Tuesday, January 24, 2012

OTIS JOHN SCHMUTZ

NOVEMBER 2, 2011
So, I have not blogged for almost a year! But, it is time for New Year's Resolutions! :) I really want to do better at documenting and journaling our lives...so here is a quick but very necessary catch up! The biggest event for our family in 2011 was our NEW ADDITION! We had OTIS JOHN SCHMUTZ on NOVEMBER 2, 2011! And what a great addition he is!

I had lots of contractions through all of October! THANKFULLY he did not come on Halloween! I was so worried, because his due date was November 3, that he would be a Halloween baby! I will have to post our Halloween costumes...I was a great big Jack-O-Lantern, and Brigham stole the show as mega mind! But even after all that trick-or-treating and walking hills, I didn't go into labor...just having lots of contractions! They wouldn't get stronger...just kept coming! :)
My doctor checked me on Nov. 1st, and I was dilated to 5 cm...which made my doctor a little nervous! So, he had me come in the next morning to break my water. Which I felt good about, because he was going to be on call through that following night.
It ended up being just like Brigham's delivery, only thankfully my doctor only had me push for
1 1/2 hours and not 4! It felt a lot the same, and so I thought it was going to be a similar outcome! The worst time is when they decide to do the C-section, and don't want me to push! My back gets a lot of pressure and there is a lot of pain...I am so grateful when that part of it is done!
Well, they rushed me in for an emergency C-section, and the experience could not have been more night and day! The anesthesiologist was AMAZING! She was so great to not only drug me and keep drugging until it was comfortable, but she was very good to talk me through it all too! And my doctor (Dr. Hernandez) was FABULOUS! It was so great to have that little boy out! The whole operating room was telling me how big he was! I couldn't see him, but they kept saying, "He is huge!" "What a big baby!" "I can't wait to find out how much he weighs!"
Well, they put him on the scale, and he was a big baby! In fact, he was the biggest Dr. Hernandez has ever delivered! 10 lbs. 10 oz., 22 1/2 inches long!!! I was a lot more relaxed, having been through it and knowing what was normal, so things went a lot better! Otis is also so much more of a relaxed baby than Brigham was...and that really helped in my recovery! He is so sweet! He doesn't hardly cry, and when he does, he is so easily soothed! How grateful I am for our new little man! I love being a mom! It is worth all that it takes to get these little miracles here!
The sad thing is that I am out of commission for the first few weeks of the baby's life, and miss out on taking the type of pictures I would like to! I got hardly any in the hospital, but here are a few! You can see that he hardly looks a few hours old! He looks like a 2 month old! On our way out of the hospital, there was a tiny baby girl in the wheel chair next to mine, and Lydia couldn't believe it! She was 1/2 the size of Otis, and you could see it! The nursing staff was great! I surprisingly left the hospital a day early. I usually love to be in the hospital, but I just couldn't sleep! Thankfully, my parents took my kids to their house, so that it was just Steve, me, and Otis the first couple of nights home! It made a big difference! We had so many blessings from family and friends! It was so wonderful to have dinners and babysitting and cute gifts! I was a total hermit for at least a week. I had gotten a weird hacking cough, and if I talked it would bug my throat and make me cough...so I avoided talking! It was really weird for me, because I love to "talk and tell" when I have a baby! It was nice to just really enjoy Otis! What a kind spirit he has and so sweet! I cross my fingers we got another one like Bobby! :) I just LOVE this little boy! :)
And another note: It was so fun to find out one of my best friends (Char), had her baby on the same day! Unbelievable! We had teased that we would have them on the same day, and they would be best friends! She was due a few weeks after me, but we thought that would be fun to have them together! And we did! So fun!

Friday, March 18, 2011

Never Enough Basketball!

February 5, 2011, we met the Petersons in Las Vegas, NM to watch Alyssa's brother Daniel Steffensen play. He plays for Ft. Lewis, in Durango, Colorado. It was a lot of fun to take a little road trip! Las Vegas is only 1.5 hours away, so it was a fun little trip! We have watched Daniel play since he was in high school, so it was fun to be part of his fan club! We just can't get enough basketball in this family!
Here are the kids while the teams were warming up, showing the cute signs the Petersons had made on the trip up! Halle, Lexi, Lydia, Loralyn, Bobby, and Kayla!
Loralyn LOVED to hold up the sign! She wasn't too into the game, until it was time to hold the sign! :) Really clever to make the signs from the Dion's boxes they had for dinner!
Lydia and Lexi showing off one of the signs. A fan of girls told Daniel the game before that he was on fire! They had to put it on the sign!
Here we all are after the game! I can't believe how fast these kids of ours are growing up!
Ray was holding up the sign in all different directions! It was upside down and wrong side out! :) He is a cute little fan! He just loves being part of things, and Brig just loves to do whatever Ray is doing! They had both been to the drinking fountain, as you can see the water all down their front!
Loralyn just got her hair cut! And she was flipping it back and forth the whole time! She just loves it this length!
Ray just being a cute fan! He is holding the sign, just waiting to hold it up...upside down! :)
Halle and Loralyn were good little cheerleaders! They would have a few little power struggles over who was the head cheerleader, but they always have fun!
Lexi and Lydia after the game! They are just always glad to have a chance to hang out!
Bobby is a great Big Brother! I love this picture, because you can see how much they look a like! This is after the game just hanging out!
The Peterson girls are great to entertain our boys! Here is Kayla giving Ray a lift!
All the kids with the star of the night, Daniel! What a cute fan base! :) Daniel always helps Scott with his b-ball camps, and our kids just love him!
Our boys! Small, Medium, and Large!

It was a great little get away, and we always have fun when we party with the Petersons! We just love Daniel, and were glad to be able to see him play!

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Bobby's First BYU Bowl Game!

So, we are back tracking a lot, but I finally got these pictures downloaded! On December 18, 2010 BYU football came to the New Mexico Bowl! It was a lot of fun! Steve and I decided to take Bobby, because he was such a good fan all season, and we knew he would love it!
The Eschers took Tysen and Weston, so it was a lot of fun for those boys to get in some football! Bobby loves doing anything with his cousins!

We went with Arthur Gariety! Arthur and Sharee are always great to let us crash at their house during the season to watch the games! It's probably a big reason why the kids love football season! There is an excuse every week to get together with good friends!
Bobby and mom waiting for the game to start! The UTEP fans were really great. They were funny and good sports about loosing! There also were a lot that dressed up in fun costumes!
And the team came running out on the field! There is something so fun about seeing the flag followed by the team! It was time to get the game on!
Bobby totally was watching the game, and looking for his favorite players!
We ran into cute Cindy Frame, and she took this picture of us together! It was a really fun outing for us, and Bobby is just such an easy kid to have around! He just enjoys life, and is a great addition to anything we are doing!
Bobby ended up going down with Tysen and some friends to be in a louder cheering section! They ended up being on TV and everything for cheering so well! He ran into Lexi and Kayla Peterson too! It ended up being a lot of fun for him! I don't know what it is when a lot of kids get crazy together, but it makes for some great times!
When I told him to stand with Kayla and Lexi, he was hesitant because of all the other boys around! It is so funny they are getting old enough to know!
Some of the crazy crew! Lexi and Kayla loved it too!
The final score! BYU did great, and it made us excited for next year!


After the game, everyone rushed on the field. Bobby was with Tysen, so I was looking everywhere for him. When we connected, I took him as fast I as I could to meet as many of the players as we could! This was he and Heaps, BYU's quarterback! He looks very young, because he is! He is a true freshman, but an amazing qb! We are all very excited to see what his future brings!
So this nice lady, we don't know! But, she was nice enough to lift Bobby up, because she saw him trying to see the ceremony! In fact, it was him being up above the crowd that caught my eye! I look up, and there is Bobby...a head above everyone cheering them on! So funny!

Teams shaking hands after the game!

This is another young player, that is exceptionally good! He is Van Noy, and plays defense! He was really nice with Bobby! I just think it is so great how these big football players take time to let these little fans meet them!
This was so great! So, this is the kicker Payne, and he broke some record in this game...and it was his senior year. When I asked if we could get a picture, he said, "Oh ya, sure." Then he looked at Bobby, handed his helmet over and said, "Do you want to hold that for the picture." Bobby's eyes widened with enthusiasm and said, "Oh ya!" Then he proceeded to take off his hat, and put the guy's helmet on! It was so cute, and the guy just loved it!
This is Logan. He is one of the defensive backs. Very quick, and as you can see not very tall! :) But works really hard to get the job done!
This is another one of our favorites! Everyone calls him "Juice"! He is young too! A freshman, and a running back!

We left the field, and Bobby was very glad he came! It was neat to see him meeting all the players and enjoying the game! We are all very excited about what the future brings for these Cougars! There is just so much young talent!

Brigham and Prayer

So, Brigham is a very stubborn little boy. He is the type that if he comes up with the idea, it is a good one. If anyone else is telling him to do something, he usually puts up a fight! Well, with our family prayers, we have been trying to get him to kneel and hold still. If we had him in our laps, he was fighting and screaming. As you can imagine, those weren't the most reverent prayers our family shared! :) But, back in December (doing a little back tracking here!)...it was December 16, 2010 (I know because of the wonderful digital print from the camera!)...he went and kneeled by his dad and brothers. And all by himself! It was a great idea!
...and we won't even talk about Ray's funny sticker in the middle of his forehead! He is such a funny guy, and comes up with little quirky things all the time! Who knows what game he was imagining with that sticker! :)
Seriously, what is a mom suppose to do with this? He loves his "Queen Car Jammies"!
It was so cute, and such a mile marker...we had to get it on film! That cute little stinker! He does keep us always guessing!

WICKED 2/12/2011



In the words of the cute neighbor boy on the movie Incredibles:
"That was TOTALLY WICKED!"

The above picture is the girls posing with fear in front of the very impressive dragon that spans the stage! When the play starts, the dragons eyes turn red, smoke comes out, and it moves back and forth! It is very impressive and loud! It scared little Daphne back to sit with the grown ups! We had it set up 8 seats clumped together, 4 and then 4 behind....so, we had the kids sit in front of us. She felt safer moving back with the grown ups!



We were going to take Loralyn, but she decided she wanted to go to Brentyn's b-day party instead. We took Gabby instead of Roo. We probably should have just taken Loralyn, because she would have loved it! But, it was fun to see how much Lydia and Gabby enjoyed the show! Lydia had the advertisement taped on her wall for 8 months hoping we would get the hint that she wanted us to take her! We did! And she LOVED it!
It's a girls pose! Gabby, me, and Lydia...what fun we had!
We are SO GRATEFUL for the Garietys! They were able to get tickets early. They called and asked if we wanted them to order some for us, and of course we did! They were FANTASTIC seats! We were close enough to see the facial expressions of the actors! And, they are some of our favorite people in the entire universe, so it made it fun to be able to go with them! This is Arthur, Sharee, Dallin, and Daphne. We asked Bobby when Roo backed out, "Do you want to go to Wicked with us? " "No"! That was it! :) He would've loved it too!

Here is Steve joining in for the group shot! And what a handsome addition! It is so fun for me to think he is my date forever! :) What a great show: great music, clever story, hilarious lines, and wonderful acting!
We were all STARVING after the show, and so we stopped a Fudruckers! Here are the kids waiting for their grub!
I was so glad Sharee had Steve take this picture of us! She said, "We never get pictures taken together", and sadly that is true! We have done TONS of fun things together, she is one of my very best friends, and I think this is our first picture together in the 7 years we've been friends! We have a lot of our kids together through the years, but we are the ones behind the camera! Good job Sharee on making sure our friendship did get documented! :)
Cute Gariety's Daphne and Dallin holding up their Wicked program and enjoying good eats!
Gabby and Lydia with their program! LOVING the whole expererience! Lydia still talks about how much fun that was!

What a fabulous outing for us! It was really fun to see Lydia just enthralled with it all, and to be with such great friends! Great show, good company, good food...makes for an OUTSTANDING afternoon, and a terrific memory to had to our collection!