This is what the girls were doing while I was packing to visit my family for a few days before Christmas. I think Tansy would put everything in the dress-up drawer on if I would let her. She actually ended up with more than this before she was done.


We got a lot of snow while we were at Grandma Olsen's house. Sydney was ready to go build a snowman as soon as the storm hit. She hadn't been able to before because the snow was too powdery. This snow, however, was wet, dense, packing snow. Tansy was pretty upset when I put her snow stuff on because it was so big. Once she got out in the snow, she got really happy and had a great time waddling around and patting the snowman.

We also had the kids put on a nativity play, but because of illness and weather, we lost four of our cast quite suddenly. We had to draft some others in quickly. Ben go to be a wise man as you can see in this picture of his awesome turban.

Christmas was great. All Sydney had asked Santa for was dinosaurs. This is a picture of her counting her new dinosaurs, which temporarily distracted her from further present opening. There were twelve, by the way.

Tansy was our meticulous present opener. Each one took a long time, but when we would try to help her so she wouldn't get frustrated, she would say, "No." She wouldn't get upset or anything. She just wanted to do it her way. Her long, tedious way, one square inch of wrapping paper at a time.

Zack got these froggy rattle slippers from Aunt Kim. He was hooked. We ended up opening most of his presents while he was napping since Tansy's gift opening made the morning take FOREVER.

But the greatest presents of all: the elepant and lion from Santa that were big enough to sit on. Sydney named the lion Asland (I can't convince her that there is no D at the end of Aslan) and the elephant Tika (from Barbie as the Island Princess, for those of you who are not up on your Barbie culture). The girls spent a lot of time on these on Christmas and pull them out quite a bit.

Now for the reason that I did not post on Sunday. On Christmas Eve, Sydney's cough got really out of control. When she coughs really hard, she throws up. That night she threw up in bed and told me that she had tried to hold the throw up in her mouth so it wouldn't get on her Christmas jammies. We had to change her pants, but these pajamas also had a pair of shorts that matched. Fortunately, she missed her shirt.

On the 26th, Tansy started coughing. The next day, Zack joined the party. I was pulling out every home remedy I had, but when Sydney still hadn't improved by Monday, I called the doctor. They ordered a chest x-ray that came back clear, so Tuesday morning we went in to get her checked out. The doctor concluded that she has Reactive Airway Disorder like I do and would need a steroid to stop the cough. He gave us enough to keep on hand for colds in the future.

On Tuesday morning at 4:30 a.m., Zack cough got really bad. He was coughing up a lot of stuff and working really hard to breathe. We took him in to the doctor as well and learned that both of his ears were badly infected. The doctor also said his wheezing sounded really bad. He decided to forgo the chest x-ray, because he felt fairly confident that it was pneumonia and he was putting Zack on an antibiotic anyway for his ears so he prescribed one that would treat both.

The longest stretch of sleep I have gotten in the last week is four hours, which felt amazing. This morning I was so tired, my hands and feet were tingly and I felt like I was going to throw up. I'm so glad Ben is out of school right now. I don't know what I would do without him.

Sorry, no pictures this week. We are in Orem with my family, and I don't have a way to load anything up.

On Wednesday, we had our ward Christmas party. Of course, Santa was there. Thank goodness they had him start seeing the kids at the beginning of the party. He spent so much time with each kid (which they loved) that the line moved SO SLOW (which we did not love). Ben and the girls were near the middle of the line, so when I realized how long this was going to take, I decided to hit the quick and efficient food line so that we could eat right when we sat down. Sydney actually sat in Santa's lap this year, which surprised and worried us a little. She has never let him pick her up before, and I knew she would be expecting whatever she asked him for. All she wanted was dinosaurs, which we had safely packed away in our closet already! Score!

On Thursday, we headed down to Utah Valley. We had originally planned on Friday, but came early to go to Jake's kindergarten program. This also meant that we were ahead of the storm that came through on Friday. Anyway, we drove down right after Sydney got out of preschool on Thursday, but had to stop to put air in a tire and gas in the van. We made it to the program, which was an very pleasant half an hour, and watched Jake sing all of his songs. Shortly before Jake's speaking part, Sydney had to go to the bathroom. We ran as fast as we could, but we still missed it. Emily played it back on her camera for us though.

We have been played hard with cousins for a couple of days, so we all decided to take a day off from each other today to get some rest. My entire family napped this afternoon so we have peace and joy in the house again.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas, and I look forward to posting and looking at pictures next week.

On Monday, Zack had his four-month well-child visit. I am glad to say that on Monday, he was actually a well child. He weighed 16 lbs. 1 oz. and was 25.5 inches long. Sydney was 11 months old before she weighed 16 lbs. and Tansy was 8 months old before she was as big as Zack is now. He is currently going into some 6-9 month clothes, which totally throws me off because Sydney wore that size when she had her first birthday. Such a big, cute, cuddly guy.

On Friday, we found out that Tansy is allergic to penicillin. While I was putting on her pajamas Thursday night, I noticed about a dozen tiny, red spots on her tummy and back. I decided to check on them again in the morning, and this is what I found. I called the doctor as soon as they were open, and the doctor decided that he wanted to see her. Since there was nothing new in her environment, it was decided that this was linked to the amoxicillin she was on to treat her ear infection. Her ear had healed so we stopped the amoxicillin and started her on Benadryl and Claritin. By Saturday evening, she had totally cleared up. She actually got even worse than what you see in the picture. Poor girl.

We got our first good snow yesterday. The girls begged to bundle up and get outside late in the afternoon when the wind had finally died down. It felt like looking at a giant snowglobe every time we looked outside. We got several inches of very "fluffy" snow, as Sydney puts it. That means that it doesn't make very good snowmen, despite their best efforts. However, they did manage to get a snowball or two off and made snow angels. Sydney wasn't very happy that there were not gloves to fit her. She ended up wearing mine. Sydney is fascinated with making footprints in the snow. Who am I kidding? Sydney loves to make footprints in water, mud, etc. They came in cold and wet and ready for some hot chocolate.

Ben finished his finals this past week. He is officially on Christmas vacation now. It's fun to have him around more for a little while.

By Monday, the kids were feeling well enough to help decorate the Christmas tree. Sydney felt that if Grandma and Grandpa Olsen had their tree up, we should too. She is actually still in her pajamas in these pictures because she had been so sick all day. In fact, this is about the only time that day that she moved from the couch.

This is the decorated tree. Notice the abundance of ornaments around the bottom of the tree. There is one spot so heavily ornamented, you can't find a free branch if you wanted to.

After that excitement, we settled back into the business of being sick. The cold finally hit me on Tuesday. Sydney missed the entire week of preschool and couldn't believe that they would actuallystart without her.

On Thursday, I surrendered and took all of us to the doctor. The main reason for this choice is that, although it is difficult to really seen in this picture, Zack woke up with pinkeye. We were within a few doses of being done with the girls' eyedrops so I had thought we were safe. Nope. Sydney wasn't breathing very well either. It turns out that Sydney was still moving air well enough, Zack did have pinkeye, and all three kids had ear infections. Zack's were really bad. He said that mine weren't infected yet, but that I had better stay on my decongestant to make sure it stays that way. So far so good. I have five bottles of amoxicillin in my refrigerator. Sydney says they are peach flavor. I love our pharmacy.

Then Ben started coughing on Friday. Not fair! The thing that gets me through long, hard days with sick kids is knowing that my husband, who is impervious to illness, will be home at the end of the day. Not only is he noticably sick, but I saw him taking medicine! We're doomed.

The good news is that Super Saturday is over! Things went really well with only a couple of mishaps. We had a great time, but I crashed really hard yesterday afternoon when it was all over. We watched Elf last night, and I had the hardest time keeping my eyes open even though I love that show. Don't worry, I got to watch it again last night at 2:00 a.m. while I was up with a coughing Tansy. How's that for a silver lining?

We got to go to Grandma Olsen's house for Thanksgiving this year. All of my brothers and sisters were there except for Stephanie. The day after we got there, Sydney leaned over to me and said, "Mom, I haven't seen Andrea yet." I had to explain to her that Andrea lived in Arizona which is a lot farther away than Logan so she couldn't come. She got a little sad and said, "I've been waiting and waiting for her." Gotta wait until summer little one. We couldn't resist taking pictures of Matt, Zack, and Kyle - the three babies born in my family this past year. This makes 11, 12, and 13 for Grandma and Grandpa Olsen. We do what we can.

Tansy did all right for Thanksgiving up until Saturday. Friday night she came down with a cold that left her feeling pretty miserable. Saturday afternoon, she decided to stand on a small plastic chair, which fell over. She landed on her face on the tile floor in Granma's kitchen. Her nose is swollen and bruised and she has a fat lip with a blood blister. We checked for head injuries, but she escaped unconcussed. Then at 8:00 that night, I realized she had picked up pinkeye. We made a quick trip to the after hours pediatrician with Aunt Kim and got some eye drops. All in all, not one of Tansy's best days. This picture says it all. She usually hams it up for pictures, but she just didn't have it in her after all of that.

Sydney also came down with the cold as well as a cough. She kept me up most of the night with her coughing, gagging, sneezing, sniffling, insert your own disgusting sound, etc. We decided to head home early today since none of the kids was up to going to church (Zack has a mini version of the cold). When we got home, we realized that Sydney has pinkeye too. It has infected both of her eyes and she is coughing so hard, she throws up (thus the bowl). Don't get me wrong. We had a great break to prepare for Ben's last week of school and finals. We just didn't come out of it very well. Hope everyone else enjoyed their Thanksgiving!

Tansy has taken a great interest in the dishes. She insists on helping me unload the dishwasher. Every time I open the dishwasher, she rushes into the kitchen and starts handing me silverware. She also picks up our heavy dinner plates. She hasn't dropped any yet, but judging by the coordination her head wounds display, it's only a matter of time.



She also loves to try to undress herself. It is not uncommon to find her with her shirt like this. She hasn't figured out how to get it off, so we don't have a streaker. . . yet.






Sydney finally got to be the VIP at preschool last week. She has been waiting for this all school year. To be clear, the VIP gets to hold the flag at the front of the class for the pledge of allegiance, stand at the front of the line when school is over for the day, and bring a snack for the class on Thursday. I know - big stuff. She would ask me every week who the VIP was and be so disappointed that it wasn't her. In September I made the mistake of telling her that she might be the VIP in October. Imagine her reaction when she brought home the October calendar and wanted to know when it was her week to be VIP. I told her that she wasn't on the calendar this time, but she would be next time (there are only 11 kids). She said, "Or maybe never." She wore her preschool shirt in honor of the occasion of her first day of being VIP and wanted a picture.

Tansy has decided that she can use the computer now. She hasn't done anything too disastrous, but her random mouse clicking and keyboard pecking has me constantly worried. I actually had to shut the computer down because everything was frozen once. I've got to watch this girl like a hawk. If she isn't on the computer, she's coloring the dining room floor, climbing on the table, or terrorizing the fish.

Zack is just a little bundle of chubbiness. He is so happy almost all of the time. Don't know what else to say. He just likes to spread his happy baby smiles around.

We are all looking forward to a much needed vacation this week. Ben is finishing up another semester at Utah State, and his job ends on Monday. The kids are dying to see their Grandma and Grandpa Olsen. Everyone is ready to unwind a bit and have a great time. Hope everyone's Thanksgiving is great.

So, here are the long awaited Abshire family Halloween pics. Zack is in camo, so if you can't pick him out, that's why. Sydney was excited to be a witch, Tansy was a super-cute puppy, and Ben was just stylin'. I wore a really long blond wig with a cowboy hat and lots of makeup. I had one little girl ask if it was my real hair. I had to tell her no. She seemed disappointed.

Ben and I went to an ROTC Meet and Greet this week, so we had to get a babysitter. I have a weird quirk that Ben really mocked me for this time. When I have someone coming over who has yet to witness the disaster that is the usual state of my house, I clean up. Shocking, I know. Actually, the funny part is that I will intentionally leave a few toys out to try to make it look like I didn't clean up and that my house looks like this all the time. Please tell me I am not alone in my strategy to fake people out. Everyone who reads this post has seen what a horrible housekeeper I am so I don't mind confessing here.

I've also been trying to recruit people for an Informal Book Club. I think people are afraid of the pyramid scheme feel. It's like a recipe exchange, except with paperbacks. You just pass one of yours on to the person listed on the back of the paper, make six new copies, put the address of the person who sent it to you on the back and give it to six friends. If it keeps going, you get up to 36 books. You all know how I feel about books. If anyone wants to do this, I would really appreciate it.

I've got Little-Miss-Molar, I mean Tansy, begging me to pick her up. We have been trying to get her to say "please" lately, but it is really not working. Whenever I say, "Say please," she launches into a HUGE fit, screaming at the top of her lungs, throwing herself on the ground. The very request to say "please" makes her act like she is suddenly possessed by demons. I have never seen anything like it before.

Sydney has gotten an attitude. If we tell her she can't do something, she starts crying and tells us that we are hurting her feelings and being mean. When we continue to tell her she can't do something. She runs to her room, slams the door, and starts screaming all the bad words she knows at us (i.e. "you stupid, stinky mom"). Harsh, I know. Actually, I usually end up laughing because these are really the worst words she knows.

Zack has developed these two fat rolls near his armpits that are so much fun. If you pinch them, he laughs. He has does this funny grunting sound when he laughs. It's strange, but cute. That seems to sum up our whole family, so I guess it's appropriate.

Most of this week was pretty much just routine, so there aren't a lot of exciting things to report. However, I thought of some funny things that I hadn't posted, so here they are.

Sydney has Show and Tell at preschool every Thursday, and a couple of weeks ago they were assigned to bring a small something for each member of the class. We had talked all week about different things Sydney could bring and had settled on stickers. On Thursday, we were about eight blocks away from preschool when I remembered that I hadn't brought anything. I knew Sydney would be crushed if she was the only kid who didn't bring something, so I was getting a little frantic. We had just passed a gas station, and I was trying to think of something I could pick up there and bring back. I was still trying to mentally take stock of what was already in the car when I remembered the change drawer. I dug out a dozen pennies, dropped them in Sydney's pocket and she was on her way. She LOVES money so she was really excited and I wasn't the bad guy mom who forgot Show and Tell.

Tansy constantly walks around with a blanket draped around her shoulders like a cape. She has figured out how to get her things out of her crib and will come out of her room, draped in a blanket from the neck down with her stuffed puppy dangling from her mouth.

Zack has started patting me on the back when I hold him up to my shoulder and pat him on the back. It's so funny but really cute.

Ben had Escape and Evasion this weekend. A bunch of cadets go up the canyon and have a scenario they act out. Some are agressors and some are evaders. They have campfires in several places to go warm up during the night, since they are literally out all night. They stumble in between 7 and 8 a.m. for a breakfast made by the Spouse Club of the detachment. I didn't make breakfast this year since I have way too many kids who are way too small to be dragging them out of bed before 6.

Sydney had her first Primary program today. Her favorite song is "When Jesus Christ Was Baptized," so that was pretty much the only song she sang. The rest of the time, she took it upon herself to help her teachers keep the other kids under control and out of trouble. Since we have been home, she has been singing the very last part of "Called to Serve" over and over again. However, she sings it "Na, na, na, na, na. Fast forward, and we're called to serve and sing." At least she tries.

This week we set up the Halloween decorations. Sydney just couldn't wait any longer. She was kind of disappointed that she is too tall to fit under the witch's arm this year. Last year she liked to pretend that the witch had her arm around her.

Sydney likes to put on our freaky Darth Maul costume and scare Tansy. Tansy does not like masks.


We also made some Halloween treats. We barely got the pipe cleaners and googly eyes on Tansy's Ding Dong before she dug in. Sydney made most of them. Dad decided that his should be dead. It's the one in the middle with the brown, straight legs. We turned him over for this picture.

Ben had Fall Break this past Friday. We went down to the Ogden area for an Abshire Family Fun Day. We got lunch at Red Lobster, made a quick stop at Hill AFB (so Ben could pick something up - not really high on the fun-meter, but necessary), and went to the Eccles Dinosaur Park. Sydney has been really into dinosaurs lately and both of the girls had a great time. Tansy loved being let out of the stroller and trying to keep up with Sydney. They had decorated for Halloween, and Tansy found a mummy that goes "Mmmmm-mmmmm!" every time someone walks by. She kept walking around the museum going "Mmmmm-mmmmm!" after that. The weather was also in the 70s so the outdoor exhibits and playground were also a lot of fun. We had a yummy dinner with our friends the Palmers. Don't ask the girls their opinion though. They were so excited to be with their friends, they hardly ate. We topped everything off with a trip to Baskin Robbins.

Though all of this, Zack was my good little baby. Did I say little? I finally had to stop trying to stuff his into 0-3 month clothes and move up to 3-6. Neither of the girls made this switch until they were about 4 months old, so I didn't see it coming when Zack is only 2 1/2 months old. He's a good eater and putting on a lot of weight. He is also a super sleeper. He now sleeps from 9:00 to 7:00 each night without waking up. He's then ready for a nap at 8:00 and takes a couple more less scheduled naps throughout the day. Plus, he puts himself to sleep. When he starts acting tired, I can usually just lay him down in his crib, put his blanket on him, admire his sleep smile, and walk out while he puts himself to sleep. He is such a good baby.

I'm really blanking on what we have been doing the past couple of weeks. On the 1st we took Tansy and Zack for well-child visits. They are both doing great and are not only on the growth chart, but putting up big numbers - at least for our family. Tansy's weight was in the 33% and Zack's was in the 46%. Of course, both of them were in the 85% for head circumference, but we Abshire are known for our huge heads, I mean intelligence. Don't get me wrong; we love Sydney for being "well proportioned" and "growing on her own curve." It's just nice not to have to wonder if we're doing something wrong. I wonder if I will ever stop feeling new at this whole parenting thing. Maybe, if my kids stopped growing up long enough for me to get used to them.

On the 2nd, we broke into a set of fingerpaints we'd had for entirely too long. They had congealed into a strange, thick consistency more akin to bread dough than paint. Well, all except green. We had a great time with green. Actually, we had a great time with all of them, rising to the challenge. Get it? "Rising" to go along with my bread dough parallel? Oh, never mind.

Ben and I enjoyed a great trip to the dentist on the 8th. That is actually not sarcastic! We went in expecting to spend hundreds of dollars on my tooth sensitivity issues and Ben's cavity. We came out with free sealants on four of my teeth (my dentist is truly a saint) and the news that Ben didn't have a cavity - it's just a divot. We felt really blessed not to have those expenses with Christmas coming.

Zack got his first haircut on the 9th. Most people think I'm crazy, but he had this fuzz in the front, a spot that was an inch and a half long in the back, and a fringe down by his neck below where he has rubbed off his hair in the back. He now has a very cute, but manly, blond buzz over his whole head. I think he's very handsome. One day, I might write about Tansy's first haircut. I don't see that coming for many, many years.

Yesterday, we had family pictures taken. I will post those in a few weeks when we get them. This is always such an undertaking. It felt like it took the whole morning the get the kids clean, napped, and fed at convenient times to have the greatest degree of happiness and cooperation possible for the ten minutes of actual picture taking. When it was time to view and choose our pictures, we had less than half of the shots to choose from. First thought: the kids were that bad? No. I was assured there were lots of cute shots of the kids that had been eliminated. Why? you ask. Because of the curse of taking a picture with Melanie in it. I had my eyes closed in seven shots and a really weird face in another one. Sigh. At least the kids were cute, and that's all anyone wants to see anyway.

Greetings from the house of death. We have all been sick. I hesitated to post since the most exciting thing to report was the various colors of the snot I have been wiping for the last couple of weeks. Riveting, I know.

On Friday, we met Danny and Emily and their boys and Kathleen and her boys (sorry you had to work, Steve) at the Hill Aerospace Museum. I forgot the camera, but the kids had a great time looking at all the planes then playing in the kids area. We all went to Denny's for dinner afterwards and got an exceptionally patient server. This was vital to the success of the meal since we had eight kids ages five and under. We all had a crazy and fun time.

Tansy finally made it to nursery today. The first Sunday she was old enough, we blessed Zack so we didn't stay after Sacrament meeting. Last week she had this amazing green snot blazing two thick trails down her face no matter how often I wiped it, so she was a no-show again. Today she woke up super early and fell asleep in Sacrament meeting. She was out cold until the end of Sunday school. She woke up just in tim for snacks and had a great time. I couldn't even get her to pay attention to me long enough to say goodbye. Ben kept Zack for priesthood, so I had an incredibly enjoyable third hour at church.

Does anyone else have enormous problems getting their pictures to load on blogger? No? Just me? I have been working on this for a week and finally got my pictures to work. So, here goes.


On September 2, Sydney started preschool. She was a little nervous her first day and didn't want me to leave. Her teacher was really prepared to help the kids with the separation and gave each kid two "I Love You" stickers - one for them and one for mom - so we could all look at them when we were missing each other during preschool that day. I'll bet I looked at mine more than Sydney did. The next day, all reserve was gone. She jumped out of the van, ran up the driveway and said, "Oh, Mrs. Turner, your hair is so pretty today. Do you want to see my backpack? It has Tinkerbell on it." Then she was gone without even a look back. I didn't know that would hit me so hard. I had to come home and cry to my mom.

On the 12th, Ben and Sydney went to Soda Springs. Ben's grandpa passed away on June 10, and it was the last chance before they clean out and sell the house. They did all the regular fun Soda Springs things like making soda at Hooper Spring, getting ice cream at Arctic Circle, and going to the Soda Springs geyser. Ben also took Syd to see the elementary school he attended when he lived there. She was pretty impressed with that and loved playing on the playground equipment that hasn't changed since that time. Great Grandpa's backyard was magically transformed in to a farm where Ben and Sydney celebrated Christmas and the cows ate pink hay. Sydney's imagination really lets loose when she has time and her daddy all to herself. They spent some time at the Niter Ice Cave as well. Sydney took her time but worked up the courage to explore a bit.

On the 14th, we blessed Zack in the same meeting as his cousin Kyle. Don't be deceived. Kyle is actually only three weeks older than Zack despite how teeny tiny my guy looks next to him. We started planning this joint blessing before the babies were born, and two weeks before the blessing, Stephen and Kathleen ended up moving to Salt Lake. Fortunately, their old ward was extremely accommodating and let us both bless our babies before sending the records to their new ward. Despite the fact that Zack was almost dumped on his head, it was a wonderful blessing. I am so grateful to be married to a worthy priesthood holder who can take care of our family in this way. I am also grateful to have so many strong priesthood holders in my family that I had to keep count to make sure we didn't invite too many people to participate in the circle.

Don't think that Tansy will be left out of this. It has been nice to have a couple of hours three days a week to give her some extra attention. Her vocabulary recently took a big jump as well as her personality. She is very strong-willed and loud, but improved communication has helped some of that. She is also very busy, which is why I thought it so funny that she just passed out on the couch like this. I guess if you play hard, you have to learn how to sleep hard.

Sorry for the delay on updates. We have obviously spent the last month adjusting to being a family of five. We found out that Zack has acid reflux like Tansy did. Once we got him on Prevacid, he became a much happier baby. Oh, and did I mention that most nights he only gets up once? He's been going through a growth spurt this last week and has been eating two or three times a night. That's been rough, but I know I have a good sleeper in there who will come back to me.

Tansy has been trying to decide whether she is a baby or a big girl. Sometimes she is so independent and wants to do everything that Sydney does and refuses any help. Other times she tries to pull Zack off my lap and take his place. What a hard spot for this poor middle child.

Sydney is as funny as ever. She keeps us laughing all the time. Yesterday, she had been making up a rather lengthy song that had mostly been about balloons when she suddenly threw in the following verse:

I'm gonna bake my mom,

I'm gonna bake my mom into a pie.

But I don't know how to bake.

Then a voice said, "Why are you eating your mom?"

Of course I burst out laughing and ended that amazingly silly moment. Sometimes I really wonder what on earth is going on in that little blond head.

Ben started school last week. This is our last year. We also found out that his first assignment after his training next fall will be Whiteman Air Force Base. It's just outside of Knob Noster, Missouri. What? You don't know where Knob Noster is? Why, it's just 14 miles from Warrensburg. What? You don't know where Warrensburg is? That's because we are going to be in the middle of nowhere. Kansas City is just over 70 miles away. That's the best landmark I can give you. Despite the location, we are excited to go. Just six days before we got this assignment, I was set apart for my calling in the Relief Society presidency, and they mentioned that when we got our assignment that we would know it was where our family was supposed to go. We weren't expecting assignments to come until March of next year, so when it came, it was incredible to think back on that blessing and know that the Lord was preparing us to accept what He has planned for us.

Life is good for the Abshires. Busy, but we wouldn't have it any other way.

Zachary Benson Abshire has arrived! He was born July 31 at 12:33 p.m. He was 7 lbs. 1 oz. and 19 1/2 inches long. Although I tried to demonstrate my amazing pushing skills after three and a half hours of labor, the doctor told me not to push because I am TOO good at it. This got me laughing, which turned out to be a much more efficient way to deliver the baby. No I am not kidding -- I giggled the baby out.

We had to stay for two days (a.k.a. eternity) because I had tested positive for Group B Strep and they had to be sure I hadn't passed it to Zack. I have attached a picture of him with the IV in his head that they used to do his blood tests since they couldn't get the line in his hands. Poor little guy.


The girls really like their new brother, although Tansy is having a hard time understanding why she can't pick him up like she does with her baby dolls.

No, we have not had the baby yet.

July has been a busy month. On the 2nd, we had our first Enrichment meeting since I have been in the presidency. Despite a rocky start (the Young Women bailed on their babysitting commitment at the last minute and the Young Men failed to show up for their setup commitment) that was salvaged by the amazing husbands of the Enrichment committee, the activity went really well.

On the 3rd, Danny and Emily's family and Kim and Jasmine came to visit for Independence Day. We had a picnic and watched the Logan fireworks that night. Tansy wasn't sure about those at first, but after a couple of minutes, she relaxed and looked half awake for the rest of the time.

On the 4th, we went to Bear Lake. It wasn't nearly as crowded as we expected and the water warmer than we remembered. The kids had a great time splashing and wading as well as building a sand mountain.

On the 5th, they got to build bird houses at Kids' Workshop at Home Depot and then float down the canal in inner tubes. Needless to say, we were all pretty tired by the end of the weekend.

Since then, most of my time has been dedicated to keeping cool. I can't believe just how hot I can get. The girls are always wrapping themselves in their blankets because they are cold while sweat drips down the back of my neck. The doctor says the baby is coming any time now, so we're just waiting.

Our ward was split today so Ben and I are now waiting for new callings. We'll keep you posted.

We took the girls to Hogle Zoo on June 13. Fortunately, the baby had decided to give up on the breech position three days earlier, so I was feeling much better. It was a beautiful day with temperatures in the mid-70s in the late afternoon, so even I managed not to overheat.

Sydney took control of the map and dictated our tour of the zoo. Except for Mom and Dad forcing them to sit on the trunk of the "stone elephant" as Sydney called it, they loved it. Here's a few pictures:




























We also went to the Scottish Festival at Thanksgiving Point on Saturday morning after spending the night at my parents' house in Orem. Sydney thought that the Wicked Tinkers played their music too loud, but she liked the sheepdog demonstrations.

We headed back to Logan that night so we could attend church Sunday morning before driving to Soda Springs, Idaho. Ben's grandpa passed away on June 10, and the funeral was held on the 16th. We were able to see lots of Ben's family. Sydney climbed her first tree, and the girls even got to play on some toys that Ben played on when he was little.















Ben also played his bagpipes at the cemetery. He has played at a lot of funerals, but it was so incredibly special to see him play for his grandpa.








After all of that, we came home and crashed for a couple of days. Well, except for Ben who had to go back to work the next day. Life has gotten pretty much back to normal. Except that Tansy has discovered how fun it is to wear shoes on her hands. If there are shoes out, she'll get them. She'll crawl all around the house, laughing about it.