Oregon 2015

We had such a good time in Oregon with Aunt Jess and Uncle Derek seeing all that the coast has to offer last year that we had to go back! Jon was sent to Portland for a leadership training in April and he and I were really hoping that the dates would coincide with Jess's Spring Break.  Unfortunately they did not. So Jon got to meet up with Jess and Derek for lunch on his last day there and I got to see... pictures... So we immediately started planning a trip around Labor Day before Jess would be teaching again.

We left for Oregon on August 29th.  Mia was more than two months at that point and that was comfortable.  Earlier than two months and the thought of traveling with her would have stressed me out more than I would have liked.  Not to say I wouldn't have done it, but stressful. As it was, she struggled in the car.  S T R U G G L E D. We were honestly stopping every hour and a half once we hit the afternoon.  The morning stops hadn't been that often and we even visited some friends of ours who live in Meridian (right outside Boise) and she did well for up until then and the visit itself, but our projected arrival time just kept getting pushed back until I was thinking it'd be Sunday sometime before we rolled into the Stott place. And poor little Mia was super upset, just yelling at the top of her lungs in the hopes that we'd help her.  Unfortunately these moments always seemed to be when there were no rest stops. We figured out a much better schedule on the return trip, but it was a happy happy day when we arrived at Jess and Derek's. Right around midnight. 

We went to church with Jess and Derek and the girls did great without Jon and me in their class, likely due to the fact that they had the best primary teachers ever!!  Uncle Derek and Aunt Jess.  Lydia came home talking about their lesson, wishing she could be in their class each Sunday.  The ward was really friendly and the lessons were great.  Jon and I even made a Philippines connection.  Not really, but we met a Filipina and ended up talking to her for quite a while.  She'd just returned home from visiting her family in the Philippines and loved finding out that we'd served there.  My Cebuano is ridiculously rusty, but it was still fun to speak a little bit and know that not all has been forgotten. 

Jess made this awesome tomato soup from scratch and we had grilled cheese on her awesome homemade bread.  She was getting pretty fancy with the cheeses while we were there.  I took note and will try to spice things up a little more in my cooking from here on out. There's something about not planning meals or cooking each one that made eating every meal a real treat.  So... forgive me for talking about food so much, but at least now you have been warned.  After lunch Mia and I napped while Jon, Derek and the girls went for a walk. They came home so excited to tell Jess and me about how Uncle Derek had saved them from the Evergreen Forest!!  Really though, he truly was a hero.  Jon said that had he and the girls been walking on their own they would have made it home eventually, but probably not as timely as they did, so thank goodness Uncle Derek was there!

Dinner with Derek's family was like spending time with our family.  They're the best.  Honestly.  They treat us like family when we see them and I love it.  Dinner was delicious.  Salmon, salad, seasoned potatoes.  Derek's Grandma brought over this S'mores cake and Brittany made these peanut butter cookies that I didn't eat nearly enough of.  Basically the food was fantastic (it was fantastic the entire trip. Jess even sent me a meal plan outlining breakfast, lunch and dinner for the week that we'd be staying with them. A. I can't believe how organized she is and B. Talk about tasty!!) and the company was even better, which is definitely saying something.  Lydia and Sophie had been talking about Raja and Gretchen before we'd even made it to Oregon, and couldn't wait to see them. They were a little disappointed when Raja (the Stott's cat) remained hidden, but watching Gretchen outside from inside the kitchen just about made up for it. Last years introduction to these furry little friends clearly made an impression on them.  What a fantastic start to our week!

Monday we went to Tillamook for lunch and a tour.  We peered through the windows at the huge bricks of cheese made there, sampled their cheddar, took pics of the girls sitting in the Tillamook bus, and then sat outside enjoying some ice cream. There was a group on the table next to us, obviously watching our girls, and they finally admitted to doing exactly that. "Don't mind us! We think your girls are the cutest and are really enjoying watching them eat their ice cream." We finished up, went to the gift shop for a magnet and headed to the beach.  I actually stayed in the car to feed Mia (we found ourselves there did quite often throughout the trip which made for some great bonding and memories), but Jon took Lyds and Soph out to enjoy the sand for a few minutes, which they did.  Briefly.  Sophie found a stick and decided to "tap" Lydia on the head with it. The beach fun came to an abrupt stop and we decided to head back to Jess and Derek's. Jess whipped together this amazing enchilada bake that was super delish.

 

Tuesday morning we woke up to crepes.  Mmmmmm.... Again, amazing.  Who is Jess anyway??! Oh, I should mention that our sleeping arrangement were spectacular.  Jon, Lydia and Sophie were meant to share the one air mattress that inflated to about two feet off the ground, but Lydia elected to sleep on the floor.  Go figure.  Surprisingly, she loved it there! Not really surprising, actually, but still...  I'm sure it had something to do with keeping the peace with Soph, and bless Lydia's heart, she really is a peacemaker.  And then Mia and I shared the other air mattress next to the window.  She slept so well that first night.  And after the day in the car that she'd had, who could blame her??  Jon read Berenstain Bear books to the girls after scriptures and prayer.  I love it so much that these girls love to be read to, even if they choose the same stories night after night after night.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do when they don't want us to read to them anymore.  For not I'll pretend that that's not going to happen.  Ever.  Also!  Lately Lyds and Soph have been waking up to tell us their latest nightmares.  It's actually been going on for a while now and I remember the first nightmares were about dragons and Maleficent.  There have been bats and witches and scary bears too.  The latest involved a witch, and a curse resulting in Mia being born with an elephant's trunk, ears and feet.  I let them watch the beginning of Penelope a little prematurely and sincerely regret it.  We've had several discussions about curses and pig faces and gone over the difference between real and imaginary many, many times.  This time they dreamt about talking candy monsters.  Halloween on the brain, I think.

Once we got going we headed for the city and the Rose gardens.  I have great memories of the rose gardens in Spokane and was curious to see how these compared.  They were beautiful of course!! There was some filming going on and we were asked to stay away from certain areas, but that didn't stop Jon from taking some great pictures.  We enjoyed watching the girls smell the roses and play in the water.  They could have gotten soaked but didn't!  Strangers commented on Lydia and Sophie's hair and the fact that we have three girls.  "Three girls?! Are you going to keep trying for a boy??"  It was interesting looking back on the trip to think that we sort of stuck out.  Three kids alone was enough to do that which just cracks me up.  Three kids, really?? But the fact that we don't have brightly colored hair or tattoos kind of added to that standing out-ness.

Next we'd planned to find the park where there are statues of Ramona, Henry and Ribsy, but we ran out of time.  Maybe next year!  So we headed back to our home away from home and Jon took Lydia and Sophie to the pool while I took care of Mia. Lydia loved just standing in the hot tub, so pleased that her feet could touch the bottom.  Both she and Soph had a great time swimming.  These girls love love love the water!! So much!  In any form.  Taking baths is a delight.  Filling up their cups either at the sink or from the fridge is a joy.  I don't quite understand it, but I do love seeing the joy on their faces and am glad they enjoy it so much.  Anyway, once we gathered for dinner I literally inhaled Jess's mac and cheese.  Had to talk myself down from finishing off the entire dish.  Then Jon and Derek started playing Mario Cart and the girls got lost in creating some artistic masterpieces.  Seriously, crayons and paper keeps these ladies happy and busy.  Add to that watching some Mario Cart and it made for a perfect evening.

Wednesday we ate super delicious blueberry muffins and then headed off to find Sea Lion caves.  Jon remembers going to these as a boy and was really excited for the girls to have a similar experience.  We were hoping to find tide pools full of star fish too, but if nothing else a day at the beach sounded like a dream.  It took us a couple of hours to reach the Sea Lion caves only to discover that the sea lions were out at sea and wouldn't be back until November.  Apparently the time to catch them is November through April or May.  And to top it off, this Sea Lion place was rather isolated.  There weren't public restrooms or any place to eat for lunch so we backtracked a bit and got Lydia to a potty before eating. The girls love playing at fast food playgrounds and swimming so any opportunity for that is a win.  They were making friends, sort of, with the other kids and having a good time.  One of my favorite moments was watching Lydia help Sophie climb up a huge stair that she couldn't tackle on her own so that they could both slide down the slide.  They're a pretty good team when they want to be!

We'd spotted a lighthouse from the Sea Lion Caves and decided to check it out.  Getting up there required us to hike a bit.  Jon carried Mia in the bjorn and he and I took turns carrying Lydia and Sophie for parts of the journey if they needed a break from hiking on their own.  Once we made it to the top we had this beautiful view of the beach and the ocean.  We were invited to join a tour of the light house and stepped inside to find out all sorts of interesting facts about this structure that was nearly a century and a half old.  Parts of it still being made from original materials.  It was pretty interesting to find out how they hauled materials up the mountainside after they'd traveled by boat for miles and miles.  I really like lighthouses and learning about the keeper of the lighthouse and what was required of him and how much he was paid was rather fascinating.

 

 Once we wrapped things up at the lighthouse it was pretty evident by the looks on Lydia and Sophie's faces that they'd reached their limit.  Why weren't we at the beach digging in the sand already??!! So we drove along the coast for a few minutes, found a beach that wasn't experiencing high tide and dug to our hearts content.  I wasn't too involved in the digging, but Mia and I enjoyed watching Jon and her big sisters race out to the water, wade for a minute, and then race back to dry land before the waves tried to snatch them.  They really are incredibly entertaining and I can see why Mia is content to watch these girls for hours and hours.  We couldn't actually stay for hours because we had such a long drive ahead of us, but we'd be back for more sand and more water another day.  Like tomorrow.

Thursday we went to see Jess's school.  It was so great to check out where she spends her days and get an idea of what that's like for her and her students.  We met some of her coworkers and then Lydia and Sophie took turns spinning on a swivel chair and chasing each other around the classroom trying to avoid the chairs that were scattered around.  It was the perfect obstacle course. I love watching them play together and especially can't get enough of the giggles! The school holds staff meetings in Jess's room.  That would have been so intimidating for me, but Jess was putting up a bulletin board while we were there and things were looking fabulous!

After that we headed off to Cannon Beach.  Sigh! We could have spent our entire trip here based on how much fun the girls had last year.  I say girls, but let's be honest.  I mean Jon. ;)  He definitely didn't get enough time at the beach last year so we headed out this year knowing that if all we did was go to the beach our trip would be a success! We loved spending every minute she was able to join us with Jess and understood that Derek had to work during the day and couldn't join in our fun like last year.  The girls thought that Jon was going to work with Derek since that's what he does all day!  And it was a little surprising (or should I say ridiculously awesome!) for them to get to spend all their time with him.  Anyway, we made it to Cannon Beach and pulled out our double BOB. I strapped Mia to me in the bjorn and the girls took turns riding in the stroller and running on the sidewalk.  We found a place to eat and enjoyed our sea food before heading to the beach.  And that is when the beach fun really began!  The shovels and pails were put to good use.  Between that and the water these girls were in heaven.  They'd run from the waves with either Jon or me, loved "almost" getting wet (they were actually pretty soaked after running from some of the waves) and the squeaky noises their feet made when they ran on the wet sand never got old.  They even made sand angels!  Mia and I joined in as much as we could and Jess took turns taking pictures with Jon and me.  Way too soon it was time to go home, but not before finding the Crepe shop and sharing one filled with strawberries, bananas, Nutella and cream.  It took us probably an entire half hour to clean the girls off and realize that we should have brought an extra set of clothes for them to change into after all that sand and water. Tomorrow!  We'd remember to do that tomorrow!!

Once we were back in the car they were out pretty quickly.  They'd played hard, so that was no surprise, and letting them rest before our fun night plans was probably for the best.  Jon and Derek were going to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner so that they could see the Utes play Michigan while we ladies ate at home and then shopped.  Jess made this scrumptious spinach artichoke dip and then this guy came to the door selling vacuums.  Jess is the sweetest!!  I think this guy was sure he was about to make a sale simply because Jess is the epitome of friendly.  She was so nice to him but finally let him know that we were about to head out.  He really wanted to clean something and offered to do our dishes really quick (I'm sure it counted for something if he did) but we told him that we had a sleeping baby and sorry, but no.  Anyway, we did leave pretty quickly after that and arrived at Kohl's shortly.  Lydia and Sophie were really excited to see the stuffed animals and books that they've seen at our local Kohl's at that store as well.  They also really enjoyed running around and hiding in the clothing racks.  We'd been there maybe five minutes when Lydia needed to go to the bathroom, so we rushed to the back of the store and she went.  Not five minutes after we'd returned to Jess, Soph and Mia, Lydia realized she had to go again, so we raced to the back of the store again and she went again.  We returned to shopping when Lyds realized she hadn't finished taking care of business so, once again we found ourselves hustling to the back of the store.  When we exited the restroom for the third time Sophie was there (with Aunt Jess and Mia) requesting to use the potty.  So basically we spent the majority of our girls night out in the restroom.  No matter.  It was still a fun night and an adventure and Jess is a fabulous shopping buddy.  We left with some good finds and when we returned to our home away from home we found out that Utah had defeated Michigan, so Jon especially had had a good night.  Lydia and Sophie asked Aunt Jess for some more paper and crayons and drew some beautiful pictures before watching Jon and Derek play Mario Cart and finally falling asleep.  Lots of rainbows and snowmen.  Two of their specialties.

Friday Jess made this awesome French toast, that once again I inhaled, before we headed off for another, and final, fun filled day at Cannon Beach.  We saw a family that made me feel right at home.  The dad was on his bike with a toddler sitting behind him.  The mom had a baby in a front carrier and there was an older child riding around on his bike not far beyond his parents.  We saw them once we arrived and then again at the beach, and I realized that even though they stuck out there, I'd expect to see a family just like them riding through our neighborhood at home.

The girls got right into playing in the sand.  They chased any bird that was brave enough to come within 30 feet of us.  I'm not sure who was more frightened, Sophie or the birds, despite both Lydia and Sophie chasing them.  Lydia claimed to want to pet them, but I'm pretty sure she would have hightailed it away if any of the birds had given her an opportunity to reach out to them.  Jon made a sweet sand castle that was demolished just after I captured a picture of it; and perhaps part of it was hit hard before then.  It was more of the same glorious day we'd spent there Thursday.  Lots of jumping in the water and running from waves, digging in the sand and people watching while Jess and I chatted.  Mia was content to sleep for the most part, but when she was awake she appeared to enjoy watching her sisters run around.  I must admit, they are incredibly entertaining.  And once again, far too soon, it was time to leave the beach.  Both Jon and I remembered the delicious taffy we enjoyed all the way home last year and for weeks after our return home, so we made a stop at the candy store and bought some.  We'd actually remembered to bring an extra set of clean clothes this time and de-sanded the girls the best we could before helping them change.  I think the ride home was more pleasant for them this time around, but maybe not.  They slept again and were probably so tired that it wouldn't have mattered how wet, dry or sandy they were; they were fast asleep in dreamland.

The girls got to play around in more water when we got back to Jess and Derek's because A. We wanted them relatively clean for the long car ride home the following day, B. Despite our best efforts to rid them of the sand and ocean they were still a bit beachy, and C. They love playing in the water! Have I mentioned that yet?  So this bath time was a win for everyone.  Jon and I worked on packing up as much as we could so that we'd at least have a little bit of a head start the next day.  Jess and I talked long after the girls went to bed which wasn't nearly long enough and I finally forced myself to turn in so that I wouldn't be a complete wreck when it was time to wake up, pack up and head out in the morning.

We woke up at a decent time on Saturday, but still left later than planned.  The week went by much much too quickly and saying goodbye to Aunt Jess and Uncle Derek wasn't very fun.  They were so good to us and staying at their place was the best.  We waved and waved and waved to them and hope to see them soon!  We had better plans for helping Mia enjoy the car ride this time around and found that feeding her immediately once we stopped and then again right before we got back on the road was just what she needed.  She'd sleep really well or just be content enough to look out the window if we did things right.  This worked especially well at meal times.  No matter how hard we tried to make lunch or dinner a quick stop it always took at least an hour.  I don't know how Jon manages to drive these long distances so well.  Especially since the second I'm in the car I seem to be in danger of falling asleep, but I sure appreciate him for it.  We were driving along sometime in the afternoon when Jon opened a taffy and popped it in his mouth.  Lydia, from the back of the van, was suddenly exclaiming, "what is that delicious smell I'm smelling??"  Jon told her it was a taffy.  Her response? "It smells so good!! It really smells amazing!" This might have continued a little bit longer until Jon finally asked, "Lydia, would you like a taffy?"  "YES! YES!!"  Which led Jon to saying that she was being such a girl.  I didn't teach her that.  Totally inherent... The rest of the trip went rather smoothly other than it taking a long long time.  We rolled in after midnight, but we did make it home.

Soph's big regret was not painting her nails with Aunt Jess.  She has mentioned it multiple times since coming home and has talked of returning to Oregon to do just that.  As we were walking through our neighbors backyard one morning to pick Lydia up from preschool she asked me if that was where Jess and Derek lived.  I wish sweetheart.  I wish. Jess, you are officially invited to paint nails with us the next time we're together.  Let us know if you're in. :)  

I asked Lydia what she liked about Oregon.  She replied, "that was fun fun fun.  We drew pictures and pictures and pictures."
Sophie said, "I liked the cheese factory and I liked drawing at Jess and Derek's, sleeping at Jess and Derek's and eating at Jess and Derek's and I liked driving to their house.  And I liked the carousel and I liked the beach."

Not sure I remember going to the Carousel, but aside from that I liked all of those things too!

The 24th at the Aquarium

We were really happy to get Jon back in town before his birthday, and especially after Sophie's stitches incident.  It's really awesome knowing that as long as we live in Utah we'll get to celebrate Jon's birthday with him in whatever way he likes! 

This year we returned to the Living Planet Aquarium and enjoyed seeing the baby penguins we saw advertised on billboards all over Utah.  They weren't so little anymore, but the girls loved watching the older penguins swim under water.  I loved watching them get startled every time a penguin swam in their direction.

Lydia talked and talked and talked of nothing but the sharks as we drove to the Aquarium, but didn't really like them once we got there.  Soph was beyond terrified and was really upset that we spent any time watching them at all.  Jon had gone to get something in the car and because Lydia had been so excited to see the sharks we agreed to  meet there, but once Jon caught up to us we didn't spend another minute with the sharks.

The favorite area by far was the South America section where we walked across a rope bridge a couple of times.  I think the girls could have spent the entire afternoon getting back in line to cross that bridge over and over again.  The birds in there were pretty cool too; some of them looked like birds they'd seen on Rio.  Most of the animals were cool in South America. Just not the snakes.

Before we left to go home we saw this:

 

 

Jon had to get a picture in front of it with his girls.  Well, Lydia and Soph anyway.  They were so tired at this point and Lydia burst into tears almost immediately.  We finally found out that it was because she wanted to be in the picture all by herself, and the teeth were just too much for Sophie.  Lots. Of. Tears.

We drove home so that we could enjoy s'mores and cheesecake (this one was more of a baking disaster than anything else).  Why is it that when you bake for just your own family everything turns out just wonderfully, but if you bake for company it inevitably fails? Am I the only one???  I made Jon cheesecake five years ago and it was beautiful and perfect and we ate it ourselves.  And I didn't take pictures.  I totally should have.  This year there were cracks.  But that's not important.  I covered them up with cream.  And the company was so good that I pretended I didn't care!  It really was so much fun having Jon's parents and the Pynes over. 

We ended the evening with fireworks. The perfect end to a pretty terrific day. The mosquitoes were a little much but the display was awesome and Jon put on a fantastic show. I love watching our girls twirl sparklers around.  They love being a part of the excitement and choosing which firework to hand Dad is a pretty big job. Happy birthday Jon! 38 looks so good on you!! In fact, you don't look a day over 37! ;)

Soph's great fall

 

Summertime is the best.  I wasn't sure how this summer would go with a newborn and Lydia and Sophie wanting to get out so much and be active, but we have incredible neighbors and they've been so good to us, offering to watch the girls and let them swim over at their place or jump on their trampoline.  Anyway, on July 21st it was a glorious day and our neighbors, the Smiths invited Lydia and Sophie over to swim while I tended to Mia. This was an especially welcome invite since Jon was out of town for work.  Changing things up was exactly what we needed.

I walked over to drop them off and stayed for awhile.  The girls were in good hands with their favorite teenage girls (some of them being beloved babysitters. Which reminds me, Lydia once told me to make plans so that Brittany could come over. Thoughtful, isn't she? :)) Anyway, I went home while they swam, snacked and jumped on the tramp.  It was just about time for dinner, so I walked across the street to pick them up only to find out that the girls were having such a great time that they never wanted to come home again. ;) After letting them stay a few more minutes and much persuasion we trekked back across the street for home, excited that Dad would be returning home in a few hours.

We had some trash to throw in the garbage, so while Lyds took the shortcut across the lawn, Soph stuck by my side and once our wrappers were deposited, she started running along the driveway toward our front door.  She's pretty quick, but this time her feet couldn't keep up with her body or something and suddenly she was on the ground.  Her knees landed hard on the driveway, then her chest connected and she slid for a second before her chin made contact with the concrete and stopped her outright (or her chin, that is) while her momentum propelled her body onward a little bit more.  Or as she likes to tell it, "I was running and I fell down and scraped my chest and hit my chin and my body kept going and going and going and going." And to hear her tell it!!  I love her little voice!  Of course in the moment I had no idea that all of that had happened.  I caught up to her and she stood up and cried a little bit.  She kept reaching up to touch her chin and I noticed the blood.  In fact, she left a little trail of blood on the concrete leading up to the front door, a few swipes on the door when she was trying to get inside and then some more drops in the entry. I set her on the bathroom counter prepared to wash her off and then stick a Band-Aid on her chin when I really got a good look.  And that's when I called Jon.  Then I hung up.  I needed a picture to show him.  He couldn't know that she'd need stitches or not unless he could actually see the wound. I wasn't thinking super clearly, but if we did need stitches then I'd need someone to watch Lydia for sure.  I ran outside and bless my next door neighbor, Melanie was outside too.  I waved her over and asked if she could take a look at Soph's chin for me.  I was holding it together pretty well until she confirmed that she needed stitches and Jon called at the same time.  He told me he'd call his mom and see how she could help.  Melanie said she could take Lydia and keep her over there while we went to the Insta-Care. Lydia kept saying how worried she was about Sophie and that she hoped the doctor would take good care of her and that she would get feeling better soon.  She ended up making a get well card for Soph while we were away. 

Grandma and Grandpa Frazier met us at the Insta-Care and held on to Mia while I was with Soph.  It's a good thing too!  She had a hard time at first, but eventually fell asleep, and then slept until we returned home. When we checked in a nurse came over to Sophie and asked her what happened.  She tried her best but clearly didn't want to talk to this lady so I did most of the explaining.  This happened at least two more times and I started feeling a little bit like they were trying to find out if I beat my kids. I know, they're just doing their job. So once we were in the procedural room, one of the nurses cleaned out her wound pretty aggressively it seemed to me and Soph barely even flinched! She numbed her chin at the same time and then we had to let her sit for a few minutes so that she'd be good and numbed before the doctor stitched her up.  I found out that the nurse who cleaned her chin told the doctor that she'd need at least two people holding her down while he stitched her up.  I'm sure that the reason that she thought that was because Sophie is so young, but what she didn't know is that Sophie is incredibly tough.  She was supposed to be wrapped up like a burrito in one of the hospital blankets, but they didn't have one in there, so she had a sheet placed on top of her and I stood next to her to comfort her and help hold her down if needed, alongside another nurse.  Well, she didn't need either of us.  She was so incredibly brave through it all! Admittedly I felt a wee bit squeamish watching the doctor pull on her raw skin while he hooked the stitches in, but Soph just lay there looking at me like I was in the middle of telling her a moderately interesting story.  She was so calm and trusting and patient.  I know I had my share of stitches growing up, but I can't imagine I was ever as brave as this little lady.  We were told to come back in five days to have the stitches removed and she got some stickers and a sucker.  Which, by the looks of it, made it all worth it! She'd later tell anyone who asked about her stitches that she was "brave like Merida."

I love this little girl!  She's super polite when she wants to be, saying "my pleasure" and "no thank you".  She puts her fingers in her mouth if she thinks she's in trouble, or she's nervous or upset.  Basically anytime she's uncomfortable. She loves to play library with Lydia, though she hasn't quite figured out that sending her patron away with the promise that she'll be open "in five minutes" or with the request to "come back tomorrow" might not be a much fun for anyone else as she thinks it is.  She's still our little fashionista and not only wants to pick out what she wears each day, but also which dress Mia will wear.  And yes, it's always a dress.  She also has opinions on my clothes and told me the other day that she liked my shoes when she saw me wearing an old pair she hadn't seen before. One of my favorite outfit combos she's come up with for herself consisted of white tights with pink and purple hearts, her patriotic dress and a cheetah smock trimmed with hot pink.  All so beautiful!!  She loves to give all of us checkups, especially shots.  She says these incredible prayers that make me feel like she knows exactly who she's talking to and that He really is her friend.  One night it was late so I decided to skip scripture reading and go straight to prayers and Sophie prayed "we're thank you for scriptures even though we didn't read them tonight." among other things, and I felt severely chastened and decided to share a spiritual thought afterward while making a mental note to never do that again. Also, this girl has so many treasures!  Oh the treasures!!  If there is any sort of container with an opening, be it cubby, backpack, gift bag or Tupperware (to name a few) she will put her treasures into it. Treasures can be anything: hair bands, play jewelry, blocks, ribbons, you name it.  Generally small things, books included.  It's slightly exasperating and yet so incredibly endearing at the same time.  No wonder she can never find her little Apple Bloom pony. And that might explain why we can't find some of Lydia's favorite little horses either....  She loves Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood and I love hearing her sing the Goodnight song to her little kitten.  "Goodnight. Sleep tight.  Dream dreams as sweet as you." She takes really good care of her animals.  Lately she sings "lead me, guide me, walk beside me, help me find the way!" And I love that my girls sing!! When she wants to talk to Jon, she'll say, "Dad, I wanna tell you something." And then waits to make sure he's listening.  She and Lydia love writing letters to Dad and putting them in the mailbox so he'll be surprised and know just how much they love him. But my favorite thing with her lately is when she goes up to me or Jon and tells us, "I love you" just because. And not just us.  She'll suddenly tell us that she loves Mia and even that she loves Lydia. Sometimes.  I love it when these little ladies are sweet to each other.  I can't believe that six months ago we were worried that she wasn't talking.  It's incredible to me how much she's grown! Just last Sunday we were walking through the church heading to the bathroom so that I could change her diaper before we headed home and I realized that it would take longer to walk to the family bathroom than it would to just use the women's.  I told her we were going the wrong direction, so we stopped, turned around and she said, "Jesus Christ wants us to go the right direction." I'm not sure why hearing her say that meant so much to me, but it did.  I'm sure it had something to do with the way she said it.  And that she's barely two and a half, but more than that I think it was that she really knows what she's talking about.  These little ones!  I just love her (and them!) so much!

Best Father's Day ever!

We were so grateful that Mia held off making her debut until after Uncle Nate returned home from the Netherlands, and thought that anytime after his homecoming would be a welcome time for her to join our family.  Obviously if she'd been born before Nate got home from his mission that would have been fine, but this way we were able to spend lots of time with family for such an exciting event.  The final Blackhurst sibling returning home from his mission.  What a wonderful day! And just in time for Lydia's fourth birthday. Even better.

Well, anytime after that would have been awesome, but if Mia was going to follow in her sisters footsteps, then we could expect her to stay put until much closer to June 20th.  Lydia was two days early.  Sophie was three days early.  So it stood to reason that Mia might be four days early. Perfect. June 16th would be a great day to have a baby.  But June 16th was a Tuesday and both Lydia and Sophie were born on a Sunday, so the 14th would be even better.  Another Sunday baby.  Sounds good to me.  Besides that, I have a newfound respect for mother's of summertime babies and hoped to spend less pregnant days in the suffocating heat.  Not that any of us really get to make that call, but it's amazing how much time can be spent wondering about and hoping for a timely birth date.

As it turned out June 14th came and went.  And then June 16th came and went and Mia showed no sign of being anything but content to stay where she was. On a side note, the 14th brought a rather unexpected event in Sacrament meeting.  Right in the middle of one of our neighbor's talks what appeared to be bright red confetti flew through the air only to land on the floor, our bench, and finally my lap.  Jon was counting attendance and Lydia was sitting on a nearby bench. I was grateful that it was just Sophie and me when the explosion occurred.  I touched the goop and discovered immediately that it would likely stain whatever it came in contact with.  Sophie reached for it before I could stop her and her finger turned bright red. What ensued was chaos. quiet chaos, but chaos none the less.  The brothers who had caused the mess were in and out with paper towels trying to clean it up. My friend looked over and thought Sophie had puked up the bright red something or other, and one of the brothers whispered as quietly as he could that he was going to replace my now stained and ruined dress.  His mother was the speaker and kept calm through it all. By the time we'd cleaned up everything the best we could Jon and I looked like bank robbers and the "stuff" had soaked through to my skin.  We found out that a stress ball was to blame for the horrid display and it turns out that it didn't stain. I'd never have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself.

As each day passed I started getting a little more anxious.  I kept asking Mia if she was okay in there.  I ran three miles on the 13th and couldn't get myself to run the following week.  She was moving, but apparently content to stay put.  On the evening of the 19th we had spicy café rio.  Spicy food seemed to do the trick with Lydia so I was hopeful Mia would respond to it as well.  Nothing happened.  For dinner on the 20th we had spicy chicken.  It was amazing to me to reach Mia's due date and still be very pregnant. Maybe she would be born on the 21st and be birthday buddies with her cousin Milo! That would be lovely but I wasn't getting my hopes up. 

I realize now that I was having very irregular contractions starting on the 19th for sure (maybe even as early as the 18th), but they were so irregular I didn't recognize them as such.  Jon and I watched The Hobbit (maybe the first one...? I wasn't terribly focused on the movie) and went to bed late.  I couldn't sleep so I stayed up reading Harry Potter and at about 1:15 my water broke.  There was no question about it.  I was just relaxing in our bed when suddenly my pajamas were soaked and our sheets as well. I turned to Jon and said, "I'm pretty sure my water broke... yep... I'm sure."  Jon called his mom immediately and we both started running around like a couple of crazies. Yay!  She was actually going to be born on a Sunday.  And not just a Sunday, Father's Day! But I wasn't thinking much about that at the time.  In fact, the Father's Day cards for Jon and Grandpa and Grandpa that the girls and I had made and written in were definitely not on my mind, though at one point I had decided to pack them if we did end up going into labor on Father's Day. Oh well.  We'd be sure to deliver them another day.  I felt pretty tethered because with every step I took more fluids came gushing out and I was having a hard time feeling like I could wander from the bathroom. 

Thankfully Lydia and Sophie had had their backpacks packed for days and days.  Each morning Lydia would come downstairs and ask if Mia was coming and if she and Soph were heading to Grandma and Grandpas.  She and Sophie fell in love with some newer Daniel Tiger episodes where Daniel's mom has a baby and he becomes a big brother to baby Margaret.  The girls would sing the songs and get really excited about their baby sister. I loved seeing their excitement and especially how sweet they were with each other.  Well, she and Sophie would wake up to find Grandma there in the morning and she'd be able to tell them the exciting news.  So their stuff was ready, but Jon and I (considering how much time we'd had with her arriving after her due date) were completely unprepared.  We threw our stuff together, Jon's mom arrived and rushed us out the door, "you don't want to be having her on the freeway!!" and we raced off to McKay Dee hospital.  Jon didn't bring his pajamas, we left the car seat and the lovely newborn outfit I'd picked out for Mia was still folded neatly in her closet where it had been for at least a month now.  Oh, and blankets for her? Nope. I forgot those too.  What were we thinking??! But we were going to meet little Mia.  And soon!  I was sure about that.  She'd be the first morning baby. Let's see.  Sophie's labor was 14 hours, but this time my water broke and don't they come faster with each new baby? We'd be meeting her sometime this morning, I was sure of it. 

We rushed out the door, I was sitting on towels and counting the minutes between contractions so I'd be able to tell the nurse what was going on.  We got to the hospital, parked and hustled to the main entrance.  Locked.  Oh right.  It's 2:00 am.  Again, what were we thinking?? So Jon ran back and got the car while I stood on a corner waiting for him, hoping we'd be where we should be soon.  We drove to the emergency entrance where I was quickly given a wheelchair and asked to please not have my baby in the elevator.  Apparently that had happened there very recently.  Well, we checked in at the front desk, were taken to our room and discovered that I was only dilated to a 2.  Oh boy.  So after making sure that Mia's heart rate was fine Jon and I walked and walked and walked the halls.  My nurse told me she'd check me every half hour or so.  So we walked some more.  When I was checked again I was barely dilated to 2 and a half.  So, we got up and walked some more. More and more and more.  Jon told me all about work projects and that made the time go by pretty quickly. We actually witnessed several women being turned away. That wasn't fun.  My nurse's shift had ended so we had a new nurse (she was amazing! She reminded me of our friend Rani and was just so comfortable to be around) and she was okay to let to me walk longer, so we did.  Closer to an hour and a half.  Maybe two hours at which point I was only at a 3. By this time we were thinking we should have tried to get some sleep instead of spending these middle of the night hours walking, especially since it appeared we would be waiting for much longer than anticipated to meet our little darling. The thought of having Mia on the freeway was completely laughable by now.  My nurse told me that we needed to get me started on Pitocin (it was already 8:00 am and I no longer hoped to have Mia before the afternoon) and I cringed a bit.  Going naturally with Sophie was awesome, but I hadn't forgotten the final three hours or so when I was stuck at a 9 and my doctor recommended a shot of Pitocin to speed things along.  Things intensified so much once it was in my system and I wasn't eager to start that when I was only dilated to a 3 and wanting to go naturally so desperately, but what choice did we have?  Things were not progressing and I was a little concerned about infection at this point since it had been several hours since my water broke, so we started me on Pitocin.  The most difficult part about this was that I was tethered.  I had a five or six foot radius to work with which made walking much more challenging, so I ended up sitting on an exercise ball instead.  I felt like that was helping, but every two hours or so when my nurse checked me I had barely progressed. My doctor came around 2:00 (he'd delivered a baby around midnight and assisted with another delivery and had been alerted that I was in the hospital around 2:00 a.m. when I had checked in.  I can't imagine that he'd gotten much sleep) and I was only at a 6. And barely at that.  Pitocin was increased from 2 to 4 and I was reassured that once most women hit a 7 things typically speed up considerably.  Sigh.  I got this.  No worries.  I can hang in there as long as Mia does.  But it was almost 3:00 and 14 hours of labor.  I was sure Mia's labor wouldn't be longer than Sophie's, but that shouldn't have surprised me.  I'm learning even more so that each baby and labor and delivery is unique and that I should expect to be surprised, but when my doctor came in and found out that I was almost at a 7 he said he was going to call it a 6 and a half.  That way we could keep laboring and not think about alternative means to get Mia here.  He told me that I was still progressing on my own, despite how slow things were going, and that he never wanted to talk to me about C-section, but if my progression were to stop that would likely be the plan, so 6 and a half was what he would record.  Okay, I'll take that. I should mention that during one of my contractions my doctor tried to stretch me a bit to move things along.  Again, thank you.  Anything to expedite the proceedings.  Well, by about 5:00 pm and after being mostly distracted by The Princess Bride, I was thinking that an epidural might not be a bad idea.  I was pretty spent.  Jon has never really understood this determination to deliver naturally (you wouldn't go the dentist and refuse to be numbed, would you?) but he fully supports me in it and knows how much I want that for the baby and for my recovery.  So when I started faltering and weakening and suggesting that maybe an epidural was the way to go he helped me breathe through the contractions and became the best cheerleader I could have hoped for.  The nurse came in and saw me trying to hide my tears.  Instead of upping my Pitocin again maybe we could turn me on my side to use the stirrups to speed things along.  Yes! Absolutely.  Again! anything that might help. Talk about intense! But I kept at it for about a half hour and was praying that the next time my doctor checked me I'd be ready to push.  Or even if I was just at an 8 that would be incredibly comforting. Sometime in the 6 o'clock hour, probably closer to 7:00 my doctor came in checked me again.  I'd decided before the next check that if it was going to be another five hours of intense labor I'd better request an epidural.  I didn't have much of anything left in me.  So, when he checked me and said that he thought I was ready to push I was ecstatic!  He had to wait for one more contraction to verify that, but when he did and confirmed that it was go time I was thrilled! The end was in sight and we were going to meet Mia soon.  Really soon it seemed. So I pushed and she crowned.  And then I pushed again and she was halfway out.  My contraction was almost over and my doctor said, "keep pushing! She's just about here!" And she was! She was crying, Jon cut the cord and then she was on my chest and she was just so beautiful! And it was amazing how I wasn't hurting anymore.  It was shocking to me how cold the room suddenly was.  It was unbearably cold (Jon had been freezing, but had put up with whatever temperature I thought I had needed) and I was shaking and shivering, but it didn't matter.  She was here.  My doctor had remarked that her cord had only been 8 inches long.  Based on the responses he was given, this wasn't common.  Umbilical cords average about 24 inches long, so 8 inches really was remarkable.  My doctor kept telling me how strange my labor had been.  It seemed like a first baby labor, not a third, but seeing the length of the umbilical cord offered an explanation.  Perhaps Mia couldn't be born because she was held so close to everything else and until it could all come together she had to stay put...  We don't actually know why things moved so slowly, but that explanation makes sense to me. She actually didn't tear me up at all, but the afterbirth did.  Barely.  Just a scratch.  So when all was said and done, labor was about 18 and a half hours.  Jon sent a text to family at 7:24 "she's here." She was 6 pounds 12 ounces and 19 inches long.  Born on a Sunday just like her sisters and beautiful.  In fact, she was the most beautiful baby Dr. Stanley had delivered in a very long time. And we couldn't agree more.