Update

Many of my new posts are titled update because I am too lazy to post very often so all you get is one big update : ) A side note from my previous post. The reason I went to DC was because my mom had surgery. She was promised in a blessing that she wouldn't have any pain and she didn't. We were supposed to be nursing her back to health but instead we just had fun! She is such a faithful and strong woman....she is such a great example to me and I am lucky to have her. I love you mom!

Last weekend Elder Holland was here. The stake rented out a ballroom where a few months ago Cannon went to see a boxing match. It was so amazing to be so close up and E was in the childrens choir that sang for him. It is so amazing to feel how strong the spirit is in a room where an apostle is. When I was a teenager President Hinkley came to a regional conference and as we were entering in the handicapped entrance with Laura he was coming in too...my dad ran up and shook his hand but I was too nervous... but now I wish I had done it.

Cannon's parents were in town last weekend well because Cannon was being ordained a High Priest. It was so amazing of them to take time out of their work schedules and come out here for it. It meant a lot to Cannon for his dad to do this. We had a great weekend and E was so happy to see her gramma Debbie and Papa. L really took to Debbie but wasn't too sure about Gordon. I was even able to leave him with her which, for those of you who know him is a huge step! Luckily they came for the coldest day EVER and instead of cuddling up all day watching movies we were out touring around. We had a great weekend and it was so fun to see them...thanks you guys you're the best and we love you!

Even though it was butt cold E still enjoyed herself.

Dancing on the Big piano at FAO which is our fall back location during the winter.

Gramma Debbie and Papa

Thanksgiving this year was fun and we shared it with some great friends. I got my turkey from my Amish farmer in PA who I buy various things from 2 times a month. It had been killed a few days before I picked it up and it was really good and super tasty. We had a really fun day and thanks to the netie pot the sinus pressure I was feeling didn't ruin the day : )

It really looks like a frog....

The beautiful and yummy desert that I made....alright that Amber made.

Things I am thankful for:

The Gospel
My incredible amazing sexy husband (and no he didn't pay me to say this...he may even make me delete it but for right now....everyone knows)
My beautiful sweet crazy kids
Our families
Our health
Being kept safe each and every day
About a million other ones that are too many to name

Oh man and I forgot THE highlight of the holiday was seeing none other than Anne Currie! I mean can you believe it? She was shopping for a turkey at Whole Foods....a turkey! I had no clue that mega stars ate TURKEY!! And we passed right by her! I had to grab onto the butcher as I walked by because I was swooning and thought I might faint dead away. I *think* she may have looked at me, but really how could you miss a grown woman swooning and babbling "anne anne anne"? I finally recovered enough to do the rest of my shopping but I was just kicking myself that I couldn't pull it together enough to tell her that she HAS to brine her turkey. Will I ever get the chance? sigh. PS if you have to ask Anne who? like my lovely friend Amber then please don't even bother reading this blog EVER again. I mean really.. "anne who" c'mon Amber.

Oh and PS L went to nursery and stayed the whole time and only cried a little...he was so proud of himself : )

Homebirth in the NY Times!

Check out this great article that came out last week in the NY Times.( I was too lazy to post about it when it actually came out.) I am so glad that there is finally a positive story on homebirth. It is true that so many more people are choosing homebirth and realizing that it really is a safe way to go....hooray! There are a couple of negative comments but all in all it was very good and Alecia is a doula friend of mine! There are more pictures if you click on the more photos link under the main picture. Enjoy!

NY Times

VA

We (the kiddies and I) spent a week in VA with my family and my long lost sister Alicia. We had so much fun staying up late, laughing about silly things. No matter how old we get it is still the same ol' when we're together. Oh and she finally got to meet L...what a slacker! Here are some highlights from the week.





Alicia and L.



My little brother Hyrum celebrated his 10th birthday while we were there. Alicia is an amazing cook and she made this insanely good cake.



My 12 year old sister Lillian is a little mother to L and E.



L is such a good helper (just like uncle Hy) He was helping me with the recycling this day. I wish E was so willing...




Alicia had a long task list to complete while there. One of which was cleaning my no good garden out. They actually found a cucumber and it was good!



Just making sure its still there.



The beautiful leaf piles! We would play in the leaves every fall so it is so fun to see my kiddies doing the same.








Mia and E









Basketball tricks. Hey I still do this one and think I'm cool.







L had so much fun playing football with uncle Hy.



Mom and Alicia...I love you guys thanks for a fun week!

Halloween

I know that everybody has been DYING for our Halloween update. So I won't leave you hanging any longer.

Drum roll please.....





E had a Halloween cookie party with 6 of her friends. Parties in our tiny apt. are....interesting : )



Meow! This is the first year in 2-3 yrs I have dressed up. It was fun!



The "gymnaftifts girl" She has a hard time saying gymnastics. I kept telling her that its called a gymnast and she said "or you could say gymnaftifts girl" True.



L was a gorilla. And even in this costume someone still called him a girl. What??? Oh and today he was called a girl when he was wearing a grey sweatshirt and spiderman pants.



I had to turn off the flash for this one b/c E always blinks from the flash.



Cannon dressed as himself in his mtn biking attire. L thought he was too cool!



On our way trick o treating on the bus with one friend from Prague and the other from London. This was all new to them. I felt a little silly when I explained what it was all about. Crazy tradition right? Knocking on doors and demanding candy...who's idea was that?



We went to my friend Rachel's big building and hit almost every floor of her 35 floor building. Bing bang boom done in an hour....pretty sweet!



L got the hang of it really fast!



He was pretty sweaty by the time we were done.



Oh joy the candy! Enjoy it while it last kids. (we got rid of it all the next day at the ward party) Usually the candy fairy comes and takes it away and leaves a gift, but she was on vacation this year...thank goodness for the ward party.



This is the door E and I decorated. (Mostly her...wink wink)



L was a little grumpy at the party and didn't want to wear his costume.



Can finally got to go Mtn biking on Sat and we walked home together from the ward along the river. He was showing off for us quite a bit. If I knew how to load video I would show the one I took of him going down the stairs from carl schurz to the path around 81st st.



E went to the dentist today and for some reason they have these cool Ray Charles "glasses" to shield her eyes from the light. L thought they were pretty smooth.



My sweet kiddies. E is so good with L. She is reading him a goodnight story here. Most nights she sings him to sleep. I love these guys!









And of course this guy!

Family Pictures

Not much has been going on in our family lately...hence the blog absence. We've had some cute pictures though.






So precious...my 2 sweet boys.

E made my bed for me as a surprise one morning and left this note "I made your bed love e"




The BEST time to be in NYC...the UN General Assembly! Since we live just a few blocks from the UN we get to see it all. Lots of road closures, buses not running, cops/firefighter milling around(not sure what the firemen will do but it sure does look secure), foreign people everywhere, rallies, the President driving by OUR house. What excitement. Every year Cannon captures the drive by on tape. This year L was just as excited as he was....if you look really close you can see a black dot that may or may not be his car. But all the SS guys hang out of the windows of the 57 Lincoln SUV's (not the year 1957 I mean there are actually 57 SUV/cars) to make sure there's nobody suspicious lurking on a street corner. C'mon, this is NYC...there is always someone suspicious lurking on the corner. And all of them hanging out the sides pretty much ensures that the Prez is not in THAT car...so he must be in the ONLY one that doesn't have 5 people hanging out of it) Luckily this all only lasts a week and then we're back to normal. And we can feel safe again knowing that if there is some kind of emergency like say a fire or a mugging that the cops/firefighters will be able to respond. (literally everyone from the NYPD is hanging out in the 10 block radius of the UN. I felt like I was doing something wrong just going to the bank...they all stare and make sure you're legit...or it could be cuz I'm so h* o* t pssss. hot haha) ahem, moving on.



Since my last potty post L took a bit of a break from pottying only going every now and then and then since we were in DC for the summer it totally stopped. When we got back I decided that the only way it would work is if he was pant less all day. So he was and it worked. He had a few accidents, after just a couple weeks he was accident free and now runs to the little potty when he has to go. He is a bit freaked out by his poo and always runs to get us when he goes, urging us to put it in the big potty. Too cute!



So basically L is ALWAYS either all naked or half naked while we're at home, which is very cute, but you do have to get used to the not so pretty angles of a naked toddler : )

Marathon Week

I had a marathon week this week! In the past 8 days I have been to 4 births that have produced 5 babies! 1 hospital, 1 birth center and 2 at home...it was amazing! (and yes the 2 in 1 birth was Rachel's...contact her for more details!)

Women are so incredible! We have the power to create life and then bring it into the world....we are so lucky! I know that labor is hard and it hurts but it is amazing and I can't WAIT to do it again.

I worked with my incredible midwife Valeriana 2x this week...what a neat woman. I have learned so much from her. One of the homebirth's was a VBAC...it was so incredible to see a woman who had a vaginal birth after she was led to believe that her body couldn't give birth to a baby vaginally. So empowering!

I borrowed Orgasmic Birth so stay tuned for my review of it...I am so excited to see it! There will be a segment on it on 20/20 on Oct 24th. It is so nice that something other than negative views are coming out about birth. There was a segment on a show that I had never heard of called The Dr's about homebirth. And what do ya know? The only thing they tell a couple who is weighing their options is that homebirth is bad and scary and that birth is scary and look at all the things that could possibly go wrong why would you want to be at home? AAH!!! I was at the gym watching it and I wanted to start yelling at the screen! I know that everyone has their own opinions and experiences to bring to the table but I think that it is best to be open minded and really research your options for your birth. THROW away the what to expect books and really read good evidence based books. And get a second opinion...just because your Dr tells you one thing does not mean it is the gospel truth. And TRUST you body!

The girl that I helped today switched from the Birthing Center at Roosevelt b/c she did her glucose test and it came back high. She is a nutritionist and started doing her own readings at home and knew that she didn't have diabetes...her midwife just couldn't do anything about it though because of all of the protocols she has to follow, so she was risked out of the birthing center. So instead of succumbing to her fate of induction and scare tactics by an Ob who didn't even know her name, she searched out a homebirth midwife and found Valeriana and guess what? She had a beautiful homebirth.

I think that my favorite part about homebirth(other than the obvious freedom and the peacefullness and the respect of the laboring woman) is the family bonding after. When we leave (usually about 4 hrs after birth) the baby is nursing away and the family is tucked into bed. No separation. Its great.

Phew...I haven't been on my soap box for a while. I guess it was a much needed break for all my readers : )

So I feel like I want to share a few pictures from my own homebirth experience with Levi.

This is kind of in reverse order


About 10 minutes after the birth I got out of the tub to birth the placenta. We were all laughing at how surprised we were that it was a boy!



Elyse was a HUGE helper in the tub. She poured water on my back which felt great!


Me just laboring after my water had broken.



Cannon was supporting me so well while my midwife looked on.

This was such a great experience for us!