Londyn's Blessing Day

 Here is our growing family. I never imagined I would have 4 Beautiful daughters. They are such a joy in my life and Scott and I are so grateful for the many blessings and teachings that they add to our life. Londyn was blessed yesterday on May 29, she was 3 weeks old. Scott's parents and brother Eian came and Scott's sister Tara and her daughter Emily came as well and will be staying for a week. We are so excited to have family in town with us for this special time. Scott's parents brought their tent trailer and camped at one of the many campgrounds by us. Last night everyone went over(except me and Londyn of course) to the campground and had fun with a campfire and making nummy smores. The girls came home telling me how good they were and that they love smores.

Londyn's blessing was so beautiful and I just wanted to put some of my thoughts on here as well as some of the words spoken in the blessing. There was such a special spirit there and throughout the whole blessing I felt so much love from our Heavenly Father and knowledge that he sent me my daughters that I might teach them and be blessed by their sweet spirits. As Scott was pronouncing the blessing he blessed Londyn that she would be strong and not worry about the disease and problems of sickness with her body. That her body would be strong and healthy and she would be able to accomplish all of her desires and not worry about physical ailments. She was blessed that she would have strong Faith in Christ and our Heavenly Father that she would be desirous to bind herself to her Heavenly Father through sacred covenants and that she would understand the importance of those covenants and be desirous to make righteous choices and know the difference between truth and error. 

Hearing the words spoken and feeling the spirit I had thoughts of the last/chosen generation and how strong they need to be. I felt that Londyn was being blessed with that strength and that she is definitely one of those spirits that has been saved for this time on the Earth. I know that my other girls are very strong willed and have such a great desire to do good that they have also been sent here to Earth at this time to be a good influence and example and that the Lord has a work for them to do to prepare the world for the second coming.

 There were many other thoughts on my mind yesterday throughout Sacrament Meeting about other family members and the messages that were shared and the hymns that were sung helped me be more receptive of the spirit. My Grandma Bessie is not doing too well right now and I have been thinking lots about her. She has been calling me every other day to say hello and just to check how me and Londyn are. They have been such sweet conversations even though she isn't able to talk for long. The final Hymn sung yesterday was "God Be with you til we meet again", I started crying knowing that same day in the future that we would be saying goodbye to my Grandmother, whether it happens in the next few days or in several months if she gets better. But the spirit comforted me to know that no matter when my Grandma passes away, or any loved one, that we will meet again.

After Scott blessed Londyn he came and sat down and Londyn looked up at him and just stared right at him for a long while. It was so sweet. She also gave him such a big beautiful smile. It was one of those sweet tender moments.

 Londyn in her blessing dress

 The dress(yes I crocheted it and Scott's mom made the slip)

 Carol and Londyn

 the slip

 Just too sweet and relaxed

 Aunt Tara and Emily

 Roger and Emily

 Me and my little Londyn

 She is just too precious. 

The next post has a lot of pictures from the last couple of weeks.

Lots of Pictures for you to see :)

 Sunny Day outside finally so I let the girls out the back door and they played on the deck eating popsicles

 Cute Liz

 Posing for the camera

 stylish shades

 This is a normal scene around our house lately

 I just love this little girl so much-when she's alert she's super cute!!!!!

 Lizzy loves holding Londyn

 The cool cats

 Look at those rolls, she's a chub!!!

 There is a little smile on her face. :)

 Literacy night at the grade school. One of Kaylee's teachers Mrs. Little

 My happy bubbly girl

 Megan with her teacher Mrs. Shortman-they put together a book of 100 poems and Megan wrote 3 pages worth-she loves writing. She is constantly making up poems at home for us.

Londyn is around a week old in this picture

Welcome Londyn Savannah

She finally arrived and I am finally posting about her. Londyn Savannah was stubborn and didn't come when all the other girls were born (37 weeks). She decided to stay nice and comfy inside of me until 38 weeks and 4 days. It's a record pregnancy for me. She was born Sunday May 8th, on Mother's Day, at 4:06 am and weighed 7 lbs and 10 oz.

I was getting very big and sore and tired and contracting off and on for days. Contractions would start and get about 10 mins apart and would do that for about an hour then they would completely stop. Friday night Scott surprised me with a babysitter and we went to Thor, the whole time I was contracting and thinking this is it I am going into labor, but sadly no nothing happened all night long. Saturday the girls and I went to a bridal shower and my back was hurting so bad with little contractions that I figured not too much would happen. That evening I started contracting again regularly then they stopped. We went to bed and I would have a couple little contractions. About 1:30 I woke up and used the bathroom and I went back to bed, I would just start to fall asleep and a contraction would happen about every 15 mins. Finally about 2:45 this major contraction hit and I knew that I was in labor. So I woke up Scott and he was so funny because it was like he was on an adrenaline high he was so excited and giddy (yes giddy). The contractions jumped to about 3 mins apart, our neighbor came over and we left to the hospital. The whole time I kept telling myself that I wasn't really in labor but then I would have another contraction and sure enough I was.

We got to the hospital about 3:46 and Scott wheeled me down to Labor and Delivery. When we got there one of his student's mom was the nurse and she was so excited because she had been waiting for a couple weeks for me to show up. They got me in the room and I laid on the bed and the baby was ready to come out. So they called the doctor and he got there 5 mins later. From the time I walked in to when she was born they didn't even have time to do anything but put gloves on and check me and I was ready to have her. They didn't even have time to do an I.V. or chart anything or even give us wrist tags. The Dr. got there and broke my water and about 3 mins later Londyn was born. She is my biggest baby and was the hardest to push her head out. I cried after she was born because she was a lot more work than my others. When we got to the hospital I told Scott "I really don't want to do this", we've joked this whole pregnancy that either I'm old or I'm just a whimp this time around. :)

The girls came in the next morning on their way to church and were so excited to meet Londyn. It was so sweet watching all of them with her and how happy they were to have a new baby sister. Unfortunately the batteries in the camera were dead (I had just replaced them with brand new ones so I don't know what happened) so we didn't get any pictures of her that first day and then Scott brought new ones but didn't get them put in because I was discharged Monday right away. So these are just some random pictures that have been taken throughout the week.

She is such a good baby and happy all the time. She loves getting a washcloth bath especially her hair washed. The other night she had finished eating and I was trying to lay down with her to sleep so I turned off the light and she screamed. So I turned on the light for a minute and she fell fast asleep, so I turned off the light again. Well instantly she was screaming. This happened about 4-5 times until I decided she wanted the light on and we both fell fast asleep. Silly Londyn. Hope you enjoy the pics and I will definitely put more on soon.

Proud BIG Sisters

2 days old

The "New" Big Sister

Relaxing with Daddy while he's home from work

chilling in her swing

first outing in her car seat-not too happy

My happy girls

BABY

Ok, I know it has been forever and this is going to be a non-pic post but hopefully tonight there will be a few pics I can add. I just haven't figured out with our new computer how to do pics from our camera and need Scott to show me but we have been so busy for the past um.....more than 6 months that it hasn't happened. Horrible I know. Scott has had meetings every night for about 3 months straight and this month he had training away from home for a week(last week by the way) and the girls schedule and my piano schedule that life is hectic and I am soooo stinkin' tired all the time.

Well just to let everyone know I am 37 weeks tomorrow and the longest I've ever carried a baby is 37 weeks and 1 day so we are all anxiously awaiting this little girl's arrival. I've contracted off and on the last few days so we will see what happens. Hopefully in a day or two we will be able to put pictures on here of her for everyone to see. The name is still a little bit of a debate, we have it down to 2 names and have decided that one will be her first name and the other will be her middle name. It will have to be a surprise for everyone so stay ready for the announcement.

I think we are all completely ready for her to be born. We have bedding all cleaned and her crib up in our room, her clothes are all washed and organized in the drawer. We went during spring break to wal-mart(an hr away) and got her cute pink/brown carseat/stroller and all the baby essentials. I feel PREPARED!!! Now I am just anxious and antsy for her to come. I can't wait to hold her and see what she looks like. The girls are so excited and every second they are hugging my belly and rubbing it giving the baby kisses and telling Scott and I how much they love their baby.

The feeling in our home the last few months has been so WONDERFUL!!!! I was trying to describe it to my sister the other day and the only thing that sounded like it felt right was Euphoric. Everyone is so happy and willing to help and our girls have been so sweet about everything. Scott and I just enjoy so much listening to them tell us things and sharing those special moments with our family. Liz is constantly saying and doing the cutest things and Megan is growing up so much I can't believe how big she is. Kaylee is getting so big too and just as sweet and sharing as ever. They both help so much I don't know what I would do without my girls. I can't put into words the feeling in our home but I feel so blessed to be able to share this time with my girls and husband and can't wait to watch them all interact with the baby and have that special spirit in our home.

I'll keep you updated with the new arrival. Hopefully I don't have to wait too much longer because I don't know if I can. I am sooo super restless and cleaning everything in site it's driving my family bonkers but it keeps my mind thinking of other things than waiting for my water to break. We are just hoping that Scott is home when it breaks because it's 20 plus minutes to the hospital(tourists are here in hordes right now and make the commute longer) and 10 mins for him to get home from work and I have about a 30-45 min time window once my water pops!!!! Wish us luck and lots of prayers.

My cute girls

Ok I put the pictures in the opposite order that I wanted to oops. sorry. Oh well you still will get the idea. Here are my cute girls now and here are pics of them when they were younger. Liz and I were looking at pictures of family on their blogs and we saw a pic of her and a cousin when they were babies so she wanted to see more baby pics so then we saw these and I had to put them up here of how cute and little these 3 rascals were.
Elizabeth at 7 months old. She used to wear this robe(which was actually Megan's when she was a baby) and Scott would have her arms punching like Rocky and calling her the "Fighting Tornado"(he used to do that with the other girls as well and it just became tradition.)
I love the chunky cheeks. This picture described her....happy and huge smiles all the time.
We were headed on a family trip to Utah but our transmission went out so our trip to Utah started with a week stay at the Carpenter household(that was going to be the end of our vacation but we decided to do things backwards that time). The girls weren't used to the heat after living away from Utah for a couple summers. They were roasting outside. But I saw this picture and just loved the face Kaylee was making. Look how little they were.
Ok Melissa this picture of Kaylee looks just like your pictures when you were a little girl. I had to put this on here for you to see.

I love my girls and can't believe they are getting so big. Megan will be 7 in 4 months. I am not old enough to have a 7 year old.....am I? Sometimes I still feel like a kid myself. To all you who we went to school together, it's 10 years this June. CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!! I love you girls and all your silliness. Last night we were eating dinner late because the girls had just gotten home from dance and I had just finished piano lessons. They were so goofy and crazy and poor mommy was exhausted and not feeling good but they were so cute trying to cheer me up!!!!! Thanks girls!!!!

Girl's school pics

This is my crazy/sweet Liz and her silly personality coming out in this picture. There are lots of pics and there is a post at the end of the pics.














Ok I know it's been forever since I posted, life has been crazy and I'm just not the best at this. Anyway Megan started 1st grade and is loving it. She has her first loose tooth and is excited to tell everyone about it.
Kaylee started Kindergarten and is just soooooo excited she can't believe she actually started school. She has morning kindergarten and when I get her off the bus she runs home as fast as possible runs to the kitchen counter, sits down, opens her backpack and does homework right away(not that she really has any but she loves to pretend most days).
Elizabeth and I have fun being home together, she is definitely turning into the terrible 3s and can throw such enormous tantrums that I just can't believe they are coming from her. Then on the other hand she is sooo stinkin' cute and sweet and lovable that when they tantrums come you are completely in shock.

We have been in our new house since the beginning/middle of July. We are loving it so much. There is a ton more stuff to do but for now I think we are taking a break from doing fix it work right now. We need to do a little touch up paint and eventually change the flooring in one bathroom, maybe change the counter tops and cupboards sometime but for now we are just relaxing and enjoying the house.

I got to go to my sister's this summer when she had her 3rd little girl and stay with her family for 2 weeks. Scott was so wonderful and let me go see her. I can't repay him or thank him enough for that chance. I haven't seem Amy for quite a while. I was gone over my birthday which also happens to be Amy's little 2 year old Sofia's birthday. It was so fun, busy because Amy had a lot of complications from the C-section but I was so glad that I could go and see her family and be there to help when she needed it most. By the way she just outside of D.C. so I did get to do some sightseeing. I will have to do another post and put pics up from my trip there.

Enjoy the pics of the girls and eventually I will get pics of the house taken and posted.

What Happened to TIME????

Ok so I was just looking on here and realizing how looooooong it has been since I lasted posted anything. Megan's B-Day, yikes that's horrible. So much has happened in the last little while and none of it has been mentioned. Well to Start off with, Kaylee had her very much anticipated B-Day and it was so wonderful. She is now 5 yrs old and is counting down the months to kindergarten next year.

I told her that I would miss her and asked if she would stay home with me instead of going to school. She thought about it for a few minutes then said, "well mom I really want to go to school very badly but, umm, well I'll stay home with you and take care of you." Well a couple days later we were all in the car driving around town and I overhear a conversation of Megan and Kaylee's.
M: Kaylee you can go to Kindergarten all day and have lunch and play at recess and it's sooo much fun.
K: I know but megan I have to stay and take care of Mom because she will miss me too much. I really want to go but I can't leave her because she will be too sad.
M: Oh yeah, well you would still love to go, it would be fun.
K: I know well(talking to me now) Mom could I just go to Kindergarten one day, would you be ok?

Aren't they sweet? I love my girls.

Well the other exciting news........ We are buying our FIRST HOME!!!!!!!!

Very scary and nerve wracking. It is taking longer than we would have hoped for but it is such a blessing how everything is working out. We never thought we would be able to afford anything in this area that wasn't completely run down, big enough for our family and within our price range. Well Scott applied out of state for a couple positions and when we found out he didn't get them. We called our agent on a Saturday and said next Sat let's meet and go over all the homes available. ( We have seriously been constantly watching every home on the market here for the last 4 yrs.) Sunday we got home from church and there was a message on the machine. It was Scott's co-worker who's wife happens to be our Agent. He said that they found a house that just hit the market and would be perfect for us. So we called them and they said we needed to see it now before somebody else snatched it up. So we went out super fast and met her and looked at 3 houses. The first one was dooable but not really what we wanted. The second one we were so amazed at it. The third one was like somebody had pot smoking parties in it with psychadelic glass windows.

Well we wrote up an offer that night for the 2nd house we saw and turned it in. The bank counter offered the next day, we got preapproved right away and it has just been moving right a long. We did inspections and turned in our requests for what we wanted the bank to take care of on the house. The House is a bank repo and was priced about $70,000 lower than what it sold for not too long ago because the siding needs to be fixed. Anyway our contractor drew up bids and our agent asked him to throw in some extra things just for fun, thinking that the bank probably wouldn't agree but why not try it? Well the bank asked for a second set of bids. So we got that in and waited for over a week. Finally last Wednesday we heard a tenative answer back as they would fix some things. Then Thursday our agent called and said I have approvals back, here's the list. She went through the list and the bank has approved EVERYTHING we asked for. Did I say that already??? EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is absolutely amazing because everything is about $10000 worth of repairs/fixup stuff and somethings are really just thrown in type of things we asked for but they are doing it.

We are really excited, the house was built in 1992, 3 bedrooms/2 baths. We will need to carpet the bedrooms and repaint the inside. A few other little cosmetic things we will need to fix but nothing big. The siding was the old LP siding(particle board cheap stuff) So the bank is replacing the siding/painting it(the neighbors next door have basically the same house and paid about $45,000 more than us and didn't get anything fixed on it. They bought it about 2 1/2 yrs ago. They are doing heating service, carpenter ant treatment, pest control treatment, new dishwasher and disposal(high end), tearing out the back deck because of dry rot and completely rebuilding it, removing a dead bug infested hot tub, new trim, new water heater(or fixing the other one). There are a few other things they are doing but that's basically it. Once we move into the house it will practically be brand new. The flooring in the great room and kitchen/dining rooms are practically brand new. Really nice laminate flooring and new tile. We're excited. It's a little bit smaller than the house we are in right now so we will have to down size but we get a huge kitchen, a huge dining room, our own HUGE bedroom and our own Master Bath. Our bedroom is actually pretty small right now so we are super stoked for this.

Plus it will be closer to Scott's work. Although I hate to move away from how close we are to the river. I love being able to just walk downtown or to the riverwalk or see it from my front windows. We won't have a view at all. Oh well huh???

We feel so blessed with how everything has worked out for us we feel that the Lord has watched over us a prepared a way for us to stay here and be in a home.

We hope everyone is doing good. Sorry for the super long narrative with no pics.

Now the question is, do we want to transport the girls back to this school district or move them to Scott's school district which is the one we will live in. But we love Megan's school and all the teachers and Principal. So we will have to decide. Plus they have full day Kindergarten and we really think Kaylee would benefit from that. Megan has learned and grown (mentally) wonders from being in full day. I guess we will see when we get the house. We should be able to sign and close and paint and carpet and move in all hopefully by the first of July. HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!!!!!