~Emma's Blessing Day!~

What a perfect day....Well, as perfect as it could be. We blessed Emma Hope Arkoudas today, March 30,2008. We had a lot of family come, and that meant so much to us. We realized when we decided to move so far away that we would probably not have family at events like this, but we had both of our parents there, and Ryan's grandparents. Ryan's two sisters, Jamie and Tami and their families. Two of my sisters also came, Michele with her family, and Meredith with her new fiance(He actually proposed on his way home from the blessing.) My parents and Jamie flew in on thursday, and it was so cold! The boys were hoping that when Coulsen got here, he could help them get a tree house up in the tree. But by the time that they got here on Friday, it was freezing and there was a major snow storm. One of the only ones we got this year.

Ryan's parents had a heck of a time getting through the passes. Wouldn't you know that the

only weekend that we need it to be good weather it's not. We ended up having both fires going the entire time. It was freezing. The kids had so much fun playing with their cousins. Michele stayed at a hotel, and Sam and Noah stayed there with them the first night, and then Sam and Caleb stayed there the next night. They thought that was so cool. Caleb loves his aunt Michele. Mara got to play with girls!! She and Sophie and Hallie had a great time playing together and Sophie taught her how to play like a girl. That was so fun. The baby strollers got used and the dolls got carried around.

On sunday, we went to the church and blessed Emma and then came back to our house for dinner. We had BBQ beef sandwiches and the house was full. Ryan's parents and grandparents and sister Tami saw the weather report that it was supposed to snow again and decided it was best that they head for home before the weather got worse, so less than 24 hours after arriving here, they headed for home. We felt bad that they traveled all that way for such a short time, but were so glad that they were here for Emma's special day.

I love this picture of Ryan and Emma! He wore his pink tie just for the occasion, and Emma is looking at him like she knows exactly who he is and Ryan is looking at her like he knows just how special she is. I love it!

By Sunday night everyone had left except Jamie and her girls. Brian flew in that night, and unfortunately for him had to hear Mara cry all night long. She had molars coming in and it was making her ear hurt. I tried everything that I knew. I put garlic in her ear in case it was an ear infection, I tried zoning her, I tried lavender oil to calm her down, I tried peppermint oil on her back to get her fever down. I even tried tylenol. Yes, I figured that would do the trick. It was the first time she has ever had tylenol, but nothing worked. She still cried all night long. I felt bad for her, but I felt even worse for Brian in the next room being kept awake.

I had a neonatal recussitation class the next morning, so I didn't even get to spend the day with Brian and Jamie, but Ryan had the day off, and he got to take care of sick Mara, and try to be entertaining for our company. By monday night everyone had gone home, and Ryan and I sat on the couch and looked at each other and wondered why we had moved so far away from our family that we love so muc. It was kinda depressing. Having everyone there made us realize just how much we miss them, and how much we like having them around. I was thinking that I had a little bit of postpartum depression(something I've never had before), but when everyone went home, I realized that it most likely wasn't postpartum depression, but rather just a homesickness of sorts. I missed having everyone around when I had a baby to help, and to just know that they were there.

We are so grateful to all who came up and sacrificed there time and energy to be there with us on Emma's very special day....Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. It meant so very much to us.

St. Patrick's Day

We had a most excellent St.Patrick's day, complete with green scrambled eggs for breakfast and Corned Beef and mashed potates with green jello for dinner. The kids were hoping that a leprechan would come to our house again like he did last year, but he didn't.

Last year Ryan and I were in Hawaii for St. Patrick's Day and Nikki Thomas was tending. She went all out and had a pot of surprises and glitter all over and leprechan foot prints. A leprechan came to Caleb's class at school and messed up the room and left glitter all over. Caleb thought that was pretty cool. He set up a trap for one, but they didn't catch him.

I am not liking that Easter and St.Patrick's Day were on the same week this year.

Last Friday Ryan took Sam, Noah and Caleb skiing for the first time. They absolutely loved it. Noah was very skeptical about going, and I had to pretty much force him to go. He actually told me he would rather stay at school and take his friday spelling, math and reading tests. He wasn't kidding either, I guess it's good that he likes school that much. He had a great time though, they all said it was the best thing they have ever done in their lives. Caleb got really brave and started booking it down the mountain, then caught an edge and biffed it really good. He had on goggles, and the imprint of them is still in the corner of his eyes. Needless to say he was pretty cautious after that and stayed right behind Ryan the rest of the time. I wish I could have seen them.

I stayed home and took Max and Mara to tumbling for the first time. They loved it! Max is a little monkey and he had a grand old time. I actually got to talk to some moms, and that was fun for me too. Max wanted to go skiing really bad, and he would have done awesome, but three was hard enough for Ryan to handle on their first time, so Max can start next year. They are already planning another trip.

Max had his first trip to the Emergency room, he fell off the dog kennel onto the cement floor, and got a concussion. He seemed fine at first, but then he got all listless and kept throwing up. It ended up that he was okay, but you just never know. I can't wait for the bill from that one. Of course Ryan was out of town, but thank goodness Ryan's mom was here to help me. Max slept from 9:30 to 3:00, but when he woke up at three, he was back to his old 'jumping off everything' self.

My sister Meredith is getting married in Nauvoo on June 17th, so we are driving 20 hours to go there. We are going to go through South Dakota, to see Mt. Rushmore, and then through Nebraska to winter quarters and we'll stop at Farr West and Liberty Jail and Adam-ondi-aman. I am really excited, I love road trips. Our only problem is seats in our car. We are one short, so we have to see about getting another car.

We are blessing Emma on Sunday March 30th, and the kids are finished with their no-sugar diet that day. They are doubly excited to see family and to have treats. Sam wants brownies and ice-cream. Noah wants Chocolate eclairs (the frozen ones from Sam's club), and Ryan just wants anything Chocolate. ( He has only been on the no-sugar thing since January) We are so excited to see family and have cousins to play with. We ordered baby chicks from the farm store, they will come in May. I am so excited. I was hoping to have them for Easter, but they don't come in until May. That will give us time to get our chicken coop ready so that no animals can get in to get the chicks.

I am going to take a newborn ressusitation class on March 31st. I have been reading the textbook, and it is so interesting. I am excited to learn. I am hoping to become a birth assistant at the birthing center where I delivered Emma. I am very excited about that.