Merry Christmas

So, I know it's a little late, but I just wanted to wish everyone a very merry Christmas. We had a wonderful Christmas. We were able to spend the day with Dan's family in Orem. I was exhausted, having just been discharged from the hospital the morning of Christmas Eve, but it was so good to be around family. Our biggest blessing of the holiday, of course, is having Miles with us. We are so grateful he is healthy and doing well.

Here are some pictures of Miles and of our Christmas:

Another Little Miracle

Baby Meservy,

Welcome to the world, my new child! We are so happy that you chose to come to the earth and follow our Heavenly Father’s plan for you. Today has been rainy outside, but we are sunshine all over on the inside. You mom went in to labor at about 9:30 this morning, and you were born at 12:54 pm, weighing 7 lbs 10 oz and 18.5” long.

Baby, we’re so glad you’re with us. When the nurse was preparing the changing station, I teared up looking at that changing station, knowing you’d soon be with us. I’ve felt peace and calm about you. I know that God is watching over you.

You’ve been a calm baby all day… probably very tired. Even when the nurse poked your foot to get a blood sugar level reading, you didn’t flinch. Grandma and Grandpa Knapp came down from Idaho just to see you and will be going up north again tomorrow. Grandma and Grandpa Meservy came up from Orem, with your Uncle Joe. Uncle Dave & Aunt Stacey, Uncle Nathan & Aunt Charlene, and Aunt Amy all came to see you too. Best of all, your big brother, Hyrum, came to see you. He immediately put his hand on your face then reached for your hat. He wanted it badly. I know that the two of you will be best of friends. We look forward to your adventures and shared love and brotherhood.

You and your mom and both happy and well… and your dad’s happy that everything turned out so wonderfully.

Above all else, Baby, I wanted to take a second and remind you that you are fresh from our Heavenly Father. He loves you so much and wants you to return to be with him. Your mother and I will do all we can to teach you to walk in His ways. We so look forward to teaching you and learning from you. I anticipate learning all about you and becoming your help and confidant.

I love you, Baby. We love you. Welcome!

Daddy

Nativities

Our family has been able to enjoy three nativities already this year. I have always loved nativities. Maybe it's because my mom collects them, so I was always surrounded by nativities at Christmas time. Whatever the reason, I love nativities at Christmas time. The first nativity we went to was a live one in South Jordan that my sister-in-law's stake puts on. It was, as always, incredible.

Our second experience with nativities was the "World Nativity Project." (http://www.worldnativity.com) We went to this guy's home and saw about 100 nativities from 3rd world and developing countries. They were so unique. They were made out of everything from soda cans and magazines to intricately carved wood. This year's theme was "angels" and the guy talked to us about the significance of angels in the story of Christ's birth. It was a really neat experience.

The third nativity was the nativity that the grandkids on my husband's side of the family put on every year. Last year Hyrum was baby Jesus. This year he made his big debut as a sheep.

He loved crawling around with his cousins, and smiled the entire time. He also started dancing every time we turned on music and sang a Christmas song. It was so cute! I love nativities and the Christmas season.

In other news, the pregnancy is still going well. I can hardly believe that we have 3 weeks left at most! It's strange to think that soon we'll have two kids, and that Hyrum will be a big brother. He's still my baby--how can he be having a little brother?!

Our Two Trees

Tree #1 -- November was a great month for our family. We really tried to focus on gratitude and all the blessings we've received. To help us out, Dan and I put up a "Gratitude Tree" for the first FHE in November. Each day we wrote something we were grateful for on a leaf and taped it to the tree. It looked pretty silly the first few days, but the leaves accumulated quickly.

I loved being able to look at the tree all month long and be reminded of all the blessings I've been given. It helped me realize how much I truly do have. Here's what Dan and I are most grateful for (in no particular order):

• America
• Priesthood Power
• Scriptures
• A Warm House
• Huggies
• Modern Medicine
• The Holy Ghost
• Ice Cream
• Our Family
• Good Credit
• Good Health
• Sealing Power
• Temples
• Being a Stay-at-Home-Mom
• Good-Smelling Candles
• Youth of the Church
• Good People
• Pajama Pants
• Living Prophets
• Enough money to have all we need & much of what we want
• Sunshine
• Technology
• No Lack of Food
• The Sunrise
• Love
• My Wonderful Wife
• Quick & Easy Recipes
• Our Education
• Snow
• My Hubba-Hubby
• Dan's Short "Commute"
• Good Friends
• Prayer
• Music
• Good Literature
• Tithing
• Fall Weather
• Nina
• Dishwashers
• Chocolate
• Voting Rights
• Good Movies
• The Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ
• Seasons
• A Great Job
• A Strong Mind
• Hyrum

Tree #2 -- The Saturday after Thanksgiving, Dan and I put up our first Christmas tree. It's our first tree after 3 Christmases together, but better late than never! It's nice to finally have a place big enough to put one up.

There's something so nice about snuggling up on the couch with a good cup of hot chocolate and watching the lights on a tree.

In a way, I'm sad to see November go. It was a great month for our family. December will bring a lot of changes with the addition of baby #2, and I just hope we're up for it!

More PB&J, please!

Hyrum makes the funniest noises. Seriously. You have to hear this kid laugh when he knows he's being cute. And when he's excited, it's the funniest little noise ever. He cracks me up. I finally got his "excited" noise recorded, and thought I'd pass it along. (Side note: He LOVES peanut butter and jelly sandwiches). Be sure you have your speakers turned up:

Love it! And isn't it great that he learned the sign for "please?"

One Year Ago Today...

November 9 will always have special meaning for me. It was the day last year that we were finally able to bring Hyrum home from the NICU.

In the past 3 weeks since his birthday, I've spent some time going back and reading my journal and blog entries about his time in the NICU. What an experience! Sometimes when I look at him now, it's hard to believe he was ever so sick. Dan and I are forever grateful to the incredible doctors and nurses who took such good care of him (and us!). We also feel indebted to the many family members and friends who prayed and fasted for our little boy. I don't doubt that it was Priesthood power and prayers that kept him going when doctors were baffled as to what was causing all his problems.

While I would never want to experience something like that again (and am praying to not have to here in a few short months...) I feel blessed by the experience. My relationship with Dan was strengthened. My reliance on and love for the Savior increased. I felt closer to family members who provided love and support during a very difficult time.

And now, you'd never know Hyrum had such a rough start. Isn't he great?

Halloween 2010

Halloween 2010 was great!  We made some nice signs and a bottomless mineshaft.  One kid said, "Whoa!  If I ever fell down there, I'd never be able to get out!"  Another: "How did you make it?" - Laurie's response: "We had to dig a long, long time..." ... "Whoa...."

Got big plans for next year!  You'll just have to wait and see!

Happy Birthday Hyrum!

Hyrum had his first birthday on Friday. It's crazy to think we have a 1 year old!

He had a great time unwrapping gifts. Next year maybe we'll just buy wrapping paper and cardboard boxes...

My mom made him a teddy bear cake.

We gave him some cake and let him go at it.

He loved to pick up pieces of the cake and throw it onto the floor.

WAY more ended up on the floor than in his mouth.

When he did want a bite, he refused to use his hands, preferring to do this.

He had a great time destroying his cake, and we had just as much fun watching him.

The only downside to his birthday was that the poor little guy was sick all weekend. He's had a bad cold, but then he got a pretty high fever and threw up. He just wasn't himself. Luckily, he's doing much better today, though he still isn't 100%. We sure love our little man and are so grateful to have him in our family.

Gardner Village

Last week Dan and I went to Gardner Village. It was the first time we had been there, and we loved it. It was all decorated for Fall and Halloween, and was a real fun place to stroll around and enjoy a nice Fall evening. The witch displays were fun, and I liked all the little shops. The best thing by far though--the candy roasted almonds. Oh yeah. Here's just a few pictures of our night out:

Herriman Fires

So, I'm sure a lot of you have already heard about the wildfires we had in Herriman last week. It was pretty intense, but luckily our neighborhood didn't have to evacuate. Dan took these pictures from the park at the end of our street. Isn't it crazy how huge the flames are? And how close?

We feel very blessed that our home was protected and our hearts go out to those not as fortunate.

And, to end on a happier note, our garden did pretty well this year. Here's Hyrum enjoying one of the many (and I do mean MANY) carrots we harvested.

Growing Up

So, lately I've had to come to terms with the fact that my little baby is growing up. Too fast. Not only is his face changing (losing some baby fat and taking on a more toddler-ish appearance) but he is suddenly very mobile and gets into everything. I guess it was inevitable. . . He loves to pull himself along the couches, army crawl everywhere, and pull himself up on anything and everything--including me.

But last night it really hit me just how big he is getting. We were watching a movie downstairs and Hyrum was playing and crawling around. He disappeared from sight, so Dan went to check on him. This is what he found:

Hyrum has discovered how to climb stairs. And he loves it! This morning we played on the stairs for a while and he seemed absolutely thrilled by his new-found ability. Now we just have to teach him how to climb down. . . He's getting big so fast! (Whether I'm ready for it or not).

It's a boy!

Last week we had our ultrasound for Baby #2 and it looks like Hyrum is getting a little brother! We are excited to be getting another boy. Here's my favorite picture from the ultrasound:

The baby had both of his hands clasped together, kind of like he was praying. The doctor said he had never seen that before in 19 years of doing ultrasounds. He pushed and prodded for about 5 minutes before the baby unclasped his hands. I'm measuring right on, so our due date is still January 3.

In other news, we're enjoying the slightly cooler weather and the awesome thunderstorms we get up by our house. Hyrum loves to army crawl everywhere and we've had to do some baby-proofing, including moving some vases and things out of reach and buying a gate to put at the top of the stairs. He's getting big so fast! In fact, today I was doing some cleaning and laundry so I put him in the laundry basket to play (so I wouldn't have to chase him everywhere) and when I turned around, this is what I saw:

It was the first time he has ever pulled himself up into a standing position. He started laughing when he realized I was looking at him, like he was pretty proud of himself.

He also really likes to play the piano when we let him (which isn't very often--let's be honest). I think it's pretty cute.

Our Big Boy

Hyrum is getting big so fast! It's hard to believe he's already 9 months old. I took him to his 9 month well-child check this month and he's doing great. He has two teeth on the bottom and four on top. It makes him look so much older to me. He's getting really close to crawling. He will get up on his hands and knees and rock back and forth and lunge for things. I can tell it's almost time to baby proof the house!

Hyrum has been learning some fun new tricks. He knows how to wave "bye-bye" and give high fives. He also does this cute thing where when we say "big boy" he puts his arms up over his head as high as he can. We tried recording it, but as soon as he sees the camera, he doesn't like to perform. So far, this is the best we could get:

He also seems to have a fascination with tile. If I put him on the carpet to play, he'll quickly roll to the tile and then roll to his back and use his feet to push him around. It's pretty funny. We love our little man!

Green Canyon

A couple of weeks ago we went to Idaho to go camping with my family at Green Canyon Hot Springs. We had a lot of fun and took a lot of pictures, so I'll let them tell the story:

First things first, we set up our tents. This was the first time we had the chance to use the tent we got for graduation, and it was awesome! All the grandkids kept commenting on how huge it was. It's an 8-man with a 7 foot tall center. Not bad, not bad.

Once the tents were up, the real fun and games began. All the grandkids, and most of the adults, really got into a marshmallow gun war.

Dan was no exception. We're thinking that next year we should play with the marshmallow guns AWAY from the tents. . . We were walking in sticky marshmallows the rest of the trip. . .

The next activity was gunny sack races, so Dan and I lined up for our turn.

He was winning. . . until. . .

I pushed him.

. . . and then promptly tripped and fell flat on my face. Darn karma. . .

Hyrum loved being outside, and really enjoyed the water when we went swimming at the hot springs. His cousin, Mackenna, absolutely loved him, and was a great help in feeding and playing with him.

It was a really fun trip, and for a family that hardly ever camps (speaking of the Knapps) I think we pulled it off quite nicely!