Everything Else! (catch up)

It has been almost a year since my last post...ouch!  I updated on all the kids, and I know I missed a lot of details!  Lance and I have been good.  We've been so busy, but good.  Having the 4 kids keeps me on my toes, but there's nothing else I would rather be doing.  They make life so fun and so fulfilling. 
Lance has just recently (the beginning of Dec.) graduated with his masters degree.  I am so proud of him.  It was a lot of hard work and a lot of sacrifice for him, but he did it, and he finished!  Not only did he do it, he graduated with all A's and one B+, works full time, owns a business, holds a calling, and is a police officer.  He has accomplished so much, and I'm so proud of him.  For his birthday/father's day I sent him, little Lance and his mom to Philidelphia to watch Dallas play.  They were able to go to 2 games.  One in New York and the other in Philidelphia.  He has a blast!  The timing wasn't great, but I did plan it! (It was about a week after I had Paislee, and my Grandma pasted away) but I am so glad he went and that he was able to have so much fun!  Lance reached all of his goals for work, and has been rewarded with 3 certificates of achievement and a cool glass plaque.  He works so hard, and we're so lucky and grateful to have such a wonderful Dad and Husband that supports us, and keeps me home with the kiddos! 
Lance's parents were able to buy a lake house up at Bear Lake.  It has been a blast going up anytime we want to get away.  It's so nice, and we all have our own little space for our families. We all worked hard this last summer to finish the basement for when the family is all up there in July.  It looks awesome, and it's so nice to go up there whenever we want!  We have a great view of the lake, and are right across from the lot where we can launch the boats and jetskis.
Dallas and Suz just had a baby boy (Dallas Jr.) who is absolutely beautiful.  I'm excited for when he and Paislee can play together!  Dallas started for the Eagles as their center this whole season.  He did great, and he has worked so hard!
Matt is with the Eagles as well.  He, Bri, and Lucy love being so close to Dallas, Suz, Sharae, and Jr.  We miss them all so much, but hey, at least we only have to visit one place to see them both now! 
Big Lance has retired from being a football coach.  We are so excited for him.  He'll be able to come to all of the kids activities and programs (oh, the dance recitals he'll attend :) 
I have been good!  I'm really busy, but so good!  I love my job as a mom, and couldn't ask to do anything more fulfilling in my life.  I miss my kids when they're not with me, and just want to enjoy this time to it's fullest!  Lance and I teach Rylie's class.  It's so fun, and she's such a good little helper!  My Grandma Elsie past away in this last year.  She was moved here from Colorado and put into an assisted living.  It was fun to visit her and bring the kids to see her.  She was so funny, and so down to earth.  I was telling her when I was first pregnant that if it was a boy we wanted him to have my Grandpa's middle name.  His middle name was his mother's maiden name...and my Grandma didn't get along too well with his mom.  She went along with it, but clearly didn't approve!  She had her 90th birthday last march.  She lived a great life, and will truely be missed.

We started a new tradition with the elf on a shelf.  His name is Fisbee.  He hid in some interesting places, and was found doing some interesting things! 
My parents work in the temple every week, which I admire.  They also got called to work in the cannery for a year haha!  They are awesome, and I admire them so much, but wow! 

We are wrapped up in our kids and their lives.  We try to go on a date once a week, but we're still adapting to having Lance be done with his masters.  It's so nice to have him again at night!  He's so much fun!

Paislee

Paislee is a little piece of heaven.  She was born on August 10th.  My delivery went great, except them not letting me push for about 45 min.  (don't ever do that, if you feel like you have to push, just push ladies)  They wanted me to wait for my Dr.  When she came out she didn't cry which was a little scary.  They were cleaning her up and monitoring her breathing at the same time.  Her oxygen level was a little low, and so they were going to take her to the NICU to put a cpap on her to help jump start her lungs. All of the sudden she did it all on her own, which I was so happy about and ended up not having to do anything.  She was 6 lbs. 7 oz. (exactly what I weighted) my smallest baby so far!  She had these long toes, and was so small and precious.  She had more hair than any of my babies.  She lost a lot of it, but still has some of it!  I started to have contractions around 11pm, and we went to the hospital around 2am.  I was put in a room (the room where you either say or go).  My water broke and I stayed!  She was born about 6 am.  We were all so tired, but so excited to have this little girl in our family.  The next day was amazing.  Lance brought the kids to meet their new little sister.  Lance and Rylie argued about who could hold her, and Halle could care less.  They were all so happy to have a new baby sister, and it was really cool to see how they loved her so much right then! 

Paislee is such a ray of sunshine.  She is so happy.  She laughes, and she smiles all the time.  She hardly ever cries, and when she does we all get upset.  Rylie gets so upset when she cries.  We all do.  There was one time in the car that she was crying and Lance was driving.  He turned and looked at me and I was crying, then he looked in the rearview mirror and saw that Lance and Rylie were crying too.  He said "are you serious you guys."  This little baby has all of our hearts.  I feel so blessed.  She is the biggest cuddler.  She lays her head on my shoulder and loves me all the time.  She is also the only baby I have had that will sit in her swing awake and be just fine.  She is so wonderful.  I love this baby so much!

Halle (catch up)

 

Halle, Halle, Halle!  Halle is the funniest little girl!  She is always making us laugh.  She is so accident prone....everyday it's something!  She's had stitches above her eye (Rylie was hugging her on the bed and they fell back and she hit her eye on the footboard).  She has bruises all over, and sometimes I am quick to tell people about her accident proneness because I don't want them thinking I do it haha!  All the times I have taken Halle to the Dr. they say how active she is.  They have seen first hand how she is and luckily it is on file that she is very accident prone, and active, so they know!  Halle has such a huge heart!  She is one of the sweetest little girls ever!  She also has a firey personality too.  She throws temper tantrums, and they are very hard (getting easier) but hard to control.  She is a very stuborn little thing! She has such an imagination, and I love, love watching and listening to her play.  She makes life so much fun.  She is in Preschool, and she loves it.  She loves Miss Morgan!  During their Christmas program she was upset that I couldn't sit by her, so she didn't sing, and she pouted the whole time!  She will tell you that Ry is her best friend if you ask her.  She loves her sisters and brother.  I thought she would have a hard time when Paislee was born, but she hasn't at all.  She loves Paislee.  She's the only one that doesn't mind if and when Paislee cries, she just kind of ignores it.  In the car it's like she doesn't even notice.  Halle loves her dinosaurs and is obsessed with volcanos.  She just barely turned four this month and we had a dinosaur/volcano party.  She was in heaven!  She is in dance class, and she loves it.  Watching her is so funny.  Miss Kim has to say "Halllleeee" quite a bit!  We're going to put her in soccer this year, so we'll see how that goes!  She loves to swim and has absolutely no fear!  She is now a little sunbeam!  This last week in sharing time they sang happy birthday to her.  She stood right up and knew they were going to sing to her.  She went up to the podium and asked if they could turn it on.  After they were finished singing to her she leaned over in the mic and said "Thank You."  She's a crack up!  She still sucks her two middle fingers, and loves her bun bun (bunny).  She would drink milk all day if I let her, which is good, but not when she wont eat because of it.  One of my favorite things about Halle is that she loves to be read to, and will sit there quietly the whole time.  She is such a little cuddle bug.  She wasn't a cuddley baby, so I love that she loves to cuddle now!  I love this girl so much!  We're so fortunate to have her and her sweet self!