Welcome Graham!

We had a new arrival on Saturday, June 6th. Graham Ryan Everett was born at 11:14 pm, weighed 6.8 lbs and is 20.5 inches. His delivery was on the quick side, as we got to the hospital at 10:00 pm. I had been having contractions off and on, throughout the evening as Todd and I went out to dinner with some friends, took the baby-sitter home, and started watching a movie on tv. It wasn't until 9:30 that I really got convinced that I was in serious labor. I just kept thinking that the contractions would stop, since that had been the pattern for the previous week. Luckily, we delivered at our local (tiny) hospital, so we didn't have far to go.
It was such a relief to have our baby here, safe and sound! The delivery was a little frightening because the cord was wrapped really tightly around his neck twice. But, after a minute or two, he was crying with the best of them and is just perfect.
Todd went back home around 2:00 a.m. and had big news to share with the kids when they woke up Sunday morning! ("The stork came during the night!" j/k)

The kids came to see me and Graham right after church on Sunday afternoon. Pretty impressive that Todd got them up and ready for our 8:30 church after his long night.

Truman was so cute with the baby. He has been looking forward to this for a long time, and was very interested in helping to get Graham's room ready along with his clothes and diapers. He loves to hold Graham whenever he gets the chance. In fact, tonight, as we were tucking him in, he was crying because "I didn't get to hold the baby tonight!" He often walks into my room and asks, "Where's my baby?" When he is talking to Graham, he always addresses him as baby Graham. "Hi, baby Graham!"

That's all I have time for tonight!

Third Weekend in May

Todd planned a hike at Zion's with his brother and some friends, and my mother-in-law was kind enough to offer to have him bring the kids, too! They spent a hot afternoon on the "red rocks" on Friday and did lots of climbing. James (son of Todd's co-worker, Mike) Jacob, Emma, Parker and Truman.

Truman being spotted by Mike.

Second Weekend in May

This year Truman was included in our ward's Fathers and Sons campout. The boys had a grand, old time overnighting with Todd. And Emma and I lived it up by renting a video, eating out and painting our toenails together. We also took our time browsing at the library and really stocked up on books without Truman to hurry us along.

Emma's Baptism

On May 2, Emma was baptized. The program was so nice, and it was wonderful to have both grandparents here, along with Todd's brother, Ted, with two of his boys. We are so proud of Emma. She has always had a desire to choose the right, and to learn as much as she can about Heavenly Father's plan. We are blessed to be her parents.

Emma with Mackenzie, Hope, Heidi, Aimee, and Aubrey. What great little friends to come and support her on a special day.

At the end of April, Todd's sister, Stephanie and her family came for a few days. Tyler enjoyed playing with the boys, and he named Truman, "Buddy." I love the look on Tyler's face in this photo. He's such a personality!

Jonathan with cute Haylie.

Emma and Julie modeling their new pajamas from Aunt Stacey.

Easter

Some photos of our family Easter egg hunt. Every time Truman found an egg he'd say, "Oh. . . Wow!"

Emma cannot find the egg we told her was in the rosebush.

It's late now, but if I don't post these pictures tonight, it will probably be a few weeks before I get back in the mode. I'm mostly an "egg hunt on Saturday" kind of person, but Emma and I were gone too long yesterday to fit it in. So, here are the kids, ready to go. Especially Truman who has the sweetest tooth I've ever known. Here I am, 9 weeks to go!

Parker and Truman, not true to life. They are looking too chummy.

And . . . our vegetable boxes! I put this on for my mom, who wanted to see them. I am quite proud of our handiwork, though. I had the lumber cut myself at Lowe's and Todd assembled them. The kids and I stained them. We planted seeds and a few tomato plants. Todd and Parker did the edging and gravel yesterday. They are the one spot in our backyard that looks intentional.

Emma's 8th Birthday

Friday was Emma's birthday, and she turned down two invitations to other birthday slumber parties because she wanted to celebrate at home with us, having ice cream sundaes and watching "High School Musical 2" after the boys went to bed. I had to assure her the boys would be asleep, because at the video store she worried about her movie choice being appropriate as a family film because, as she said, "At the beginning, Sharpay sings a song that is a little bit . . . um . . sassy." She actually just saw the first HSM a week ago, and we have yet to watch #3.
I am finally feeling like I need to let her be like the other kids her age and watch these shows, even though I wish she didn't want to. I mean, honestly why couldn't the other 5,6, and 7 year-olds stick to Strawberry Shortcake and My Little Ponies? Parker just went to a "rock" birthday party for a little girl in his preschool who is a huge fan of American Idol. Ah, sweet, innocent childhood.
But Emma is a sweet, innocent girl and we love her and are so happy she's a part of our family.
The big event of Emma's birthday celebration was a trip to the American Girl store in LA to buy a doll. She has been wanting one for a very long while and counting down the days till our visit there. I will just add, as a side note, that upon returning home, I said to Todd that I would be happy if all of Los Angeles, except maybe Dodger Stadium, was flung out into the ocean and landed somewhere near Hawaii. I am just not a big fan. The place is a mess. And I'm not just saying that because it took us around 2 and a half hours to travel the 65 miles from Corona to Hollywood - on a Saturday. Anyway, we took a "short cut" home by going on the 10 to the 60 to the 71 to the 91 to the 15. (Sorry. I sound so cranky.)
So, look at these cute pictures of Emma enjoying herself. And thank you to her grandparents for contributing to the gift!

Although she had never been to the store before, Emma was quite the expert thanks to all of her research on Americangirl.com. She even printed out the driving directions herself.

On the drive home Emma said about her doll, "I'm just so happy that she belongs to me now, and not the store."

Emma and "Julie"
(Julie joined us at our Easter dinner with her own place setting and colored egg.)

Spring Break

The last two weeks of March was our Spring break. This is the last year we will get two weeks off instead of one. I'll admit I was a little daunted by the prospect of that much unstructured time with the kids. I made a plan to have a daily theme: gardening day, sports day, craft day, etc. Overall, I think it was a success. It helped me to wake up knowing there was something planned, instead of just ten hours of time to fill up.
We also ended up with free Legoland tickets, thanks to the generosity of a friend, and it was the perfect day there. I think our kids were just the right age for this park. They do have some tricky height restrictions, but everyone had a great time; beautiful weather, no lines, plenty of time for free play. Parker likes it more than Disneyland now. My own child!

Here we are at the beach. Thankfully, I didn't try to take the kids alone as I had planned. Dads are just so great, aren't they? Todd helped build sandcastles, and I got to sit the whole time and take pictures and hand out snacks.