Once Upon A Sunny Day in March...

Today was such a beautiful day! I think the sunshine rubbed off on the kids, as they were in splendid moods. I think it helped that Caleb and Natalie were able to get out in the backyard and run around. Caleb stayed out all afternoon and pushed his trucks around in the dirt. He came in covered in dirt from head to toe! Such a little boy, I love it! Natalie came inside after a bit and played around with Amelia and me. Natalie is a little busy body these days, carrying things here and there, making little piles all over the house. Amelia has been growing so much, I can hardly believe she will be 8 weeks old tomorrow! She really started smiling a couple of weeks ago and can't seem to stop! Even in the middle of the night when she wakes up to eat, she gives me a bright smile after she's all done. What a joyful child she is. I took the oppoortunity of such a wonderful day to snap a few pictures of the kids playing. Here's our day in pictures:

The Big Move

Well I can FINALLY break the silence! My amazingly wonderful husband was promoted to store manager a couple of weeks ago, but we were told to keep it quiet until a formal announcement was made. I must say it's been a difficult task, as I have been bursting at the seams! Not just with pride and love for my hubby, but also because the whirlwind began right away to get our home here in Oregon on the market and to find a new home in Idaho. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that we are headed to South Central Idaho. We have been so very blessed in this process. God is taking care of the details and things are progressing as smoothly as we could hope for. I am sad about moving away from Oregon, as I have never lived anywhere else, and all our family is here. But we are excited at the idea of making a new home for our family. We know that the Lord has something good in store! I am most excited about the idea of Jason never having to work another night or swing shift, as most of our 7 year marriage has consisted of those shifts. Yay for 8-5! We will also be doing away with his 1 hour drive each way to get to work. To that I say, "Praise the Lord!!"

Jason and I took little Amelia this last week to explore our new hometown (neither of us had ever been there before!) and look for a new house. It was a fun adventure and Amelia was a trooper. She did great on the flights just hanging out in the sling barely making a peep. We loved the amazing views in our new hometown.





This is the bridge leading into town over the Snake River. It is amazing. We were just driving along a freeway and all of a sudden the huge canyon opened up in front of us! Talk about awe inspiring.

Here is a view of the canyon and Snake River from a lookout point next to the bridge. It snowed one of the days we were there.





We were on our way to view the Shoshone Falls, and found a frozen waterfall along the side of the road. Crazy!

Here are the Shoshone Falls. They are often referred to as the "Little Niagra". In the spring I guess there is just a ton of water that flows down, apparently this is a "small flow". We were here at the falls when we received the call that our offer on the house was accepted! It was an incredible place to find out such good news.

Here's the house we will be moving to. I was able to take pictures on the day it snowed. I am excited to live in a place that gets snow so regularly that all the houses we toured had snow-blowers in their garages!

So to all our friends we extend an invite. If you ever want a place to come crash and see some neat sights, come visit! We sure will miss all you Oregon folk!

Our Tiny Wonder

Speedy Delivery!

After 9 months of anticipation, the wait is finally over! Amelia Jordyn made her debut into the world yesterday, January 10, at 1:25am. She is absolutely beautiful, weighing in at 7lb, 9oz and measuring 19 inches long.

The story is definately one worth telling, as her speedy entrance into the world took us all by surprise! And sorry for those of you who may not want the details, but I promise I will not get too graphic. We had a scheduled induction for the Monday morning following my due date (today!). My due date came and went and I figured I'd just have to wait for the induction, as with the last two kids. Amelia had other plans. As I was falling asleep around midnight on Saturday, I felt a big kick in the front of my belly and heard a "snap!". I knew almost immediately that Amelia had broken my water. We called Jason's parents and they came over so we could head to the hospital. We were in no rush (or so we thought) as my last labors had taken several hours to really get contractions going and things moving along. About 20 minutes after my water broke, I started having contractions. After the 10 minute drive to the hospital, they were noticeably stronger and coming every 5 minutes. By the time I was checked through the ER (about 15 minutes later), the contractions were bad enough to want an epidural (which I never got!) and I was taken strait to a delivery room. The short story is, within a half hour of arriving in the delivery room Amelia entered the world! I only had about 20 contractions from the time my water broke, and they barely even had an IV started by the time she was out! From the time I was laying in bed to her arrival was a total of 1 1/2 hours. I guess it's a good thing we got to the hospital quickly.

Seriously...

I have been such a blog slacker! The last few months have just seemed to be wild and crazy, and maybe I can blame a little bit of it on being pregnant and chasing after two little ones. But regardless, here is an update of the last couple months...We had a great Halloween, Caleb was a dragon and Natalie was a flower. This was the first year Caleb was really into going up to the door and saying "Trick or Treat!". We still have most of his candy bucket left, he isn't much of a candy guy. Thanksgiving was wonderful, we had all of the close relatives over to our house, I think it totalled 13 people. Jason and I tag teamed a 24lb turkey on the Traeger and it turned out amazing!! We had NO turkey leftovers. Natalie started walking at the beginning of December, she seemed to catch on really quick and is able to really move fast now. On December 8, Caleb turned 3! We had a combined family party for him and Jason's dad, whose birthday is a couple of days later.


As for the new baby, we are 3 weeks away from the due date of January 6, and she was breech until the day we went in to vert her (externally rotate her to head down!). I think she may have even turned as I sat and waited for the doctor to come in at the hospital...lots of prayer helped with that one! She is a very active child inside, we'll see how that translates into her personality later. And as is the story with all of my pregnancies, my doctor decided to go on vacation (out of the country!) right as I am coming up on my due date. At least this time she will be back before my due date, as long as baby holds out for her until after the 29th.


Well, we are all excited for Christmas and I pray you are too! Let us thank the Lord this season for the most amazing gift of his Son who has given us all life! I am really enjoying teaching Caleb about the Christmas story this year. I would encourage you to look at the "What God Wants for Christmas" nativity set to do with your children if you want a neat way to celebrate the true reason for the season. It is a seven day interactive set (or you could go through the whole thing on Christmas morning) that that tells the Christmas story in a way kids of all ages can understand.

And for some pictures...

Natalie twirling in her Christmas dress.

My handsome man is 3!!

The first steps...

Superman, Birthday and other such...

I am loving these beautiful fall days, we could not have ordered better weather! My belly continues to grow, and we are down to the three month mark! I am getting more excited to hold this little girl kicking around inside.
Natalie turned 1 on October 2, it is such a joy to watch her grow each day! She now says, "dada", "this", "yes". and the occasional "papa". But I am still waiting for "mama"... She has ventured to take a couple steps at a time away from the table and into my arms (or grandma's) but hasn't gotten up the confidence to keep going. She loves to eat most everything, although doesn't seem to like olives or plain cheese.
Caleb is really seeming to be more of a big boy every day! About three weeks ago he decided he was ready to be potty trained and it only took one day with just two accidents. For the most part, he does very well all day long, even during nap, and only needs a diaper at night. It has been so nice to have just one in diapers, even if for just a few months. :) He has started to ask the "why" question and often asks "what this?". I am amazed by what he is able to remember and all of the sentences he puts together. Right now we are working on saying "I" in place of "me". He has really started to form opinions and assert his preferences too. One day he told Jason and me that he does not want another sister and said "sister go bye-bye, have a brother." Fits are also a regular occurance these days if we tell him "no". I have a feeling that three may be a little more challenging than two because of this!

Here is a picture of Nattie on her birthday, she has been cutting her molars and I think they were really bothering her the night of her party. She cried all the way through everyone singing "Happy Birthday" to her.

She was a little happier when we put a cupcake in front of her!

Caleb got some new shades from a trip to get his flu shot at the doctor's office, and his second cousin, Alex, gave him a sweet superman cape. He wore both around for two days strait! Here he is enjoying a beautiful fall afternoon in the backyard.

Photography Fun

So I am excited that I have another wedding booked for December. What a photography adventure I am on...I am having a blast! I was able to participate in a wonderful group with other local photographers this week, and we had the opportunity to photograph some beautiful models in wedding dresses for practice. We started after dark and walked the streets of downtown Portland looking for interesting backdrops. It sure gave me some great ideas and a longer wish list for equipment. Here are a few of the fun shots I got!