January 1, 2012

Can you believe this cuteness?!?!
Noah, Jax, Sariah and Isaac
I have always loved that the scriptures teach that Jesus taught,
"Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not,
For such is the kindgom of God."
I am grateful that I belong to a family who forbids them not.
I love how children are cherished, and loved in our family.
And this... THIS... was that heaven that the scriptures talked about, I am sure of it!

Shayne and Kerry were blessing Sariah.
We went to their house after church for lunch and to hang out
and enjoy some time together.
I knew we had to get a picture of this little piece of heaven!
It would have only been perfect if Kimi could have had her sweet Jared in the picture also.
It felt like heaven to be able to pass the babies around and breathe in their sweetness.
This is AMAZING!!!
I loved the looks on the faces of everyone as they passed the babies around.
It is pure joy!!!
I especially love the look on the faces of Shalum and Candice.
Their sweet baby Jax is such a blessing, an answer to so many prayers...
So many people prayed on their behalf.
I love to see the happiness that just radiates from them now.
I wish I could help others see that a child is not a burden, but a gift...
The GREATEST gift of all!
When you love a child, and are loved BY a child,
All is right in the world!!!

Let me tell you about the last week of 2011!!!

The last week of December is generally... well, laid back. It's that quiet time between the mad rush of Christmas and the fun of New Year's Eve. Sometimes Thayne has it all off... sometimes he just works a couple of days but the kids are usually content and happy and entertained by their new toys and games. I knew that at some point we were looking at Kimi having her baby, but never did I think that the last week would leave me so.... tired?! Excited?! Overwhelmed?! Or so Happy!!!

Christmas was awesome because it was Sunday. I loved spending Christmas at Church and home resting and enjoying hanging out. No pressure... no worries. Monday morning my brother called and asked if we had any babysitters around to watch Jax while they went on a date to the movie. They didn't want to take him out around too many people and had wanted to see the new Sherlock Holmes movie so I told them I would bring Willie in and hang out with him for a bit and run errands. It was time to pick him up when I got the call... Garrett said they were dropping Gabe off and that I should pack my bags. Tiffany had been having contractions and they were headed to Utah.

I ran home and grabbed my stuff and took off, about 40 minutes behind them. We were actually a little worried that they wouldn't make it to the hospital since she was having pains 3 minutes apart on the last hour of the trip.

They got there and settled not long before I made it. I was almost disappointed to hear that she was still the same as she had been on the Friday before. There is a reason for that, I am sure. No doubt we had some tender mercies that night. Her doctor wanted to come over and check her and break her water. She got there right before 11pm and broke her water right at 11 o'clock.... and things picked up from there! 2 hours and 13 minutes later, at 1:13am on December 27th, sweet Isaac Jay came quickly into the world. I feel so blessed to have been able to be with Tiffany again as she gave me another beautiful grandson! I love that I get to be her 'coach' or whatever it is I get to be called. I just love that I get to be there. It feels good to be able to help her breathe, help her handle the labor so well. And she does so well! She is tough! Her doctor was amazing, stayed with her the whole time also. He came quickly... and it seems there was a reason he needed to get here early and with great haste!

Tiffany went to her appointment the Friday before Christmas and called to say she was 70% effaced and dilated to 3. I asked them why they were coming home! I really did worry that she wouldn't make it back. Garrett gave her a blessing when they got home and in it she was told that she would know when he needed to come and that she would have time to be where she needed to be for his birth. Monday morning Tiffany text me asking about the famous labor shake. She told Garrett that she needed to do it. He asked her if she was sure. She was, and she did, and it worked! Isaac was having trouble getting his lungs cleaned out. He was born so fast that it didn't give him a chance to get his lungs cleared. Garrett and I were watching the nurses work on him. When everything settled down, when we knew Isaac AND Tiffany were okay (I admit, I worried about Tiffany. She bled a lot after Gabe and I was more than a little worried about her this time. In the end her doctor took great care of her and I was extremely relieved. It's funny how I feel like she is my own daughter!!!) I noticed her doctor standing by the door of the bathroom talking quietly with a nurse, looking at the placenta. I had honestly thought the umbilical cord looked a little funny, not like I remembered with my kids, and not even with Gabe... though his was extremely short! It looked skinny, a little different. Then I glanced at the placenta and knew it didn't look quite right. There was a big 'clot' the size of a fist... and then what looked like darker blood in the shape of a smile. So I stepped closer to the doctor and she explained what she was looking at. She showed me that one of the arteries in the umbilical cord had ruptured... causing the big clot. She said that was likely the reason that the placenta was so hard to get out. She then told me that she had no idea when that happened. She said that typically when that happens, babies do not last very long. She explained that somebody was watching over him and he must be here for a reason! That is when I grabbed Garrett and told him that he needed to hear this. Tender Mercies... blessings. The gift of life.... a beautiful boy that we are so grateful to have in our family!

Mommy, Daddy and baby Isaac!
Another son to love....
Sweet boy....brand new from heaven!

He is a little junky.... took them a bit to get his lungs cleared out!

7lbs 9oz... just what Gabe weighed, only he was 2 weeks early.

Welcome to the cold cruel world...

Another beautiful baby boy! So much fun added to our family! All these amazing boys!!!

Gabe loves his new baby brother!!!

So I left Utah after Isaac was born, too wide awake to worry about being tired driving home. Got home at 6am hoping to get to sleep for at least a couple of hours. That didn't work! So I was awake!!! All day. Only to be informed that Kimi would be induced the next night. The 28th. Kailee was planning on going with me. We were going to leave late the 28th after she got off work but I had not slept AT ALL that night either... so the plan was that I would get some sleep and we would leave at around 3am the morning of the 29th since they were going to start pictocin that morning. Yeah... that was a good plan, except I had a hard time going to sleep and then I heard Noah wake up at midnight because daddy had left him on the couch sleeping with Wyatt... so the baby that normally sleeps through the night was wide awake at midnight. And so was I. Running on absolutely no sleep, we took off. 5 hours the OPPOSITE direction.

I have to say, I just was not excited about Kimi's doctor. In the beginning she told her having a large baby would be no problem. 2 weeks before Kimi has him she starts saying he is big and they should just do a c-section. Funny... 2 weeks BEFORE he was born she told her he was over 8 lbs and would have a huge head (last I heard, 14 inch head is pretty normal). Kimi wanted to do it natural. One nurse wasn't really helpful AT ALL... wanted her on her back being monitored the whole time. Kimi handled the labor well.... I was SO impressed with her. In the beginning she was starting to tense up when the pains hit. I asked her to look at me and listen, that these pains were going to get MUCH worse and she needed to breathe through them... and relax her entire body and just let the pains wash over her. SHE TOTALLY DID JUST THAT!!! I could not believe how awesome she was!!! At lunch time, I told her maybe walking and then sitting on the ball would help. We had a pep talk, told her that she can do this. So we ran to get Wyatt and Noah and get lunch and Kimi went for a walk. Until the nurse noticed she was walking... told her she had to be back in bed being monitored. Can you see where this is going????? Kimi insisted on the ball for a while and guess what? Her water broke!!! Funny thing? I told the nurse Kimi looked just like I did with Garrett... and I had SO much amniotic fluid. She said Kimi didn't. Kimi told her I probably know something since I had 16 kids. She looked at me over her glasses and said to Kimi, "Who is really your mom?" Kimi pointed to me. She pointed to Eva, Matt's mom. Kimi said no, and pointed to me. She then asked how many kids I really had. I told her I REALLY have 16 kids! She then explained that she has 9 kids so she knows. I told her 9 kids is awesome... but she gave me crusty looks every time she walked in the room. Matt says that she kept pointing out that she had 9 kids so she knew everything so when she finally met someone with more kids that her, it totally ruined her claim to fame and she was mad! haha :) Well, Kimi's water broke and she had a LOT of amniotic fluid!!! (ha... told ya!) and she quickly moved to a 5 and head was engaging. She had been in labor for hours then, but was so sweet. She would just ask me to massage her feet or rub her back, or have Kailee and I push on her knees when she had a pain. I kept watching the contractions and while they were hard, they just didn't seem to be doing exactly what they should. I was frustrated because they just kept telling her they should just do a c-section but they wouldn't let her move at all to help him come down into position. Long story short, after many hours her doctor pretty much told her that she had no hope of having her baby naturally. I completely disagree... I am kind of bitter about it, and Kimi isn't happy about it either... but you know, he is here, and healthy. It looked like his head was trying to come out in a weird position (um, yeah, because you know, he had been floating around in all of that amniotic fluid and then they put her flat on her back and wouldn't let her up again!) so our little Jared Matthew came into this world by c-section at (I think... it was a long blurred day) 10:03pm on December 29th weighing 8lbs 12oz and 19 inches long (only well... 3 days later he was 21.5 inches so really... who knows anything about this sweet boy except he is absolutely adorable!!!) Kailee and I were very bummed because we had been looking forward to seeing Jared be born. It's funny, my mom was worried about Kailee being in the room watching a birth. I, of course, had no such worries. Kailee said though that even seeing the pain and even seeing things go wrong, she thinks it is awesome and can't wait to be married and have babies.... and that I get to be there for her too!!! :) I love these girls!

Soooooooooo... we are thrilled to welcome to the world, and to our family... Jared Matthew!

It's all fun and games till the REAL pain sets in! I still can't get over how amazing Kimi did. She was so tough!!!

Sisters forever.... in joy and in PAIN!

Hey Matt.....

Let this forever be known as the moment mom told Kimi that she is going to walk, and get her water broke and get this thing moving... literally minutes later Kimi got on the ball and her water broke!

Mom and Kimi... a little pep talk!

Brothers just couldn't hold up and passed out in the waiting room!

Matt in his pretty white suit ready for the c-section. He feels a little more comfortable in his POLICE uniform.... not the silly white jump suit!

8lbs 12oz....

Jared thought it was a pretty rude to take him from his comfy place and bring him into the cold cruel world....

Grandma and Jared... feeling like my heart may BURST from all the love of these new babies!

Kailee said she fully intends on being THE BEST aunt of all!!!

Poor Jared was so gassy... so grandma had to get him calmed down!

Awwwww... sweet Jared!

Wyatt was so excited to get to see Jared!

After less than 3 hours sleep we got up, spent some time with Kimi and drove home. 5 hours in one of the worst wind storms I have ever witnessed. There were miles of white out from dirt, not snow... but dirt! Then it would sound like it was hailing, but it was miles of rocks falling on the car! It was insane! There were moments of it being absolutely terrifying... not able to see the lanes in the road, not daring to pull over because people were literally all over the road, but scared of going forward. We were just so glad to finally be home. Now... if only I could sleep! And if only I could figure out how to get Jared much, much closer to his grandma!!!

He had no shoes...

This has haunted me. I usually find ways to serve others, but for some reason, this one got away and I can't stop thinking about it. It truly haunts me. I know I can't go back and fix it, so I guess the only way to move beyond it is to be aware of the opportunity to serve if it ever comes back again.

Thayne and I went over to Utah for one of his doctor appointments. He was in extreme pain. He could barely walk and at one point had tears in his eyes from the pain. We had to make a quick stop to get gas and a drink to head out on. It was getting late and we wanted to get home because we were running so late.

As we came out of the store, I noticed a man sitting down, a little bit away from the door but to the side. I didn't even think to look, just saw him out of the corner of my eye. It's not uncommon to see homeless people in that area, and I was more interested in getting Thayne in the car and getting on the road. As I got Thayne settled and we started to back out, it hit me... the man was dirty, extremely dirty and his hair was a mess. And my heart hurt for him. It was cold. I hate seeing the homeless people in that area because I always want to just bring them home and give them a warm place to stay. We even talked to a man and his grown daughter and her husband who were homeless and lived in the park in Salt Lake. They chose to live their. They had it all worked out and were actually very proud of the way they were living. They were very kind (we talked to them in Burger King one morning grabbing breakfast) but they weren't like this man. As I caught one last glance at him, I realized he had no shoes. His feet, in the fading light looked dark, and tough. It took a minute to realize what I was seeing... it wasn't until we were on the freeway that it really sunk in, the way his feet looked. And I cried. I told Thayne I wanted to go back and give that man his shoes. I should have been paying better attention. I should have noticed his need BEFORE I drove away. I should have been more aware of the needs of others, and I should have been ready, at that moment to fulfill the need.

I simply cannot get the image of his feet out of my mind. I had a lot going on, was worried about Thayne and getting home to the kids... yet, I wonder even now what I could have done. He had no shoes. Could I have made a difference? Would he have accepted it even? I don't know... but I know that never again will I walk away, when I see someone who has a need.

Too many trips to Utah...December catch up!

I feel like we have had to run back and forth to Salt Lake almost as much as we had to when I was pregnant... no I am not pregnant, let's not start any rumors. I mean I would love to be able to have a dozen more kids but that's besides the point! No, this time we have ran back and forth for Thayne. Last December, in 2010, he had back surgery. Strangely enough, unlike the first surgery he had, he never really found relief. He went back to the dr several times but never did get any kind of satisfactory answers. Last year when he tried to get into the dr that did the first surgery, they were just booked with no openings until several months into the year. But he was desperate, and decided to try calling again. This time they were able to get him right in. The difference between the doctor he saw here, and the doctors over there is like night and day. It is AMAZING.

So, we now have surgery scheduled for January 17th... and hoping and praying that this surgery works as well as they are hoping it will. We NEED it to work. The other option, a two level fusion, does not sound fun! Hopefully they can just remove the ruptured part of the disc off the nerve it is crushing and he can be back to himself very, very soon!

We did manage to walk through Temple Square while were there for one of the appointments. It was beautiful and we were grateful to be able to walk around and enjoy the beauty and the good feeling that was there. Thankfully they had decided to try an epidrual block to help with the pain. They didn't think it would help at all, but it did and walking was not horrible for him at all that night!

I LOVE Temple Square at Christmas Time (well, I love it anytime, but especially at Christmas time!)

Ready for the shot to see if it would help take away some of the pain... last time he had it many years ago it hurt so horribly he couldn't stand up, so he is a little bit afraid. But it worked MUCH better than they anticipated!

Christmas 2011

I can't believe Christmas is here again. The days fly by and another year is almost ended. I wish it would slow down and let us enjoy the little things just a little bit longer. Christmas was great, except that it was our year to share Jace and Caitlyn with her mom and dad. Although I can tell you that Jace was sulking about missing Christmas morning with the kids and he deserved a spanking when he got home for calling and texting me at 3am telling us it was time to get up. We had already threatened the kids not to even make a peep before 5am. Yes, I realize we were dreaming but we sounded scary enough that I almost thought it would work! It didn't! We were up at an insanely early hour but everyone was very happy and I am so glad that we got to get the gifts unwrapped and breakfast made and then go to church. It worked out perfectly! Everyone was happy and we had a great day. We called Jace and sent him plenty of pictures so he didn't feel 'too' picked on! I have enjoyed having the kids home and wish the Christmas break would last a little longer....

Everyone up and ready to go...

Nate was ready for family prayer so he could check out the gifts Santa brought him!
Kalli couldn't believe she got the DS she wanted...
mom kept telling her she wasn't going to get it!

Hyrum said he didn't want anything except to feel happy! I hope he felt happy!

Santa's Elves, Wyatt, Willie and Hayden,
making sure everyone had presents to open...

Gabe knows what he is doing this year....

Hayden!

A little story about that Elmo Nate is opening... Nate REALLY, really, really wanted Elmo who sings and plays music for Christmas. Thayne, um, I mean Santa thought almost $60 was just too much to spend on Elmo. Scrooge, I mean, Thayne kept saying no everytime I held cute Elmo up in the stores. (Now... we ALL know had I really wanted it, but I kind of hate spending that much money on Elmo too!)... however the day before Christmas eve we were doing some last minute shopping. We just had to pick up a few things and were wandering through Walmart, not in a hurry, it wasn't really crowded so we were just walking through the toys. I commented again on how I wish Elmo was cheaper! :) We walked into the garden center where they had more toy aisles. I notice one Elmo that had been set in the wrong place with other toys. I noticed it had a price tag that said $29. I asked him if that was cheap enough. He laughed and said if we got it for that price he would do it! I told Scrooge, I mean Thayne to ask the cashier if they honor the price ON the toy (it was very clearly an original price tag, not like somone had tried to change it.) So he asked the cashier and she said that they would honor it.... so Nate got Elmo and they sing together beautifully! The funny thing is, Nate got lots of awesome toys.... but he LOVES this Elmo and you can hear him in his room singing with him!

Gabe calls his bike a "Christmas bike"... it seems he saw it BEFORE Christmas
and it was explained to him that this is a Christmas bike.
So let it forever be known as such!

Kami was SO excited to get her Explorer! She wanted it SO bad!!!

I don't want to think about what next year will bring with my girls thinking they are going to fly away and go to school... so I am just going to pretend in my own mind that they will always be my little girls!

Jace welds... Jace is Nate's hero... so now Nate welds!

Having big brothers to show you how things work is AWESOME!!!

The traditional picture of the 'mess'...
however Jace ruined it by not being here to bury himself and Nate in it!