First Day of Summer

It was almost midnight when I got home from my Saturday night run to the grocery store. As I was bringing the groceries in the house the air outside smelled like summer. The thick warm air was heavy with the smell of the honeysuckle. My mind was flooded with memories as a kid of being at my grandparent's house with that exact smell as we would catch fireflies at night. This has got to be one of my favorite smells ever. It was the perfect end to the day!

Harper's Blessing Pics.

Harper's Blessing Day

Grandma & Grandpa Come to Visit!

Sisters

And Then There Was Three....

More of Harper

Where's My Leash???

These pictures say it all. Missy is Hadley's new best-friend. The first thing Hadley says in the morning is, "Where's my leash?" She then will drag Missy around the rest of the day. When she wants to do something else she hook Missy's leash onto something or lock Missy in her closet so she can't get away. It may seem abusive but Missy likes the attentions (sometimes) and Hadley is entertained while I am with baby Harper.

"Mom! What are you doing?"

So…..a few days after being home from the hospital I was sitting on the couch nursing Harper.

Chad came up and started to ask me something. He said, “Hey mom, can I go to---(he stopped) Mom! What are YOU doing??”
Me- “Uhhh, I’m nursing or feeding Harper.” I thought he had seen me do this before when I had Hadley. Guess he doesn’t remember.
Chad- “That is weird…..What are you feeding her?”
Me- “Um, milk.”
Chad- “That. Is. Weird….And she just eats it like that?”
Me- “Yep.”
Chad- As he walks away “That is weird.”
Then Chad walks back around to me and says… “Mom, YOU are like a cow!”

I'm So In Love!!!!

Harper June Wagstaff

born February 6, 2010

11:17 am

7lb.

20 3/4 inches

Can you even imagine my complete joy that this precious little girl is mine? That she arrived safely, and is healthy. And of course the cutest little girl on earth. smile. I forgot how intense the feelings of love are for a new baby. They are such a miracle! It is absolutely impossible to doubt there is a God and a plan in all this when you hold a new baby in your arms. The spirit they bring to this earth is so strong and pure.

So let's get down to details....We went to the hospital on Friday morning only to be sent home. The kids all spent the night at Nana's house so I figured that guaranteed that I for sure wouldn't go into labor. To be honest I was fine to hold out until my due date because I knew it was the last chance to get things done.

Mark left to go running at 5am on Saturday morning. He was going to do a long 18 miles so he told me he would have his phone incase I needed him. I assuured him that nothing was going to happen so no worries. Well...at 6:00 I got out of bed and to my suprise my water broke. I kind of didn't believe it at first so I waited a little to call Mark. It was about 7:am when he got home and I still was doubting if my water broke until I stood up and it was like a scene from the movies. Well, that confirmed it my water had indeed broke. The weird thing was, I wasn't having any contractions.

We got to the hospital and they checked us in and pretty soon we were up in our room. That was about 9am. I continued to say that I for sure wanted the eppidural so let the "eppidrual man" know. At 10:50 my nurse came into the room and said she had some bad news. The "eppidrual Man" wanted to take a shower at home and get ready before he came into the hospital. He wouldn't be there for another hour. By this point I was beginning to feel a little uncomfortable so I was a little annoyed that I was going to have to wait. At 11:00 the nurse came in because she wanted to give me a little pain medicine. I was worried that it was going to make me feel drowsy but I was in enough pain I was happy to have it. She checked me while she was in there and I was at a 6. She left and then I really started to feel the contractions. It was like before a contraction would stop another one would start. I told Mark that I was starting to feel sick. He was trying to find me a bowl or something and then the nurse came back in. At this point I started to feel like pushing. I remember her getting in my face and telling me not to push. I was like- whatever. She checked me again and then immediately called in all the nurses and the doctor. The doctor (I had never seen this guy before in my life) he walked in then said, "Ok you can push now." So I did. I pushed one good time and then at 11:17 am our newest little baby was here! I had my eyes closed and I remember when she was out I opened my eyes to see if she indeed was a girl (I would have been fine to have a boy but it was Hadley I was worried about).

I got to hold her right away and all I could keep thinking was, "I can't believe she is here!" And I couldn't get over how tiny she was! She just seemed so small and petite. She had the longest little fingers and the smallest cute little head (so grateful for that).




I love this picture of Hadley as she intently looks at her new baby sister for the first time!




Mom and Dad brought all of the kids around 2:00 that afternoon. They were all so excited to see thier new sister. The only problem was deciding who got to hold her first.

Hadley in January

Hadley is growing up too fast and i just don't want to forget any of it. The dress is from Nana. This is one of my favorite dresses but she was cold when I was making her take these pictures-thus the pouty look. This month Hadley has been all about the "head-a-band", her pink skirt, singing her songs and Missy. She is also super excited for her baby sister to get here. Some days all she talks about is her baby sister.

Snow Days!

This has been the most snow that we have had in a long time! The kids were out of school Friday, church was cancelled on Sunday and still no school on Monday. We have taken advantage of all the snow playing outside as much as possible. The boys would stay out after dark sledding on our hill. They had fun making a jump for their sleds to go over. And we made the biggest snowman (Mr. Slushie) ever! What a great time!

Sleep over with Grandad!

Science Fair

Science Fair is a family event since me and my friend Jeni are the ones that started it and continue to be in charge of it. Braden & Chad both had fun entering in their projects. Braden did a bunch of stuff with Diet Coke and Mentos and Chad experimented with water balloons.

Happy Birthday!

It was Birthday week for me and Mark. The kids spent the night at mom & dad's house then we went out for Mark's birthday.

We were excited to eat at a new Indian restaurant here in town. To our disappointment it turned out to be a huge disappointment. After that we went to Best Buy to look at video cameras. Then we went and saw the movie Leap Year with Tom and Adriane.

On my birthday Mark got me my favorite Cookie Cake. We had a nice celebration at home and then later that night a bunch of my friends had a party/baby shower for me. It was a great day!

Braden Spelling Bee

Return from Spokane

When we got back from Spokane it snowed on that Saturday and Sunday morning so church was cancelled. I miss not going to church but it was nice to have the day to recover from being gone to Spokane. The next day school was cancelled and then it was cancelled again on Thursday! It has been so cold that all the ponds around here are frozen. Braden and Chad had fun walking around on the frozen pond at Nana's house.

Snow Skiing

Monday & Tuesday Mark & Eric and the boys went snow skiing up on Silver Mountain. Brian and his family joined them on Tuesday. They all had a ton of fun and no injuries!

Coldest Polar Dip Ever!

The Annual Polar Dip was not as well attended as it has been in the past. Most of the adults that would have normally done it (Mark, Brian, Eric, Pat, Myron, & Frank) didn't participate due to the frigid conditions. It was windy and super super cold. There was even ice up on the edge of the water. So Jackson, Andrew, Jon and of course Braden were the only ones to go into the frigid water. Braden was so crazy he went out far enough to put his whole body and head under the water. He was frozen by the time he got back up the the cabin and into a bath tub.

Christmas!

All of the kids sleep up in the loft so they are ready to go for Christmas as soon as the sun is up. The adults make them wait until everyone else is up (7:30ish) until they can go and see what Santa brought. Santa brought our boys Air Soft guns and stocking stuff and Hadley got her big pink piggy bank.Chad got some more toys and games for the Wii and Hadley got a lot of girly pink stuff and a new doll. Austin got some clothes and electronic stuff and Braden got a lot of science stuff. Mark gave me a special gift. He scanned my old scrapbook from High School and all of the scrapbooks that I have done since we have been married. Then he had them all printed up into nice books. I loved it! I got mark some running gear since he has been training for his marathon.
Grandma got a trip to Hawaii from Grandpa. We all knew about it and when she was opening up the card to tell her she jokingly said, "It's probably a trip to Hawaii." She was totally kidding because she probably thought it was some kind of electronic thing that Frank wanted. To her suprise when she opened it up it was a trip to Hawaii!
We spent the rest of the day hanging out in the cabin eating, playing with our new stuff and just having fun with each other. It was great!