Sara's 4-month checkup (at 5 months)

So, Sara had her checkup yesterday, and she's officially a light weight. She didn't even register in the percentiles. All of my kids have been small, but not that small. The nurse weighed her and entered in the weight and said, "Well, she's in the 0%. Does she eat?" Dr. Porter said that maybe she's just too easy going and doesn't fuss every time she's a little hungry. She usually eats 4 bottles a day. He said to try and get in 6 bottles a day and weigh her in a month. Hopefully this will do the trick. Anyway, here are her stats:

Weight 10lbs 12 oz (0%)
Height 25in (36%)
Head Circ. 16in (12%)

I love this hat on her. Isn't she cute!?!

More Loose Teeth (by Heather)

Rachel discovered yesterday that she has two loose teeth (front bottom). She lost her first tooth about six months ago and I was beginning to wonder when the next one would come. We can already see where one of the permanent teeth is about to break through the gums so I'm sure it won't be too long before they actually fall out. Needless to say, she is VERY excited!!!

Recipe Friday (on Saturday)

Philadelphia "Fruit Smoothie"
No-Bake Cheesecake

2 C Graham Cracker Crumbs
6 T butter, melted
1 C sugar, divided
4 pkg (8oz each) cream cheese, softened
1 pkg (12 oz) frozen mixed berries (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries), thawed, drained
1 tub (8oz) cool whip, thawed

Mix graham crumbs, butter and 1/4 C sugar; press firmly onto bottom of 13x9 pan. Refrigerate while preparing filling.
Beat cream cheese and 3/4 C sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Stir in mixed berries. Gently stir in whipped topping. Spoon over crust; cover.
Refrigerate 4 hours or until firm. Store leftover cheesecake in refrigerator.

I got this recipe off a Philadelphia cream cheese box and it's delicious! I just don't usually like the "no-bake" cheesecakes as good, but this is a definite exception.

Omniture Summit 2009 and Maroon 5

This is a long time coming, I know. I haven't posted since last year and it's almost the end of February. I've been very occupied at work since my promotion to manager. I manage one of our consulting groups now and have been very busy as we've come into 2009.

In addition to learning my responsibilities I have been preparing for our annual Omniture Summit - a conference for our clients geared toward online marketers. We give everyone a chance to network and learn about products and industry services. It's become quite a big event. This year's conference was held in the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City this past week.

If you haven't been to the Salt Palace, you should know that it takes up a full city block in Salt Lake City - an eighth of a mile - and used to be the home of the Utah Jazz before the Delta Center was built. We used all of the meeting areas and one exhibition hall down the main hallway. The pictures below were taken one of the mornings before things got going.

Each conference has meetings and keynote speakers that go from Tuesday to Thursday with skiing on Friday. After the meetings each day there are parties, after parties and other entertainment. In past years we have had keynote speakers such as Lance Armstrong, authors of famous books, and entertainment from Frank Caliendo and Flight of the Conchords.

This year we had a private concert with Maroon 5. They were great live - people that didn't care much for their music commented how great they were live and were happy they went. I took one of my cameras with and took a few pitures...

And a video of one of the songs, If I Never See Your Face Again

So now that this year's Summit is over and I'm looking to get into a better routine. Looking forward to less stress, although I will still be busy. Enjoy the pics and video.

Snow Fun (by Heather)

Bryant's getting ready to throw some snow at me. That was his favorite part of playing in the snow; getting to throw it at Mom. ;-)


Well, I haven't figured out how to put words before the pictures start, so I'll start after the first picture.
On Valentine's Day we were lucky enough to get enough snow to have some fun. (I've been hoping that we would get at least one more good snow now that I am feeling better and could last for a while.) So, after breakfast the three older kids, the neighbor girl, and I went out to play and build a snowman. Sorry, there's a ton of pictures, but I couldn't figure out which ones to leave out.

Bryant's inspecting the damage he did with his snowball.


Everyone is working hard building big snowballs for the snowman.


Kaylee's the only one that stuck with me for the entire snowman. What a trooper!!! This is a great picture of her rolling the snowball to make it bigger.


Here's our snowman. The kids named him "Frosty." Rachel and Kaylee loved having Nendalynn out there to play with them. She loved helping to put the pieces on Frosty too. Obviously, the snow didn't stick around too long. This picture was taken after the sledding and most of the snow was gone from the front yard. At least we got to play in it first.

After some hot chocolate and a quick lunch I hauled all four of our children and Nendalynn to the golf course for some serious sledding. (Caleb was busy with work stuff for Summit.) Nendalynn had never been sledding before so the girls were excited to show her the ropes. I wasn't sure if they would last too long, but we were there for at least three hours. We all had a blast!
Here are some of my favorite pictures.




By the end of it Kaylee got tired of pulling the sled up the hill and started crawling while pushing it up. In this picture it got away from her and Rachel headed down after it so she could have that one.


Sara stayed bundled up in her car seat for most of the time. She slept for about half the time. I set her under the tree at the top of the hill to help keep some of the snow and wind off, and bundled her up really good. I was especially grateful for the warm car seat blanket (thanks Granny). After she woke up we pulled her out for a little fun too. She was very intent on watching the others play.


That smile says it all. Gosh she's so cute!!! ;-)


Kaylee held Sara in this sled for a little bit while I pulled them around on the flat surface.


The kids all wanted turns sledding with me so they took turns watching Sara while I went down with each of them twice.

About the time we were finishing up it really started to snow. Check out those flakes. I love how you can see them in these pictures. It really looks like a winter wonderland.

Recipe Friday

(I'm doing this a little early because I know tomorrow is going to be crazy and I probably wouldn't get to it if I wait till tomorrow.)

This is a recipe I got from my neighbor, Melody. It's delicious!!!

Husband's Delight
1 lb ground beef
10 oz egg noodles (I've used spaghetti noodles and spiral noodles)
1 (14oz) can italian diced tomatoes (I use regular and just add some italian seasoning)
1 tsp salt
1 T sugar
8 oz sour cream
8 oz cream cheese, softened
about 1/4 onion, chopped
about 1/2 pound cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350.
Cook Pasta and drain.
Cook ground beef and onion (I also added about a tsp of chopped garlic) on medium heat. Drain. Add tomatoes with juice, salt, and sugar. Simmer for 15 minutes. Combine sour cream and cream cheese.
In a 9x13 pan layer noodles, meat mixture, and sour cream mixture. Top with sliced cheese ( I used shredded cheese instead). Cover and bake 20 min. Remove foil and cook an additional 5 minutes until cheese is melted.

(Caleb thinks it might be a little better if you mix everything together instead of layering it. That way the topping would be more evenly spread with the pasta, especially if you use shredded cheese. We'll probably try it that way the next time I make it.)

My Firstborn

Here you go moms - a different kind of survey for a change - it's all about your first born! Just copy and paste it in a new note for yourself.


1. WAS YOUR PREGNANCY PLANNED?
Yes

2. WERE YOU MARRIED AT THE TIME?
Yes.

3. WHAT WERE YOUR REACTIONS?
Very happy and excited.

4. WAS ABORTION AN OPTION FOR YOU?
Never.

5. HOW OLD WERE YOU?
21 when we found out, 22 when she was born.

6. HOW DID YOU FIND OUT YOU WERE PREGNANT?
I suspected it for a couple of weeks before it was confirmed. I just remember being very hungry and tired.

7. WHO DID YOU TELL FIRST?
Caleb of course.

8. DID YOU WANT TO FIND OUT THE SEX?
Yes

9. DUE DATE?
Sept. 18th (I think)

10. DID YOU HAVE MORNING SICKNESS?
Not really. I was a little nauseas sometimes, but not too bad.

11. WHAT DID YOU CRAVE?
Beef! I no longer wanted chicken, which is what I usually ate before. Instead I wanted burgers, steak, etc.

12.WHAT IRRITATED YOU?
I don't really remember being irritated. I did hate the fact that the smell of meat cooking made me nauseas.

13. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CHILD'S SEX?
Female

14. DID YOU WISH YOU HAD THE OPPOSITE SEX OF WHAT YOU WERE GETTING?
No.

15. HOW MANY POUNDS DID YOU GAIN THROUGHOUT THE PREGNANCY
50-ish. I did manage to lose it all and then some though.

16. DID YOU HAVE A BABY SHOWER?
Yes.

17. WAS IT A SURPRISE OR DID YOU KNOW?
I knew.

18. DID YOU HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS DURING YOUR PREGNANCY?
Nothing major. She had a cord wrapped around her so I had to lie on my side (I think it was my right side) for most of the labor.

19. WHERE DID YOU GIVE BIRTH?
Utah Valley Regional Medical Center (Provo)

20. HOW MANY HOURS WERE YOU IN LABOR?
We started the pitocin at 7pm, I only had to push 3 or 4 times, and she was born about 8am. So, I guess it was about 13 hours.

21. WHO DROVE YOU TO THE HOSPITAL?
Caleb.

22. WHO WATCHED YOU GIVE BIRTH?
Caleb was in there, but he certainly wasn't watching. So, other than Dr. Porter and his team it was Tia.

23. WAS IT NATURAL OR C-SECTION?
It was vaginal, not natural. There's a difference.

24. DID YOU TAKE MEDICINE TO EASE THE PAIN?
I got the epidural pretty early on because the nurses scared us. We were concerned they might need to do an emergency c-section so I wanted to be all preped in case. (It was all dealing with the cord wrapped around her. Her heart rate kept dropping, but they didn't really say much too us. The nurse just looked a little nervous when she came rushing in and stuck her hand up there to rub the baby's head. In hind sight it probably wasn't such a big deal, but with it being my first delivery and how much the nurse was rushing around it kind of stressed us out.)

25. HOW MUCH DID YOUR CHILD WEIGH?
7 pounds 6 ounces (19 inches)

26. WHEN WAS YOUR CHILD ACTUALLY BORN?
Sept 13, 2001

27. WHAT DID YOU NAME HIM/HER?
Rachel Leanne Silvey