Update

Can you believe that my brain wouldn't shut off tonight? Even when JJ is sleeping, which means I could be sleeping. Ridiculous!

Well, we've all been quite sick at our little home. Jakob is currently the sickest. He has some type of flu. Poor Guy! Otherwise, the rest of us just have a really bad cold... So that's that update.

Life has continued though. I did have to take one day off and I read a whole book in one day. That was nice. The next day I took on a HUGE project. I had Leif bring up all of the clothes that we have in storage boxes for different sizes and seasons. I went through everything and got rid of a giant pile of clothes. I also organized everything and took an inventory of what we have and what we need. Turns out we are missing all of the size 2T tops.

Baby Calling. Hope you enjoyed the short update.;)

SICK!

Dang Colds!

From sick

A Few Deep Thoughts

It's one of those nights. Part of me actually enjoys these moments, and the rest of me just wants to sleep. JJ feels the need to be held as he falls into a deeper sleep tonight. So instead of vegging in front of the computer and surfing the Internet. I tied JJ onto me with one of the wraps that my dear friend Harmony made me, and I am FINALLY blogging... Now, what to blog about?

I have so many thoughts and stories that come throughout the day and I tell myself to remember to blog about them. But I rarely do. I'm So ready for bed these days. Part of me has avoided writing my thoughts down lately. Some of them are deep and personal. I know, you're thinking "well that hasn't stopped you before..." And you're right.

When JJ was a month old or so, I started having my familiar reoccurring dreams again. I dream that I have a baby that I need to feed and care for and I can't get to it. This round of dreams the baby was a little girl and I had always left her with someone or some place and then I couldn't get back to her for some reason. The thing that was different with these dreams from others that I've had is that the baby never died in these recent dreams.

Now, I know you're probably thinking, "uhh, yeah Lena, your brain is just processing the baby that you have now." The thing is, that's not who the dreams are about. And I don't think they're about my girls this time either. I think my heart is sad and processing the fact that JJ will most likely, almost positively, be our last baby that I give birth to. Can you tell that this is a hard thing for me to finalize? Watching JJ grow so quickly and watching Leif and the boys interact with him, not to mention how much I love having a baby, it makes it VERY hard to say that I'm done.

I went to my 6 week post partum appointment and the Dr. agreed that it is probably best if I don't have any more. That coming from a man who's wife has given birth to at least 9 children. But my body has never done pregnancy well. It's a very sad truth.

Which leads me to a different thought... Adoption. Up until recently I didn't think that I would ever really be open to adoption in the future. But I've come to the conclusion that I probably will if the opportunity is given. I would hope for a little girl, straight from the hospital so that I could bond with her from the very beginning of her life. I wonder if that is part of my dreams too. My mind and heart processing the possibility that my future babies will come from someone else... It's been on my mind enough to make it into my dreams... interesting thought.

And finally, the other personal dilemma that I'm struggling with is lack of exercise and ridiculous weight fluctuations. It's driving me crazy! One week one set of clothes will fit, the next I can't button them up. I'm getting tired of it.

So those are some of my deeper ponderings throughout my days. However, for the most part I'm just enjoying and taking care of the moment. Changing lots of diapers, loving the smiles and coos from JJ, the new words from Caleb, school adventures with Jakob, and a few quiet moments with Leif. So, truthfully, at the end of the day Life is Still Good!

Priceless Smiles!

From JJ Smiles

From JJ Smiles

From JJ Smiles

A Fabulous Weekend!

I know the saying goes, "Home is where the heart is",but sometimes, it's so nice to enjoy the luxuries of a Fine and Fancy House!

Leif and I (and baby JJ) ran away for a couple of nights this weekend. We went to the Henley Manor in Cedar City. Turns out that it was a beautiful home that we had all to ourselves. Our room had a wonderful double jacuzzi tub. Our bedroom was decorated in a Shakespearean theme with a beautiful soft king sized bed. Downstairs (a fabulous winding staircase) they had a sitting room and a large kitchen. Technically there were three more rooms in that unit but none were in use. Ahhh, the serenity!!!

We ate A LOT of delicious food and chocolate, read Suzanne Collin's "Catching Fire", relaxed, among other things.;) ... So Heavenly!

May You Find Hope!

Family Prayer Rug (Knotted Shag Rug) FINISHED!

From knotted Shag Rug

I am thrilled to let you all know that IT IS FINISHED! I finally finished our Family Prayer Rug. My sweet Jakob is by far the sweetest about this rug. For some reason he has taken a particular interest in it and has encouraged me all along to get it finished. When I laid it out on the floor his first reaction was to curl up on it and sing praises to me. The sweetheart even announced that I had finished it to my in-laws yesterday as we ate dinner.

Have we used it as a soft place to gather and pray? Yes, we actually have and I LOVE it!

If you click HERE you will find the main posts about my rug. I ended up really enjoying this hobby. I'm already looking forward to starting my next rug.

This is a picture of the first loom that Leif made for me to make the string of knots.

From knotted Shag Rug

This is a picture of the loom that he made for me to weave the string of knots and sew them together to make the rug.

From knotted Shag Rug

What secrets did I learn?

• Cut ALL of your material first so that you have an even flow of colors.


• Don't cut the strips too wide or too long, about as wide and long as your finger is good.


• Make the continuous strip of knots before you start sewing it together.


• Sew it together as secure as you're willing. Small stitches will last the very longest. However, large stitches work too.


• Cut the backing the exact size of the rug without stretching the rug.

My Sister Has A Gift: Knitting (JJ's Blanket)

STUNNING! I love that word. It describes my sisters handiwork so well. Last year she knit my boys sweaters, a hat, and gloves. They were stunning. You know, like you open the package and just stare because you've been given something beautiful. Something you could never afford to buy. And it is homemade - Stunning! Well, she's done it again. She made JJ a blanket and yep, it's STUNNING!

Take a look! Thanks Sis, we LOVE it!!

From Heathers Blanket

From Heathers Blanket

JJ Lee's Baby Blessing

From JJ Lee's Blessing Photos

We had a hard time choosing JJ's name. As members of the LDS faith, when our babies are newborns they are officially given a name and a blessing by one who holds the priesthood (usually their father or grandfather.) We chose JJ's name but we were still unsure how we felt about it up until JJ's blessing day. I told Leif that he could give JJ a different name if he felt inspired to do so while giving him the blessing. I thought he just might do that. But it turns out that Jonathan Jefferson Lee Baron is his official name. He is named after Jonathan in the bible, our good doctor Jonathan Bowman, Thomas Jefferson, and my father Warren Lee Hunt. And we call him JJ. However, Leif occasionally calls him Jeffery and we have been known to call him JJ Lee. So this little one has MANY names. The rest of his blessing was beautiful. I will give more details about it on his personal blog.

Leif's mother made JJ's blessing gown and booties. It turned out perfect!! I was blessed in a crocheted dress and I always wanted one of my kids blessed in a crocheted gown. I knew that I would never be able to choose a pretty white dress again for any of my kids, so I decided a gown for their blessing was just fine.

My parents came down for the blessing as well as my aunt Joann. We all had a yummy lunch together after church and enjoyed each others company.

Don't You Love It When..

• You lay you're kid's down for the night and you can hear them giggling together and whooshing their planes through the air behind the closed door? Really, I do!
• Your kindergartner willingly does his homework? LOVE IT!
• You find a moment to sit on the couch and read The Magic Tree house with the little ones? Priceless!
• Your hubby comes home after a long day and you snuggle in bed together, update, read a book, and snuggle some more. Sappy, but Lovely!
• You finish a project that has taken you FOREVER to finish! Gotta Love It!

Yep! I Love it when they happen!

A Tradition While Pregnant

I wrote this a couple of nights ago and wanted to post it now.

I am up with Little One here. Love those moments! Well, I try to anyway!;) I'm finally feeling more clear headed and stronger. Don't quote me on that. But I am grateful for the moment. I've had a subject floating through my mind for a while that I wanted to write about. So here it is.
It turns out that with each pregnancy I have read a series of books, or Leif has read them out loud to me. With Jakob, Leif read the Chronicles of Narnia to me. With the twins, I read MANY Anita Stansfield's. With Caleb, I read Prelude to Glory. And with JJ, Leif has read FableHaven to me.

I wonder if the themes of the books seep into the kids like music does when your pregnant? No, I'm just kidding. But some of them would make sense. However, if that were completely the case, I should have read Prelude to Glory with Jakob since he loves the military so much. Anita Stansfield's books literally saved me from having to pay a therapist to get me through the loss of my twins. I was lead through her books as I needed them. It was pretty neat!
Anyway, now I have a record of what I read. I sure am grateful for gifted authors!!

Thanks Everyone! Doing Better!

Just wanted to send you a thanks for your wisdom and encouragement. No Worries! We're not making any major changes in the near future. We'll just keep keeping on!

The American Dream - No Longer In Our Control

What ever happened to just setting down roots in a random plot of land, cutting down the trees from that land, building a house using those trees, and calling it yours. What about growing your own food and the food for your animals? And being able to make ends meet, maybe just barely. But you make it work. That is completely impossible today. WHY?!

I could go on about what has changed to make this all come about. But this actually isn't my center point. My point is actually that Leif and I have a serious case of "Schoolitis." We are ready to just set down some deep roots and make things work. Unfortunately, we have two different visions that contend with each other on a regular basis. One vision is continuing on through school until Leif has a Nurse Anesthetist degree so he can make A Lot of money and we can live well and travel the world. The other vision is of our little family living on a plot of nice land, building a cute cottage to live modestly in, setting up a little farm filled with miniature animals, and a cabin or two to rent out, and living off of the meager income that stems from that.

The Problem? Money! EVERYTHING takes money today. A LOT of money. You also have to "Qualify" for everything these days. The big guys (aka The Government) have to give you permission to accomplish your dreams and live on your own. Right now, they are content to let us live off of them. Though we appreciate their assistance at the moment. When we stop to take an overall look at what's happening, we actually feel like we've fallen into a spiders web that is slowly entangling us until we are wound up so tight in it's grasp our escape is hopeless. There's So Much Debt!

Is this how it's supposed to be? Why can't we just go out somewhere in the middle of nowhere and cut down a few trees? Oh yeah, someone already owns those trees and the dirt we want to build on... How did this happen?

And how do we get out? Continue on for a while longer I guess? Any other suggestions?