Half Way There...

I've come so far...but have, oh, so far to go...

Heaven Help Me!

Baily's 5th Birthday

Geez...I'm getting old. My little Baily is 5! Baily came into this world April 26th, 2005. She has a smile that will make any ones day and a laugh that is so contagious. Out of all my kids she is the "mama's girl" and is by my side 24/7. Recently, when I am resting on the couch, she will come up and lay right by me and stick her arm under my neck and just lay with me.


Here are some things we love about our 5 year old:


-She says "I love you" to everyone, all the time.


-She is a natural "girl". She loves all things pink and knows how to bat those eyelashes to get what she wants (yikes...)


-She loves being outside.


-She says the sweetest prayers and always thinks of everyone in her prayers. Some examples: "Help Kylee and Tyler to stay in their beds" (at night), "Help Malia to learn everything." "Help Daddy to not fall asleep at work."


-She loves to help me cook. Aunt RaeLynne gave her a pink spatula, measuring cups and an apron for her b-day last year and she uses them daily.


-Her nicknames are Bella Blue (Malia and I call her this and it's so cute to hear Malia wondering the house shouting "Bella Blue!!?"), Belly (Tyler called her this when she was born because he couldn't pronounce Baily), Puffy (Daddy called her this when she had a bad eye infection and her eye swelled shut...it just stuck...)


Baily loves getting attention from her older brother and sister and will try to get it by any means necessary....which also makes for time well spent in the time-out chair =) She loves affection and is constantly seeking hugs, kisses and tickles.


She is looking forward to going to Kindergarten in the Fall and when I teased her about her not being able to go to school cause I would miss her too much she said, "Mom, but I have to go, cause I have to get really smart!"


What a joy and a blessing our Baily is. We love you!!!

We had a joint Family party on Sunday for her and her cousin Troy Jr., whose birthday is on the 21st.

Here she is on her actually birthday. We had those of James' family who could make it over for pizza, cake and ice cream.

The Saturday before her birthday she went to lick some cheese off of the stove top and drug her finger across a hot burner! OWW! She cried for the rest of the day and was in a lot of pain. There is a huge blister on her finger now. Poor girl.

Here she is opening her presents. Notice the blister on her finger.

New Bike!

I have a tradition that as soon as we find out what we are having AND I start to feel better I make a rag quilt for my baby. It helps me connect a little bit more, and have something tangible to get me through the back pain, heartburn and sleepless nights. I am truly grateful to be having another boy and little Dalyn is already such a big part of our family. The kids pray for him every night and the other night Baily said in her prayer, "Please help Mommies baby to be nice to her." Cute.

A Mothers Prayer

Have you ever just looked over at the child...whether they are a day old or 30 years old and had to take a double take because of how big they had gotten while you weren't watching? That happened today, TWICE...with Kylee and Tyler. It shook me to the core.

Kylee asked me if she could take a shower this evening...now that in and of itself is huge because she hates taking showers and the thought of getting clean and looking nice was a big waste of time until today...so that was monumental. She said she really wanted to look nice for school tomorrow. I just looked at her and got choked up at her maturity.

For those of you who know Kylee, know that was born mature. She has always been too big for her britches. It just hit me today how fast she is growing.

Then as Tyler is shoveling food into his mouth at dinner....and I mean shoveling food...I could almost see a teenage Tyler sitting at my table with his head in his hand, elbow resting on the table with only one thing on his mind, FOOD!!

He is a very good kid, the best, and he has always been really affectionate with me and always lets me know he loves me. Well after family prayers he put his hands on my knees and gets really close to my face and stared into my eyes for a couple of seconds and said, "Mom, I love you." It was so sweet and for the second time today I was hit upside the head that my kids are growing up. I am bringing new life into this world in only a few short months, and I am also raising little people. It is a such a big job, and one that I often feel overwhelmed with, but I am doing it, and I must say...I love it.

The words to a Celine Dion Song, that I love, say it best:

A Mother's Prayer

I pray you'll be my eyes

And watch her where she goes

And help her to be wise

Help me to let go

Every mother's prayer

Every child knows

Lead her to a place

Guide her with your grace

To a place where she'll be safe

I pray she finds your light

And holds it in her heart

As darkness falls each night

Remind her where you are

Every mother's prayer

Every child knows

Need to find a place

Guide her with your grace

Give her faith so she'll be safe

A Birthday, Easter and Cute Pics!!

KYLEE TURNED 9!!!

No way. i just can't believe that my baby is 9. It isn't possible!

We had a wonderful day with Kylee. She has always wanted to go to a hotel for her birthday so we packed up the family after school on Wednesday and headed to a hotel in Layton. We swam, ate way too much junk food, stayed up way too late, jumped a few too many times on the hotel beds and had a great time.

The swimming pool was heavily, heavily chlorinated and when we got done swimming that night all of the kids, except Malia, were screaming in pain from burning eyes! It was so sad =( Because the rest of us where fine we just assumed that it was the hot tub that was causing their eyes to burn (because the three older kids where the only ones to get in the hot tub) and so we went swimming again in the morning and no one was allowed in the hot tub, but again, when we got out and went back to our room, every one's eyes were stinging. It was horrible. I called and complained to the hotel because Kylee even had some burns on her legs from the chlorine. Horrible! They had to sit with cold wash clothes on the eyes. =(

Baily had it the worst.

But- We had a blast and Kylee said it was her best birthday ever!

Here are some things we love about Kylee:

-She makes everyone around her SMILE!!

-More than one of her school teachers have told us what a good leader Kylee is. She stands up for others and is a good example and her class mates are naturally drawn to her.

-She hates most meat.

-She does her own hair every morning and is getting really good at it.

-She gets Malia out of her crib almost every day. Sometimes Malia would rather be with Kylee than me =(

-She has a wonderful, quick-witted sense of humor.

-She can sometimes be very swift to over react and pull quite the drama-queen scene.

-She loves playing soccer, dancing and listening to music.

I adore this little girl and am so blessed to be her mother! Happy Birthday Kylee, we LOVE you!

EASTER

We had a great Easter! We loved watching conference, and actually got to HEAR some of conference this year! Our kids were abnormally good and sat through MOST of both Saturday and Sunday's sessions.

Here are some pics of the kids in their Easter clothes. I finished sewing Malia's dress about an hour before our Easter dinner with family =)

My sis Tami took some cute pics of the kids at the annual Easter Egg hunt at my Grandparents house in Ogden. She did an awesome job!

By the way...I see a light at the end of the tunnel with my morning sickness. I have more good days than bad, and even though the bad days are still yucky, I do feel some of my energy coming back. I may Survive. Cross your fingers! So, sorry to all of my friends and family who I have neglected these past 3 months

.

Slugs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails...

...That's what little boys are made of...

It's official...We are having BOY!!!

We are so excited! I went to the dr. today and she said that she was 100% sure! We have agreed on a name also,

Dalyn David Hansen

Time to start sewing some blankets!

I Must Brag

I need to Brag about James for a minute...

I can not tell you what a winner I have. You would think after going through 5 pregnancies with sick, grumpy me he would have thrown in the towel long ago. But no. He is not only still here, but he is amazing. He has made dinner every night since I have been sick. He folds laundry and puts it away. He does the dishes, cleans the house and puts the kids to bed. He even changed the cat liter box once. He nearly vomited doing that! =)

What a trooper! I will never complain again when I see his socks a foot from the hamper. Those socks belong to the best husband in the world.

Baby #5

For those of you who don't know yet, we are expecting Baby #5!!! We are very excited! I get this question a lot, "Was it on purpose?"

So here is the very much on purpose story behind the reason we are adding another monkey to the zoo.

After Malia's very hard, and somewhat traumatizing birth I knew that I didn't want to have any more babies...or I guess I should say,I really really didn't want to have any more babies. We actually came close to tying up the ol' tubes. But when Malia was about 1 I started hearing a little voice in my head (no, not that kind of voice...some would call it the spirit). I did EVERYTHING in my power to quiet the voice. I didn't want to have another baby! I was perfectly happy with my 4 beautiful angels.

Then, one day, comes Tyler, "Mommy? (with tears in his eyes) I really need a brother!" He would come up to me at random times for months and ask when his brother was coming, he would show me where his brother could put his toys when he got here, and where his brother could sleep. It was a combination of this and that little voice in my head that allowed me to finally start considering if we truly had our whole family here.

I waited a while before telling James that I thought we needed to have one more. I couldn't believe it myself still and I knew he would be shocked. But because I have such a wonderful husband, who is close to the spirit and loves me so much, he agreed that we weren't quite done yet.

I still can't believe that I am almost done with the 1st trimester of my 5th pregnancy and that there is an actual life inside of me again. I feel so blessed that Heavenly Father trusts us enough to share another little angel with us.

I have had 2 DR. visits already and we have seen the baby and his/her strong little heart beat. It is amazing! We have talked about the fact quite frequently with Tyler that it may not be a brother but he so eloquently put my worries to rest when he said, "It's okay if I get another sister, Mom, I really like my sisters."

Besides the fact that I am sick 24/7... things are going really good. The kids love school (Tyler actually said that he loved school yesterday!) Amazing! Baily and Malia keep me hopping and James' job is doing great. Some really good news is that the 3 older kids were accepted into a new charter school that is coming this fall to North Ogden. (Yes- my Baily is going to be a kindergartner!) It is a Montessori Academy. The Montessori teaching method is a more hands on method where the kids are learning by using tangible things, instead of text books and worksheets. I am very excited about this, especially since I have been trying to get them into a charter school for 3 years now!

I said at the end of 2009 in a past post that I could feel that 2010 was going to be a great year, and it has been. I feel so blessed, happy and fortunate. Keep me in your prayers, and I will let you all know as soon as we know if Tyler will get his brother, or if I will be doing 4 girls hair everyday =)

See what I have to put up with...

It's hard being me sometimes. While my oldest two are at school filling there brains with smarts I get to stay home and watch princess movies, button up princess dresses, dance to princess music all day long. It's tough being me.

Jr. Jazz Basketball

Is this not the cutest picture ever (thanks Rae for letting me steal it!) My sweet Tyler and his best bud/cousin Troy Jr.! They were on the same city basket ball team together. These two boys were made from the same mold and will be best buds forever.

My little Tyler is quite the basketball star (I'd like to believe he gets his athletic abilities from me...a girl can wish, can't she??) He was so fun to watch and I can't wait until next year!

2010!!!!!!!!!!!

A New Year (insert HUGE sigh of relief here)...I woke up this morning with a very peaceful feeling. I have often thought that our society puts too much emphasis on New Years and resolutions. We should be trying to do our best and be better every day, right, not just at the beginning of a new year? But I must say that this year is a little different for me. With all the trials we have faced this year, we have also been blessed more than I could say. We have learned a lot about patience, obedience and faith. I feel like James and I are being given a second chance to LOVE more, be better parents, and spouses. We are going to try to use our time and money wiser. We will try to take every moment to remember how important our children are and how fast they grow. I feel like I have been given a second chance to show my Savior that I can live up to the potential he sees in me.

I am excited for 2010! It is going to be a good year!

Here are some fun pictures of our New Years Eve party. My sister, Tara and her family-My bro Troy and his family-My Mom and Dad were all there (we missed you Tami and Nate and baby Spencer! Get feeling better!)

Playing Games (Me, Troy, Brother-in-law Chris, and my Dad)

Rockin' out to Lego Rock Band! Notice who is at the Drums....My Mom! Rock on! (Nephew Dillon, Niece Ariel, My mom, Kylee and James)

My sister-in-law RaeLynne! She was jammin'!

Malia fell asleep with her face in the couch before the party even started =)

When James got home from work we realized we were matching on not-purpose ( I know that non-purpose isn't a word, but it is now.) How can you not take a picture of that!

We had a wonderful Christmas. We were able to spend some great time with the Hansen's in Vernal, UT on Christmas Eve and then with my family on Christmas. We were beyond blessed from so many people! We received more than we deserved. I will let the pictures do the talking.

Kylee's favorite gift

Tyler with a new shirt

The kids playing on a huge pile of snow at Grandma and Grandpa Hansen's house

Christmas Eve in Vernal

Malia with her new pillow

At the Hansen's

My Dad and Tyler building a Lego Bionical

The kids with my parents

Happy Children!

Good Food, Good Times and Best Buds!!!

I had the best weekend! It all started with my best friend Tracy coming into town from my home town Sacramento, CA on Thursday. She was able to hang out during the day on Friday and see a crazy day-in-the-life of me...surprisingly enough she still wants to have kids of her own after being here!!!

Then we met up with my other 2 best buds Kari and Melanie (we have all been friends since we were 9 and 10!) at a fabulous hotel in SLC. We ate yummy food, listen to music from back in the day, looked through old album's and said stuff like "How did our mothers let us out of the house in that! What is my hair doing in that picture! Why didn't someone tell me that guy I dated was a looser!"

We stayed up way too late, ate too much junk and had the time of our lives. I love these girls and love how well they know me. It was hard to leave them and I just want you girls to know how much I love you and how grateful I am for you!!!