Pierson's Baptism

On Saturday, August 6th, Pierson was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I could not believe this day had come! (I'm still trying to accept being 30, how could I be old enough to have an 8 year old son?!) It is amazing how fast time is flying by and that our little boy is so grown up and has reached this important milestone in his life. He was very prepared and excited for this special day and Ryan and I were so proud of him. Before the baptism, each child being baptized was spotlighted by coming up to the stand and having everyone sing their favorite primary song. Pierson chose "Scripture Power" and did a great job standing up in front of everyone to sing. He had told me earlier that this was the part he was nervous about, standing up in front of the whole audience.

Ryan was so sweet and tender as he baptized him and then confirmed him a member of the Church. Pierson had been a little sad as he told me he wished Grandpa could be there and I had promised him that Grandpa would be there, that we probably wouldn't see him, but that he would be watching, along with Todd and Grandma Kathy and probably all of his Great Grandmas and Grandpas. I was so filled with love and gratitude as I watched Ryan perform these ordinances for our son. Gratitude for my loving husband, our sweet son, for our Savior and our Father in Heaven and for our wonderful and loving family- the ones we have lost and miss terribly and the many, MANY that were there to share this special day with our family! It was a wonderful experience for all of us. I was also thankful for DeAnna taking Jensen and for Grandma and cool aunts and cousins who had Madi at their side so I could really listen and fully enjoy and appreciate these special moments!


Pierson ready to be baptized, with his Dad

Here is Pierson with all the awesome friends and family who came to support him on his special day...


The Rollins Family - Kenny, Erin, Ellie and Addie. We were so happy to have them come up from San Diego to be with us! I was so busy trying to get pictures of everyone who was there for Pierson, I failed to get a picture of our own family! Ah! So I was glad we had snapped this one of us with the Rollins, the only one of us together! (Thank goodness Erin is as much of a picture fanatic as I am!) They really are like family to us, we are so thankful for such close friends!

Ms. Ferdinando with Pierce and Jace - Jace is Pierce's neighbor friend who was baptized with him. Ms. Ferdinando was their 2nd grade teacher, I thought it was so sweet that Pierce wanted to invite her. I totally dropped the ball and didn't call her until Pierce was getting ready that afternoon, he said he was thinking about everyone that was coming and wondered if I had called her (he had told me several weeks before that he wanted me to) so I called her about an hour and a half before it started, and she came! What a sweet and loving teacher!


Robison Family - Aunt Katie, Anya, Shylynn, Brigham, Kimball & Uncle Steve - Anya and Pierson have always been special, close cousins and have so much fun together, we were thankful they made the trip down here.


The Brooks Family - our great friends and wonderful Bishop- Julianne, Bishop, Joey and Tommy. Joey is a great friend to Pierson and we all just adore Tommy, Madi loves to play with and help take care of him. Julianne told us he has been calling Madi "my Madi", melt my heart! (They are hoping to adopt another baby... so if you know any unwed expectant mothers who may consider adoption, send them this way! A-mazing family!)


Hall Family - Uncle Jeff, Harrison, Brooke, Matthew, Baby Dallin & Aunt Crystal...we were missing Todd, of course! We are so thankful so live so close to these special cousins, we love spending time with them!


McDermott Family - Uncle Rob, Aunt DeAnna, Graci, Calli, Brock, Davis and Lily. We were so happy to have them come down from Sandy, we are always excited to see this gang!


The Jensens - My cousins, Rachel & Baby Ashley Holyoak, Syd, Uncle Scott, Aunt Val and Great Grandpa Jens. We were so grateful they also made a long trip down here, it was special for me to have some of my Mom's family here. How neat for Pierson to have his Great Grandpa Jens witness his baptism!


The Allen Clan - Aunt Kate, Rob & Bennet, Uncle Amos, Aunt Deli (Trit), Jackson & Hannah, Papa. Pierce and Madi were so excited to have Uncle and Papa come down! They also loved having a chance to play with Bennett.


A PaPa picture!


The Eves - Uncle Derral, Ellie, Bridger, Aunt Carolyn, Thatcher, Logan and Kelton. It's always a lively bunch with these cousins! Pierce really enjoys playing with these wild boys!


Uncle Mark, Aunt Lisa, Grandma, Uncle J.D., Aunt Amanda - We were especially missing Grandpa on this day, but we know he and Todd were watching. We are so thankful for Grandpa and Grandma and we love them so much! Of course having Uncle Mark and J.D. there was essential to the day, we love these uncles and our new aunts! And we are SO excited for Aunt Lisa's baby who is on the way!

Afterward, we headed to Golden Corral for dinner with everyone, it was chaotic as can be, but the kids loved it! Pierce and Madi loved having shrimp and Madi was excited to tell Uncle Mark that she DOES like shrimp! I am officially the only non-seafood lover now. They also enjoyed plenty of ice cream and cotton candy and had fun with all their cousins. It was a wonderful day and we came home happy, thankful and tired, gearing up for the next big day!

Pierson's 8th Birthday!

Pierson had a great birthday this year. He loves having his birthday on Pioneer Day and loves the parade, races and fireworks happening on his big day. Since his birthday fell on Sunday this year, he really lucked out and got 2 days of celebrating. Here's a look at the 2 day party...

We started off the morning watching the parade and then headed to the park for one of Pierce's favorite activities of the day, the big races! Our kids LOVE this and look forward to it from one year to the next. Here's Madi in her big 5 year old race...


Last year she just pranced along with out a care in the world, this year she got a little more serious and ran a bit faster! She won 2nd place and was SO excited!


Pierce had so much fun and took 3rd place!

We cooled off and relaxed at home for a few hours until it was time for the "friend party". I knew there was no way I was up for pulling off our usual style of friend party since I can't even get my laundry all done- so we changed it up this year. We did a small party with his best buddies and headed to Laser Mania. It was such a hit! The boys loved it!


Here they are in their laser gear - Dad, Joey, Pierce and Grant

Then we headed to Ice Burg for shakes. The kids were so excited to get their own big shake! I think this has changed they way I'm thinking for birthdays, this was the easiest party ever and they had so much fun!



Pierce was very excited about his very cool new BYU shirt from Joey!


He also got a great Star Wars Lego Set from Grant. Presents in the car, hand them a goody bag, I'm telling you, easiest party ever, thrilled kids and thrilled Mom.
Here we are for a group party shot, joined by our buddy Tommy.

That evening we headed to Pizza Factory for our traditional birthday pizza. Here's Pierce with his big #8!



That night everyone was excited for fireworks, we met up with Grandma and the Halls at the cemetery. We sat on the ground around Grandpa and Todd's graves and enjoyed the night. Weird as it may seem, we decided this was a great place for us- it was a great view of the fireworks and Ryan and Jeff pointed out- it's the only piece of land that we actually own! (Jeff & Crystal own 2 plots next to Todd and we own the 2 next to Grandpa. We had good reasons to buy plots!) We might as well make good use of it! It was actually nice and peaceful to be there. A new tradition was found!

Matthew, Pierce, Madi, Brooke, Danielle (visiting Grandma from Ohio) and Harrison

Jensen loved the fireworks! Grandma held him and he just starred at them the entire time, totally enthralled!



The real birthday morning. Enjoying his favorite traditional breakfast muffin.


Pierce had plenty of fun Sunday morning playing with his new Legos and was then excited to go to Primary and be sung to on his real birthday! After church we had the Halls over for his birthday dinner, lucky for me he picked cheeseburgers so Ryan did most of the work. Then Grandma, Uncle J.D. and Amanda, and Deli, Jackson and Hannah joined us for cake and ice cream. He surprised us all by choosing Costo's red velvet cake this year. (It's what Daddy had for his birthday, and the kids loved it!)



Here he is with best buddy cousin, Matthew and his birthday buddy cousin, Jackson. Jackson turned 5!


Does he look happy or what? Can you tell he loves his new BYU shirt? (Thanks Joey!)



He had a great birthday and was excited about some cool new Star Wars toys and lego sets (Thanks Luke and Grant!)He's also been talking about Laser Tag ever since and can't wait to go back! We had a great 2 days celebrating Pierce, we can't believe how grown up his is! We love him so much!

4th of July

This year we stayed home for the 4th and although we missed our traditional visit to Huntsville, we had a great day. We started the morning heading out to Hurricane to see the parade out there. Our cute niece, Ellie, was in the parade and we wanted to watch her. She was as cute as can be, and pretty much the one and only highlight of the parade, it was the lamest parade ever. We were really missing Huntsville at that point. Despite the lameness, Pierce had a great time playing with the Hall and Eves cousins.

Just look at this handsome grown up boy!

We loved showing Jensen off, he was as cute as can be in his very patriotic outfit.

I wanted to get a shot of Madi in her special 4th of July shirt...

...this is what she thought about the lame parade and the lack of candy.

In case you didn't quite get the full effect...

These pictures just make me laugh! But, isn't her festive shirt cute?

I can't really blame her too much. The parade was a disappointment for sure.

After a quiet and cool afternoon at home, we headed to the Hall's for the evening. The kids played outside in the sprinkler and slip n slide and had a ball. We all enjoyed a delicious dinner and of course some All American Chocolate cake. Good thing we had plenty of leftovers.

We headed out for fireworks that night and met up with The Woodburys. More fun was had and we enjoyed the fireworks with our great friends, great cousins, and our great Grandma. Great as in great! Not Great.

Matthew, Pierson, Grant & Harrison

Matthew, Pierce, Brooke and Harrison

The kids were completely worn out when we got home, 3 hours past bedtime! We had a great day and were happy to spend it with so many that we love! How thankful we are to live here in America the Beautiful!

Thirty

Well it happened. I turned 30. Even though I just turned 24.

30, it just seems, old! I know, I know in the grand scheme of things 30 is very, very young. (Especially now that 30 is the new 20!) But still, it just seems so weird, like a real adult age. I'm sure I would have handled turning 30 much better if I could say I was "thirty, flirty and thriving", but all I can really say is - I'm thirty, dirty and surviving. You, know - the newborn stage, dirty because I may or may not have had a shower by evening and I have been getting peed on pooped on and spit up on a daily basis for the last 2 months. And surviving because, well, newborn stage pretty much sums that up, and newborn stage in the summer with 2 older kids at home....ya, we have been surviving.

Even though I wasn't thrilled to turn 30, I had 3 days of celebration (one for each decade I suppose) I didn't get many pictures (shocking I know) but I want to write down a bit about the wonderful people who made me feel so loved...

My birthday fell on a Sunday so Ryan and I were planning to go out Saturday night. Since we were going out Saturday, Kathryn invited me and the kids over for a birthday lunch on Friday, and so started the 3 days of partying. If Kathryn does something it's wonderful, we enjoyed a yummy lunch together, along with Lyndsi and her kids. The kids had a great time playing and we enjoyed a fun afternoon just hanging out and talking, something we hadn't been able to do for a while. She also made delicious Boston Creme cupcakes and they all sang "Happy Birthday" to me and we really, really enjoyed the delicious cupcakes! A great time was had by all.

Saturday night JoAnn took Pierce and Madi for a sleepover and Ryan and I went out for dinner. We enjoyed dinner and some shopping only to go home and find a surprise party waiting for me - waiting for an hour while I shopped! Trit had planned a little party for me and had coordinated with Kathryn to invite my friends - they all parked away from my house, so I was totally clueless and walked in to "Surprise!", confetti flying everywhere and Kathryn, Kendra, Jana, Lyndsi, Annette, Kara and Trit ready to party. Trit had gotten my favorite, All American Chocolate cake from Costco, and even had a high heel pinata for us Moms to hit! (3 of which are pregnant) Thanks girls, even though I was totally embarrassed, it was a fun night! I love you all!

Sunday morning I got to stay in bed for a bit (after getting up to feed Jensen, of course) while Ryan picked Pierce and Madi up from Grandma's. As soon as they got home they were excited for Mom's birthday and Madi came in with a picture for me saying, "Mommy, I present to you..." During church I had to laugh at Madi, nothing was stopping her excitement and I watched her walk into primary and sit down and tell her teacher, "today is my Mom's birthday!" That evening we enjoyed a great dinner which Ryan made (thank goodness for crock pots), I was happy to have yummy food and happy I didn't have to make it. After dinner we enjoyed my second All American Chocolate cake from Costco. Yes, we ended up with two of these in our fridge. Obviously Ryan couldn't spoil the surprise by telling me Trit was already buying one when we went to Costco on Friday! But don't worry, none of it went to waste. Even though I was a little bummed to be turning thirty and not be "thirty, flirty and thriving" I was totally spoiled by my wonderful friends, sweet husband and cute kids. I guess being thirty, dirty and surviving is ok, I do have the cutest baby on the planet to show for it.

And if you haven't seen 13 Going on 30, you wont think I'm funny at all, and if that's the case, you really need to watch it!

7 Weeks

Well of course now that I have this darling little boy in my arms instead of my belly, the time is just flying by! Some how a month has gone by since I posted any pictures of his sweet little face and he is 7 weeks old! I am, however, determined to keep up on my blog! I've realized over the past few years that I will always be playing catch up on my kid's scrapbooks, (by a few years at least!) but that my blog is the one thing I can actually keep up on. I wish I would have had blogging when Madi was a baby, she'd be so much better documented! We've had a few fun events I need to blog about, but before another week gets away from me, here is the latest of Jensen...






































Can you believe this round little face? He is getting so big and already growing way too fast!


This isn't the best shot of them but I love it because this is SO how Madi is. Refusing to look at the camera, ignoring me as best she can, but adoring her baby brother completely.

Can you tell just how much Pierce loves his little brother? He is so sweet, always wanting to hold him. I love it. And the funny thing is, in both cases of these photo ops, Pierce asked me to take a picture of him and Jensen. So cute, and talk about making Mom happy! This kid is smart!

Madi decided to join in, after selecting an outfit of her dance costume sailor hat and her winter sweater, on 100+ degree St. George July day.


And last, my favorite! No words needed. I love these faces more than I can say.

Our 2 Week Old Boy & Our Dancing Girl

Wow, time is flying by! Baby Jensen is already 2 weeks old! He is already changing and has put on almost a pound! He had a check up at 4 days and was down to 6 lbs. 13 oz. (from his birth weight of 7.7)And yesterday at his 2 week check he was up to 8 lbs. 3 oz.! He's obviously eating well!

We are all so in love with this boy! He wont be hurting for attention that's for sure. I knew Madi would be so into the baby, but wasn't sure about Pierce. It has been really fun to see how much he loves him! He is so sweet with him and has surprised me by being the one who wants to hold him all the time! He is loving being a big brother to a baby. They both want to kiss him and talk to him all day long!

Here's Jensen at 2 weeks...


































Proud big brother! One thing that is fun for Pierce is when I put Jensen in his old outfits and tell him about it. He loves finding his baby pictures of him wearing the same thing. This was one of my favorite outfits of Pierson's so I had to get a picture of him holding Jensen in it.


































We usually see this sweet sleeping face, so it's nice to see those eyes once in awhile!

And in other news, Madi had her Spring Dance Recital last week. She has had fun doing tap and ballet again this year and loves taking dance with Annie. This year it has just been the 2 of them in their class and they love it. They danced to "Lollipop" and they both did such a cute job!


































Madi & Annie - It doesn't get much cuter than this! Madi loves getting dolled up in Mom's "grown up" makeup!

Here are a few action shots of her in the dance... I love watching her, it makes me laugh and smile. She is just so dang cute.

She couldn't wait to perform for Daddy and Brother and was so excited for the recital. She also loved having Grandma, Aunt Deli and Jackson and Hannah come to watch her. She had a great time performing and was excited to go for a special treat after wards. With a little hint from Mom she chose glaciers from Frostop, good choice Madi.

The "Story", First Week, & The Culprit Revealed

WARNING: This post contains material which may be inappropriate for children, or men who are not my husband. In other words, if you don't want to hear about labor and delivery, just scroll on down to the cute pictures!

Well we've made it, we have survived our first week of the "Newborn Phase"! (Almost 2 now!) Before too much time flies by I wanted to write down a little about Jensen's big arrival day. Which we have to start with the week before....
Along with being totally uncomfortable I was getting nervous about when the baby would decide to come. Pierce came 9 days early and Madi came 10, perfect. I was really expecting about the same timing with this baby, so I had been hoping for a delivery as soon as school was out, giving me Ryan home for the Memorial Day weekend, and school being out. Then I found out Dr. Lunt was leaving town the day after school got out, the day I was really hoping to deliver (which was 10 days before my due date and quite likely). This was totally throwing off my plan, so I just started hoping that the baby would come a few days earlier and would arrive before the 26th. And in reality, I was so miserable that everyday for the last 2 weeks of the pregnancy I was hoping that today would be the day, everyday. There were several days during the week before I delivered that I was having regular contractions for a few hours, and I'd be hoping they were the real thing, then they would stop. After being checked on Wed. the 19th, (and being dilated 3+ and 70% effaced) I had regular contractions for several hours that afternoon. As much as I was hoping it was real labor...Pierson had his piano recital on Thursday evening and I didn't want to miss that, and my wonderful friend, Kathryn, had planned a little party for me on Friday night...so I started thinking- Friday night would be PERFECT! Make it to the recital and the party, go into labor as soon as the party is over! Perfect plan, right?! Right! But really, who goes into labor the day the want to? I was sure hoping! I don't know how I got so lucky. Friday night came and I drove my car down the street to Kathryn's for the party. She lives a whole 3 houses down, but I was just that uncomfortable. I was totally spoiled by all of my cute girlfriends! We enjoyed delicious desserts, great conversation and of course oooohed over all the cute and tiny outfits I received. And it being a baby shower and all, and me being miserable, and having 3 other pregnant women in the room of course we talked all about labor and delivery and all of the "old wives tales" to get labor going. I had told Ryan earlier that week, I don't think any of those things really work, but now I can see why so many women try them, we are just SO desperate to get. it. out! I was contemplating going for a long walk after the party and mentioned to the girls that in my pregnancy book it said that most of those things probably don't work, but the one that might is, well, ya know. Having your husband try to help you out a little. Andrea swore that this worked and I decided that I might just have to give it a try! (Impossible as it seemed!)


Here are the party comers: Kathryn (wonderful hostess), Stephanie, Jana, Kara, April, Ashley, Laura, Lynds, Mel, & Me
Angie, Katie and Baby Leila, Traci, Staci, Andrea & Brooke - What a cute group of friends I have! Thanks girls for such a fun night! I love you all!


And here I am with my fellow pregnant friends, Kathryn, Jana, Stephanie and Me. I was practically gagging at my hugeness when I came home and put these on my computer that night, and thought no way would I post them! But, I've changed my mind since thankfully this become my last night and the last picture of me as a pregnant lady!

So...after the party I came home and gave Ryan the full report and told him we were going to try "it". Of course, he quickly agreed. Now I'm really wondering if it really does work or if it was just a very lucky coincidence, but it seemed to do the trick for me, so I would definitely recommend it!

I woke up for the first time with a contraction about 1:30 and wondered it it was a "real" contraction. I went back to sleep and then for the next couple hours I would have a contraction that was enough to wake me up every 30 - 40 minutes. At 4:00 AM they started coming quicker and I sat in bed staring at the clock for the next 30 minutes, timing them and thinking- these are really starting to hurt! But also thinking- there is just NO way it's really going happen now just because I wanted it to! At 4:30 I finally woke Ryan up and told him they were coming pretty close together and were getting pretty painful. He called his Mom and she was on her way over! I wanted to wait until 5:00 before we decided to go to the hospital, I didn't want to go in and be sent home so I thought I'd give myself a full hour of really good contractions. By 5:00 they were pretty intense and I was getting anxious. We drove to the hospital and I think I was in disbelief, so anxious to not be pregnant anymore, but overwhelmed at the thought of really having another kid. Wow. We arrived at the hospital and I was anxious to see where I was too. I was dilated to a 5. Great, give me the epidural! Was all I cared about! Things went well from there. I had been progressing at a pretty good rate, but the contractions slowed a bit after having the epidural. They gave me some pitocin to keep things moving, but then noticed Baby's heart rate was dropping quite low with each contraction. This had me nervous for a bit, His heart rate was dropping down to 60, but then would recover quickly. The nurse thought maybe the cord was around his neck or something and so she eased up the pitocin and he did better after that. Things moved quick enough and before long it was time! After just 3 pushes our little boy was here! Dr. Lunt said he had a "body cord", I'd never even heard that before, but his heart was fine and he was perfectly healthy. I was so releaved! Smooth labor and delivery and a perfect little boy!

Now here we are, he is already 12 days old! Here is a little glimpse of his first week...

He has been pretty busy, lots of this...
Oh so tired! Could he yawn any bigger?

A little of this...





































It only looks sad. He has the cutest new born cry ever!

And lots and lots of this...


And of course lots of peeing and lots and lots of pooping.
Amazing how much you can love someone so much when all you do is feed them, clean up everything they pee on, change their poopy diapers and then feed them some more. in the middle of the night. when you are about to fall over. because you are so. so. tired.

I love him.

AND, in all of the baby excitement I failed to post the true culprit of Pierson's black eye a few weeks ago.
Believe it or not, it was-
Madi
In the Backyard
With a Croquet Mallet!