SIlver Lake

 We went up to silver lake one evening to get out of the heat for a bit, it was the perfect evening family activity. The kids had fun exploring. They were so excited when they found a little family of ducks and ducklings. It was a perfect night until the mosquitos came out then we literally ran to the car and went home!

 We took Mark and Mallory with us the next time. it was a little chilly and there were tons of bugs but still fun! The kids loved their fun dip that made their mouths turn blue. And Oli thought the sick dead fish they found was awesome!

Going out for a little Raft ride. Cora and I stayed on shore.

5 months

 At 5 Months our Cora girl loves playing with toys...

 She tried some homemade baby food, but wasn't to excited about it. She isn't quite ready for actually consuming the food, but she enjoys tasting/sucking on new things. So far she loves celery sticks, colored peppers she can hold and suck on. all kinds of fruit and avocado. She really hasn't "eaten" anything yet. We will wait till she is closer to 6 months and more physically ready to swallow the food.

 She loves being outside

 She is so happy and alert.

She loves cuddling with anything she can get her hands on. When she is tired she loves to put soft things over her face. We always find her sleeping with her face covered with a blanket or her dress. Sometimes all we hear is her breathing hard and fast (Kreg calls it her angry breathing) we know immediately that she has covered her face and can't get free.

She is getting really good at sitting up and can do so for a min or so at a time.
Rolling both ways
Loves swimming in Grandma's pool
Cruises in the walker around Grandma's house 7-25-13
 She is enamored by her siblings, she loves to watch them and interact with them. She is getting so verbal just in the last week. She will just jabber or grunt all day long now. We thought she would be our quiet one, but looks like she joined the crew and will be full of loud personality! She gives Cecily best laughs, Cecily acts like a crazy person to get.

Has been waking up around 3 am but doesn't want/need anything so we have been letting her cry it out at night to break that habit. When she doesn't wake up then she sleeps for a good 10 hours eats and goes back to sleep for a couple hours.

4th of July

 We had a fun 4th of July! We started our day off at the Murray City Parade with our friends! The kids had so much fun watching the parade and getting lots of candy!

                                                      Cecily and her good friend Avea

 We got a great spot to watch the parade right at the beginning of it, so the kids got tons of candy, poor Oli is so little compared to the other kids he kept missing out on the candy, but he didn't let his size stop him, he would just go straight up to the float or person passing out candy and ask them for it. Good thing is so cute, they were happy to give him handfuls of candy!

 This Dinosaur really did look real! Oli was totally spooked!

 Later in the day we headed up to Sarah and Aaron's for a BBQ, Kreg and Aaron went mountain biking while the rest of us went over to the park where Willard was having their celebration. The kids had fun Dancing to the musin, playing at the park and being together.

 Ash wanted me to take this pic of him. He is getting so grown up!

 Cora looking cute like always!

 This airplane flew by 3 times and dropped candy for the kids, it was a crazy mad rush to get the candy from the baseball field.

We all loved the fireworks, Cora slept through them though. It was a great day!

Who needs an appendix anyway...

Friday evening we went to dinner with Mom and Scott's family, I felt a little sick after, but I thought it was just because I was full. That night I woke up feeling awful, I thought maybe it was the flu since Cecily had it earlier in the week. Saturday morning the pain was so bad I couldn't go to Cecily's Gymnastics recital. I cried over the sharp pains in my tummy. I still thought it was the flu since I also felt nauseous. I asked Kreg to give me a blessing before he left for the recital. He told me to go to the ER but I insisted I was fine and it was just the flu, I thought if I threw up I would feel better. So they left and I threw up but it did nothing but make it worse. I toughed it out till 5 pm and then finally looked online at appendicitis symptoms, sure enough I had about 90% of the symptoms. I told kreg we needed to go to the ER. We sent the kids to the neighbors and went to the hospital just down the street. I was in so much pain and so desperate for relief I couldn't really talk or think about anything. They gave me Morphine which helped so much, I was nervous to have it since I had such horrible side affects from it when I had my C section with Cora, but thankfully I just felt relief. The nurses and DRs did all the blood work and CT scans to confirm the appendix needed to come out. I honestly could not wait for surgery. I had my appendix out around 9 pm Saturday night. The DR said there was a lot of fluid in my stomach as well so he thinks I had an ovarian cyst that burst. When I woke up from surgery I immediately felt better! I stayed the night and went home Sunday morning. I am doing much better now, just resting a lot in bed and taking short walks. The CO2 gas they filled my stomach with during surgery is what is causing the pain now, it goes up into my shoulders and neck. It makes it hard to breath or do much of anything but I am hopeful it will be much better in the next couple of days.
 It all happened so fast and as intense as it was I am already starting to forget it! Which I am so thankful for. It was by far the worse pain I had ever felt. Now it just feels like deja vu recovering from yet another surgery. I just did this a few months ago. I am so grateful for my Mom for coming back from Ogden just a couple of hours after getting home and for my amazing Kreg for taking care of me, the kids, and the house while I am sick! He is amazing and so helpful! I have great friends too that have brought over dinner, treats, and flowers as well as helping take care of my kids! I feel so blessed through it all and am grateful for experiences that help me to learn and become stronger and learn from others love and generosity!

Lake Day

 Oli got a hold of the melted gummy worms which turned into a big blob he tried to eat the whole bag till it got a little sandy and I took it away. That boy and his treats!

We had a fun day at the lake a couple of weekends ago, we had a good time swimming, going on the wave runner and Kreg's raft and playing in the sand. Even if it was a little windy. We had all the kids pose on the wave runner (except Cora of course)

More pictures from the Zoo with the Harris'

Melts my heart!

Oli couldn't take his Eyes off of Cora!

Sweet Rhonda and Sweet Cora

Cora is 4 months

 Our Cora Kathleen got to meet Cora Harris finally!! The Harris family came to Utah and we got to go to the zoo with Rhonda and the girls and meet baby boy Harris via Rhonda's cute tummy! Rho also did a photo shoot of the kids and I. We are so happy we got to spend time with them, we miss them so much! Oliver told Cora Harris he wanted to marry her, she got really shy and just ignored the gesture (Rhonda and I would be so happy if they really got married! Oli will need a major growth spurt though, Cora has him beat by quite a few inches right now). Oli and Cora are such good buddies! They had so much fun playing and being silly together, Cecily and Ruby picked up right where they left off and had lots of fun playing and being together. Rho and I had a great time talking and watching our cute kids interact. I am sad we don't live down the street from each other but sooo happy the Harris' come to UT often so we can see them, and we will soon be making a trip to So Cal to visit them!

 Our little Cora wasn't in the mood for pictures, she is all smiles until you whip out the camera. Ruby and Cora loved our little Cora!

 Cora at 4 months is still the best baby! I really never thought a baby like her existed. She never cries, is always happy unless you don't get her food fast enough. She falls asleep anywhere/anytime. Like the photo above, she was just laying on the floor playing and the next thing I see, she is dead asleep. She will even fall asleep sitting up right on my lap its so funny. The other two kids had to be rocked and jostled to fall asleep ever.

 She really was so smiley and then she saw the camera....

 and then she started to arch her back in protest to the photo shoot.

Cora:
Weighs: 12.1 LBS 25th percentile (8 ounces heavier than CC at this age and 1 LBS lighter than Oli)
Height 23" 5th percentile (One inch shorter than both CC and oli at this age)
Wearing both 0-3 and 3-6 month clothing, size 2 diapers
Sleeps 8-10 hrs at night, 30-60 min naps during the day at home, if we are out and about she will sleep for much longer for naps.
Eats 3-4 ounces of formula every 3 hours during the day
Talks lots
Loves to suck on her hand and anything she can grab
Rolling from tummy to back
Loves reaching for things and playing with toys
Loves her exersaucer
Drools a lot!
Laughs when she is startled and when Kreg is silly with her
Still likes her binky, but not totally dependent on it.
Loves swimming and baths
Loves being outside
Still loves the front pack carrier, as well as sitting in the stroller outside of her carseat.
Loves watching Oli and CC be silly