Week with Nana

Nana came to visit us for a week and the kids couldn't have been happier! McKinley and Denzil both would run around saying "Nana, look at me!" We didn't go out a ton but I could tell that the kids needed a little time away from the house so we went to the aquarium and had fun checking out the fish and touching the horseshoe crabs, starfish and the sharks. Denzil loves to look for fossils (a big sand pit with shark teeth in it, if you can find them). We didn't find any right off and smart Nana went and bought a shark tooth in the gift shop and buried it so Denzil could find it. He was super excited! McKin got a little tiny Nemo fish to play with too.

Our neighbors have lots of ride on toys that the kids just love!

We spent some time at the pool.

And our other big outing was strawberry picking. It was super fun. I don't think more than 5 strawberries that were picked by the kids made it into the bucket but they were enjoying every bite of those delicious berries. Then we got some homemade ice cream afterward that was amazing. Needless to say we had some pretty messy kiddos afterward but very happy.

We did the slip n slide with our neighbors. It was a bit cool that day but they had fun sliding with the help of dad.

McKinley learned how to peddle the tricycle and has since done it on the little 2 wheeler we have too.

Ruby had her first bath at home. This picture makes it look like she didn't enjoy it but she actually did really well with it.

This is Kin's favorite swinging place.

This is Denzil with his "bear" feet or dinosaur feet. He did this once with pennies when he was just over 2 years old and called them his "crocodile" feet. Silly boy.

Our sweet little Ruby. We love having her and Denzil is always super cute with her, telling her that he loves her and that she is so cute.

Thanks Nana for coming to stay with us. We had a great time and are looking forward to your next visit when we are in Utah!

Ruby Malalakely Foote--May 7, 2013

So I guess it is time to tell the story of Ruby's birth. I woke up Monday morning (May 6) and when I went to the bathroom I saw that I was spotting. I thought I had had some contractions during the night but I wasn't paying too much attention to them. I called Kris to tell him that it might just have a baby that day. Then I called the doctor to see what I should do since I was spotting. She told me to time my contractions and when they got to 5 minutes apart for an hour or they got stronger then I should come on in to the hospital. So, I started keeping track and the contractions were all over the place! I'd have one at 5 minutes then the next one would be 10 or 12 minutes and it just kept doing that all day long. I went for a long walk when Kris came home and I'd have stronger contractions occasionally but when I got back home and sat down then they weren't bad anymore. After the kids went to bed I put a movie on and laid on the couch. I still kept track and they were about 8 minutes apart but were getting more uncomfortable. I was killing some time online and saw a story about someone giving birth on the side of I-15 and I thought "I don't want that to happen." About 2 am I started thinking about how the drive to the hospital is about 20 minutes from our house and thought that maybe it was time to get the show on the road. I woke Kris up and he took a shower and I tried to call our neighbor to see if she could watch the kids. After a couple of calls she heard the phone and we dropped the kids off and hopped in the car. As we were driving I told Kris that I thought I was too far along for getting an epidural. He told me not to push in the car and drove quickly to the hospital. When we pulled up and he went to get the wheelchair I told him to hurry up because the contractions were pretty intense and I was feeling lots of pressure. When we got to the nurses desk no one was there and I was starting to cry because of the pain. When the nurse came out from wherever she was she was walking kind of slowly and I kept thinking, hurry it up lady, this baby wants to come NOW. Kris filled out the paper work while the nurse took me to the triage room. I was starting to go numb all over and I had to have Kris help me undress cause I was really feeling the pressure now. When the nurse checked me to see how dilated I was she said "ready and bulging" and they quickly wheeled my bed into the delivery room right next door. I kept thinking about some of my friends and their birth stories that I had read recently and thinking how crazy it was that I was going to have a baby totally naturally. While they were trying to put the IV in the nurse kept asking me to relax my hand but I couldn't. My whole body was tingling and not responding to me. I was also very embarrassed because I would scream each time another contraction came and I couldn't control myself. I also couldn't keep myself from pushing even though they hadn't told me to yet. My water broke and a few minutes later I was pushing. It was pretty cool to feel the baby coming out and I have never been so relieved when she was out! Total time from Kris filling out the paper work to Ruby entering the world was about 25 minutes. It was interesting and I'm glad that I can say I had a baby totally naturally but I don't know that I want to do it that way again.

She weight 6 lbs 14 oz and was 19.75 inches long.

Her first bath.

Proud siblings.

And proud Dad!

Happy 6 year Anniversary to us!

This is just a random picture from our outing with our next door neighbor. We had 5 kids in carseats in her car and went to Fit for Fun and then Chick Fil-A. It was awesome and a bit exhausting.

For our anniversary we took advantage of the date that I bought at the YW camp fundraiser. We went to a new place to eat, went bowling, and got frozen yogurt all with free babysitting. It was fun being able to be alone together and have some fun. It wasn't hard bowling with the baby still in my tummy but I sure didn't bowl that great.

Happy 6 Year Anniversary honey! It was been a great adventure with you so far and I am excited to see where our lives will take us in the years to come. Love you!

Savannah, GA

During the second week we made a trip to Savannah, GA. I figured that we should try to get as many cool southern things in while we still have the chance. Who knows how long it will take us to come back this way again. We went to the Mighty 8th Air Force museum. The kids were super noisy in there so we had to split up and I took them outside while Kris got to have a better tour of the place. The Mighty 8th played a big roll in turning things around during WWII. 

We did a river boat cruise to check out downtown Savannah and see the port.

The kids didn't watch much TV but I let them was Mickey Mouse Clubhouse one morning while we were getting ready. Yep, they were totally zoned out but pleased as punch.

We went for a dolphin watching boat ride. They had loads of fun seeing the dolphins pop up out of the water and of course eating their fruit loops from the hotel breakfast that morning.

We went to a light house and climbed all the way to the top. Denzil did all 278 steps all by him self, up and down. My legs were a bit sore after that. On our way up Denzil lost his sticker and you would have thought it was the end of the world. He cried and cried and he wouldn't even look at the camera or anything else when we were at the top.

McKinley was pretty excited about it too...not! She kept complaining about her arm hurting and cried a bunch too. But Kris and I were happy to be there and enjoyed ourselves anyway. On the way back down Kris was able to find Denzil's sticker so at least we didn't have to listen to him cry the whole way down.

On our way home we stopped at Charles Towne State Historic Site by Charleston, SC. My sister's family had stopped there on their trip out here and said it was fun. We went to the fort and saw a musket demonstration and walked all around. Denzil keeps asking us why there are so many forts, I guess we have visited our fair share.

The Adventure is a replica trading vessel that you can board and look around.

Vacation

Denzil has had a blast this year having his buddy Abel come over several times a week to play. They come up with some funny things to do together and they sure can run and ride bikes forever.

At the beginning of April Kris had 2 weeks off from work. The first week we went to Myrtle Beach and bought a kite. We tested it out and when I tried it took a few times for me to get the hang of it, then all of a sudden it went crashing down and right on to Denzil's head. He was ok and only cried for a minute. I was concentrating so hard on keeping the kite up that I wasn't watching where he was standing.

We went to the Ripley's Aquarium which was totally packed (we didn't think about it being spring break) but fun going through the tunnel under the water.

We also decided to make a little trip back up to Winston-Salem to visit some of our friends and neighbors that are still there. We love Bill and Jeannine and it was so nice to visit with them for a little while.

Our friends, the Kunz's, let us crash at their house for the night and Denzil couldn't have been happier. He got to have a sleepover with Lucas in his room and wrestle and play. Holly was nice to let Kris and I go out to dinner on our own and watched our kids. They loved her house and being with their old buddies.

It was sad to leave. In the morning Lucas cried when the bed Denzil slept in wasn't there anymore and Denzil cried when he thought he wasn't going to see Lucas again when we parted ways during the day to visit some other friends. We have been so blessed to make great friends and for our kids to have great friends while we have been here. Such a fun time.