Oh, why have i not written in my blog for so long? I know, it's because as soon as I sit down in this chair to write I few lines I get attacked by two little monsters who want to play with the mouse and pound the keyboard. They use to not be so bad about my computer time. I've noticed too that if I'm sitting on the ground I'm instantly clobbered. So now where to start. The two boys got flu shots yesterday. I knew it was going to be bad when I stepped out of the elevator and there were kids in the hall crying that their legs were sore. And inside the doctors office I've never heard so much crying. Ammon got over the pain pretty quick, but Joshua wouldn't let it go. He was worried about the hole that would be in his leg forever. Poor little guys. Unfortunately I wish we would have gotten the shots a week ago before we went on a quick trip down to Las Vegas to see Shauna. The normally 6 hour ride back in the car goes pretty quick but when you have two boys throwing up all the way home it becomes the 'never ending car ride'. My mom was really nice about it all, especially since we were driving in her car. Luckily that little stomach bug has left the family. Vegas was fun, quick, and relaxing. Mom let Shauna and I go on a 'sister date'. It was kinds of nice to get in some good girl time. We learned a new card game named, Citadales, very fun. And we recovered Shuana's kitchen chairs went to the park, etc. It wasn't until the car ride home that we realized the boys were sick. Shauna's kids are sooooo cute. I love being their Aunt. Since then we've enjoyed being back in our home and getting ready for Halloween. Even Josh is taking very seriously is role as a lion this Halloween. David asked Josh the other day why is toenails were so long and Josh said it was because he was trying to be a Lion. Alright, I'm sure there will be a new post soon with Halloween pics. See ya.

Jan-Feb 2016

Lots of sledding happening around here.  Ella came over to play on a Saturday and they had such a great time sledding!  Ella said that it was her first time and when they came inside she quickly asked for some hot chocolate :)  and I was happy to oblige.  

 The following week, she came home with Lincoln on the bus and hit the slopes again (well, the small hill across our street).  Our neighbor, Taft Walker, who is also in their first grade class joined them.

Sunday night dessert night at our house.  Here Noelle is getting squinted with the other women in our family.  

And then we started playing around with a face swapping app.  

She loves her bath time but is outgrowing the sink!

We thought she looked so cute while sleeping on the couch.  

 Scouting is such a big part of our lives since Dave has been the Scoutmaster for several years.  As an 11 year old, Josh has already started earning merit badges and it is so fun to see them go on campouts and be involved in scouting together.  

Two months old 

A typical school morning around here.  Today Lincoln was working on spelling words, Ammon was finishing some Valentines, James was dressed and ready for preschool, Noelle was being a sweetheart, I was making lunches and Josh was next to me eating breakfast.

For the past few weeks we have been building and sorting all of our legos.  I call it, "The Great Lego Resurrection of 2016".  As soon as I said that Ammon said, "No, Mom.  In the resurrection we will all be perfect and some of these sets are missing a piece."  :)  Dave was making me laugh.  He was in-between sunday meetings and just really wanted to work on his Lego ship.  It actually turned out to be a really fun family activity for the past few weeks.  We have all sat together helping each other, sometimes listening to conference talks or singing primary songs.  James would make up his own primary songs that were so funny (When Jesus came to earth...he taught us to be kind and good...and came to play with us...and I saw the tears in his eyes...).    Some nights we would stay up later then normal because we just couldn't stop looking for pieces.  

He was mad I was taking pictures of him :)

 This was the first day of the lego dump out.  

He wakes up with some great bed head.  

Josh's Lego League competition.  

I was folding laundry one night and Ammon wanted to be close by my while he was reading.  It doesn't look very comfy but it sure was sweet of him :)

Valentines dinner at the Maxwells in Heber.  

I came home late one night from a friends house and I went and took pictures of everybody sleeping. The flash was waking up James and Noelle.  

This is how Ammon likes to sleep, with five pillows, Bob, four other stuffed animals and too many blankets.  He nestles down in the middle of it all and can't even move

I bought her some new headbands...and I'm really not a big fan...and I don't think I'm tying them right anyway.  I'm killing this mom thing :)

His "Baking Helmet"

Noelle's Brothers

Her nicknames:  Baby Noelle, Noellie, Missy, Little Miss, Little Girl, Little Angel, Little Girlfriend, Bebe Noelle, Happy Meal (Ammon coined that one)

They are all so obsessed with her.

James- He is so worried because he thinks that Josh will get to marry Noelle first and he really wants to marry her.  We talk about this, ALOT :)  He wanted me to take these pictures with her.  One of the favorite things of his life is throwing away her diapers.  We were in the once and he asked me if there were any diapers at home.  I finally realized that he was talking about dirty diapers and I told him that there was one in my room and in a responsible voice he said, "Okay".  He takes his, self appointed, diaper throwing responsibility very seriously. 

Lincoln-  The other night we were letting Noelle cry herself to sleep and it was really hard on all of us.  James, Lincoln and I were all home and we each said a prayer that she would be able to calm herself down.  After awhile, she was still crying, and Lincoln looked at me and said, "Can you please pick her up?"  They hate it when she cries because they feel bad that she is sad.  When she finally stopped crying I say James kneel down and say "thank you" in a prayer to Heavenly Father. 

Ammon- Ammon constantly walks up to Noelle and says, "Bebe Noelle!".  He is always trying to give her kisses.  He was sitting next to her on the way home from carpool and I hear him say, "Mom, she loves my candy!"  I told him to take it away from her right away and he did not want to because she liked it so much.  I had to explain to him why we couldn't give her sugar.

Josh-  One Saturday afternoon, I had to bring the Holt girls home really fast.  I knew I would just be a few minutes and didn't want to pack up all of the kids and so I asked Josh if he could just watch Noelle, who was laying on my bed and was happy.  When I got home, I came to check on them and he was sitting in the chair looking exhausted.  I asked him what was the matter and he said that he changed her diaper.  I asked why, knowing that she was clean, and he said that she was getting fussy so he figured he better change her diaper to make her happy. He really wanted me to take these pictures of him and Noelle, even though she was pretty fussy.

I love my little lady.  We spend lots of time walking around the house, since she likes to be held by somebody who is standing up.  I cherish these days and although life often gets to busy I am happy to slow down and hold her.  

David-  He is so proud of his little girl and does his best to take good care of her.   I'm a little surprised to see how much he enjoys seeing her in cute little outfits.

Tummy Time :(  We don't do this as much as we are supposed to because she does not like it at all and it's hard to see her so unhappy.  

Noelle

She is here!

Our little Noelle was born on Monday, December 7th, 2015.  At 10:59 a.m., she was 7lbs. 12 oz, and 20 inches.  She is an absolute angel and I feel like she can do no wrong.  We all are head over heels for her.  The boys feel so bad when she cries and they try to do whatever they can to make her happy.




Sometime between 37-38 of pregnancy, Noelle decided to turn to a Frank Breech position.  We schedule an induction date a few days before my due date and the doctor planned on doing an External Cephalic Version, which is a procedure preformed by pushing on the outside of my belly in an effort to turn the baby out of the breech position.  We were all very hopefully that she would turn and were surprised when she didn't!!  The doctor, Doctor Sean Haskett, tried 3-4 times and she would turn and then pop right back to the breech position.  The ECV, hurt!!  I had an epidural at the time, in preparation for an emergency C-section, and all the pressure from trying to turn her hurt so bad!  The were monitoring Noelle during the ECV and she has starting to become distressed so it was decided that I would get into the operating room and they would take her out.  We were really disappointed that I had to have a C-section.  Even the doctors and the nurses were disappointed, but we had no other option and I was grateful that I was in the hands of excellent doctors.  I was surprised how quick they got me into the operating room and Noelle was born after about 30 minutes.  Dave became sick about as soon as they cut into me and before long could hardly hold up his head and his face became white.  They wheeled him out of the OR.  The nurse was kind enough to grab my camera and take a few pictures.

Day 1

(she often would pop her legs up, pictures left, since she was in a similar position in utero)

Her  brothers can not get enough of her!  They are always in her face and giving her kisses and wanting to hold her.  James loves to through away her diapers.  They are always asking me if they can hold her and I often find myself saying, "No, she is almost asleep. " Or, "No, I just got her happy."  But what is really happening is that I want to hold her and not share with anybody!  I'm so mean.  

I was a little worried about having a baby during the busiest month of the year, but it turned out to be the biggest blessing.  It made all of us, especially with needing to also recover from surgery, slow down and enjoy being at home and not worry about doing anything but the bare necessities.  She is our little Christmas Angel.

Welcome home little angel.  We love you so, so much!!!