Sweet Blessings

Ryan gave Keetley a beautiful priesthood blessing in our Sacrament meeting today.  She has already proven to be a light in our lives, and to those around us.

The beautiful dress that my aunt Camille knit for her fit perfectly!!!  And she was pretty much an angel all day.  

My mom made this blessing quilt for her, and I am in love with it!  It's so intricate and delicate and spunky at the same time.

We had so much support and felt the love of our families on this special day.  They all joined us at our home for a luncheon after our meetings, and it couldn't have been a lovelier day.  The weather was warm, but not too hot, and the kids had fun playing with cousins!

I'm so blessed to have these beautiful blessings in my life!

Loving this girl!

And more pictures by Stevie.  ♥♥♥

Here's my favorites...

And now I need to pick a favorite to print and hang on the wall!  Impossible...Impossible I tell you!!!'

Thanks so much, Stevie!!!!!  

Celebrating the Birth Day

I got brave, and asked my dear friend (there's nothing she DOESN'T know about me now!) if she'd consider taking Birth Day pictures of Keetley.  Luckily the stars were aligned, she was in town, had help with her kids, and we had a pretty good notion of what time Keetley was going to arrive...so Stevie showed up right in time to catch some pretty great moments. These are some of my favorites!!!  

Ryan and I have this *thing*.  He drops me off at the hospital, gets me comfortable, then leaves to do whatever it is he needs to get done....in this case, it was work.  I called him around noon, letting him know it was 'about time' and he dutifully came back to the hospital.  Works well for him (hello, paycheck) and I don't have to entertain OR share the TV remote.  :)

This one makes me laugh!   Before he even cut the umbilical cord, he texted his family!  LOL!  oh, technology.  So wonderful, and yet, so annoying.  LOL!

When I found out Ryan had texted all our family to let them know of the Keetley's arrival but that he didn't include a picture, I QUICKLY had to remedy the situation....again....technology.  LOL!

Thank you so much, Stevie!!!!  I'm so glad you were able to capture some great moments in the delivery room on Keetley's special day!  You've now seen it all.  If we weren't best friends before, we are eternal friends for sure after this! 

{love}

I should be sleeping.  You know, getting rest while she's getting rest....

But I can't stop looking at her beautiful little perfect self.

I'm in love.

And so are her brothers.

And her daddy.

We simply cannot get enough of her!

Simply Smitten {Keetley Ann}

She's here!  Keetley Ann made her graceful arrival into this world on 4.10.13, at 2:41 pm.  After snuggling with mommy for a good hour, she weighed in at 6 pounds 10 ounces, measuring 20 inches long.  She's our smallest baby by far, and we are simply smitten with her!

She's perfect in every way!  Beautiful button nose, dimpled chin, long fingers and the most beautiful pink lips a girl could ask for.  I think she resembles Taylor's look the most, but she's definitely from the same mold as her brothers.  Speaking of which....

Out of all the pictures at the hospital, this one ^^^  has got to be my favorite!  I am sure I caught Taylor off guard, because he and Tanner are very excited to have a baby sister!  Kortlen shared in the same excitement for about 2.5 seconds....I think having a sister is going to take some getting used to for the little guy!

My mom is so wonderful!  She came up the night before I was induced, and has pretty much taken care of everything while I was in the hospital.  I worked hard to get my house picked up and cleaned up before she came so she wouldn't have to worry or stress, and could just play with her grandsons, but I came home to an even MORE spotless house!!!  She took my boys home with her (thanks for babysitting, Clay and Deseret!!!) and they'll return on Sunday.  The break and quietness has been nice (I've been home for 4 hours) but I'm starting to go a little stir crazy.  LOL!  Time to catch up on sleep and maybe read a good book.  I miss them, but I don't miss having to bend over and pick up after them!  :)

: : : Labor and Delivery : : :

Keetley's labor and delivery were by far my easiest! I don't even need to give a simplified version of it, because it was so amazingly perfect!

Showed up at the hospital at 7 am for induction.  Painted my nails while Ryan grabbed my bag from the car and parked, and the nurse set up the bedding. Was started on an IV and pitocin right away, and by 10 am had the anesthesiologist prepping me for an epidural.

After Kortlen's "I am woman, hear me roar" natural birth, I was all game for making Keetley's arrival as painless as possible.  The epidural was so great, I was numb from my nose down.  Not even kidding!  By 2:15-ish pm baby was ready to come, I was ready to get her here, but the doctor was in another delivery.  My nurse (the same one who held my head in her hands during Kortlen's delivery and told me to stop screaming and BREATHE!!) turned off the pitocin and we all just sort of waited.  and waited.  and waited.

At 2:30 ish my doctor showed up, said I could push...so I did....twice...and she stopped me on the third push because baby girl had arrived!

Keetley was alarmingly purple to me!  The doctor laid her on my abdomen, and we got her warmed up.  She let out a few little squeaky cries, and we got to cuddle.  We tried nursing for a while, and at one hour old, the nursery nurses weighed, measured, and cleaned her cute little self right up!

Stuck two little bows in her dark head of hair, swaddled her and we are so in love with her!  Pictures of her shortly after birth are coming....(Thank you, Stevie!!)

: : : Where her name comes from : : : 

My grandfather had a sheep and cattle ranch up Echo Canyon, near Heber, Utah.  We called it Keetley, after the man who had settled the area (google Keetley, Utah).  In 1989, the ranch land was found to be the perfect location for a reservoir to service the area, and long story short, was sold.  Our family spent MANY summers there.  The majority of summer photographs of our childhood were taken at Keetley.  We played in the "Witch House" and fished for moss in the ditches, bathed in the freezing bathroom, and babies got baths in the kitchen sink. We rode the rolling hills to move the livestock, or go with grandpa to change the water.  Keetley was the place of Crandall Family Reunions each 24th of July.  We'd sit in the shade of the humongus tress, play with cousins.  We would beg for a cousins old enough to take us to look for fool's gold in 'the mine' up the road....always gathering more rocks in our pockets than I'm sure my mom wanted in the washing machine.  It was a place of many cherished memories.  I'm so excited to have given our beautiful daughter such a meaningful name.

Her middle name is in honor of Ryan's mother (Edytha Ann) and grandmother (Anna Maye) and just so happens to have a little bit of my own name.

The Clutch

I'm sort of to the point in being a mom that I don't feel like I need to bring the entire house with me when I actually leave the house.

Remember when you had your first baby and the diaper bag was so full it wouldn't zip closed?  and if the husband dug around for a toy or bottle or snack or burp cloth, it ruined the entire system?  Please tell me I'm not the only one who shot a dirty look or two during church when the delicate balance within the bag was messed up!!!

I found a fun project on pinterest (curse you, insane website!!!) that I thought would be a great way to ease into having a newborn again...

...hence, THE CLUTCH.

I'm actually pretty excited that it turned out so cute!  I followed a pattern almost exactly, and wish I would have taken the time to maybe take my own measurements because I feel like the whole project ended up a bit on the large side (8" x 11" when finished and folded), but because it turned out so darn cute, I'll likely use it anyways.

Baby girl gets her very own baby changing station...wherever we go!

I found the pattern HERE at Made by Marzipan.  She has some great tutorials, and this one was easy to follow.

The two differences between mine and her's:  I used an already laminated fabric (the polka dot that baby is changed on) and instead of sewing right sides together and flipping the entire project to get finished edges, I just used bias tape (like binding a quilt) and REALLY like the look!

I made four of these clutches total, the other 3 for an auction....and didn't have enough bias tape to do the others this way, but would highly recommend it!

Fast Update/Many Ramblings

---My kids like climbing up onto the roof of our house...no biggie....if they fall off, we get a cast.  However, tonight they climbed onto the roof of the garage.....that has 5 electrical wires from the power poles to surrounding houses, including ours....Gahhhhhhh!!  It's kindof hard to bring kids back from the dead if they're electrocuted....or are stupid.

---I got to climb up into the tree in our back yard this afternoon because Taylor was about 12 feet up and I couldn't help him from the ground.  Again...not worried about the falling thing, more worried about him getting his shirt caught and him strangling to death...because that really almost happened when we first moved in.  His elbow got caught and he was hanging between two branches.

---I promise, I do care if my kids fall, but sheesh...do I need to tether them to the ground?

---Kortlen is fascinated with the fact that he can completely cover himself in fine-dirt/dust, and then laughs hysterically when I try to catch him and brush it off...turkey!

---I finally got a picture of blue skies from my front lawn last night...we've been basking in smoke for the last month....I'd forgotten what those beautiful Idaho skies looked like!

---Finished up Dylan and Ashlee's wedding album....had such a fun time taking the pictures, and they were a quick edit, once I sat down to do them!  ALMOST makes me want to do photography more, and make my amateur skills useful. Guess I'll stick to people just passing on my info word-of-mouth, and not advertising.  I already stay up way too late!

---Tanner and Taylor have been loving piano lessons, and I am, too!!!  They each practice 10-15 minutes a day, and then go play while I practice for an hour or so.  It's so refreshing....but probably the reason my kids are getting themselves into sticky situations....hmmm.....Guess I need to reserve my practice time for later in the evening.

---There has been NO CANNING at our house this fall....I figured since we already have a closet full of canned produce, that nobody likes, we'll starve when the EMP hits, and then I'll be sorry I didn't do what I knew I should have....PREPARED MORE FOOD!

---Taylor has a unique talent of catching bugs.  By the wings.  Then he examines them, lets them go, and catches them again and brings them to me...like a cat.  He's particularly intrigued by flies.  Those big bull flies....*shudder*.  Well, at least I don't have to hear them buzzing around for too long, nor do I have to swat at them.

---Tanner is in the top of his class for math skills, but the bottom for reading, and has the home room teacher that teaches BOTH those classes.  I don't know whether to feel sorry for her, or for him.

---I love mowing my own lawn.  I love digging up the foliage I don't want next year, and planning what I do want instead!  I can't wait to start hacking away at the overgrown shrubs (14 feet, no kidding!) in our back yard to make room for a LOVELY garden spot come spring.  Exciting things, people!

---I have been trying my darnedest to keep this house picked up so that we can spray for Hobo Spiders ...when we get around to it.  Trouble is, by the time I get around to it, there are toys strewn everywhere again.  I sorta wish the world would stand still while I clean.  Wouldn't that be nice?!

---Had to buckle down and go out to the garage to pull out my maternity clothes from 'the stack' of totes (which I recently rotated for the boys...guess it was my turn).  I have to admit, that while I've been putting on weight from all the sugar wafers I've been craving, I'm hoping some of that weight will shed off quickly when we have baby number four the first part of April.

---And because I know you're going to ask, we're due April 11th (the dr. thinks???) and while I'd love a sweet little girl, I think the pros of another boy outweigh all the bows and pink glitter shoes a mother could buy.  BUT either way, we're ecstatic!  I've been told more than once by more than one little boy in this house, that they're getting a sister.  And now that we know we're not having twins, we'll just be happy with whatever Heavenly Father blesses us with.

---Wish me luck.  And pray that no children fall off any roofs, out of any trees, or get electrocuted on my watch, while I'm growing a new sibling.

Highchair Re-vamp

I love our high chair.  It was a baby shower gift from my mom, and although it's old-school (where the tray flips over the top to rest on the arm rests), it was brand-new 5 years ago!

It didn't come with any sort of cushion, which is totally fine.  It's all wood, painted white.  (I may or may not regret getting the white, instead of the honey/light oak like my mom suggested.)  But I'm not going to be sanding and painting these intricate spindles anytime soon.

I made some fun red plaid cushions when Tanner was born...They worked well, but had just had enough...so I decided now was a good time to re-vamp.

I don't have a 'before' picture...so just imagine sad, stained and falling apart, home-made looking cushions.  

Now check out what we have adorning our kitchen!!!

I ditched the old fabric, but kept the foam for these new beauties.  I scored on the fabric at "Home Fabrics".  It was only $2 a yard, and I did buy a yard, but only used half of it.  

I used the same straps that came with the highchair, but they're pretty stained (although washed weekly!) and so I have new webbing to replace it with...I just gotta do it.  

I love how it turned out!!!

Apparently this little guy does, too.  

{Goodness}

While Ryan and Tanner and Taylor were picking these:

I was busy finishing this:

Finally!  It's done!  I do hope the newborn size I made will fit our almost 12 pound 6 week baby boy. 

Even if it doesn't, we have 16 cups of purple goodness to put in our home-made ice cream and pancakes that will make everything better.  (Well, almost better, I might cry a little if it doesn't fit!) 

Really Quick...

We went to the Bonneville County Fair...

 ...in short...it was nice to not have to work this week, but I missed it, too...not bad enough to be there every day, though. 

 This is the only way I can ensure I have two hands.  Kortlen loves the wrap.  He goes right to sleep in it...and I have two hands for his two big brothers.

We spent about an hour there...it was about all the boys could take.   Obviously. 

 __________

We've been working on our batting skills.  Both boys are obsessed with throwing the ball up and then batting it, just like daddy. 

Watching Taylor twist his entire body cracks me up.  Every. Single. Time. 

 

Tanner hits the ground with his bat three times before every swing...just like in the big leagues.  He is hilariously serious about this.

__________

We've been playing in the sprinklers...even though our budget is tighter than tight, we caved and bought a hose and a cheap sprinkler to get us through the rest of the summer, fill up the kiddie pool, wash the car, those sorts of things.  (When our neighbors moved, they took their hose with them  :)  ...of all things.) 

It only took Tanner about 10 minutes to figure out how to turn the water down just enough so Taylor would go and take a drink from the 'baby' sprinkler, then Tanner would turn it up full blast, right in his little brother's face.  Boys.  Gotta love 'em!!! And I love mine. 

__________

Kortlen got to spend some one-on-one time with daddy the other day while he was looking for jobs online...

__________

Kortlen is by far our best sleeper, eater, and overall, baby.  Maybe it's because we're trying NOT to make the same silly mistakes we did with Tanner and Taylor (like assuming that because they didn't want to go to sleep, that they didn't need to sleep...or if they were crying, they were hungry...so I'd whip out their dinner every 20 minutes or every 2 hours...) 

We're on a tight schedule around here...give or take 30 minutes...and it has made all the difference in the world.  *sigh*  Heavenly Father must want us to have more children...eventually.  I love watching my babies sleep...and love how their hair goes {fuzzy like a ducky} after a good sponge bath.  mmmm!  His little 'dreaming' smirks and smiles give me warm fuzzies, and remind me how precious these moments are...not just for Kortlen, but for me to spend time with his older brothers.