Kidding...I was Kidding

I was mostly kidding when I told Andy to get his injuries in now, while our deductible for the year has been met. But, of course, he took me seriously. And this will most likely not be the last time.

He is doing fine and it wasn't really that bad. I didn't see what happened but the story went something like this..."we were having lego boat races in the bathroom. I was standing on a stool and the stool slipped and I fell. My chin hit the counter."

ouch. His chin split open and his teeth bit through his tongue. He's a trooper. The funniest part to me is how well the doctors know us at the Instacare :)

Here are a few more pictures for your viewing pleasure...

Soccer

Noah's first soccer goal of the season (and celebratory dance). He actually made 2 goals in this game. Which is amazing because he's never even made one before...unless you count the goal he made for the other team last year.

My Budding Scientist

I couldn't be more proud. When Noah, my Kindergartener, showed some interest in doing a Science Fair project, I jumped on it...and it was amazing! (I might be a little biased...)

His project was on whether or not food coloring changes the taste of food. And he won 3rd place in the Science Fair (among the kindergartners, at least)! Perfect...good enough to place but not enough that we have to put more work into moving on to District (is that bad of me to say?)

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Here he is with his friend, Mazie, who placed second (isn't she adorable?) And isn't he tall? He definitely has the Hanks genes for height.

For those of you interested, his conclusion was that food coloring does not change the taste of food. Although it did trick some people into thinking it does...

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Some pictures of the process...

When it rains...

So the past six weeks of our lives have been eventful. We had our beautiful baby girl (have I mentioned how cute she is?) after which Ephraim battled kidney stones for 14 days in a row. We were all set to bless baby Kate on February 3rd when his pain started. After 2 ER visits, Ephraim finally had a lithotripsy done on February 16th to remove the stones.

And the latest?...We went snowboarding yesterday up at Brian Head. It was a beautiful day...until I fell and broke my arm. my shoulder. no cast, just a sling for a week until the pain subsides. Then exercises to help it heal faster.

When it rains, it pours. And the medical bills are pouring in. We have met our family's deductible for the year already, so I told my children to get all of their bone-breaking and stitches in now while it will be cheaper. and for those of you who know Andy, you understand.

Around Here (aka, Picture Overload)

We've had some exciting news around here lately. The MOST exciting being the birth of our beautiful baby girl, Katherine Grace. We like to call her Kate.

She is an amazing addition to our little family, which seems "not so little" anymore.

The labor and delivery was my hardest, by a stretch (I will remind Kate of this during the tough teenage years). I passed out, bled (a lot, like 3 liters a lot) and the labor and pushing was longer than the others. But it was all worth it in the end. 8 lb 3 oz, 21 inch baby Kate made her entrance into this world at 4:03pm on a cloudy January 23rd. And we can't get enough of her.

Welcome to the world, little cheesy vernix baby.

We all assumed she would have blonde hair and blue eyes like her brothers. But we were surprised with dark hair (a long tuft of it at the crown of her head) and dark blue eyes.

Her brothers love her. A lot.

Andy, waiting to hold her...

I'm loving the pink. and the flowers. and the bows.

Other news headlines include...

Lucas Kimball is potty-trained! He decided about 2 weeks before the arrival of baby Kate that he wanted to wear big boy underwear. And we are all as pleased as punch!

Noah got a "Student of the Month" award at his school in the area of Science/Social Studies

Andy...well, Andy is just as cute as ever...

and Ephraim, oh Ephraim. He is battling a kidney stone for the 9th day in a row. Any suggestions? I feel like we've tried everything...from 2 ER visits, to a CAT scan, to home remedies, to drugs (legal, of course).

But we go on. and our family feels complete. This time for sure.

Ch..Ch..Ch..Changes (and a little Halloween)

We've had a lot of things going on around here lately...most of which seem to involve buying things and moving furniture. We started with getting rid of our "newlywed" table that only seated 4 people. With the 6th arriving in about 2 months, it just wasn't going to work out anymore.

Soooo...here's to the old...

Let's bring on the new...

I love it. It seats several more and is a good use of wasted space. Thanks to Brian Clark at BC Creative for building this!

We're also in the process of transforming the "office" into a baby room. It still has some transforming to go, but it's on its way.

Before...(this is the best pic I could find...which is of the desk and a cute little boy)...

and after... (this baby had better be a girl)

I've been changing a bit. I was hoping that this baby might come out a little smaller than the others (since she's a girl and all), but I seem to be growing just as fast.

And Halloween was great this year, as always. The older boys are really into Star Wars...and Luke, although he wanted to be Yoda, was happy to wear his brother's hand-me-down Indian costume.

My parents came to visit for a week during Halloween and we were able to do lots of fun things (one of them being when my mom made the cushions for the new benches in my kitchen...well, maybe that was just fun for me...thanks so much, mom!)

One. More. Baby.

I briefly mentioned in the last post (which was too long ago) that we are pregnant with our 4th (and final) child. (I always say "we" because I am a bear to live with while I'm pregnant. Ephraim experiences almost as much grief as I do).

We recently had our mid-pregnancy ultrasound...and...we found out we are having a girl!

I am very excited in so many ways. And scared in so many others. But mostly excited. I have always wanted a girl. And I love the fact that she is coming at the end of my wild, energetic, and fun-loving boys. But I'm also nervous about all of the worries, stress and drama that come with raising a little girl. Any suggestions to raising a girl would be greatly appreciated.

I look at these ultrasound pics every day. I love them. And I love her so much already.


I am mostly grateful that our baby looks healthy and is growing like she should. I can't wait to hold her in my arms and see what (and who) she looks like. It almost makes the last 4 months of this pregnancy seem bearable.

And for fun... I found this picture in our archives. Seriously, Andy, what are you thinking? And who took this picture? Oh wait, that was me.