Claire Elise

Claire Elise was born last Sunday, October 24th, 2010 at 7:38pm.  She was 8 lbs. 5 oz. and 21 inches long.

We are so glad that she finally made it here (five days late)!  She is a sweet baby girl. 

Right off the bat we decided that she has Mom’s lips and Dad’s toes (long and skinny).  We are still undecided about who her other features belong to.

My water broke early Sunday morning (1:45 am) and we headed to the hospital.  They checked things out and then sent us off for a walk.  We did some good hospital exploring and saw basically no one besides the occasional security person.  At about 7 am they decided that it was time to help things along so they started giving me petocin.  By about 4 pm I was ready for an epidural.  It made life much more pleasant.  After about an hour and a half of pushing, Claire made it here safe and sound.  Mark even cut the umbilical cord.  It was so sweet to see him with his baby girl.

Mark’s parents were able to see her right after she was born and my mom spent most of the week at home with us.

We are so happy to have Claire in our family!

Catch Up

We have been super bad about blogging again, so here is a brief catch up on what you have missed.

Knee Surgery

On January 22 I had fun and exciting knee surgery (really it scared me to death.)  I had my ACL replaced (with some of my own hamstring) and had my meniscus cleaned up and tacked down.  Here is my knee after 10 days, it had been wrapped up until then.

 

 

 

 

 

Mark was great at taking care of me including being my human crutch (to get up stairs), wrapping my leg in a garbage bag so I could take a shower and being the cook.

I went to physical therapy three times a week for almost two months.  Now my knee is good to go.

Mark’s drawers

Our built-in entertainment center in the family room had lots of shelves.  Mark decided to make them into drawers so that they would be better suited for holding stuff.  After buying a few new tools (like a router) and lots of planning he went to work in the garage.

I think it turned out to be a bigger project than anticipated, but we now have 16 very nice drawers to store everything.

Nursery

At the beginning of the year we started our new calling…nursery.  It was a little overwhelming at first, but now we have the schedule down and enjoying being in with the kids (unless everyone decides to cry at the same time.)  It has been fun to be able to be in a calling together.

 

BABY!

On Feb. 20th, we discovered that we were going to have a baby!  Mark kept thinking that I was crazy, that I couldn’t really be pregnant yet, but when I showed him the test, he had to start thinking that I wasn’t completely nuts.  Even when we would tell people after that he would say “I don’t know how it happened” until I teased him enough that he stopped saying it quite that way.  Here is a picture of me (and my belly) at about 3 months (about the time morning sickness was ending!)

Here is our bean baby at 10 weeks.

In March we found out Mark’s sister Mary was also pregnant and due about a month after us.  Mary correctly predicted the sexes of both babies before ultrasound!

On May 25th, we found out that we are having a GIRL!!!  That is what I was guessing, but I think that Mark was guessing that it was going to be a boy.  According to the ultrasound the baby looks healthy and on schedule.

Here is baby’s whole body (head on the left side.)

And here is a silhouette of her face. You can see her left had too.

We got to do another quick ultrasound the following month so that they could look at her heart and spine better.  It was amazing to see how much she had changed in a month.

She is due to be here October 19th!

 

Uncle Blake

In March Mark’s Uncle Blake and his family came to Logan for a visit, so we went down for the weekend.  Here they are at the Fun Park skating.

Card Houses

For an FHE in May, Mark decided that we should build card houses and catapults to launch pennies at them to knock them down (card houses and rubber bands is a favorite Mark past time.)  It was kinda fun (especially because I won, though Mark’s catapult was a little more original than mine.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kristina’s Wedding

On Memorial Day weekend my good friend Kristina got married in Salt Lake.   We were able to go to the sealing and the reception.  It is the only live sealing that I have been to besides ours.  It was great to be there with them.  We hope that they are doing good and look forward to seeing them more when they move to Logan this summer.

 

Grammy’s house

After Kristina’s wedding we went to Vernal for the rest of the weekend to visit Grammy.  While we were there we decorated graves, went four-wheeling, got pizza, went to the Green river and skipped rocks (which Mark is much better at than me even though he is the one that taught me), and just visited and enjoyed one another.

 

Crib

I found a crib and changing table on Craig’s List for $25!  We jumped on the offer and went out and got it the next day.  I was excited to have a matching set.  I think they will work quite nicely.

A few weeks later I also found a nice bassinet for $5.  Yay for good deals!

 

Heber Valley Camp

The middle of July we went down to Utah to have a family reunion with Mark’s family (siblings and parents) at Heber Valley Camp (church owned, used for girl’s camp during the week and families on the weekends.)

We ate yummy food, went canoeing on their little “lake”, went for a hike and celebrated Clark’s birthday.

 

Maddie’s dance recital

That same weekend we got to go to Maddie’s dance recital.  She took jazz this year, it brings back memories.

 

Oregon

We went to Salem, Oregon to visit our friends the Olsen’s over the 4th of July weekend.  We went to Portland for a day and went out to dinner, went to the International Test Rose Garden, hiked in Forest Park and walked along the river.

 

We went to Silver Falls State Park and saw several waterfalls and we watched fireworks from their porch.

On Monday we went out to the coast.   We went through Lincoln City and stopped and played at the ocean (built sand structures, skipped rocks and wadded.)  Then we went down to New Port and went to the Yaquina Lighthouse.  We saw tide pools while we were there too.  It was Mark’s first tide pool experience (I even convinced him to touch a few things.)

Curtains

After buying fabric for curtains in January, I finally got around to making them.  We now have curtains in the family room and the front room.

Sawtooth’s

Mark went camping with his friend Kram in the Sawtooth Mountain Range (a couple of hours NE of Boise.)  They had some picture taking fun while they were there.

Wyoming

The next weekend we went to Mark’s Grandma’s cabin in Star Valley Ranch, Wyoming (a six hour drive) for a family reunion (Mark’s Grandma and her sibling and all of their kids.)  On the way out we stopped about half way at Lake Walcott and camped for the night.  We enjoyed the 18 hole disc golf course at Lake Walcott the next morning before going to Wyoming.

While we were in Wyoming we weren’t very good at taking pictures (as in we didn’t), but we did have fun.  We went swimming, floated the Salt River, met Mark’s brother’s (Kirk’s) girlfriend (Jessica) and socialized. 

Mark’s Birthday

Mark’s birthday was on the 18th.  We drove home from Wyoming that morning.  We finished reading The Hunger Games on the way back, it kept us entertained and awake.  A very good book.  Then we had yummy dinner (steak, potatoes, shrimp, scones, and salad.)  That was followed by German Chocolate cake.  Mark got a new game Puerto Rico, Beatles Rock Band and a bike “computer” so he can tell his speed and distance, etc.

Salisbury Shin-dig in Boise

Last weekend Mark’s whole family (except Brad :( ) came to our house.  It was especially exciting because I got to meet Mark’s sister Lisa and her kids (they have been back in New York so it has been awhile since most of the family had seen her, but they are now in Coeur D’Alene so hopefully we will get to see them more!)  We went to Roaring Springs (the water park in Boise), the MK Nature Center, floated the Boise River, played Rock Band, made ice cream, played Nintendo…..  It was fun to have everyone together and watch the cousins play together, even if it was a little chaotic at times with 17 people under one roof.

Christmas Break

This year HP mandated a two week break for Christmas. That means that we got to spend lots of time away from work (which we did not miss much) and lots of time with our families.

We started the break with the Salisbury family party in Logan. Even though we were late, we were right on time for dinner. We ate and chatted and then there was a Nativity program. People played the different parts and sang songs. I thought having the songs with it was really nice. Mark was one of the Wiseman along with TJ and Josh. They sang "We Three Kings." We did a white elephant exchange (the younger kids didn't quite get the idea, they didn't want the presents they got and couldn't understand why they couldn't get a different one.) We ended up with a puzzle and one of Grandma Marilyn's paintings. After the party was over we played games with Mary and Isaac and Kirk.

The next day Mark and I drove down to Vegas (because I thought that we should go somewhere exciting while we had so much time off.) When we got there we went to the Stratosphere. We went on the ride on the top that the call the Big Shot (it is like the Rocket at Lagoon.) Then we went to dinner at the Top of the World Restaurant also at the top of the Stratosphere. It was a revolving restaurant which was neat. We could look out at all of the lights. We stayed at Planet Hollywood. From our hotel window you could see the Belagio fountains. It was really fun to watch them from up high, though we couldn't really hear the music.

    

The next day we went to Hoover Dam. We went on the tour and got to down in the dam. While we were there, we stood above one of the 30' diameter intake pipes. You could feel the floor shaking. It was pretty cool. They also showed us the generators. It was cool to learn about how they had built the dam.

                                               

Near the dam they are building a new roadway with a bridge. While we were there, we saw them add one of the pieces of the bridge it was interesting too. It was amazing how high up the workers were and how tiny they were in comparison to the bridge.

  

 

After that we went the the Ethyl M. chocolate factory. You can watch them as they make chocolate and they give you a sample at  the end. They also have a cactus garden that we meandered through. Then we tried to find a Marshmallow factory and the Ocean Spray factory. We couldn't find the Marshmallow factory and Ocean Spray no longer does tours (but Mark slid down the railing for fun), so that was the end of our factory tours for the day. But there was an In-N-Out close by so we went for lunch. MMmmm.

 

Mark really wanted to see Avatar so we found a nearby theater (located in a casino) and saw it in 3-D on the Imax screen. It was really good. I think that it is Mark's new favorite movie.

That evening we went to the buffet at our hotel and ate a ton of food. It was very good. Then we did some walking on the strip. It is entertaining to see all the ways that they can spend money to decorate their massive buildings (and how big of a maze they can make them into.) Right accross from our hotel was the new development, City Center, so we walked through that too, and watched the Belagio fountains a few times too.

The next morning we did a little more wandering, grabbed In-N-Out for lunch again and then headed back up to my Mom's house.

On Wednesday we went tubing with Maddie and my Dad and his family at Soldier Hollow. There was a tow rope, so you didn't even have to walk back up. Wednesday night we went out to dinner with Mark's Grandpa Frank and his wife Mary. It was nice to be able to visit with them. I had never been able to just sit and talk with them before.

On Thursday, Mark and I finished up our shopping and help get things ready for Christmas. Grammy also came into town. For dinner we had the traditional candlelight pizza on China, watched the Grinch, read stories and then headed for bed.

Christmas day we opened presents and had breakfast. Mark got me a flash for my camera which I had been talking about for a long time (now I need to figure out the intricacies of using it) and HDR software which will be fun to play with too. Mark got the New Super Mario Bros. (he had been asking me to open it for weeks), a system to play his old Nintendo games on, and a disc retriever for Frisbee golf disks (no more wading in the ponds!) It was good to be home with family and I am glad that Grammy was there too.

That afternoon after dinner, we went up to Mark's sister's house in Clinton. The rest of the family had come down from Logan so we got to spend some time with them. Mark was glad that he was able to see his family on Christmas too.

We spent Monday with Sara and her family in Clinton. We had good breakfast, went swimming, ate pizza and played games. It was good to spend time with them just playing and relaxing. Thanks guys!

On Tuesday we went up to Logan to stay with Mark's parents. We went to the temple and visited Kirk at work. Mark helped his dad with his newest Lego project and we played games with Mary and Isaac.

On New Year's Eve the family went up to Isaac's parent's near Preston to join their celebration. There was lots of yummy food and we played a few games and banged on pots and pans with the kids. After that we went back down to Logan. The boys all fell asleep by eleven (Mark was feeling sickly.) The girls stayed up and talked until midnight. Then we did a few fireworks and went to bed.

The next day we played the game that Sara’s family had gotten us for Christmas, Agricola, with Mary and Isaac. Then it was time to head back to Boise. It was nice to be home after being gone for almost two weeks. We had a few days to get settled back in, go grocery shopping, and go to our first day in Nursery. We were teased about being called to Nursery, and then it happened. I think that it will be a good experience.

Currently Mark is working on converting the built in cupboards with shelves that are in the family room into built in cupboards with drawers. My next project is making drapes for the windows.  I am also going to have knee surgery on Friday.  Scary! Life presses on!