The Bennions

We were very fortunate to go Christmas Caroling with The Bennions. They are a family that is in my in-laws Murrayhill ward. They have 13 children. Two who are married with families of their own and two that are on a mission. 9 children are still at home, ranging from high school to three years old. What a wonderful family to spend an evening with. We went caroling to their neighbors and then back to their home for hot chocolate and a private performance.


This was my favorite song they sang. Sadly it does not do them justice. They are an extremely talanted family. Thank you for a memorable night!!

who is that girl!!

What to do when you are stranded at home...staighten Mikaila's curly locks. I've been wanting to do this for awhile. Her hair has grown so much in just one year. Let's take a walk down memory lane...


One of the few pictures I have of the back of her head!





Although I prefer the curls it was fun to see her hair straight. She looked so grown up to me.

And no that is not vomit!

I mentioned that I LOVE fruit cake but not just any fruit cake it has to be my mom's. Last Christmas she sent me home with my own start. To make this fruit cake you have to have a start to candy your fruit. I was so excited! My mom has made this since I was a little girl and my mom got the recipe from my grandma, so it's kind of a tradition. I have never helped my mom make this cake for even watched her it would just magically appear every Christmas. Well I started to candy my fruit back in October and this weekend I made my first fruit cake. And this is what happened...


It is not suppose to look like vomit!

I followed the recipe that I copied from my mom but she forgot to mention that she actually cooks hers for an hour and 45 min. not the hour and 15 min that it said on the recipe. Luckily she gave me a start for two cakes. I won't make that mistake again. The next cake turned out fabulous!!


Pour yourself a nice hot cup of hot chocolate and enjoy!
Oh wait, you can't it's already all gone!! and yes it was so yummy!

I know have starts to make 4 cakes I can't wait until next year...

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

One of my many accomplishments from my mom visiting.

Mikaila is so excited this year for Christmas. I am planning on taking her to get her pictures with Santa. Hopefully she'll sit on his lap and not freak out she's not usually like that but you never know. Anyone know of a great Santa to get pictures with? Let me know.

Some of the things I Love and that I am looking forward to this month~
*Egg Nog
*Fruit cake
*Shopping
*Spending our first Christmas in Oregon
*Mikaila opening her presents Christmas morning
*Christmas Music (yes I love listening to it on the radio)
*Sending out Christmas cards
*The Forgotten Carols

I hope everyone is enjoying this Holiday Season I know we are!!

Lesson Learned

My mom came to visit for two weeks and she went home yesterday morning. I miss her already! I loved having my mom here, we didnt do much we spent most of our time on my couch watching movies, eating and talking. It was wonderful. She was a huge help with the kids. The first thing I noticed by the end of yesterday was how much my back hurt. Lugging around two kids and trying to get things done in between was a lot harder than I expected and I could feel it by the end of the day.
I love you Mom, thank you so much for spending this time with us!!

Here are a few pics from her stay...

Grandma with the kids the night before she left


Mikaila eating apple pudding (she kept getting applesauce and pudding confused)


Sweet Isaak asleep during Pearce's Christmas program
After you read the story below I had to include a picture of him. How could I be upset with that face?!

I thought I would share an Isaak moment with you.
Tuesday my mom and me took the kids and went grocery shopping. Afterwards we picked up lunch and headed to a nearby park. We ate in the truck and then my mom took Mikaila to swing while I stayed with Isaak. I fed him and then decided to change him before I put him back into the carseat. Well since I was sitting in the drivers seat and it was chilly outside I thought I would change him in my lap. He had pooped just a little bit so I wiped him bottom he then starts pooping more I quickly cover it up allow him to finish and then start cleaning him up again. I had to turn him over in order to wipe his bottom this time and that is when he unloaded all over my lap. I mean it was everywhere all over my pants and shirt. I am laughing so hard by the time my mom got there I had tears in my eyes. She see's me and is laughing hysterically. I had to drive home with baby poop smeared all over my lap. Guess I won't be changing him in my lap anytime soon!

2 weeks old

Isaak is two weeks old today. How is that possible?!! We went to the Dr. yesterday and he already weighs 9pds 9oz He is growing so fast. Last Monday the wonderful Angi Carman came over to my house and took Isaak's newborn pictures. He slept all day so by the time she got here he was wide awake. I kept nursing him to get him to fall asleep so we could get some pictures with his eyes closed. They turned GREAT!! Thank you Angi for capturing this special time for me. You're the BEST!!
www.capturedbyangi.com


This is my favorite picture it brought tears to my eyes


I love Mikaila's expression, she is such a wonderful BIG sister


I can't stop kissing him.


I wish babies stayed small like this forever!

Isaak's Room

So here are the pictures of Isaak's room. There are still a few more things to be finished but I wanted to get the pics up. The crib and changing table I found on craigslist. Mikael painted them black and they look brand new!
My friend gave me the bedding so I went with a Jungle theme. I was having a hard time finding pics that looked good. I remembered Mikael's friend Jeremy his mom has them great photos from a trip to Africa so I asked her if I could have copies and she gave me a ton of prints to choose from and all the frames. She is so nice and I love how it turned out!

I am so in love...

I could just sit and look at this cute chubby face all day!!
He is only 6 days old and is already changing so much! I am so in love...

Isaak Mathew Luman

He is finally here...Isaak Mathew Luman made his debut on Tuesday November 11, 2008 at 7:34 pm. He weighs 8 pds. 5 oz. and is 19 3/4 inches long. I am definitely one proud mama!!
I had a dr appt at 11:30am on Tuesday and she scraped my membranes I then started having contractions every 10 minutes after that. Then by 2pm they were 5minutes apart so by 4pm we checked into the hospital by 5pm they checked me I was dialated to a 7 almost 8 and was still handeling the contractions great so I wanted to wait to get my epidural. By 7pm the pain was almost too much to handle and I thought I'm done get me an epidural so the dr checked me I was dialated to a 9.5 so she broke my water and at 7:34pm he was here and I had made it without getting an epidural.

YEAH!!! I know that is silly but I wanted to be able to say I did it natural, no drugs and now I can. Honestly I am so proud of myself!!! And no stitches down below! I think this body was made to have babies! Now that I'm done with the gory details here is the little man...


Look at all that hair


getting ready to take him home from the hospital


dressed in his "Going Home" outfit

39 weeks...7 days to go

I can't believe my due date is only 7 days away. Can that be right?! I sure hope it is. Although the mere thought of having another baby here to take care of is slightly overwhelming to me.(anyone who knows Mikaila understands why) I am really excited to finally meet this little guy inside me. All I think about is what color will his hair be? or how BIG is he going to be? I know the longer he stays in there he's just getting bigger and bigger and I have to give birth to that!!! AHHHH!! Other than that I'm super anxious!
Mikael and I have been working on getting his room put together. The crib, changing table, shelves and baskets have all been painted this week and tomorrow hopefully we can get the pictures hung and the room complete. Pictures will be posted as soon as it's done. I can't wait to show everyone.
So here is the final picture of the enormous belly. Don't mind what I look like I've been cleaning and chasing Mikaila around all day and yes these are the same pj's I wore to bed last night I just havent taken them off today but I still wanted to take a pic (good thing I have other pictures to redeem myself...lol)
Oh by the way, I had a dr's appt on Tuesday and I was dialated to a 3, 70% efaced and -1. So we're definitely moving in the right direction. I have another appt Tues. I'll keep you posted on the progress!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

I am so behind on my blogging but how could I not blog about Halloween!! We had a great night! I wasnt really sure what to dress Mikaila up as but my mother in law gave me a witch costume and it fit so we went with that this year. Unfortunately the hat didnt fit so we tossed it and spray painted her hair purple with sparkles. I wanted to paint her face green with black lips and a hairy mole but getting a hyper two year old to sit still is nearly impossible so this is what I ended up with. Still cuter then ever!




Pearce and Mikaila ready to go hit up some houses for candy!!

Baby Shower

So two of my wonderful friends, Bridget and Renae hosted a baby shower for me last night. I truly am so grateful for friends. We had a great time eating, opening presents and doing what we do best...chatting!! Here are a few highlights from our evening...

My wonderful FRIENDS!!
Amber, Bridget, Renae, Me, Kristen and Merilee


A great group of FRIENDS!!
Janine with baby Joshua, Juliana, Sarah, Darilyn and Michelle


Beautiful cake thanks to Stephanie!!


Thanks to everyone who came I really had a FUN time and I appreciate each and everyone of you!
Love,
Mandy

Fall in my backyard

I love looking out from my deck at the beautiful Fall colors all around. October is my favorite month in Oregon, really it's my favorite month period. I am going to miss October...here a few pics I wanted to share from my view

Traditions

So I have found a new tradition to add next year. Caramel Apples. I have never made caramel apples and my friend Amy is adventurous and decided to make them so I invited her over and here are the results....

We first dipped them in homemade caramel then melted the best chocolate Guittard milk chocolate chips and then rolled them in a variety of toppings. Nuts, butterfinger, candy corn, mini chocolate chips. DELICIOUS!! and worth every calorie!

Happy Birthday Mikaila!!!

Thanks to Mahina these beautiful pictures were possible!

My Favorite


Another great shot!


Typical Mikaila look

Look who turned 2

No I didnt forget her birthday, I've just been really busy and didnt have the pics my camera is really slow and I so I had two wonderful friends take pictures for me from her birthday week so I waited until now so this is for you Princess Mikaila...

I can't believe the baby girl I gave birth to not to long ago is already 2. How is that possible?! Growing up my birthday always lasted for weeks on end. It is two weeks after christmas and my parents always seem to make it a big deal. So I would end up having several birthday parties and dinners. Well, I decided to start a birthday week. So the week before Mikaila's birthday she recieved presents or cards in the mail. We went and did something fun or she had pictures taken (above pics brought to you by Mahina she met us at the park for some candid pic of the 2 yr old). All leading up to her big day September 27. Here are a few highlights from her week long birthday...



Mikaila LOVES Barney. So I thought it was perfect for her to have a Barney birthday and Thanks to Stephanie she made that possible...so thank you!




Thanks Ciara for the cute tutu!! The birthday girl looked like a Princess


Mikaila playing with her kitchen...Happy Birthday to you!



We love you Sweet Girl!! You bring so much love and joy into our life!! We thank God every day for you.
We love you

Love,
Mommy and Daddy

Birthday pics courtesy of Amy thanks so much for coming to celebrate Mikaila's special day with us and spending the time to capture her in all her glory!!

Lee Farms

Mikael found this place on someone elses blog and it looked like a great place to take the kids. So last Saturday we headed to Lee Farms. What a great place I was not disappointed! We started with the petting zoo (goats and Llamas) Mikaila was excited to touch the animals. Then Pearce and Mikaila went down the HUGE slide all by themselves no doubt. Then we(Nana, Pearce, Mikaila and me) headed to the hay mazes. There are two one for smaller children and another for older. Of course they did them both. Then we went on the Hay ride around the property and saw pigs, rabbits, horses and the christmas trees that will be available for cutting this year. Next Mikaila had to have a pony ride, while Pearce did the slide 3 more times. There are other rides like a ferris wheel, a bouncy house and swings but Pearce loved the slide and used all his tickets on that. We were all getting hungry so we got some fudge and apples for a snack (there is kettle corn, hot dogs, carmel apples, fresh apple juice and cider) Lastly I had to get a pic of the sea of pumpkins I already have my pumpkins so we didnt actually buy one but instead we went for all the festivities It was beautiful and the weather was perfect.

Beautiful Mama!

This is what I was up to yesterday....
I was looking at craigslist which I do on a daily basis. Always looking for baby stuff crib, changing table or I'm the one selling items. Whatever I feel like doing at that moment. Anyways so last week I saw an ad for a pregnant model and I thought to myself why not. So I sent Angi an email and yesterday Angi came over to my house and took pics. We had a lot of fun. This is only a sneak peek. There are tons more and I'm sure I'll be posting them as soon as I get them.



http://www.capturedbyangi.com