New Family Blog

You may have noticed that the name of this blog includes 2 of our kids' names. However, we're expecting #3, so here's the link to the new blog...

http://jonnyandheather.blogspot.com

Randolph Quick Trip

On Halloween, my mom knew something was wrong with Grandma. Grandma had been staying with mom for a few days, working on histories. She became really short of breath, and couldn't move around without sitting a lot. My mom rushed her up to Randolph, where she could be home. They stopped and got oxygen and grandma had taken a water pill, to alleviate the pressure around her heart and lungs...etc. The rest of the day was very scary for my mom. She was worried that grandma might pass away.
So, Sunday, we packed up and went to Randolph to visit. Grandma was doing great! What a nice surprise. Lisa, Dad, and I rode up together, along with Lisa's 3 oldest kids, Tyler, Ashley and Daxton. I loved showing the kids around, telling them about my memories of that special ranch. Here's the pics:

The boys' room...The girls' room...

On our adventure, we found a bunch of cow bones. This was so fun! Lisa and I helped the kids gather some bones, and we explored around the place.
This is my favorite woman ever! Grandma holds such a special place in my heart. She is amazing. I listen to Ronan Tynan's "On Your Way To Passing Through", a song he wrote about his mother's passing after her struggle with Alzheimer's. I bawl my eyes out each time I hear his beautiful lyrics. "But her strength still burns within me, like the day she bade me stand. Put some courage in your dreaming, carve your footprints in the sand. For the dreams are for the dreamers, and the goals for me and you. Light a candle, say 'I love you', on your way to passing through."
We are so lucky that Grandma's mind is alert and quick. She's totally 'with it', but her eyesight is fading, and her heart has a faulty valve that could give up any time. I feel blessed to have her in my life, and will miss her so much when she passes away. Back in August, I blogged a little about my trip to Randolph then, and mentioned something about her love of her siblings. She longs to see them again. Of course, she also misses Grandpa. I have to set aside my own selfish desire to keep her here as long as possible, and rely on the Lord's timing. I'm so thankful that we know about the plan of Salvation, and where she will be when the time comes.I just LOVE HER!!!!!

Fall Fun

Happy Halloween!!!!
If you were wondering...there's a dead lady, a fireman, the white ninja "Storm Shadow" from G.I. Joe, and Cinderella.
The fireman arrived too late! She's DEAD!


There's Halloween, now: October flew by so fast! Here's a few lil' pics to update y'all...


On my birthday, Jonathan surprised me with a delicious lunch at The Chef's Table, with a beautiful necklace and huge bouquet of red roses. He's such a sweetie!!! Nelly came with me, since I didn't expect such a nice surprise...I should have found a babysitter!! However, she was adorable and well-behaved (for once!!!). It was awesome.
Nelly...the HAM!!!!! She's becoming more and more fun every day. I love watching her come into her own personality and sillyness. She keeps life interesting!!
Here's Nelly cleaning bathrooms with me. She loves this! Every few days, she'll say, "mom! We forgot to clean!!!" She wants to do it all the time. Watch out for bum cheeks!
At Marc and Karen's, we had a delicious turkey dinner. They sang happy birthday to me, too. Jerry, DeAnn, and Kyle were there, and it was so great to see them again. It was so fun!
Here's my bragging moment: I HAVE TONS OF MATERNITY CLOTHES!!!!!! The day I organized these: I cried the whole time. Grateful am I for my sisters and my friend, Shanna. Without you: I'd be naked. Or wearing skin-tight size 6!!!! I have so many comfortable, cute, and FREE clothes!! I had to take a pic, to share in my joy. All of you who have been preggers will understand the joy that comes from even ONE new outfit that fits. Thank you for your generosity!!!

At Hee Haw Farms with Logan and Kristi's boys. We never could get them to look up at us!! It was so fun. It was great to see them again. Isn't it nuts that we always see our bestest friends the least!?
Up on the hill at Grandma's house...


At Grandma's house, playing Play-Dough and loving every minute!

It's a Boy! And some tender moments!

For those of you who are laughing right now: I know. You saw it coming. We truly believed we were going to wait to find out the gender of our lil' babe until the birth. Yes, we had tricked ourselves into thinking this ridiculous thing. About a week ago, Jonathan and I were talking, and I asked him, "remind me: why are we waiting to find out the gender again?" He said, "I have no idea." So, I took that as a green light, and called Fetal Foto. On Thursday last week, we met there, and were THRILLED to find out that it's a BOY!!!
We would have been excited either way, but it's SO nice to know who's in there! We hope that it's a healthy boy! Everything seems great for now. We're very thankful that I'm feeling much better, and that he is growing and developing well. Here's some of the VAGUE shots.

That shows the 3 little circles, representing the jewels.



This pic, if you can see it, made me laugh really hard. Since it just shows skeletal-type images: he looks like a Halloween skeleton man! He's looking right at the camera here. Psycho!!!


Another "I'm a boy!" shot.



Profile view: so sweet! I watched him stretch, move, suck his thumb, open and close his jaw, flip over, and wiggle. He even had his legs in indian style for a while. I can't believe, at such a young stage of development (14 weeks), he is soooooo real and human! I forgot how fast they change and progress. It's so reassuring to see him moving in there!


On to the TENDER MOMENTS:
Jeffrey R. Holland's talk about the Book of Mormon...if you didn't see it: Click here

Here's a link of Seth Adam Smith's edited version with music and beautiful images along with Holland's talk: Click Here

This powerful, bold, and true testimony of the Book of Mormon changed me. I cannot deny the impressions and witnesses that came to me when I heard his talk. I realized many things. One of which: I love the Book of Mormon.

I have been eating up the Book ever since this talk in a very different way. I have been loving every minute. Last night, Brigham came to lie next to me while I was reading in Ether. He said, "what are you reading about?" I told him that I was reading about the Brother of Jared. He said, "oh, I know him. He built ships that could go under water, and he had lights in them that were stones." I said, would you like me to read some of it to you? He nodded, and snuggled up to me. "Wait, I also know who helped him get to the land," Briggs said. "Who?" I said. "Jesus Christ".

Then, I read Ether 3. As I came to verses 13, 14, and beyond, I became a blubbering mess, and could only stop to cry. Briggs held onto me. I told him that I knew this was true and that I believed in Christ. After I had read out loud the conversation between the Brother of Jared and Jesus Christ, when he learns that his faith is what brought about this miracle of seeing the Lord's finger, then asks the Lord to show himself to him... Ether 3:14 Jesus Christ says "Behold, I am he who was prepared from the foundation of the world to redeem my people. Behold, I am Jesus Christ. I am the Father and the Son. In me shall all mankind have life, and that eternally, even they who shall believe on my name; and they shall become my sons and my daughters."

The faith of the Brother of Jared overwhelms me. Jesus Christ told him that no one had such great faith as him. What a humbling experience for the Brother of Jared. Moroni explained that the Brother of Jared "had faith no longer, for he knew, nothing doubting".

I learned so many personal things from this particular study. Having Brigham with me brought the Spirit so much stronger. I hope to have some of that same faith. I appreciate Elder Holland's testimony, now that I've been able to see things differently, and learn new things for myself.

Thanks for letting me share something so personal.

Here's another sweet experience: this morning, before Jonny boy left for work, we knelt for prayer. Chanel wanted to say it. This doesn't happen often, b/c she usually will freak out after volunteer TO say it, by yelling that she does NOT want to say it! We let her say it, and it went something like this:
"Dear Heavenly Father, thank thee for this day. Thank thee for grandmas and grandpas, and Charlie, and Brigham. Thank thee for Daddy go to work. Thank thee for our play. Thank thee for Jesus gets betters. Thank thee that Jesus has no owies. Thank thee for President Monson. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."
There were a few repeats, like Charlie, and president Monson, which make it so much cuter! But, I was a boob again! I was so proud of her. This was a prayer that she was thinking about as she gave it. She's not even 3 yet. What a doll baby.

As an aside: one reason I share these experiences is because they so RARELY occur!!!!! I'm not trying to say, "here's exactly what our home is like 100% of the time! Eat your heart out!" ha ha ha ha ha ha. Tender moments is ALL we get sometimes. I just had to put them into words, trying to express how awesome they were to me.

San Diego

Since Jonathan had to go to San Diego for a fireside and a few meetings, we all decided to come along. What a fun trip!!! It was a long drive, but not too bad. The kids were great. We drove to San Diego, went to the beach, Sea World, and visited some old friends. We only wish we could have stayed forever!! The people in Escondido were FABULOUS. They hosted an amazing fireside, where several hundred (like 700) came to hear about how they can get involved as a stake in online missionary work. It rocked!!!

These Sea World pics are awesome. I love Chanel's face on this next one...
Jonny and Briggs were brave enough to sit on the 3rd row!!! They were right next to that platform in the middle. Nelly and I sat waaaayyy up on the billionth row, to avoid the water. It was a great show, though. I filmed a lot of it...even caught the boys getting really wet!
Our favs: dolphins.
Looking at the otters.
This was the only way to get Nelly to stand by them for a pic...I had to stand there.
Pets Rule show...pig.
Our only full- family pic at Sea World. I was pretty possessive of the camera to avoid any awkward preggo shots.
We had such an amazing time in San Diego. Here's the church where the fireside was held. The members were soooo hospitable and sweet to us. Jonathan and Karen did a great job in their presentations.

Here's a pic of the kids at the stake president's home, where his cute daughters took care of them.
Here's the poster the Escondido stake made for the fireside. They must have done a ton of work to publicize this event. We were shocked at the amount of people who came. Awesome. They were all fired up to get involved in the online conversation about our church.My ideal day: beach!!!

Strawberry Reservoir

We knew we wanted to go on a family trip with Jonathan's parents and brothers and their families. We just didn't know where. We all had about 10 ideas, but finally: Strawberry Reservoir was the place. We heard the elk (and the cows), wondered about the large hole that was freshly dug near the cabin, boated, BBQ'ed, laughed, s'mored, and all agreed that we HAD to do this again. It was absolutely beautiful there.
Briggs looks so proud here...

Jesica was reading Fablehaven, and was somewhat disappointed when the ending wasn't quite an "ending"...but she looks forward to reading the next one.

Jared always makes us laugh. He's the party man.

Chanel loves his Uncle Jared. He can do no wrong.
Gorgeous view. We saw deer right here, and 3 elk a little further.


Tagg and Grandpa. G & G were sweet enough to stay with Tagg whilst the rest of us partied it up on the boats. Thanks, sweet Marc and Karen!

Here's Chanel with her twin, Grandma Karen. Chanel's middle name is Karen...maybe that's why they look so alike!
Spoiled dog! Charlie was in heaven here!
Chanel in the dog cage...for fun?
Cutie sis-in-law buds! Bridget and Jesica.
I'm so glad I caught this lil' moment of the hand-off. So sweet!
Boston had enough of the tube! What a good sport, though!
Jesica's dad's boat. It was fun to have 2 boats, b/c we could film (and laugh at) each other.
This was the best. Boston and Chanel had a great time together.
Sea monster? Fish? No...it's Uncle Jared..."Lt. Dan!" Yes, he did the Forrest Gump jump of the boat. It was the funniest freakin' thing ever.

We love our family!!!

Passing out at the temple & First Baby Pic!

Friday was an interesting day. My cute mom drove down from Farmington to babysit my kids, so Jonathan and I could attend an endowment session at the temple. After the temple, we would have just enough time to go to my first doctor's appointment for this pregnancy.

We arrived at the temple a little late for the 7 am session, so we were able to sit in the chapel and just be still and quiet for a while. It was very peaceful. We were asked to be the witness couple for our session, so we accepted. During the endowment session, we were kneeling at the altar together. I started to feel queasy and gross, but didn't know if it was because I was going to vomit, faint, or die! My head started to drift downward, toward Jonathan's hands on the altar. He asked, "are you okay?" and I said, "no." I stood up, Jonathan helped me turn around and sit down. The temple workers all came to help me. They escorted me out, and as they did, I apologized to the people who were sitting there, confused.

They sat me down outside of the endowment room, and called security. They brought a lovely wheelchair, and took me to the first-aid room. I was crying the whole way from embarrassment. I felt soooooooooooo dumb! I was given OJ and crackers, and Jonathan told me to lie down on the bed in there. (It's nice to have an EMT for a hubby during times like this). He was very comforting to me.

Then, we walked down an obscure hallway back toward the locker rooms...and bumped into our friend, Bronson. He looked at the OJ and crackers in Jonathan's hand and said, "did you just get hungry, Jonathan?" We laughed, and then were dressed and headed out to IHOP for food.

Doctor's appointment: all is well! Although, I had to experience both arms getting poked at the lab! Ouchy! Baby has a heartbeat! We're due on April 8th! So excited! Grateful! Glad that day is OVER!!!!