Family Pictures

After church, everyone came back to my house for dinner. "Everyone" included my parents, Robyn and Jane, Jacob's family, and my Grandpa. I took a TON of family pictures. I'm thankful that everyone was here in town and able to get together and have Avery's blessing, even if the reason they were all here wasn't a happy one. Here are some of my favorites.

John and Avery.

Typical family picture. My hair looks lame, Brooklyn looks like her right arm is amputated, and Austin looks like he really has to pee. Heaven forbid we could get this many people to all look cute at once. Haha

Avery and me. (Man, why didn't someone tell me to fix the front of my hair?!)

Hanging out on Dad's arm.

Avery with Aunt Robyn and cousin Jane. (We missed Uncle Joe and Henry.)

Avery with Aunt Natalie, Uncle Jacob and cousin Preston.

My mom with her girls and their baby girls.

Three generations: My mommy, me and my girls.

Avery with Grandma and Grandpa.

Avery with her Great Grandpa Paul Greer.

This picture gives me such joy every time I look at it. He just looks so happy with her. I only wish that my grandma had been able to still be here and be in the picture with him. I am so glad that he is still here to be a part of Avery's life, and the lives of my other kids.

A Name and A Blessing

I have to divide up the posts about Avery's blessing because I have a ton of pictures, but I also wanted to include this post. After her blessing, a friend of mine came up and said that she had written down some things from Avery's blessing. She said that she had always wished that she had done that with her kids (So had I!) and that she just happened to have a piece of paper and pen in her lap from something else she was working on for Primary. So when John started to bless her, she started writing it down. I am going to save the original paper she gave me to put in her scrapbook, but here is what she wrote down (it's paraphrased from the blessing, not word for word):

- Bless you with a desire and strength to learn about Heavenly Father and gain a testimony of him.

- That you will learn to love the Gospel.

- That you will grow and be a good example to others.

- That you will have the desire to serve a full time mission

- Strive to serve.

- That you will meet a righteous LDS man, and be sealed for time and all eternity.

- As you grow, be successful in life so you can be with Heavenly Father and Savior again.

- Health and Strength

- We love you very much

- We are proud that you chose to come to our family to gain a body.

Her blessing was beautiful. I am so proud of John for doing such a good job, and thankful that my friend had the presence of mind to write it down for me. I think it would have been cool to have a copy of mine to read, so I am excited that I have this for her to read when she is older.

“Every member of the church of Christ having children is to bring them unto the elders before the church, who are to lay their handsupon them in the name of Jesus Christ, and bless them in his name."

Doctrine and Covenants 20:70

Dressed In White (and a little pink too)

I know that it is pretty unusual for a LDS family to bless their baby in a dress that has pink rosebuds all over it, but this dress is very special to me. It is the dress that I was blessed in. My younger sister Robyn was also blessed in it, and so were all 3 of my older girls and Robyn's daughter. It is really special to me that all 4 of my girls have been able to be blessed in the same dress that I was blessed in. I like creating little traditions like that for my family. Hailey talks about how she is going to bless her daughters in it too, when she has her own family. I think that it's cute that she wants to carry on the tradition.

I thought Avery looked so beautiful in my dress. She is definitely a lot smaller than her sisters were when they were blessed! She was drowning in the dress! That's ok, because I think it's cute. When I first started taking her picture she was sound asleep, which made taking pictures a lot easier. However, a few minutes into my little photo session she woke up and I was able to get some adorable awake pictures too. She is just so cute. This is maybe a tenth of the pictures that I took. I couldn't help myself. At least I will have tons to choose from for her scrapbook!

Avery Joy

On August 29th, my water broke around 5pm. After taking time to shower and get ready, John and I left for the hospital around 6pm. Luckily a friend from my ward was able to bring her kids and come and stay at my house with mine. When I got to the hospital, they gave me the option of walking to get my contractions going more, or to start Pitocin. Since I knew from 4 previous births that I was going to have to have the Pitocin at some point anyway, I decided to go ahead and start it right away. I didn't see any point in making myself more tired by walking for hours, when I hadn't slept the night before. After checking me to make sure my water was really broken, they admitted me and the pitocin was started around 8pm.

I had planned on trying to go natural, since I felt like I missed out when I couldn't with Hayden, but after about 3 hours I went for the epidural. I really missed having my bff Emily there with me, because I felt like if she'd been there I would have been able to make it, since I wasn't in labor very long. After getting the epidural, I was able to relax and get a little rest. Then, I turned onto my left side because the epidural was wearing off on that side, and just like when I had Amelia and Hayden, lying on my side did the trick. I went from about a 6 to complete in about 5 minutes or less. I was so happy to finally be able to get this baby here! One contraction later, Avery Joy joined our family on August 30th at 2:20am. She weighed in at 7 lbs. 5 oz., and was 19.5 inches long. She is so tiny and beautiful! I am so happy to finally have her here! Babies are WAY more fun on the outside, where you can kiss and snuggle them. (and they aren't kicking you in your ribs and giving your killer heartburn) The kids were so excited to come and see her, and I can already tell there is going to be lots of fighting over whose turn it is to have her. I told her to enjoy her time at the hospital, because once we went home she was never going to have a minute of peace again.

Welcome to the family Avery! We couldn't be more thrilled to have you here. :)

First picture with Mommy and Daddy

First bath (she LOVED every minute of it)

All bundled up in her hospital crib

Naked babies are the cutest thing on Earth

In her cow seat, all ready to go home

Camren turns 8!

Camren turned 8 on the first, but we didn't end up doing anything because we were so busy getting ready to go to Idaho the next day. Instead, I shopped before we left and we planned to have a surprise party for him while we were at Hailee and Alan's house. He had no idea, and we all had a blast! I can't believe he is already 8! It seems like just yesterday John and I were getting married and he was only 2. Boy how time flies!

The awesome cake

Oooh! Presesnts!

Still stunned, not sure what's going on.

Just a little excited. hehe!

Magic Tree House books are a favorite around here.

Happy for more Bionicles

If you can't tell, cars are pretty much his favorite thing ever

Oooh! Another Bionicle!

Getting sung to

My kids love to lick the frosting off all the candles

The big, blue, toothless grin says it all

Wedding Bells For Rebecca and Chris

Today, one of my bestest friends got married. Rebecca and I have been friends since the second we met, 13 years ago. This is her second marriage and Chris' first. They are absolutely adorable. I told Becca that it worked out that she married someone several years younger than her this time, because she was finally getting someone at the same level of maturity as her. Haha! The wedding was beautiful. I think I have close to 100 pics, but here are some of my favorites. I would have included the one John took of the 2 of us, but I look like crap, so you will have to do without.

Happy bride, all laced in and ready to go.

The fabulous back of the dress.

Exchanging vows.

Everyone all lined up

You may now kiss the bride!

Exchanging rings.

They started out so nicely.

But it didn't last. (Nice red eyebrow Becca)

Licking off the frosting. Mmmm.

My Birthday

Tonight for my birthday John took me out for sushi. Well I had sushi and everyone else had chicken or whatever. They are so lame. I LOVE LOVE LOVE sushi. I hadn't had it in forever. We went to this little place by us, and I got a Rainbow Roll. It was so good, I ate the whole thing. I managed to make it through dinner without John embarassing me and getting the waitstaff to sing to me or anything, so that was a bonus. I'm glad that we were able to go out, even if we did have to take the kids with us. Maybe sometime we will actually get to go out ALONE!

Hailey's 9th Birthday!

I can't believe my Hailey is 9. It doesn't seem like it has been that long. Time has just flown by. She had a blast at her party tonight. She got lots of fun things from everyone and enjoyed getting to see the Riets and her Great Grandparents (Sandy's parents). She is getting so big. I wish she would slow down a bit, but she told me "Only 4 years 'til I'm a teenager". Oh great!

Opening the purse set from the Riets.

Opening shirts mommy got at Justice.

Hailey with Uncle Chris.

Hailey with Great Grandma and Grandpa Anderson.

Hailey with Grandpa and Grandma Riet.

Hailey and Aunt Jessica.

Getting Ready For Hailey's Party

Jan. 4 was Hailey's 9th birthday. I cannot get over that. My first born is 9 years old! I am so getting old! We weren't able to have her party though, because Brooklyn and Amelia were sick (stomatitis and strep) and contagious. I feel bad that we had to wait til now to have it, but I'm glad everyone's finally better. I have been cooking all day to get ready. Hailey wanted me to make cookies instead of cake, so I made cute little cookies on a stick that match her party stuff. I hope she likes them. I better go and clean up and get ready for everyone to get here tonight!