Our new backyard

We just hired our friend, Dave Jensen, who's like a landscape designer, to come and work on our backyard. We were wanting to put in a deck, but he informed us that it would become a good hiding place for all sorts of animals and snakes and such. So we decided to avoid that nightmare and instead had him make a nice patio with paver stones. He also put a little wall around our existing patio where we can plant some flowers (someday) and a step down into the grass. We also had him put in a fire pit, which is our favorite part of the backyard. We've been out there 3 or 4 times already enjoying a fire and of course, s'mores. It turned out really nice and we are so glad that we didn't have to do it ourselves!! Here are some pictures:




This is the kids side of the yard with their
trampoline and rickety old swingset. That's
Garrett's hammock, but I think they play on it
more than he has a chance to lay on it.


This is where our trailer is usually parked.
Some people in our ward were renting it for a
few days.

Bella's Progress

Bella is gaining weight! Yay! I've been alternating between nursing and bottle feeding with formula and she has been putting on the ounces. When I took her in last Friday, she was up to 9 lbs. (8 lbs. 9 oz. previously). On Monday when she was weighed, she was 9 lbs. 1 oz. So, slowly she is gaining some weight back. The hematologist actually told me to stop giving her the iron supplements because the iron from the formula was plenty. They took her blood again to monitor the anemia and she's still at the same level, but we're going to have it checked again before we leave to make sure everything's okay. So now we just wait....I'm also supposed to take her to a pediatric gastrointerologist to see if she has acid reflux because she spits up like crazy. But I can't get into see them until we get back from London. So I guess we just deal with it for awhile. She has her two month check up on Monday so she'll be weighed again then. We'll let you know how she's growing!!!

London, Here we come!

Well, it's official. In case any of you haven't heard, we're going to be living in London for 7 weeks for Garrett's work. We're leaving on July 16th which is less than 3 weeks away. We've been busy getting passports for the girls this past week. It has been really expensive (about $800), since we had to expedite them to make sure we get them before we leave. Wow! Good thing Garrett and I already had ours. So, we'll actually be living in a town called Swindon which is a couple of hours away from London, but where the Intel offices are located. The people over there are working to find us a car and an apartment that will be big enough for the six of us.
Hopefully we'll be able to make due for seven weeks, although I'm not sure what me and the girls will be doing to fill our days. We'll have to take lots of walks or bring lots of movies. Either one I guess. Packing scares me because I have no idea what to bring. Clothes wise because I'm not sure about the weather and also about things for the girls to do. Luggage is limited since they've started making you pay for your second bags. I guess I'll get it figured out.

It should be really neat though. My brother informs me that Oxford is really close to us and we definitely should check that out (He served his mission here and his wife is from England--a place called Bournmouth I believe. Let me know if I got that right Solviej!) I've also been told that Stonehenge is pretty close as well which we'll definitely go visit.
All in all, we're pretty excited. Maggie's a little apprehensive and Lydia is all for a new adventure. Paige has no clue what's going on. She'll be happy as long as there are some barbies to play with and some movies to watch. :) I think it will be neat for them, just kind of wish they were a little older so they could remember and appreciate it more. Garrett is very excited about visiting Scotland and Ireland and checking out his roots. He's been trying to work on some genealogy before we go so he can know where to go in Scotland and figure out what clan he's from and so on. He's like a little kid in a candy store--he's really that excited. He has big plans for all the sightseeing he wants us to do. I just don't know when we'll do it all. Weekends I guess. We'll also have that last week strictly for vacation and sightseeing, so we'll see what we can squeeze in!

Sweet Bella

We recently found out after making a trip to a specialized children's hospital's ER that Bella is anemic due to an iron deficiency. We've had to give her iron supplements which has kind of upset her tummy, but not too bad. Bella's doctor has been worried about this anemia and also worried that Bella has not been gaining enough weight. She thinks they might be connected. So she had me come in today so that Bella could be weighed. It turns out that Bella's losing weight. At her last appointment (which was about two weeks ago) she weighed 8 lbs. 12 oz. Today when I took her in she weighed 8 lbs 9 oz. Keep in mind that she weighed 8 lbs. 10 oz. when she was born. She's now 7 weeks old. When the other girls were this age they weighed between 10 and 12 lbs. So now we're all pretty worried. The doctor is having me supplement with formula. Just in the last few days I've been thinking that my milk supply is diminishing. I don't always feel that "let down" and it doesn't seem like Bella's been really satisfied after eating. So I'm thinking about just switching to formula for good. We'll see. I haven't decided yet. I'm supposed to be monitoring her eating and her "diaper activity" for the next few days and then take her in to be weighed again on Friday and then on Monday. Hopefully this formula will help and she'll start to beef up. I'm also supposed to get an appointment with a pediatric hematologist so see about her anemia. Poor little Bella. She's such a cutie though. She's starting to smile a lot more now and it's adorable!!

2 White Dresses

We blessed Bella on June 1st, and Garrett gave a really nice blessing, as usual. It's so neat that he holds the priesthood and can do these things for our children. I haven't really taken a good picture of Bella in her blessing dress because when we got home from church, she was starving and therefore not in a mood to cooperate. I keep intending to put her dress on again and take some more pictures, but haven't done it yet. I'll post some of the originals, though.

Maggie's baptism was on June 7, 2008. She was able to get baptized on the same day as her good friend Jessie Spencer. Maggie was actually quite nervous, but she did just fine and really enjoyed the baptism. Afterwards, the Spencers invited us over to their house for dinner and the kids were able to play. Since Maggie's 8 now, she's also able to go to Activity Day girls twice a month. She has only been one time though, but absolutely loved it. I think she'll have a really fun time hanging out with the older girls and getting to be a part of the activities.

Preschool Graduations

This was Paige's preschool graduation. There are only 7 kids in her preschool, since it's a co-op with other parents. So her graduation was held at one of the parent's house. We had lunch and a little ceremony and cake after. Short and sweet. Paige loved preschool this year, but next year I'm putting her in the school that Lydia went to. I think being in a real classroom with real teachers will be a good experience for her.

So this was Lydia's Graduation from her preschool. She's now a big kindergartner! Their theme for the graduation was ducks, because one of the songs they sang was "Be Kind to your Web-Footed Friends." It was pretty cute. Unfortunately, I didn't get that song on video, but I'll put another one on. They sang songs, received their diplomas and ate cake! It was also short and sweet. She's really excited to go to kindergarten now and keeps asking when it's going to start.

Maggie's 8th Birthday

So, I thought I would go back a little and post some pictures of Maggie's Luau Birthday. This is my first attempt at blogging, so I hope everything works. Maggie's birthday was fun--she invited 7 friends over for a luau slumber party. All 7 showed up, but luckily only 3 stayed for the sleepover. It was a lot of fun--a little crazy, but I think they all had a good time.

Here are some of the girls competing in a relay race.

Grandma Hansen and her hula girls.

Us before the party.

Here are all her friends doing their best hula pose.

The cake.

Boy, I wish we were in Hawaii!

Here's a video of the girls learning to do some hula moves at the party. We rented a video from the library that taught two dances. The girls learned one dance and wanted to move onto something else.

This is a video of Paige's version of hula dancing. It's pretty darn cute!