Katelyn's Baby Blessing

Katelyn's blessing day was absolutely beautiful in every way. She was beautiful, the weather was beautiful, and most of all, her blessing given by Ben, was absolutely beautiful. 

She hated taking pictures, but look at that cute little bracelet! Annie let me use it. And there was a matching mommy bracelet that I got to wear. It was special. 

We had a small breakfast gathering before we went to church. 

Grandma Allsop w/ Katelyn.

Grandpa and Grandma Westbrook w/ Katelyn.

Alit, Brittany, Grandpa and Grandma Allsop w/ Katelyn.

I think we have a picture with Grandma Bev, but it must be on Ben's phone. They were so sweet to come from Vegas just to be here!

My mom, Megan (holding Halli - Tyler and Annie's little girl), Corey, and Annie.

Annie, Devin, Sarah (16 weeks along!), and Alan

Ben's Grandma Allsop, Katelyn and Kaylene, Tyler

We also have a picture of Grandpa Allsop on Ben's phone. I'll update it soon.

It was really fun to have everyone at church with us and Troy didn't even cry when Ben left to go give the blessing. He may or may not have been eating candy the whole time though...

We also really loved having family stay during the second two hours. It is so fun to be with family through all of church! There is nothing like sharing spiritual experiences with the ones you love the most.

Hide and Seek

Ben has played hide and seek with Troy a lot. Ben waits for Troy to hide, counts to ten, and then pretends to not know where he has hidden and looks throughout the whole house before finding him. Troy giggles every time Ben says, "He's not in here!"

Today I was making dinner and Liam went under the dinner table. I asked him what he was doing and he said, "Hiding." Me: "Do you want to play hide and seek?" Liam: "Yes!" So Liam went to hide while I counted to ten. Troy wanted to join in. They both went and hid. Troy hid in a corner and Liam closed his eyes while sitting on the floor. Haha. I did what Ben usually does and they loved it. Then Troy said, "Your turn mom! Hide!" But I was making dinner, so I just went and kept making dinner. I thought Troy would get mad, but he actually did exactly what Ben and I do. He pretended not to see me and opened every door and said, "Are you in here?! No...." I started laughing out loud. Troy took his turn again and hid in the exact same spot. So, I just kept making dinner and he pretended to not see me, and get very proud of himself when he "found" me. 

Then Troy and Liam played with each other, but Liam would actually go looking for Troy through out the house for several minutes, yelling, "Troy! Where are you?" Even though Troy was hiding in the EXACT same spot every time. They crack me up! Liam still just stands there watching you count and then laughs hysterically when you say, "You're right here!"

Another funny at dinner time happened before the hide and seek game. Troy was acting whiny because he had just woken up and it takes him a few minutes to get happy. He refuses to be happy even when Liam and I are coming up with really fun things to do. I was saying no to most of the things he was asking for, "Cookie? Candy?" etc. He then asked if he could have some pepperoni in the fridge. I said yes. He was pretty surprised and said, "Mom I want 4." Me: "Okay, great. Here are four." Troy: "No, I want ten." Me: "Troy, are you just trying to get me to say no?" Troy: "Yea...." 

I made it.

Ben has been MIA for a while, and he finally took his test yesterday. I made it! This week was adventurous. I had to go to the bank with all three kids. Liam is hard enough by himself. I discovered that he can only go on errands if he is strapped into a stroller. Otherwise I just chase him. It is actually very helpful to have Troy with me. He can push Liam in the stroller, while I carry Katelyn. While the bank man was processing some stuff, I tried to keep the kids entertained by letting Troy take pictures.

I made this face.

And then Troy copied.

Liam started to copy the face, but got distracted by the hood of his stroller. He rubbed his head on it for several minutes after that.

Some quick highlights of the week. I got to go to RS because they had the young women babysitting. Troy and Liam were the only kids, so they had their own little party in the nursery room. 

We had preschool at our house again for the first time since Katelyn arrived. It wasn't as bad as it could have been. We had lots of fun with shapes, balloons, paper plates, writing, and dancing.

Daddy ate dinner with us for about 10 minutes each night before he went to study. He made sure to get his Katelyn time in. Troy took this picture. It's one of his favorite things to do since the time at the bank.

There was beautiful weather on Friday, so we ran outside as soon as possible and played at the playground until lunch time. Liam can do everything that Troy can now.

Annie made this SUPER cute headband for Katelyn's blessing. I LOVE it. 

Crazies this week: Troy and Liam got out the block of cheese and starting biting huge chunks out of it. I don't know why I ever answer the phone when they are awake. Liam got a hold of a knife and stabbed his apple with it. Troy discovered he can open the garage, and so he opens it and then Liam escapes. I lock the basement door now.

I love my mothering life! (Not sarcastic, I really do, by the end of the week these things are funny.)

Messy House and Conference

Messy house?

Or planned obstacle course?!

I was actually cleaning out a closet, the boys quickly made a mess of the items and then decided to jump over the items over and over. Whatever keeps them busy/not breaking things!

Liam randomly took his shirt off and did a little dance. I had to take a picture.

Ben has been super busy, but he always has his Katelyn time for about 10 minutes whenever he can squeeze it in. I'm so proud of him for studying so hard. But I'm also excited for daddy play time to come back at night!

Conference was Heavenly. Sunday was my favorite because I got to watch it with Ben. We were at Mom Allsops and it is always really fun to be there with family. Croquet tradition is back!

Here is a sneak peek at Sunday! Katelyn gets to have her baby blessing!

Here is the dress I found.

And here is the finished product with a little jacket that my mom made with me! (Well, it was really mostly my mom, I'm not that much of a sewer. Thanks mom!!) Now I need shoes and a head piece!

Easter Activities

On Saturday we went up to Layton to go to the annual Merril Easter party. Egg hunts, good food, and fun times together. Here it is in pictures..

 Liam was SO excited to discover candy in the eggs. He goes absolutely nuts and screams, "CANDY!!" At first he didn't understand what we were all doing. Who cares about plastic eggs? He grabbed the basketball and started to go shoot. But then he opened one. He grabbed the candy and threw the egg behind him and ran up to several other kids asking, "Open please?" Haha.

Troy was an expert egg hunter. We had an egg hunt earlier that morning at our church. Ben was in charge of it. It was really fun. 

Troy wanted Liam to enjoy it too, so when Liam didn't act interested, Troy started grabbing eggs and putting them in Liam's basket instead of his own. It was ADORABLE.

Aunt Brittany held Katelyn like the whole time. What a sweet Aunt!! There is mom in the background. She brought all of the egg stuff for the boys. I love the help.

Liam enjoying some much needed Daddy time. Test in on Friday and then we will have him back!

Here are the kids with their baskets. Two of them are Ben's cousins and the rest are cousins kids.

Andrew, Lawson, Emma, Presley, Troy, Liam, and Natalie

Josie, the young girl next to Liam, is a mini mother. Every time she is there, she plays with all of the kids and watches over them. She says she just wants to be a mom.

I was grateful to be able to go to church on Easter. I decided to take Katelyn to church (I have been very cautious because of the amount of kids getting RSV in our neighborhood.) I still didn't take her out of her car seat. It was really special to go on Easter and think about why I get to be with my family forever. I have always known that I would see my dad again, but as I get older I am more thankful for that reality if I am faithful. I love Jesus Christ and what he did for me. I try and wrap my mind around the atonement and crucifixion, but it is difficult to fully grasp what He did for me. But I am thankful for the chance to repent every day. I am excited to be able to see my dad and brother and grandparents again someday.

Katelyn's Birth Story

After many nights of labor teases (I feel that false is NOT the right word for it) I was very ready to go into labor. This labor was very different from my first two. Ben and I went to bed at around 10:30 Monday night, but I didn't feel very good. I wasn't having any contractions, but I thought my body was in pain from having contractions for so long. I was never able to fall asleep. Very unusual for me.

I started to feel contractions about midnight. I didn't have any hope that it was labor, so I watched Hunger Games to pass the time. At 1 a.m. the contractions started to radiate to my back and legs. I decided to get Ben up and call Devin to come over. We got to the hospital and I was at a 5. I snail progressed for the next few hours, so the nurse swiped my membranes to see if she could get it going. I wondered if my body had forgotten how to go into labor! It's a different experience wishing every contraction to be more intense. I wanted to feel that pain so that I knew it was really going to happen! At 6:30 a.m. I was at a 7-8. My contractions were a couple of minutes a part the entire time. I was getting SO antsy for transition. The doctor started me on a very low dose of pitocin. I said no at first, because I havn't heard the best stories about pitocin, but they assured me that it was a very low dose. The nurse said that I might not even notice, but they wanted to try anyway. I wanted him to break my water and he did at 7 a.m. Once he broke my water, it was SO intense. I have done this twice, and it was definitely different this time. My body FLIPPED out.

My extremities went numb and I couldn't feel them. I felt that tingly feeling when your foot falls asleep all over my body. I didn't have a lot of time to focus on that because I started to push. I should say I needed to push and they didn't want me to, but it's not really something you can "not do." The nurse checked me and I was only at a 9. I was like, well I can't really help it! The doctor came in and said, "I know you are at a 9, but you'll be there in a second. Go ahead and push in the next contraction." Hallelujah. After two contractions and sets of pushes, she was here! Tiny and perfect!

I have never felt so much relief in my life! They put her directly onto my chest and I was in heaven. I was overwhelmed with joy that she was here, the labor was over, she was healthy, and she was in fact a girl! I was stitched up, I fed her for the first time and every hospital member left. I was anticipating "after labor" this time, and so it didn't seem as horrific as it was last time. I loved the alone time with Ben and Katelyn. I also enjoyed staying in the hospital the full time period. It was SO nice to be able to just rest and recover. It was a much better recovery this time around. I was so grateful for all of the babysitting help from family. And, that's the story!