Welcome McKinley Susan Foote!!

Tuesday July 19 we welcomed McKinley Susan to our family. The story goes like this. On Monday we went to the mall to play with friends in a cool environment and when everyone else left we got some lunch and then did a little shopping. I started to feel a few contractions while we were out. When we got home I started timing them and they were somewhere between 10-12 minutes apart. Kris had to work that evening so I told him to be prepared. I kept track and by the time he got home after 12 the contractions were about 8 minutes apart. I tried to go to sleep but I couldn't get comfortable so I watched TV and kept track with a little bit of sleep in between. By 6 am the contractions were about 6-7 minutes apart and getting stronger. By 7 I knew that Kris wasn't going to be able to go to work and we got things ready to go to the hospital. By the time we were in the car the contractions were pretty painful. We dropped off Denzil at our friends and headed in to the hospital. When I got there my water wasn't broken but I was dilated to about a 6.5 so we were admitted. Because I'm a carrier for group B strep, the doctor said they weren't going to break my water to speed things up. I have to have antibiotics and it is best if they are in my system for 8 hrs before the birth. So we got hooked up and I got my epidural and was able to get a little bit of rest. Just after 12 noon I felt queezy and threw up. I must have broken my water at that point. When the nurse checked me a while later she said I was to an 8 and that it was broken. By 2:45 I was getting ready to push to get the baby in the right spot and then after a few more pushes we had McKinley out in the world. Kris was able to catch her like he did with Denzil. It was pretty awesome! When the nurses were checking her out they said she sounded like she had some "grunting" noise with her cry so they called the NICU to check her out. They decided that it would be best to take her to the NICU to monitor her for a couple of hours. This is her in the NICU. She was looking pretty content just chillin under the warmer.

We are now a family of 4!
Yay! Let's go home!

Denzil's cute faces

We went to the Chick fil-A dress like a cow day and got a free meal. I pinned some spots to his clothes and put some ears on this hat. It didn't last long. He enjoyed his lunch and playing with friends in the play place.

He's been making this face quite a bit lately. I think I must look at him with that type of look often when he does something he isn't supposed to do!

4th of July

The 4th of July was a bit rainy for us here. We planned on watching the fireworks with our friends at the country club a couple miles away from us. This is the sight we saw when we got out of the car. The rain had stopped but it did it's damage...no fireworks because the equipment got wet.

But, don't worry. Denzil got to touch a snake, a horny dragon, ride a pony, hold a bunny and see several other animals that evaded his grab.




He was so excited about "making fireworks." Good thing he doesn't really know what they are so he was able to have a blast anyway!

NC Zoo with friends

This pic doesn't have anything to do with the zoo but this is Denzil's first time eating the corn on the cob. He loved it!

Denzil said that he wanted to go to the zoo one day to see the giraffes so we found some friends and headed out. Aren't these two just precious! Denzil loves Aiden and his parents.
It's a good thing that the zoo has statues and other things throughout that little kids can play on. They liked seeing the animals but these boys were quite entertained with everything else!
The real elephant is in the open area behind them but you can't pet him!
Denzil didn't want to come off of the tire.
We sat here for a bit because they could just sit and watch the seal swim by and we pregnant ladies could get some shade and rest.
The boys in a polar bear cave. The polar bear was sleeping. It was a pretty hot day.

Thanks Amy and Aiden for coming with us. Denzil wants to go again but I think we'll have to wait until it isn't quite so hot to do it again.

South Mountains State Park

About a month ago we drove a little over 1.5 hrs to check out a state park we hadn't been to yet. Kris wanted to do a 6 mile loop but I decided we should do half that. It was a nice hike with some pretty good stairs to keep us in shape. This waterfall was really pretty. There was a little pool at the bottom but you aren't supposed to get in it. We did put our feet in the creek after the hike was over though which was very nice. Who doesn't like cool water after exercise! The guy we asked to take this pic wasn't too excited about taking it. He didn't even get the waterfall in it! We went again with some friends a couple weeks later but I haven't uploaded their pics they took to our computer yet. Denzil loves hiking and asks about it often. Good thing!

Lake Powell 2011

How could we miss the chance to go to Lake Powell this year?? It was great weather besides a little wind at times but the water was breath taking for sure. It was rising so fast that we had to move the anchors on the house boat several times while we were there. We had an awesome beach to play on and fun rocks to climb too.

Denzil wanted to hold the flag on his own. Every time he saw me trying to hang on to it he would move my hand.

This mother duck and her ducklings came by the houseboat a few times for some bread. I couldn't believe that there were 10 ducklings!

Denzil slept pretty well most nights but when it was chilly he came to sleep with us.
Cute redheads!
The water was a bit chilly for Denzil's liking but he enjoyed playing in the sand and walking in the water. We got him all the way in the water once but he wasn't very excited about it.
He liked the wave runners and the boat.
And of course the popcorn and movie night. He loved the popcorn the most but I did hear him say the that movie was "kinda silly."

There was a bonfire a couple nights and smores one of those times. Oh, and a sweet "indian" fire dance to go along with it.

When we walked up closer to this rock Denzil yelled out "Temple!" It was so cute I had to take a picture to remember it.

Lake Powell is probably my favorite vacation spot and I'm so glad we were able to make it again this year. Hopefully we'll be able to keep it up in the future!

Utah

We were lucky enough to go to Utah for nearly 3 weeks for Kris to study for his the second part of his medical testing. We had fun visiting with family and trying to see some of the places we love, like Wheeler Farm! Denzil loved seeing all the animals and being up close to them.

We made a trip to Hogle Zoo with some cousins which was lots of fun too. They had some dinosaurs set up throughout the park and Denzil is just starting to really like dinosaurs.
We made 2 trips down to Moroni to see the horses and just be in a place we like to be. Kris was able to get some horse time in and manual labor in too. Denzil loved the horses and feeding them hay. He got to ride Micah 2 times and he loved the mule too.


We visited some grave sites for Memorial Day and ran into some family we don't see very often which was nice.
Denzil and I went to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point too which was a blast!
Drove up Little Cottonwood Canyon to check out the snow pack and lets just say, there is a lot of snow up there in those mountains!
We drove up the canyon by our cabin to see how the snow was up there and we saw a little herd of elk! Too bad Denzil was sleeping. He has a very good elk call!
This is Fairview Lakes. Needless to say we couldn't drive into the cabin. Maybe they will be able to for the 4th of July.
Denzil loves his aunt Justine and uncle Eric and really just all of the family. He talks about them all the time.

Remember the lambs from our trip last May? Well, here they are now. 2 of the 6 died but 4 are getting big and may be ready to share their fatness in the late fall.
My dad just bought this side-by-side and we took it for a spin up Maple Canyon. It was a little bouncy for baby but not bad. I think it will be a fun thing to have.
Denzil was a great traveler and we had a fabulous time with our family and friends. Now back to real life and waiting for baby to arrive!