Philip and Jaime Connor

My newest miracle came into the world on Thursday, December 8th. The good folks at Keesler Medical Center induced my labor so that my sister Joanna could be with me for the birth of my sweet little son. To my delight, I was also able to have my wonderful husband Philip with me via Skype. What a huge blessing that was! It was so great to have him there with me. I arrived at the hospital at 5:30 a.m. and was given a large, beautiful room. The night nurses inserted an IV and filled out paperwork so that I would be ready for the doctor when he arrived. For some bizarre reason, the nurse put the IV in a vein on the side of my arm. It was a very awkward place to have an IV, but I wasn't about to let them poke me again, so we made do. My labor and delivery nurse arrived shortly after 6:30. Her name was Laurie and she was fabulous! I was so grateful to have such a wonderful competent person taking care of me and my child. Any time things got dicey (Dallin's heart rate kept d...

It has been so long since I last blogged that I am not even going to try to catch up, I am just going to go with "the now". Actually it's more like "the last month". In September, my lovely sister Heather and my lovely niece Kirsten flew out to Mississippi from Utah and we took a road trip to Orlando. One of the "milestones" we scheduled during Phil's deployment was a trip to Harry Potter World and it was so much fun! We left on Tuesday the 6th and arrived after driving all day. We stayed at a wonderful three bedroom condo that was perfect for us because we could put the kids to bed in their own rooms and still stay up ourselves, if the mood struck. Much better than a hotel room! The next day we woke up and drove to Universal Studios. We had a three day park hopper pass and were excited to use it! We headed to Hogsmead and here are some of the things we saw: Here we are in front of the Hogwarts Express! We went to Zonko's Joke Shop We wen...

Before he left for Afghanistan, Phil set up the hammock for me on the back porch. It was actually part of my Mother's Day gift, along with an electronic reader. He thought that it would be an enjoyable spot for me to be able to read and unwind. He was right, it is fabulous. Apparently, I'm not the only one who thinks so . . .

I am behind, but that is nothing new. Caleb turned four last month. He had two parties. One he had with his classmates during joy school. It was a fortuitous coincidence that I happened to be teaching his classes the week of his birthday, so on Thursday, after our projects were done we got cupcakes and ice cream. It was messy, but fun. One the day of his actual birthday, we did our family activities. He was so much fun, because he is finally at the age where he understands that this is his special day and he was super cute about it. He especially loved the part where he got to choose his meals. He had pancakes for breakfast, a chicken nugget lunchable for lunch, and pizza for dinner. We ended the day with a lemon fish cake, which was delicious, and presents. It was a great day for a great little boy. Blowing out candles on his cupcake at school. The fishy cake, and no that does not refer to the taste. ;) More candles. Opening presents . . . YES! The boys wearing their new bir...

On Monday, my little Chase turned two. It is hard to believe that so much time has past since his birth. Time is just flying past and I can't seem to get it to slow down. He is such a smart little guy. He is happy and just a joy to be around. He is such a little love and enjoys "kiss mommy cheek." I love him so much and cannot imagine our family without his wonderful presence. He runs, he jumps, he jabbers, and he loves us all so well. Happy Birthday sweet boy. Thank you for coming to our family. This was my lame attempt at making a robot cake. It looks silly, but it was yummy so I guess that is all that matters. Chase is checking out the contents of his first gift bag. Hmmm, I wonder what it could be. Fun stuff. Blowing out the candles.

Last night we took the whole family to the church for Nathan's Blue and Gold Banquet. We took a fruit salad and got to eat some really delicious pizza, along with some other yummy things that other families brought (can I just say, hello good peanut butter cookies?!). I was happy not to have to cook dinner. The boys played some getting to know you bingo and a balloon relay race. Then they handed out badges. This is Nathan's first year doing scouts. He didn't do it in Hawaii because he was involved in First Tee and that was the same day as the scout meetings. Anyway, he got his Bobcat Badge yesterday. I almost missed it because I got called out of the cultural hall into the RS room to look at some stuff for our February RS activity. I came back to the banquet and Nathan was at the front and they were looking for his mom, so he could give me a bobcat pin. I went up and he pinned it onto my shirt, and that was the end, so we helped clean up and went home. Nathan play...

While Heather was here over Thanksgiving, she was good enough to take some pictures of our family. I wanted to take them by this fabulous oak tree that, to me, symbolizes the South. Unfortunately, it was very rainy the day we went to take the pictures, so we ended up going over to the Seabee Lake and shooting under the cover of a picnic pavilion. Here are a few. Chase Caleb Jocelyn Nathan Phil and I The boys The girls The Family (I just Had to throw this one into the mix because Caleb makes me laugh. What a goofball!)

Recently, Phil and I reupholstered our dining room chairs. We bought our chairs years ago, and they were looking, frankly, pretty terrible. When you have four kids, they tend to spill things a lot. Our cushions needed some new life. When my mom was here back in October, we went to look at fabric, and I found some that I really liked. Later, when it was on sale, I went back and bought it. It sat around for a month or so, before I finally got my act together enough to actually do it, but one night, Phil and I sat down and knocked it out while watching a football game. It looks fabulous! We also got some clear vinyl and placed it on top of the fabric, so that spills would be easier to clean and the new fabric would stay looking good for a longer period of time. After and Before