Adam and Heather Hayes

Clara is growing up so fast lately.  She has 2 bottom teeth, she crawls, she says Dadda a lot, she can open the doors on our entertainment center and pull all the stuff out, she is using a spoon a little bit on her own, she jabbers, gets into whatever is left on the floor or couch and last but not least puts her hand into the 5 gallon bucket of catfood and eats a few each day. 

Poor Tric, she has a kind of morning routine of doing a puzzle or two first thing in the morning.  She started out with 24 piece puzzles, now she does 50 and 100 piece puzzles. But she has to be quick, as soon as Clara gets out of her crib, not even an open package of chips on the floor will keep her from those puzzles.

Vi is now a big sister who doesn't like her little sister getting into her "stuff". She won't call Clara by her name, she calls her "Baby".  She constantly runs up to me and says "Oh no Mom, Baby touching it". Vi likes to draw and color and tends to leave her coloring pages and crayons (or writing utensils) on the kitchen floor, so naturally Clara usually has a pencil or pen in her mouth.

The other day I left Vi with a coloring book and some crayons while I went to pick up Erith and Tricity from piano lessons.  (Adam works from home, so I don't leave them alone) When I walked in Vi was looking nervous and said "Baby did it" it took me a minute to see that our TV was covered in crayon scribbling and Clara was on the floor holding a crayon.  Clara can't put herself to standing quite yet and even if she could, her arm couldn't reach the top of the TV where there was plentiful scribbling.  It was so funny to me.  She really thought she'd framed Clara beyond a doubt. (You can see why I'm hesitant to put in an LCD TV in there)

Yesterday Vi was being quiet, almost all day long... She is really into this art thing lately.  She got into Clara's dry formula and was making sand drawings all over the kitchen countertops one of the times. The other time she was making lotion fingerpaintings all over a green plastic storage tub in her bedroom. Gotta love age 2. We always call Viola Vi, so today I told her that her whole name was Viola Pearl Hayes.  She said "No mom, I'n not Viowa Pol, I'n Vi" She talks so well now, it's cute.

For those of you who don't know, Viola is my Grandma Quinn's Mom's name and Clara is my Grandpa Quinn's Mom's name.  They really have a connection with each other.  They get each other laughing all the time.  Vi does something silly like hits herself on the head with a flyswatter and gets Clara laughing then that make Vi laugh. Some toys that Vi refuses to share with the older kids she happily shares with Clara.  They even share my lap pretty well now.  They used to try to push the other off.  I'm hoping they'll be best friends forever.

Day 6: California Adventure

We didn't get to bed till super late Tuesday night, so we had a late start Wednesday morning.  (Plus I felt like we should take it slow so Adam could have his daily health issue.  But, he didn't have any more problems that trip!)

Wednesday was the coldest day of the trip.  We had shorts and short sleeves thinking, it's hot in California.  But alas it was windy, overcast and sprinkled on us a couple times!  We should have brought some warmer things!

We started out in It's a Bug's Life and rode Flik's Flyer.

We let Andrew take the camera for a while, it's nice to see us all together.  It was kind of cool to see what it's like to be tiny like a bug.  I'm used to the opposite, too tall to see the underside of things.

We did the spinning ladybugs next, and like I said, Andrew had the camera.

Adam, Clara, and I chose to be together so we wouldn't have to spin more than necessary.  Ugh.

Our girls were terribly impatient to drive the bug bumper cars.  They all feel it empowering to be the driver.

Wonderful Drew stayed out with Clara who was too short and took pictures.

The rides seemed a bit short and non thrilling after the wild night we'd just had, but this vacation was for the kids. 

I didn't go to Disneyland till I was 18 for my senior trip and I wanted my kids to have some fun kid memories. 

The Heimlich ride was more a ride for your senses than anything.  We traveled through a watermelon rind that smelled and felt wet and juicey, and an animal cracker box that smelled like some of my favorite childhood snacks.  Like I said, not thrilling but creative.

This bug land place had SO many fun places to take pictures.  We didn't put a dent in the possibilites. 

They had a fun 3D bug show with a stinky stink bug, black widdows coming down from the ceiling, and wiggley maggots.  I love 3D shows like that.

Wade joined us and brought us lunch.  Clara had a tradition of falling asleep through every meal.  It was so cute to see Vi share the stroller and hug her till they both fell asleep.

Oops, I forgot to flip that pic.  After lunch we went to the forest rangery part. 

They had a cave to tell you what your inner animal was.(Adam was a skunk!) rope bridges, tire swings and Clara's favorite: rock slides!

Poor Vi barely made the height measurement at the bottom of the swings, walked all the way up the rope bridges to the swing ride just to be told she was too short to ride.  She cried and cried and said, "That lady thinks I'm little and I'm not, I'm a big girl, waaaaaaa!"  Gotta love it!

Adam took Vi back down and while he was comforting her, she decided she wanted to get a picture with Brother Bear.  Good idea Vi!

The lines at California Adventure averaged about 30 minutes except the next two: Mickey's Fun Wheel and Toy Story Mania, those were looooong. (probably an hour)

The fun wheel was way too high for Adam's taste, I was afraid he might toss his cookies for the third time on that one!  It's a huge feris wheel with most cars on rollers.  Vi and Clara put on their brave faces.  Andrew, Wade, Jerica, Erith, and Tric were making theirs rock and roll like crazy!

Toy Story was a shootem up video game ride, I was terrible, Andrew and Wade smoked us.  Then we went to the tortilla factory for free tortillas and the sourdough bread bakery for free sour dough.  Then we ran into these green army guy musicians.  That was pretty cool.

We went to a super cool Aladdin live production.  Who knew you could get a 45 minute Broadway show at California Adventure at no extra cost!? We then had dinner in the brr cold and split into groups again.  The big kid group did Soarin' Over California (which is VERY cool, if you're on the front row you don't have feet dangling above you and it really feels like your're flying into the green screen!) and California Screamin'.

Screamin' is pretty intense!  It was Erith and Tricy's first upside down rollercoaster!  Erith said she was too scared to scream, Tric asked, "Did we go upside down yet?" Yep! (Get Fast Passes to both, like we did!)

Yeah right Wade, even a ride pro like you couldn't fall asleep on screamin'!  Then the boys took off to play stake volleyball.  I'm not sure where Ryal and Cory took the little ones while we were gone.  I believe they did King Triton's carousel more than once.  We girls met up with them and watched the electrical parade, then the second it was over Ryal, Erith, Tric, me, and yes Vi, did Hollywood Tower of Terror! Sleeping Clara stayed with Aunt Cory.

Remember Where's Waldo?  Where's Viola?  It was a pretty scary story line (Twilight Zone) and it is probably too much for an almost 4 year old, but I didn't think she would behave for Cory while we went, so I took her, and she did it!  I told her it was all pretend and she was extremely proud of this picture. "HER picture".

Vi threw a huge fit on the way to the car.  She wanted me to carry her, not Ryal, not the stroller, give me a break kid, you're heavy and I'm tired!  Another late night, got kids to bed and did 2 loads of laundry.

Day 7: Drive to San Diego to see Trevor at Camp Pendleton

My brother has been at Camp Pendleton since last summer when he went to do marine boot camp to join the marine reserves.  He tore the cartilage off his hip while doing the usual drills and whatever and was declared physically unfit enough to finish. (2 weeks before his graduation no less) He has been sitting in the the hospital wing for 5 months waiting for his discharge papers to come home.  It's very depressing and he longs for company, so we came to visit.

He can't leave the base, he got leave to have this visit with us, and they have an awesome rec center to play and eat in, so we played and ate.

We bowled 2 games at the bowling alley and then had lunch, hamburgers and pizza. (There were about 4 choices on the menu)  Vi wailed on her big sisters at bowling! (Bumper buddies and a ramp helped!)

Then we hit the free arcade.  Trevor's favorite game is this shoot deer and elk game, I think he liked having a gamer like Adam for competition.

I couldn't pry the sunglasses off Erith's face this trip!  That was a dark room!

Tric loved the basketball hoops game, Clara loved the one thing she could climb on by herself and reach the controls!  Vi had too short an attention span to do much of anything.

I had to give them my driver's license to get the air hockey puck and paddles, so muscle men, don't hit the puck hard enough to jump the table and lose it!

Speaking of losing things, Clara lost one of her shoes and it took forever to find.  Guess where it was? Behind the propped open door, that tiny triangle of space was the last place I thought to look!

We got Trev back a tad late for his 4:00 cut off, oops, bad shoe.  We're glad we could see him.  We zipped back to LA without too much traffic trouble and then climbed in the passenger van for an Angels game!

Praise to Andrew again for the tickets and chicken burgers hot and ready in the van when we got there just in time to leave.

This is our family's first major league baseball game. 

We didn't have as much red as the average fan.  But I did buy a t-shirt before we left.  I know, I am a junkie for vacation suveniers!

The angels did not win I'm afraid.  They lost to the San Diego Padres 5-2.  The whole experience was awesome though, being able to buy hotdogs and peanuts from your seat, the great american pasttime.  I have to say though, Adam playing here at Tauphaus Park moved tons faster! (no raking the dirt!)

Surprise Tricity!  When we got back from the game this was waiting for us!  Andrew is magic, I'm telling you!  Tricity's surprise princess birthday party!

Day 8: We drive 11 hours to Andi's in Ogden Utah, goodbye California, Wheelers, Trevor, we love you!

Only a cool sister like Andi would let 6 people crash her one bedroom apartment at 12:30 AM!  Thank goodness she did because we were having a hard time getting that far, all the way home would have been misserable!

Day 9: Conference, birthday presents, meeting the infamous Mike, and Fat Cats.

We finally got to meet Andi's best friend she's been hanging out with for 3 years.  We met up for a between sessions lunch.  I liked him a lot, we need tall men in this world like him!

This Fat Cats place had a ton of fun things to do, but we just didn't have enough time to do all we wanted before conference started, so we settled for Jazzi style bumper cars and ice ball. (skee ball)

It was a fun ending to a fun vacation, I'm very glad we went.  I'll write about Tric's birthday later, and that's all she wrote!

Erith and Tricity have started school again.  They are really enjoying it so far.  They have lots of friends on their bus route, and it's the shortest amount of time they've ever had to ride.  

Vi, Clara, and MOM really misses them while they're gone.  Erith and Tricity help so much with the little ones.  When I hear Clara screaming to get down from her highchair, my natural inclination is to say "Erith can you get Clara down from her chair?" But alas, I have to do it.  And when it gets way to quiet I want to say "Tric can you see what Vi and Clara are doing?"  But now, I find them, or just Clara covered in permanent marker plus my front entryway covered in permanent marker, just a few minutes too late.  I should have taken a picture but I was too mad.

So, I am relearning to shut the bathroom doors all day long so I'm not cleaning up toilet water, and not leaving things on the kitchen table that a 16 month old can easily pull a chair up to and make a mess in.  I am determined to buy some child proofing devices.  My old rubber band-it-shut trick doesn't work on this trouble maker!

Vi has grown up enough that she's okay passing on the trouble maker mantle to Clara.  Vi has bonded with a kitten this summer and they spend a lot of time together.  The kitten just lets her pack her around, arms around the tummy, squishing her quite hard at times.  I keep asking Vi what the kitten's name is and she always says "Baby Kitten."

Oh, and no, I don't let my kids outside in their pajamas...

Day 5: Disneyland!  We had to delay our departure to Disneyland by an hour Tuesday morning.  Why? You ask, because Adam was puking again!  He passed 2 kidney stones that morning!  Some people's bodies just don't know how to kick back and have fun! 

It could have been worse though, they only took an hour to pass, he wasn't on a ride or driving in traffic.  Praying for safety is definately worth it!

As you can see we got there safe and sound.  The first thing Vi wanted to do was the carousel, even though we have those in Idaho we jumped right on.  Those who smile get put on the blog! (hint, hint, Erith)

Then we did Toad's wild ride, (which our friend Wade tells us is the only ride in Disneyland, all the others are 'attractions') Peter Pan, Pinocchio's daring journey,Snow White, Flying Dumbos, and then bought some cute Mickey/Minnie Mouse ears on our way to lunch.

Gotta love waiting in line.  It was a hopping day that day.  Most lines took 50 minutes which is still tons better than summer lines I'm told.

I have to say that my kids were amazingly patient in the lines.  I was way more annoyed at waiting than they were.  They just gaped and stared at everything going on around them. 

I had a backpack full of snacks to give them something to do in line and I only brought stuff out twice the whole day.

Andrew was key to the success of this vacation.  He drove us around once we got to his house, he dropped us off at the gates, he left and brought back food right at mealtimes, he volunteered to take Clara and/or Vi when they were too short for rides.  He bought our girls big pens and other treats. He saved Adam's life in the ocean, he is a miracle man, we owe him big time!  Oh, and he's single ;).

We got to meet his little boy Jake for the first time that day.  He hung out with us at Disneyland for a while.

This outside picnic area became our home away from rides for a couple days.  We'd get our hands stamped, walk out and into it's hard to see entrance and there would be Drew with food for us.  It was awesome!

After lunch Aunt Cory, Jake, and Drew joined us for Roger Rabbit, (that was the worst long line with cranky kids we had this trip) when we got out there were tonsof fun picture opportunities before we did the Rescue Ranger rollercoaster.

Notice the pink Mickey Mouse balloon on the stroller?  Some nice random lady gave it to Vi. It made the other's jealous I'm afraid, but it did help us find our stroller among the thousands there.

We couldn't forget Adam, the usual picture taker!  I have a picture of Adam 9 years ago in this same spot on our belated honeymoon.  I should scan it and show how he's changed!

The Rescue Ranger rollercoaster, the line anyway, our first thrilling ride of the day.  Clara went with Cory, Brenda, and Drew to the play yard/picture area next door.

Clara loved the slide and the jack-o-lantern.  We couldn't resist taking a few pictures when we came to pick her up.

She is so cute and sweet when she's not throwing a tantrum!

Gotta love 5 cute girls on boxes.

Vi is the kind of kid that makes you forget your useless cares and just smile...or laugh!  (Again, when she's not throwing a tantrum)

We wanted a picture with Mickey or Minnie, but the wait time was close to 2 hours, so we opted for the 5 minute wait with goofy instead.

After that we popped into It's a Small World, which was better and newer than the last time I went.  I then draffed the younger croud who joined us to go to Captain EO, Michael Jackson, 3D show.  Then we did a fast pass onto Autopia.  Erith and Tric were big enough to drive themselves.  Vi drove me.  Clara fell asleep in the stroller with Cory on the way to dinner.  After dinner it was dark and we split into 2 groups: Erith and Tric big kids, Vi and Clara little kids.

Adam and I were in the big kid group.  We did Splash Mountain, Matterhorn, Thundermountain Railroad, (during the fireworks) Buzz Lightyear, Space Mountain, and with 7 minutes to spare till midnight, Adam, Wade and I booked it to Indiana Jones.  Poor Tric was asleep standing in line for Space Mountain.  Andrew took the two girls on the train to get to the car to sleep while our crazy trio ran to Indiana Jones.  Not bad for s day's work!

I got majorly soaked in the front of that log.  I didn't want anyone else to be wet and cold that late at night, so I guess I took one for the team.  I could hear Tric behind me saying "Mom, you said only you would get wet, I just got a little wet!"  Thanks to Evie and Gregg for braving it with us.

Poor sleepy Tric looks like Cousin It in this pic, and Wade and Andrew are hilarious as always.

The little kid group did Winnie the Pooh, Astro Orbiter, Dumbo again, and the train.  Then bless their hearts, Ryal and Cory took Vi and Clara home and put them to bed.

I was very impressed that Erith and Tric could handle the big rides.  As you can see from the look on my face, I can barely handle the big rides!  The Matterhorn was Erith and Tric's favorite, Thundermountain was mine.

Clara is officially one now.  I can't believe my newborn fresh from the hospital baby is one already. 

She is jabbering and screaming a lot now, no quiet time here anymore.  She's taking a step or two but no serious walking yet. 

She is so cute and curious.  She can climb out of her high chair onto the tray, and climb completely out of her walker.  She loves climbing from the recliner to the piano bench and lately, standing on the keys!  Trouble!

Clara opened Tric's gift early right after an ug Mom got back from walking and lifting weights.  They were cute socks Tric bought from the dollar store with her own money. We waited till our late cake and ice cream party to open the rest.  We had an extended party the next day with the Purser side.

Well since Heather is still in the hospital with our newest addition, I'm the one that gets to give everyone the big news. We had our baby, and it was a girl. We named her Clara Jane. She was 9 pounds 6.5 ounces and 20 and 3/4 inches long.

She and Heather are doing quite well. This c-section was so much different from our other children! Normally they are delivered, the doctor holds them up for 2 seconds, says congratulations, and they run them off to put them on oxygen, pump them full of sugar, stab them a thousand times to check their blood sugar, and try a million and one places to put an IV in that they won't pull out.

However, today was the complete opposite. She came out screaming pretty well. They did the basic tests and then just casually brought her over and said that I could hold her until we were ready to move out of surgery. Her blood sugar was a little on the low side, which we have come to expect with our babies, but it picked up after we got a little food in her tummy (It is still just a tad low for "normal" kids (60s instead of 70s), but we were absolutely fine with the levels compared to what we went through with the others).

Heather should be out of the hospital with Clara by Saturday. Thank you to everyone for their prayers during the pregnancy.

More pictures in the image gallery .

Well last week Clara decided that she was going to grow up.

She started crawling last week (more of a two armed army crawl, but she is getting up on her knees more and has done some "actual" crawling since then). Also, Heather brought her in and said she had something in her mouth. I looked and she had just cut two teeth. Normally the kids get all droolly, fevery, and down right unhappy. Not Clara. She has been just as smiley and happy as ever.

Now she can put herself in a sitting position from crawling and back to a crawling position. When she does it she gets this big grin and you can see her thinking, "See what I can do." She is also jabbering quite often now. Erith and Tric swear she said "mom" the other day. I think it was just more jabbering, but who knows.

Have you ever needed a break from partying?  That's how December was for me.  Don't get me wrong, I loved getting together with family and friends, eating delicious food and playing games, catching up.  But boy is it nice to sleep in and let the kids make messes again!  Speaking of messes, as you can see, Clara had a spectactular Christmas morning.

Our List of Parties:

Adam's birthday

Ward Christmas party

Elder's dinner party

Christmas eve

Christmas day

Erith's birthday, this was her first non family birthday party.  I can't believe I have an eight year old!  I'm so old!

New Year's eve

New Year's day

Erith's baptism

Dolls, dolls, dolls.  We entered the world of Target made "American dolls" this Christmas.  Tricity paid half to get one earlier this year.  She got a canopy bed for Sophie.  Erith got MaryLynn, and Vi got Jenna, whom is 18" tall but not from Target. Clara got a baby doll that can drink and wet (and 2 potty books).

The girls got up at 6:30 am even after Adam they could get up as early as they want.  (grrrr)  Vi and Clara don't cope with being woken up early very well.

I bought these little baby crib and high chair for Clara, they aren't very sturdy, I won't go the cheap route next time.

I somehow got the most spoiled this Christmas.  I don't think Santa or Adam stuck to the budget.

Adam got lots of painting stuff and a remote control helicopter.

I gave the girls my old tea set so they could use it with their dolls.  One tea cup was immediately broken, I can see why everything is made of plastic these days.

I have to say, seeing the excitement in little kids' eyes sure makes Christmas morning magical!

I think my kids are cute in these pictures.

Clara can walk and run now as you can see.  They love to watch t-ball from the sides, or the inside of my leg.  Cute, cute

Hello everyone, I can't believe a month has passed since Clara was born. Erith and Tricity have had their end of the school year parties and programs, and T-Ball practice starts this week. Summer is here! Now if we could just have more than one day of sunshine at a time...

I have been inside with the baby watching the rain and actually longing to do some gardening and yard work! Clara is growing up so fast. She likes to use her neck even though she probably shouldn't. She is awake more. She's very alert and loves being entertained by her sisters.

Viola is very interested and protective of her. When she cries she gets Adam or I and says "Mon! Mon! Baby!" as she pulls on our hand.

Erith has become my second set of hands, bless her heart. I am usually taking care of Clara when Vi needs assistance, so Erith helps, like a second Mom. I sometimes have to remind her that I am still THE Mom though!

Erith may be the baby/toddler tender but Tricity is my cleaner. It's amazing how messy a house gets with four kids, and Tric is my quick to obey house cleaner, yeah for her!

I really love my girls, and wouldn't trade a one of them. They have a sweetness and a goodness that they were born with that has nothing to do with me. Even when I'm tired and grouchy they still love me and forgive me and want to be by my side. I have noticed Erith hanging out with me A LOT lately. She is constantly watching and mimicking me. I definitely need to watch my words and attitude. It's embarrassing to see some of my episodes repeated!

Well, we are glad to have water again (read Adam's explanation on that) and wish you all a Happy Memorial Day!

(There are a bunch of new pictures of the baby and the other kids in the Image Gallery under Kids 2008 , check them out!)

I really thought we didn't have anything exciting to write about, but today I realized that I'm doing this blog so I can have a history of our family.  So if every entry isn't that exciting to you, I'm sorry, but it's information I want to remember.

I need to remember my first time calling Poison Control, which happened last night.  My sweet little two year old Viola has learned to use chairs and stools to climb onto tables, counter tops, pianos, and anywhere else we thought was a "safe place."  She climbed onto the bathroom counter and grabbed an Air Wick scented oil with fan refill and sucked on the wick like it was a straw.

She started bawling and ran to me.  She smelled very strongly like Harvest Orchard oil and said she needed a drink.  We gave her lots of water to drink and Poison Control said we probably gave her too much to drink which might make her throw up, which might get in her lungs, which might give her pneumonia, which might start an infection, but most likely she would be fine.   Which she is, just fine today, didn't even wet the bed after all that water before bed.

She is definitely in the terrible twos though.  She has to do everything her way. Don't even think about helping her out of the car.  She fell flat on her face at my mom's house a couple weeks ago getting out of the SUV by herself and skinned her forehead and nose. I had to cancel her picture appointment that week.  Since Erith and Tric are at school five days a week, Vi has 2 less sets of eyes to watch her.  She  is quite the adorable trouble-maker!  She is communicating so much better though.  She says simple sentences and knows how to count to 13 in English and 6 in Spanish.  She can say the ABC's pretty clearly and knows the color red.  She can play several games on the Ubuntu computer that Adam set up for the girls to play on. She knows who's turn it is for family prayer which we do by order of birthday! Crazy huh!

Erith lost her fourth tooth last week.  She has lost 3 on bottom and 1 on top with two more quite loose.  She can read quite a few books and verses of scripture without any help now.  She knows how to change Clara's diaper and draws and prints picutures on the kid computer nearly every day. (We had to give her a paper limit per day recently.)  She is taking piano lessons and doing quite well, when she practices!

Tricity is quite the social butterfly.  I hear story after story about all the kids in her kindergarten class when she gets home.  She loves to help me cook.  She likes to draw and play on the computer as well.   She is quite good at remembering to practice the piano.  She is doing great at school and has helped me find homes for 10 of our 19 kittens.  (You heard me right, 19!)

Clara is jabbering a lot and she seems like a permanant hip ornament on me.  She is definately a momma's girl.  She laughs when Vi or I entertain her.  She rolls like crazy but is not wanting to crawl or sit up on her own much. She is eating lots of new foods and seems to never get full.  She's very cute and sweet and I love her a lot.

Adam's business is picking up again, it usually does right before year end.  His brother is working for us in the evenings so Adam's challenge is to NOT stay in the office from morning till 11 at night.  He got to meet Dallin H. Oaks when his stake presidency got replaced, that was cool.  He likes the boys in his scout group really well, they are going swimming tonight.

I have been crocheting baby booties for humanitarian newborn kits.  I am still quite slow and have a lot of mistakes, but they keep Clara's feet warm, so I'm sure they are good enough.  I have lots of Primary stuff to do before the end of the year and I help a lady I visit teach quite often, and the PTSO have something they want at least once a month.  I just keep busy without a whole lot to show for it.  It's kind of frustrating, but I hope I'm making a difference.  Adam and I are going on a date this week if it kills us!  It's been about a month.  Between his schedula and mine, there's never a free night.  I really want to do a session at the Rexburg Temple, I haven't done one there yet.  We're still in the Idaho Falls temple district.   Have a great day!

I am sorry I haven't been up to writing lately, but Baby Clara is worth every minute!

She is absolutely beautiful! I have to say that even though I've had 4 girls now, each one is unique and I fall in love with each one each time.  Clara is great baby, very easy to fall in love with.  She's a good eater, a good sleeper, doesn't puke much, and has a happy disposition.

Her big sisters are great helpers.  They entertain her a lot, and she loves every minute of it, even if Vi is a little rough!  Speaking of Vi, she has had the hardest time.  She does all kinds of aggravating things to get some attention. Most of them happen in the bathroom and involve toilet paper.  She seems to be getting better as the days go by though.

I wouldn't trade Clara for a hundred boys, she is an angel and I love her!  Our family feels more complete and we all love each other all the more.  I couldn't be any happier! 

Before, notice how old and shag blue it is.

During, it's amazing how much dirt gets between the carpet and the pad AND between the pad and the floor.

The old pad was white and the new pad is blue/green.

This was Adam's first time laying carpet. We ripped out the old and laid the new in about 4 hours!  Not bad! (Thanks to the help of Grandpa Purser)

After, I love new carpet!  It was not too hard, but it was a simple 12x13 squarish room.  (I know, easy for me to say since Adam did most of the work!)  We're pretty proud of the end result!

Our advice would be: 1. Don't lay carpet on a 100 degree day in a room with no air conditioner!  2. Remnants cost less and are great for bedrooms!  3. Rent a knee-kicker/ stretcher thing!

I saved since the beginning of the year to take off for Spring Break and go to Disneyland, and we did it!

Day 1: We left Friday and drove to Layton to get a recalled wiper motor replaced on our SUV.  Then we drove to Salt Lake and had a delicous barbecue at Bethany and Eric's house.  The adults played settlers and pinnochle while the kids fell asleep to a movie in the livingroom.

In the morning we had a scruptious hot breakfast, played a few songs on their piano, (Thanks Eric and Bessy! You're awesome!)

opened some birthday presents and then hit the open road.  10 hours of it,

thank goodness for portable DVD players and books, that is a lot of driving.  We gained an hour when we got to LA, and the power had been off all day and came back on just before we got there.  That was lucky!

So we drove all Day 2, Day 3: went to church with Adam's uncle Ryal, aunt Cory, and cousins Andrew and Evie, and had a barbecue and egg hunt with their local extended family. It was a fun day and I didn't even think to take a picture of it. Nice.  Day 4: we went to the beach.  It started off beautiful and sunny.  These first pictures are the "Before Adam almost drown" pictures.

Adam and Andrew were having a great time body surfing until Adam got caught in a riptide and kept getting sucked back into the ocean.  He swam and swam and swam, but was not getting any closer to the beach.

He tried swimming parallel to the beach but that just took him farther away from me and not any closer to the beach. 

So he called for help and Andrew pulled him in to where he could touch.  I was quite worried by now, and was very happy to see Adam stumbling up the beach to me.  He was in shock.  He asked for any drink that did not contain salt.

I gave him a Capri Sun, he drank some of it, then layed down and didn't move for quite a while.  Then all of a sudden he flipped over and started puking sea water.  I realized how tramatic it really was for him at that point.  I covered him up with all the towels and clothes we had, and let him rest for a couple of hours.

While he was resting, the girls and Andrew and I had a fun time.  Two sand castles were made,

One closer to the ocean than the other.  This first one was too far away to fill the mote with water before it sunk in.

Tons of shells were collected.

White bodies soaked in some sun.

Some bodies were whiter than others.  I do have olive skin like Erith and Tric, I just don't wear a bathing suit very much.  You'll see later that poor Vi has Adam's white freckley skin, we don't know about Clara yet.

Little girls made memories.  This is Clara's first time on a beach.  Vi's first time getting wet on a beach.

I noticed Andrew and Vi had been standing in one spot for quite a while, I walked over and Vi said "Look Mom my feet are gone!"

It was fun to stand right at the edge of the water and feel yourself sink after each wave.  She loved it so much, she and Andrew stood there for almost an hour.  Andrew got a bad sunburn for that one.

When it got close to her knees she started to chicken out, mostly because the water was splashing her face.

We were happy to see Adam back to normal after his nap and some lunch.  Evie and her friend Jerica joined us after a while to do some sunbathing.

Look at all these cuties at the beach.  I thought I had sunscreened everyone head to toe.  But alas, it became apparent that I had missed a couple spots on Vi when I put her in the bath that night.

A word to the wise, don't scrunch your nose while applying sunscreen.  And don't be overly cautious about getting it in the eyes.

Oops!

Erith and Tricity started school.  Erith is in first grade and Tricity is in kindergarten. 

Erith is so excited to go all day and eat lunch at school. 

Tricity is excited to go everyday and ride the bus. 

Viola is kind of lonely when they are gone. It has definately been quiet, sometimes too quiet... Two year olds definately know how to get into trouble.  She loves Clara so much, she appreciates her more when the older girls are gone.  Vi is talking a lot more now.  It's so good to be able to communicate with her.  I have never been a good guesser about what she wants when she's bawling.

She has also developed an obsession with books and wearing other people's shoes.  We read LOTS of books while the girls are at school.  She would have me read all day.  I have to eventually draw the line and say, "All done, mom has to get some other things done."

Clara can roll both ways now.  When she's really ambitious she rolls clear across the room.  She's four months old now and has started having an opinion on who holds her and how.  She is so sweet and beautiful, she smiles so much, it melts your heart. 

Adam's business is doing well despite the majorly slowed down economy around here and across the country.  He and his brother love working in the new office, complete with new furniture.  They both have plenty to keep them busy. 

Adam is done being a stake clerk at BYUI and just got called to be Assistant scoutmaster and deacon's quorem advisor.  (That's what he was when we moved from our old ward) So yea for Adam getting to know our ward finally, but it is definitely going to take more time on more days of the month than the last calling did. (Lessons on Sundays, mutual on Tuesdays, Flags every patriotic holiday, campouts almost every month, roundtable and other training)  It's okay though, I won't complain, it'll be nice to have him sit by me in sacrament meeting.

I'm just trying to lose weight, and do everything I used to do with four fast-growing kids!  I am amazed how many directions my four kids want to to go at the same time, while I'm trying to can green beans and do laundry and dishes.  So yes, my house is messier than it has ever been, yes, my garden is more like a weed patch, yes, bedtime is my favorite time of day, and yes I love every one of my four very different girls and I wouldn't trade a one of them for the world!

Well, now that we've got Clara paid for (or at least her doctor bills, hospital bills, etc.) we're starting to get some money so we can do things I should have done earlier. The first project on the list was to insulate above the new office.

I ran into Home Depot and got 10 bags of "natural" cellulose insulation and rented a insulation blower. I also saw a slide while I was there that I got for the upcoming swingset project. Unfortunately, my eyes were bigger than my car. It took a bit of pushing, shoving, and manhandling to get the insulation, blower, 8' slide, and all the other stuff that was still in the car (3 car seats, a playpen, and a stroller) to fit. I'll just say it was a very very very tight fit and I'm really glad I didn't buy two extra bags of insulation or I would have been up a creek.

Well, I got home with all of the said stuff just in time to run off to softball. I got back home around 9:30, got the kids in bed by about 10:10 and then we decided to blow the insulation. It took both Heather and I to do it. I took the hose up in the attic and Heather manned the blower. After fiddling around with the machine, we finally found how to open the trap door at the bottom to actually let the insulation go through the machine. After we figured that out, it was just a matter of trying to navigate around in a attic that is not lit and fairly short.

We finished up right before midnight. I came out of the attic very hot, sweaty, and covered from head to toe in dust, dirt, and insulation (good thing it wasn't the fiberglass kind). I think it worked because the office is MUCH cooler today than yesterday so I hope that it was money well spent.

The relay for life was a very worthwhile experience.  It let us see lots of other survivors in the community and the family and friends who really care and support those with cancer.

This was our "camp", go Purser Potatoes!  Abi took a lot of time and effort making the campsite cool.  She put all the people on our team's names on Potato People.  Erith, Tricity, and Timber are showcasing them here.

Adam does not enjoy walking and running very much.  He'd rather get exercise from other means, so he complained the whole way there.  But once he got there, he got way into it.  He pushed Vi in the stroller and ran half of his shift.

I was not that ambitious, I had the sweat pouring just from walking.  Adam and Sleight came out and cheered/forced me through one lap of running.  They had us pick up a paperclip each lap we did, it was a good way to keep track of how many laps we'd done. Clara was a great cheerleader.  She was smiley and happy as you can see her here with Ranae.

Ranae, Grandma and Grandpa Quinn, and quite a few others came to support us.  It made it feel more like a party than exercise.  My sister Bethany had a friend who even ran 19 laps with her at 2:00 in the morning... STRAIGHT!  (They were hurting the next day!)

They had food, live bands, and games for those not on the track all night long.  You'll have to talk to my parents and brothers and sisters to find out the details on all that.  Adam and I had early shifts and we were the only team members who didn't spend the night.  (Which got quite cold I hear.)

Well, we did it!  I'm quite proud of us too!  Erith, Tricity, and Timber did at least 4 laps of their own throughout the evening.  We had such a good time, we will probably do it again next year.  Let us know if you want to join our team!

Viola's big sisters taught her how to "dress up"

Can't be picture perfect every time!

You can't make me look at the camera!

Clara loves to look at white/light stuff like closed blinds glowing from the sun behind them. This particular morning a little light peeked through the blinds into the bassinet. She followed it with her eyes and hand for almost an hour! It was so cute, I had to take a picture!

I can't believe I'm posting myself not matching, in pajama pants here, but hey, when your kid wants to try their first time taking a picture, you do what you can! Erith and Tric both had a go.

Erith framed this one betterish.

i hope my expense gave you a smile!

Well, well, well, what a week we've had. 

I woke up on Tuesday and found that we had no water. I was worried that our pressure tank had finally given up and that I'd find a few feet of water in the basement. Fortunately that was not the case.

After checking breakers and fuses and getting some advice from Stuart as to which well pump service company to use, we had Forman Pump come out and check out our system. They checked the "quick fix stuff" first, but it wasn't the cheap stuff that was broken. After pulling over a hundred feet of pipe out of the ground we found that our 11 year old pump had gone out (normal life span of a pump is 12-15 years from what the experts told me) So we replaced the pipe and pump and dropped the pump down another few feet because the water table was lower for this time of year.

Well, unfortunately that wasn't the end of our problems. We powered up the pump and things were good, but we had awful water pressure. Dropping the pump meant putting it closer to the bottom and closer to the dirt/silt/stuff that resides at the bottom of the well. That plugged up our filter in quite a hurry, but it was probably a good thing that it did, because it made me look into the pressure tank a little more than I had.

I decide that it would probably be good to pressurize the tank again. So, I called my dad and he came over with a couple of tanks of air. We pressurized the pressure tank (I now know how to do it properly) and everything works great. We've never had this good of water pressure. I really think that our pressure tank hadn't been doing its job for a while now (it is a bladderless tank and I think the air was all but gone in it). I think that contributed to our early pump failure.

At least now I know what to look for as signs to re-pressurize the system, and understand a little better how a well pump works.

On the down side I have one heck of a sunburn that looks pretty funny. Hopefully it will have faded a bit by the time we bless Clara in a couple of weeks.

Our girls were so excited when I bought a Slip'nSlide that they invited a bunch of family over for a water party.

Viola surprised us by potty training herself this week, so this is her first time swimming without a swimming diaper. She'll be two next week.

What would a water party be without hotdogs and Adam in his grilling apron?

We had otterpops and splashed it up to stay cool in the hot sun.

The slip'nslide said for kids only, but what fun is that? Yes, that person is me, Heather.

I just had a baby remember, I've got some baby fat to lose!

Here are some skinnier splash kings and queens.

Kami and Josh

Tricity and Sarah

Some just came to chat and laugh at the rest of us.  Jaleesa was there, how did she escape the camera...

Erith was being a prim little princess and didn't want to hit the water with her face very badly.

Clara had a trick up her sleeve that day too. She rolled over from tummy to back about 6 times!  Loa got a video of it, I will try to get it from her and post it soon.  She will be two months next week.  She is very active and alert and determined to grow up on me.

Hope you all are keeping it cool!