Callie's Blessing!

Callie was blessed on December 7th, 2008. We weren't planning on doing it so soon, but because of my Grandpa's passing and funeral my whole family (minus Cynthia and 3 nephew's and a niece) was here. So we decided literally the day before to go ahead and do it. It was pretty cool to have all my brother and almost all my brother in-laws from both sides there to bless her. She was really good and was didn't make a peep (unlike Tessa and Sydnee's blessings) Sterling gave a wonderful blessing. My mother-in-law wrote it down for her. That was so nice. It was so nice to have so much family around for her special day!

Callie's Here!!!

Callie Grace Barnes (yes the name Callie won!, well we decided it fit her too), was born on November 27, 2008. Our little Thanksgiving baby. Notice Grace is her middle name. She was 7lbs 10 oz. and 19 inches long. Very Very cute!! I had a really nice labor and delivery. I had been having contractions for weeks. Finally on Tuesday I was dilated to a 3. My real contractions started Wednesday. By night time they were getting harder. At 2 am Thursday morning I was so tired and couldn't sleep I told Sterling it was time to go to the hospital. When we got to the hospital I was only at a 3 and 1/2. I was so disappointed. The nurse wanted to send me home. But I knew this baby was coming that today. She called my doctor and he said "go ahead and give her pitocin, if she wants" (he knew since it was my forth that I was going to go fast and I was going to have her today) So I got the medicine and had her 4 hours later. It would have been 3 hours later, but the nurse was letting my doctor sleep in. After all it was Thanksgiving. He barely made it in time to catch her. I mean barely. She was practically half way out by the time he got there. I won't go into details. But it was a really nice labor and delivery. I might just do it again! She was sooooo cute. Not smushed up at all. We fell in love immediately. She is a little grunter though. A very good eater and as chunked out a lot. Lots of room on her cheeks for kisses. She looks a lot like Sydnee and Tessa as a baby. We are so happy she has joined our family. It is like she has been here all along. The girls just adore her. Sterling thinks she is a princess and can't wait to win her over to his side. (He has won the others, but I think this one will be a Mommy's girl for a little while)

Grandpa's Passing

My Grandpa passed away on December 3. I'll admit it was a good way to go. He was out working in the yard on Monday. On Tuesday he told my Dad he wasn't feeling well. By Tuesday late afternoon my Dad finally convinced him he need to go to the hospital. Thinking nothing was seriously wrong they were surprised to find out that my Grandpa had a heart attack. By the time all the family was notified my Grandpa was intensive care. My Mom, who was helping me with the little one, made it up there with my two sisters around 8 pm. When they got there the doctors told them that this was the end. This whole time my Grandpa was lucid and fully awake. He had time to say his good byes. 3 out of his 5 children were there along with a handful of grandchildren. He told everyone that he loved them and bore his testimony. They even joked a bite. Then around 1 am he was gone. He went to spend Christmas with Grandma. The nice thing is he was only without my grandma for 7 months. Not bad. And he didn't suffer long like my Grandma. The funeral was nice. It really wasn't sad, no one was left behind this time. See you Grandpa!

Note to Teacher...

Don't you wish at times you could send a note to school excusing your child's outfit. That was me today. Sydnee insisted on wearing this outfit. I couldn't persuade her to change. I didn't want to force her. I was afraid forcing her might scar her for life. She is a very creative girl. Quite visual. Constantly picking our flowers (despite my protests)and making beautiful flower arrangements at her little table, just to make lunch time a little more pretty. She is definitely her own little person and I love her for it!

Family Photo Taken October 2007

Isn't this how it always goes. You spend time picking out the perfect outfits, you have them all cordinated, you spend time doing all your girls hair (believe me that is a big feat), you even get a professional photographer to take the picture, in the perfect location with the perfect lighting. Even the perfect non-pose pose, only to realize once the pictures are all done, you left the fruit loops hanging from you pants. Oh well. I still love this picture. It just shows how imperfect life is even when you try so hard. But isn't that the point. To love the imperfections?

BYU vs. Utah State

First of all I want to thank Austin (in the picture) for giving us the tickets. He is Sterling's cousin and plays for Utah State. We have been a huge fan of his since high school games. He is so fun to watch. (I miss those friday night names) We were lucky enough to go and enjoy the game last night. It was fun being able to cheer for both sides. My parents are Aggies so I felt like I was doing them proud. Of course we still wanted BYU to win and we weren't disapointed. It wasn't that great of a win, but still a win. I also have to say that Bronco Mendenhall is the classiest college football couch. I love the approach he takes with his guys. And it seems to be paying off.
If all this tension between Utah and BYU (both are undefeated and will probably both be BCS top ten busters by the time the game comes around) keeps building I really think I am going to have this baby before or during the BYU Utah game. It would only be a week early. I told this to Sterling and he said "Well call the hospital and see if they have the mtn. (the station that plays the game) Otherwise we can always just Tivo the birth" Sad thing is, I was thinking the same thing. :)

Fight over Broccoli

So this has to be one of my proudest moments as a mom. A couple nights ago we served broccoli for dinner. I happen to have one of the pickest eaters ever and hates everything I make before she even tries it. She used to be so easy going and would eat everything untill she was about 4. Then it went quickly down hill. Well we were eating broccoli and she kept saying how she loved it and then my other girls kept saying how they loved it. Pretty soon they were fighting over the broccoli and trying to eat each others. The broccoli was gone in about 1 minute. They begged for more, but we were out. After some tears that I was silently laughing over, the fight was done. Ahhh yes, this is the life. Guess what they wanted for dinner the next night?