November moments

Here are a few pictures that were taken in November. I am way behind in my posting so I am trying to get caught up.


I LOVE MY HUBBY!!!!!!!!!!


Karissa and Murmur. We have had so much fun with Murmur while she has been staying with us. She and Tyson are buddies, it is pretty cute!


Tyson buried in the Mega Blocks.


Tyson LOVES his sister. He loves to tickle her and give her kisses. He can really make her laugh!

First Snowman

Tyson's made his first snowman or perhaps more appropriate, snowbaby, with Daddy and loved it. He insisted on kicking it over once mom was done taking the picture. He thought it was pretty funny!

Costumes

We had our ward Halloween party and everyone, except me of course, dressed up. Tyson was Buzz Lightyear, Karissa was a flower girl of sorts and Ben was a full blown nerd. None of these pictures have him in full costume but it was pretty funny. He had his pants hiked up to his armpits almost, glasses with the tape, high-waters, black shoes with the white socks, the awesome part in his hair and yes, he even had toilet paper sticking out the back of his pants. Boy am I glad he doesn't look like that everyday.

For Tyson's costume Ben and I were too cheap to buy the WAY overpriced, poor quality things at Walmart so I happened to find these Buzz Lightyear pajamas at Penny's. They were less than the Walmart costumes, they looked better plus he gets to wear them the rest of the winter, all for $10. I think we did pretty good, although I don't think we will be able to get away with something like that next year.

Tyson would not take his coat off the whole time.


Thanks, Mandy for the tutu, I was so excited to use it! She looked soooooo... cute!

I LOVE MY FAMILY!!!!!!!!!!

Catch-up Time!

My blogging has not been the biggest priority as of late, but I am finally posting some pictures of our sweet little girl and boy! It has been a busy couple of months. Karissa's blessing took place last month and my parents and one of my sister's, Elyse, were able to visit for the occasion. It was sure nice to have them here, it makes me sad that I don't get to see them all that often, but I'm grateful for the times that I do! Thanks mom and dad for the sacrifices you made to see your new little grand daughter (and favorite oldest daughter, wink wink)!

Other than that life in general has kept us busy. A new baby is always labor intensive and time consuming, but so worth it! We have our good days and our better days! Tyson is adjusting well with his sister. He loves to give her hugs and kisses and likes to sing I Am A Child Of God to her, it is the sweetest thing!

Aside from the baby and Tyson I have also been trying to get a few embroidery orders done. It has been very stressful and I just look forward to being done with these orders!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, we hope you all enjoy the pictures!

August 2009 favorites:


Too CUTE!


"Strike a pose...Vogue!";)


Tyson's new bike. Notice it doesn't have any pedals. It is a special bike that is supposed to teach balance and steering before pedaling. We found the idea online, children as early as two years old master these things and even continue to ride them even after getting a pedal bike. We thought training wheels were more of a crutch than a help so we decided to try this approach. So far Tyson isn't too interested and now that it is cold we may have to wait until spring to try again. I wish they made them in my size!

This picture just cracks me up!!!


AAAHHHH!!!

September 2009 favorites:


Blessing Day!




These pictures of just Karissa in her blessing dress were actually taken a few days ago. We forgot to get them on the actual day and then time just seemed to slip by. I finally got them though and that is all that matters!


Our family with my parents and sister, Elyse! So glad they could come!!!!!!!!!


My little angel! I LOVE it when she smiles!!!


October 2009 favorites (more to come):



The cutest and sweetest kids EVER...of course I'm biased!!!


Such a big smile, I love it!

Swine Flu Vaccine Scare

I am not usually one to discuss such a touchy subject, but as the Swine Flu scare escalates I feel it very important to write a brief post and urge all who may read this to get the facts and educate themselves on this issue. With a possible mandatory vaccine order in the works PLEASE do your homework as to what this will mean for you and your family! Whether you vaccinate or not please educate yourself on the dangers of this particular vaccine not to mention our rights that will be revoked should this mandatory vaccine order pass! The media is not the best place to get the "facts" on this subject or on any subject for that matter. There is loads of information on the web and here are just a few websites I find helpful.

http://drtenpenny.com
http://mercola.com
http://homefirst.com
http://nvic.org

The information obviously doesn't stop there! I hope I do not come across as trying to sway anyone one way or another, I am just pleading with you to educated youself before making any decisions and/or allowing the government to take away our rights . I personally feel that the government should NOT have the power to tell me what is best for me and my family and force me to comply!

Karissa's Birth Story

I know there are many of you who have been eager to hear about Karissa’s birth story. Well, I am only three weeks late, but I am finally getting back to my blogging.

Karissa was originally due on August 1st, 2009. Well, apparently she had other plans. On July 14th, I was awakened at around 4:00 AM by contractions. I didn’t think too much of them since they were about 10 minutes apart and not very strong. Most of the morning continued with no real changes and by about 10:30 that morning the contractions had stopped. Of course I hadn’t got to washing all the baby clothes yet, I thought I still had two and a half weeks to get that done. That was my first task to get done that day just in case. By 3:00 PM the contractions had started back up but they were still 10 minutes apart. By that time I really got into the “nesting” mode and cleaned almost everything. It was a good thing too!

The rest of the evening continued with no changes. I kept my midwife, Chris informed throughout the day and by 9:30 PM I decided to try and get some sleep. Well, that didn’t happen. I honestly don’t see how anyone can sleep through contractions. Anyway, by 11:00 PM the contractions were getting somewhat stronger and by 11:30 they suddenly accelerated to 2 minutes apart and were very intense! At that point I had Ben call Chris to let her know of the change. She immediately called her partner, Melissa, who lives in Sandy, and asked her to head over to our house. (Chris lives in North Ogden and was on call with another laboring mother not too far from her). I did my best to try to see if I could slow things down a bit, but honestly when you feel the urge to push there is no stopping it! I was moving between the bathroom and bedroom when at 11:56 PM a major contraction hit and my water broke, right on the bedroom floor. Not the most ideal place in the world, but when you’re in labor you don’t care too much. I couldn’t make onto the bed. I reached down shortly there after and felt the baby’s head and at that moment I have to say I was a little worried since Melissa hadn’t arrived yet. Ben was on the phone to Chris reporting all that was happening. He was by my side when he was instructed to tell me to push, and with little effort at all Karissa was born with Ben catching her. It was exactly two minutes from the time my water broke to having her in Ben’s arms. He handed her to me; grabbed some clean towels and we wrapped her up. Ben’s latest nicknames have been “catcher” Ben or “doctor” Ben, but through all that happened he stayed totally calm and collected. What a guy! Not too many dads have bragging rights to delivering their own baby. She was absolutely perfect! The whole experience was amazing! I had no idea that I would have such a quick laboring period, but you won’t here me complaining! Exactly four minutes after Karissa’s birth is when Melissa arrived. She took over everything from there and did a great job! I even got to cut the cord since Ben delivered Karissa.

Once the baby and I got situated we wanted Tyson to be the first to meet his new sister. Ben brought him in but he was pretty groggy and was more interested in going back to sleep. Needless to say their official, coherent introduction waited until later that morning. He was pretty surprised to see the baby. He turned to me pointing at Karissa and said; “baby” then patted my tummy and said, “another baby”. Kids can be brutally honest, but then again he was just calling it like he saw it.

With all the commotion here in the basement, Ben’s parents and his sister and brother-in-law, who were all upstairs, didn’t have a clue as to what just took place. When Ben woke up his mom at 1:00 AM to give her the news she thought he was joking. Ben does like to joke around at times but doesn’t usually make a habit of it in the middle of the night, thank goodness!

By the time Karissa and I were taken care of and tucked into bed it was about 3:00AM when Melissa left. I didn’t sleep much the rest of the night due to the excitement to have our little girl here, not to mention the recovering process but what a night it had been! I honestly didn’t think I was going to have her that night…boy was I wrong!

Looking back I honestly couldn’t have asked for more amazing and spiritual experiences than those of the births of my children! I know there are those out there who may think that I am crazy, but there was never any doubt in my mind that having my children at home was the best decision I could have made for me and my kids!

Pictures of Karissa

I haven't had a whole lot of free time to blog so it has taken me a while to get these on here. What free time I do get I usually choose to take a nap. I am still planning on blogging about her birth so stay tuned.


Tyson loves his baby sister. He asked if she could lay by him during nap time.











I absolutley ADORE my children and I LOVE being a mom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!