June 2015

I was starting to feel pretty pregnant in June, but we still did some fun things. Our highlights were meeting cousins at the zoo and enjoying all the dinosaur displays there, enjoying hikes and horse rides at the ranch, and harvesting the first produce from the garden. 

Ellie learned how to open the fridge. She dragged this whole gallon of milk up the stairs to my room one day to tell me that she wanted some.

It is so fun to watch Ellie start to explore these hills that I spent my childhood roaming. 

Bristol loves the ranch as well. She was one happy pup!

When we are not at the ranch we are reading about the ranch!

Chickens

We have talked about getting chickens, but I don't think it would have happened this year had our next door neighbors not decided to up and sell their house. They had four hens and offered to give them to us with all their supplies. Free chickens? Free coop? Sure! We have had them for a couple of months now, and are drowning in eggs! Ellie enjoys the chickens and brining in the eggs to put in the "egg hole" in the carton. She also liked herding the chickens, poking them with sticks, and trying to give them hugs. She also likes to play with their food...yuck!

July 4th 2015

      It's no secret that July 4th is my second favorite holiday (this is a lie, Mandy's favorite Holiday is definitely the Fourth of July-Brian). I anticipate it almost as much as Christmas, but no 4th of July has ever been as memorable or as special as this one--and it wasn't spent in Oakley, and I didn't go to the parade, or the patriotic program, or spend time with my sisters, or attend the Cannon family reunion--all staples of the Fourth of July. Instead, I spent the day in the hospital and welcomed this precious bundle into the world.

Connor B Porter

6 lbs 15 oz.

20 in.

Born at 9:10 a.m.

If you don't want all the details, you can stop reading now.

Birth Story

    Connor was due July 21. I had planned to go on our annual Shakespeare festival trip July 6-8 and even had tickets. We packed our things and headed up to Oakley July 2nd. We went to the rodeo that night and then I had dreams all night that I was going into labor. I joked about it the next day as we enjoyed hanging out with family. I was feeling super uncomfortable and even told Brian and my sisters that I felt like the baby was going to fall out, but I didn't seriously think that anything would happen for at least another week. I had felt some contractions during the day on the 3rd, but figured they were just braxton hicks. We went to bed that night and I woke up needing to go to the bathroom around 3:30. As soon as I walked into the bathroom, my water broke. It didn't splash all over like it does in the movies, but I definitely knew that it had broken. I went to wake Brian up and he didn't believe me at first. "You are joking right?" he said. "No, I am not joking. We need to go to the hospital," I said. Brian got up and went to wake up my mom. I grabbed one of the backpacks we had brought and made sure Ellie was ok and then headed down to Ogden to Mckay Dee Hospital. About 10 minutes into the car ride I started feeling regular contractions, but they did not hurt very bad. They felt more like bad menstrual cramps only better because you got a break after each contraction.
     It was about 5:00 in the morning when we finally got up to the delivery room. Contractions were getting stronger and when they checked me I was at a 4. They started me on pitocin and the contractions got worse so I asked for an epidural. Oh the relief! I've heard people complain about the huge needle, but I didn't even see it and getting the epidural was a lot less painful than putting in my IV. By 9:00 I was fully dilated and effaced so they called my doctor. The epidural had worn off slightly, which I am actually grateful for. It was just enough to dull all the pain, but not so much that I couldn't control my legs and even feel what was happening. My doctor came in and I got ready to push. I pushed through one contraction and felt Connor's head, then shoulders emerge and at 9:10 they handed me a beautiful baby boy. The whole things went so quickly and so smoothly that I could hardly believe it. Connor gave a little cry and then quieted down as he lay on my chest. He was much less messy than Ellie was and unlike Ellie didn't seem to have swallowed any fluid.
     I guess Connor was so excited about the Fourth or July that he just couldn't help coming. If we had been in Oakley he would have been here in plenty of time to catch the parade!

We are so happy to add Connor to our family!

Capitol Reef National Park

     Our Moab trip went so well that we decided to take one last trip before the baby comes. We headed down to Capitol Reef national park. I have no idea why I had never been here before. I have been to Moab, Arches, and Zions a million times, and to other places in Utah like the San Rafael area and Escalante, but I had never been to Capitol Reef. It is definitely some place we would like to go back to. It was gorgeous country. When we arrived the campground in the park was full. I was disappointed at first and we weren't sure what we were going to do, but a park ranger told us about some BLM land just outside the entrance to the park. We headed that way and found a great place to camp. No bathrooms and 8 months pregnant was not the best, but other than that I would prefer camping here anyway. You don't have people jammed in right next to you and the kids loved playing in the rocks and sand. We bought a new huge tent that will accommodate a blow up mattress and a pack n play and still has TONS of room to spare. These days I am all about making camping as easy and comfortable as I can! We had so much fun just in and around the camp. We brought Ellie's strider bike and she was getting really good by the end of the weekend--mountain biking over rocks and dips just like her Dad.

       Dave came down and brought Jordan and Caitie, which was awesome for Ellie. Caitie was so cute with Ellie and would take her exploring and play with her in the "bear cave" a little hollow in a rock next to our camp site. It was so fun to watch Ellie have a blast with her cousins. We went on one hike, but I wasn't up to much hiking. In fact I lounged in the shade while the rest of the group climbed up a steep face to see some water pools. While they were gone Ellie apparently had an accident and had to hike all the way out with no pants. She was a pretty good sport about it though.

        After our hike Dave took his kids on a longer trek and Brian and I took Ellie to get some pie at the little store in the park. Then we took Ellie for a drive to give her a nap. The country around this area was stunning. I couldn't help but wonder about the geology and history of it all. It is fascinating to me. We stopped at some pictographs on the way back to camp. Ellie loved running along the boardwalk and it was so nice to be able to just let her run, knowing there was nowhere for her to go. It was a perfect little walk for her.

         Sunday morning we had breakfast in the park under the cottonwoods trees. With the river running by, the beautiful orchards surrounding us, and the sandstone cliffs rearing up into the sky, you couldn't ask for a more beautiful setting. 

       

This picture makes me crack up every time I look at it. 

Caitie and Ellie in the "bear cave"