Sunday Fun

While we were away on our epic field trip, my mom held down the fort. When Catye and Mike picked us up from the airport, they brought this little morsel with them. Unfortunately, she was sleeping. But about 10 minutes from pulling up to the front door, she opened her eyes. Raef, Zach and I were ecstatic to see those blue eyes. It took her a minute to register our faces in her sleepy brain. Man, I missed her so much.

Eli has developed an obsession for coins, which started right before we left on the trip. Every night, that is all he wanted to talk about: coins, coins, coins. Oy! Naturally, his unabated enthusiasm spilled over to his little brother. This did make it exceptionally easy to know what to bring them back from our trip. Rinar even found some gigantic coins. This was Eli's face when he saw the gigantic ones for the first time.  Priceless!

Now any time there is a visitor to the house, they get treated to a perusal of his cool coin collection.

And Noelle just loves grandma!

On Sunday, Jamie and Leah came over for dinner after church. Mike and Catye stayed the night. Right before dinner, Catye and Mike went to get in some showers. They were pretty exhausted because their son Paul kept them up all night.  As I was finishing up dinner prep and taking a phone call, Rinar comes running in to tell me that the shower door exploded. When I got down there, I witnessed a scene of glass carnage. And poor Catye and Mike were bleeding. Luckily, no stitches were needed, but it was pretty bad. Both Rinar and I were vacuuming and vacuuming and then Catye and Mike had to get glass pulled out of hands and feet. I am just very grateful it was them, and not a baby in that bath. They are okay. But now that this is the second time a sliding glass shower door has exploded on us, may I recommend never getting one in your house? They are horrible!

Catye and Mike Have a Baby

Monday was an incredible day.  I got the call I have been waiting for from my sister Catye. It was time. Her baby was coming.  I was so excited. I really hoped to be able to be there for the birth of her first baby. It was such a privilege.

Catye went into labor in the morning. I got there just before lunch. And then we waited. At about 6:30 she started pushing and it lasted for two hours. Amazingly enough, I was able to stand there and help her for most of it. But then I got tired and thought it was probably a good idea to have a seat and rest.  The doctor came in at about 8:30. The news was not that good.  The baby's head was up instead of down and he just was not going to come out.  There were two options: forceps or a c-section.

It got a little intense. Catye started to get a bit panicky.

Look, I have had 3 c-sections and am getting ready to have number four. I told her it was not a big deal. If they had to do a c-section, it would be fine.  Catye was very fortunate that she was under the care of a very experienced doctor and so they chose to use forceps.

There was a lot of tugging and pulling. Thank goodness this girl had an epidural.

But, it was all worth it.  Look at that chunker!

Paul, 8 lbs 9 oz and 21 inches long. Catye was not that big, but man she made a a nice chunky little rascal.

He is so precious. I am so proud of my little sister. She was definitely a warrior.

Now it is time to be a mama.

Welcome to the world, Paul. You are lucky to have two wonderful parents.

Evenings of Fun

It was great to be able to go to Salt Lake City for the week. We were able to catch up with friends and family. On Monday night, we went with my sister Catye and her husband Mike, Jamie and Leah, and Melanie, Halle, and Caleb to Seven Peaks water park for a fun night of swimming and sliding.

We got a sweet deal. It was free!  Catye is working there right now. It was a lot of fun to go with kids and a lot of adults. There were plenty of grown-ups to help with all the little ones.  Melanie, Jamie, and Zach made a good trio because they are all very daring.  Me...not so much, thank you.  After the water park, I went with my family to The Pie for some delicious pizza.

Tuesday night was a blast as well.  We headed to American Fork to catch up with Lindsay, Justin, and their crew. They just moved into a complex where there is a community pool.  The kids were in heaven, catching up on old times, and swimming like crazy. I love all of these kids so much.

Kinley girl.

Ali

Melanie put Taryn in the pool with a regular diaper. Then the poor girl walked around, looking like she was going to give birth to an exceptionally large soggy-bottom nappy.  It was quite funny.

Taryn and Malaya

Jump in kids! Weeeeeeee!

These two are buddies. They have always been the best of friends. We miss them so much.

I was also able to babysit for Melanie so that she could go to the temple. It was a nice morning. We took a walk to the playground and the whole time we were walking, Caleb read to me from his Time Warp Trio book.  So stinkin' cute.

By the end of the week, Caleb told me that Zach and him used to be worst enemies, but now they are best friends.  Aaah.  Zach also seemed to make amends with Breken and they are now on better terms.  They are no longer worst enemies as well.  Zach can now officially mark two more names off of his Worst-Enemy List. Whew. Thank goodness.

Standing in front of their house: Caleb, Raef, Ava, Zach, Halle, and Taryn

Friday night was great also because we were able to see Catye, Mike, Jamie and Leah one more time. We did dinner at Cafe Rio and then went back to Jamie's apartment for some Wii action and football pointers.

Catye and Mike stayed over so that they could catch the Saturday finale concert at the school.  It was a fun week and I am glad I was able to do it.

Mike and Catye's Wedding

Friday, October 7 was the big day for Mike and Catye.  I prayed really hard that everything would go smoothly, and the Lord truly blessed us.  There were so many things that could have gone wrong, but didn't. The marriage was at the Mesa Temple. It is one of the oldest temples the church has built.  The inside was beautiful and the ceremony was so wonderful. It was sacred, simple, peaceful, and full of joy. I am so glad that I could be a part of it.

It took about one hour and Catye and Mike emerged as a new married couple around 12pm. Look at those two. So stinkin' happy.

This is the official wedding party. Don't they look beautiful? I made the bouquet on the drive up from Tucson. It took me less than five minutes. But I thought it turned out great. It was so perfect for the pictures.

Catye wore turquoise loafers. I bet she bought those at Walmart or somewhere chic like that.

Catye found her dress on Craigslist in Provo. It cost a whopping $90! It fit her perfectly.

These are the parents, my Mom and Dad on the left and Mike's parents David and Dawn.

After pictures, Rinar and I had to get to Tucson quickly. I calculated that if I got to Tucson without any delays I would have just enough time to go to Costco and buy all of the food for the reception. And boy, was I right.  We got on the road at about 1:30 after getting some drive thru at Arby's. I dropped everyone off at the hotel by 3:30, was shopping at Costco by 3:50, checked out by 4:30 and then made it to the church at exactly 5:00, the scheduled time.

The menu included Chick-fil-a chicken strips (Rinar picked them up later), bacon, scrambled eggs, fruit salad, and a waffle bar with various homemade syrups made by my talented and intrepid sister Christi. Everyone loved the syrups. They were a highlight of the reception.

Things got a little bit crazy leading up to our 6:30 go time. We had set up the church the night before with a whole bunch of wonderful volunteers from my parents' ward.  I cannot begin to show the gratitude I have for all of them and the help they were to pull this all off. Amazing people.  No matter where I go, I always have sisters in Zion and we speak heart to heart. Anyway, everyone helped out and we were mostly ready. It was a lot of fun. There were not a ton of people, but the ones who came stayed for the duration of the reception.  I must have done a good job if they felt comfortable enough to stay for 2 hours.

Heather helped me with my kids and took some pictures. Love this girl!

I made a bunch of aprons and ended up wearing one myself because I didn't have a chance to change back into my church clothes.

They had a first dance with each other and with their parents. It was really sweet.

One of Catye's bridesmaid's, Amber, took charge of decorating the car.  It was sticky noted to death.  My brother contributed to the graffiti. Apparently on the driver's side it said, "Don't be a fool, wrap your tool."  Really, Jamie?  Sheesh.

We cleaned up super fast and were on the road to the hotel by 10pm. Christi's kids looked zonked, huh?  This was their silly picture, with Chance, Mya, and Lije. She has such good kids...4 gems.  It was a lot of fun to hang out with them for the week and to make fun memories together. 

But I am glad that it is over and I am back in Reno.