Happy Birthday Rory!

Rory today you are 5!  I can't believe how fast these five years have gone.  Not so long ago you were a tiny little baby, with floppy ears, and the cutest dimpled chin.  Now you are a big girl who likes to keep us all on our toes.  

Right now I love how much you care about your brother and sisters.  I love that you copy everything Cadence does, much to her irritation.  I love that you let Beckah beat you when you play games so she won't cry.  I love that you are always trying to help Owen do things he probably shouldn't be doing.  

I love that you make up silly songs all the time and love to dance to any and all music.  I love that you are loving gymnastics.  That you are good at it.  That it is your "thing."  I love that you want to be a polar bear veterinarian AND a pop star when you grow up.  If anyone can do it all you can babe!  

I love your little voice and your little pixie face.  You still have those floppy ears and that adorable chin.  I love your beautiful brown eyes that are shaped just like your Daddy's eyes.  I love your crazy long hair.  

I love that you are excited to go to school and be a big girl.  I love that you aren't afraid to do new things.  

I just love you.  Everything about you.  

Happy Birthday Rory!

Rory's Birthday Party!

Rory had an awesome Birthday!  She always asks for the craziest stuff for her party.  This year it was a polar bear cake.  Polar bears are her favorite thing right now.  I'm glad that she told me a month before her party that she wanted the polar bear because finding something to copy wasn't easy.  Not that many polar bear cakes out there that were cute.  But I finally found one!  I thought it would be harder than it was.  Pretty much I cooked the cake in a Pyrex bowl to make the head and used a few cupcakes to make the nose and paws.  Then all I had to do was dirty ice it and put on the fondant.  I did build up parts of it with frosting to be just the right shape I wanted.  Rory was super happy with how it turned out!

We had lots of snack type foods, our sprinklers set up in the yard since it was hot out, and of course a pinata.  Rory loves a pinata. LOL

We had such a great time with everyone who came to celebrate with us!  

Rory's 4th Birthday Party

Let me start by saying that Rory always asks for the most interesting, least mainstream party themes. Last year it was a purple duck party. 

Yeah. 

Purple. 

Ducks.  

Let's just say that purple ducks aren't exactly easy to come by.  

This year she wanted a Very Hungry Caterpillar party.  This was much easier to accomplish.

Rory made me a list of everyone she wanted to invite.  Both sets of grandparents were in town too as we were blessing Owen the next day at church.  It was super fun!  

Some of Rory's favorite people are her Sunbeam teachers at church and their little boy, Hyrum.  We were super glad they were able to come (Rory talked about it for a few days after).  Hyrum is only a few days younger than Beckah and too cute for words (evidence below).

Our good friends Megan and Jeremiah let us borrow their water slide for the day and it was a HUGE hit. 

Here are Beckah and Chloe enjoying some sun and watching the big kids be crazy on the slide. 

Rory of course had to have a Caterpillar "cake" which was easier to do with cupcakes.  It was very fun! 

The little kids liked the cupcakes too...they left trails of frosting everywhere they went...

Here is a picture of my dad with Owen.  It was super awesome to have him and my mom up, along with Brady's parents.

And no summer party is complete without a pinata. 

We looked all over for a Caterpillar pinata but in the end we went with a butterfly.  I managed to get the pinata, got it filled with candy, got a bat to beat it with and then totally forgot to get rope to hang it from the tree.  My awesome husband managed tie two of my shoelaces together and hung the pinata up with that.

The big kids had to use the blind fold the first time around. 

The younger ones got to swing at it with just the bat.  

Beckah even wanted a turn. 

Everyone got lots of turns...

...because the butterfly was insanely durable. 

Even our strong older boys were having trouble. 

This next picture is one of my favorite pinata moments.  Beckah really wanted a turn again, so Brady took advantage of "helping" her to do some damage to the pinata so that the kids could actually get some candy out of it.  He would swing really hard at the pinata and Beckah would laugh SO HARD.  I will have to see if there is any video of this from my mom because it was so funny.  

After Brady "weakened" the super butterfly they kids got another turn and this time they would see some candy.  

In the end our new neighbor, who is nicknamed Juicy, got in a good swing and the candy was set free!

Then it was present time!

And of course, because these kids are all 7 and under they slowly crept closer and closer to Rory until they were practically sitting on her while she opened the presents.  Thankfully Megan was there to help keep things from getting out of control so I could keep taking pictures. :o)  We heart you Megan!

It was super fantastic day.  We topped it off by going to dinner at Ruby Tuesday's with the Grandparents and Megan and her kids!  Rory tells me it was the best birthday ever!  

Part of me can't wait to see what she comes up with next year.  

Happy Birthday Rory

Three years ago today I had a baby girl.


My pregnancy with her was my easiest.  I was sick in the beginning, because I always am, but the rest of the time went by way to fast.  Then, during the last month I started having really bad pain in my hips when I walked.  It got worse before to long and I was so ready for the baby to come.


My Doctor, God bless his soul, could tell and offered to induce me.  He explained that I was favorable (already at a 3 and about 75%) and he was sure that I would take well to the medicine and things would go perfectly.  He was a good doctor and I trusted him.  So I asked when we could schedule.  His only opening that week that worked with the hospital was September 2nd.


I did try to get things going on my own the weekend before my induction.  Caster Oil got some contractions started, but nothing that was lasting.  So at 11:45pm on the 1st of September, 2008, Brady and I left a sleeping Cadence in the care of my wonderful mother and headed to the hospital to have a baby.


We were excited to meet her.  The excitement didn't have the biting edge to it that we experienced when we had Cadence.  This time we had a pretty good idea of what to expect and so this ride to the hospital was much calmer than our first. 


We got into a room by 12:15am and the paperwork insanity began.  So much to sign, read, understand, and sign again.  The nurse who placed my IV took several tries.  I hate that part the most.  She finally listened to me and place it in the back of my hand.  It's where it always ends up, but everyone always thinks they are the IV placing wonders of the universe and will get it in my arm.  Sigh. 


Finally, at around 2am they started me on the meds.  Mountain View isn't a bad hospital, but they do things "by the books" unless you force them not to.  I didn't know at the time that most hospitals start you on way to high of a dosage. Instead of starting at a low dose and working their way up to good contractions, they start at a ridiculously high dose and constantly have to turn it up and down, which can cause all kinds of baby and mommy issues and why a good number of babies go into distress and have to be removed via c-section.  I didn't know any of this until much later.


I was at a four quickly and they broke my water.  Shortly after I was begging for an epidural.  The contractions were insane.  The hospital was busy so I had to wait.  I finally got it and had some peace while my body did it's thing.


Then the nurse, wanting to hurry things along, upped the pit a bit.  Jerk move. I had already gone from a 4 to a 6 in two hours which was VERY good time.  My body was already hurrying.  After about 30 minutes on the increased pit my epidural couldn't keep up and I was feeling a LOT of pressure and a LOT of pain again.  By then I was at a 7.  The nurse promised that she would send in someone to fix my epidural, but he didn't get there very fast.  I was pissed.  All I wanted to do was MOVE to get in a better position but my legs were useless.  He gave me a boost and that helped, but not much.


Then of course the baby's heart rate started to drop with each contraction.  It was terrifying hearing her little heart beat all but stop.  The nurse turned the pit off completely and that solved that problem.  She warned me that my labor would stall and things could get ugly.  Good thing my body new what it was doing.  It kept right on going, and very soon it was time to push.  I knew it was time.  My body was pushing all on it's own with out any say from me.


Nurse kept telling me to stop pushing.  I told her I was trying but the Doctor had better hurry.


Then the Doctor was there.


Brady was holding my leg and telling me how awesome I was doing.  Bless the man, he is such a comfort to me.  Just having him there in the room makes things better.  Six quick pushes and at 10:14am out she came, screaming her pretty little head off!  The Doctor put her up on my chest and I remember how amazing that moment felt.  She took a piece of my heart that day and will have it forever.


One look at this baby and I knew the name her father had picked was perfect.


She was Rory.  My beautiful, spunky, LOUD Rory.


I was much bossier with the nurses this time and she stayed with me and was nursed right away.  She was a greedy eater.  She needed to be since she was small.  Healthy but small.


She is still small.  Her personality more than makes up for that though.


I looked at her this morning and I felt myself tear up, remembering that moment the Doctor placed her in my arms and I looked into her dark eyes for the first time.


She has grown so much, and we see glimpses of the amazing woman she will be. Fearless, gentle and kind. Amazing, beautiful and confident.  My goofy Rory.  My sweet Rory.

Happy 3rd Birthday Rory-Girl!

Rory and Aidric get their party on!

Rory and Aidric had their 1st birthday party on Sat! It was a blast and there was much preparation for this massive party beforehand! I made the cakes and it was totally fun! Here is what it looked like once assembled and frosted...

There are a total of 6 cakes involved here! The bottom layer was banana cake (SOOOOOO GOOD!), the middle layer was pumpkin chocolate, and the top was lemon! It was awesome!

The is the finished cake!



And the smash cakes which were rainbow chip! :o)

The party was awesome and we had so much fun with all the kids that came, and especially all the family that was able to come from all sides! I'll let the pictures tell the story from here!