Update

Life continues to be busy, but we're doing great. I have so many pictures I want to post, but just haven't been able to find the time. Here's a brief update.

Christmas- Fantastic week in Utah at my parent's house (not so fantastic drive to Utah as we drove with the storm.)
April's Wedding- January 2nd, Seattle Temple, Beautiful, Fun reception with dancing (Tay did the worm in her flower girl dress)
Teagan- Blessed two weeks ago (the blessing dress was made by Gramma with lace tatted by Aunt Christy)
Parent's Move- Less than a mile away and in our ward, (YIPPEEEE!)
New Pets- Tiki (Tay's guinea pig) and Salazar (Britt's ball python.) *Working hard to make sure one isn't a meal for the other. :)
Snoqualmie- Flooding (we live up high, but school has been canceled the last three school days.)

I'll try to get pictures and more details up, but honestly... it might take awhile. I still haven't finished unpacking. Thanks to all those wonderful friends who sent Christmas cards. I'm sad we didn't get ours out this year. Thanks to those wonderful friends who didn't send Christmas cards. It's nice to be in good company. :)

Halloween

First of all I have to say that I LOVE our new neighborhood. It's perfect for trick-or-treating. Lots of houses had Halloween decorations out, and there was plenty of candy to be had. :) Our friends, The Picards, were in town so they came over for pumpkin waffles and trick-or-treating with us. It was great catching up with them. Also, Gramma and Aunt Christy were here as well. Christy, always the fun aunt, was dressed as Wendy from Peter Pan. Tim dressed as Mark Anthony. Last year I was Cleopatra with him. Hopefully I can squeeze back into that one next year. Britton was the Grim Reaper, Taylor sported a Super Girl costume, Teagan was Super Baby, and Colin... he threw together what he termed as the "Ultimate Super Hero" costume. Spiderman was the base costume, with a Robin Cape and gloves. The Thing chest plate and mask finished off the look for him. He made us laugh the whole night as every 20 minutes or so, he took another piece off. Five year olds are awesome!

Pumpkin Patch

We went to a pumpkin patch last Saturday. We enjoyed hot cocoa, hot cider and a hay ride. Colin was particularly excited about going.

More Teagan Pictures

Teagan's Hospital Pictures

Teagan Claire

We haven't had a chance to download pictures yet, but did make it home from the hospital this evening. Everything went smoothly on Thursday. We went to the hospital at noon, and Teagan was born at 2:11 am on Friday. She's healthy and perfect. She weighed 7 pounds 3 ounces, and is 20.5 inches long. I'm feeling good. My mother has been an amazing help, as well as April.

Tim was able to stay both nights in the hospital with me, and is taking a couple of weeks off of work. Britton, Taylor and Colin are excited to have time with him, while we settle in wih a new baby.

Another bit of good news to tie in with Teagan's birth... Ali asked April to marry him today, and she accepted. We're all thrilled. Lots of fun things going on here right now.

Thanks to all of you who have been keeping us in your prayers and thoughts. We appreciate it.

Baby Plans

Here's the latest information on this pregnancy. My blood pressure is bordering on the high side, so if this baby doesn't make her appearance by Thursday, she's going to be induced. (Uggh, Pitocin) On Monday and Tuesday I'm going in for Prostaglandin gel, which we're hoping does the trick. (It did when I was pregnant with Britton and 10 days overdue.)

As with every pregnancy, I'm just ready for it to be over. I guess I need to reign in my impatience though. Christy, my sister, reported to me the other day that Colin told her, "Mom just wants this baby out of there."

And no, we still don't have a name for her. I keep telling my mother that she will get one eventually.

On a totally unrelated note, I've been back posting a bit from this summer. If you're interested, you can just scroll down a bit.

Perks of April's Social Life

My sister, April, is dating a great guy here in Washington. As a bonus perk to her happiness, he has also made my life easier. We have a difficult time regulating our kids on their computer time. Ali works with computers, and has lots of "computer guy" connections. After listening to me whine one night, he was able to find a software program for me that makes it so the kids have to log in before playing the computer. I will be able to control the amount of time they play, when they play, track what they play, etc... It gives them a warning at 15 minutes, 10, 5, then counts down before it shuts off their time. (So if they didn't save their game, it's their own fault.)

You can also give the kids codes which will allow them bonus time. I plan to make them bonus time coupons as a rewards for good behavior. I'm excited about the possibilities here.

Ali also said that they make something that you hook to the back of your television which does a similar kind of thing. It cuts off the power when their time is up. Sounds good to me.

PS. April and Ali have taken the kids to the movies, which is why I actually had time to install the program and blog about it. Did I mention that I like this guy for her? :)

Another Update

We're still not moved into our house, but we're kind of camping out there. After 3 weeks in a hotel, we decided to sleep at our house even though we're still waiting for our stuff to get here. (There were no hotels in Snoqualmie, so I was driving the kids all to school in the early morning hours from Issaquah.) Today our first batch of things arrived. It's the things we were able to ship by air from Tanzania, so now we have kitchen stuff, sheets, and some toys. Yippeee!

We all love it here. Snoqualmie is a great place for kids. Britton, Taylor and Colin have enjoyed the nearby parks and all the neighborhood kids. School is off to a good start for all of them as well. Britton is at scouts right now with Tim on a canoe trip. There are lots of fun things to do around here, especially right now before the rain kicks in. :)

I want to get some pictures posted, but we're not really set up for that yet, and things are kind of crazy. I'm looking forward to when life settles down a bit, and I'm able to get back into blogging. Until then, we're alive and well.

First Day of School

We still don't have very many pictures downloaded on this computer since coming back to America. I plan on posting more pictures, but right now it's just too much effort to get them from the lap top. :) Here's one of Britton and Taylor's first day of school. (Colin started the following week.) We celebrated by buying overpriced popsicles at the strategically placed ice cream truck outside Taylor and Colin's school. The kids were beside themselves with joy to have access to cartoon shaped popsicles again.

Summer Update

During our house hunting trip to Washington, we bought a house in Snoqualmie. We'll drive to Washington the end of August. It's a big relief to have that all figured out.

Taylor's baptism is tomorrow. We're looking forward to that. Scott, Chelisa's brother, is getting married on Tuesday, so things are pretty busy here.

Colin's summer goal is to collect as many cereal box and Happy Meal toys as possible. He's been quite successful, especially on the interim when Tim and Chelisa were house hunting. Britton and Taylor are enjoying playing with the neighbor kids here.

It's difficult to keep the blog updated while we aren't at home. We'll get pictures posted eventually, but it may still be awhile.

Chicks Check In

With the crazy schedules this summer, Chick Weekend was postponed, but these old BYU roomies were able to at least check in with each other for a bit of shopping and some lunch. It was wonderful catching up, but made me impatient for the real thing. We missed Amy Jane. Unfortunately, Steph found more than she was looking for in the stores. Shocking what is allowed in retail these days. :)

Dinosaurs and Daltons- what could be more fun?

We were lucky enough to be in Utah at the same time as our friends, the Daltons, from Concord. We met up in Ogden at the dinosaur park there, and had a great time catching up.

Aunt Christy's Castle

Christy's apartment building in Hollywood kind of has a castle theme. The kids all loved visiting her there, and especially liked the touret like ceiling in her kitchen. When they first came into the building, they thought the entire complex was hers. :)

We're Back in America With Grocery Stores!!!

Colin's expression sums it up for all of us.