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2015 SEPTEMBER










































































September 2015

The first weekend in September is always Peach Days, and since David Stirland roped me into being over the Peach Days 12k our first week of September was filled with all things Peach Days 12K. This year since I new I would be freshly postpartum I put together a committee, Tricia Michler, Leesha Jones, Lindsey Hurst, Amy and Ashlee, Megan Gatlin, and Erin Woodbury were the dream team. They were a ton of help, so I wasn't so overwhelmed. The little guy turned 1 month! Took some pictures to document the cuteness we call Jack. His sleep is still sporadic some nights will be great others not so great. It is when the other two monsters wake up that life gets real the next day.  I read a meme the other day that said RAISING TINY HUMANS IS EXHAUSTING which I agree with wholeheartedly! They are enormous amounts of fun and frustration all wrapped into a tiny human body. I feel like I have so much more patience than I did with Gus. If I didn't sleep at night with Gus I felt like the whole world was batting against me, now I don't know what 8 straight hours is so it is my new normal now. Just another day with zip amounts of sleep. Jack met serious powers Grandpa this month and Fenella. He gave Gus and Oliver trucks a long time ago that are super annoying and say I've got serious power over and over and over and over again so Gus has always just called him serious powers grandpa. Gus played soccer again his coaches were DJ and Megan Meis. He was very timid the first couple of games, timid enough that at one of them I had to hold his hand and run around the field with him wherever the ball was. Then after the first couple he was right at home. He scored one goal, and was very close nearly every game. Our little Henrietta left to the Alpine Germany mission. We went to his setting apart, he seemed very excited and not nervous at all. Our Stake President counseled us to pray for the missionaries and to specifically by name pray for the ones in our ward. He said they will be blessed and we will be too. So every night we pray for the 9 or 10 missionaries we have in our ward. It took us awhile to get all of their names, some nights I feel like we forget one or two of them, but we never forget our little Henrietta. Kyle went with Funder Welding to do a job at some guys house and he had a random statue of a pirate. I thought it was from Tuacahn becuase he also sells to them, but nope some random dude has a legit pirate. Weird. We took the boys to the round up days festival and Kyle rode the mechanical bull. He lasted maybe 3 seconds and thats pushing it. We went to lots of high school football games to watch Nicholas play. I made the boys Mcdaniel shirts to where to the game. I took a bunch of random pictures of Jack this month. Jack met my Great Aunt Carol who lives just down the street from us. She loved him, and said it was a perfect day to come because she just got her hair did. Old ladies and their hair days... Kyle, Linda, Gus and Oliver drove to Patty Ann's cabin in Panguitch to pick up an old metal twin bed frame that was Grandpa Jack's. They also picked up another bed that they took to Tyson. I don't remember whose that was. So they took fishing poles and fished a little stream. Kyle said it was freezing cold.
Kyle has been a hunting fool. He captured the cutest moment of him, Gus and Oliver. Its one of my favorite pictures. It is also one of the few times they took Oliver. He isn't the most quiet kid, which is exactly what you don't want while hunting. Poor kid just likes to talk. We took the boys to play pickle ball this month. Gus loves it Oliver not so much. Gus is actually pretty good. We should play more often. On Sundays we go up to my sisters house, there are a lot of boys between us and the picture of them wrestling is usually a normal thing there. Gus and Oliver love to fight and wrestle. There is a picture of Oliver's silhouette through his door. I finally took the side rail off of the crib he has been sleeping in and turned it into a toddler bed. Well, keeping him in bed now is next to impossible. It was pretty funny the first couple of nights to watch his silhouette and what he would do. I told Kyle I don't care if he is out of bed, as long as he stays in his room and he doesn't bother Gus. Our scorpions are alive and well still. We fed them a tarantula, the tarantula lost the fight. I can't believe me of all people has 2 scorpions on my kitchen table. They are pretty interesting to watch. Aunty Lirpa made Jack the cutest blanket. I absolutely love it. We are spoiled by her talents for sure. I called Summer the end of September and said she should fly Oliver, Jack, and me out to see them. I was feeling down and out, a lot of things had happened that made me need a getaway and a Summer and Adam fix. She willingly obliged, and booked us tickets two days later for us to fly out. I drove to STG and got on the shuttle with Oliver and Jack at 5 in the morning. It gives me anxiety just typing this. What was I thinking! Thats what I thought the entire trip there. I was worried they both were going to cry the entire drive down, luckily they didn't but could you imagine if they did? We were definitely watched over that day. They only fussed the last 10 minutes of the drive. They were champs on the plane. Oliver got a little antsy the last 20 minutes, but we had a sweet couple behind us that kept picking up all of his toys that he would drop. I still can't believe I did that. It gave me major anxiety and I kinda wanted to cry and I kept asking myself why I thought this would be a good idea, but amazingly it all worked out. The tip to the Wilson's was exactly what my soul needed. Summer is an amazing mom and she gave me lots of good ideas, the chore chart I'm still using. She gave me lots of good advice, and we decided we would be the perfect sister wives. She is the cook and I am the cleaner, and we both play with the kiddos. We went to a reptile show at the Sacramento convention center while I was there. We saw a whole lot of spiders, snakes, lizards, frogs, and crazy people that love their reptiles. A student from UC Davies had a scorpion crawling around his hand so I quizzed him a whole bunch. He said their stinger hurts less than a bee sting. which I thought was interesting. We read lots of books in Sacramento, went swimming a lot, ate at Rita's, which isn't as good as Luna's. We drove to see the Sacramento Temple, we went to church with them, both Adam and Summer bore their testimonies, we watched the kids do their primary program practice. Summer took us to Ikea, where she bought Oliver an ice cream cone. The last day we were there I made a scavenger hunt for Noah, Ava and Grant.  The end prize was Krispy Kreme donuts. I wrote on the top that they should tell their mom that Aunt Emily said they could have 2 donuts, which they did. I was laughing when I wrote that. I am so grateful for Summer and Adam's example. We had a lot of fun and I miss my sister wife already. The plane ride home was a little more stressful, the baby was hungry right when we were boarding, so he was crying Oliver was tired our flight was at 5 or something which is fussy time central at this household. The plane was a million degrees before they took off and I had two fussy kids, life was great;) Kyle picked us up in Vegas, he works there on Monday's so he just stayed a little longer and waited for me to arrive. The baby cried the entire drive home, I have decided he hates driving in the dark. That is the only time he is fussy in the car. I was so excited to see Gus, I missed him tremendously. 


2015 AUGUST








































Oh August what a dreamy month you were. Kyle took the boys coyote hunting the week of my due date. They actually got one which really surprised me! Kyle came home and said the tooth of the coyote went through his shoe and pierced his skin. I was not happy, the last thing before I deliver is to have my husband get rabies. Luckily  he said the coyote looked healthy (still didn't reassure me). He also took them fishing the evening before I had Jack. It was perfect because I was able to finish my gallery ledge I made! Kinlee came over because her parents were going to Stg. so I conned her into holding the ledge up while I used power tools to anchor that sucker to the wall. If only I had pictures of me 40 weeks pregnant and using power tools. I think Jack waited until I got all of my projects completed. The ledge was the last one on my list and I started having contractions 6 hours after it was complete.

Grandma Linie gave us the biggest cucumber ever that had a cool crook. Gus the storm trooper is holding it.

The picture of the boys with a plate of fruit and veggies is from our FHE on the word of wisdom. Kyle bought some weird and random fruits and veggies at Lins and we talked about the different colors and what they are good for. We had the boys try everything. Gus ate an entire raw brussel sprout. It was a great FHE, because we have been having a hard time getting them to eat anything. I have to say it has helped Gus and Oliver eat the past month!!

The Birth Story
I went to bed pretty late, late for us is 11 pm, we are old. Before going to bed I thought maybe I will have it tonight because it was raining and the barometric pressure had dropped. You know all of those wishful thinkings you have when you are 40 weeks preggers. Around 11:30 I started having contractions that hurt. I had been having contractions the week before so I didn't think much of it. Then they started to interfere with my sleep. Ain't nobody got time for that. So with nothing else to do besides try to sleep and endure the pain I started to time them. They were pretty consistent. Every 3 minutes lasting anywhere from 30-90 seconds. I kept telling myself that they would go away as they had the week before. Nope 3 hours and 30 minutes later I decided to wake up Kyle. He was sleeping on a camping pad in the front room (which is very normal, I know in your mind you are thinking we have issues. He sleeps on the floor a lot. weird. weird) So I wake Kyle up, finish getting Gus and Oliver's stuff ready for whoever was going to watch them. I did the laundry, emptied the dishwasher all whilst trying to not puke during every contraction. I go to Kyle again, who had fallen back asleep because he didn't think I was serious, or didn't know when I wanted to leave. Either way poor kid was tired, I tell him again we should probably leave. This time he takes me serious gets ready tries to call his mom or dad. I think he called 2 times and they didn't answer. Great, now who do we call. My sister Amy and her kids were leaving to SLC in the morning to go school shopping so they were out. Kyle tries his Dad again and he picks up! Hooray! He comes over like a champion to stay with the boys. It is raining, my favorite weather in Southern Utah during the summer. Kyle is driving like a mad man. I'm trying to breathe through contractions, it was blissful. We get to the hospital and they put me in the observation room. Lucky moms go there to see if they progress in an hour. If I did I got to stay and have the baby if not they would send me home. Seems so mean to just send a pregnant lady home. Anyway we knew the nurse, Brother Butler's wife, she made sure I progressed which I did without having to stretch the truth. I got admitted at 4:30 or 5. Got my epidural around 7:30, which seemed like a really long time to me. The epidural saved me, and I was a happy camper after that. By 11:30 in the morning I had progressed to a 8+ they checked me at 12 and I was a 9 so they called Dr. Lunt and by 12:23 pm I had the hairy little stinker. I only pushed once, didn't tear at all, but got the pukes after. Jack Thomas Ballard was 7 pounds 19.5 inches long and born at 12:23. I loved my nurses this time. Jack swallowed meconium so they had the Nicu team come in to make sure he was ok. I guess he was retracting and they had to suck his stomach out, but luckily he was really good after that and after I breastfed him. 

The boys have been really good with Jack. Gus is the biggest helper, more than I thought he would be. Oliver has no interest in him. Well he does, he just doesn't ever want to hold him. He loves smelling him, he loves the new baby smell like me. 

Kyle has been beyond amazing. Trying to do all of the housework, let me sleep as much as possible, and keeping the boys entertained. He took the week after off. It was so nice, wish we could have it like that all of the time. He even pressure washed the entire house that week.

Gus started preschool at La Verkin Elementary (I know what you are thinking Adam and Slum) but my sister works there and it was just easier to send him there. He was really nervous about it. Poor kid has lots of anxiety with new things. We prepped him like crazy the week before, and luckily he only cried for a second when I left him sitting at the table in his classroom with a book. What a champ

The month of August has been full of all things baby. I felt like I blinked and it was over. I have lots more pictures but for some reason they aren't on my photo stream. I will have to update them later.