samuel the Lamanite with tinfoil rocks). This is how our family's goes: Kimi and Cali fighting over who gets the part of Mary, up until now Kimi has been Joseph but refuses to do it this year, Ian the unwilling shepherd who throws the sheep and runs away, no one saying what they are asked or being willing to sing any songs, Cali the angel deciding to fly (jump) to the manger from the couch and getting in trouble as she crashes into the scene. It wasn't exactly a holy night for us, but I managed to snap one picture of a semi-cherubic pose. After that we went on a drive to see Christmas lights and the best part of that was hearing Ian yell, "Wow!"

Four!

Kimi had a great birthday! She only wanted a Mariposa Barbie, and has wanted it for months. I have never seen anyone be so confident that they were getting what they wanted either. She told everyone that is what she was getting, and recognized the wrapped box when she saw it, so we made her open that last. Kimi requested a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. I thought it was a little funny because she usually doesn't eat any chocolate. Sure enough, she didn't want her cake. She told me "I didn't want it for me, I wanted it for all of you guys!" We also found a new way to entertain Ian: hang some streamers from the doorways.