This year we did our tradition of making a gingerbread temple while in Park City.
The kids decided to make the Salt Lake Temple. We went the extra mile and made windows that light up!
Hazel meets “Grandma Great” for the first time.
Some of the Thanksgiving guests.
The next morning everyone helped to make ebelskivers.
We took a quick swim at the pool to tire the kids out before our long drive back to Cali!
(from left to right: Will, Benny, Hannah, Stephanie, Avril, Adam, Zach)
After watching Hazel stare at everyone eating dinner, we decided it was time to give her a taste of it.
We mashed up some avocado and attempted to feed it to her.
She did pretty good gumming it down. But after a while she seemed tired of it all.
I think it might be a little exhausting always entertaining a crowd!
Miss Hazel could not make up her mind about what day she was going to be born. The first time she tried to come into the world was on Friday, June 29th. A little less than a month from her due date. It was the day that the Henderson Family Reunion was starting on the east coast. We think she was excited about the whole family being together and she just wanted to join in the fun. The problem was, we weren’t at the reunion because we were waiting for her arrival.
That day I had seven hours of consistent contractions. After each contraction I would tell Ray, “Ok, if another one comes, then we will go to the hospital.” (I have a tendency to be in “labor denial” ) Ray sensing my denial, ran around the room packing my hospital bag.
I once read in a book that it wasn’t wise to have your husband pack your hospital bag, because all it will contain is a toothbrush and a cocktail dress. Ray did a little better than that. He packed my blouse for church …
After several more contractions, Ray convinced me to at least call the hospital. A male nurse answered in labor and delivery. He asked me my symptoms and as I explained them he was chuckling. After a few answers to his questions he diagnosed me with a BLADDER INFECTION! huh? I really think that some random dude picked up the phone at the hospital……NICE.
After seven hours, the contractions stopped. Miss Hazel decided that she liked her little home, where she was fed very, VERY well.
Two weeks went by, the I started having random contractions on and off three days before her birth. Finally, late Saturday evening, the contractions started getting stronger. I woke Ray up at around one in the morning. He asked if he had time to take a shower. Uh, sure…. we have plenty of time for that. I told him to go ahead and shower. It really seemed like we had the time.
Then as soon as he got in the shower, the situation changed and I told him we needed to go NOW.
When we got to the hospital, labor was in full swing. I told the nurses, “I am just not in the mood for this right now!”
I always know the baby is coming soon when I start getting cranky and have a meltdown.
Hazel was born a little after 2 in the morning weighing 7 lbs 14 oz. and 20.5 inches long.
We just love our sweet baby girl.
At the beginning of the school year, we had the blessing of having Granny and Pa visit for THREE WHOLE WEEKS! It was wonderful! On top of how fun it was to have them in town, the boys were thrilled that Pa did their garbage duty every day for them. I told the boys they needed to bake Pa his favorite pie for doing their chores for them.
When Granny and Pa left, Benny and Will didn’t know what to do. Benny actually texted Pa, begging him to come back because I had just asked him to take out the trash.
**Note how you can see your reflection in the counter top. Or how the rug in the back is clutter free and vacuumed…… Ya, it doesn’t look like that anymore.
We love and miss you guys! (Not just because the house was clean either!)
We thought it would be fun to start attending the local High School football games. This past Friday was their Homecoming game. It brought back SO MANY memories!
I totally remember staying out late, working on the senior float because it had to be AWESOME! or at least better than the Juniors….
This is how I hope my boys will be in High School.
Walking away from the game I said to Ray, “You know what? For the first time, I don’t feel like I am right out of high school.” He laughed at me and said, “it only took 5 kids and 17 years to realize that.”
Ya, I have been in a bit of denial that I am actually getting older!
Wondering why there are no photos of me lately?
Because Hazel was not a 60 pound baby like the scale said she was going to be!
We moved into a new house about a year ago. As inspections were being done, we realized that there was no furnace. The only sources of heat for the house are 2 wood stoves and a fireplace! Well, that’s not exactly true. The house does have radiant heat. IN THE CEILINGS! Doesn’t heat rise?? The only thing that benefits from that is the top of Ray’s head!
To heat the house for the winter we need a little bit of firewood……
OK, A LOT of firewood!
2 cords to be exact. Last year when I ordered the firewood I had NO IDEA how much a cord of wood was. I dump truck showed up and FILLED our driveway with wood.
The kids were so excited to see all the firewood after school. They were such hard workers. They stacked wood for 3 hours straight!! (slave labor, I know!) We paid them well via large brownie sundaes with homemade chocolate fudge.
Hazel supervised from her throne
The wood pile after over a solid hour of work.
Hey Ray, how much wood can a wood chuck chuck……
On the way to school yesterday Benny asked me to help quiz him on some math facts for a test he was having that day. So I started throwing out math fact like, '”what is 9 times 7”.
When we reached Benny’s school he hopped out of the car and said, “Thanks mom”. As I pulled away, I rolled down the window and followed Benny slowly along the sidewalk yelling, “Quick, what’s 6 times 4? What’s 3 times 8?”
(Benny with his friend Preston on a field trip)
Benny started running away, yelling the answers to me. I kept following him, shouting math facts out the window until he was out of reach.
Sorry Benny, I just can’t help being the embarrassing Mom!
At dinner tonight we all tried to talk in our best English Accent.
We then moved on to Southern accents. I think Will won that round with his use of the word “FEYNCE”.
Looking at these pictures makes me realize it might be a little mean to put Hazel right in the middle of the dinner table and let her watch us all eat, while she just drools.
I think the second chin is a good indicator that this baby has PLENTY of food!
