The Townsend Family that keeps growing

Curtis and his snowcaving at -15 degrees

2012-01-25T21:13:00.003-09:00

Well Last weekend Curtis and the 12-13 year old boys went Snowcaving in the church parking lot. It has been very cold the last couple of weeks. When the boys went to bed the temp outside was -15 degrees. COOOLLLLDDDD!!!!!!!

But the reason why you dig a snowcave in winter camping is because it is insulated and warmer than just being outside.

Curtis said that he got so hot during the night that he took all of his outdoor gear off and just slept in is pjs. He slept with the other leader and his son. They all slept nice toasty and warm.

These are just a few pictures of Curtis and his snowcave. The second picture is a dad with his son and their snowcave. Curtis helped them dig since they started a little late. I don't think they made it to bed till almost midnight. Lots of digging!!! Oh and I wanted to comment that Curtis is wearing his new$180 North Face Coat that he got at the thrift store for $12 with the tags still on it!!

Sledding Below Zero

2012-01-25T20:58:00.001-09:00

On Saturday my sister Jennifer needed to go shopping so she dropped her kids off at our house. After a couple hours the kids were getting a little crazy and needed to get rid of some extra energy. So I went through all of our snow stuff and out fitted her three kids and our 4 kids and sent them out the door. Curtis also got his gear on and went out side and I took care of the babies. Where it was a little warmer. Inside...

The kids had fun out side and stayed out there for quite some time. Anytime a child came inside I would send them back outside and told them lovely they were not aloud inside.

The fun of cold winter days. At least it is light outside. Our days are getting longer!!! I pick the kids up at the bus stop and it is light. I really can't wait for some good warm sunlight. I really need some Vitamin D!!

Here is our cutie little Canyon. She did really good a lasted the whole time outside. Love the rosie cheeks!

Our Lasagna Night

2012-01-20T19:22:00.003-09:00

Many people think having lasagna is not a big deal but in our family it was a huge deal. Half of my children have not even heard of lasagna because they can not have Gluten or dairy so it is not a very easy task. I saw on a website about a Gluten free dairy free lasagna and thought that I would give it a try.

The top tray is a store bought Lasagna that Curtis got for me when I had Crimson but I can't eat Gluten or Dairy with nursing Crimson so I could not eat it. So I we made something that I can eat. It is a hidden blessing when I am nursing and can not eat certain things because my youngest kids get much better food because I am eating their diet.

And the final product. Curtis liked it much better than his tray. For the substitute of Ricotta I made a Almond Ricotta. Super easy! Then for the cheese they sell a dairy free soy free cheese which actually tastes good. Yum Yum!!!

Brother Saves the Day

2012-01-20T19:01:00.001-09:00

Look way up in the tree what do you see?? A little purple balloon. Cassidy got out of the car today and let go of her balloon and it went up in to the tree. She was kind of sad about it so her AWESOME brother decided he wanted to go get it for her. You see how high up it is??

This is a close up of the balloon.

In this picture you can see Cayden's glove grabbing the balloon. He is one smart kid. He tied the balloon to his glove and threw the glove down with the balloon. That never even crossed my mind. I was thinking how is he going to climb down the tree with the balloon. He is much smarter than I am.

And here he is almost at the bottom of the tree saving the day. It was about 11 degrees outside. What a awesome brother. Cassidy said," I am sure glad I have a brother that loves me to get my balloon." Thank goodness for our only brother!

Happy Birthday Canyon

2012-01-17T18:35:00.002-09:00

Canyon my little baby turned 2. She has been such a blessing in our lives. She makes me so happy. Canyon was such an easy baby, very mild well mannered little girl. Unfortunately she is experiencing a little difficulties with a new baby but she is still is a precious little girl. We really didn't do much for her birthday because it has been a very slow recovery for me after having Crimson. So she got a cake and was happy with that. Curtis just today brought home a gift for her. She is now in speech therapy because her vocabulary is where a 11 month old is. A lady comes to our house once a week and plays with Canyon and is teaching her some signs. With just one visit Canyon has now increased her vocabulary from about 5-6 words to about 8-9 words. We look forward to a road of more communication which will help with her frustration when we have no clue what she is wanting.

We sure do love our sweet Canyon and are grateful she is in our family!!!

Birth Story Part 3

2011-12-19T17:50:00.001-09:00

Our little girl, even before she was completely birthed was making noises. She cried a lot. Once my cord stopped pulsing Cayden was going to cut the cord but was scared that he would hurt the baby so Curtis cut the cord.

After I birthed the placenta I continued to bleed. I was already pretty tired but I sure was getting exhausted. Crimson kept crying so Cassidy took her and was a wonderful help and finally got her to calm down. I went into labor anemic with a pretty low iron storage. As I continued to lay there, having Cassidy hold Crimson I continued to bleed. The midwives were giving me a whole bunch of different herbs to try to get the blood to slow down but I don’t think it was working. I lost about 4 cups of blood after the placenta and continued bleeding for quite a while. Suzie my midwife gave me two shots of Pitocin and then some pill as well to slow down the bleeding. During this whole time Crimson was crying. As she was crying I was starting to have the fear that she was going to be another Catheryn baby who cried all day and all night. I also was so tired from bleeding that I really didn’t want to hold Crimson. Cassidy did such a great job. The midwives would give me the baby but then I would pass her off. I really just wanted to sleep.

Suzie our midwife

Any time I would move I could feel a big amount of blood squirt out. Sorry for the description but squirt is what comes to mind. The bleeding was slowing down that I was told to go the bathroom. When I went to the bathroom 3 large clots of blood came out which after I passed them the bleeding slowed down dramatically. I then got into an herb bath and just sat there for a while. It is so nice just to relax in a warm bath. I soon got back into bed and was able to just rest. The midwives packed up their stuff and went home around 5:30am. They wanted to make sure that my bleeding was under control before leaving me.

We sent the kids all back to bed. Catheryn woke up at some point during all of this and was excited to see the new baby. We were all eager to get to bed so we could get some sleep before Canyon woke up. I don’t think that I ever went to sleep. Curtis’ mom called at 6:30 in the morning to tell us that school was cancelled because of the foot of snow that dumped that night. So she was the first to know that we had a baby!

We called my mom around 9:30 in the morning to tell her that we had a baby and she offered to come get the kids and watch them so Curtis and I could get some much needed rest. I am so grateful for all the wonderful family members and friends that have helped with our children and have brought food.

With so much blood lost I have had a very slow recovery compared to other births. I couldn’t stand up for the first day or so. I would have to crawl to the bathroom or I would feel like I would pass out. A week after the birth I easily tire. It is a hidden blessing to be on bed rest for three days after having a baby because I actually stayed in bed to heal. I didn’t even think to get out of bed for anything besides bathroom breaks. I feel that I have healed much faster because I have been in bed. My amazing husband has really taken over and helped out with the kids. He has the next two weeks off and is such a great help.

All the kids with early in the morning

Crimson is still a crier but is doing better. Last night she was up from midnight till 3 just screaming nothing would soothe her. Her tummy is hurting her and I wish I could make it better. I am taking things out of my diet to see if that helps with her tummy. I hope that we can find out what is bothering her little tummy. She is such a blessing in our lives. I love this little girl so much. It is amazing how you can love someone so much and you are just meeting them. Crimson is such a beautiful baby and we are grateful that she is blessing our home.

Birth story Part 2

2011-12-19T11:34:00.002-09:00

While getting the kids ready for bed the contractions had almost stopped. I was starting to get worried that maybe this baby wasn’t coming or it might come in the middle of the night. If you know me very well I need my sleep and middle of the night really wasn’t an option to me.

To speed things up Curtis and I got our boots, coat and hats on and went walking. We do not live in a flat area at all so it was a little more like hiking. We went up our road, down it and up again. We received a phone call from Stella one of the midwives telling up that Canyon was in her crib crying so we hurried back home and I went and check on Canyon and just brought her down stairs. Canyon hung out with us for a while, while we talked about the game plan. I let the midwives know that it was 10pm and it was already at least an hour past my bed time and I would like things to pick up because I am tired and I don’t want to be up all night. After we talked they checked me and I was at a 7. They gave me some herbs to help intensify the contractions and told me to take a shower in hopes that it would help stimulate the contractions. When I got out of the shower I thought wow I am tired. So I told Curtis that I am just going to take a nap and go from there because this baby might not be coming for a while. I wasn’t feeling any strong contractions the whole time they felt wimpy and I wasn’t sure if they were really doing anything.

So Curtis and I lay down and he falls asleep and I just lay there as finally the contractions pick up in intensity. I remember looking at the clock at it was around 1ish and that is when the contractions started with a little more intensity. They were coming every so often but there were strong enough where I was breathing through them.

At 2:15 they were a lot more intense. We talked about that it was getting close to get the kids up. This part and the time line is a little fuzzy but Cassidy and Cayden were up in our room by 2:30am. Catheryn said that she was too tired and wanted to go back to sleep. We told Cayden to go the bathroom because he missed Canyons birth because he ran downstairs to go the bathroom and by the time he came back Canyon was born. So he hurried off to go the bathroom. I was standing at the end of the bed and felt like I was getting ready to push. As I was barring down during a contractions my water broke. Next contraction I pushed and felt the head crowning. I stated this and they told me to climb up in bed to push the baby out. I thought are you crazy!!! You want me to climb up in bed while I had a head hanging out. It really wasn’t hanging out but it sure felt like it. So with a group effort I managed to climb up in our bed which is at the height of my hip. So it is a tall bed. When I get up in bed I start to push again. When I was pushing I started thinking this really hurts way more this time than the last time I did this. When I was laying on my back I remember asking. .. How many more pushes do you think I have to do. I needed something to work towards because it sure was hurting a whole bunch of a lot!!! Well I didn’t have to push very many more times. I probably only pushed maybe 4 or 5 more times and out comes this baby with her fist on her cheek. That was why it hurt so much more this time. It wasn’t just a head I had to open up for but a little fist as well.

Curtis was going to deliver Our baby but in the heat of the moment he decided to stay and be by me while I was pushing. Cassidy and Cayden were very excited to watch the birth. They stood at the end of the bed and Curtis said that they had pure excitement in their eyes while this little body was coming out.

As this baby lay on my tummy Cassidy and Cayden come over to the side of bed and Cassidy got to tell us if it was a boy or girl. First she says it’s a boy!! Then she moves the umbilicord and says no it’s a girl. And the face of Caydens just drops and his eyes get watery. He was so hoping for a brother. Later we find out that he went to the closet and cried. It broke my heart to see his face.

The birth story Part 1

2011-12-18T18:37:00.002-09:00

Crimson Rose Estella Townsend’s Birth Story

Well it has taken me a while to get down stairs to the computer to write this all down and it might take a lot longer than one sitting. But we have a beautiful baby girl that has blessed our home.

I guess I will start Sunday morning. I woke up just exhausted, which I wasn’t really sure why because it is the first night in a while that I slept all night long. I just wasn’t feeling well. I got up and ready for church. Curtis headed out early because he was giving someone a ride to church. I got the kids breakfast but I was feeling so tired and nauseous that I couldn’t eat my bowl of cereal. So we loaded up and went to church. I was having a hard time keeping my eyes open and just kept my head on Curtis’ shoulder. After sacrament meeting I took the two youngest to nursery and stayed in there and just sat on the floor. 3^rd hour I taught my lesson to the young women and then we all came home. I was so tired that I went and took a nap and Curtis hung out with the kids. I took a pretty long nap waking up at 4ish. I went down stairs and cooked up a steak. I have been struggling with very low iron and was told to be a meat eater. So I was trying. I eat half but just could stomach the rest.

After I ate I just laid on the couch and the kids were acting out the birth of Jesus. Every so often I would ask Cassidy what time was it. She would tell me and then I would ask again. I was starting to feel contractions and was just timing them. Curtis thought that I was just getting impatient with the kids and their play and was trying to speed it up. In my past labors when it starts it starts and I do not have much time before the baby comes. This time it felt different. They were not strong but they were consistent. I then call my midwife just to tell her but also tell her not to hurry because they weren’t strong. When I told Curtis that Suzie was on her way we started picking up the house and getting our bedroom ready. I started crying because I wasn’t ready to have this baby. It wasn’t supposed to come till at least the 14^th of December and its due date was the 6^th. I had it all planned out.

Suzie arrived by 6pm.

When Suzie my midwife got to our home she checked me and I was at 4cm. The contractions still were not strong and I was worried that they were setting everything up and I wasn’t even sure if I was going to have a baby because it didn’t feel real.

It was getting close to bed time so we got the kids all ready for bed. I read “A Dress for Ellen” to the kids and then we prayed and got them to bed.

40 weeks and counting.......

2011-12-06T19:32:00.002-09:00

Today is my official due date December 6th. I am not planning on any little one to arrive at least a week from now if not longer. We are kind of hoping the baby comes around the 15th. That would be almost 10 days late which I am okay with that, that is normal for them to be that late. All my babies come late so I expect it. I would not be prepared in any way if this baby came early or on time.
We are hoping that this little one comes later because Curtis would be able to maximize his time off with the holidays. He could possibly be home for a whole 3 weeks. Ahh that would be awesome to have him home that much and also the kids would love to have him home the whole time they are off for Christmas break.

Here is a picture of me yesterday with all of the kiddo's. I had this really cute idea of a picture but it is hard to get the cooperation of all the kids to stay still and it was right before bed. So at least I have a picture of me at 40 weeks.

Cassidy's Baptism

2011-11-01T09:12:00.001-08:00

Cassidy just recently got baptised. In our church the youth do not get baptised until they are 8. We do not believe that babies are born with sin. So we wait until we are 8. We believe that that is a good age for children to start being accountable for their own actions and that they get to choose to be baptized.

Cassidy got baptized with another girl in our ward. It was nice to have it combined with another family. Curtis' mom gave a talk on baptism. Curtis' mom also made Cassidy's dress! I bought the dress at Salvation Army. It was a wedding dress for 25 cents that she took and made it to such a beautiful dress for Cassidy. I couldn't believe how it turned out. Way better than I could picture.

Cassidy really enjoyed her baptism. After she was baptised she was very happy but quite. I was trying hard not to tear up! It was just a wonderful feeling that was present. We are grateful for all the wonderful leaders and friends that help us raise our children in the pathway of our Savior Jesus Christ! We are also grateful that choices our children are making and the way they are choosing to live their lives.

The Grump Monster.....ME

2011-10-29T10:07:00.005-08:00

Most of my posts are about what my family is doing these days. But for some reason I just want to write how I am feeling.

Well Life right now is grumpy and I am having a hard time with it. I don't think I have ever felt so grumpy in my life! Every little thing bugs me and I just hide it and try to not let it bother me because I know that I am just going crazy verses it is something that really matters. Talking to my midwife yesterday I was expressing how I am feeling and she just looked at me and said maybe you are feeling like a normal person and acting as such. She told me that it is okay to be grumpy and not bottle it up all the time. I just feel like it is so much of an effort to hide how I am feeling. My amazing husband has been so good. I just let him know that I am grumpy and I am not mad at him in any way I just need to be grumpy right now because I can be any other way. As of now I let him know that this grumpy feelings probably is going to be around until this baby comes out!

I feel like some Grump Monster has taken over my body and I just want him out!!! I want to be the happy, positive person that I am and not this monster! I feel like I can hide it from my children for the most part, but my poor husband gets to listen to me at night cry about how grumpy I feel and how I have mean thoughts and I just can't get rid of them. So he just listens and loves me and then I feel better. But then we go through all the same thing in two or three more days. I really do have an amazingly patient husband.

Anyway, so if you have seen me lately and I might not be like my self and I might have in any way been impatient or grump. I apologize. Hopefully I will kick this monster in about 7 weeks or so and hopefully some other monster doesn't take over after I have this baby!

Cassidy's Birthday Party!!

2011-10-18T20:39:00.004-08:00

Last Saturday was Cassidy's Birthday party. It ended up being a lot of fun. Cassidy told me that it was her best birthday party every. She helped getting the table ready and did come shopping with me and told me." Mom I am working really hard for this party. Other birthday parties I just had you do everything but I like working so hard for my party." When she said this I thought Wow she is really growing up!

When the girls got to the party Cassidy gave each girl an apron that I bought and then sewed the first letter of their names on. It was a great party favor but super cute. I loved that all the girls matched Cassidy had the only white apron and I sewed little flowers on hers to add some color and just because.

This is the table before the girls got to it. Cassidy did a great job setting the table and adding some class with the flowers and each girls seat. We had to have the party at my parents house because they have the house and the table for 10 girls. All the girls did a bunch of cutting cookies out and by the time they were done cutting the first batch of cooked cookies were done. It was perfect timing. I had the frosting in the decorating bags but next time, I would not do that. The girls were not very good and making sure the frosting wasn't coming out of the top. By the end we emptied the bags into bowls and had the girls use knives. Much easier. Less messy and they use less frosting.

Here are the girls in actions.
We only had Ice cream at the end. The girls had plenty of cookies and dough. It was nice that I didn't need to make a cake! Candles in ice cream is just as good!
And here is the party crowd. They had so much fun and so did I. I was so sore the next day and got to rest a lot because of my amazing husband. Curtis was even able to attend the party. He left before all the girls did because he went camping with the boy scouts but it sure was nice to have him there and then my sister in law Bethany was the biggest help. She was awesome to be there. Well that is my little summery of the party!

Happy Birthday Cassidy!!

2011-10-10T12:41:00.004-08:00

Happy Birthday to my sweet 8 year old daughter Cassidy Eileen Townsend. Today I have been thinking a lot about the last 8 years with my daughter. It feels like 8 year ago was soo long ago but it doesn't seem long enough to have my little girl turning 8. So I thought that I would recount the last 8 years with her.

Curtis and I got married December 14, 2002. A month later we conceived Cassidy. This was not in the plans as I was going to school full time and playing on the UAA Volleyball team. It was a very hard pregnancy. I was very sick and also struggling emotionally not being able to play volleyball. I know that I made many people not very happy with me that I was pregnant and not playing the next season. How ever during the time it was hard but now that I look back I find it a huge blessing to take a year off of playing and letting my body heal. My body was so damaged from play volleyball and it needed a break.

Well October came and the doctor checked me at my appointment and told me I was at 4 cm and asked if I wanted to be induced because he was going to be out of town on my due date. So we scheduled an induction a 8 days before Cassidy's due date. All of my babies come at least a week past their due dates so I believe that is why Cassidy had problems when she was born because she just wasn't ready. It took 8 hours of labor for our little one to come. We started have complications during labor I don't really remember what but I know that they got the room ready for a C- section. Luckily everything worked out that she came vaginally. She was born at 3:52pm. Weighing 7ibs and 19 3/4 inches long She came out purple and was grunting to keep her lungs open so they took her to the NICU. This is a picture of Cassidy soon after she came out before the took her.

She quickly got better and I got to hold my sweet newborn baby. I remember sitting there in the NICU room and just start bawling. She was so little and precious and I was so glad that she was okay! We didn't have a name picked out for her yet. We didn't find out if she was a girl or boy. If she was a boy I wanted to name her Cayden. But if she was a girl I was not sure. So Cassidy just came to my mind and we both liked it. Curtis that night took Cassidy for a walk in the hospital and read her some book I don't remember what novel he chose. He also used the computer there and looked up names and told me in the morning that he really like Eileen. So that is how she got her name.

This is Cassidy 2 days old. She was so little. She was a pretty good baby. We had a rough start with nursing. She didn't really have the sucking reflex. My mom worked with her trying to get her to suck and finally she did but I was so sore from nursing after the first month that I resorted to formula. When she was almost 3 months old we got in a car accident on Christmas day and my back was hurt pretty bad. So I was not able to pick her up and hold her so that is when she went completely to the bottle. When Cassidy was 10 months old I went back to play collegiate volleyball. Cassidy and Curtis were my number one fans. They even wrote an article about me and another mom on the team and our kids. So this picture was in the ADN. Going back to play volleyball was really hard on me. My body was in much better shape but not any better injury wise. I was in so much pain playing that it was not something I could do again. The first month of me going back was when Curtis and I decided that I was only going to play that one year and then we were going to move to Juneau. I am glad that I played that last year. It was good for me to realize that it was no something I wanted to continue doing to my body and I missed a lot of Cassidy's firsts because I was gone.

This is Cassidy a couple days before her first birthday. We were taking a shower together and I accidentally knocked a shaving cream can off its shelf and it hit Cassidy on the head and she had to get stitches. Luckily that is something my dad can help with so we went to his office and he sewed her up.

All of Cassidy's first 5.5 years of life I was in school. Pursuing my college degree. I was a very busy mom and had lots of homework and papers to write. This is my children in our house in Juneau making a spice cake. They had gotten into all of the spices and dumped them out in the bowl. I was busy upstairs writing a paper on the computer. When I was busy with my homework was when the kids found fun things to do to entertain themselves. I remember I just laughed and got the camera took pictures!!

Cassidy is always quick with a smile. And she is always into her own fashion. She loves to dress up and loves her unique look. This was back in the day when she let me pick out her clothing.
And this is her picking out her clothing. I love the way she dresses. It speaks she has a lot of confidence in her self and I have just learned to encourage it instead of hindering it.

Cassidy was able to be at the birth of our daughter Catheryn. Cassidy was so loving and excited to have a little sister. She even told me that I did a good job! Cassidy named Catheryn. We gave the kids some names that we were thinking about and Cassidy kept calling the baby Catheryn before she was even out. That was also before we knew if it was a boy or girl. Cassidy is such a great big sister. It is hard that she is the oldest and has the most responsibility but she is so good at it.

Here is Cassidy this summer. She loves getting her picture taken and posing. She is a cutie and I sure do love her. We are so grateful that she is in our family. I couldn't imagine not having her in my life. She has taught me so much and as the first child she has had so much of her parents learning how to be parents with her. She defiantly has it harder than her younger siblings but she is the perfect child to be our first. I couldn't ask for anyone better! Happy Birthday to my sweet girl! We love you very much and so grateful our Heavenly Father sent you to our family.

Rapids Camp Yurt, Eagle River Valley

2011-09-22T23:24:00.002-08:00

Last weekend, I took Cayden and Catheryn on a backpacking trip.

Catheryn is carrying some socks and underwear, a sweater and extra pants. I want her to get used to carrying a backpack when we go on trips. As she gets older and stronger, we will add more weight to her pack.

We hiked about 3 miles into to a yurt to camp overnight. It was great. It got cold at night though, probably in the low 40s. The kids did great.

What a view from our campsite.

This is us Saturday morning after breakfast and before we start to head back out to the car.

I am so pleased with how well the kids did hiking with their packs. They were great traveling companions. I love going out with them.

Carolyn, Cassidy and Canyon hiked in on Saturday morning and surprised us as we were hiking out.

Cassidy is pretending to eat bear scat. This scat was only 10 minutes old. Carolyn passed it coming in and it wasn't there. As we were hiking out, we found it.

Talkeetna Cabin

2011-09-22T23:04:00.001-08:00

Two weekends ago, I took the three older children to Eldon and Beverly's cabin in Talkeetna. It was a two hour drive to the trailhead and a two hour ride on an ATV trail. Becca, Shawn and their son came. Eldon and Beverly. We also brough our exchange student Martina. She is from Czech Republic.

The trail in and out is very muddy. Several times ATVs got stuck. Fortunately we had winches to pull us out. It was a great time. The kids all did great. Martina and our kids were great workers.

Me and the kids slept in tents. We spent two nights there.

These are fresh bear tracks that we saw.

We did some chores around the property. You can see some of the work we did was to add a porch to the front of their cabin.

OUr Arizona Leg of the trip

2011-08-29T09:50:00.002-08:00

Well sadly I didn't get very many pictures while we were in Arizona. After our trip to Utah we had a 5 day layover in Arizona were we were able to see both sides of my grandparents. We went up to my grandparent Larsons cabin and had such a good time there. It rained so incredibly hard and lighting and thunder. It was awesome!! The kids loved the storm. In Alaska we do not get Lightning and thunder, maybe once every 10 years it seems. So we were able to see lightning almost every night that we were in Arizona. Cayden loved it!! So we had a lot of fun at the cabin stayed at Granna Joy's house and they flooded the yard so the kids could play in the water. They had more fun in the mud.

We drove back to Phoenix and had just two day with My grandparent DeKay's. We went to a splash park, played in my Aunts pool and most importantly we went to LAST CHANCE!!! When we were there all the women shoes were half off! So I got Dansko clogs that fit me for a a wonderful $15. Yes that is correct I got $120 shoes for only $15. I even got the kids bog boots for $10. And a pair of Leather black Dansko boots originally $200 for $20. What a great shopping day for me. Curtis wasn't very excited when I got home with bags of shoes. He was wondering how we were going to get all of them home. So instead of all carry ons like we planned we did check one box of shoes. I think I enjoy shoes way to much. Why do women like shoes?? I don't know but I do. Oh yeah I did get my mom hand painted danksos again for $15. Those are more like $165. Ahhh I love shopping and getting great deals!! We enjoyed our time with all of our family members but only wish we had more time.

We love you all

OUr trip to Utah

2011-08-29T09:33:00.001-08:00

We went to Utah the last part of July and I have not yet put pictures up about out trip. So I put together a Collage of our trip. We had so much that we wanted to do but just didn't have the time. With Curtis' mom and dad's side of the family there trying to get to see everyone was just not possible. So we did see quite a bit of you but not everyone we were hoping for. We did get a couple hours one day that we were able to go to the Salt Lake City Temple Square. It was great taking the kids there but of course it was close to nap time, very hot so we didn't get to stay very long. Canyon cried most of our time on Temple square. She was just done with being outside and wanted to go lay in her bed and take a nap. Trying to work around nap time on a trip really cuts your days down quite a bit. The kids did pretty well on our trip but they are defiantly happier at home in their own beds, own things and the right temperature. Us Alaskans aren't use to playing outside in the heat!

All in a day of Play!

2011-08-18T08:52:00.005-08:00

Last Friday we had a very busy fun day. It was a busy day of playing. I know I posted these pictures on Facebook but I thought I would write about our great day as well. Friday morning I had a midwife appointment. But, my midwife had the time wrong from the time that was written down. So I came home from the appointment because she didn't show up. So at 10am I thought we are all up and ready so lets go do something fun. Cayden has been wanting to hike Mile Hi for quite a while so we decided do that. So we hiked up, which they all did very good. Catheryn was pretty worn out once we got to the saddle so Martina our exchange student from the Czech Republic and the two older kids continued to the top while I stayed with Catheryn and Canyon and we just played. I was very please with my kids that they still wanted to keep going even though they were really tired.

This is Catheryn playing while the other kids kept hiking.

There they are way up there!!

I am not really sure which person this is and if it is on the way up or down. But the kids did great and we had a great time hiking. I sure was tired! I decided that my knee just really isn't strong enough to hold a child on my back and going down hill. It was a lot of work for my knee as well as me. So I was really glad I was just caring Canyon. Martina really helped with Catheryn on the way down. She held her hand and carried her on some parts! Martina was such a trooper!

After we got back Curtis called and asked if we wanted to come into town and go sand dune jumping. I was pretty tired but the kids were still wanting to go. So we packed up and met him at work and headed on our way. We had a blast. On our way back we got a little lost in The park and ended up added a 40 minute hike as well. It takes about 5 mintues from the car to the dune but we thought the trail along the coast on the back of the dune would lead us back to the cars. But we find out they do after a while but it is quite a while. Martina was awesome and helped carry Catheryn. She was pretty spent and Curtis and me switched off with Canyon.
For some reason I can't space these pictures out. But the top picture is Curtis and Martina jumping and the bottom picture is of Curtis and me . It is always so hard to get a picture of just me and him. This was our attempt!

And the Sand Dune Jumping. It is so fun to get out and be with the kids and jump away. My friend Sabrina would take me here. We always had so much fun and I am glad that I can have that joy and fun with my children!!

Catheryn has a belly button comfort thing. She is always walking around holding her belly button. It is really cute! I just hope she out grows it by the time she is older or she will be showing her stomach off all of the time. This is me just copying Catheryn.

This is me at 24 weeks pregnant. It is my fifth pregnancy but this is the biggest I have been. Curtis was thinking that I am as big now than I was when I was 40 weeks along with my pregnancy. He was not saying this in any way to be mean but I am bigger but I do get quite a mound my 40 weeks.

So I love the beauty that surrounds us! What a beautiful day to go and be by the ocean and the mountains in the back ground with the sun. We really live in a wondrous place.

Family Hike up Baldy

2011-07-17T20:34:00.001-08:00

On yet another beautiful Alaska Day we took the family out hiking up Baldy which is the mountain my parents live on. The kids all did awesome. Even Catheryn had really no problems going up. She was really happy and excited. She started slowing down when we were almost up to the top but it is a hard hike for any adult yet alone for a 3 year old.

This is the family all taking a snack break and to enjoy the beautiful place that we live. It really was an amazing day. We haven't had to many sunny days this summer so we are trying to take advantage of them. And I am trying to make it up to my kids for laying on the couch for the last 16 weeks being sick. So now that I am feeling much better we are getting out lots!!!

All of us MADE IT. This is us at the top of Mount Baldy!

Beautiful Catheryn looking at the flowers on the hike down. I love this picture! I think it is very cute of her. Do you like her style of dress. She is wearing a Orange shirt, Striped pants and a slip over her clothes. My kids are very into their own styles!

Sand Dune Jumping

2011-07-17T20:27:00.001-08:00

A while ago on a beautiful Sunny Day we went sand Dune Jumping in Anchorage. It was so much fun. The kids and the parents had a blast! This is on the little hike to the dune

Curtis showing off his moves. It was a perfect day for it because it was not windy at all.

All the kids ran and jumped. Canyon really had a lot of fun but sadly I didn't get to many pictures of her going down. Curtis would have to carry her up every time so I think Curtis got the most exercise having to carry a child up the mound of sand.

Cayden just could not stop!!! He loved the running on jumping. It was so fun to go here and have a fun family activity that all of us could partake. I only showed my moves once. I wasn't sure if sand dune jumping was the safest thing for a pregnant one.

Another Munchkin cooking

2011-07-13T13:32:00.003-08:00

Well I guess it is about time to make the announcement that we will be having another baby in December. Our due date is December 6th but my babies always come late so we are thinking the little one will come later in the month. Again we are going for the home birthing experience. My biggest worry is that Curtis works a hour from our home and he might not make it to the birth if he already isn't home.

We are excited that we are having another one. We told the kids back in May and gave them all a gift that they had to guess what they all had to do. We even gave our exchange student the pregnancy test. But they were all clueless. Our exchange student thought that the test was some type of paint brush or something so I kindly told her that she probably doesn't want to play around with it since it was peed on. They are all excited but Cayden is really worried it will yet be another girl. He said that he will be really mad at the baby if it is a girl so I told him just to be mad at daddy since it was his seed that made the choice of it being a girl or boy. We do not find out the sex of the baby that we have and I am working on Cayden that he will love the baby if it is a girl or boy.

I have been really, really sick the beginning of this pregnancy and am glad to say that I am finally not running to the toilet and am able to leave my house and I CAN EAT FOOD NOW. I really didn't leave my house for the first 16 weeks. So I am trying to make it up to my kids now. They were so good to me while I was sick in bed or sick on the couch. We even had the relief society offer to bring meals to us while I was sick. It truly touched my heart the thoughtfulness of the sisters to even offer. We are very blessed. It is not an easy feet to cook for my children with all of their allergies. Again it was just a very thoughtful gesture.

Right now, we are trying to be very busy enjoying the summer before school starts. We leave for Utah next week and will be there for 10 days and stop off in Arizona for 5 days and head home and then school starts in two weeks!!

We had our ultrasound last week and we were told that this is a very active baby and we had a full hour long ultrasound because it was moving so much it was hard to get all the right measurements to make sure baby is healthy and has a healthy environment.

So we are excited to add to our wonderful family in December.

Sunday Best

2011-06-29T12:20:00.002-08:00

It is always hard to remember to take pictures on Sunday but here are a couple of pictures we have taken this summer.

It is hard to get the kids to all look at the camera and stand together when there is no adult in the picture.

Curtis and Canyon after school. The took a drive after church because I went home early feeling sick so they went to the river and took so pictures.

Canyon NOT happy about me putting her on the steps trying to get a picture of her. She was wanting to go out side.

This is when Curtis took the kids for a drive after church.

Saying Good Bye to Cantus

2011-06-29T11:56:00.003-08:00

We really enjoyed having Cantus live with us for a year. I think her biggest adjustment to our family was living with 4 kids. She has never been around little kids so it was a big change. And I do not have quite kids!!! She was very loved. Cassidy cried the day we took Cantus to the airport. She views Cantus as her big sister that needs to get a boyfriend:) Cassidy was very pushy about the boyfriend thing. We told Cantus it is best to wait to date!

Curtis posing for the good bye pictures!! Cayden slept over at my parents house the night before so he was not able to go to the airport with us.

Carolyn Posing with Cantus and the kids.

I stayed in the car while Curtis and the kids helped Cantus with her luggage and to check in and get her tickets. We miss Cantus but we are excited for her to go to College in Ohio in August!!

Visiting Portage& Byran Glacier

2011-06-29T11:37:00.005-08:00

In May we went for a hike up to Byran Glacier it was a lot of fun. You don't actually hike to the glacier it is more just closer. THe kids had a lot of fun. It was one of our last outings with Cantus before she left us to go back to China. I am sad to notice I didn't get any pictures of her:(

This is Catheryn in front of Portage Lake. It was a very cold windy day so we didn't stay to long at the lake. I have not been there since 2002 and was saddened to see the Glacier. It is so small it doesn't even touch the water any more. It is crazy how much it has melted!

Cayden wanted to look at the glacier but you have to put money in them to look through them

At the end of our hike. We couldn't go any farther because of the snow. Can you belive it is the end of May in these pictures!!

At the Glacier Visitor Center Cassidy found the perfect boyfriend!!!!

Kids that know how to work

2011-06-29T10:34:00.003-08:00

Cayden has learned that he LOVES to mow the lawn. He does a great job doing it as well. However he has also learned that he can start the mower by himself so that makes me a little nervous but as long as I am aware that he is mowing and can watch him he will mow the lawn twice a day if I let him.Cayden gets a pretty good work out mowing this yard. It is small but the lawn mower isn't so just wait a couple of years and he will be able to push it with much more ease.

My mother in law, Linda came over for a week and helped deep clean our house. She got the kids scrubbing the carpet, vacumming, cleaning thier rooms. I was in HEAVEN!!! My kids were working with out having to be asked. It was a fight for the kids to Vacumm. She also brought over her Oreck Which the kids love. Because they can actually use it. It weighs nothing.

Even Canyon our 18 month loves to push it.

Like I said the Oreck weighs nothing. Catheryn who is three can Vacumm the stairs. I'm telling you the kids LOVE it!

Cayden scrubbing all of the stains out of the carpet. We moved in and the carpet was pretty stained but NOT ANY MORE! My kids are such great helpers. I am so blessed to have them in my life.

To watch or not to watch that is the question

2011-06-16T20:06:00.002-08:00

Our computer is out of commision so I have not posted in quite a while since I don't have any pictures to put up. But I have been thinking a lot about television watching.
We do not have any television in our home it is a choice. We do have a tv that has a DVD player that we can watch movies on but my kids get maybe an hour a week or every other week of movie watching. It is a very big treat if they get to watch a movie.

I have gotten quite hostile responses from other parents that we dont want our kids watching movies or playing computer or video games. I want them to play outside or with thier friends. My kids are happier, healthier kids because we do not have them sitting in front of the tv. I was told the stats of how much kids many hours a day kids are watching tv and it SHOCKED me!!!

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF):
two-thirds of infants and toddlers watch a screen an average of 2 hours a day
kids under age 6 watch an average of about 2 hours of screen media a day, primarily TV and videos or DVDs
kids and teens 8 to 18 years spend nearly 4 hours a day in front of a TV screen and almost 2 additional hours on the computer (outside of schoolwork) and playing video games

It really suprised me about the 8-18 year olds, 4 hours of tv + 2 hours of computer. I think kids still spend time with friends don't they? It does make me sad when I am out and about and I see some girls hanging out and they are all on their phones texting. PUT THE PHONES AWAY AND SOCIALIZE!! Anyways phones are a whole other story.

My parents let us watch tv growning up on Saturday mornings. That's it, except if we watched a family movie Friday night. My kids don't even know what Saturday morning cartoons are. Belive me there are some mornings I think why do my kids wake me up at 7 on the weekends and then remind my self that when I was little I was busy watching tv. I don't think I turned out bad for watching maybe 3 hours a week of television. I think I am okay. So why am I so admit that my kids do not partake of the dessert of tv watching? Honestly I really think my kids are happier and I never really have to deal with my kids asking to watch a movie. I suprise them or they have to get it as a reward to watch it. It is a gift not a privledge. So yes I am a little upity about it but I hope that it will make them stronger when they are older. They will not be exposed so much to sex, violence, crude and bad language as little kids.
Again I am not saying that watching movies or tv is bad it is just something we chose to do. My husband watch tv everyday after school and I think he turned out pretty darn good. It is just something that we do.

A while ago a quote was going around on facebook,
"When I was a kid I didn't have a Nintendo DS, XBox, or Wii. I played outside and had a curfew, it was the street lights! My toys were the outside world. If I didn't eat what my mom made me, I didn't eat. I didn't dare tell my parents "no" or dare to talk back. Life wasn't hard, it was life..and I survived. Re-post if you liked the way you were raised...and drank water out of the garden hose ."

Honestly, our kids can still have this life we just have to make it more attractive than zoning out in front of a television.

Love Hate Relationship

2011-04-28T09:44:00.001-08:00

This is our house in Juneau. We bought it September 2006. However, we moved back to Anchorage June 2007. So we didn't live in it very long and when we bought the house it was at the peak of the housing market. We have not been able to sell it and have been trying off and on since 2007. We have even had closing dates and they have fallen through. So yet again we are going to keep this house and rent it. I think we have lost a lot of money trying to sell it and we do just fine renting it. The sellers market is not that great in Juneau and the value of homes have gone down BUT we have no problems renting it. There are just not very many home available to rent.

Anyway, this home was our first home that we owned. I still very much love it because I have such great memories in this house. I love the back yard, the play set and Thunder Mountain that is in the background. I also just miss Juneau. It is such a beautiful fun place to live. It is a five minute drive to the glacier, lots of perfect hikes for kids and the best people live there. Such a great ward we were in which we made great friends.

I am sure if we tried to live in this house I wouldn't like it so much. It would not accommodate 4 kids to well. I just remember it being the best house ever but I am blinded by our first home that we owned and we were such a young family with such great memories.

Spring Time Snowmachining

2011-03-22T21:24:00.003-08:00

Spring time, long sunny days, a new snowfall during the week, and we decided it was time for our first annual DeKay family snowmachine trip. Left to right; Keith Bundy with passenger Curtis who is taking this photo. Jennifer Bundy with Joyce in front and Rachel in back. Carolyn with Canyon on her back and Cantus behind, Cayden is between them on the green sled. Eldon, Beverly and Cassidy on the black machine, Catheryn and Thomas in the sled behind. On the far right is Robert with Winnie. This is on the north fork of the Eagle River which is accessible only 2 minutes away from our house.

Here is Cassidy driving all by herself on a Yamaha Bravo.

Here is Cayden giving Carolyn a ride on grandpa Townsend's machine. He lets us use his machine since he moved out of state. Thanks dad.

Canyon went for a ride with Papa. Very little reaction from her. Internally she is all smiles.

Carolyn is taking this picture. Canyon was on a front pack and Cayden was driving them around. Not visible in this photo is Curtis and Catheryn on one machine and Robert on another racing ahead. Alaska is a great place to live.

Catheryn the seamstress

2011-03-22T20:12:00.002-08:00

During Spring Break and Curtis was gone out of town I let the kids sew. I was very impressed with all the kids. I am going to do a couple of posts so you can see pictures of each child sewing. And yes this is my Bernina sewing machine and I LOVE it. It is heaven compared to my Brother.

I very proud with Catheryn. She really enjoyed it and was very careful to keep her fingers away from the needle. I was sewing last August and had the needle go through my finger. So I think that scared the kids enough to be very cautious.

I look at these pictures and see how big Catheryn is getting. She is such a great helper with Canyon and is not the child that gives me gray hair anymore. It is another child now.

Pure enjoyment on her face. I love it. I can put her on the machine and let her go. What a big girl. 3 and sewing. She really wants to make a bag like Cayden now I just need to make the time. I am glad my kids enjoy sewing because I sure do.

Cassidy sewing.

2011-03-22T20:03:00.002-08:00

Here is Cassidy sewing. She had a cross stitch she got for her birthday that we never got out. So this is her working on it. The sun shines in my room so nicely during the day I love to hang out in there to soak up all of the warmth.

Happy smiley girl sewing and sun bathing.

Sewing during Spring Break

2011-03-22T20:00:00.006-08:00

Cayden made his own bag all by him self. This is Cayden concentrating on sewing a straight seam for his bag.

Cayden sewing the strap for the bag

I still cant get over how well he did. He was quite the sewer. I love this kid!

Carolyn Returns

2011-02-23T00:26:00.000-09:00

Carolyn went to California last week for some training as a local coordinator for CIEE. She helps to place international students in host families to build bridges of understanding. While there she visited my sister Tressa. Tressa, thank you for hosting Carolyn and showing her a good time. It was fun to have time with just the children. I enjoyed my time with them, just father and children. I am happy to have my wife return. She is a wonderful part of our family. She is a blessed part of me. I love you babe.

The sun was bright, and the temperature was just right for a day playing in the snow. We paused long enough to take this photo. We spent several hours outside playing in the snow. Some of us lasted longer than others. We even convinced Cantus to come outside and play with us. She is our exchange student from China and not used to the colder temperatures of Alaska.
We love the wooded landscape of our lot. We love the trees that provide homes for birds and ground mammals. The birds were playing above us as we were playing below.

Here I am with my lovely wife. Her skin color is so beautiful after some time in the California sun. Our house and lot is southern facing and higher up on the mountain so we get good sun exposure.

Our youngest one was dressed warm enough that she was content to sit on the snow and eat handfuls of the white crystaline ice. I took her sliding down the hill and she didn't object to that. She objected when her brother smashed a handful of snow in her face and she wouldn't be consoled till she was taken inside. We all came inside for some freshly baked wheat-free banana muffins and bran muffins. We live a good life.

Climbing up Baldy with my Dad

2011-01-16T18:59:00.002-09:00

Friday I went climbing with my dad. He had some crampons that he made straps for and they worked really well. Normally when I have gone climbing with my dad I would just wear my boots and climb up the rock face but it is much easier climbing up the icy snow with the crampons and ice axe. Before the crampons that he has required quite a bit of strapping on and the crampons falling off after 20 steps. So he did a great job making these new straps. The crampons didn't fall of once!!!

Me climbing straight up the mountain. The pictures really don't show how steep it really is but it is a great climb. My dad must be getting older because he actually didn't go straight up with out stopping. I like to take a certain amount of steps then stop, more steps the break. He is more the steady hiker. Anyways it was great getting out with him.

Me at the top of Baldy with the sun shining and clear skies. Supposedly it was about 5 degrees but it didn't feel cold at all with the sun shining.

My dad at the top sporting his hat that Grandma DeKay made. She made everyone hats and our kids love them. Cayden and Cassidy wear their hats to school everyday. Thanks Grandma!

And this is the scariest part about climbing. We slide down the mountain and use the Ice Ax as the break. My dad has no problem going down but I really have to talk my self in going. I do not like doing it, it scares me to death. I worry about going to fast and not being able to stop and mangling my body on branches and rocks and leaving my children with out a mother to care for them. But I am a worrier. My dad is patient with me a waits while I SlOWly make it down. It is nice having the crampons for more spikes to dig into the ice. Again I am a wimp when it comes to anything extreme. As you can see in the picture it is steep and you can see my dad dragging the ice ax in the snow as he is shooting down.

Cookie Tree with Grandma Chica

2011-01-16T18:55:00.000-09:00

Grandma Chica (Curtis' mom) came over before Christmas and made a cookie tree with the kids. They really enjoyed making it with her as well and the time they were able to spend with Grandma.

Catheryn and Cayden licking the frosting. Catheryn did not get to eat anything with the tree but the frosting was dairy, gluten free so she got a lot of licking in.

And here is the bunch making the tree. We really enjoyed having Grandma over. She spends her Christmas break in Utah so it was nice to be able to see her before she left for the break.

Happy Birthday Canyon

2011-01-16T18:44:00.001-09:00

Well our little baby turned 1. It amazes me how fast time flyes. I do have to say this Christmas was a little better than last Christmas since my due date was Christmas time. She came two weeks late which I am glad that her birthday doesn't seem like it is close to Christmas time. Our little Canyon has been such a blessing in our lives. She is so easy. I didn't know babies like her even exsisted. I love her little smile, her patience with her siblings and everyone just loves her. Canyon has taken quite the liking to Cantus our exchange student. It is so nice to have Canyon

being played with all of the time by Cantus.

Cantus even offered to take Canyon back to China with her but not any of the other kids.

January 9th was her first birthday. I made a Velvet Cake for her. She liked it but I have had much better tasting gluten free cakes before. We also made Coconut Milk Ice Cream. It was yummy. Thanks to my parents for bringing the coconut milk.

Catheryn really enjoyed doing bunny ears behind Canyon.

And here is our perfect little angle. We are so glad that she came into our family. I couldn't imagine my life with out her. She brings so much joy and love to our family.

Happy Birthday Canyon Lily!

A Real Live One.

2010-12-05T20:41:00.000-09:00

We did it. We got our Christmas Tree this year. We went and cut a live one down. The whole family went tromping through the snow to find the perfect one. We sawed it down, dragged it out of the woods and we strapped it on top of the Subie. It was fun to decorate it with lights and ornaments made by our children in years past. Cassidy was quite the task master keeping everyone focused on decorating it. Easily visible in this photo is Cantus, Catheryn and Cassidy. Not quite so easily recognizable is Cayden hiding behind the tree. Can you find him?

Daddy and Catheryn.

GF Snickerdoodles

2010-12-05T20:36:00.000-09:00

Carolyn made some cookies tonight that our whole family could eat. In fact, the whole family did eat them. Here they are in all their glory. They are delicious enough to even be presented to the baby Jesus. Gluten Free, dairy free, and egg free snickerdoodles.

Cassidy ate them and enjoyed them.

Canyon crumbled them up and then ate them.

Catheryn even ate them.

Carolyn makes the effort often to bake things that Cathery and Canyon are able to eat. Dissapointingly though, they don't usually like the results. This time however they ate them up. These are a hit. Good job Carolyn.

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-12-05T20:31:00.000-09:00

We had a great Thanksgiving this year. My father came up for a visit. On Thanksgiving day, Carolyn made pizza dough and while it rose we went for a hike to the North Fork of Eagle River. That is the body of water you see behind us in the family picture. Canyon is with us too, she is just hiding behind her daddy. She didn't want her photo taken at this time.

Here is Grandpa Townsend with his grandson Cayden. It was good to have my father come up.

Here is a nice picture of Cassidy admiring the beautiful new snow around us.

Canyon finally agreed to a photo. After our hike we returned home to finish decorating our pizzas with mushrooms, artichoke hearts, kalamato olives, broccoli, green peppers, romas. The choice of cheese was from dairy or rice cheese depending on what your body could handle. We then sat down in front of the TV and watched a holiday movie. It was a great time.

We went up to the DeKay house for dessert later in the afternoon. Eldon, my father, and I climbed Baldy Mtn. That was a great time.

Canyon, age 11 months

2010-12-05T20:22:00.000-09:00

Here is our precious little Canyon. In one month she will be a whole year old. She is modeling the hat that her grandpa Townsend gave her. She is a marvelous child to have in our family. She is quick to smile. She points to people when she wants their attention. If she is on the ground and wants to be picked up, she will start flapping her arms like a bird trying to take flight. You had better pick her up or she will let you know of her unhappiness. She is patient with her siblings. She is very observant. She likes to watch what is going on around her. She has become quite the good crawler. She now is pulling herself up in her crib and she can pull herself up against the couch. She will be walking before long. She is such a joy to have in our home. Her brother calls her "funny bunny." She kids all enjoy her. Her parents enjoy her. I could go on and on about this little one.

We love you Canyon.

Bathroom Remodeling Party

2010-12-05T20:13:00.000-09:00

You all missed out on the awesome party in the bathroom. I missed out too. (This is Curtis writing.) One of the bathrooms in our house had previously been wallpapered. Sometime in the past that wallpaper had been painted over. It has started to peel. Of course this causes Carolyn to lose sleep at night and to not enjoy going into the bathroom. So she has tackled the remodeling of it with the help of our children. Cantus has even pitched in and worked hard.

Yes those are food spatulas being employed in the stripping of the wallpaper. Don't worry they will be cleaned and you can all feel safe coming to our house for dinner still.

The mirror is foggy because it was most effective to have hot water coming out of the shower head to loosen the paper.

For comparison, on the left the paper has been removed. On the right the paper is still in place. Just you wait till this is all done.

What do you think????

2010-11-14T19:43:00.001-09:00

Well here is Curtis with his beard. He shaved it off this week and let me tell you he looks really young with out facial hair. I forgot how young he looked. Defiantly not 33 years old.

Well he also wanted to try out what it looked like with a mustache. I would have to be the first one to say YUCK! I think he looks a little scary with it on and he enjoyed tormenting us all that he was going to keep it.

I told him maybe if we were in the 70's it might go but right now. All I can say is I am glad he shaved the whole thing off. It is either beard or no beard. Nothing in between. But you are welcome to make your own judgements. And of course I say all of this in complete love for my husband just not the thing on his lip.

Cassidy is reading!!!

2010-11-14T19:37:00.001-09:00

We are so excited that Cassidy is quite the reader. She enjoys it and is pretty good at it. Last year she really wasn't that interested in it and we found out last spring that Cassidy has no periphial vision. So she has been going to vision therapy twice a week and has made drastic improvements. She was showing lots of signs of being dyslexic but it really was just her vision. So her teacher told us that she would have never guessed that Cassidy has ever had stuggles so it is excited to see that the therapy is working.

She comes home from school and is assigned readings. So she reads to the kids while I make dinner which is really nice and Catheryn loves it.

Cassidy with Canyon. Cassidy is such a great big sister it is so nice to see the compasion and love she has for her younger sisters. She is excited though to have her own room this summer when our exchange student leaves so she wont have Catheryn getting into all of her stuff.

Canyon has been sick this weekend so we have been trying to keep her hydrated. So Catheryn is helping feed Canyon a bottle. She doesn't get one very often since she still is nursing but the older kids like to feel like they are helping out.

Halloween

2010-11-14T19:28:00.001-09:00

Well it is a little late but I thought that I would post about our Halloween. This year Halloween was on Sunday so instead of trick or treating on Sunday our church put to gether a carnavial and the kids went trick or treating to all of the class rooms and got candy. It actually was really nice for the kids to wear their costumes with out there snow suit and coat!! Cayden is in the corner and he was Charley Brown.

Here is Catheryn as little red riding hood and her daddy the big bad wolf.

I dressed up as the best mom ever! And Canyon was a little poodle. Or maybe I was the dog walker.

Here is Catberyn with some rabbit teeth. She got the teeth trick or treating and thought they were pretty cool. To bad I kept finding them around the house so the garbage man has them now.

Cinnimon Rolls for Catheryn and Canyon

2010-10-21T07:22:00.001-08:00

So I made some gluten, dairy free Cinnamon rolls. Yummy, Yummy were they delicious. They actually weren't even that hard. Catheryn took a bite and thought that was good enough. I go through all this effort to make her something and then she isn't that excited about it. Curtis and I ate most of them. Actually really it was mostly me.

I got a new cook book from the library and absolutely LOVE it. It is called

Allergen-Free Baker's Handbook.

So if you need a cookbook that is GF, DF, egg free this is the bakers cookbook for you. The things I have made have turned out. It is my new cooking bible. Canyon has loved the muffins I have made. It is so nice to be able to make something for them that they can eat. Allergies are just hard on a kid when every one around you can eat anything they want. So with thanksgiving coming up I now have recipes for pies and breads that they can have.

Pumpkin Carving

2010-10-21T07:14:00.001-08:00

Yes it is that time of year to carve the pumpkins. We had a lot of fun doing it. Curtis and I carved the pumpkins and the kids helped scrape them out. They thought it was pretty yucky to get their hands all slimy.

Cassidy's arm in the pumpkin. These pumpkins are huge!

The kids cleaning out the pumpkins

Our family picture. Cantus took pictures and enjoyed watching us carve them. I don't think she was to interested in getting her hands slimy. She did help pick the seeds out and Curtis toasted them.

Beach Lake Jamboree

2010-10-03T09:02:00.002-08:00

This week was the Beach Lake Jamboree. All the kids had a lot of fun. It is a running race that a local elementary school puts on. This year they had 900 kids pre-register, that is 300 more than last year. The K-1 grade did a .6 mile run. We walked the trail before they ran it and it was a lot of up hill. I was very impressed how well all the children did. There were some really amazing runners. The K-1 boys ran first. Cayden wore not very good shoes. I told him to wear his running shoes but he thought he would go much fast in his heely shoes. How ever they did not make him go any faster. After he was done with the race he told me," Mom, I should of worn my other shoes, these make my feet hurt." Oh how that made me feel good. It was nice that he admitted he was silly to wear those shoes.

Here is Cayden coming in towards the finish line.

Yeah Cayden!!!! You are almost there.

The K-1st grade girls were right after the boys. I love these pictures that I was able to get of them starting. I love how excited they all are. Look at the tongues and happy faces.

Here is Cassidy, I love the smile on her face. Pure enjoyment!!

Daddy cheering Cassidy on. Cayden in the back ground taking a drink from his Gatorade that everyone got when they finished.

The Happy finishers. !!!

And the metals!!

September- Fall

2010-09-27T06:58:00.005-08:00

The other day Catheryn tried to nurse Canyon. Canyon was on the ground crying so Catheryn puts her on her lap pulls up her dress and tried to nurse Canyon. Obviously Canyon wanted nothing to do with it.

This is Canyon trying to push off from CatherynCatheryn gives up and puts her on the ground while she is looking at me for help.

Catheryn gives her a clean diaper to play with and....

So much better. Canyon is happy playing with a diaper.

Canyon is really into feeding her self. I mostly feed her so it is not so messy but she has so much fun playing with her food and feeding her self so she got to play with spaghetti.

My mother in law works at a local High School. The high school had a carnival. The kids had so much fun. It was nice to spend the evening with her and the kids were able to get their faces painted. This shot is Cayden in the morning so he did slobber a little bit of it off. His is a dinosaur and Caydens mouth is the dinosaurs mouth.

Here are the princess girls. Catheryns was so cute with the outfit that she was wearing. Cantus took pictures that I need to get and post later. This is right before bed. We let them wear it to school the next day.

I thought that I would get some pictures of Canyon and Catheryn during the day. It is so nice to have time with just the two of them. I feel like my life is so easy with just two kids. I think last time I had just two kids at home I was going to school full time. So to have two kids at home and have no place I have to be everyday is wonderful. I get to enjoy my children and love it. I feel like my life is so blessed. I love being a mom and a wife. I just feel like life is so easy right now. But I am sure it wont last for long so I am counting my blessings.

Catheryn can now ride a tri bike. It is fun to have her out side biking along with the other kids. I tried to get her to ride a two wheel bike but she is definatly not ready. These pictures were taken last week. It snowed yesterday and is in the low 30s, So it is winter time.
The two sisters playing together. I just cant get over how blessed I am for such an amazing family. I thank my Heavenly Father for the family I have. They bless my life each and every day.

Cantus our new sister from China

2010-09-12T21:08:00.003-08:00

Cantus came to our home from China on the first of September. My cousin asked if I would be interested in hosting an exchange student and I told her no but my husband same back and said,"why not." So he told me he thinks we should do so we did it. We are glad that we decided to go with the exchange program.

A funny story about her first day. I worry about the first impression I gave her.

We picked her up at the airport. Catheryn, Canyon and I. She was pretty tired as she flew straight from China to Alaska. We pick up her luggage which were big bags. She will be staying with us till May so she had to bring her goods. So... we get her bags and go down the elevator and walk down the hall and we end up in the car rental building. I was thinking "how did we end up here?" So we go up the stairs thinking the top of the stairs led out to the garage. Yes it led to a garage. The car rental garage. WRONG GARAGE. I ask an attendant there how do we get to the parking garage. He tells me to go back out through the car rental building, walk along the sidewalk, pass the train depot and it will take me to the parking garage. However, the sidewalk stops at the train depot. So I turn around and just tell her we will go behind the train depot, walk along the road and walk into the entrance of the garage. During all of this she has her big purse, her violin and her very large luggage. I have Catheryn, Canyon and another large luggage of hers. What a little work out. So finally we get into the garage, walk across the whole garage, get into the elevator go up to the fourth floor and finally get to our car. Welcome to American Cantus. Your host mother is a dummy and can not figure out how to get from the airport to the car garage.

Hatchers Pass Again

2010-09-12T17:36:00.004-08:00

Saturday we went to Hatchers Pass again. This time to meet up with a friend and to pick blueberries. We had a lot of fun. Traversed a creek, carried the kids across the creek, found some monster blueberries, traversed again across the creek and Cassidy, Cantus and I all fell it. It was colder than cold. It was a good experience for Cantus to realize what kind of family she will be living with till MAY.
This is Cantus and Catheryn. Cantus is our exchange student from China. We really enjoy having her in our family. She speaks English really well and is adjusting to a family with 4 little kids. She comes from a family of her parents and her. So I think living with kids is more a culture shock than anything else. She said that she loves the kids but I am sure Catheryn's screaming will get old very quickly.

The colors were so beautiful there. I love the beauty that surrounds us. We live in such a beautiful state. I will have to admit I was getting really grumpy this summer when we had no sun and it rained every day. We are having great weather now but I just wish it was a little warmer and summer. Trying to see how high I can throw Canyon with out dropping her. Not really, but she just loves to be thrown up in the air.

I love this picture of Canyon's face. She is a very even tempered baby. So really never cries but also doesn't laugh too much either so it is fun to get a picture of her with a big smile.

Canyon and her daddy. We met up with a friend Erin and her sister Amiee. It was nice seeing them. Erin lives in Washington and caught a military hop up to Alaska.

Sleeping Beauty and Happy Canyon

2010-08-30T09:34:00.002-08:00

This is a picture of me right after I woke up from my three hour nap yesterday. I woke up at 7:30pm walked around the house and found all the kids in bed sleeping and my husband and Canyon were missing. I looked everywhere so I figured Curtis might have taken Canyon for a walk since it wasn't raining. He came back from his walk and took a picture of me as I came out side to see them. Sadly I was still so tired I could only stay awake till 9pm and then went back to sleep. I was so tired. I am glad I was able to sleep and woke up ready for the morning this morning. I watch two kids in the morning at 6:30am so it is nice to have a good night sleep.

Here are some pictures of Canyon when they got back from their walk. Yes she does have a good size head on her but she is still as cute as can be.

The coastal Trail and my sleeping beauties

2010-08-30T09:25:00.001-08:00

So I went biking on the coastal trail with another friend from my old ward. It was a lot of fun but a lot of work. It was nice to go with Kandra because I had to keep up with her. This is my first time biking this summer. Sadly summer is over now. I think it was just hard to go biking with all four kids with them in the van and the trailer and their bikes. So it has been kind of enjoyable having them in school because I feel like I am getting out so much more.

I love this picture. They are so cute sleeping on each other and Catheryn's face is in her Pirate Bootys. Which she loves.

It was such a nice bike ride and I think we decided when went about 10-11 miles.

Hike Up Hatchers Pass

2010-08-30T07:10:00.002-08:00

Becca, my sister has been up here for the last month and we went hiking up Hatchers Pass. It was so much fun and beautiful. It has been a very rainy summer so it was great getting out AND..... I only had two kids with me to take hiking. It was great.

Here is Becca hiking up the hill. Yes it really was the steep. She was carrying Remi (her baby) and our lunches in the backpack and I was carrying Canyon on my back and Catheryn on my front. It was quite the workout to get to the top. After the steep part Catheryn walked the rest. She did a great job.

Here is Becca taking a breather and looking at the beauty that surrounded us. There pictures do not do the Pass justice.

Catheryn taking a little break. At this point I think she was telling me she was wanting to go home. It is great what some sugar incentives can do to a child.

We thought this rocked looked really neat. How it hung over. You can see the road in the distance and that is the road we came up on and that is where are car is.

Another shot of the rock and Becca, Remi and Catheryn. I took pictures of Becca and she took pictures of me. So, Becca I forgot to get the pictures from you before you left.

I love the colors up there. This rock was covered in these red leaves. I would love to go back up there but I don't know if we are ever going to have a nice sunny day again before it snows.

Becca and Catheryn on the same rock as above just a different angle.

This is Catheryn happy that we are taking a photo shoot break. She loves getting her picture taken.

I guess this picture might be out of order but this is the part that we hiked. We came straight up the side of the mountain and then hiked up to a little lake that was not there. We covered a good amount of area with three little kids in tow.

The first day of school

2010-08-30T07:05:00.001-08:00

Cayden is now in Kindergarten. He is really enjoying his class. We recently moved so they go to Ravenwood. Cassidy is now in 1st grade. She changed schools and loves her new school. They get to ride the bus to and from school. Cayden has always been obsessed with buses. When he was younger and could barely talk he could say bus. When he would be screaming and throwing a fit I would say lets go find a bus. In Juneau we lived close the road that went to the glacier and and the tourist buses would go by. So we would walk to the road and just watch the many buses go by. So he now has his dream to finally be on a bus.

Cayden also has a cousin in his kindergarten class. It is crazy for me to think that they could be in the same class. Never growing up with cousins it is crazy to think they could even be in the same class. I guess Cayden doesn't really play to much with his cousin at recess but his sister does.

Cassidy loves to play with her cousin Winnie at Recess. She also really likes her teacher and has been doing a really good job reading. They are assigned 20 minutes of reading everyday and she has started to carry books around that she can read. Dick and Jane books. It is so fun to watch her grow the the excitement to learn

Sunday Family Pictures

2010-08-15T21:32:00.001-08:00

On our way home today we stopped by North Fork to take some family pictures. It wasn't the easiest with the timer and the camera on the car. Curtis was panicking that the camera was going to fall off the car and break. He was having a hard time trusting my ability to balance the camera. He just remembers once that it fell off a rock. However, no worries the camera survived and we still get beautiful pictures from. I did learn my lesson and am better and balancing it.

I think the first picture is our best. Only wish the younger two were looking at the camera and Cayden a little closer to the family. It was fun taking the pictures and they did great even though it was past their bed time.

Sisterly Love

2010-08-15T20:58:00.001-08:00

Poor little Cayden had his front tooth knocked out while biking. He some how wiped out and smashed his face on the ground. We had to go up to my dads house and get his stitched up. First we had to drop of a friend and then take the bumpy drive up the mountain to go see the fix it Papa. He only ended up with 3 stitches and did pretty good after he was numbed up. This picture just breaks my heart reminding me how much pain he was in. While laying on the kitchen Island getting ready to be sewn up.

The next morning his very compasionate sister made him breakfast in bed. She cut up some apples and made corn tortilla wraps. His mouth was swollen and really sore so it hurt him to eat it but he ate a bit because he felt so special.

It was so wonderful to watch the service that Cassidy provided for Cayden. It really made me feel so much love for my children watching them show love to each other. What a blessing in my life these children are, and great examples of pure love.

The other happy little sisters watching as Cayden ate his breakfast.

How 2 Becomes 6

2010-07-24T22:22:00.000-08:00

In 2002, it was just the two of us. Newly married and starting out on a journey. Much like the Matanuska river on whose banks we are sitting in this photo. The river has stretches of calm water, as well as turbulent rapids. It travels through wide open braided chanels and through tight rock canyons. Our marriage has had a little of all of that. But it is still going on, making its way to the sea, or in our case, the Celestial Kingdom. Of course a river withot rapids is not as exciting. So we are glad for the rocks that create interest.

Along our journey we picked up four others to join us as we float down this river called life. Welcome aboard all. Hope this journey is long.

C is for Canoeing

2010-07-24T22:07:00.000-08:00

I love canoeing. I especially love doing it with my children. Here are Cayden and Catheryn, my shipmates. Cassidy and her mother don't enjoy canoeing, and Canyon is not ready for it yet. Cayden does pretty good holding a paddle. Here you see him in good form.

My dad purchased this canoe when I was about 10 years old. He has moved away from Alaska and so he lets me keep it at my house. I get to use it now whenever I want. Thanks dad. I hope to pass on my love of being on water to my children.

Catheryn does good sitting on the boat. She doesn't try to stand up and touch the water like she has in the past.

This is the view of Bonnie Lake where we went paddling. It is near mile 83 on the Glenn Highway. It is a bit of a challenge to get the canoe down near the lake. Thankfully a nice fellow who had just been fishing helped me carry it down.

The kids especially enjoyed Lily pads. Cayden was excited because his sister's middle name is Lily. (Canyon Lily) Driving to this lake, we also crossed Canyon Creek. The kids got a kick out of that.

Time with Grandma Chica

2010-07-24T21:58:00.000-08:00

Grandma Chica went camping with us a few weekends ago. It was good to have her come along. The kids enjoyed time with Grandma, and she enjoyed herself as well. Here she is with her grandkids.

We spent time sitting in the sun on the banks of the Matanuska River. She brought her dog Chica with her too.

Here is a rare moment when Catheryn is sitting down. Notice her dirty hands. The kids had fun playing in the silt created by the large river of ice known as the Matanuska Glacier.

Here I am with my 'sister' Chica and my mother. We are both smart to wear sun protection to keep our face young and unwrinkled. It is debatable who is wearing the best looking hat. Canyon is in a pack on my back. You can see her right leg clothed in red.

Bridges to my heart

2010-07-24T21:47:00.000-08:00

Our family went camping recently to our favorite campground, King Mountain. Saturday morning our daughter Catheryn awoke at 5:30 am. She didn't go back to sleep. Her daddy took her for a drive so that her mother could sleep. This is what we did for the morning.

We were able to see Castle Mountain bathed in morning sunlight. Castle Mt. is pure rock with very little vegetation on it. The slopes of the mountain are steep and it does look like a castle. At various altitudes on the visible face there are what appears to be knights standing guard.

We came upon this old wooden bridge. It seems that this was once used to cross Chickaloon River but a newer steel bridge has been installed. Sentimental folks decided to keep this as a reminder of days past. It sits along the road near the place where it once was used. Now it is an interesting photo opportunity.

Doesn't Catheryn look so cute in her red pajamas with her baby in its blanket? I thought this was an interesting study in bright colors amidst aged graying wood.

A closeup of Catheryn with her large beautiful eyes, and her pretty smile. This morning we built bridges to each other's hearts. I love Catheryn.

Pepper Peak Pilgrimage

2010-07-05T22:43:00.000-08:00

Shawn and I hiked up Pepper Peak this summer. They had come up for Jonathon and Lauren's wedding. In the background is Eklutna Lake. Sam the dog came with us.

Here is our tent site. We had sunny weather the whole weekend.

Here I am on the saddle to the east of East Twin Peaks. From here we continued on the ridge towards Pepper Peak.

From the summit of Pepper, Eklutna Lake isn't visible. We hiked down the south ridge back to our campsite and found this great vantage point. Bold is visible in the background to my right, and behind that is Bashful.

We have moved

2010-07-05T22:23:00.000-08:00

If you notice, the roof line of this house looks like a barn. That is called a gambrel roof. Now our children will be able to say that they were raised in a barn.

Here is Cassidy and Cayden. Cayden is trying to throw himself off of the balcony. The railings allow for this which is disconcerting to the parents.

We have just returned from church and tried taking a family photo. Catheryn is not looking at the camera but lovingly at her dad as usual. If you would like our new address, just ask. We live on Eagle River Road closer to the nature center. I am scoping out a hike starting from our back door up Mt. Significant.

King Mountain July 2-3 2010

2010-07-05T22:10:00.004-08:00

Our first campout with our pop up this summer. Carolyn and I finally installed the new receiver hitch on our van on Thursday. We left Friday morning and drove to King Mountain campground which is east of Palmer on the Matanuska River near Chickaloon. I had taken the children their last year and loved the place. It is my new favorite campground. Only an hour from our house and near a lake. As you can see, we brought a canoe. The Sienna towed the trailer just fine. The handling and braking wasn't too affected, and the wiring worked.

We cooked outside which worked great. The bugs were non existent. It helps that the wind was continuous and strong. The kids brought their bikes and enjoyed that. We brought the soccer ball since that is my new interest. Anybody watching the World Cup?

Here we are enjoying lunch on Saturday. It had rained all night but had stopped by the morning.

We went canoeing at Long Lake, about 10 miles away from the campground. I took Catheryn and Cayden out. Catheryn did much better in the canoe this time. Last time I took her out she freaked and tried to abandon ship. We went along the shore and picked up trash floating in the water. Cayden is getting much better at paddling the boat.

We returned home Saturday night so that we could attend church the next day.

Borscht Night

2010-06-06T12:00:00.001-08:00

Well here is the Ukrainian Borscht cook, and doesn't he look good in his dress attire. Curtis lived in the Ukraine for 2 years and ate Borscht quite often. It is a beat soup. It actually was quite tasty.

Cassidy loved it. She had several helpings.

Chowing down..

Cayden doesn't like beets but after I blended it all up he thought it was quite tasty. I will have to admit. I think it tastes much better blended than chunky.
We have lots of beets planted in our garden so soon we will be having borscht quite regularly.

A hike to a waterfall

2010-06-04T20:55:00.001-08:00

Bethany , her kids and my family went on a short hike to a waterfall. It is about a 15 minute hike but not easy. It is not a trail that Catheryn can walk on her own. I had Catheryn piggy backing and Canyon on my front.

Catheryn taking a little break to pose for the camera

Bethany and the kids looking at the falls.

My cute little family. I rarely ever get pictures with me in them so it was nice of Bethany to offer to take a picture of us. And a special thanks to Hannah for carrying my camera in her pack. It was getting in the way around my neck.

Looking our Sunday Best

2010-06-04T20:45:00.002-08:00

While we were waiting at church for Curtis and Cassidy to come out so we could go home, I got the camera out and took some pictures of the kids. It was such a beautiful day.

I love this picture of Cayden he looks so handsome.

Helping out with Canyon so I could get a picture of her also

My Happy Place

2010-05-13T21:01:00.001-08:00

So I absolutely love spring when everything is turning green. These are the plants that we started a while ago. A previous post has pictures of us planting and now here are the plants. Every morning I come to this table and look how much they have grown over night. I get on such a natural high with these plants. I just planted some in bigger containers so they can stretch out their roots and flourish.

Here are some squash. That is just replanted in bigger containers.

Here is the same plant I replanted a week ago. They have grown quite a bit faster in bigger pots. The other day when I was replanting them I was telling Curtis how much happier these plants are going to be. I put a lot of love in to these plants and I am glad that they are growning so well. I will have to post some pictures of the garden box I built and put in the yard. I can't wait to get these little guys in the ground. I just am going to be a little ticked off if some hungry moose comes along and eats them.

Our Backpacking Trip

2010-05-13T20:48:00.001-08:00

Last week we went backpacking to Rapids Camp Yurt. It was so much fun. Our kids did such a great job. Cassidy and Cayden had their own packs and carried their own gear. Catheryn hiked the whole way with no pack We thought that she was going to be in the stroller most of the way but refused to be in it. So it was nice for her to walk, it made the stroller much lighter. It was 1.7 miles in. The trail still had quite a bit of snow on it in certain areas but again the kids were amazing.

Here is Cassidy being crazy. She had a great time until we started hiking back and then she realized we took her out of school. We did a Thursday night camp out because the yurt is already booked for most of the summer on the weekends. She started crying saying that she was going to miss recess. I guess hiking doesn't count.

When you see this picture you think, What is he wearing. Yes Curtis is wearing a skirt. That is what I call it but in technical terms he is wearing a hiking kilt. He is very happy with it and I am glad. When we were dating he wore a kilt and I was so embarrassed I got him not to wear it. Now I have a lot more confidence in my self and don't care what he wears. If he likes it go for it!!!!

Here are Cass and Cayden on the trail reading the signs were to go. Canyon did great. No crying, slept really well and was just a happy baby. It makes me so excited to be able to do these things with our kids and that our older two can hike and carry their own gear. LOVE IT

The Patch and Prick Allergy Test

2010-05-13T20:31:00.002-08:00

So as you can see here, this is Canyons allergy patch test. Each of the little white circles have food on them. It is taped on the back on Monday removed on Wednesday and read on Thursday. All the little purple dots under the patch is where she was pricked. The prick test is more for anaphylactic possibilities. The patch is non anaphylactic allergies. Both tests test for the same foods. So Canyon was negative to all prick tests but positive to quite a few of the patch.

So this is what Canyon's back looked like Wednesday night. She already has a skin rash all over but you can see where she really reacted to some of the foods.

Here is a close up of the reaction.

So her list of allergies that she tested positive to are:
dairy, egg, wheat, barley, rye, oat, soy and peanut.

Since I am nursing I will be taking all of these things out of my diet and hopefully it will help with her body rash. My other kids have not had a problem with body rashes, but very fussy and screaming. Canyon does do her share of crying when I have dairy. I took dairy out of my diet when she was two days old thinking it was bothering her and it made a big difference. Every once in a while I will go and eat something with dairy and then Canyon is vomiting and screaming, so not worth it. It is easy for me to think..... if I eat this it will cause pain to my child.
I feel really okay with what she tested positive to. It really isn't that different than what I did with Catheryn. I just am happy to know.

Many people think I can be overwhelmed with my children and their allergy issues but it is part of our lives. I have been dealing with food allergies with my children for almost 4 years. It is not hard at all. It is just a way of life. Yes we don't buy pre made food we eat fresh fruit and veggies and very healthy food. My children have no problem eating a meal with all veggies. Cooking dinner may take longer at times and some days I just look at my kitchen thinking what can I cook tonight. But I think every mother has days like that.

I just thought that I would add a picture of our dinner the other night. It was so goood. It had lots of different veggies and the kids loved it. Then I made whole wheat french bread. Which I can not eat any more but I am sure I will find some gluten free french bread I can make

An email from my husband today

2010-04-26T14:31:00.003-08:00

Remember, I love you more than life itself.

Remember, you make me smile every day.

Remember, most people only dream of having a marriage like us.

Remember, we chase our dreams together and catch them.

Remember, little things cannot hold us back.

Remember, we are not tied to anything or anyone but ourselves and our
children.

Remember, we are still at the beginning of our journey.

Remember, I am totally in love with you.

My husband is so amazing. I am so lucky to be married to him. For some reason for the last 2 months I have been on an emotional roller coaster. I have been thinking that no body really likes me and that I am just plan ol' loser. He sent this email to me this morning just because.

I hurt my foot 2 months ago and I have a hard time taking it easy. So I was in a boot for a while and gave it up and now my foot just constantly hurts but nothing like it did in the beginning. A very manageable hurt. But spring and summer is coming and I want to do all this hiking, biking and getting out. I went running a little on Saturday and it didn't hurt at all but then that night it was throbbing.

Besides my foot we have had a house full of sick kids off and on. Croup. So to say the least I haven't had much sleep and rest.

My husband has been very supportive and loving of his crazy wife. I know it hasn't been easy for him but he has been a great shoulder to cry on. In the beginning of our marriage he just couldn't understand what my problem would be and would tell me just to get over it. He was very naive to what I as a woman needed. However, he as well as me have grown up a lot and understand each others needs and wants which really makes married life much less bumpy.

He is so good to me and constantly making me happy. I am so in love with him. I couldn't imagine my life with out him.

I love you Curtis!!!

In with the New out with the Old

2010-04-18T13:35:00.003-08:00

We are proud new owners of a 2005 Toyota Sienna AWD. We love this van. I have been wanting one for about 2 years. Yes I am not a mini van type of person but they are soooo nice with kids. There is a button to push to open and close the sliding door. Two bucket seats in the middle row which means Catheryn has no one to pick on. So I don't have crying her and crying older children. These cars do not come up very often up here. No one likes to sell them because they like them so much. So a lady posted at 7:30 pm and I called her at 9pm. I was the first to call and we got the car. This picture is taken off the internet and not our picture as you can tell with the back ground. We have no green right now.

Here is what we were driving 2005 Ford Freestyle. I do love this car as well. It was good to us. FWD and could make it up to my parents house almost every time. Which says a lot because it is a 4x4 road in the winter. It was just hard to get everyone in it with all car seats and booster seats. I was having Cassidy not sit in a booster seat because the seat was not side enough. So now we are all legal and safe in our new van.

My sick Babies

2010-04-18T13:33:00.000-08:00

Today I get to stay home from church and take care of my little ones. Catheryn feel asleep on me this morning when Curtis was still home. She never sits still for a second so it was nice just to snuggle with her. My love grows for my children when they are not feeling well. I just wish I could do something to do to help them but I also like the quite time of just holding them and loving them.

Here is sleeping little Canyon. She has been really fussy the last two days. This morning she has been crying all morning. She never cries so I know that she is not feeling well. I was thinking maybe I eat something that is bothering her but I think she is just sick with Catheryn. I love my kids. They are such a blessing in my life. There is a lot of pain, sweat and tears that go into raising children but the joy and love they bring is so worth it.

Planting our Starts!!! Spring is coming

2010-04-18T13:11:00.001-08:00

For a family activity this week we started planting our garden. We are so excited!! Cayden, Cassidy and Catheryn were all great helpers. They all got to pick out a vegetable and plant them. Spring is such a exciting time of the year. I just can't wait until it starts to look like it outside.

Crazy kids

Filling up the cups with dirt

Mr, Green thumb his self.

We are Happy when Helping

2010-04-08T22:13:00.001-08:00

My kids are such great helpers when it comes to Canyon and even Catheryn. They love to spend time with Canyon and will do anything I ask them to for her.

Cayden is defiantly my biggest help. He will pick Canyon up when she is crying, give Canyon her pacifier, change her diaper. He is amazing. What a great big brother he is.

Cassidy loves to play with Canyon for short amounts of time. She loves to snuggle with her when Canyon is willing. I really would of thought that she would have been very excited to do everything for Canyon but she would rather do her own thing.

Here is the happy kids. I love them so much. They are all amazing in their own special way. I am so grateful they were sent to our family. They bless my life every day.

Bread Making Buddies!

2010-04-08T22:02:00.002-08:00

So I have been trying to make bread for our family weekly. I has been a challenge with my children. To be more specific Catheryn. She gets in to everything and wants to help. I have been leery with her helping since she is allergic to Wheat. However, if I want bread made she is just going to be there helping since she doesn't take naps anymore. Catheryn helps dump in all the flour and everything else. She is constantly trying to sneak dough. She hasn't seem to have a problem with a little sneak here and there. Her BM's smell awful the next day but I think her tolerance is getting a lot better. We just started going to this naturpathic doctor and is starting us on a diet with her with certain food that should help her GI. I was very happy with all the information she gave me and I think it will also help Catheryns Immune System. So I am crossing my fingers that this will help. We will try it out with her and then try the other kids if it works.

Well here are our happy helpers. Bethany my sister in law let us use this papasan. It is so nice to be able to have Canyon in the kitchen with me when I am cooking so she can be apart of what we are doing and not left in the other room alone.

Catheryn is in charge of the speed on the kitchen aid. She loves helping.
On another not I think Catheryn has a theme in many pictures. Can you guess. She never wears pants. At least she has underwear on at the moment.

Happy pleasant Canyon. She will get some of the bread in a her milk the next day.

Should've been a Cowgirl

2010-04-08T21:49:00.001-08:00

Cassidy got this hat at her eye therapy appointment. If she make progress and passes of some exercises she gets to pick out a prize. Of all the fun things to pick out she picks out a hat. The kids have had fun with it. Cassidy loves anything dress up and so does Catheryn. She changes her clothes about 10 times a day. Her bedroom is covered with clothes. I can't keep them in the dresser. She goes through them way to fast.

And of course I had to try out the hat as well. A little small but there you go.

Familiy Pictures Canoeing

2010-03-17T14:54:00.003-08:00

So I was a little bit grumpy about having to go outside to take these pictures but they are cute. My husband got the canoe out and had us all come out. It wasn't that I didn't want to take the picture I just didn't want to get the kids all ready. But I was beautiful outside with the sun so I am glad my husband got me off of my bottom to come outside and take some fun pictures!!

I love this picture of Cayden. He looks like a true Alaskan with that hat on.

Oh how we love thee, little one!

2010-03-17T11:20:00.002-08:00

I just have to say Canyon is the best baby. We all love her so much. I have loved all of my children but I have a special spot in my heart for her. She is just perfect. She does cry very much. She puts up lots of abuse from siblings and barely cries about it. She is the first baby that I have been able to stay home with all of the time. I was going to school full time with my other children. So glad just to be a mom. What a blessing it is that I am able to be home with my children. I love getting time with her when it is all quite and I can just love her.

Cassidy loves her little sister. She love to hold her for about a minute and then is done. I think it is funny that Cassidy has the shortest attention span when it comes to Canyon compared to her other siblings.

I love my time alone with Canyon

She is defiantly a family favorite. Cayden is the best with her. If she is crying he will go pick her up and bounce her with the pacifier in her mouth.

She loves to sleep in the swing. She sleeps in our room at night but at the 4-5am feeding I put her in the swing and this morning she slept till 10 even with all of us up making noises.

Catheryn sharing her toy with her. I came up stairs and Canyon had this fire truck in the swing with her and holding on to it. I thought it was cute.

Midwife Catheryn

2010-03-17T11:15:00.001-08:00

Since having a midwife Catheryn loves to play midwife or Doctor to Canyon I was cleaning the kitchen and come upon Catheryn doing this. She took off her clothes and gave her a check up.

Checking the heart rate. Our midwife would always let Catheryn listen to my heart when I was pregnant.

Love this picture.

Catheryn loves her baby. Catheryn has been much better at being gentle.

My not the smartest move as a mother.

2010-03-17T11:06:00.001-08:00

So I don't know if it shows up that much but I have my right eye dilated. Catheryn has a lazy eye and we dilate the stronger eye to make the weaker one work harder. So yesterday I decided to be a compassionate mother and dialte my eye to see what Catheryn has to go through.

I have decided that it is not fun at all. My right eye is completely fuzzy. Shaving my right arm pit this morning was not very easy because I couldn't see at all. Cutting veggies last night I almost cut my fingers off because my vision is so bad. I was hoping that it would be gone by today but it is not. I am not sure how long this is going to last but I now have compassion for Catheryn and how she sees. I defiantly have taken my vision for granted.

Well I don't think I will ever dialate my eye again but I am glad Catheryn is okay with it. She is a trooper!

The Pee Alarm

2010-03-01T10:17:00.003-09:00

So right now we are experimenting with the pee alarm. All of our children are still in diapers at night. I refuse to buy any more diapers so I have been putting my 6 and 4 year old in cloth diapers. My children give the phrase " Ahh big butty" a whole nother meaning. It drives me crazy that I am still having to put diapers on them. Granted I peed the bed till I was close to 8 years old. It is a genetic problem. So Curtis did the research and bought a Malem alarm. Last night was night 3 for Cassidy. First night she peed once, second night completely dry and last night at 3 she came up to tell us she had peed the bed. I am very hopeful with this alarm. My parents got an alarm for me when I was 8 and it worked in less than a week. I sure am glad they did it.

Anyways I am excited to get my older kids out of diapers and have them wear underwear to bed. It will be a big mile stone for them.

*******Update******

I have noticed that this post has gotten quite a bit of interest so I thought that I would update on the progress of the pee alarm.

For Cassidy our oldest worked in less than a week. She has only peed the bed twice since day one and now it is September 2010.

Cayden on the other hand took a while. It was almost a month. He would be dry for a week and then have an accident. Go for two weeks and then have an accident. Now he is pee free at night. I would highly recommend the pee alarm. It worked for my two children and for me when I was younger. It is a very worth while investment. Put the money into an alarm and not into diapers. I only wish we would have started the kids on it earlier.

Canyon 5 Weeks

2010-02-15T13:10:00.000-09:00

This morning I was changing Canyon's diaper and thought to take some pictures on a blanket my sister in law made. I love the colors on the blanket and Canyon just so happened to have a flower that matched it. Curtis is not into head bands on babies but I think she looks cute.

Canyon is such a special spirt in our home. She is so loved and I am so grateful for her easy going personality. It might not stay that way for ever because she has to compete with Catheryn who is far from easy going, more like demanding. She is our first baby that is not a crier or screamer. IT IS WONDERFUL. It is so nice to be able to enjoy a baby. After Catheryn was born I use to think it sure was a lot easier with her inside me that out side. Catheryn was such a trial for us with her stomach being in pain all of the time. Canyon does have at least one allergy: DAIRY. The other day Curtis told me he had pizza in the fridge for me. He forgot about the whole dairy thing. So I took one bite swallowed it then another bite and felt so guilty that I spit it out in the trash can. Next day, Canyon crying and puking. Just from one swallowed bite. At least we figured it out early. I do crave anything and everything with dairy in it but it sure is a lot better with one than when I was nursing Catheryn and couldn't eat wheat or dairy.

Today any time I would leave Canyon in the swing and come back to the room Cassidy was holding Canyon and they were playing with her. She is so good with Canyon it is nice I don't have to worry about her holding Canyon. She is very careful and loving.

We are all doing great with our wonderful addition to our family. I couldn't be happier!!! The kids are all doing really well and I feel I was more stressed out when I was pregnant with three. I am so blessed to have the husband and children that I have. They are perfect.

My Sweetheart

2010-02-15T09:37:00.003-09:00

Here are some pictures of when Curtis and I were dating. A lot has happened in the last 8 years. Our first date was February 9th 2002, after that first date were we inseparable. He swept me off my feet. He was the most amazing person to be with. Granted our first couple of years of marriage were anything but easy but now life with Curtis is the best. I couldn't imagine my life with anyone else but him. He is so good to me and I know in the past I took him for granted. I am grateful that I realize how amazing he is.

When we were dating it was fun to get out with him a lot. We went on many hikes and really got to enjoy the outdoors together.

Now it is not so easy to get out with our children but we still manage. Curtis even takes our kids out for the weekend camping while I stay home and work or rest. How many husbands are willing to take three kids out camping on his own.
This is a camping trip he took with the kids while I stayed home. In the beginning of my pregnancy I was really sick and going out camping was the last thing I wanted to do, being that far away from a toilet was not ideal.

This picture shows how Curtis is with our children. He is so good with them and is very involved in their lives. He feels guilty that he has to work and miss out on so much of our children's lives. When anyone asks hims what he does, he always responds he is a husband, father, son ect. He enjoys his financial job but would love to be home with us. I am so grateful how much he loves his family and me. He puts up with my crazy ideas and supports me. He listens to me when my feelings are hurt and I just need someone to listen and he finds me attractive, he doesn't get easily offended and just loves me for who I am and encourages me to grow. I love his so much and am grateful for the life the we have together.

2010-01-31T22:59:00.000-09:00

Canyon about two weeks old. No that is not a unibrow, it is just the lighting. It must be a shadow or something.

Canyon with our midwife, Suzie Terwilliger. Great woman, very kind and helpful. We would recommend her to anyone. Thumbs up Suzie.

Cassidy losing her teeth. This floss is attached to one of her top teeth. It didn't come out this time, but a couple of days later.

USKH has given each of our last three children one of these blanketts when they are born. Canyon is in this picture in a pouch on my front. She is acting as a backrest for Catheryn.

Heater repair

2010-01-31T22:50:00.000-09:00

This is how Carolyn would spend her days. She would wrap herself in a blankett and sit next to the electric heater.

Then we had the boiler serviced. This particular model is the original one since this house was built, so it is 27 years old. After replacing the expansion tank, automatic fill valve, pressure release valve, and cleaning the burners, it actually keeps our house warm. So for all of you out there sitting by your electric heaters wrapped in blanketts, consider having your boiler serviced.

Chocolate Poop and Catheryn's birthday

2010-01-31T22:37:00.000-09:00

Today was Catheryn's birthday. She is the big "TWO", or as she says it, "Du," holding up all five of her fingers.

We had my mother, Carolyn's parents, and aunt Becca over for dinner. Dinner was salmon patties. Carolyn made a dairy and wheat free Cream pie with Hersheys chocolate syrup for dessert. Catheryn can eat Hersheys syrup, yeah.

The children ate their dessert at the table, the adults are allowed out in the living room. After tonight's incident, one adult will now have to eat at the table.

Becca dropped a piece of her cake onto the floor. A big splatter of chocolate syrup was left on the carpet as the piece was retrieved. As she goes to get a rag, Cayden comes running by and plants his foot right into it, furthering its entrance into the carpet fibers. Hopefully our landlord doesn't read this. Everyone yells for Cayden to stop so he doesn't track it all over.

Cayden stops, looks at the bottom of his foot, looks at the carpet and asks, "Is it poop?"

Becca was successful at extracting the chocolate from the carpet.

Here are the children in their pajamas after dinner with chocolate syrup all over their faces.

Spaghetti Rice

2010-01-31T22:07:00.003-09:00

Carolyn went out with some friends Saturday night. Me and the kids stayed home and had some fun, played the laundry game, and wrestled. Then it was dinner. I wanted to make spanish rice. The recipe calls for a can of tomato sauce and a can of diced tomatoes. I accidentally put in two cans of sauce before realizing my mistake. I thought, can't be all that bad.

I served it up. Cassidy takes the first bite. Chews a few times, and not wanting to hurt her dad's feelings says, "Dad, I think you put too much tomato sauce in it." She then turns to Cayden who still hasn't taken his first bite and says, "Cayden, be careful it has a lot of tomato sauce in it."

Cayden takes a bite, and has a big smile on his face. I ask him, "What do you think?"

"It is great," he replies.

My children are so patient with their dad, and so kind with his feelings. We all had two servings of it, and Cayden had three.

Canyon and siblings

2010-01-18T22:07:00.001-09:00

Here is Canyon being held by her happy siblings. Notice Cassidy has no lower teeth. She is about to lose another one on the top.

You pucker up like this, and then you give daddy a kiss.

Who needs SUGAR when you've got me?! Tressa sent us this nice outfit, the blanket canyon is on, and other clothes.

The older kids are trying as hard as they can to wake Canyon.

Canyon Lily Townsend

2010-01-10T11:43:00.002-09:00

January 9, 2010Written by Curtis night of birth:

This morning, I was present at the birth of our fourth child. She was
born so quickly, if I wasn't already home, I might have missed the
birth. Present were; myself, Carolyn of course, Cayden and Catheryn.

Carolyn's water breaks as the phone rings. I answer it thinking it
might be the midwife. It is grandma Olson inquiring how things are.

"Grandma, thank you for the call. Carolyn is in active labor right
now. Can I call you back?"

"I am glad to hear that. Keep us posted." says Grandma.

I need to remember to call her back. I hope I wasn't rude to her on
the phone. I wonder if Grandma ever delivered a baby outside of the
hospital. This is definitely a first for me.

One push, the baby's head came out. I held our baby's head as Carolyn
relaxed before pushing again. Carolyn was down on her hands and knees.
I was behind her, and our baby was facing up at me. The baby made no
noise and the facial coloring was purple. I momentarily panicked
fearing the worst. I kept my fears to myself so that Carolyn wouldn't
also panic. Carolyn pushed again, and folds of our baby's skin seemed
to spill out of her. Our baby's bones followed and filled out the form
of a newborn. Carolyn supported the body, and I the head, as the baby
came out. Cries from the baby calm my fears. This baby breathed on
it's own. I helped Carolyn bring the baby forward between her legs and
Carolyn held the baby close to her chest. I grabbed a towel and handed
it to Carolyn. She wrapped it around the baby to keep it warm.

Carolyn said to Cayden, "Cayden, come see what it is."
Cayden said with obvious disappointment, "Oh, it's a girl."

Suzie, the midwife arrived on site within a minute of the birth. She
helped Carolyn to our bed. She had been at another patients house
helping with that labor and came as soon as we called with the news
that Carolyn was in active labor and was going to deliver a baby soon.
Carolyn delivered within an hour of that phone call.

I called Eldon, who was en route with Beverly and our daughter Cassidy.

"Eldon, listen to this."
New baby girl, "wah, wah"
Eldon, "Well we are only seconds away."

Eldon, Beverly, and Cassidy arrived. Everyone passed Canyon around. As
usual, I am the last to hold our new baby.

"Can I hold Canyon?" I ask.

I am handed Canyon, and I hold her for the first time. Feelings of
gratitude, love, hope and excitement fill my whole body. I hold her so
close and enjoy a moment of solitude with her even as all around
people are talking and looking on. It is just me and Canyon there. I
love her already and desire all the best that life has to offer. I am
so happy that she arrived safe.

I am constantly checking on Carolyn, making sure she is alright.
Asking her if she needs anything. She asks for various things from me
and I am happy to serve her. She just did an amazing thing. She
brought yet another child into our family, into this world. She
reached down into the depths of herself, her energy, her desires, and
brought forth the best of herself and this new baby girl. I am so
pleased with her. I love her so much and am so happy to be married to
her. She is the best woman in the whole wide world for me.

The grandparents leave, taking with them our other children. Before
they do, I take each of our other children aside one by one, and tell
them of my love for them and how grateful I am that they are my child.
I am very positive with my compliments towards Cayden and Catheryn for
how well they did during the time their mother labored. Catheryn
panicked seeing her mother uncomfortable, hearing unusual noises
coming from her, seeing a pool of water below mommy in the bathroom.
This was a new thing for Catheryn and she didn't like what she saw. I
held her on my lap as I sat beside Carolyn while she labored. That
helped Catheryn out. Cayden sat down next to me. The two of them were
amazing. It was wonderful to have them present. When Cassidy arrived,
she didn't seem the least bit disappointed she missed it. She spent
the night at her cousins house and "watched two movies." Cassidy likes
movies. I myself think that watching the arrival of one of our
children is more exciting than any movie.

When everyone leaves, I am able to climb into bed with my wife and our
newest baby. It is so nice to lay beside them. The house is all to
ourselves. It is as if it is our first child. We bond. We talk. We
reminisce of this labor, of other labors. It is nice to talk with my
wife. I love her so much.

Canyon's first bath with mommy. Soon after birth when the children leave.

Carolyn is hungry and asks me to make her a sandwich. Carolyn has
always enjoyed a good sandwich. She decides that she will want to eat
lots of sandwiches the next few days and asks me to go shopping. This
is the list she gives me; ruffles potato chips, bbq chips, tomatoes,
lettuce, turkey meat.

At the store, I purchase all the above and decide that I would also
like the following; jalapeno chips, red licorice, and sparkling grape
cider for all.

I bring the food back home and make Carolyn another sandwich. I set
the cider outside to cool down. When it is cold enough, I pour us two
glasses, and propose a toast.

To a safe delivery, to a healthy baby, to a speedy recovery for
mother, and to a new period in our lives. We drink to that. Canyon
drinks some more milk. Then baby and mother go to sleep.

I fold some laundry, put away some clean clothes, write this account

of the day, clean up the kitchen, and eat a sandwich myself.

I think I shall retire to bed. Life is good.

Canyon Lily
the sixth C
born 9:52 AM
9lbs. 11 oz.
21 1/2 inches

Proud Daddy

No Baby still

2010-01-04T10:38:00.002-09:00

If you are still wondering if there has been a new arrival in our family yet, the answer is we are still eagerly awaiting the arrival. I am 41 weeks and 3 days today. Last night Curtis and I went to the Aplenglow stairs and ran up and down them and then I jogged home, and still nothing. I am not even that sore today. I was thinking that for sure would do something. If the baby doesn't come by Wednesday we start all the hard core natural induction midwife tricks. I am a little worried that this baby isn't going to come and I am going to end up in the hospital on Saturday. If I do not have the baby by 42 weeks I have to be admitted to the hospital to have this baby. So I am getting a little anxious. Cassidy started back at school today and Curtis is off to work. Curtis has had the last 5 days off which has been great. It was so nice to have him home. It would have been a little nicer if we could of gotten out and had fun, but I didn't feel up to snowshoeing, hiking. sledding and all the crazy fun things we like to do in the winter.

Anyway just thought I would update real quick to let everyone know that the baby is still baking.

Baby Shower

2009-12-19T11:11:00.003-09:00

A couple of weeks ago some friends of mine put a baby shower on for me. It was a donation for freezer meals. With my children and all of their allergies I sometimes have a hard time with cooking and after baby comes it would be nice to have dinner already made. Many people are scared to bring us dinner or invite us over because they don't want to poison our children. Terra and Megan got together and made some meals with the money they got.

This picture is of stuffed peppers. We tried one pepper the night Megan dropped off the meals and it was amazing.

Here are all the meals that they dropped off. I could put them in the freezer but it is so cold out side I thought I would just put them on the deck instead.

The meals they made were: Tamale Corn Casserole, Spaghetti sauce, Asparagus Casserole, Spanish Eggplant, Stuffed Peppers and Corn Chowder. Yum they all look delicious. I went through and found recipes on the internet and passed them on. Two of the recipes had dairy in them but I figure Catheryn could have good old fashion rice noodles on those days. She isn't to picky. She is very use to us eating a different meal than her.

After Megan and Terra did this for me I thought wow, I now know what these look like and I should make these meals to have on hand later. Maybe when we have a babysitter or just running late it would be nice to have something that is already made. Especially the stuffed peppers, Yum. I think I could make several of those and freeze them. The thought always over whelmed me of making several meals and freezing them and finding recipes that would fit the whole family.

I am so grateful for the wonderful friends that made the meals and donated money to make them. It is so nice to have so many people that care.

Last night I was just thinking about what life will be after baby. I am a little scared. I am getting many flash backs of what type of baby Catheryn was and I am a little worried about getting another just like her. She screamed the whole time she was awake and when she slept it had to be on my chest. To say the least I got no sleep for many months. If this baby is at all like Catheryn I would change my diet to rice and not much else and slowly add things to find out what it is allergic to. But I am trying to be optimist that this baby will not react to what I eat.

I know that everything will be okay, however I am a little nervous. Wish us luck!!

Christmas is here!!

2009-12-17T11:32:00.001-09:00

Here are some stockings that I ordered last week. They came in the mail last night. I let the kids get out of bed and look at them. We are all excited about them. I got them off Pottery Barn for $8.99 a stocking originally $19.99. Which isn't cheap but they will last a long time. They are super cute and I asked Curtis if it was alright if I ordered them and he said that it was a great idea. I really don't think he thought it was a great idea but it is nice that he fakes it for me.

And here is our wonderful Christmas tree. My dad and I went hiking through their woods and I found this perfect tree. We had to cut quite a bit off. Curtis didn't think we could get it in the house but we did it. We cut it last week. My dad and I carried it out of the woods. It was so nice of him to help me. My dad did most of the work but I thought I helped pretty good for a 38 week prego daughter. My dad is just amazing like that. Curtis was at work and I didn't want to wait any longer and my dad said that he could help. My dad and brother Jonathon took Cayden skiing down their driveway two weeks ago. I took pictures with my moms camera so I will have to post at their house. My parents driveway is not a beginner slope so Cayden was a little scared. It would be great to go again this week because of how much it has snowed in the last two days. Anyways we are all very excited for Christmas and also excited for our new arrival. We are hoping that the baby some after Christmas. Most like it will. My cervix is still pretty posterior so I think this baby will come on its due date or later. I am hopeful!!

39 Weeks Tomorrow

2009-12-17T11:09:00.001-09:00

So here is a prego picture that we took this morning. So I am one day shy of 39 weeks. I feel that I have really grown in the last week. How ever for some reason this pregnancy I have had a hard time gaining weight. I have not gained any weight Since the beginning of November and my midwife goes over my diet every week to make sure I am eating. This last week I ate so much in hopes to even gain just one pound. I even drank 4 full glasses of water before my appointment so I would have some water weight. But atlas I am still the same weight as November. I normally don't gain weight in the beginning of my pregnancy but not a problem in my last trimester. I have made sure that I am eating protein every meal and still nothing. My midwife finally said that I am eating and it seems like I can't do much about gaining so we are just going to let it go since I only have a week left.

Here is a picture Cayden took for us. He took about 5 pictures and this is one of the only ones that have our heads in it. I guess we were standing to tall for him.

A little family picture. Cassidy is at school so we could not get her in it. We will take another for sure when she is home.

And this is Cayden, Catheryn and me doing Reindeer ears. Catheryn wasn't really sure what she was suppose to be doing.

Food Poisoning

2009-12-07T14:42:00.003-09:00

Well Saturday night Cassidy, Cayden and I were up throwing up and diarrhea. We must of ate something at my parents house that was not good. Catheryn luckily was not eating that day so did not have any problems. Curtis had the day to himself so he did not get any food either.
Curtis was so great taking care of all of us. I started feeling sick at Walmart when Curtis and I were on the end of our date. We hurried home, Curtis took the baby sitter home while I was vomiting in the toilet. Cayden woke up at 1 and only throw up once and then Cassidy was up at 4 and didn't stop till 8 in the morning. Talk about a rough night. I swear the closer we get to having our 4th child the more challenges we are coming across.
We are going to try out a different Naturalist Doctor and we are hoping that we will find answers through her, I have a consultation with her tomorrow. We are defiantly tired of the MD doctors. They haven't helped really at all. Just left us with more questions. Catheryn has been crying for the last couple of days. I am not sure if it is because she is not feeling good, something is hurting or she just enjoys crying. Cayden is really good to her when I am about to loose it. Today we got out a marble maze. Catheryn was down stairs crying so he went down stairs and talked her into coming up stairs to play with him. She was quiet the whole time while I was making lunch. IT was great. He sometimes tells me how much Catheryn hurts his ears because she cries so much but there is nothing I can do about that because my ears hurt to. We do love her and wish we could find out what is bothering her. I am just hoping that we will be able to get somethings resolved shortly before I have two crying babies. Who knows, maybe the lord will bless us with an easy baby, we haven't had one yet so hopefully this last one will be it!