Alaska, Birthdays and more Birthdays

So our 6 weeks in Alaska ended on August 11th and we made our way back to toasty Arizona. We miss our family and friends in Alaska, and also the green and free air conditioning! We have been celebrating so many birthdays that I can barely keep up. I think every year will be this way since we have Kaelyn's July 18th, Kenley's July 29th, Ken's August 10th, and Kyson's August 15th! We had a few birthday parties in Alaska, then one here with family when we got home. I just wanted to write a blurb about each.

Kaelyn is now almost 7 weeks old and growing so fast already. She is still sleeping lots and is smiling more and more everyday. Yesterday my sister Renee was holding her and she smiled at her for 5 straight minutes. It was super cute. She is looking more like Kyson, especially going back looking at baby pictures of Kyson and Kenley. She definitely has the darkest hair of all of our kids and is fun to have a newborn again!

Kenley turned 2 and has still been our "sweet pea" and our "little diva." She is such a girlie girl. She will even take little bags and purses and hold them over her shoulder. She loves shoes, dolls, and has even gotten into my make-up (putting mascara all over her face :o). She is a natural nurturer to Kaelyn- gently patting her head, holding her hand, and making sure her blanket is covering her just right. She still adores Kyson and follows him everywhere, copying him, and they do a lot of chasing each other and laughing. She is potty training herself. We were waiting until we got back to AZ to start, but she had different plans. She has been taking her diaper off and points to the toilet, saying in a SUPER cute quiet voice "I got to go potty." She has been getting to know the toilet a little too much though, apparently thinking it was a storage place for other items, and found papers, toys, and a usb drive in the toilet one day. This pic was when we were singing happy birthday to her (she had just woken up from a nap and was SUPER grumpy) but she got happier after eating cake and opening her presents (dolls).

Kyson turned 4 and is getting more rambunctious lately. We don't know if part of it was adding a third child, or if he is just breaking out of his quieter shell, but he has been spending more time in time out lately than ever before. Makes for a FUN house, let me tell you! He has collected about 20,000 legos I think and loves building things. His bedroom is also a JOY to clean up :o). He has been helpful with Kaelyn and also adores her, saying " I love baby Kaelyn" and also pats her head. He is definitely ready to start pre-school up again with Miss Kathrine. She is in our ward and he loves going and loves learning. His latest saying is "mama, what'cha doing?"  He loves driving Kenley nut's (what brother doesn't right?) He is still our funny one and although more rambunctious is still a good boy. And he loves going grocery shopping with me.

We bought our first mini-van. It took A-LOT of convincing with Ken as he loved his Jeep, but it was too tight with 3 kids in the back seat. We test drove a super nice Honda Odyssey and fell in love. It's a 2007 Dark Blue, loaded, and low miles, for below book, so we couldn't pass up that deal and traded in the Jeep. As soon as we drove off the lot, I asked Ken if he missed his Jeep, and he said no, that he loves the van, so that's good.

Ken turned 28 and is still doing his web and graphic design. He just got his first, out-of-home office in a really nice part of Mesa. We spent 6 hours Friday buying furniture at Ikea for his suite and then setting it up that night. It will be super nice for him and hopefully he can get more done there.

I am slready back to work. Super part-time, but it's nice to see patients again. It's a perfect balance to work 10-15 hours/week and be at home the rest of the time. I am loving spending more time with my kids. They are already growing so fast, so just trying to soak up all the little moments. Life couldn't be better!

Baby girl Kaelyn arrives, and other updates...

So we are up in Anchorage Alaska right now. Salen (Ken's sister) got married last weekend and since it was too close to my due date (July 27th), we had the baby up here as well and will stay another 3 weeks. It's been heavenly to enjoy cooler weather, and GREEN mountains!

So the wedding last weekend was gorgeous! We enjoyed a limo ride south of Anchorage to Beluga Point where we took some pictures, and although it was a little chilly, the pics are going to be gorgeous, I'm sure. Then we headed back downtown Anchorage and the wedding took place at the Denaina Center (a large museum/convention center). It was wonderful! Here are a few pics of Kenley as a flower girl (although she was tired and not cooperative at the time to drop her petals), and Kyson as the ring bearer...

They rented a photo booth and we took some cute shots with that as well...

                                                           Kenley being a Diva

                                         Kyson in his ring bearer tux/ Kenley in Limo ride

                                  Sure, now that the wedding is over, they cooperate

                                                   Me at 38.3 weeks pregnant

                           Ken and I on a walk one evening, enjoying the cool and green!

3 Days later... Baby Kaelyn arrives... I went into labor after taking the kids for about 1 mile walk to a park near his parents home. I started having consistent (but not the take-your-breath-away) contractions, so thought, I better go in just in case. When I went to the hospital they told me I was dilated to a 5 1/2 CM (which was up from my 3-4 that morning at my dr's appt), and that they just wanted to see my contractions get a little stronger and closer together and to walk around the hospital (for an hour). Well 10 minutes later I'm already having much stronger contractions and said "I guess the walking worked." I was rechecked and this time already a 6-7CM Dilated, so they called my Dr in, got me sent back to labor and delivery, I'm begging for my epidural as I know it's going to be fast, and the nurse said, "let's get an IV started and we'll have to get some labs." At this point, I'm thinking I'm doomed... and I won't be able to get my epidural as the IV and labs would take at least 30-45 minutes. Well, it turns out, I was right. After starting my IV and getting my fluid bolus, my labs were still not back, by this point I'm already feeling some pressure to push, so the nurse checked me again and said "you're a good 8CM." I try to relax to see if I can slow the progression of my labor some, but contractions just got stronger, same with the urge to push. Within 30 more minutes I was fully dilated and the Dr. was ready to break my water and deliver. They said "you might as well get it over with, it will take 5 minutes." So my water was broken, and yep, within 5 minutes of excrutiating-ready-to-kill-Ken-and-almost-ripped-his-shirt-in-half pain baby Kaelyn was born at 1:29AM July 18th, 2012. She was 7lbs 15 ounces, 20 3/4 inches long and healthy!


I can say that I'm definitely a fan of epidurals, but after the fact, and quick labor of Kaelyn, I don't know that I would have changed anything. I never imagined delivering without an epidural, so I was very nervous and not really prepared for delivery without. It was something I am glad I experienced, especially if Kaelyn is our last. My advice to anyone with plans for an epidural is at least think about the fact that an epidural may not happen and plan for it. Especially when your total labor is less than 3 hours!


Ken, his mother, and Kenley were all in the room, while Kyson stayed home with aunt Lisa. Kenley was in awe the moment she met her sister and was already unwrapping her blanket to get a closer look. It was adorable! Here are some pics of Kaelyn Kiera Nhep. (Side story... Kiera for the middle name was my compromise with Ken as he REALLY wanted her name to be Kiera)...  We couldn't be happier parents and are enjoying all the fun of newborn again!

A little trip to Florida

So each year we get a buy 1, get 2 free flights on USAirways, so we tried to figure out somewhere to go before I am too far along in my pregnancy to fly and somewhere we could enjoy outside too, so why not Florida? Neither of us have ever been, so we ventured to Orlando for Disney World and the gulf coast for their warm, clear water... Clearwater beach in fact. It was a fairly quick trip (5 days), but a perfect little getaway. We stayed a few nights at a 2bd/2ba suite that was super nice and enjoyed having a kitchen to bake some cookies and laundry room to do laundry. It was nice to spoil ourselves and it was very affordable... I highly recommend it $99/night at Holiday Inn Suites Orange Lake (Orlando).

Here are a few pics of our trip....
                                                        Clearwater Beach

                                                        The View right outside our Villa

Our Villa

 Pool

                                                       Orlando LDS Temple

                                        Quite the quick walker, look at that stride!

Kyson loved seeing Mickey Mouse and all the Disney characters for the first time, and we all enjoyed the family rides (about 20 + we made it on), the fireworks, electric light parade, and plays etc. It really is a place that adults can be kids again (cheesy, but true). My favorite rides were the jungle tour and Pirates of the Carribean. Kyson and Ken loved the Peter Pan ride (flying over a city).

Clearwater beach was great... Kyson and Kenley both love the beach and water... Kyson was getting a little too brave at times with getting a little too far out, but we managed somehow.

Florida in general was prettier and more enjoyable than I even thought it would be, and a trip we will certainly make again someday.

It's been a while... yet again...

My excuse for not blogging lately...
3 is the number of pregnancies I am going on
10 is the number of weeks I haven't been feeling well.... I am so tired of morning sickness or in my case all day sickness/ hyperemesis gravidarum
15 is the weeks I am pregnant currently
7/26/12 is the date I'm due
No is the answer do I know what we're having, as well as the answer to find out what we are having (as we already have our boy and girl...so we're keeping this one a surprise).
Alaska is the place we may end up having the baby as Ken's sister is getting married just prior to my due date.

I should start feeling better soon... I HOPE! And I will then update more Christmas and other updates then. Stay tuned!