Boose leaves for her Mission!

Well, Sister Katelyn Bleak left for her mission as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! She entered the MTC on Wednesday, January 22, 2014. We are truly going to miss seeing her and talking to her often and hearing her laugh. But we are SO excited for her!!! She is going to be such a great blessing in many peoples lives! Boose said it best....it's only 18 Fast Sundays until she'll be home again :). We sure love her!!!!

Her at the MTC:

Saying "bye"...red faces and all.

Some "Mission" pictures I took of her for fun ;).

Nora Lee Close is born!!!

Nora Lee Close arrived on January 15, 2014! She weighed 7 pounds, 8 ounces and was 19 inches long. She came 5 days before her due date and surprised us with an early and unexpected morning :).

So the day before Miss Nora made her debut, Cade was at a work conference in Vegas and was supposed to get home Wednesday evening (just a two day conference). Boose was staying with me during those two days while he was gone (huge blessing!!!). At 2:15 am Wednesday morning, however, I woke up to 3 painful contractions in a row about 5-10 min apart. I called Cade at 2:40 am and told him to get to the airport and fly as soon as he could. That was the most awake I have ever heard Cade in the middle of the night. He knew there would only be one reason I would be calling at 1:40 am (Vegas time). Then my water broke at 3:00 when I stood up to go to the bathroom and I knew it was time to get ready for the hospital. I got together some things and called my wonderful neighbor, Ami, to come over (such a great blessing that she was willing to come over any time I needed her). Boose had been sleeping in the basement, so I opened the door to the basement and yelled, "Boose, get your bum up here...your wish came true!" Boose had been praying that Nora would come before she left on her mission. She responded, "What? What? Are you being serious?" She got dressed and we drove to the hospital at 4:00 in the morning.

I was admitted into the hospital and was dilated to 4 cm. All the nurses soon became aware that "Daddy" was trying to get home from a work conference. They said that usually they pray for fast deliveries for moms who come in, but this time would pray for a slow one :). We waited it out for a while and I got an epidural at 6:30 am. By that time, I was only at a 5 but was still progressing. I was really hoping the epidural would slow things down so Cade would have a little more time. The first plane out wasn't until 6:30- 7:30 my time. So the nurse said that she would check me again when Cade got to the hospital.

Cade landed safely in Salt Lake and said the most nerve wrecking moment was turning his cell phone back on and not knowing if he would recieve a text saying "She's here!". Luckily he didn't and made it to the hospital at 10:00 am. A nurse finally came in at 10:30 to check me and said, "OH, wow! The baby is coming and you are definitely complete!" I was dialated fully and baby was ready for me to push. They had to page the doctor and prep the room. By the time the doctor was ready, I pushed for 5 minutes and Nora was born!!! She came at 10:59 am, just in time for Daddy to be there. It was a crazy morning and Cade was so stressed and worried all morning, but everything worked out perfectly. Heavenly Father is so good to us and reminded us that He is in charge of all. There is no other way to explain it. We were truly blessed with a miracle and will forever be grateful!

Now on to the fun pictures of our morning...

This picture was right when we got to the hospital at 4:00 in the morning.

I was crossing my fingers that Cade would make it in time! More like praying my little heart out and asking God for a miracle...

Boose was there for me and I am so blessed she was. After I got the epidural, she got to take a little nap and wait. It was so neat to have her there to help me when I needed it. She was truly ecstatic that it was all happening and that she could be a part of it.

Here she is! Beautiful, healthy baby girl! Everything went so well we couldn't have asked for anything more. 

Daddy and Boose holding her for the first time.

When the girls arrived at the hospital, they were SO excited to meet their baby sister! Well, Reese was pretty indifferent (and still is) about Nora, but Emma had been anticipating this new little sister for some time. When they arrived, Nora was being wheeled from the nursery but was not in my room yet. Emma walked in the room with a HUGE grin and it soon disappeared when there was no baby- just mommy in the room :). Then Nora came in and Emma was so excited!

Our first little family picture!

Time to go home!

I love these pictures of the girls looking in on her. So sweet! Emma and Reese will be such great sisters to her. Three little best friends :).

We are so blessed with a third healthy little girl. We already love her so much and are so excited to have her in the family! As we have more kids, we realize how fast they grow up and learn to enjoy the moments and each stage. I am LOVING this newborn stage much more and trying to soak in the cuddles. She is so precious and we are grateful to Heavenly Father for sending her to us!

Other Fun Winter Times!

This was our first year picking out a live Christmas tree! It was so fun we want to continue doing it for a while at least. It was such a pretty tree and I love the smell and look of a live tree. Emma helped pick it out. Emma and Reese helped me decorate it, but Emma's favorite part of decorating was putting the star on top of the tree. She was so excited to do that!

At Cade's work, Santa came to visit and the girls got to meet him and sit on his lap. Reese was not happy about it (as you can see from the pic), but then Santa gave her a candy cane so she was fine with it in the end :). As the girls were walking away, Emma said, "I didn't get to tell him what I wanted!" So she ran back over there and whispered in his ear....for about 3 mintutes straight! Everyone was saying "Wow, she sure has a list!" It was pretty funny :).

Making Gingerbread houses. It was extremely tempting for Reese not to eat the entire thing before making it!

Making felt trees and snowmen to hang up in the house. You can't tell which one Reese glued together, can you? :)

Before heading to Bountiful for Christmas week, we get to have our own family time learning about the meaning of Christmas and then opening our gifts from the Close side. It's really fun to be able to do that as our own little family. Emma especially loved her Doc McStuffins doctor bag! She's been giving everyone check-ups non-stop for a couple weeks now :).

White Christmas with the Bleak's

So this first picture is when we Cade dropped me off at City Creek Center in Salt Lake for a little surprise get-together for Kristen's birthday. But since it was supposed to be a surprise and I happened up almost run in to them on the way to our lunch destination, I had to hide behind this wall for a time- pregnant belly and all. It was a really funny moment and seemed to last forever because they stopped just in time for me to have to stand waiting for them :). It's fun having Sisten's bday around Christmas (not for her, but for the rest of us) because then we are all together for it!

Cousin LOVE! We now have 8 little grand babies and Nora will be number 9. It's fun to see them all together and our family growing.

CUTEST PIC OF THE COUSINS! I LOVE THIS ONE...especially James' face. This picture is just adorable of him and his cute, cute smile!

I had to include this picture for memories sake :). We like to play a game called Telestrations as a family. It is like pictionary and telephone put together. The best part is that we play it so late and everyone gets giddy and crazy. This picture though is a picture of "Apple Juice". Yes, apple juice :). 

That is one of my favorite things to do with my family is stay up and play games together. After all the kiddies are in bed, us adults can stay up and act like kiddies :).

Christmas Eve was really great. We sang songs and read stories with the grand kids. Then they all exchanged a gift with each other. This year we drew names and it worked out well. Then we sent the kiddos downstairs with their new gift and put on Mickey's Christmas Carol while us adults sang more songs, read in the Bible of Christ's birth and exchanged our "Gifts from the heart". This year Cade made a "Mustard Toast" plate with a funny poem that went with it- it was a great gift :)! And I gave Stephanie some Family Home Evening magnetic board stories that she can have her boys help with teaching scripture lessons for FHE. This is definitely a favorite tradition and Cade and I will continue it in our own home as the years go on.

I LOVE this picture. The little ones were asked to wait for a few minutes before opening their gifts. So Reese sat on hers with her arms folded while she waited :). VERY patient girl! Or she knows that she would be tempted so sitting on it helped her be good :).

Christmas morning is always magical. Especially as a parent! I LOVE seeing the excitement on their faces. Now that Emma and Reese are old enough to get excited about things. One of my favorite things to see them open are their stockings. Emma was especially excited about her Ariel shoes and wand she asked for from Santa. The best thing Reese got the entire holiday was her ring pop :). She was so happy and wouldn't let it go!

Also on Christmas day, Cade, Boose, Bud and I took Emma, William, and Reese down the hill to Mueller Park to sled. Reese and I just watched, but the rest of them had a BLAST going extremely fast down long icy slopes. I don't know who had more fun- the kids or adults- but it was so fun to see them all so excited and having a great time. 

Another fun thing we did was the day after Christmas we went to Discovery Museum at the Gateway in Salt Lake. It is such a cute, fun museum and the kids loved it. There were all sorts of things to do and play pretend like the little shopping store and little house with different rooms. There was a construction site, a water play area, helicopter and airplane to explore and much more. Good times!

Again, another successful holiday with family! And I am so thankful Cade gives me enough time to spend with my siblings. Especially with Kristen living in California and Boose-Boose leaving on her mission soon. I love being with them and spending time. Time to be cherished for sure!