Thanksgiving in Sunny Florida

This year we spent Thanksgiving with Morgan in her home state of sunny Florida. We rented a vacation home for the week in Bradenton, about an hour from where Morgan lives. It was hot and humid the first couple days, then it rained, and the last few days were nice and cool... nothing like the typical California weather we have come to expect this time of year. The flights to and from Florida went as scheduled and event-free thankfully, but remind me never to fly with three little kids again... it was so much work! Barry's mom went with us and without her help, I don't know what we would have done! Fischer was supposed to go with us but he got the flu, so he stayed behind with Nana and Papa. This was the first time that Morgan got to meet her grandmother and her sisters. It was a very nice week together and we look forward to seeing Morgan again next summer here in California. We are so thankful for the opportunity we had to spend with Morgan for the first time as an almost-complete family. Fischer was extremely missed, but he'll be able to meet her next time.

Here's a really cute picture of Morgan with Annie:


One of the park days with Grandma:

The view from our house at 4825 Bookelia Circle in Bradenton, FL: the backyard pool and spa, the pond behind the house, and the front yard. It's so green compared to Victorville, but also much more humid.

Gracie and I helped Morgan create her very first scrapbook. It was filled with pictures from our last trip in June when Barry and I came to visit her. She beamed with pride at the finished product. Next time, we'll do a scrapbook of this visit for her to keep,

Mary and Barry slaving away over Thanksgiving dinner. It was so yummy! Turkey, yams, stuffing, corn, green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry jello, rolls... did I forget anything? Oh yeah, the pumpkin and chocolate pies. Did you know the typical Thanksgiving meal has 5,000 calories!!!! We needed to do much more than walk a mile after dinner, but that was nice too :)

Chloe was riding Donkey (from Shrek) like a horse all over the house one day. It was so cute:

On a day trip, we drove by these massive sand creations. They were so amazing. Here are a couple of them:

Another stop on the day trip was to a museum. The girls had fun on this train engine.

I think this is the only picture we got of the whole family the entire week.

Barry with Annie at Coquina Beach in Bradenton, FL.

Another stop on the day trip was to see this sculpture of "Unconditional Surrender" created after the popular photograph by Seward Johnson. It is located in Sarasota, right on the bay. Check out the size of it compared to Morgan and the buildings and cars behind it. It was 25 feet tall!

A cute picture of all the girls together:

Barry with Morgan:

Morgan let me do her very first braid. She'd never had her hair braided at all, so I did a french braid the first night after her bath, and when she woke up I took out the braid so she could have wavy hair.

The girls had a blast at the park.

Walking... no RUNNING while holding hands to get to the park.


Gracie just loved getting to know her big sister. It was so neat to watch them together. I know she will miss her so much now that we're back home. Too bad we don't live closer.

The girls sticking their feet in at the spa in our backyard. The screened-in pool was a very nice touch to keep away bugs and some UV rays (and the gators we never saw). It was such a quiet community and a really nice, big house. I could sport living there :)

This was cute. First Morgan put her hands behind her head, then Chloe copied her, so I got Daddy to do it too for a funny picture.

Family Pictures

Our friend, Maria Miles, was so gracious to take some family pictures for us at a local park a few weeks ago. These are some of my favorites. It was so hard to get everyone to smile at the same time because one of the girls wanted to cry, yawn, or sleep! This is why we don't go to the portrait studios anymore. Thank you, Maria! You have a beautiful talent! All the pictures turned out wonderfully and I'm looking forward to scrapbooking them :)

Halloween season

I love Halloween. This is my favorite time of year! I get to celebrate my birthday four days before trick-or-treating every year and it's such a blast. This year we went pumpkin hunting two weeks before Halloween and then my sister and her family came to visit for the big night out. So these pictures capture the goings-on for the past few weeks.

Every year we go to Riley's Farm in Oak Glen to get our pumpkins. This year we took Barry's mom with us. The weather was nice and warm. After we got our pumpkins, we ate their yummy BBQ sandwiches and enjoyed the peaceful scenery for the afternoon.

For Halloween, Barry and I were a bride and groom. Gracie was Dorothy, Chloe was Minnie Mouse, Annie was a ladybug, and my niece Brooke was Little Red Riding Hood. Bobby and Sara didn't dress up, and Fischer was supposed to be a refrigerator, but he was at Nana and Papa's.

Annie's blessing

At 5 weeks old, Annie Kayleen Ray was blessed into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints today. We were happy to have Grandma Mary, Uncle Joey, and Aunt Jodi join us on this special day. It was a very spiritual church service, as there were two baby blessings and the confirmation of my friend, Gina Snow, during the Sacrament meeting. The testimonies born today were so wonderful; it was great to see all the children get up today and tell of their love of the Savior along with the adults. I felt the spirit strongly and was very emotional as my friend, Jeanne Bradley, gave me a note at the end of church with the blessing written down.

Standing in the circle along with Barry were Bros. Horvath, Snedegar, Player, and Johansen. Some of the things that were blessed upon Annie were strength, guidance by the Holy Spirit, diligence and faithfulness in her faith, that her bright spirit will not fade away, that she'll mature in the gospel, that she'll feel the love of her parents, sisters, brother, and other family members and that she will turn to them during difficult times, that she'll rely on the counsel of church leaders, scriptures, prophets, and the Lord for guidance, and that she'll be a wise and dedicated student and learn the things Heavenly Father wants her to know.

I am so grateful to have this beautiful child from Heavenly Father to raise, love, and cherish. She is a wonderful baby, and I feel so blessed to be her mother.














Daddy and Mommy with Annie.





Gracie wouldn't pose with her sisters and brother for us to get a picture of the four of them, but Fischer went out of his way to wear a shirt and tie that matched their cute polka-dot dresses. He's such a handsome young man isn't he?!

The family picture: Aunt Jodi, Uncle Joey, Grandma Mary, Barry, Annie, Chloe, me, Gracie, and Fischer.

Regular Jeans

After being pregnant with the miscarriage and then pregnant with Annie, I have been in maternity clothes for the past 12 months! I can't wear the "I'm not fat, I'm pregnant" shirt now because I'm just FAT. I know it's baby fat, but it's still fat. I take Annie everywhere I go so people understand I just had a baby. Okay, that's not the real reason, but it's a perk :) So yesterday, my old jeans were kind of poking out more than the rest of my clothes in the closet like they were daring me, and I thought "yeah right" but I decided to be brave and try them anyway. One leg in, okay this is good... two legs in... now here come the thighs... ERGH! They're on!!!!!!!!!!!!! They're a size bigger than my smallest from last summer, but they're regular jeans nontheless. I thought I was going to have to go buy jeans another size bigger, but I was pleasantly surprised I get to NOT go shopping and save some money :0 (Well, Barry will be happy about that part anyway) hehe

Annie has arrived!

This picture was taken shortly after I was admitted to Redlands Community Hospital around 3pm on Friday, September 4th. We were so excited that Dr. Goo offered to keep me for induction even though I wasn't having contractions anymore. She knew that I lived an hour away and had other children at home, so she figured it was the best option for our family. She was right!!! Grandma Mary was already at home with Fischer and the girls, so it was the best bet for everyone.



My doctor (Dr. Beitel) had stripped my membranes the day before at my regular doctor appointment and I was dilated to a "3" at that time. My contractions started around 4pm on Thursday and were 5 minutes apart for a good 3-4 hours. We decided to go down the hill and stay in a hotel to be closer to the hospital for when active labor began. After we checked into our hotel room and I went to bed, the contractions stopped. I woke up at 5am on Friday with contractions 10 minutes apart, but they shortly subsided as well. We went to the hospital around noon before driving back to Victorville to wait for labor to begin when we got the good news we could stay.

My first nurse, Jackie, was fantastic. She and the entire staff treated us so well and didn't act like we were crazy for coming in early like most hospitals do. She started the Pitocin drip around 2:45pm and my contractions started within 30 minutes or so. They were bearable and I had done this three times before without any medication, so I knew I was doing well being dilated to a "6" without too much pain. Even though I knew I could make it through the whole labor going "au natural" again, I decided to try an epidural just to see what it was like. The anesthesiologist inserted the epidural around 5:30pm and I immediately quit feeling all pain. It was great!!! Unfortunately the trade-off was that labor subsided and I became frustrated with that. Then, Dr. Goo broke my water around 7:20pm to get things going and upped the Pitocin from 4ml to 6ml. I told her once I hit "7", I usually moved to a "10" within 30-40 minutes. She said she'd stick around and wasn't going anywhere.




The new nurse, Rosy, had to go next door to do another delivery, so Eva checked me 40 minutes later and said I was still a "6". I couldn't believe it because the pressure was so strong and I knew she was coming soon. Rosy showed up about 15 minutes after that and I told her I had to push. Sure enough, I was ready!!! She got the doctor and we began delivery. I pushed through one contraction to get Annie's head out and her body slid out during the second contraction without any effort. We all said "wow" because it was super fast.

Annie Kayleen Ray was officially born at 9:19pm on Friday, September 4, 2009 (on her due date). She weighed 7 lb. 3 1/2 oz. and was 20 inches long. She has a quiet disposition and is so sweet. She eats well every 2-3 hours and sleeps well in between feedings. Luckily, her sisters and the other household noises do not disturb her at all. She has adjusted well to her new life with our family and we are so blessed to be called her parents.

Fischer was in love and delighted with her from the minute he saw her. Gracie is a mother hen and wants to hold her all the time. She likes to burp her and look at her with adoring eyes. Chloe walks around and says "baby" all the time and "niiiice" while she focuses to "nicely" and "gently" touch her. She also likes to kiss her on the head a lot.

It has been a good few days and we are looking forward to raising this new beautiful baby girl. I can only hope we are the good parents that Annie deserves. I am so happy to be a new mommy and look to Heavenly Father for guidance and direction as I raise all four of my wonderful children!

Ashlee's, Ashlee's, we all fall down!

HAHAHA... Gracie is singing this wrong, but it's so funny I had to share. I think she might be spending a lot of time with Ashlee lately ;)

Gracie Belle

Despite the anticipation of a new baby, I decided to go ahead and enroll Gracie in preschool at the beginning of the school year instead of waiting until October. Thankfully, we have friends nearby who have their son in the same class, so if I can't manage to take her one day, she can rideshare with them. Yesterday was her first day, and of course I forgot the camera. When we got there, she was very shy and timid at first. She went to find the toys and kitchen set, then quickly came back to me not knowing what to expect. I was catching up with an old co-worker of mine who was also putting her daughter in the class and was hanging out for a few minutes to see if Gracie would warm up to the new environment. Then lo' and behold, Carter shows up and she snaps out of her shy shell and instantly became the Gracie we all know and love. It was funny to see how quickly she relaxed. She kissed me goodbye and went on her way. At the end of the day, I was informed that she was singing really loudly and looking happy. I'm so glad she had a great first day without any tears!!!

She is becoming quite the little grown up. She loves to play with her sister, but easily tells her what to do as though she's the mommy. The girls were playing really quietly today under the kitchen table and I kept hearing "Come here, Chloe." "That's enough, Chloe." "Put that down, Chloe." "Relax, Chloe." "Now, go over there, Chloe." It was so funny. From what I hear, this is how I used to be when I was little too. Grrrreat... tells me what I'm in store for huh? And Mom always said, "Just wait until you have kids of your own." At least it's still fun... for now!!!! And quietly, the girls are both napping at the same time. Ahhhh, the sound of silence (and the laundry going).

Creativity Continues

After all these years of no sewing, it's so fun to jump in and start creating new things. We bought some Halloween material a while back so I could make candy bags for the kids this year. I decided to create the pattern and start working on them before I forget! They were so easy; it actually took me longer to create the pattern than it did to sew them together. I made three 11x16 bags with a yard of material and I think they turned out pretty good ;) We plan to use them when we go to Mickey's Trick-or-Treat party at Disneyland, then again on Halloween night.

Try it!!!

This was a pretty tough brain teaser; it took me three times to get 100%. See how many times it takes you!

www.humorsphere.com/fun/8787/colortest.swf

And a half

Enough posts about the baby right? But that's all that consumes my mind right now. I have 9 days to go until her due date and right now I am beyond being nervous. I am done being pregnant and want it to be over already! Yesterday was my 38 week check-up and the doc says I'm dilated to 1 (and a HALF). He "gave" me the half because I said I wanted to be at a 2 or 3. So reassuring huh? :) He also tells me now I just need to hurry up and wait... yeah, I've been doing that for a week now. I'm miserable. All I want to do is hibernate until she arrives, but there are two other little ones that need me all day and two bigger ones that need me in the evenings. There are a million things I can do to occupy my time but nothing sounds fun. I even tried to go to Michael's the other day to find a little craft to do and I couldn't find anything cute enough to spend my money on... silly huh? I have scrapbooks galore that need to be worked on, but if I sit at the table too long my feet and ankles swell to the point of pins and needles and my husband teases me that I have "cankels". I could do word puzzles or sudoku but that gets boring after about three puzzles. I could read but I like to have no interruptions when I'm reading and that just isn't going to happen with a 3 1/2 and 1 1/2 year old. TV is... I'll just say that I've had enough of the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse theme song.

I'm ready for Annie to come out now. Can you send contraction vibes my way? :-) Oh, and thanks for letting me complain. I don't care who you are, the end of pregnancy is NEVER fun. I really don't understand the people who love being pregnant. There isn't any part of pregnancy that I enjoy at all except the part where I know there's a little miracle growing inside me. You can all have the rest. I want my body back! And yes, I know I'm lucky to be in my shoes... I'm one of the very fortunate ones to be having a baby right now and I do count my blessings every day. I've been in circumstances where I didn't know if I'd have another baby, and where one more miscarriage would break me. But right now, I'm 38 (and a HALF) weeks pregnant and I'm ready to be done with the baby bump.

Happy Wednesday!

Really?

So my stork ticker says 17 days to go. I'm getting nervous. Not so much about the birthing process, although that is part of it. I am nervous about making it to the hospital on time, but I'm more nervous about bringing home a new baby when the older girls are still babies. They both want to cuddle with me all the time and usually take up the entire mass of my lap and arms. Where is a 3rd baby going to go? I need a third arm and leg! :) I'm also nervous about the lack of sleep and adjustment to nursing again. My body will be taken over by this new tiny little "bundle of joy," as if she hasn't done that already. People say things like "It doesn't look like you are about to pop" and "You're not that big." Well, that's because all 50 pounds have spread out over my entire body. My rear end is as big as my stomach! And the process to lose it all is also making me nervous. I know it will happen over time, but it will never be soon enough. Although it sounds like I'm complaining, I am really looking forward to meeting Annie. Who will she look like? What will her temperment be? I pray that she's healthy. I need to pack my overnight bag for the hospital and then I will have everything checked off on my to-do list. But somehow I think that I still have a lot of time. I'm starting to have some braxton-hicks contractions, but nothing to call Mom about. I don't feel like I'm that close to having her. I wonder if she'll be late like Chloe was? I hope not. 9 months is long enough without adding another week (or two!) But, she will get here when she gets here. And the countdown begins...

Josh Turner, take 2

It was so worth the 5 hour drive :) Barry and I left Friday morning and got to Turlock around 1:30pm, visited with my mom for a while, went to lunch, then took off for the Stanislaus County Fair at 5:15pm. My mom went with us to the fair, and I was so glad she got to spend the evening with us. We all had a great time. Here are some of the highlights from the show:

The Meet and Greet took place right before the concert. While I was waiting in line, I got a picture of the tour manager (his name is John or Jim, can't remember!), and I went to stand by the tour bus and out came the lead guitarist, Jared. He was nice enough to take a picture with me :)

Then, the moment we were all waiting for... Josh came out of this tour bus and you can see where the line is headed nestled in between a couple other tour buses.

My exciting moment came and went very quickly. Josh has the DEEPEST voice with the strongest southern drawl you'll ever hear. He was super nice. Our conversation went something like this: "Hi, how are you?" "Good thank you." I congratulated him on his newest baby boy, who was born 6 weeks ago. and he said "Thank you". There was an "It's nice to meet you" and one more "thank you" before I left the area and went back to my seat. Isn't he so cute?! He's much skinnier than I imagined though... look at my big legs compared to his!! LOL

This is my mom and me right after we got to the fair and after the ferris wheel ride. It was so fun to hang out... we don't get to do that anymore.

Here are some more shots while we're in our seats. We were about 15-20 rows back from the stage and enjoyed a really great show.