The Holidays

Here are a few pictures of the kids right before the baby came.





Summer seemed to last forever around here so when it finally dipped below 80 degrees in the house (mid-december) Sophie was dressed for camping.


All the kids were so excited when we put the decorations up this year--if it were just Matt and I, we would never bother, but it is truly magical for the kids. No one can get quite as excited about things as Ellie.



At the Christmas party, Ellie would not tell us what she was going to tell Santa, but she was having a long conversation with him and was twirling his beard while she whispered in his ear. I still don't know what she was telling him.

Coming home

My biggest worry in coming home was how Mathew was going to respond. He is jealous with his Mom and doesn't let his sisters sit on my lap so I was worried for Troy's safety. To my surprise, Mathew was thrilled with the baby. Of course he could still easily hurt him, but at least there is no ill intent--he loves Troy and is fascinated by him. All of the sudden the kids, especially Mathew, seem so much bigger.
It was such a blessing to have my parents there to help that week. Matt had a really hectic week at work so he was able to take care of business while my parents helped hold down the fort.

Baby Arrives

For some reason, the last weeks of pregnancy always seem to drag on forever. This time I was 4 days late and it felt like weeks late. My Mom arrived on a Saturday and I started having mild contractions Sunday night.

On Monday, we went to the gym and I did an hour on the elliptical. I mentioned to my mom that I'd left my water in the car and 2 women flipped around in horror--they thought I meant that my water had broken.

We went to Walmart and then McDonalds and the contractions were getting slightly stronger but still nothing consistent. By the time we got home at noon they were more consistent but we still walked Ellie to preschool (1/2 mile) and back. My Dad drove in around 3:00 and took me to the hospital. They checked me in and Matt got to the hospital around 4:30. They gave me an epidural around 7 and Troy arrived at 10.
It’s funny how each of my kids has looked so different--Troy had a head full of black hair. I was overwhelmed to see he was healthy and all had gone well.

I ended up staying 2 nights in the hospital and spent the time relaxing and listening to audiobooks. I was anxious to get home with the whole family.

4th of July

This week has been pretty low key. The girls have enjoyed their 1/2 hour swim class in the mornings, and the rest of the day we just read, watch TV, play color, etc. When we can get up early enough, we go to the Zoo in the morning before Swim class but even at 8am it's in the high 90's--too hot for me with granny tights on.

Our garden is finally producing. My kids were so excited about it until they realize they have to eat all of those vegetables now. We still have the tadpole we brought home from Eagar last week. The girls named him Taddy. He's cute--has legs now--but I don't think he'll live that long.

Thursday Matt and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary. Our big Mexico trip was our big "gift" to celebrate so Thursday we got a baby sitter and went to dinner and went shopping at circuit city for a printer. It was fun.

Friday, we went to the Ward 4th of July celebration. I was happy to learn that 4 young families just moved into the ward so that will be fun. The girls rode in a bike parade they had.

Later that day we hung out with some old high school friends--Alison & Suzanne Wirthlin. Alison was visiting from Salt Lake with her 6 kids--It was fun to catch up.

Eagar

Last weekend we ended up going to Eagar. It was the first time going up there in our van and it was a much more comfortable ride than the Civic! Mathew was happy to hang out with Levi--We call them "the twins" now.

There's been a lot of water up there this year so it was green and beautiful. We played outside a lot, went on a canoe ride on the pond, caught tadpoles and grass hoppers, but most of all I spent my time with Mathew throwing rocks in the pond.

Nuttall Family Reunion in Puerto Penasco

2008.6.20 Puerto Penasco

The family reunion was a great success. It was so fun to see everyone and the place we stayed in was phenomenal.

Some of the highlights were:
-family dinners in the huge dining area
-watching the cousins play
-finding hermit crabs on the beach
-body surfing on the waves
-Mariachis during dinner

We also spent a day shopping for food/supplies for a local orphanage. We brought art supplies, bubbles and pinata to play with the kids. We also arranged for some clowns to come and perform. It was fun for us and appreciated by the kids at the orphanage. It felt good to stock their pantries and was a good experience for our kids.

Amie and Dave came in town 2 days early and stayed 1 night after the reunion. It was fun having them in town. The night before the reunion we had 18 people sleeping at our house. We actually fit 6 kids in the girl's room alone. The cousins seemed to enjoy it.

Now we are trying to get back to some sense of normalcy. The girls are in swimming lessons and not much else. When Tim was in town he rigged up an Xbox to store our movie on so we don't have to deal with the disks anymore. It's been awesome. As an added bonus, Matt and I have been playing some games...nothing too crazy yet, just the Bible game, but it's been fun.

Last day of school

2008.6.6 Last day of school

After our trip to Mexico, time seemed to speed up and there seemed to be a lot going on all at the same time. First of all, we announced that we are expecting another baby--due December 4th. The girls were so excited to hear the news and Mathew has no clue as to what is coming. In a way I was glad to have school over with for the year and excited to get a summer just to hang out with them. Both Sophie and Ellie had cute performances for the last day of school and it was fun to see how much they truly have grown--I'm proud of both of them.

One funny thing that happened was that Mathew became obsessed with corn starch. It started because he got a diaper rash so I started using corn starch on him. He loved it and would go get the corn starch when he wanted his diaper changed. He would even say "corn starch" and he doesn't say much of anything. One day he made a huge mess with the corn starch so now we have to put it up.

James and Kristy arrived the following week with their kids Isaac and Levi. Mathew and Levi are 2 peas in a pod and they are non-stop play all day long. They are in the middle of a move and don't have their car here so we decided to go ahead and get a van now instead of waiting until December when the baby comes. I could really use it during the Summer too since we are getting squished with the 3 kids in the civic. After 2 weeks of looking around, we pulled the trigger and joined the minivan world.

The beginning of June is a blur...we had people coming and going from the house--Matt's cousin Laurie came with her 2 kids for a few nights, Matt's Dad stopped in for one night and then we had various people stop in for dinners. At the same time I was getting stressed about the upcoming family reunion that I was responsible for organizing and it seemed like everyone was having birthday and end-of-year parties I felt we needed to go to. But things worked out (like they always do) and Kristy watched the kids alot so that I could get stuff done.