DANCE

Addellyn was able to do a year of dance...

She wasn't sure that she loved dance class, but she did love dressing up for the recital and putting on a little bit of make-up.

She was absolutely adorable up on stage!  But, I guess she'd rather stick to tumbling...

evaleigh at home

We are trying to do a few posts at a time of catch up from the past year (below the "thief" post)....  BUT, I thought I would add an update of life at the moment a few at a time as well.  Then maybe we can avoid getting SOOO far behind and we can share the JOY of Evaleigh (like Emily, but with a v) with those who aren't close enough to observe her for themselves.

 I love Ty's gorgeous eyes.  Especially when they look content like this...Coleson's eyes are pretty expressive too :)

These are all pictures of our first week with this TINY bundle at home.  The girls were still in school and Tyler was able to have the week off (thank goodness!).  Our recovery this time around, emotionally, mentally, and physically has definitely been much harder.  Some of the kids were wary of getting attached to Evaleigh in fear of being hurt again if she was taken away.  Makinzie was the most nervous about holding or touching her.  Coleson will come check every morning and comment about the fact that she is still here!  Addellyn is the most vocal about missing Beckett and compares Evaleigh often to Mr B (she's much louder and wiggly...not as good at snuggling, etc), perhaps in an attempt to show that Evaleigh is good and sweet but will never replace her love for Beckett. 
But, at the same time, it seems that once you know so much pain and despair, the moments that you feel joy and hope seem so much more intense and fulfilling...Evaleigh has definitely brought intense feelings of joy and hope into our home.  She is a light.  We are grateful for this precious heavenly gift.

Not the most pleasant pictures, but these are 2 of the reasons our physical recovery this time around has been much harder.  We came home from the hospital with a string on Evaleigh's belly-button rather than the typical plastic clamp (which began to rot and stink horribly and then caused her cord to fall off prematurely and made her belly tender...ridiculous!), an inch and a half long chunk of catheter stuck in my epidural space, and a horribly swollen back from the surgery they did to attempt to find said piece of catheter....all in our attempt to make this birth more peaceful than the last few by getting an epidural, knowing that it was already going to be a bigger emotional struggle for us this time around...LIFE!  It's so aggravating sometimes. And now recently we have been receiving the $30,000+ in medical bills from the hospital asking us to pay for their horrible mistakes... NEVER going back to that hospital!  This is how I spent the first week:

(And Ty took several lovely pictures, like this one, to prove it ) I was hardly able to move, in a lot of pain, half asleep all the time, and slightly yellow...I needed help to lift the baby, help in and out of chairs, a donut pillow behind me so that my swollen back didn't touch anything, help, help and more help...It was WONDERFUL to have this precious lump to keep me company ALL the time.  I love this little, sweet smelling, squawking, open mouth sleeper, soft and warm angel!

there's a new thief in our midst

May 25, 2012; 5:08 a.m.-- Female suspect makes grand entrance into labor and delivery suite.
5:08 a.m.-5:13 a.m.-- Suspect cries with delight at the sight of the easy prey she will soon claim, receives 9's on 1 minute and 5 minute Apgar scores, and is cleaned of a strange slimy substance.  She also gets placed under a warming lamp and wrapped in a nice clean diaper (which she proceeds to soil moments later).
5:13-5:18--Unsuspecting and somewhat dim-witted male wanders within range of the suspect's overwhelming powers, is instantly under her control.  He then lifts suspect and transports her across the room to a weakened but undeniably beautiful female.  She, too, falls to the suspect's power. 

In a matter of minutes, suspect was able to disarm the two adults and steal their hearts right out of their chests.
Just hours later, suspect successfully repeats this process with 3 children with little hesitation or difficulty.
Suspect photo and description can be found below. WARNING!!! Even photographic reproduction of the suspect has been linked to near-instantaneous loss of one's heart. 

Name:  Evaleigh Diane Gasser; aka "Baby Sister" aka "Peanut"

Size: 7 pounds, 2 ounces; 20.5 inches

Tells: Has been known to resort to a high pitched yell if she feels her grip on everyone's attention is loosening.  Eats like a person at least twice her age. Sleeps with her mouth wide open. Has mastered the art of the bowel movement.  Currently sporting a small but definite 'mullet' hair do.

Suspect should be approached with extreme caution.  And only after appropriate use of hand sanitizer!
Needless to say, we have fallen for our little girl.  And despite a few hiccups and bumps at the hospital, everyone is happy to be home.

Thanks to all for the love, support, and prayers!  Stay tuned as we will soon return to our game of "Catch Up On The Blog"

what do you do a few days before having a baby?

Our van decided it no longer wanted to be a safe vehicle and was about to crash and burn...so, Tuesday we bought this new car.  It was a huge blessing how quickly things fell into place and just felt right--we were definitely being guided through this hard decision. 

Also, it was a huge relief to bring home our little baby in a new, SAFE car. I was actually having anxiety about bringing her home in the van in "Beckett's" seat, maybe somehow erasing memories of him by putting another child in his place??, along with a LOT of other CRAZY anxieties, so, as insignificant as those anxieties may have ACTUALLY been (especially in comparison with a car that was dying in scary places) it was wonderful that the Lord seemed to recognize my fears and allowed us to start fresh, keep Beckett's memories intact and create new ones with the next little bundle, just at the right moment...

On Wednesday Coleson and I drove our new car to...
the Kindergarten Field Day, of course (but it was rainy, so it was a "Gym" day). Coleson fit right in! Actually, he was bigger and a bit better behaved than most of Addellyn's classmates (but he still has TWO more years before he starts kindergarten). Addellyn was the only one to make a basket:

Nothing like hanging out in a stinky, over-packed gym and then sitting on hard folding chairs in the classroom for a "picnic" with those smelly, sweaty kids when you are 38 weeks pregnant!  I'm so glad I was able to go though. Addellyn was looking forward to this day for WEEKS.  And her teacher let Coleson join them for the rest of their school day after lunch (while I observed from the back), he was beyond thrilled!

AND then---on Thursday: I woke up laboring, went to Costco for some much needed groceries, ran a few errands, picked up the girls, cooked dinner, continued having regular contractions, didn't really feel like eating the cooked dinner, went to bed, woke up several times in the night during painful contractions, tried to tell myself they weren't so bad, until I was NOT sleeping, so I decided maybe I should wake Ty up, we left for the hospital around 2am...

mother's day

What the kids look like after church on Mother's Day...

 what the mom looks like.

 Until she sees why the kid is soooo happy!

Addellyn created the most adorable book at school.  I loved all of the pictures of me with my tiny round belly

and I especially loved these pages: "My moter cooks the best is pandkets" and My mother is prettiest "evry Day!" (with the   pregnant belly!) 

My mother is funniest..."wen she wint in the hot pool and her swiming soot got fild."
And My mother really gets mad..."wen I fite with my brother."  (see them punching each other?? nice :-))



PRICELESS!

And Coleson was pretty thrilled that he had helped daddy be "sneaky" to buy an ipad with his extra work money...

darth

If someone invited you to a party with a star wars invite what else would you wear???
(just be warned that the other children might pick on you the entire party because you're dressed as the bad guy...Coleson wasn't quite mentally prepared for that :))

"play" school

Our neghbor's daughter, Izzy, was awesome enough to create a "play" school. (I think it may have even been one of her YW goals??  Love that program!)  These are some pictures from their Farm Day.  It was so awesome that she came over and entertained/taught my kids most afternoons.  She always had it outside. and it was always at THAT time of day, you know, that one between homework being done and dinner being made where everyone seems to have some sort of emotional meltdown. Well, as a final stages of pregnancy mom, I was SOOOO grateful to make dinner in peace and avoid several complete come aparts every afternoon.  Oh how we'll miss Izzy!

the dash

The kids LOVE "the Bolts" games, and luckily the dash had a spring school night, so everyone got a free hat and the kids got a hotdog and a drink!

It ended up beimg a firework night--Addellyn braved it out, with a few jackets firmly pushed onto her ears (see her little hands helping to push Ty's hands down even tighter?) and snuggling up onto her daddy's lap. She was also promised the chance to run the bases afterwards.  Too bad we were in the wrong line, SO we ended up being at the very end of the actual line for base running.  We were questioning our base running promise, until...

See the "helper" frantically pointing towards home plate? Yeah, that's because Coleson rounded third and blasted to home plate! But. the kids are only supposed to start on first and exit the field at third--apparently they're pretty protective of home?? So here's Coleson running back towards third from home so that he can exit the field  properly:

Can't you tell how absolutely thrilled he was to tell me all about making it clear to home?! (And, honestly, Ty was quite pleased that his son naturally rounded third and picked up his speed to make it home as well--all that baseball practice out back had paid off!)

We were finally heading out of the stadium around 10.  And Bolt was kind enough to sign each of their hats and give them all a hi-five as we left.  Such happy kids! This night will be forever etched in these little minds...

easter

 Luckily, the Easter Bunny must have known that we would be flying home Friday and then driving from DC back home on Saturday, because he came to Nana and Papa's to distribute baskets and eggs!  It was fun to decorate eggs and have an Easter hunt with family...it's been a long time since we've been able to do Easter things with extended family.

 Easter candy and toys made great plane and car distractions too!

We were home (though a bit out of sorts) Easter Sunday. 
Side note: Can you see behind us how weed-free our planter is?!? We are so very BLESSED and grateful to those secret friends that came and weeded our planters, garden and mowed our lawn!  What an incredible surprise! I'm sure it took hours and hours to do! It sure was wonderful to come home to a clean yard and a garden that was ready for planting, I don't know that I've ever seen Ty happier!  I may have to start putting elbow grease into my Birthday and Christmas gifts from now on, sheesh!)
Grandma had made wonderful new Easter outfits for the girls and they were waiting for us in our large stack of mail! (The girls picked out my outfit to "match," however, I think I was a bit too large to be wearing a white shirt at this point--white only makes that large belly look a bit larger--and I'm pretty sure it's the white that makes my face look a bit chubbier too?! yup, that must be it :))
Since the Easter Bunny had already made an appearance we were able to truly celebrate our Savior's Resurrection on Easter Sunday, without any distractions, this may become our new tradition.
Our Savior's gift of Eternal Life seems to have such a deeper meaning to our little family this year.  How gateful we are that we will all be Resurrected and reunited with our loved ones.  We can't wait to hold our sweet Mr B again! What a wonderful day that will be!
Here is our Prophet, President Thomas S. Monson's, Testimony of the Resurrection.

more boise fun

 The kids built a tent to watch conference from...mainly because the couches were prety full.  But Kinzie was the only one that stayed in the tent to watch (and kept poking her hand out from under the tent because Papa would sneak those little yummy snacks from on top of her tent into her stretched out hand :)).  The other two needed someone to snuggle as they watched (and someone they could distract).

Notice those giant skid marks on Addellyn's face? She literally took a nose dive onto the rock path immediately after taking family pictures that first day of our trip.  The tooth had already been lost...

When conference was not being watched games were played.  And when the game was won, these two would naturally assume this fist pumping pose.

And, of course, snacks were made! I love the way Coleson held onto Chantelle as he helped stir.

fun in boise

After we spent a couple weeks in the nation's capital, Ty skipped the last couple days of his conference (Shhh! Don't tell!!) and we flew from D.C. to Boise for Spring Break, Easter, and General Conference.  We began the Boise adventure taking group pictures:

While we were there, we took time out to celebrate a group birthday party, since Andrea turned 29 while we were there and Lyndsey, Nate, Lindsey, and Tyler all have March-ish Birthdays and we only get together every so often!  Everyone in the family had also written a very sweet note to us for Beckett's Birthday and my mom had bought a beautiful cake "birthday" platter that will help us remember him as we celebrate each family member on their birthday and rejoice that we are sealed forever.  It was nice to celebrate/remember our little man, since his is a March Birthday also.

The kids especially loved spending time with Uncle Logan, Aunt Lyndsey & Uncle Nate (above) and Aunt Chantelle & Uncle Jason and Aunt Lindsey & Uncle Ben, it's been too long since they've had THAT much Aunt and Uncle attention!  Plus, time with Nana and Papa is always a treat. 

We all had a super fun time.  The kids, Nana, Chantelle, and Jason all worked together to make everyone a crown, since we are rather royal.

When the wind was strong enough, the kids convinced Papa to take them to the school field nearby to have fun flying kites.  It only took us (and by us, I mean Aunt Lindsey) 6 hours to untangle kite strings afterward, so we'll call it an overall success.

Ty heard Coleson screaming across the field while squatting down to the ground.  Come to find out he was a scared that the wind and kite would team up to carry him away.  He is such a light-hearted soul, after all. Needless to say, he wouldn't let Dad wander too far for a while.

Two favorites from the kite flying experience:  1) Looking across the field to see Papa teaching Nate the intricacies of professional kite flying.  I'm pretty sure I heard him saying, "It's all in the hips."  They just don't get enough quality time together anymore!

 2) Seeing Lyndsey running full speed across the field to catch up with her kite after the handle fell off her string winder.  That whole story about a kite immediately falling if you let go of the string?  Yeah, that's not quite true.  It ended up a good quarter mile away in some guys back yard with the string all up in his trees.  Nice!