Summer Chaos

Growing up summer was always the best part of the year. As an adult with responsibilities and kids I now appreciate the many seasons with all their differences. I love the warmth of summer and all the fun outdoor activities that it brings. I love going on trips and having reunions. I love fresh produce from the garden. I don't love quite as much the chaos of bouncing from one thing to the next. I feel like I am trying to keep up spinning plates, and I am trying to run between them and give them the bare amount of attention to keep them from falling before running to another plate. I appreciate that about winter...a time to slow down and do less.

We have enjoyed harvests of strawberries, raspberries, cherries, blueberries, peas, onions, carrots, lettuce, and potatoes. The rest of the garden is coming quickly. Last night we had red potatoes, green and yellow zucchini, raspberries, and blueberries all from the garden. What a blessing to grow our own food, and the taste is amazing.

We have been to the water park, movie theater, library, BBQs, and the Jensen reunion. Yep, summer is in full steam. I am trying to hang on and enjoy the ride, because before I know it summer will be over.  We still have a big Utah/Idaho trip and lots of small events to fill the next two months.

Bring on the rest of summer!

The older girl cousins were so good to Pryor, they just couldn't hold him too long. ;)

 Papa with Hayden, always the silly face.

 Pony riding at the reunion.

 Taylee and her pony were just alike: small, fiery, and ornery sometimes.

 Candy galore at the reunion.

 Glow dances! Such a good time.

 Raspberries and blueberries for breakfast from the garden.

 Daddy wrestle time. A new element is getting slapped in the face by the 1 year old while pummeled by the older 3.

 Pryor has the discovered the joys of an ice cream cone.

 We went to Yakima for a day to tour my brother's company, and he took both our families to lunch at Red Robin afterward.

 Perfectly sized dance partners. Melts my heart.

15 of 29 cousins with 2 more coming in August. All of the cousins were at the reunion minus Rachel who is on a mission.

 Pryor slept terribly the first night and was up at 5:30, so he and I hung out alone for while.

A Decade

We hit our first major milestone in anniversaries! Four kids and 10 years later and life is better than ever. We are so blessed.  Our ongoing joke with each other is from Ice Age when Sid tells Manny, "She's tons of fun, and you're no fun at all. She completes you."  We really each do bring unique strengths to our family. I am grateful for the ways Dax completes me.

Our ward carnival last month...our only picture together since family pictures last fall! 

Veteran's Day

For Veteran's Day the kids and I made some muffins to take to the veterans in our ward and our neighbor who is a veteran.  We didn't know when we decided to visit the veterans that we have 15 in our ward!  It was a great experience to go to people's homes and see my children grasp that these people literally fought and risked their lives so that they can run and play each day.  There were a few tears shed on both ends.

Brother Starr gave all of the kids a hat and they thought it was so cool.

 

It was so memorable that we want to make it a tradition. 

Fall=Family Pictures

Fall is one of the best times of the year.  So many things to love.  One of my favorite things to do in the fall is take family pictures.  Coordinating outfits and arranging everything (and then hoping no one gets a black eye or gets sick the day of) isn't the part I love.  I adore looking at the pictures for the next year as they hang on the wall.  We missed out last year, so I vowed we wouldn't miss this year.  Korbi Ashton did a great job.  I only uploaded a few of my faves. ;)

Pryor-just shy of 5 months (with 2 teeth!)

Taylee-3 years

Kyra-5 years

Hayden-7 years

4 beautiful blessings!

This picture has such an awesome foreground and background.  We almost fell in the creek trying to fit our family on that tiny deck.  It is a miracle we didn't fall in.  One person leaning too far the wrong way would have done it.

This pretty much sums up our family right now.  Hayden being all boy, the girls loving on Pryor while he is just chill, Dax wondering what in the world everyone is doing, while I just try and smile my way through the craziness.

The reason Dax liked family pictures.

You just can't get enough of that cuteness!

I love my little family.  Life is crazy busy with just essentials right now.  Between church callings, work, homeschool, and keeping the 4 walls standing we have a lot of life going on.  Life is good. 

“The homemaker has the ultimate career. All other careers exist for one purpose only - and that is to support the ultimate career. ” -C.S. Lewis

LAUNDRY

Trying to internalize this as I tackle 8 full loads of laundry that need to be folded.  I am feeling extra grateful for the little ones that provide the piles of clothes.  It's all about perspective.

New Addition!

Pryor Jax Wells

May 26th, 2015, 4:38 PM

8 lbs 12 oz, 20 inches long

After weeks of anxious waiting, our baby boy joined our family!  Taylee, Hayden, and I got a nasty infection starting about the 15th and while the kids were sick for a week and then started to get better, I just seemed to be getting worse.  At my doctor appointment on Friday the 22nd I finally succumbed to an antibiotic to help me get over it.  I had a feeling that my labor wasn't going to start until I got better.  My mother graciously took the kids the entire weekend so I was able to rest and recover as much as possible.  

Sunday I started feeling severe cramps and thought I might be headed to the hospital, but after a few hours they went away.  The same thing happened Monday night.  I ended up on the couch most nights because of discomfort over the last few weeks, and when I heard Dax in the kitchen getting ready to leave for work on Tuesday morning at 5:30 I got up off the couch to go to the bathroom and felt like my water broke.

I was a little worried at first, because in the past they usually break my water when I am 7 cm dilated and then I have a baby in my arms in 20 minutes.  I had 2 contractions and then nothing happened so I sent Dax to work and told him I would let him know when he needed to come home.  I felt somewhat crampy, and was still a little worried about something happening quickly because of my previous experience, so at 7:30 I told Dax to come home and we dropped off the girls with Dax's sister.  We went for a walk to see if it would help anything, but nothing happened.  I called the midwife to come in and get checked to see if my water really had broken, and we went there at 10:45.  I was supposed to be called with my results an hour later, and when they called they said that either the lab or the hospital didn't get to it soon enough so they didn't run the test.  Needless to say I was frustrated.  How does a woman come in with potentially ruptured membranes and you drop the ball on getting the test done??  They said I could come in at 1:30 for a retest or go to the hospital and get it done.  I didn't want to go to the hospital before I had to, so I scheduled a retest.  At 12:30 I sent Dax back to work and told him I would let him know the results of the test, since it didn't appear I was going into labor.

At 1 I had my first contraction.  After the 2nd one 15 minutes later I told Dax he better come home.  I had one more contraction before we got to the hospital .  They checked me and I was 6 cm so we stayed.  I get really frustrated with all of the questions they ask, all of the paperwork they want you to sign (even when you pre-register!), drawing blood, and trying to start an IV.  I do well with contractions if I am left alone and can focus myself.  I even asked a nurse if they could do all of that afterward, and she said, "No, we can't treat you unless we do this."  I asked another nurse later what would happen if I came in ready to push and she said, "We would just take care of this later."  Apparently the pains don't matter unless you are pushing!

After they finished everything and left us alone my midwife came in and checked me.  I was 9 1/2 cm, with a little lip of cervix over the baby's head.  I was having a ton of rectal pressure with each contraction, it was really uncomfortable.  They set everything up and my midwife told me I could push with the next contraction, which I thought seemed weird because I didn't have the overwhelming urge to push like I did with the others.  I just had a ton of rectal pressure.  Someone made a joke which I don't remember, but I remember Dax snapping a picture of me laughing.  I pushed a little bit the next contraction and really began feeling the pain.  I pushed the next contraction and looked at the clock.  It was 4:33.  I asked if he would be born before 4:45 and the midwife looked at the clock and said perhaps.  At the next contraction I pushed his head out and then they quickly laid the bed down.  They said they didn't know if his shoulders would come through easily.  Dax told me the midwife stuck her hands inside me to help rotate his shoulders and pull his body out. Either way, I was feeling the pain.

When the midwife pulled him out she said, "He's a big one, he has got to be nearly 9 lbs!"  He was close.  8 lb 12 oz, and he had beautiful dark hair and blue eyes.  He nursed well right away.  We had to stay in the hospital 2 nights because I was GBS+, and were so glad to get home and recover from it all. He is such a sweet blessing.

Spring Happenings

These are going to be random, because that is what happens when you download all of the phone pictures from the last 2 months.  

Hayden has really taken off in his love of reading.  I am thankful, because after he learned to read it was still enough of a struggle for him that he never wanted to read independently.  I didn't push it and just read to him when we did family read aloud.  Technically kindergarteners don't take AR tests for books they read, but because he goes to 1st grade for reading and math the teacher has let him, and he has enjoyed it.  He told me he read Black Beauty at school, and while I don't think he got all of the book, I am impressed that he read a 7th grade reading level book and understood enough to get through it with interest. He is counting down the days until school is out and is excited to try homeschooling.

 The girls love to be "big helpers in our family" in their words.  Kyra specifically loves to do the laundry and help with washing dishes.  She can do the laundry mostly unaided if I sort the clothes and pull out anything that needs to be hung to dry.  If only she had the same interest to keep her room clean...

 Grandma Jensen always has the best Easter egg hunts for the grandkids.  This year every kid got to find a golden egg that they could turn in for a prize on top of the candy and coin filled eggs. 

 The girls get to come with me on a lot of errands because they are (mostly) old enough to not make it a terrible, stressful time.  We even had a girl day in Tri-Cities, and they did surprisingly well.  Their highlight is always Costco, pretty much the only time I have bought them pop.

 Hayden entered the work safety poster contest through Dax's work.  He spent an hour and a half to make his poster the morning it was due, but we got it turned in.  We didn't expect anything, it is a national competition.  However, Dax's safety team had prizes for the kids.  Hayden got 2nd place in his age group and they gave him a $50 Wal-mart giftcard.  It was pretty much the best surprise ever for him.  He spent most of his fun money part of it on a Lego set and books at the book fair.

They had an awards party for all of the kids who entered.

 When we have a nice Sunday evening where we are just home we like to take walks in the neighborhood.  The kids would rather be "off road" than on.

 We went to Tri-Cities as a family and when we go we like to take the kids to the temple grounds. 

 Grandma Jensen is always good about dropping whatever she is doing and reading the kids books when they beg her to.  It is something I am sure they will always remember.

 Pretty sure this is the last belly shot I have. I think I was about 30 weeks.  We are getting excited for this baby to make his appearance now that I am 38 weeks!

My 3 little ninjas.  I think it is good for the girls that Hayden came first, or else we would be a little more on the girly side in this house than I can handle.  He does a good job of making sure they stay tough and play boy things when he is around.