Dimples

What's cuter than this? Probably nothing. I know, I know, I am biased but seriously people, look at those dimples!!!

Doesn't she just make you happy! This is how she wakes up every morning. If you want to start the day out right come on over to my house in the morning and let my baby warm your heart with her toothless grin and cutest dimples! I love this girl!

Her BEAUTIFUL blessing dress was made by my mother... No not just by following a pattern, she made it up! I know she is amazing!

Blessing

We're Blessing Kaia this Sunday at eleven o'clock!

Singing and Smiling

While KayBree was at school today Kaia and I decided to play with Daimen in his room. Kaia loves her Brother even when he gets right in her face. I got a good video of Kaia smiling at Daimen after he kissed her.

And here is one of her singing her beautiful songs!

ENJOY!

Smiles

My sister, Aletha, took this picture of Kaia on her Blackberry. We finally caught her smiling! She is such a happy baby and smiles, giggles, and talks to everyone. We love this princess!

The Road to Retirement

So the world as I have ALWAYS known it is changing. My Dad, the work-a-holic, decided to retire. All my life he has worked, and no, not just the 9 to 5 kind of job but the, wake up at 4 get home no earlier then 10, kind of jobs. And when I say jobs I mean plural. He worked for Social Services and Prevention Counseling. He ran all the different AA type Meetings, he was a College Professor for UVSC. He had a farm where he fed cows and horses so they didn't escape, and when they did he would fix the fence so they wouldn't escape again, but they always found a way. He cut, baled, and hauled hay and had to move miles and miles of sprinkler pipe by hand. He was seriously never home, but now he will be. I'm not going to lie, I am a little worried as to how he will adjust with his new found free time. He has never been the kind of man to sit still. He was always going, he taught each of us kids the meaning of hard work and the rewards of a job done 110%. He is my HERO! Love ya Dad!

Me and Mom at his Retirement party in Heber.

Daimen decided to use my sister, Amy's crutches and stilts.

Baby Kaia is 6 weeks old. She now weighs 8 pounds 5 ounces. She is getting so BIG! Look at her double chin!!!

I Love this BABY!

KayBree loves that she can carry her around all by herself. She is such a great big sister!

Kaia loves her big Sissy!

BIG YAWNS!!!

Things that have been going on with....

Josh- has school, work, more school, and more work. I honestly have to say that I MISS this man. I know he comes home and four thirty (if we're lucky) and is home for the rest of the night, but when he is home he's really at school. Blasted online classes, I swear these professors think that their class is the only one he is taking, so they pile on the busy work, not even helpful-for-tests kind of busy work, nope, just the meaningless kind. When he's not home, he's at work running around like a crazy man. He drives all over Utah taking clients to Court hearings, interviews, Dr. Appointments, etc... At first I was worried about him driving so much, he hadn't completely conquered his Iraq induced road rage which could be dangerous for all, but as it turned out, it has actually helped him find his long lost driving happy place! Yay!
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KayBree- has been having a hard time doing her homework. She hates to do it. When she gets home she wants to play which is understandable. I have been trying to explain to her that if she would hurry and get it done right after school then she could play until bedtime with nothing to worry about. She thinks I'm mean, so I backed off. Then we started a sticker chart, the faster she gets it done, the more stickers she gets, the faster her chart fills up, the closer she is to getting a prize. It has worked wonderfully! She is smart; she gets it done so fast. She's happier now and I'm happier now, which makes for a happy family. She is also such a great help with Kaia. When I'm doing something, she just takes Kaia and I don't hear another peep from the baby. She also wrote a book about how to take care of babies. It is so cute! I think it should be published, with the exception of the page that has a detailed picture of how to feed her. Haha!
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Daimen- started preschool. He loves it. He now gets to do dance class and tennis. He did tennis for the first time and came home discouraged because he wasn't good at it. I told him no worries; I wouldn't be good at it either. He also came home from preschool stylin’ a different shirt yesterday, apparently his friend decided to pee on him; I laughed and couldn't wait to get a phone call from his mom. I love her she's hilarious. Daimen also decided that his faux hawk was overrated so he promptly got some scissors and cut the front clean off. I had to shave his head and now he looks like a cancer patient with big ears. It also doesn't help that he got sick a month ago and lost 10 pounds, so his face is all sunk in and you can see his ribs so I guess he looks like a starving Ethiopia cancer patient with big ears. Awesome. I am trying to fatten him up, it's a slow process.
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Kaia- is five weeks old and getting chunky! I am so excited for a chunky baby. She is so happy and smiles so much in the morning. She is a great sleeper and eater, and only a little spoiled. She absolutely loves her Daddy and won’t be happy with me when she knows he’s home from work. She loves to play with KayBree even though she ends up with doll clothes on and in the doll stroller, luckily she fits. She loves Daimen too and smiles so big whenever she sees him even when he’s a centimeter from her face. I swear that would drive me nuts but if she doesn't like it she'll punch him with her flailing arms. It's pretty funny. She is so dang CUTE!
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And lastly Me- I am obviously not doing anything too exciting. Ya know, that normal mom stuff, feeding, changing diapers, cooking, cleaning, laundry, dishes, helping with homework, entertaining a four year old, etc... I doubt I will ever be completely caught up in all of these areas, but for right now I don't mind. I am enjoying my babies, and life as it is right now, stress and all. So many experiences in my life truly testify to me that I am blessed beyond anything I really deserve. My whole life I have had a plan of how I thought my life should go, a plan that I thought would make me happy. Everything on that plan has failed, and yet I am happier at this moment that I have ever been in my life. I have come to realize and accept that I am not in control of my life, which I am grateful for because I'm positive I wouldn't do a very good job. I am so grateful for my parents and my siblings. I love our family and our close knit connection to each other. I know that they would do anything for me and I would do anything for them. I love that my parents are always there for me, even if I call them every day they don't get too annoyed, well mom doesn't. :)

I am so blessed.

My Birth Story

I have had many people ask how the labor with Kaia went, so I thought I would just write a post.

We went in to the Women's Center at seven in the morning to be induced. The nurse hooked me up to all the monitoring crap and commented on the fact that I was already contracting without the pitocin. "Cool," I thought, "this labor is going to be a breeze! She'll probably be here and in my arms by 7:30 am!" So they started me on pit and the contractions were significantly harder from then on.

Before this labor I had been reading a book about hypnobirthing... just so everyone is aware, pain free labor is a bunch of crap! I agree that relaxing during labor reduces the amount of unnecessary pain you cause yourself, but completely pain free is a myth. Basically the point I am getting at is that my labor was anything BUT pain free.

Soon 7:30 came and went as did 8:30, 9:30, 10:30, 11:30... Never before had I been in labor this long. My contractions were horribly strong, with less than a minute between, the nurse had a really hard time trying to slow them down. Then they were back to back, one hard contraction that never stopped. So someone came in and gave me a shot in the arm of a magical substance that helped my contractions space out. This labor was weird, it felt like regular contractions with the addition of pain in my lower back like someone was digging a knife into me and twisting it like a mad man. Later we found out that Kaia was posterior and putting pressure on the nerves in my back.

All of the hard contractions I had been going through were doing nothing but cause me pain, my body wouldn't dilate past a 6, so at about 2:30ish, after almost 8 hours of horrible contractions, Josh asked me to get an epidural. It was really hard to get one, my previous experience was horrible, so I vowed I would never get one again. I didn’t have one with Daimen so I knew I could handle the pain, but back labor was a whole different ball game. I agreed to the epidural and bawled the whole time for my pitiful failure, but now looking back I am so grateful that I got it. I asked the anesthesiologist for a low dose so I was still able to feel everything just not the pain in my back and it helped me dilate the rest of the way in only an hour. The labor was even fun (who can really say that)… I really love my doctor and my nurse was my best friend in Aggie Village. We were able to joke and laugh the entire time.

The week before I was due I had a doctors appointment and I told him about this horribly uncomfortable sensation that I had bugs running around under the skin in my legs and I asked him what could cause that… he got kind of quiet and then said “The only time I have ever heard of that is from crack addicts.” I was so embarrassed, obviously I’m not a crack addict but I felt instantly guilty and worried that he really thought I was on crack cause I do act like it some times, but we were able to laughed about it with him. So when Kaia was born he held her up and said, “Wow, she looks really good for a crack baby!” We all started laughing, with the exception of my mom and Wendy, who had no idea what he was talking about. It was awesome!

Here are some pictures of our beautiful Kaia, they make her look too old a chubby but they are the best I have! Enjoy

At the hospital.

With Daddy getting ready to go home!

Horrible pic of Mommy in the hospital with Kaia.

Big Sis KayBree and Grandma with Kaia.

The cute blankets and outfit sent by the Grandmas of Blanding!

Big brother Daimen admiring her cute little piggies!

I caught her smiling, you cant tell by the picture but she has the cutest dimples ever!

Beautiful Baby Kaia! We are so glad you're here!

Baby Kaia

*~*Kaia Raisor*~*

August 20th, 2009

6 lbs. 8 oz. 19"

Highlights

* Josh was offered a new job as the Medical supervisor at Youthtrack. He’s gone from 8-4 everyday. It’s good but it did cause a problem with school. So now he will be attempting online classes this semester. Pray for him and his ability to be self motivated… he will do great….

* We had a Family reunion over the Fourth of July at Yellowstone.
Some things I learned... Josh isn't so good at horseshoes, No cabin is big enough for my siblings to all coincide peacefully for seven days, Yellowstone is a place for people who have never seen wildlife of any kind (don't go unless prepared to stop at the sight of a chipmunk), Nature hates Josh, I love my parents, Josh can get anyone in my family to laugh until purple...

* Daimen had swim lessons. He is becoming quite the little swimmer; I just need to teach him to keep the water out of his mouth because during the second week he got the Rota virus. He was sick for two and a half weeks and lost at least 8 pounds, now weighing in at a whopping 29 pounds. He weighs the same as he did on his 3 year check up.

* KayBree started summer school. This was the test to see how she would do with this new school I’ve put her in. She LOVED IT!!! I am so excited, she couldn't wait to go and learn, which is a drastic change from the girl who came home every day from Kindergarten hating life. It made me very optimistic and so much less stressed! She starts first grade on Wednesday! YAY KAYBREE!!!

* The 24 of July we spent up here in Logan with my parents. Some highlights... I signed Josh and my Dad up for a horseshoe tournament. I figured it would be good for Dad, he's amazing at horseshoes and Josh provides the comic relief. The good news is they won one match (just because it was against a pregnant woman and her husband)! Good job anyway guys! My mom, me, and the kids went to the parade, the kids got candy, they were happy. I was happy I didn’t have to drop kick rotten kids that run over and steal the candy before my kids can pick any up… oh I hate those kids. Then we went and got spray on tattoos for the kids, which gave my mom a great opportunity to teach a "your body is a temple" lesson to them. Daimen promptly got in the bath and washed off his $5 dragon tattoo because he just couldn't stand to have Grandma disappointed in him.

* We are officially frumpy Mormon parents due to our new ride... a minivan. I swore I would never own one but hence, no money plus more offspring puts you in tight position no matter who you are. It's really nice though, we love it, now we can’t wait to go to Disney Land in it with my brother and his wife next summer!

* I canceled my Facebook account... I wasted too much time on there.

* I was able to go to my BEST friend’s wedding! I was so nice to see her and her new hubby! I miss her so much!

* And yes, I am still pregnant. I did, however, get a baby shower which was extremely nice! I have some really amazing friends up here that I am so grateful for! Thanks to everyone who came!

* I will be induced THURSDAY!!!


LIFE IS SOOOOO GOOD!!!

Insomina

I believe I am an insomniac... It's 5 am and no, I haven't been to sleep yet. In fact I haven't slept this whole week... Is this my body getting me ready for a newborn? Is this some sick joke God is playing on me? Nothing I do helps me sleep... I cant even take a nap in the middle of the day.

So I've decided, sleeping is for chumps.

Long June Update

The month of June was an especially busy month for us,

here's a little recap mostly for my benefit.

My BESTEST FRIEND and niece was married in the SLC temple on June 12th. The week before I was able to come down and go through the endowment session with her and the family, it was a really great experience and I'm not gonna lie, I cried seeing her all grown up.

While I was in the Temple with Marlee my sister Aletha took the kids. Of course they were spoiled to death. She made Daimens Fohawk green with orange tips, he told us that he got lots of compliments about his hair. She took them to the Mayan Restaurant and they have deemed that to be the best place they've ever been to. Thank goodness for nice aunts!

We also went to Lagoon 3 times in less than 10 days. Let's just say that I am done with Lagoon for the year. Josh was able to get over his fear of the rides. He started out small, going on the little kids rides with KayBree.

Here they are on Dinosaur Drop, kids rocket.

Then he went on the spider with my nephews, which is my favorite ride.

I was able to take my nephews for almost a whole week while my sister was in Mexico getting the swine flu... just kidding she didn't get it. While I had them we went swimming at the Sports Academy.

Cute Spencer...

The kids in the hot tub...

The new Walmart opened up here so we went to check it out and look who we found...

The Kebler Elf!!! YAY!

And the Coke Bear!!! YAY!

We also went to Ryans Place Park, it's pretty awesome. If you haven't gone you should. We decided to do a little photo shoot there. :)

Josh drew Spencer a dragon picture while he was here, he really was more excited than he looked in this picture.

We Rode bikes...

Spencer, getting racked on my bike that is WAY to big for him!

KayBree, with some attitude... cant wait to double the attitude when we have two girls!

The boys, dealing nicely with the humiliation of riding girl bikes.

Daimen, attacking people with his shovel...

We tried to be all outdoorsy one night and roast hot dogs for dinner up the mountain, but it didn't work out for us... The kids still had fun.

Our fire pit that only got full of ash not fire... :(

Josh, mad at stupid nature.

Then we dropped my nephews off with my parents and went to Price to pick up three of Joshs little brothers. They were here for the next week. Lets just say that me and KayBree were feeling a little lost in the sea of boys. :)

Here is Daimen at his Birthday party! I cant believe he is four! :( Josh drew him a pin-the-sword-on-the-knight game for his party, it was a hit!

The kids were popping the balloons to find the candy that was stuffed inside.

Cute Bubba not quite chunky enough to pop the balloon..

My Dad brought up his bounce house for the kids to play in, needless to say they liked it.

Honestly Daimen got everything he ever wanted and more. Lets see if I can remember everything... two swords, Halo Hunter action figure, dragon, bakugan carrier, Dr. Pepper, art supplies, water guns, Bumblebee transformer, real tools with wood and nails, mini megatron transformer, and a Rocket launcher. Seriously what more could a boy ask for? Thank you to everyone who came!

On to the crap part of the month... Josh's computer completely blew up.

Making us buy another...

This was Daimens Favorite ride at lagoon...

Josh eventually got the nerve to go on every single ride at Lagoon with his brothers, this is the only picture I got of them, since I was just with the kids at the little rides all day.

My seky man...

Jeremy... what big eyes you have...

The whole gang playing Josh's game for hours and hours on end.

Joel hates having his picture taken...

Jarrell is Josh's youngest brother and was only six when we got married. We use to call him Bub but now we call Daimen that. Daimen absolutely loved having all the boy attention.

Joel was being nice and let me have one picture and Jayd was looking at him like he was insane. haha

Josh and Jade...

We had so much fun this month with all the company. We hope to have Josh's brothers again sometime, that is if they didn't get sick of us... :)

Now tomorrow we're off to Yellowstone for a week, hopefully I don't have the baby there. I got my ultrasound and they said that my placenta has moved up so I don't have to have a C Section. The lady who gave me the ultra sound seriously bruised my stomach she was so mean, but she did find that the baby is turned head down ready to come and that I am dialated already... so hopefully I will be able to keep this baby in for at least one more month...