Surprising Grandma

At the beginning of July my friend Monica had her sister come out to visit her from Utah. She drove across the country, by herself, with her 5 kids that are similar ages to to my kids. It got me thinking if I would ever dare do that on my own. I was feeling a longing to see my family in Utah but Shad didn't have any time left for vacations this summer. We hadn't seen my mom or grandparents since Thanksgiving in November and all of my other family since spring break in 2016. I was feeling really sad that their cousins were starting to forget who my kids were and most of them hadn't even met Ruby. So, I decided to play around with the idea and see if it would work to go to Utah for the first two weeks in August. We really had nothing going on and Shad was going to be so busy getting ready for the school year that he wouldn't be home very much anyway.

So, I decided we would surprise my mom and just show up on her doorstep. It was a crazy idea, but it actually ended up being, what I think will be, one of the most memorable experiences for my kids.

We left after sacrament meeting at the YSA branch because it was earlier than our own ward. We decided to make it to Omaha on Sunday night and stay with the Applegarth's who are the coordinators there. We drove about 8.5 hours got there about 9:00pm that night. The kids actually did really great. I decided from the very beginning that we would stop every few hours and everyone would run around. I tried to find rest stops that had playgrounds or lots of grass. I would set a timer and let them run around until it went off and then we would pile back into the car (after going potty of course). I also had surprises I would pull out every few hours when I could tell they needed something new. They were small things like a movie to watch, a treat, or a little toy. I was most surprised at how well Ruby did. She had her moments, but for the most part she was very pleasant and we only had a few suckers end up stuck all over her blanket by the end.

A nice lady at Arby's gave us kids meal toys even though we didn't buy kids meals.

It made my kids night and gave them something to play with for a while.

When we were eating dinner in Iowa on Sunday night I was worried that we had given away our location. My mom tried to facetime us and I thought it was because she had seen our location on friend finder. Turns out she doesn't even know what that is, she just wanted to talk to us. I didn't answer but I text her back and told her we would be at a friends house that night so we couldn't talk, but we could talk for FHE the next night.

She tried to call us again when we were about 30 minutes away from her house but I didn't answer. As we were getting off the freeway Haken said that this was the most excited he has ever been in his whole life! We got there at about 9:30pm. She had no idea we were coming and she was in complete shock.

We did a facebook live video of us surprising her, and so far it has 2,800 views! It turned out perfectly. She didn't suspect a thing and was shocked to see us. I was worried she was going to think something was fishy.

We stayed for two weeks. I had arranged for my mom to have some time off from the bridal store and on the days that she worked we went and hung out with some friends and the Anderson cousins.

I'm not very good at remembered the order of the events but here are some of the things that we did on our trip:

I had my cousin Amy's daughter Hallie watch the kids and I had a girls night out doing a painting class with my mom, Jenni, Megan, and Lisa. It was a little out of my comfort zone, but a lot of fun. Afterwards we got cheesecake at Cheesecake factory and ate it at Megan's house.

Finished product. I love how every one is just a little bit different.

Painting buddies! I kept comparing mine to hers.

I was dying when I saw Megan's face on this picture!

We went up to Grandma G.G.'s house and hung out after dinner. We hung out and had popscicles and rootbeer floats, which also resulted in a needed bath in Grandma's sink. After Benny saw Ruby in there, he starting taking his shirt off saying he needed a bath too.

We did school shopping with Grandma at Station Park in Farmington and had lunch.

We took Megan's dogs and her girls (Annie and Alia) to the Tanner dog park in Salt Lake city. It was fun to be with cousins again that we hadn't seen in a long time. The kids got really dirty and sweaty and loved every minute of it. It was actually quite the hike up afterwards. The downhill wasn't too bad. 

We also stayed the night at Brandon and Megan's new house in Murray and went to Wheeler Farm with them. Grandma even treated the kids to a ride in the "cow train." Afterwards we went and had lunch at a great burger and shake place (now I can't remember the name.) We hung out at their house afterwards and the kids played in the sprinklers....with a box. Not sure whose bright idea that was. It was a really hot day so it was nice to cool off.

Checking out Annie's bird Sammy

We had an afternoon with the Anderson cousins that were close. This was really only 3 families together (+Annie). I can't imagine what next summer is going to be like when we get all 6 of the Anderson families together. 25 cousins together is going to be madness! I'm always suprised at how well they get along and pick up right where they left off even when they don't see eachother for a year at a time.

We spent a day at Cam and Lisa's new house in Saratoga Springs. They have a neighborhood pool. The kids had a blast there. This is the first time that Ruby has met Ruthie. 

Lisa was the baby whisperer and put Ruby to sleep in the pool

Grandma was the best in the pool with all of kids.

We went up to North Ogden and met up with our northern Utah friends. I couldn't believe how many showed up! We had friends that we haven't seen in years! The Burnhams, Mickelsons, Hardy's, Norton's, Anderson's, and Redden's were all there. It was a great day and I think we made up half of the kids at the pool that day!

The Tremonton 8th ward crew.

Savannah became Gracie's best friend. 

Bodee and Haken. They haven't changed a bit.

Chloe and Haken. Awkward...

Janese and Emilee. Missed these girls.

We went to Lagoon with Grandma and all of the Evans cousins. They all have season passes, so they showed us which rides they like the best. We left Ruby and Benny with my cousin Amy so we didn't have to worry about them. We also brought our cousin Annie along who is living in Utah county for a while. She had never been to lagoon before! I was grateful she came because she hung out with Haken and Taylor riding all of the big rides while we took the little kids around. I rode on a few rides but I couldn't believe how sick I got after each one even after I had some motion sickness medicine! I'm not as young as I used to be! It was a long but really fun day. The kids did not want to leave.

Gracie hid during the entire ride of dracula's castle.
It's a good thing Grandma was there.

Gracie met a boy on her 20th ride on the bumper cars.
She chose to ride with him over Jack and Jack was so mad. Ha Ha!

Annie and Jack. Two peas in a pod.

One of Gracie's favorite rides. The ladybug drop.

Poor Alia was freezing after rattlesnack rapids.
It was a hot day so I was grateful to get wet.

Uncle B with his girls riding the Log flume.

Riding the screamer with Annie. This used to be
one of my favorite rides growing up. Now it just
makes me sick!

Annie's first time on the Rocket!

We went to a concert at the Brigham Young Park in Salt Lake City with Grandma and Grandpa GG. The group was Octapella.

We met up with my cousin Haylee at the park who lives in Bountiful. She just had her 4th baby. It was really fun to catch up with her and let the kids play.

Of course we did have a lot of down time at Grandma's house which meant lots of popscicles and games of monopoly!

It was an absolutely perfect (and exhausting) trip. I even enjoyed the drive out there with the 5 kids all by myself! I would do it all over again. I think the look on these kids faces and their grandparents say it all!

One of the best parts is that we kidnapped Grandma and took her home with us! She helped me drive through the night and make it back home with the kids! What a trooper! I think she is now a believer too in that being the right way to travel with kids as they sleep through the night. She stayed for the weekend and then headed home on an airplane. It was fun to get a few extra days with her, even though Benny ended up getting sick and throwing up when we got home. I was really grateful to have her there so that I could take care of him while she helped with the other kids. At least he didn't get sick on the way home!

Ruby's Birth-Day

Ruby is almost 3 weeks old already so I thought I better write about her birth before I forget all of the details.

It was August 25th, a week before my due date. I had everything ready to go about a week before and now I felt like I was just waiting around for this little girl to come. Every time I would do a grocery shopping trip or cleaned the house I hoped that she would come that night so that everything was ready to go, but then I would end up at the store again or cleaning a toilet, still pregnant. I really was trying not to complain though. Things really aren't so bad for me pregnant. She was feeling really heavy to me towards the end though. I was sure she would be my biggest baby yet, even though the Dr. kept telling me that I was measuring 3 weeks smaller than I was. The ultrasound that I had at the end of July had her weighing about 6 lbs and I still had another 5 weeks to go.

I had gone to the store right before dinner on the 25th to stock up the fridge. If I went past the next day it would be the longest I was ever pregnant (Benny being 6 days early). Shad made a simple dinner and we put the kids to bed. I cleaned the house making sure everything was put together for school the next day and then got ready for bed about 10:00 pm. I laid in my bed for about 5 minutes trying to fall asleep when I felt a gush of fluid come out. I tapped Shad and said "my water broke, time to go to the hospital." Sure enough, as I stood up, more fluid came out. This was for real! I'm glad that I had this same experience with two of my other pregnancies, so I knew that it would probably be a little while before she would actually make her appearance. We called our friend Monica and she headed up to our house to sleep there with the kids.

We headed into the ER at the hospital and got checked in. They carted me upstairs in a wheelchair, even though I actually felt totally fine. I had about 4 contractions since my water broke an hour before.

I didn't progress very quickly, which is kind of a blessing because I had to have antibiotics for 5 hours for Group B strep. About 3:00am I was at about a 4 and I found myself breathing through contractions so I asked for an epidural. It took her a while to get in there. In the meantime I heard another mom screaming down the hall and I thought "I'm glad I'm not feeling what she is." Shad of course slept through all of this, including my contractions. The anethesiologist said she was grateful to have an easy one after that last one. Apparently the girl down the hall screaming had the epidural done right before the baby came. The anethesiologist kept asking me how tall I was, and said that I had a lot of "territory" to work with back there. I think she wasn't used to working on someone with such a long torso. Probably also the reason why I was measuring so small.

The epidural worked great. I didn't feel anything. However, it was a much different epidural than I had had with any of my other pregnancies. I felt like I was 350 pounds and couldn't move my legs AT ALL by myself. With my other ones I at least felt some pressure and I could lift my legs into the stirups when it was time to push. I asked if they could back it off, but they said there was only one dosage and that was it. I remembered having a button to give me more medicine if I needed it with my other births. I took a nap once they got the epidural in and about 6:00 I started to feel like it might be about time. I wanted to hold off until 8:00 though, so I would have my own dr. (Dr. Fulfer) deliver her. It got to about 7:30 am and I found out that she wasn't going to be able to be there anyway because she had a house closing to go to. So they called in the on call doctor, Dr. Hennesay and he would be the one to deliver her. I actually really liked him. He was good about telling me what was going on and I think he actually stitched me up where I tore better than any of the other doctors I had. I didn't even feel the stitches during my recovery at all. I really didn't push too long. Maybe, about 15 minutes and then she was out at 8:02 am.

However, this birth was not without it's memorable moments. Once I got to pushing out her shoulders I guess she got a little stuck. She was "sunny side up" and I think that made things a little tricky. The Dr. said "ok, you need to give a really big push because you are on her neck and we need to get past those shoulders." I gave it a push and the next thing I knew, Shad was passed out on the couch. I did a few more pushes and she was out, and so was Shad. He woke up flailing his arms around at the nurses. They kept saying to him "you're at the hospital with your wife having a baby." He just curled up in a ball. Afterwards he told me that he really did not know what was going on. He knew it was something important, but he couldn't remember. I cut the cord (since Shad was out of commission) and cuddled her into my arms. Shad was really sad that he missed taking pictures of her right after she came out and was all messy. He calls these the "national geographic" pictures. He was able to get pictures of her being weighed and everything because they let me hold her and nurse her for 30 minutes before they did all of that. She even pooped on me during that time as I was feeding her.

So, Shad passed out at both of our daughter's births, but they both had some other things in common: He had been sick the day before, he was at the hospital with me all night while I was laboring and was tired, and he hadn't eaten anything in a long time. So I guess all of those things put together make for an inevitable passed out husband.

She is totally perfect. She weighed 8 lbs 3oz and was 21 inches long. My biggest baby so far. Her head was shaped perfect with just a little bit of fuzzy dark hair. She has a perfect little face with chubby cheeks. She actually looks just like the 3D ultrasound that we had done a few weeks earlier (totally amazing.)

The first night in the hospital was a little rough. I usually LOVE my stay in the hospital. It is so relaxing. However, Carle hospital does not have a nursery anymore. I guess a lot of hospitals are starting to get rid of them. I think they are trying to encourage nursing more and so they do a 24hr room in with the baby. It really is a terrible idea because I was up all night long with her. She wanted to eat every 1-2 hours and I was totally exhausted from not sleeping the night before. With my other kids I sent them into the nursery, let them have bottles for that night and had my last good night of sleep before reality set in. Luckily I was able to have Shad sleep with me in the hospital that night, otherwise I think I would have lost it. One of the YSA's, Emily, came to the hospital that night, and took the kids back home and stayed with them so he could be with me. It was a huge blessing and she put up with a lot because Gracie wasn't feeling well that night and ended up in her bed.

The kids were totally in love with her, except Benny. He had no idea what was going on. I remember Jack being a lot more aware of what was going on when Gracie was born and they are the same distance apart. Jack could even say "baby" and pointed to Gracie. Benny doesn't talk and just yells when he doesn't get attention. It has been a little bit of an adjustment I think because I really do have 2 babies right now.

Shad took off the week after she was born to help out. Halfway into the week I could tell he was a little stir crazy so I let him build some new shelves for the garage to keep him busy. He also painted and installed a new front door and built a bench swing for the front porch in the last 2 weeks. For some reason having a extra time off after having a baby always produces finished projects around the house.

Last night my mom and sister Jenni left after being here for 10 days helping out with the kids. It was such a blessing to have them here. Today was my first day alone with 5 kids and Shad had institute tonight. I think it actually went really well. I am doing a lot better at being patient lately. Over the past 6 months that was something that I was really praying for and I think that the Lord has blessed me with more than I even expected. When people ask how I'm going to be able to handle 5 kids I realize that the Lord gives you the capacity to do what you need to do. He has blessed me with the patience and the time to take care of all of these kids. I'm sure I will have a lot of overwhelming moments but I'm confident that the Lord will make up where I am lacking and that is very reassuring to me.