Seriously... I hate this blog! Nothing works right.. Nothing looks right.. what has happened? It took me F-O-R-E-V-E-R to download a picture. Guess I better update it though...not much to report..Here are family pictures from the summer. Everyone is growing fast!

This blasted blog!!

I haven't blogged in forever..and now that I try to get on this blasted site I remember why!
GRRRRR..why did I have to mess with a good thing? I liked my layout before, then I decide to change it back in I don't know April and then it just got all weird and now..well look at it!
Epic Fail!!

There is just waaay to much to catch up on so I am not even going to try. I will just say we are doing fine and living in Virginny!
The kids are all thriving and happy.

We finally have family close by. R's sister and kiddos moved to New Jersey back in June. We drove up to visit them for Conference weekend and had a lovely day at the beach. Here are some of the pictures.

A broken foot, Cherry Blossom's and a baby blessing

I broke my foot three weeks ago today. It was SO lame!! I was going down the stairs with a few things in my hands and I stepped off the very last stair and BAM..broken foot! I guess I must have rolled it and it just went too far. So I was stuck on my couch for a week, then I started moving around on it the second week with crutches..now, thankfully I am able to walk on it without crutches. But its still lame and I'm still ticked about the whole thing! I mean come on, couldn't I have broken it doing something cool? going for a layup? doing some karate chopping? seriously? I had to break it on the stairs? so ridiculous! But..I guess if I was going to break it, breaking it just before my in-laws came was probably the best time to do it. Thankfully, they came three days later and were so great! While they were here visiting we went to see the Cherry Blossoms along the Potomac. So lovely!!

It was a gorgeous day too!







We also went to Fort McHenry. WOW!! After watching the video depicting the Battle of Baltimore from the war of 1812..All I can say is God truly blessed our great Nation! A thousand soldiers defended that fort against thousands from the British Navy. They were bombarded all day and night and the end result..4 dead and Old Glory waving in the smoke! Very powerful! We also blessed baby C while they were here. That was a great day! She was so calm during the blessing and R did a great job. After church we had a get together at our house. A LOT of people showed up! We felt so much love from all of our dear friends. We had enough delicious food and great company. We are so blessed!



I also got to see my little brother for the first time in over two years!! He returned from a mission for our church back in December, but because I was pregnant and couldn't fly we didn't get to see him until now. The kids were so excited to see their uncle!!

On a side note, earlier in the week R found out he got a new job. It will make for a long commute through the greater Metropolitan area, but eventually..we will probably make the move to the real south..but 'I'll think about that tomorrow.'

Introducing...our little girl!

Our sweet baby C is finally here!

She decided to come a week early (no complaints here!) and was born Feb 24th. She weighed in at 8 lbs and 3 ounces and about 20 inches long. She has dark brown hair and eyes..we are now two for four with brown eyes! Daddy's so proud!

My water broke at 12:15 in the morning. We called our midwife around 12:30..who told us to wait until the contractions got stronger..apparently he forgot how I told him my labors tend to go quite fast.

So I waited..about 10 minutes! and called back. This time I reminded him and he said he'd meet us at the birthing center. We called on a ward friend (who also happens to be a doula) and she came with her 14 year old to sleep on our couch (she was going with us to be my doula and help me with breathing and pain management).











We arrived at the birthing center around 1:15..I was checked (dialated to a 6) and proceeded to labor. At first I opted to sit on the birthing ball..which worked great for a bit (pain wise) but the contractions were coming fast and hard.













Next I walked around..With H's birth..that is when I knew I was in labor..gravity took control and her head engaged and that brought on labor! So I wanted to make sure C was in position before I got in the birthing pool (yes, you read that right..birthing pool).




















I had a really long, hard one while my sweet hubby held me up. That was the last one..I knew it was time to get in the water so around 2 a.m I climbed in the pool.














It wasn't long..although to me it seemed like forever as each contraction came and intensified and left and then came again. The water worked great for helping me relax and take the edge off the pain..I think it was 20 minutes later I was ready to push! Unfortunately..my cervix had one small section that wasn't completely 'soft' yet so during a contraction the midwife had to push that part up over C's head so her head could come out. SOOOO painful!! Worst part EVER of the whole natural birth..but yet..fleeting!

So after that I pushed 4 times and she was out! (a total of 2.5 hours..even I was shocked)
It was amazing! Such an incredible experience! Never in my life have I felt so close to my Savior Jesus Christ, then I did during C and H's births. It was eye opening! I felt like I got a small taste of what the Savior went through for me in the Garden of Gethsemane.
So much pain, but for a beautiful and noble cause..life!

I will never forget the feeling of complete joy when they showed her to me for the first time


then placed her in my arms.

She was wide awake!! And as she rested near my heart, she would tilt her head back to look at me when I spoke to her. Truly a beautiful experience!
She made one tiny cry but then layed in my arms quietly..taking it all in.

After a little bit in the water, I was helped out and onto the bed..interestingly enough, she was still attached to the chord and the chord was still attached to me. I guess they don't rush the delivery of the placenta so they wrapped us in warm blankets and got us comfy and dry and just let us have that time together..me..R and C. It was so great!

The three of us took a nap then R left around 5:30 to head home and get a last minute project done for his HUGE presentation that day (he didn't go in, but he had to email it). And to get the kids. They all showed up around 9:00 and we were discharged at 9:30 that morning.

Baby C has been such a wonderful addition and blessing to our family! She has had so many moments of being completely awake..we've even caught a few 'smiles'. She is doing so well! We took her in to see the pediatrician the next day..because they don't make the rounds at a birthing center..and they were impressed at how great she looked..coloring wise etc. She had lost 10 ounces so they wanted us to bring her back Monday just to be safe. We did and she was 3 ounces shy of her birth weight.

We have experienced such love from all of our ward family and friends! There has been a never ending supply of meals and phone calls. We are grateful to all!

Gettysburg for Martin Luther King Jr.

Today we decided to drive to Gettysburg PA to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.

We were very excited! We had a nice drive up there and of course had to stop at the Mason Dixon line for a picture!



















Our first stop at the visitor's center. The kids each brought some of their allowance and bought a souvenir.













Here we are posing with Abraham Lincoln.

Then we got on our way for the tour.

Since we've been blessed to visit Gettysburg so often and it is quite a long tour we decided to hit a part of the tour we have usually skipped over in the past..Culp's Hill.

So we started the tour at the Devil's Den, the Wheatfield, the Trostle Farm (there is till a hole in the barn from a cannon) and Culp's Hill. Then ended at the High Water Mark..or the place where Pickett's Charge took place.
It still amazes me to sit at that final stop and listen to the audio tour explain the last day battle..to visualize a mile long line of men dressed in grey charging up a small incline to attack a better positioned Army of the Potomac..so many of them must have realized the foolishness of the attack not to mention the impending death that awaited them.
One of my favorite stories is told at the end of the tour..about a young man who survived Pickett's Charge.
He talks about a dream he kept having after the battle was over in a letter to his wife.
He is back at Gettysburg preparing to charge with his fellow soldiers, but always in front of him is a black cloud or shadow and it will never let him pass it. It upsets him at first because he is afraid of it. But as the dream goes on and he lives through the ordeal the shadow speaks to him and tells him.
It was the guardian angel who kept him alive.
As he ends the letter to his wife he talks about confusion as to why he of all the men to die, would survive and what great purpose was waiting for him.

Pretty amazing story!

We had a fantastic day..probably one of the last family drives in daddy's car (once baby comes..no more room in the five seater..kinda crazy)

Christmas 2010

So it is probably time I updated our blog!

Here is Christmas 2010!!














First off, I worked on Christmas Eve..yep, I was up at 2:30 in the a.m. to be on camera by 5:00 a.m to do traffic for Baltimore. Its NOT the greatest picture of me..the lady who took it wasn't sure how to work the camera so its quite blurry, but alas I am large and pregnant!














Then I rushed home to help R get Christmas Eve dinner put together. We were feeding the missionaries that night and needed to get rolls done and pie etc.

Dinner was DE-licious!!














(the pictures aren't that great..they were taken on my phone.)

Then we read 'A Night without Darkness, A Nephite Christmas story' and the elders gave a quick message and they left to do some caroling..but not before we gave them a stocking with goodies!

The kids opened their traditional Christmas Eve present..new Jammies!













Then R and I passed out!! The kids watched 'Elf' and we both woke up at 9:30 to rush them off to bed so we could do some last minute wrapping! Needless to say we crawled into bed around12:30-1:00 a.m. LOOONG day!
The kids were at our door singing Christmas carols at 5:00 to get us up..so the unwrapping began!
























We made them wait to open the present from grandma and grandpa G until it was later out west. They loved the new Wii!

We took it easy that morning..playing games..watching movies, eating our traditional Christmas Day breakfast..Golden Rod (biscuits and gravy) and home made orange rolls!

Then we went to the movie! The kids wanted to see Tangled and it was too cute!
After that a quick bite to eat and back home to play more Wii.

We had a very wonderful Christmas and we were so blessed this year!!

The Difference between Tornado Watch and Tornado Warning..a humorous story

So..once again no pictures..but then again, there wasn't really anything to take pictures of..besides rain...lots and lots of rain!

This happened Thursday the last day of September. The remnants of Tropical Storm Nicole was heading up the coast causing all sorts of crazy weather. The rain started coming down Wednesday night..just lightly..but by morning it was pounding down! not to mention a little thunder and lightning. So we got up and started watching the news to see what we could expect..you know random school closings etc.
So far so good, but we did learn our whole area was under a Tornado Watch until that afternoon. Now a Tornado watch means..watch out, you might get some rotation out of this storm, but then again you might not.
No biggie...
we send the kids off to school..mind you, they could have floated in a raft to do so.. we practically had a river running down our street..not too deep, but swift enough to carry somebody away in.

So the morning begins..H and I are home just hanging out. I keep the t.v. on just in case school gets dismissed early because of the storm.
I put H in the bath then I take a shower..since its literally a monsoon..no need to get all gussied up. Then we get set to head out to run to the store.
As I am coming down the stairs I notice a lovely message on the t.v. telling me we are now under a Tornado Warning..which means usually..warning a tornado has been spotted take cover now! But in this case the weather man is saying, 'now no funel clouds have been spotted yet, but there is some pretty significant rotation in this storm system so the National Weather Service has issued the warning as a precaution. So use caution and if you are in the area of the worst of the storm you might want to go to your basement.' Well, that caught my attention just a wee bit...
Never been in a situtation like this...hmmm what to do.
Well at this point my power is flickering..and I even lost it for a minute or two..that kinda scared me. Then when the t.v. comes back on the anchor informs me that if I live in 'such an such an area' to take cover NOW!!!
Guess where that area was.....yep...ours.
Little thing called panic starts to creep in...I'm thinking, 'what? its not that bad out there, not too windy..really? what about the kids? they better NOT release them now!' etc. etc. etc.

I mean I stood by the window and watched for a minute or two because I couldn't believe it. Then they say..because of all the rain, you won't SEE the Tornado before it hits. so take cover NOW!!
Ok..that did it. I grabbed H..grabbed a flashlight...some snacks and water and went down to my basement and sat on our guest bed.
and waited....
and waited...
watching the clock and listening for the sucking..poping sound of a Tornado hitting my house and sucking all the insides of the house outside!

Nothing happened...and before I knew it the warning time had expired.
Whewww..we braved our first bad storm! But what was all that 'take cover now!' stuff you ask?
Well, the funel cloud never developed but as a precaution...they told everyone to take cover because the worst of the storm was passing at that time.

How did the kids do? Well we got a call an hour later from the school that told us the kids were all safe and proper precautions were taken..they sheltered in place at the school (600 kids down in a basement in 4 minutes!) and school was going to resume for the day.. good to know!

Later, when I asked my kids 'did anything interesting happen today?'
I was told...'No'

Apparently..being told to sit quietly..with your knees up and head between them for a 'code yellow' wasn't classified as 'interesting' enough.

Good grief!