I am taking an enrichment class on photography and am learning so much about my camera and taking pictures. the teacher is an amazing amateur photographer in my ward. I have to bribe my kids to be my models and they get a little tired of it. However, my 7 year old cracks me up so I will let these pictures talk for themselves.
That's my boy!
I know that I have had no time to blog. My life is crazy. But I am feeling blog guilt and as a result I am going to post a few pictures to ease my conscience.
Jayne's first day of Kindergarten we walked to school with her new carpool buddies. Gracie from across the street and Tyler from Church. Jayne loves school and is learning so much. I miss her home everyday but I know she is thriving. I am so glad she is only gone 1/2 the day.
Time flies- I can not believe it has been four months. Evie loves toys now. Se is still trying to figure out how her hands work but she is doing much better. Her grasp reflex is great. She pulls my hair the moment I pick her up and I often find her pulling her own hair (and not too happy about it.) She also loves to bite, suck and chew on fabric (burp clothes, blankets, or mom's shoulder work just fine).
She has gotten much less fussy. She lets us comfort her a little better then in the past as well. She loves to stand up on my lap, and is learning to tolerate the saucer. She really wants to sit up but mostly just face plants into the floor. She does roll over front to back and back to front. She can also scoot with her incredibly strong legs. Especially when she is mad. She can scoot on her tummy or her back with her heels. Her arms don't do much yet. She moved a couple of feet the other day.
One of my favorite things about Evie right now is the fun noises she makes. She squeals with delight when she wakes up in the morning. She makes all kids of fun noises during the day. Her cry has also gotten louder and stronger. She can really scream when she is upset. I guess she feels the competition with her siblings all ready.This picture is of her first solids. I am hoping she will be happier with some real food in her tummy. Rice Cereal is yummy. 
This picture sums up Brennen and Evie's relationship. They are a bit curious of each other but in a sneaky way. Brennen shows so much love for her and loves to give her kisses on her knee or elbow. The other day he told me,"Mom, she slimed me!" Sure enough he had spit up all over his hand. Jayne is not quite so shy about her love for Evie and Evie often is grumpy when Jayne gets too in her face or handsy. She loves Evie's chubby cheeks and is often stroking them. Jayne also likes to climb into my bed in the moring and wake Evie up. I don't love that since I get more done in the morning before Evie wakes up then the whole rest of the day.
We love our Evie and all of our kids and are looking forward to having some family time out of the house this summer. We will be in Utah this summer for a few weeks and can't wait to spend some time with friends and family.
Our Easter Bunny came on Saturday this year so we could enjoy Easter morning with out quite as big of Sugar high. It was fun and the kids were hoping he would come again. LOL!
I don't have much time, but here are some pictures of Easter. Evie's dress is nothing special because we didn't decide to take her to church until that morning. It was nice to go to church as a family again, even if I spent most of sacrament in the mothers lounge.
I had to bribe Jayne to wear a flower in her hair. I paid her a quarter to leave it in through all of church. She did it and as soon as we got into the van she took it off and asked for her quarter. One day she will want her hair to look pretty. One day I will not be able to get her out of the bathroom but it would be nice if she let me do something with her hair now. 
All my goofy kids. I love them more each day, and some days they make me more and more frustrated. I am really popular with them all at church now. They think they can sit and bug Evie if they are bored. It is frustrating. Oh well. All too soon it will be over.
I tried to add this last week but me and my computer and I were not seeing eye to eye, so it is a little late.
(Our Family the Day of Evie's Blessing)
After months of basically hibernating with my new baby and family, I have finally had a few events that are blog worthy. I will try to blog more frequently in the future (although I will not be surprised if there are times when it just doesn't happen, I do have priorities and blogging tends to be pushed to the bottom often). Evie is starting to get a little easier to manage. I still do not feel like I get much done, but she is happier more frequently than she used to be.
(Grandpa Rex Dalley, Jane Golightly, Evie Auger)
February 26th we packed our family in the van and drove till we reached my parents home in Heber City Utah. We had previously decided to bless Evie at my sisters home on the 1st but unfortunately Trish's daughter contracted the Influenza. So at the last minute we changed the blessing to Heber City. I felt bad for the long drive the Auger's had to make, but I think that the day was a success.
(Grandparents George and Jane Golightly with Evie)
Evie looked beautiful and after being hysterical only minutes before the actual blessing, to my surprise, she slept through the blessing and several hours after. Long enough to be enjoyed by family from both sides. Les gave a wonderful blessing and we enjoyed visiting with family and friends some in which we hadn't seen in literally years. (Josh who returned from his mission to Guam in August and his Fiance Angella on Les's side. On my side my brother Tom and his family). We were also grateful to my parents Bishopric for coming to the blessing with little notice. For those of you who are not members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, we typically gather(in church but I am paranoid of germs) to give our new born babies blessings by the power of the Melchizedek priesthood which was restored to the earth in this dispensation through the prophet Joseph Smith. I am grateful for the power of the priesthood and for a loving husband who is worthy and able to use his priesthood. It is a wonderful thing that brings peace and joy to our home.
(Grandparents Jim and Chris Auger with Evie)
We were able to spend some time with many family and friends on our short trip. Megan and Laura stopped by on Saturday, while Les took Isaac to his first BYU/Utah basketball at the Marriott Center. Then more family time till Tuesday when I was able to arrange a short visit with Jessie at my brother's home-Thanks Rachel. We spent a couple of Days in Pokie before spending the night at Jenn and Brad's in Hyde Park-Thanks Jenn for everything, especially watching my 4 kids during the wedding.
Josh and Angella Auger were married on Saturday. It was wonderful day and a beautiful wedding. That night we stayed with Dave and Kierstin before getting back in the car for another 24 hours.
It was hard to have such a short trip. I have a long list of must do's when we go back in June. We appreciate everyone helping us out to make sure our trip was safe and comfortable. As of today no has gotten sick yet. I am feeling blessed.
First of all, the pictures in the post were taken by my friend Holly. She is an amature but obviously very talented. I appreciatte her being so patient while we took these pictures of Evie. I will always treasure these pictures of our sweet Evie. 
So this will include some details about Evie's birth. I had an appointment with my doctor on the 23rd of December. It was supposed to be my last appointment before my scheduled induction on the 29th of December. To make a long story short, I measured 3 centimeters smaller then I had 4 days before. the doctor told me I needed an ultrasound and they made me an appointment at the hospital center for an ultrasound. I asked her if I really had to have it, it seemed to inconvenient. She said," yes you really do"she was worried about the level of fluid. So I got the ultrasound and sure enough there was hardly any fluid. So the tech made me wait while she talked to the doctor. I went back to the doctors office and they told me to go to the hospital to start getting induced. I couldn't go home to get my half packed bag because their was an ice storm. Les had the kids and packed bags for them and packed he rest of my bag. It took Les two and half hours to make the less then 10 mile trip to the hospital . It usually takes about 15 minutes. I had my IV going and was started on pit by the time Les got there. The doctor had checked in with me but didn't break my water because Les wasn't there yet. I had an epidural and 5 hours later I had the baby. The doctor had come back about 9:00 and hung out at the hospital until she was born. She screamed when she was born but calmed down quickly. It was a bit stressful to be in the hospital over the holidays but everyone was pretty nice. They brought Evie to me in a stocking on Christmas morning. Our pediatrician even made homemade scones for the parents of the babies in the hospital. Wasn't that sweet. I thought people would be grumpy about working a holiday but most of the people were very kind about it. We brought her home and had some doctors appoinments the day after christmas and the Monday after. Evie has done great growing but still hasn't figure out night and day. I am not getting much sleep.
I wanted to say thanks to my friends Amy and Kendall who watched the kids over night on the 23rd. I also want to thank my friend Margaret who helped us get our cars home and Evie home on Christmas Day. Things worked out perfectly and we were so glad to have her when we did. My mother and sister came out which was very helpful. Thank you, and mom, I hope your feeling better. Kris took a lot of candid shots of her first few days of life, they are so fun to look through, and scrapbook. I am also grateful to my mother in-law who has come to help out while we are learning to be a family of four. I am grateful to my Heavenly Father for sending such a sweet baby into our home. I am also grateful she was healthy and that the doctor was aware that the baby needed to come that day and not wait till something bad happened. I am feeling so blessed.
Evie Cristine Auger came home on Christmas Day! She was born at 10:50PM on 12/23. She was 7lb 4oz and 21" long. Below a few pics of the new baby along with some pictures of Ike, Jayne, and Brennen enjoying Christmas
Okay, so first I just have to apologize to any one who lives in Indiana and sees me daily or weekly. You can just skip this post.
My friend Megan does not actually believe that I am pregnant and wants to see proof before she accuses me of having adopted this fourth child. So Meg, this is for you. I am actually pregnant, oh and sorry for all the whining in our phone calls. One day it will be your turn and I promise to be sympathetic. This is the one and only picture posted of my pregnant size so enjoy, and look forward to pictures of the baby soon.
I decided to have Brennen in the picture so you can imagine him playing in between my legs, which he seems to do frequently in public. He has become a bit clingy and shy in public. I keep warning him my balance is not great and I can't see him well but he does not get it. Any way 16 days until our schedules induction.
We as a family try to make December a month full of traditions. One of the first things that we do is decorate a gingerbread house. I think we got this from Les's family because I don't remember ever making one in my family.
We make our gingerbread house a couple weeks before Christmas and the kids pilfer the candy until it looks to sad to stay on the counter. This year we made it a FHE and talked about different prophets who prophesied of Christs birth both in the Bible and the Book of Mormon. We had a great time and pretty good discussion.
We all had the flu besides me during the past week. Thankfully it was the short one and not the long one. I hope to avoid that one. I was super stressed I was going to get it and be in the hospital getting fluids, but so far so good. It is some kind of miracle. Although my doctor did say it might put me into labor, but alas, I am not that lucky. Although I don't think it would be too much fun to have the flu and be in labor.
So, I am not sure whose idea this was (Jayne or Brennen). But wow this is a major compromise, at least I would think so. I actually laughed out loud when I came into the hall way and saw this. I love my creative kids.
Okay so it has been done for a while but I have been feeling lazy, or just really pregnant. I can't figure out which one.
We started this room in July we picked the bedding when we found out it was a girl. Then we chose paint colors. We had to clean it our because it was as storage room prior to a nursery. We painted the bottom then the top. We had to do two coats because the room was an atrocious sky blue before with bugs painted on the walls. We put up the chair rail, caulked, and painted, then touched up everything. I think it turned out quite nicely. And for those who knew me in my anit-pink days, boy have I come along way. I am excited to have this girl and let her like pink. She will probably grow up hating pink because of the colors of her room. But I love it.
The drawers are now filled with clothes, and we are down to last few nessecities to purchase before the baby comes. You know, diapers, baby wash, etc. We are thrilled. Can't wait just a few weeks to go.
Any of you wondering who the extra child is in the picture, it is Ethan, the cute, hand full I watch while his mother drives her bus for the schools.
I love fall in Indiana. Infact, I love every season in Indiana except for winter. During fall their are amazing colors and temperatures. I even love the return of the rainy season, which sometimes brings days of rain and drizzle in a row. To the point where when the sun comes out it is shocking.
Winter is ugly and Brown, similar to Oklahoma. There is very little snow and mostly ice storms, which are much scarier then snow storms. Plus the wind blows and any one who has ever lived in the midwest can empathize with that, no one else. It is dry. I am allready starting to dry out which is a switch when you are used to Humidity.
Spring is amazing the color comes back so lush and green that I can't get enough of being outside. It is truly beautiful.
Summer gets rather warm and humid but for the most part it stays green with out too much trouble. In fact, the only people I know that have built in Sprinkler system are from Utah and most of them put them in not realizing it is really not nssecary 85 percent of the year.
Any way, Happy Thanksgiving ya'll.
I just wanted to officially posts that it finally happened. Jayne got glasses. They are just reading glasses for when she is reading, writing, drawing, coloring, etc. She can wear them more if she likes. She was excited to pick them out and her favorite thing to do is clean them so far.
She understands she needs to wear them while "working". However I am paranoid to send them to school with her for fear of never seeing them again. She does like to take them on and off.
Hopefully these glasses will help prevent her from becoming to near sighted. It was bound to happen with the wonderful genes Les and I have passed on to our children. We will see how it goes.
Jayne also received new bedroom furniture because she was using the changing table. We needed to move that to the babies room. So Jayne got a big girl dresser and mirror. She seems to like it. I love that there are more dressers for her stuff. It is nice to have a dance drawer, along with all her other things.
We are getting closer to having everything ready.
Brennen went with me to the baby store today (babies r us). He was really excited. I think he thought we were going to pick one up while we were there and he was bummed when it was just like every other store with clothes and other boring baby accessories. Oh well. He did have fun washing is hands in the tiny sink in the bathroom.
Brennen turned 3 on November 3rd. He has waited forever for his birthday. He was old enough to remember how fun every one else's birthdays have been, and asked me sometimes days in a row, "Mom, is it my birthday today?" after getting a negative response he would ask, "Is it my birthday this afternoon?" What a cutie.
Well the day finally came. He was so thrilled. Les took the day since he has been gone for so long. We got a lot of errands finished and we also took the kids to Holiday park. It is such a fun park with lots of playground toys to choose from. They even took a short hike to look at the White river.
We had a speed racer party. Brennen loves cars. He is not picky about what kind. Hot wheels, Speed racers, Nascars (Jeff Gordan is his driver, he chose on his own Zak), and talking cars from the movie Cars. We order pizza and bread sticks. We had a wonderful time.
Brennen also chose his cake which was white with sprinkles. He is such a cutie. He is losing that baby look and starting to look like a kid. I am so sad. I knew it was bound to happen but he is still my baby, at least for a couple of months. I often ask him if he will stop growing and he just tells me, "I can't, I am a big boy mom." Happy Birthday Bren.
I thought I would post some pictures of my cute trick or treaters. Les got back from a two week business trip about 2 hours before trick or treating. I was glad to be able to hand out candy rather then walk up and down the street with the kids.
Aren't they cute. I have to admit after dressing Jayne up 4 days on a row for her various activities I was ready for Halloween to be over. I will be glad when she gets into Kindergarten and they can't have a costume party. She dressed up for dance class which was adorable. We also went to the ward Harvest Festival and all the kids dressed up. What a busy week. I am glad that it is over.
So I decided to take a poll because I just can't decide. Les and I (okay mostly me) have been pouring over names for a while. We finally had a family council not too long ago and strictly talked about potential baby names(while carving pumpkins). So here are our top two.
Evie
Alyza or Aliza
I just want to get some opinions and knowing my track record she won't look like either name and well call her Matilda, or Helga, or Ezmeralda or something like unto it.
Jayne has been super sweet. She gives my bulging belly hugs and tells me how excited she is to see and meet her sister. Playing with her with flesh in between is just nor cutting it for Jayne. Although she did ask me if the baby was going to play with Ethan (the little boy I watch for 3 1/2 hours everyday). I had to break the news that once little sister comes we will only see Ethan at church on Sunday. She was crushed but asked if she could still play with the baby. Which ended up being a conversation about how little a baby does for a while. We will see how excited she is after the baby is born. Hopefully the attention from Grandma's on both sides will help distract her for a while. Thanks for being willing to come with the Grand kids for a while Moms.
Wow it is amazing how time flies. We have been in Indiana for two years last Thursday. We went to the Zoo to Celebrate. We even rode the zoo train which we have only done one other time(It only drives by behind the zoo buildings and you see more cars than animals. It had a Halloween theme and stopped several times in Halloween town. The kids loved it. Especially Brennen.
We surely have been blessed. We lucked out when we moved here. There are great schools. Lots of diversity of people. We have an awesome ward. We have made some great friends that I am sure we will be friends with for a long time. Les only has a ten minute commute, and he has shorter hours (most days) then he did when we lived in Utah.
I also feel like it has been good for our family to be reliant on ourselves and gives those ward members someone to help and someone for me to help in my turn.
Don't get me wrong of course we miss our family and friends back home but we do love Indiana and the new experiences we have had.
I still have to google directions to where I am going in this town if it is not a ward members house that I frequent. If not I could be lost in corn fields before I know it. And let me tell you most corn fields look identical. I still have not been to Chicago although I am only two hours away(sad I know). I am hoping maybe next year will be the year. We will see. 
This is about as adventurous of a pumpkin patch I could handle this year. I felt like I could not go on a hayride in a bumpy trailer. So we went down the street to a Methodist church and supported some nice Methodist missionaries by purchasing some pumpkins. By the way I had to take four pictures before everyone was sitting down. 
We carved pumpkins. Thanks to Les. We at least have one person in the family with an ounce of Artistic ability. The kids had a great time however the pumpkins are starting to look a little scary with a week to go until Halloween. Oh well it couldn't be helped.
We are looking forward to still spending some years here unless things change so family and friends you have an open invitation to stop by if you are ever in the neighborhood.
Okay so I am finally going to try to wrap up our trip to Italy that we took in April. Wow how time flies. One of our highlights of going to Rome was that Les had earned an excessive amount of Hilton Honors points form his work in Puerto Rico the past two years. We had an amazing hotel, Hilton Cavaleiri Hotel. We were on the executive floor. Which meant we had an express elevator and an executive lounge that served snacks from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. It was nice to grab a snack before hitting a bakery in the morning, or getting fresh fruit after along day of walking. We stayed at the hotel for 4 nights. It was sort of an ordeal getting to the hotel. We had luggage and the metro was pretty easy to figure out but we had a map quest map to get us from the station. We thought about taking a cab but decided not to. Wow, we should have, it was a long walk up hill and to top it off it was sprinkling. We also had to be adventurous in the route we took because none of the roads went all the way through. Thanks to a wonderful local gal we made it by taking a short cut of sevral large stair cases, at least 100 stairs.
Once we got there and caught our breath, wow is all I can say. It had black out blinds, towel warmers, a double door to block out sound from the hall, and a comfy bed. I slept like a log at this hotel. I am still trying to get Les to install blackout blinds in our room (Ha)!
We tried to break up our days knowing that we had pushed ourselves in Venice and Florence. Our first day we went to the Colosseum and Palatine hill. It was surreal to be at the colloseum. It has been there for so long. Built by Jewish Slaves and we all know about what took place there. I am grateful that I am a woman now and not way back then. That is all I can say. Les had to have a picture although I think we ended up with at 20 pictures in and around the Colosseum.
This is a picture of the back of the Colosseum, obviously, since there are no other tourists in the picture. Rome had a ton of tourists but it was so fun. The streets are much wider then Florence, and the city just seems to be set up better. The metro takes you pretty close to most of the sights, so the walking wasn't quite as excessive as in Florence. The poeple were very friendly, the food again was incredible. There was a freedom in Tibet peace parade and me and Les were seperated for a few scary minutes. Les said go, so I went. Well, he stayed, I had to walk way back up the hill to find him and it wasn't easy. There were people everywhere.
The roman Forum was incredible. We had a "free tour" by an american that had given 1700 tours of Roman Forum. We ended up going on one of his tours later that week. We learned so much. We walked on steps that Julius Ceaser did. Wow can you imagine. So much History. The sights were beautiful too. Rome is much cleaner than Florence. We had no problem with pick pockets although there were a few scary situations. We had to be vigilant and we did talk to other tourists who hadn't been so lucky. We saw the circus Maximus, where chariot races were held and walked through palatine Hill. 
We also saw the arch of Constantine, and tried to see the Pantheon. We did see the outside but it was closed for an Italian Holiday. We went back a few days later to see the inside. We went to the Piazza Navona. There were artists and performers all over the long piazza.
This picture was taken at the Triton fountain in the Piazza Navona. This piazza was crowded but had a fun atmosphere and some of the art work was amazing. I am going to skip talking about our second day for another time but I promise to try soon. On the third day we went to a museum called the Borghese Gallery. We had to have advanced tickets by about two months and it was somewhat inconvenient to get to via mass transit but it was so worth it. This gallery held beautiful , happy, artwork. Most of the art in Italy is somewhat depressing for understandable reasons, but the person who put this private collection together liked happy instead of sad (okay he was slimeball, but wow he had good taste in art). It alsohad one of the most amazing sculptures I've ever seen. Below is a picture of the gallery.
After the gallery we went to the spanish steps. Les was having allergies this day (go figure) with all of the flowers. The Spanish Embassy was being cleaned to it didn't look to grand but this attraction was slammed. Infact, we walked up the back stairs and down the Spanish Steps just so we could say that we did. The back stairs weren't crowded at all.
Okay so here comes my plug for the good old Mc Donalds. I know we are in Italy right, so why eat cheesy American food. Well I will tell you it is all about the bathrooms. The public restrooms are few and far between in Italy. Most of them you have to pay to use. But if you can find a McD's there is always a free somewhat clean restroom to use. At a McD's near the Pantheon I waited about 45 minutes to use the restroom. This may be an overshare but this is also when we found out I was most likely pregnant and boy was I glad I wasn't trying to find a restroom every two hours to use. That would have been a nightmare. So hooray for McDonalds. The food was somewhat close to what they serve hear although I did wait 20 minutes at the register when Les ordered a Mc Ckicken Sandwich. Stick with the burgers people. It is easier on everyone. 
I made Les stand in this picture at the first McD's built in Italy. Near the Spanish Steps in Rome. By the way, It was huge and decorated beautifully for a McD's. We went to the Trevi Fountain on the third day as well, we also went the first day. It was crwoded no matter what time of day. But it was worth looking at . The aquaduct is amazing and although I have heard you can fill your water bottles all over I wasn't brave enought to drink any thing but bottled water.
We finished our third day in Rome with a swim in the pool. Yep, swim caps and all, then we rested for a few hours, and went out for a nice dinner. Well that is all. Sorry that was a long post and I'm not even completely done. But I will finish the trip recap another day. I loved Rome!
