We hope you had a...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!



We are going to have a really busy week, but next week we'll update with all our Christmas adventures! Happy Holidays everyone!

{e11even}

I can hardly believe it! We have an 11 year old! December 22, 1997... around 6:20am... Eryn made her way into the world. I had a really long (30-ish hour) labor. We lived in Orem at the time, and we headed to American Fork just after noon on the 21st... they told us to go home. It turned out to be quite a long day. We even went to our Chesnut family Christmas party and Grandma Chesnut's house, and my cute sisters timed me between contractions with a stop watch. Looking back, it's actually kinda funny. Jared went to work that night (he worked graveyard shift) and I decided to just stay at my parents home and wait things out. Just after midnight (or something like that) I called Jared and told him to come back home. At the hospital, they said I wasn't really progressing much, but to walk around the hospital for a while. About an hour later they admitted me and gave me a wonderful epidural, but Eryn's heart-rate didn't want to stay up when I contracted, so after a few hours and trying some tricks, we headed into an emergency C-section. She weighed in at a tiny 5lbs 14 oz, and was 19 1/2 inches long. We found out that the cord was around her neck, which was being compressed during contractions, causing her heart rate to drop. We were just glad she was here and healthy (even if she was tiny). We were home by Christmas Eve, and even hung out at my parents' house on Christmas Day. She was the best Christmas gift!! Eleven years later, we are so proud of the girl that she is growing up to be. She is a little book worm... reading ALL THE TIME. She plays the piano quite well (which will be nice to hear again once her cast is off), she loves to sing, and is becoming a wonderful babysitter! She does very well in school, and is just a joy to be around. Happy Birthday Eryn!! Saturday night, we had some of her friends over for a "Late Night Party" since we don't do sleep-overs. Eryn loved it and the girls all had a great time. Monday, on her REAL birthday, it snowed literally ALL DAY!!! But she had a great birthday anyway. We are so glad she is a part of our family!

Oops... the video works now!

Sorry everyone who tried to watch the video of Eryn ice skating. For some reason it was coming up private (it didn't on my computer, obviously, so I didn't know) but I believe it is fixed now! I was trying out YouTube... but I'm not sure if I want the entire world to be able to search for ice skating falls and find Eryn, so I went with the good ol' Blogger video upload, and it worked better. Enjoy. It's below in the previous post. :) If by some crazy chance it still doesn't work, please comment and tell me and I'll try something different. Thanks!!

The Ice Skating Accident

Finally... here is the long anticipated (hee hee) video of Eryn's ice skating accident. She was doing so great - all the girls were. They caught on so quickly. They didn't stay by the wall for long. After only one lap, they were skating like a bunch of pros! There were a few falls, but nothing major... that is until about 20 minutes before the skating session was supposed to end. Then it happened. The fateful accident which caused a broken wrist! She has had her cast on for 2 weeks now with 1-2 weeks left. She is getting a little bit tired of it. She says it itches (but you can't stick anything down inside to scratch, due to infection risk). Showering is a pain, since we have to put plastic bags over the cast... and I have to help her wash her hair. Fun times!

Salt Lake at Christmastime - I LOVE IT!

One of my favorite things to do at Christmastime, is go up to Salt Lake. It's just a neat place to be at this time of year. Last Monday,(Dec. 8) we headed up in the snowy stormy weather to enjoy Eryn's choir concert at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, and then we stayed for the lights at Temple Square. When we got home, we finally decorated our Christmas tree. We had a great time. Watch the slideshow below to see pictures of our fun Christmas adventure!



Hopefully in a couple of days I'll post Eryn's video from when she feel on the ice and broke her arm. I know there are some people who wanted to see it. It's definitely not for the faint of heart... I just gotta get that girl pinned down long enough to take a picture of her in her cast to put in that post too! Check back soon.

Happy Birthday Kaitlyn!

Nine years ago, on December 6, 1999, I headed to Albertson's to pick up some milk for Jared and Eryn (who was almost 2) - knowing that I was going to be induced in just a couple of hours. As I was waiting in line to pay, I realized that I was already in labor! Kaitlyn wasn't due to come until the 10th, but Dr. Melendez decided we should induce. I had some interesting and rare antibodies that could be a threat. I laughed when we got to the hospital and the nurse asked me "Oh. Did you know you are having contractions?" Of course I said "Yes!" Well, just a few hours later, we were blessed with a beautiful baby girl with huge eyes, long eyelashes, and the sweetest personality! She just looked all around as I held her. She is the only one of my kids that I got to hold right after giving birth. I couldn't stop staring at her! A couple of days later we were given a little scare when the pediatrician noticed a murmur when he listened to her heart. We found out, after a trip to UVRMC in Provo, that she had a small hole between her ventricles. We were a little nervous, but she has never had a problem with it. What a blessing! She has been a source of laughter and joy in our family. She has turned out to be such a sweet, loving, funny, helpful, beautiful young lady. She has beautiful handwriting and does so well in school. She makes us laugh everyday! We are so grateful to have her as part of our family. It's hard to believe how fast 9 years go by! She is getting so grown up.
Well, she had a really fun birthday. It was fun to finally have it on a Saturday. Eryn, Kaitlyn and I took a few friends ice skating in Provo. The girls had a great time (once they finally got the right size skates) and caught on very quickly. I had forgotten how sore your ankles get!! They really need to find a better way to make those dang ice skate boots! Eryn did take quite the tumble right at the end. It was a nasty fall, and she ended up breaking her wrist! (Stay tuned for pictures and video of that!) Jared and the boys stayed home and decorated the house and made her requested dessert (Brownie Delight).

Happy Birthday Kaitlyn - WE LOVE YOU!!