Trip to Idaho

Hi all, thought we would post some pictures of our trip to Idaho. We figured out a way to send pictures from Joe's cell phone. We left our house at 6:30 this morning. We just arrived in Baker City. The pictures were taken just before La Grande.

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Rebekah's Baby Blessing

Joe blessed Rebekah in church on the 7th of December. We had Bishop Damstedt, my dad, and two brothers-in-law, Sloan and Allan, participate. It was very nice and a wonderful lady from the ward, who does shorthand, wrote it down for us. Rebekah was awake the whole time and didn't cry a bit. A funny note. My cousin, Ryan, who is a police officer for Richland was on duty and couldn't participate but did come in for the meeting. When he walked in wearing his uniform people were wide-eyed and one lady cautiously asked him who he was looking for. Of course the Bishopbric watched him walked across the chapel and sit down. His comment, "Can't cops be Mormon, too?" So, funny. After church we crammed about 30 of us into our duplex for delicious soup and rolls followed by yummy desserts. It is so fun getting together with family. Here are some pictures of Rebekah in her poofy white dress.

I'm a Yellow Crayon

This sounds pretty close (except the genius part). You know my bedroom growing up was yellow!
What Color Crayon Are You?
You Are a Yellow Crayon
Your world is colored with happy, warm, fun colors.You have a thoughtful and wise way about you. Some people might even consider you a genius.Charming and eloquent, you are able to get people to do things your way.While you seem spontaneous and free wheeling, you are calculating to the extreme.Your color wheel opposite is purple. You both are charismatic leaders, but purple people act like you have no depth.
Here's the very short quiz:
http://www.blogthings.com/whatcolorcrayonareyouquiz/

The Star of Christmas

This year at our ward Christmas party Rebekah got to play the part of the baby Jesus. Joe and I got to play Mary and Joseph. We weren't actually chosen for our great acting ability (as we didn't have speak; just walk out and sit there) we just happened to have a new baby. Basically Joe and I walked out with me looking great with child and sat down. They closed the curtains for a few seconds and traded my belly for a baby. It was just a narrative reading type thing. It was fun and Rebekah did great. I was so afraid she would cry (she doesn't know the song says no crying he makes)and wasn't sure if I would actually be able to lay her in a manger. A lot of people said they were surprised to see her little hands reach up and wave around because they didn't realize it was a real baby. So, here are some pictures. (Thank you NaDell for taking them and e-mailing them to me, that same night I might add. She's very on top of things!) When we walked out Romney came running to stage and was reaching up his arms and calling out Mom, mom. So, cute. Makes you feel loved!

A Hunting We Will Go

Last Saturday we packed up the kids and headed to White pass to hunt for the "perfect" Christmas tree. We just kept driving until we came to snow, because you have to have snow for the right Christmas tree hunting mood. Then we turned off the highway and onto a winding snow covered dirt road. Melissa commented, "I hope we don't get stuck." To which Joe replied, "We can't get stuck dear, this thing has 4 wheel drive. We can drive through anything." As we rounded one of the curves we began to drive sideways. Melissa and the kids all let out little shrieks of fear. We stopped and tried again and we slid closer to the edge of the road. Now, at this point Joe, being the thoughtful husband that he is, had everyone else get out of the car (because as he said if he goes down he didn't want to take us all with him). We promptly exited the vehicle. He tried again and moved closer to rhe edge while Melissa forgot to breathe. Was she to watch her wonderful husband slide off the road and meet his fate (not to mention demolish her new car which she so loved). Just when they thought all was lost one of the onlookers came to assist and helped push them out of the rut. I should mention there were two truckloads of about 6 or more able bodied men just sitting there waiting for us to get off the road. Hmmm... The very kind gentleman who helped us was actually futher behind them loading his christmas tree. So we parked it and went hunting.

We looked and looked and looked... Finally when the kids were crying because they were cold and wet we decided to just pick one and cut it down. We figured out there weren't actually any "perfect" ones out there, unless we did as some other people did and cut the top off a huge tree. Since we aren't into breaking the law we decided to go with a tree that was just right for us.

We were just going to stick it in a bucket on the porch until we had more energy to put it up but, when we got home we were so excited we just couldn't wait!

It's Our Birthday!

Joe is a little camera happy. He took so many pictures I thought I would just put them in a little slide show. I, however, am still trying to figure it out. So, I am just posting it as is. When I tried to rearrange it by dragging it somehow it wouldn't let go and just kept following my mouse and the same thing happened when I tried to add captions. Anyhow, Romney and I had a joint birthday party since our birthday's are only a day apart. (I tried to get him here on my birthday but the induction just wasn't moving along fast enough and he was born just after 1:00 am on the 15th of November. The birthday was fun. Grandma and Grandpa Hull came over to celebrate.

We did the hokey pokey for Romney's birthday party. He loves to dance! He's a little rump shaker.

Jacob School Assembly

Today Jacob performed two songs at a school Veteran's day assembly. I unfortunately didn't get a very good picture. I was clear in the back with Romney and Rebekah in the big double stroller. So. between the distance, people's heads, and the basketball backboard it was a little hard to get my camera steady enough to focus. But I did get a little of the first song recorded. He had a good time and I enjoyed watching him perform.

It was a nice assembly and pretty quick, too. I was worried Romney wouldn't make it through the whole thing but he did great. I brought him some juice, fruit snacks, and his pacifier to keep him happy and quiet.

Just Because...

I am adding a post today just because. No reason really other than I have new pictures and a video with my cute baby. I also just enjoy this blogging thing.

Rebekah loves sticking out her tongue.

Stinker, Rockstar & Fungus

Friday was a bit stressful. I took Romney to get his pictures taken at Wal-mart because I had a coupon for a free portrait package and it couldn't be used in November or December. I went Thursday but they were running behind by about two hours so I made an appointment for Friday morning. They were once again behind but only by one hour. It was getting close to lunch and his nap time. He did great for his pictures but afterwards when I was waiting to look at them he was throwing a huge fit. I just wanted to quickly tell her what I wanted and leave. She kept chatting and making enhancements to all these photos. I already knew I wasn't going to pay $20 for one picture. Romney kept running off and I had to chase him and bring him back kicking and screaming. Thankfully Rebekah was happy the whole time. School lets out early on Friday so I had to get back home before the kids. I barely finished finding things for Jacob's Halloween costume just before I got Romney's picture taken. Then we went to Joe's work for a little carnival. We had to take Paige to dance class. Then we went to the trunk-or-treat. So, here's our little stinker, Romney. Jacob and Paige both wore this same skunk costume. It has gotten a lot of wear!Here's our rockstar, Paige. She was too embarassed to get out of the car when we went to Joe's work party. She was afraid people wouldn't know she was Hannah Montana. When I finally coaxed her in people knew exactly who she was so she was happy about that. You can't see all the sparkles on her shirt in this picture.This is the fungus, Jacob. In case you aren't a "gamer" he is Toad from Mario Bros. For the longest time I couldn't figure out why a character that has a mushroom head would be called Toad. Then, HELLO, a toad stool. He loved his costume which is great because I didn't put much effort into it. I just modified stuff I found around here except I paid $2 for the white shorts. Here they are together before we headed off to the Trunk-or-treat. Paige is plugging her nose (because she is standing next to a skunk!).I didn't actually dress-up Rebekah. We just called her our cute little pink puff ball.

Carving Pumpkins

For FHE on Monday night we carved some of the pumpkins from our garden. Actually Paige painted hers. Romney had so much fun poking his pumpkin carver in and out of it. Joe helped him cut it out. He would carve around it most of the way and have Romney pop the piece out.

Jacob's was pretty slimy and full of guts. It took quite a while to clean out. Romney refused to touch the stuff. He's going through a phase where he doesn't like his hands getting dirty.

Paige made hers into a witch. Complete with a green face and black hair.

Oh, Barf!

Romney started throwing up Monday evening. Not fun. We were wondering why he was following us around whining and laying on the floor whining. We were starting to get annoyed. Then he threw up all of a sudden and we were filled with compassion once again. He wasn't just whining to annoy us. He wasn't feeling good. Poor boy. Anyhow, I got him this bucket just in case he might actually get it in there. You can see by the picture he wanted use it as a hat instead. Tuesday, we thought he was feeling better but, this morning he threw up again. I don't know why my kids do that every other day barfing.

Jacobs First Scout Camp Out

Jacob had his first Cub Scout camp out this last weekend. I got to go with him, and let me tell you, we had a blast!!! Wink, wink! It was about the time that we began hunting for owl pellets (nice word for owl poop) that I really began to realize how much fun I was having. What I did not know at that moment was the fun was just beginning. Just our luck we found some owl pellets. We immediately began to dissect the pellets to see what the owl had eaten for dinner. Yummy!!! Let me tell you, those mice bones mangled with digested fur and flesh looked tasty. Jacob was enthralled. He must have said “cool” a million times.

In all honestly, it was a lot of fun. Jacob was able to pass off several scouting requirements while have fun at the same time. The picture that you see is Jacob listening to a few Boy Scouts teach first aid. I just missed getting a shot of Jacob laughing hysterically when the boys were graphically portraying blood gushing from a wounded person’s body. He thought it was really funny.

Squirrels

Yesterday we went out to the car and there was a dead squirrel next to it. Then while driving around we saw two more dead squirrels in the road. I asked why there were so many dead squirrels around. Paige came up with a great answer I had to share. She said, "You know squirrels have really tiny brains. They just walk across the street. La, la, la. And then here comes a big truck and splat they just get run over one by one." I don't know why but I found that so humorous at the time.

He speaks!.....finally.

Well Romney has finally started to say more then mom. He doesn't really say mom he hollers MOM. Actually I am quite sure he thinks he is saying a lot. He just doesn't enunciate anything. If you are listening closely you can hear a lot of words. It is all just very nasal sounding and doesn't have any vowels or consonants. Just voice inflections. He's been such a content child he hasn't had any need to speak. Until now. Now there is a baby to compete with for attention. So, maybe that is what has brought about this verbal growth. Right now his favorite movie is Cars. (We watch it everyday.) So, he has started to ask for it by name. And of course his other words are food related: cookie, cracker. He also responds with yes if you ask him if he wants a cookie or crackers or to watch Cars. He says daddy more clearly, too. He finds plenty of opportunities to throw out uh-oh and ow.
Okay, another exciting thing happened yesterday. Romney wanted to sit on the toilet! So, I brought up the little potty and he kept sitting on it. Although most of the time he wanted to sit on it with his pants on. Which I figure is okay; he is just getting used to it. He also kept kicking everyone else out of the bathroom, which is challenging when you only have one. Then when I showed him underwear and a diaper he chose the underwear. I am so excited although I don't know that I have the energy to potty train. But how great would it be to have only one in diapers! Anyhow, today we put in cars and I brought the potty out to the living room and put it on a water-proof pad. He sat on the potty, ate cereal and drank a ton of juice while watching his movie. He also went potty six times. Every time he started to go he looked kind of startled. But I would clap, praise him and give him a cracker or candy which he enjoyed. I don't think he really gets it yet but maybe he will if I keep it up.

Our Sweet Baby Girl

I am finally updating my blog with new pictures of Rebekah. I have just been enjoying doing pretty much nothing but taking care of Rebekah and sleeping. My recovery was great due to Joe staying home from work for two weeks. It was so wonderful. He took care of the kids, the cleaning and food. Plus between my mom and sisters in the ward we had about 5 meals brought to us. It was all so delicious and great to be so well taken care of.
Rebekah is doing great too. At her doctor appointment she was 2 1/2 weeks old and had passed her birth weight. She is a great eater. She eats a lot, very quickly.

Romney loves his baby sister. He came and laid down by her on our bed this morning. He just looked at her and softly patted her head. Very cute. He does however think it is very funny to pulled her pacifier out of her mouth and quickly stick it in his mouth before I can grab it. Silly boy!






I just took these last two pictures this morning. She is changing so much already. We think she is just beautiful. I decided I need to buy her some little head wraps since she is such a baldy. Don't want her to be mistaken for a boy. Although that has already happened. I don't know how; she is usually wearing pink!
When she is awake she is so alert and loves to listen to us and look at us.




Here's Rebekah sleeping and looking so angelic. She went through a phase of crying off and on around 6 or 7 pm. I think all our noise and busyness in the evening was disturbing or overstimulating her. But, she is adjusting and rarely does that anymore. Plus she has been sleeping 4-6 hours in the night. It has been great. I feel so much better in the mornings. Plus Joe doesn't start work until 10am so he gets the kids ready for school which is great.

Hospital Photo of Rebekah

Here is the picture of Rebekah they took at the hospital. We thought this one turned out so cute. We need a new scanner so we just took a photo of the photo. You can see the original on the hospital website at this address:

http://www.kadlecfoundation.org/template.php?id=4660

More on Rebekah!

Here is a video clip of Romney upon seeing Rebekah.

Grandma and Grandpa Hull with Rebekah.

Jacob and Paige love their new sister.

Oh, she's so adorable and tiny.

New Baby Has Arrived!!!

Rebekah was born Monday, 9/15 at 8:21 PM. Rebekah weighed 8 lbs. 2 oz. and was 21 inches long. Mom and baby are doing well. More details to come.

Here's Rebekah about an hour after being born.

The nurse was kind enough to hold her up so I could take a picture.

Rebekah the next day.

Oh my gosh! says Romney. He made some great facial expressions when he saw his new sister. We were lucky enough to catch this one.

Due Date Ticker

First Day of School!!!!

Okay, I am very excited about today! I have been looking forward to it for a week or so now. It is the first day of school. Hurray! My kids were somewhat excited. We enjoyed our summer but it was definitely time to get back to a regular schedule. The kids were looking forward to seeing some of their school friends that they hadn't seen through out the summer.

Paige was mainly excited about her new school clothes, shoes and backpack. She is very into Hannah Montana and couldn't wait to show her friend Gabriela her new backpack (messenger bag, actually). I have always gotten her Velcro shoes to make it quicker to get shoes on but this year she just had to have these Hannah Montana tennis shoes with gold sparkles on the sides of the laces and jewels, a guitar, and picture of Hannah Montana. She was just a little nervous about finding her classroom so, I went with her to unload her school supplies this morning. I was going to leave and then she asked me to stay a little longer. Within a couple minutes of settling in and seeing the familiar faces in her class, she let me know I could go now.

Jacob was not quite as thrilled to go back to school. Although he was excited about his new school bag, too. It is just a plain black messenger bag. He wanted some $35 bag just like it but some expensive brand. So, I pointed out this one instead and he went for it because it had lots of pockets. I figure he is just going to swing and drag it around and get it all beat up so why spend a lot of money on it. Jacob was actually difficult to go school shopping for. It seems most of the boys clothes have tattoo looking pictures, skulls, snakes and other gross things. Thankfully he didn't want any of that. So, all his shirts are just solid colors. Anyhow, he was a little concerned about finding the right door to his class room, as well. (They have to enter from the outside and all the doors have a different number painted on them.) So, I printed a map from the website and told him which one and where it was. After that he was fine, oh so cool, didn't need mom's help and headed off. Which is great. We raise them to be independent, right!?

So, now I'm back to a quiet home with just Romney and I. At least for a few more weeks until Rebekah comes along. I'm enjoying it. I went visiting teaching this morning and didn't have to take three kids with me. It was great! Other than on the way home Romney started screaming. I figured he was probably really tired and hungry. So, I tried to feed and he didn't want anything and just kept throwing what I offered him. Then he wouldn't let me hold him and just kept pushing away. Finally I just put him in his crib where he continued to scream, not cry, for about 20 minutes before falling asleep. I thought, "Oh boy, the terrible two's. What great timing to be able to deal with tantrums and a brand new baby at the same time! Motherhood is so much fun."

Family Reunion

This past weekend was spent in Moses Lake for Melissa's family reunion with her parents, sisters and their families. We enjoyed yummy food, great fun and visiting. Here's a picture of Romney with the boat he made with grandpa.A paddle boat was borrowed from a neighbor and the kids were out on the lake in that or the kayak as soon as breakfast was eaten. Romney and Joe liked the kayak, too. Romney fell asleep on one of his rides.There was also waterskiing and tubing. After the reunion all those that attempted water skiing and such were feeling the sore muscles. We were able to have family pictures taken. We hadn't done that in about 6 years. The best thing was watching all the adults act crazy trying to get the grandchildren's attention and smiles for the photographer.

Grandma and Grandpa with the grandkids.

Uncle Sloan making everyone laugh, singing "I'm too sexy".

Look over here kiddos!