2015

2015 brought one of our sweetest blessings.  In March we found out I was pregnant with our 4th child.  We had been planning on a big deal 10th anniversary celebration and Joseph and I had just started talking about what those big plans might be a couple of days before I found out I was pregnant.  The morning I got the positive test I was talking to Joseph and said something along the lines of, "We might need to change our plans... we're going to have a newborn with us."  We were both so excited to be blessed with another baby.  Looking back on our struggle to get pregnant with our first baby, every time I find out I'm pregnant it feels like such a  miracle and I am so grateful Heavenly Father has blessed us with these 4 children.  This pregnancy had it's challenges and was harder than the others in some ways, but I didn't have to go on bed-rest at all, which is the first time since my pregnancy with Austin.  Joseph and I both got sick the week Melanie was born. We both felt better on Friday morning, November 13th. Melanie was due the 28th, but my doctor said she would try to get things moving for us if I hadn't had her by my appointment the morning of the 13th.  I had been having contractions for months, and we even went to the hospital at 32 & 34 weeks to have my contractions stopped because they were way too close together. After my appointment I was not having much change in my contractions so we went about getting ready for the baby.  We moved the furniture into our room and I did some baby laundry.  That night around 1am my contractions started being between 2-4 minutes apart, so we called a friend to come stay with the kids and we headed off to the hospital. Our sweet little Melanie Hazel was born at 7:00am sharp.  She weighed 8 lbs 1 oz and was 19-3/4 inches long. She is a good eater and a great sleeper.  Kaylee truly loves having a baby sister.  She loves to help change her diaper and dress her.  She often wants to hold her and she loves to give her kisses. Austin and Lance think she's pretty great too.  Austin is happy to hold her for me, and is usually willing to do so even if she is crying... although he likes it much better when she is happy in his arms.  Lance loves to give her kisses and calls her baby.

Joseph ran the Rim-to-Rim at the Grand Canyon with my brother in May.  It took them just over 7 hours.

Austin started Kindergarten this year.  He is doing great in school and we're pretty sure he loves it even though when we ask him all he says is, "I don't know."  We are so amazed at how much he has developed his reading skills in just 6 months.  He had a black eye on the first day of school from bonking heads with his cousin Lyla the week before. On the first day of school when we were waiting for the bus I asked him how he felt and he said, "big and strong." He's growing up so fast!

Fall has become birthday season as we now celebrate 4 in October-November, but it's a great lead into the most wonderful time of the year... Thanksgiving and Christmas!  I love the holiday season and the birthday business just helps the holiday season come even faster.

This year we spent Thanksgiving at home with the Meades & the Morin parents. They all spent Christmas with us as well.  We had Christmas Eve at the Meades where we did our first (hopefully annual) nativity reinactment.

Davey's family joined us on the 26th to finish up our Christmas celebration. Melanie was blessed in church on the 27th, and Josh (one of Joseph's best friends from growing up) and his wife Mary and their kids were able to join us.

Since the 29th was Gramps' birthday we surprised him Sunday morning (the 27th) with ties for him and all of the grandsons. 

The 29th also marked our 10th wedding anniversary.  We celebrated with dinner at a great restaurant called Firebirds, feeding our baby in the Costco parking lot, then shopping for toy storage solutions at Target. It was a little bit of romance and a little bit of real life, but that's the best thing about all of this... it's real.  I'm so grateful for a wonderful husband and children.  Life is so sweet and we are so blessed.