It's a Boy!

So, I woke up Friday morning feeling some contractions going on.  I wondered if they were intense Braxton Hick's contractions, but after feeling their intensity and having a consistant frequency and duration that I could track, I called my doctor to see what was up.  She had me come in, checked me and said that I was definitely in the early stages of labor.

Long story short, she sent me to the hospital, I called Scott to come and join me, luckily I had already dropped the kids off, and at 2:10pm I had our little baby boy.  He is 2 1/2 weeks early, 6 lb 5 oz and 19 inches long.  His hair is on the darker side, so we aren't sure what color it will be.  I still can't believe he is here, but we are blessed and he is wonderful!  Eliza and Heber have been very excited, too.

Proud Papa

Happy Mommy

Eliza, Heber, me and Gideon

Big sister Eliza and Gideon

"I have a baby"  Heber and Gideon

Daddy and kids

The siblings!

Blessings in Disguise

So, today is the first time I have been in a car accident.  Before you worry too much, yes, I am okay and so are the kids.  And yes, the other driver is okay too.  Long story short, I was making a left hand turn and wanted to get to the median before entering the other side of traffic.  I saw that there was one car who had their blinker on to turn right and assumed everything was clear.  Somehow I missed the other car that was in the inner lane so as I started to turn into the median, I saw the car coming at me.  He slammed his breaks, I pushed the gas to try and get out of the way without throwing myself into the other traffic.  I thought we were in the clear, but I was wrong.  I felt the tap as he hit my back left bumper and I saw that his front left bumper was crunched.  After filling out and accident report and me getting my first ticket (yeah, lots of firsts) we parted ways.  Luckily we were both okay and he was very friendly and helpful at the same time.  I, of course, apologized constantly, and in my head I was grateful that we were all okay.

So, I got to thinking and realized that I had a prompting to bypass this section of the road and instead of taking this shortcut, to head out to the main intersection.  If I had listened, accident avoided.  But, because I didn't listen, well, let's just say I learned my lesson.  Despite the bit of damage and the accident and the ticket, we are all okay and I have most definitely learned my lesson.

We came home for lunch and I said the prayer and thanked Heavenly Father for keeping us safe.  Eliza asked why I did that and so I explained to her that we should give thanks for everything.  This crazy situation turned out to be a good teaching lesson for my kids as well as a lesson on heeding the promptings of the Spirit.  My blessing in disguise.

More from the Natter Family Reunion

I am so sad that we had to come home already, but we had a wonderful time visiting with Grandma and Grandpa and the whole family.  The kids absolutely had a blast and of course, they were not happy to leave either.  Who ever is happy to leave Grandma and Grandpa's?  So, here are some remaining pictures from our trip.  We got to go to Northwest Trek, which is a wildlife preserve and ride a tram through the park.  We rode right through a herd of American Bison.  Pretty sweet!  We also got to enjoy a scenic train ride near Mt. Rainier.  Beautiful!  Also, there was a day where us adults go to take a break from the kids and go mini golfing.  Sadly, I don't have any pictures of that.  Either way, enjoy the pics!

Caribou

Big Horned Sheep

American Bison

Gooo  Cougars!  Yeah, I miss BYU

Fisher

Scott, Heber, Grandpa and Eliza watching the beaver swim

Heber and Scott with a cross section of a tree.
The center plaque says it's life began in the 1300's, before the Renaissance.

The Cousins: Aliyah, Rylie, Eliza, Heber and Jackson

Riding the train.  The kids loved being able to run around.

Our Family

Mt. Rainier

Eliza, Jackson, Heber, Aliyah, and Rylie

Natter Family Reunion

Well, we made it to Washington for the family reunion. Luckily, I was able to make it. It has been a lot of fun so far with everything from a wedding to going to the beach. Here are some pictures just to keep you happy. More to come later.

Heber asleep on Uncle Michael

Eliza the flower girl

Eliza, Kate, and Heber

Cousin Jackson trying to get the food

The Wedding Cake - flowers by Scott

Uncle Danny and Aunt Marina and the Best Man, Curran

Dad dancing with Heber

Eliza dancing with Daddy

Cousin Aliyah and Heber playing in the sand

Natter Family at the beach

Heber and Uncle Michael

Heber and Great Grandma Hendricks

 

Cousins Jackson, Aliyah and Rylie

Catching Up - May through July

Okay, so I realized that my latest post was Mother's Day and it is now past the 4th of July and I have not updated anything yet.  Sorry!  So, here is my quick attempt to catch everyone up.

May

One of the gals in our ward asked us to make the boutonniere for her date to Prom.  Since Scott has been so busy, that meant I got to put it together.  I actually made two to give to her: one was a full rose and the other was a rose bud I created with some rose petals.  I think I did pretty well.

Scott and I celebrated our 5th Wedding Anniversary.  I still can't believe five years have gone by.  We went out to dinner the night before and then went geocaching on our anniversary.  That was fun.

Heber went on his first camp out with Scott for the Father/Son stake camp out.  The two of them had a lot of fun and Heber did really well.

  

We also got to celebrate Eliza's birthday and she really liked her cake, although I wish it would have turned out better.  For some reason I just can't get frosting to cooperate with me.  Maybe I need to take a class...

June

We took a family camp out to Governor Dodge in Wisconsin. Beautiful! We all really enjoyed the trip, until we had to go to sleep. Yeah, we had to cram all four of us into a three man tent. You would think it would have been okay, but combine four bodies, the youngest one constantly squirming around in his sleep, 90 degree heat at night, and no ground padding. Up, you guessed it. Not a good nights sleep. Next time we go camping, it will be with either two separate tents or one big tent with three rooms or something along those lines. And, I guess being five months pregnant doesn't help much either. Still, I loved the trip!

Walking with Daddy on the Steven's Falls trail

Top of Steven's Falls

Eliza, Heber and Scott next to the falls

Erin and Eliza.  So nice and cool!

Our "Hansel and Gretel"



Standing inside the spring house



Can you tell I'm pregnant? :)

The Spring House

We also said good-bye to Aaron and Kate.  They moved to Arizona for Kate's residency.  Yes, we miss them.  It even took Eliza a few days to realize that Aaron's dog, Akela, was gone and not coming back.  Eliza misses them.  We all miss them.  Though, I will admit, it has been nice to turn extra room into a play room for the kids.  We miss you Aaron and Kate!

Aaron, Heber, Kate, and Eliza.  We miss you!

Scott got to go on a high adventure trip with the Venture Scouts in our ward to Boundary Waters.  It's at the border of Canada and the US up in Minnesota hence the name Boundary Waters.  He absolutely loved the week away from any form of technology - meaning no one could contact him from work.

Scott cliff jumping

The fisherman



Calm waters at camp



The boys!

The kids have also had some fun this month playing in the sprinkler after I'm done watering the garden.  Eliza has even had the chance to go jet skiing with Scott on Long Lake with a family from our ward.  I'm so jealous of that! 

 

Scott had his birthday so we celebrated that at the end of the month.  Happy Birthday Scott!

Is that pie on fire?

July

Happy Fourth!  Wish I had pictures of us out on the lake at night watching the fireworks, but I didn't bring my camera so missed opportunity.  The only pictures I have to show for the Fourth is Heber eating the beater of cookie dough.  We made cookies while Scott and Eliza went jet skiing.  Heber's hair is getting pretty long.  I keep thinking I should cut it, but I can't get myself to cut off those cute curls.  Maybe I'll give in at some point...when he's two?  What do you think?

Helping with the corn

Hee hee hee!

Yummy!