Wish list

Dear Nick,

I just wanted to remind you that my birthday is coming up this week. I know that you have been very busy lately with working, helping me keep the house clean, a new baby etc. and I thought I might help you out a little. I know that you have been consumed by thoughts of what to buy me for my birthday so here are some ideas, in no particular order.

Double Jogging stroller/bike trailer

A super cute winter jacket (and a body like that too)

Food processor

New Camera

Pampered Chef chopper

Sees candy (nuts and chews please)
Pampered chef baking stone and 2 pizza stones (I promise to make more cookies and to stop burning our pizza if I get these!!)

New addition of Illustrated stories from the Book of Mormon

and last but NOT least....more shoes!

I hope this relieves some stress for you ;)

Late night pumpkin carving

We were at one of the three parties at Chuckee Cheese in two weeks this night until 8 pm. But this was the only night that Nick could carve with us so we did then any way. We didn't start until 8:30 (which is WAAAAY past bedtime) but they did good, there wasn't even any whining.

Also, my recipe blog is up and running! you can see it here

Pumpkin Patch

My mom went with me to take pictures at the pumpkin patch last week. It was a bit too sunny for little eyes, but I'm still glad we went.

Aaron did not want to match his sisters. We'll see if I can get away with it next year.

Happy Halloween

Meat-less

There are lots of thing I love in life:

Holding my babies in my arms

Finding patterns, picking out fabric, and sewing something fun

Reading cookbooks

Cooking and baking delicious and healthy things for my family to eat

Filling my shopping cart full of fruits and vegetables

Food has been on my mind lately....

When you are nursing a baby, you get hungry....a lot!

Now that I am getting back to normal life after having our sweet new baby, I finally cooked dinner for the first time in WEEKS (thank you to the wonderful women in Relief Society).

I have really enjoyed the help....... but I have also missed cooking.

Last May I read this article in the Ensign. For the past few years Nick has been telling me to serve less meat but I was worried that it would be too hard to find recipes that were any good. I love meat. But after reading, mainly the parts on nutrition and health, I was inspired to give it a try. My goal was to only make meals with meat once a week.



I was pleasantly surprised at how easy this transition was. I borrowed a wonderful vegetarian cook book from my mother in law and started gathering ideas from the Internet. I also just left the meat out of some of our favorite recipes. I was very impressed with how great many of you are at keeping up your recipe blogs and now I have been inspired by you to start my own.

I first want to say that I am NOT a vegetarian. I WILL be making a turkey on thanksgiving. I will also most likely serve meat for any family gathering which may happen at our house. I have found that people are very defensive about their meat. I want to let you know that I am not trying to take it away from you. I just want to start posting recipes so that others who would like to try might be a little less intimidated than I was. Also, I think it will be fun. I called my sister Alex who has played around with being a vegetarian and a vegan and she was excited about it too!

Three very wonderful things happened when I went mostly meatless and I was not anticipating them. The first one was that I started saving money on groceries, which is always wonderful. Second, I started serving my family tons more vegetables. I think we actually eat more than recommended by the food pyramid now!! And the most exciting one of all..... Nick and I started to loose weight! I know I was pregnant at the time so I wasn't actually loosing, but I wasn't gaining either so that's kind of like loosing!

So, very soon we will start posting our delicious, healthy, and meatless (along with the occasional "too delicious to leave out but also requires meat") recipe.

Halloween party

It seems like just the other day that I was blogging about last years ward party. This year really went by quickly.

We invited my dad this time and came with us on the ever popular hay ride!! Definitely the highlight of the evening. When ever we talk about this annual party with the kids thy always bring up the hay ride.

Elsie was very excited, with the others, but got pretty scared when we started going. We do take that first hill pretty fast!

Some fellow princesses, and little siblings

This hat was Lila's costume. Elsie was a flower but wouldn't keep her hat on. She was much more interested in wearing the witch hat. Unfortunately she lost it before I got any pictures of Lila in it. It was actually a dog hat that I found in the dollar section at Target.

After the party we left the kids with my dad (minus Lila) and went to the movies to see Eagle Eye . We were celebrating our anniversary. We had planned on going on another cruise this year but we had a baby instead. Having a baby is a much better way of celebrating your love. We can be romantic next year.

First Bath

I think that this is the first time that I took pictures of any of my kids actual first bath. I am also pretty sure that this is the first baby of mine to not cry through her first bath, which may be why I never bothered with the camera before.

Lila (pronounced lie-la and not lee-la) is such an easy baby. Last night she only woke up once to eat and then fell right back to sleep.

I absolutely love having four children. I don't remember what I was scared of last spring. I love having four even more than I loved having three. I could take four more. It is amazing how your love can instantly multiply. Only nine days old and the thought of our family without her seems incomplete.

Even when she goes slightly cross-eyed!

October 17 2008

Our pretty little Lila was born last Friday at 12:17pm. Two weeks before her due date. (thank goodness) She weighed 6lb 14oz and was 20.5 in long. Absolutely perfect.

After visiting the hospital earlier that week I tried not to be too upset about it, but I definitely wasn't just going to sit around and wait. The day I was released from the hospital (the first time) I walked the mall with my mom and sister. Then the next day my mom came over and we walked the trail to railroad park (which I think is about 1 mile each way) My contractions never really stopped all week but I just tried to ignore them as long as I could. That night my dad invited us out to Chinese food and by then the contractions were starting to be more painful, but only every 15-20 minutes. Then around midnight they hurt bad enough to wake me up. I would fall back asleep between them until around 4am when they were every10 minutes. I waited as long as I could, then called my mom and sisters over and we checked in around 6 am. This time they kept me (for real) and she was born 6 hours later.

Here I am minutes before she was born. (Just kidding, this is actually the first visit, the one where those fake contractions were toying with my emotions)

This is how the kids and Ali kept themselves entertained waiting for their new sister. They didn't wait too long, by the time they got there she was practically here.

When the kids came into the room to see Lila their reactions were pretty funny. Aaron loved her but was scared to hold her until we were at home so he could sit on the couch and make sure to not drop her. Charlotte couldn't get enough of her and wanted to pick her up and take her home right away. Elsie was scared of her. I think she thought she was a wild animal or something. She wouldn't even come near me if Lila was on the bed. Aaron and Elsie warmed up and they both finally did hold her.

Poor Nick, we all had a long week.

Now here is a small selection of the hundreds of pictures we took.

Lila

Well, I am too tired to tell the whole story right now, but here she is only a few hours old! Even though I feel better than I have in months, I am very tired now so I'll post more pictures later.

ITS ALIVE........AND OUT OF THE WOMB!!!

Today the fabulous Michele popped out #4! Baby Lila was born at (contrary to other posts) 12:17 and is absolutely a princess. She definitely has a Freeman nose however and I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. Michele is doing great and says she feels a hundred times better. I think she is still surprised that she is not still prego! At one point she sat up and said "...oh yea, I'm not pregnant anymore." Then leaned forward further, just because she could. All in all she performed wonderfully and I am very proud of her.
So family, look forward to lots of pictures and more of her fantastic blogging.
-Nick-