Chelsea On Blessing Day

Chelsea received a wonderful blessing from Michael on Sunday, October 10th. Thanks to all the family members who traveled to be there with us. I caught this smile from her after we were back home. Grandma Connie bought the dress and Grandma Judy knitted the blanket. I bought the flower for her head and the shoes for her feet.

Train Them Young

This is Chelsea being held by her Aunt Heather at her first BYU Football Game.
Train a child in the way she should go, and when she is older she will not depart from it.
Go Cougars! That's all I need to say.

Love These Kids

Chelsea in Dad's arms.

My blue-eyed Banana.

Josh is a good brother.

Josie sneaking some lemon zucchini cookies.

One Reason

Here is one reason why I love having a baby in the house.

Little Sister, Big Sister

I just wanted to show you how my little Josanna has become a big sister!

Garden 2010

Here is my garden report for 2010. I will try to keep my comments brief so it doesn't turn into a novel like last year! The spring brought us strawberries, which became over run with bindweed and dug in by voles!! Frustrating. We'll see how they fare next year. We also had spinach, radishes, anaheim peppers and peas. Tammy and Emmie helped harvest some peas for me. This first picking were the sweetest peas I have ever had. Yummmy! Then the later pickings became quite starchy and I threw them away.

Beets. We enjoyed Pink Pancakes. I froze some of the beet puree to use on Valentines Day.

We loved the red onions that we grew---definitely want to do those again. We also had yellow onions. We tried tomatillos for the first time. I made a couple batches of tomatillo ranch dressing and they were added to my bottled chili verde (green salsa) that I tried this year.
Watermelon---yippee! We successfully grew six. Sadly, our darn cute, but over ambitious little neighbor boy (he's only 4 years old) ended up picking the last three perfectly ripe ones and carting them off! He returned one melon the next day. Blasted little melon thief! Smile. Good thing he really is a cute kid. Green beans brought along Fresh Green Bean Soup. I always look forward to making it. It was great to have a harvest of yellow, russet, and red potatoes this year. Add those to zuchinni, yellow squash, bell peppers, tomatoes and onions and you can make this yummy skillet dish. . .
I also made a few of my favorite tomato-basil pies with our plethera of tomatoes.
These beautiful pear tomatoes I frequently cooked up with a scrambled egg in the morning. I made Green Tomato Jam (I put in extra pectin this year and made it too thick---darn.) I also made bottled red salsa using Mrs. Wages. We loved it! I still love her dill pickle mix, too. We had pickling cucumbers this year, also---but I only ate them fresh. Hopefully next year I can bottle some pickles again. We grew jalapenos (made more Smoked Gouda Poppers). And I had cilantro, thyme, parsley and dill. We had two carrots to our name because we didn't water the seedlings enough. And our cantaloupe never fully ripened.

I love learning new things each year. This year I realized I can also harvest the dried beans from off the plant. I always just threw the old pods away or left them on the plant. Thanks Good Things Utah for clue-ing me into that one. Lastly we had a wonderful crop of peaches that I bottled, froze in pies or made into fruit leather and frozen yogurt. My mom came over for a day and helped with that effort---thanks Mom!

Two Traumatic Experiences

My poor Josanna has had two traumatic experiences this fall. First she received a wound to the forehead from an air-soft gun too close. The neighbor boy said he didn't realize he had BB's in it and he wasn't really aiming for her---thank heavens it didn't hit her eye! He is a nice kid and he was really, really sorry. The picture was taken the day after (when the swelling had gone down and it didn't look so bad.) Initially it looked scary and I was just grateful for my nursing experience that kept me cool and collected even though there was blood running down her face and dripping off her chin. Alyssa brought her into the house, Josie was screaming and Alyssa was saying,"She got shot." I think it was hearing those words that made me cringe more than anything. I hope you never, ever hear those words spoken about your own child.

Next was having a good size chunk of hair ripped out by the mixer. I had heard of this happening, but never had I had my kids hurt by a mixer before. All my kids love to help in the kitchen and Josie is no different. Unfortunately, even though she wasn't putting her hands in the mixer or anything I have taught them not to do, her hair went in front of her face when she looked in the bowl. I had just turned to the side to measure out the chocolate chips when I heard her scream and fall off the 25 lb. bucket she was standing on in an almost seizure like fashion. In fact that was my first thought---she's having a seizure. Instead it was her trying to pull away from the mixer!!!! I felt TERRIBLE. So, just a reminder to keep kids (and hair) farther from mixers---especially if you are turning your back and leaving the mixer on. Thankfully she survived both experiences and even asked to help bake the other day.

Priceless Pictures

These pictures were taken by a sweet neighbor, Amy, as part of a gift. Priceless. Chelsea was just eight days old. I love how they turned out. She was so tiny. She grows daily, even though she is still small. I held her on my chest this morning for over an hour after I fed her. She is WONDERFUL!

This is my favorite---a big, natural yawn during her photo shoot.

More of newborn Chelsea

Here's another picture of my little, tiny girl. She was only 5 lb. 7 oz. and 17 1/2'" long---making her my smallest (although all of her siblings were less than 7 lbs.) We knew Chelsea was only a "half a peanut" size before she was born so I did buy a preemie pack of onesies, pants and snugglie gowns, which has been her main wardrobe since birth.

All of my kids (except Alyssa) have needed to have 48 hr. bilirubin checks after we left the hospital, but only Chelsea needed to be re-checked daily after that and receive treatment for jaundice, even though her skin never seemed that yellow to us. So last weekend (Friday evening through Sunday afternoon) she was on this "bili-bed." It was nice to be able to do the phototherapy in our own home. I am so glad all went well and having to go to the hospital lab each day to have her heal pricked is over. She is just in a diaper under the blue covering. It was hard not to hold her, except for feedings and diaper changes. At one point I found all of the kids sitting around the bili-bed, staring at her. We nickname that phenomenon "Chelsea-vision" or "Chelsea TV". They love to just sit and watch her!

I can easily do the same thing since she is so darn cute!

CHELSEA ARRIVED---Our Precious Gift

Our little "Chelle Belle" arrived two weeks ago today. What an amazing gift. Her Sunday delivery was fantastic. All seven of us are born on the seven different days of the week. I could never have planned it better. (The kids are using their "day" names as their secret code names now---very fun.) Chelsea Abigail is loved by each and every one of us. Having the older girls around in the summer to help with everything from holding her, changing her diapers or doing household chores is soooo nice. Chelsea is a sweet little one with lots of patience and love. Having her here makes my family seem so much more complete. I am loving every moment of this newborn stage and though I know this next year will rapidly pass, I am doing my best to embrace each day with all the "memory-capturing" ability I have and savor it. Childhood is fleeting and I am certainly going to do my best not to blink!

Celebrating America---Happy 4th of July

We are fortunate to enjoy the traditional "Cul-de-sac of Fire" on my parents' street each year. I am grateful for the two families who put on the extravaganza each year and invite the neighborhood. This year on Saturday we had "Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband" performing. Our family loves their tunes. It was a really fun evening.

The fourth was a Sunday and Josie girl dressed for the holiday---so cute.

On Monday we started the day with a yummy brunch outside at my parents'. Then we went swimming in their pool, jumped in their bounce house, had a bbq with yummy smoked brisket, and swam some more. It was a great time with family. I am thankful for the freedoms that are ours in this land and for those who fought and now fight to keep that liberty for all.

Enjoying snow cones as cousins, Jeff and Bryce.
A sweet ending---Josanna out of the pool and sipping away.