HERE COMES BABY

On the Sunday after the wedding, I got a text from Ashley after church saying that her contractions were 10 minutes apart. I was excited, but was still able to get it together enough to have my traditional Sunday nap. When I woke up I talked to my frantic father who was worried because Ashley wasn't already at the hospital. I had to tell him to calm down, but being his daughter I started to get worked up too. What if this baby was born on the highway? Yikes. 

Well we had plans to head to the Sallays for the blessing of new baby Oliver. I was pretty sure we could make it over there before the baby came so we did. After the blessing, I left Brent and Stella there to have dinner and I headed to the hospital. 

It was so quiet. Ashley was the only one having a baby there that night. Mom, Dad, Ava and I headed to the cafeteria first thing to have something to eat while Ash got her epidural. We were trying to keep Ava as occupied as possible while we ate--she was pretty excited. As we ate, Mom announced that Grandma and Nonalee were there and suddenly the ice machine we were sitting by started spitting out ice all by itself. Sending us a message, I think at least, that they really were there. 

Of course Dad might have been overreacting (I know, not like him at all) when he called me frantically earlier in the day, because we had to sit and wait several hours for baby to come. It didn't feel too bad though, except maybe for Miss Ava who had to keep herself busy by gliding and spinning on the doctor stools, going out to ice cream with me, creating videos, and making us laugh by putting on rubber gloves while in the bathroom. 

When it was finally time to push, we were all pretty thrilled for the big moment. I honestly couldn't keep my eyes off that baby as he started coming out. I was super emotional. It was strange because with Ava's birth (as I was also there) I didn't get all that emotional. It could have been my fear about doing the birth thing so soon myself, or perhaps it was that years later I have a better understanding of how rare babies are, or perhaps this is just one special baby to me. I don't know, all I know is that I freaking loved that kid the moment he came out. It was a special spiritual moment for us all, and I know we won't forget the happy feelings any time soon.

MANTI SIDEKICK

I just finished editing pictures from the wedding of Christy's sister on the first of March, where I found some pics that I had taken of Stella. I normally don't take my offspring when I am working, but Stella really wanted to go and spend the day with her friends while their aunt got married. Since the wedding ceremony was at the Manti temple it was a long day for Miss Stella with a lot of time in the car. For the most part, she was really good. Just sitting at the reception and watching movies on her Kindle. She did come up to me at one point while I was in the middle of taking pics of a group of aunts and uncles in tears because her feelings had been hurt by another kid there. I had to send her off to go find Christy and I felt terrible about not being able to be a good mommy right then. Overall though, she had a fun time and loved having special time with Aedan and Cali.

I hadn't been to the Manti temple since I was like 12 and I went to the Manti pageant with the Young Women. I was so new in the church at that time that I didn't even really understand where we were. It was really fun to see it again. It was beautiful. I need to make a special trip and go inside.

PRINCESSES ON ICE

Before the wedding and before all the Sallays arrived in town I realized that Disney on Ice was going to be here while Nellie and Lily were visiting. I called Valerie to see what she thought about buying tickets and taking the girls to see the princesses. We were both hesitant at first because the tickets were kind of pricey (as all things Disney usually are), but we both thought it would be too fun to pass up. 

So the day after the wedding we got the girl cousins together in their princess dresses and took them to the show. It was really fun. Stella was the most excited because she had some idea of what was going to happen, but Nellie was the most surprised by the show. As soon as dear old Mickey and Minnie came out, Nellie was in happy hysterics. I don't know if I have ever seen a kid so excited to experince the Disney magic--it was too cute.

It was pretty amazing watching all those talented performers skate around. We all loved it. Stella was so sad when the show was over. For me, I can't decide which I loved more--seeing all my favorite Disney characters, or watching how Stella had to lift up her dress like a ball gown to get up and down the stairs. We had a blast, and I'll probably have to go again when the show returns.