HELP FIGHT CANCER!

This summer has been a crazy one....we have had too many encounters with cancer. My amazing Dad was diagnosed with Stage 4 Melanoma skin cancer. The prognoses was very bleak, and I was quite scared. Stage 4 is terminal, and I did my research on the internet, and it didn't look good. Being stage 4, the doctors were sure the cancer had spread into his organs. Through much fasting and prayers, and an amazing priesthood blessing, he had both a cat scan and MRI, and there was no sign of the cancer in his organs. He went through 3 surgery's, a 9 inch wide by 4 inch deep incision in his back, took out the lymph nodes in his arm pit, and the cancer is gone. Wow, I feel so blessed, and I know my Heavenly Father answers prayers. My testimony of faith has really grown this last little bit. I know that through faith and the power of the priesthood, the prayers of my family were answered. I am also so thankful for good friends whose family and kids prayed for my dad, without even knowing him. I know that this helped!

So then about a month ago, Jordan's brother found out that he had a tumor the size of a tennis ball on his brain. He had a severe seizure that led the doctors to do a cat scan, where they discovered the tumor. We went to Idaho, and were with his family through the surgery. They removed the tumor, and he is healing well. We were extremely blessed again.

Both my dad and Logan are great examples to me. They both have such positive attitudes, and such strong faith.

My brother Brad wanted to do something to show our gratitude for the blessings we have received lately. He is doing a fundraiser for cancer research. He is Stand Up Paddling (SUP) October 1, 2010 24 miles from one end of Utah Lake to the other, and raising money for cancer research. The goal is to raise $10,000. That may seem a lot, but really its just 1,000 people donating $10.00. Here is the link to donate

http://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=325373&supId=303097270.

Also you can join the group on facebook at this link.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Stand-Up-for-Health-and-Healing/129251390455845?ref=mf

Any donation will help! Let's fight cancer, and stand up for health and healing!

Chubby....what?

I don't think Baylee is a chubby baby....do you? Ha Ha, she is too cute! I love this picture of Hunter, he constantly makes me smile!

4th of July

I know its September, but someday I want to print out my blog, and so I need to catch up a little! We had a great 4th of July, went to the parade, the kids went swimming, and had a great BBQ at our friends house. I love celebrating Independence Day. I am so grateful for the FREE country that we live in. I am so thankful for all of the men and women who fight to keep that freedom, and sacrifice their lives. It was so fun to be together as a family.Baylee is growing like crazy, she grins all the time. I love this stage, when she is alert and smiles, but will still rock and snuggle me! She is starting to reach for things, and loves her little moose that hangs from her car seat. McKinlee and Hunter are great with her, they love their little sister!Hunter is a hoot with talking, my favorite thing he says is "Dats because." I ask Hunter why he did something, his answer, "Dat because I wanted to." He is hilarious. He can't say his "S's", so conversations with him are a little difficult if you aren't used to the language! He loves his woft blanky, and idolizes McKinlee. He will do and say anything that she does.McKinlee is so stinkin smart! She amazes me everyday. She loves to learn, and at 5, is so eager to read. We go to the library and all she wants to check out is books that she can read herself. She is so excited for Kindergarten. She still LOVES to sing and dance, and knows every song on the radio! She loves to help me with Baylee, and will be a great babysitter someday!

Hunter and the Bink....

I had to post about this....have I ever mentioned that Hunter LOVES Bink, Blank, and Moose?? We'll I had a goal before Baylee was born to get rib of that stinkin bink. We were down to him just having it at nap and night time, but I was done with it! He got potty trained before the baby, moved into a bunk bed, why not rock his world a little bit more by taking away bink!! My friend had this posted on her blog, and I thought it was a great way to get rid of bink....

For about a week we had been talking up giving up bink. We told him about the bink people in the sky that REALLY wanted his bink, so we had to send the binks into the sky! So we did it, Hunter and I went to the store and bought a bouquet of balloons. We tied all 4 binks onto the strings (but that weighed it down, so I secretly threw 3 of them away) and went outside. Hunter was SO excited, he let the balloons go, and kept yelling by binks!! He missed bink a little that night, but was a champ after that! Why didn't I do this sooner? So I am sorry if you ended up with a bouquet of popped balloons with a binky tied on the end in your back yard!

My Righteous Baby

Baylee at 2 1/2 months old....I went in to check on her, and this is what I found!

I must be doing something right...ok maybe not, but isn't she adorable!

Baylee's Blessing

Isn't she adorable!!

On June 6th we blessed Baylee. We had such great love and support from our family and friends, thanks so much for all those who came. Baylee was a sweet heart, didn't make a peep in the blessing, and Jordan gave such a wonderful blessing. I'm so blessed to have a husband who is worthy to give our baby a priesthood blessing!I love having a baby in our home, there is just a special spirit that comes with a newborn! She makes me so happy, and is such a good baby! She is growing up way too fast! Here are a couple pictures from that special day!

The Story

So Baylee is now 7 weeks old, and I decided its about time that I told the story of her birth!!

I wasn't due until April 17th, but I was ready to have my baby! So my sweet Dr. allowed me to be induced, after going to the Dr. a day before my appointment to see where I was. I was already dilated to a 3. So he set the appointment at the hospital for me to be induced at 4:00 AM! (I know I'm crazy!) So my amazing mom came down the night before, to watch McKinlee and Hunter, and we stayed up all night talking....so needless to say I didn't sleep much. Jordan was gone trapping sage grouse, so he didn't sleep much either! We had to call the hospital an hour before arriving, so I was up at 3:00, showered, and got ready to have my baby!

The hospital was pretty quiet, I don't know why there aren't many people up at 4:00! The nurses were great, and got me all ready, and immediately started me on pitocin, which was about 5:00. My Dr. came in around 6:30, and broke my water, and cranked up the pitocin! I started having some pretty strong contractions, and I wanted my epidural! So they gave me my epidural, and the anesthesiologist bragged about how good he is at them, and said "if you need to push the button for more meds...which you won't...push this button. And if for some random reason it doesn't work by 8:05, let me know....but it will work, I'm good!" Well he sure was wrong! By 8:05, I was still feeling EVERYTHING, and it wasn't pleasant! I had pushed the button several times, and it still wasn't helping with the pain! So they called him back in, and he decided to give me ANOTHER epidural. That stunk! But he guaranteed this time it would work. Well it didn't. I could still feel all of the contractions, but I was COMPLETELY numb from the hips down!! I was kinda freaking out, I'm not one for pain, and I was prepared to have this baby pain free with my epidural!! At this point, I was stressing so much, they had to put me on oxygen, cause the baby's heart beat was dropping. Finally they called him in for a 3rd time, and I was in good labor at this point, at about an 8, so he gave me a manual epidural in my back with a shot. The nurse checked me shortly after, and said, "Um there's the head, don't move, don't even sneeze, I gotta go and get the Dr.!!" Well I was seriously completely numb in my legs, but was still feeling the contractions. They came in to deliver, and I had no control over my legs. They told me to put my legs up, I couldn't do anything! I felt so helpless! I felt like my legs weighed a hundred pounds each!! Well with about 2 pushes, our beautiful little girl was born at 11:30. 7 lbs 7 oz. 18 inches long. Lots of dark hair, and strong and healthy. They immediately put her on my chest, which I don't remember them doing with my other 2. And they took care of everything, her vitals, shots, bath, right in our room. It was nice that they didn't have to take her to do anything.

We struggled with the name, like we did with the other 2. I really wanted Baylee, Jordan really liked Jacee and Hadlee. We took polls with the nurses, and asked everyone we talked to. All 3 were good choices. I am really stubborn, but Jordan is too! Finally the day we had to leave the hospital, Jordan suggested Baylee Marie Hennefer. (Marie after his Grandma Simpson)

So here's the story....next time (wait there won't be a next time) but if there was, I figure there is no point in having an epidural....I'll just have to do it naturally (again!) But this time I will be mentally prepared to do it natural!

And life with 3 kids, hard at times, not as crazy as I thought, ask me again when the summer is over!! No its really great! McKinlee and Hunter are great with Baylee, and Baylee slept 61/2 hours straight last night!

Baylee Marie Hennefer

7 lbs 7 oz. 18 inches long! Beautiful and so much fun! The kids just adore her, and love to hold and touch her!

Funny Story by the famous McKinlee....

So McKinlee came home from school today, and was quite concerned. She knew today was her last day of swimming lessons, and then she asked if preschool was over also. When I told her that it wasn't over, she was concerned about where she would go to school next year. Here is how the conversation went....

McKinlee: Will I be able to play outside in Kindergarten?
Me: Yes
McKinlee: Will I be able to play in the classroom in Kindergarten?
Me: Yes, but you will also learn a lot, and do a lot of learning activities
McKinlee: But I just can't do it all! I don't know how to be a mom, I don't know how to cook, and clean and do all the things you do!!
(My thought: where in the world did this come from!!)
Me: McKinlee, you are only 5, you don't need to worry about any of that. You won't be a mom for a long time!

Wow, that's a little bit of the drama that we deal with daily in our home! She always keeps me on my toes!!

Christmas Program

McKinlee had a preschool Christmas program, and it was the cutest thing ever! If you know McKinlee, you know that she LOVES to sing! And she was absolutely darling in her preschool program! She knew all of the songs, and was probably the loudest one! This picture is of McKinlee and one of her best friends Cadence. These two are so much alike, its kinda scary (the drama, princesses, attitude, High School Musical, you name it!)

I'll post the video of her later!

Long time no blog!!

So my goal is to catch up a little bit with blogging, we'll see if it works! So I'll start with the oldest, and someday maybe before this baby comes, I'll get caught up!I love my little munchkins! They are adorable! And huge cheese monkeys! First here are some of the cutest pictures of my kiddos....I was a complete slacker this year and didn't do Christmas cards. The thought of me getting pictures taken while pregnant, didn't thrill me very much! So I tried to take pictures of McKinlee and Hunter, but they sure had a hard time with a normal smile! Aren't they adorable!

Cute Moment....

We have been sick at our house for the past few days with the FLU! It hasn't been fun, infact it has been miserable! Being pregnant with the Flu stinks! We have had a few sleepless nights, and Jordan has been Super Dad, and picked up the slack for me! Well last night we were hoping for a good night sleep, and we had one until 4:30 AM when Hunter woke up crying. Jordan went to get him, and we usually have to rock him to calm him....but Jordan came back to bed just a few minutes later. I asked him how he got Hunter back to sleep so quickly, and he said he gave him his bink and told him to dream about shooting a deer. Hunter said OK, laid down, and went back to sleep. WOW! Like father like son!

IT'S A...............

GIRL!!! Yep that's right, baby #3 is on its way! We are so excited to have another girl, especially McKinlee. Infact when we went to to the ultrasound, McKinlee and Hunter came with, and we walked in the door and McKinlee said to the tech, "It better be a girl, or I'm gonna be ticked!" So whether or not it was a girl, McKinlee made sure he said it was!

I'm feeling really good, I am 22 weeks, and my belly is starting to grow. I felt the baby move around 17 weeks, and she has been quite active ever since! I love to lay in bed and feel her move, nighttime is when she is the most active. I was really tired when I was first pregnant, probably because I have 2 other muskrats to chase around. But other than being tired, I haven't been real sick, and I am still able to run and exercise (which is keeping me sane!)

We aren't sure where to put baby girl #3, whether to have her share a room with McKinlee or have McKinlee and Hunter share a room (which could be a nightmare!) So any suggestions??

NEW MOON!!

Yes I am one of those CRAZY people who went to the midnight showing of NEW MOON, and it was so worth it!! Such a great movie (lots better than Twilight), GREAT friends, celebrated a great birthday (Happy Birthday Tammi!), and just a fun night! Before the movie we went to dinner at the Pizza Factory, and Bobbi made the BEST cake for Tammi!

When we got in line for the movie (we don't have reserved seating here!) I couldn't believe how many people were already in line! It was FREEZING, but again, well worth it! We had to get a picture in front of the budget "Welcome to Forks" sign. And don't ya love our shirts, ours said "Bite her its her birthday" and Tammi's said "Bite me its my birthday" So fun!We had almost 2 hours of sitting in the theatre before the movie startedTammi, Nicole, and I in front of Jacob Blacks house. Did I mention after the New Moon movie, I am now a huge Jacob fan!!

I look pretty tired with Shanette!

Tammi, Shanette, Nicole, Lisken, and Michelle (hiding) waiting and waiting!!

In front of the sweet up :) castle we assume from the Volturri. Such a fun night! I am exhausted today, and my poor kids are paying for my grumpyness! But thanks so much for such a fun night girls!

Hennefer Quirks

So my kids have a few little strange quirks......I have no idea how they started them, but they are kinda strange. Well we had a momentous occasion a couple weeks ago, and McKinlee gave up one of her quirks.

She loves her juice cups. She has had them since she was off the bottle at 1. (Yes I have bought new ones through the years.) And these are the only cups she will drink out of. BUT as she drinks her juice (3/4 water 1/4 juice, I'm a mean mom) she is obsessed with her hair. She used to pull her hair out as she drank her cup. I would get so mad when I found bunches of hair lying on the ground that she had pulled out. She finally stopped pulling it, but moved onto holding her hair and running her thumb nail through her hair making this horrible sound. So, being that she is almost 5, we thought it was time to give up the juice cups. We talked about it for about a week, and McKinlee would just cry every time we mentioned throwing the juice cups away. Then one night, SHE decided herself that she was done with them. She threw the cups away! Good bye juice cups!

Now here is going to be the hard part....Hunter LOVES BINK, BLANK, and MOOSE! And while sucking his bink, her rubs either the end of his blanket to his nose, or the tail of moose. No idea how or when we will get rid of these! But he is too cute with them!

So here's the story of my kids and there weird quirks!

FINALLY

My computer was SO slow because we had so many pictures on the hard drive, and not enough room. So the other day I finally sat down and organized my pictures, and burned them onto discs. So here I am, I have a goal to get caught up in the next few days, so hopefully I can keep my goal!

We have been crazy busy, and been loving life! So my first post is about Halloween. We had a blast! The night before Halloween we went to a SWEET Halloween Party at the Bergener's. They throw great parties, and give away prizes for the best costume, so Jordan and I had to be creative this year. Here is what we came up with......

We thought we were pretty funny, and the costume is completely homemade.....a couple hours before the party. Nothing like waiting until the last minute! It was a great party, and we won 2nd place!

Here is McKinlee as "Princess Ariel" (note to self, don't try and dye her hair red again, it was EVERYWHERE! On the wall where she rubbed up against, on the car where her head rests, and all over her costume and white shirt! Not a good idea!) But she LOVES Ariel, and that is all she wanted to be for Halloween.

Hunter we struggled with trying to figure out what to have him be. Jordan brought this gun home from Denver, and Hunter LOVES it, and can't put it down. So we decided why not let Hunter be a "Hunter." He was pretty excited he got to carry his gun around, and at the ward party, ended up hitting a few kids, so he got it taken away!

Jordan of course was "white trash" at our ward Halloween party, many people didn't even recognize him! He looks so HOT! Happy Halloween!!

Hunter Turns 2!!

Happy Birthday Hunter! Love the Birthday Hats!!

I can't believe that my baby is 2!! Where does the time fly? He absolutely LOVED his birthday (he gets that from his mom!) He had fun opening his presents, and loved the attention all on him (McKinlee had a hard time not having the attention on her!)
Things he is doing at 2:

-Loves to play bootball (football) with his dad

-Loves to "shoot the 2"

-Can have the ball pitched to him, and he actually hits the ball! (and gets pretty mad when he misses the ball!)

-Loves to eat gun (gum) and always swallows it and wants more

-He is constantly talking and saying MOM, MOM, MOM, MOM until I answer

-While he is talking, Jordan and I might be the only ones that understand him

-He loves Dinosaurs, Thomas the Train, Dogs (has no fear at all of them), and balls balls balls

-He loves to read books, especially at night
-He can sing the bumble bee song, over and over again!

-He is such a sweetheart, loves to snuggle, and gives great kisses!
-He also tells me he loves me all the time

-Loves to dance with McKinlee, and copy everything that she does, but sad to admit, he is a hilarious dancer (has his dad's moves!)
-Speaking of copying McKinlee, he copies EVERYTHING she does, I mean everything, good and bad! (especially the bad!)

McKinlee took this picture!

Concentrating on opening his presents

He loved his tee-ball set that he got for his birthday!

Hunter at Nana and Papa's house, while blowing out the candles, he took a bite out of the cake!
Nana and Papa bought a blow up tramp, and the kids loved it! Hunter thought he was the only one who could play with the basketball though! Hey it was his party!

In fact it has been over a week since his birthday, and McKinlee loves to pester him and say its her birthday and he yells back at her "Hine birday!"

Off to School I go....

So I have been debating for the longest time whether or not I wanted McKinlee to go to preschool. I did a joy school with a couple of my friends for the past 2 years, and that went great, I just think McKinlee needs something more. So I gave in, and McKinlee is going to preschool 4 days a week! I don't know what Hunter and I are going to do in the morning! I have asked her for the past week is she is SURE she wants to go to preschool, and without a doubt she says, "YES MOM! You keep asking me this, and I am sure!" Well, last night Jordan gave her a Father's blessing before school, and she was so good, and so giddy! Of course I cried through the entire blessing, I know I'm a boob! She went to bed like a champ, but was pretty sleepy when she got up this morning. She kept telling me how tired she was, so I said, are you sure you want to go to school, "Yes mom, I'm sure!" I cried on the drive to school and McKinlee said, "Don't cry mom, I'm going to come home!" Hunter sure loves McKinlee, and I don't know what he is going to do without her. He couldn't stand for her picture to be taken without him in it! I don't know why it's so hard for me! I just don't know if I'm ready for her to grow up! But ready or not here it comes!!

Man I'm gonna miss this sweetheart!