She shoots and...

She scores!!!

A shout out to Sabrina and the Blue Dolphins for winning 2nd place in the 2007 Idaho Rush Select Fall Classic! [I was just so pleased that I actually caught this goal on video! The boys didn't come to the game (naptime), so at least they got the highlight film.]

Let him eat cake...

I am so pleased with how cute Hyrum's cake turned out!
I got the idea for a train cake from Family Fun magazine online.

One yellow cake mix filled up 6 mini loaf pans. I made cream cheese frosting and used a lot of food coloring to get the vibrant colors for each of the train cars. I was going for "The Little Engine that Could" and filled the cars with good things for the children on the other side of the mountain to eat. (i.e. pumpkins, swedish fish, buttered popcorn, hershey's kisses) The coal was licorice nibs and the caboose had gummy bears on the lookout. The wheels were mini oreos. The cuplings were made out of strawberry twizzlers.

(after seeing the cake Lindsay made for Sawyer, I decided I could also make a cake for my 1 year old)

Happy Birthday Hyrum!

I think on the one year anniversary of Hyrum's birth, I should publish in my blog the story of his birth. Both Ryan and I typed up a version shortly after his birth, however since our computer crash in January 07, I don't have mine anymore. If you were one of the lucky people who I emailed my version to and still have it will you please send it back to me? For now, the blog will just have Ryan's version:

It was one of those "this only happens in the movies" moments when I actually got pulled over on the way to the hospital. A little background: I've never had a speeding ticket--never. I've been pulled over for speeding maybe 5 times including this one, and every time I've gotten off with only a warning. I'd never been pulled over in Boise before this time. I'm almost always pretty conscientious about only going the speed limit, or at least not greater than the average car in the vicinity. I say this just to point out the irony of the timing of being pulled over under these circumstances.

It took a lot longer to get out of the door and on the way to the hospital than it should have, but until the last moment we didn't think it mattered very much--we figured that we had many hours of labor left, just as we'd had with our other children. But as we were finally getting out of the house, Malauna gave me unmistakable signs that she had definitely already finished the first stage of labor! She had moved into stage two--she felt like pushing, and she didn't think she could make it (and that we couldn't make it to the hospital)! I said a verbal prayer and told her that we were going to make it.

We got out of the door and onto the road with only one contraction slowing us down--getting her into the car had been a huge challenge. We got on the freeway, and then I was finally starting to feel like we'd make it to the hospital with 100% certainty (whereas for the past 15 minutes it had been me saying that we could, but not really being sure). But then there were a couple of loud contractions; that is Malauna was being loud, and complaining of cramps. So I was trying to rub them. This naturally gave me a little less attention to pay to the speedometer (and I'd forgotten to put on the Cruise Control--don't know why on that one. You know how they say you shouldn't talk on the cell phone and drive--well you probably shouldn't be the labor coach and drive, either).

Then, out of the blue, while finishing her strongest contraction yet, Malauna blurted out, "there's a cop and you're speeding". Half to myself I said, "No I'm not", but then looking down, oops. I was going around 80 in the 65 zone. The highway patrolman didn't pull us over for at least a mile of catching up to and then following me; and I'd reduced my speed as soon as Malauna said it and so I again thought we were fine. But no--just before we'd be leaving the freeway, he pulled the switch and his rotating lights beamed down on us. The idea of just continuing on was there in my mind, as the predicament seemed pretty severe. But I imagined that the results of that could be much worse than even a mini-van birth, so I quickly began to decelerate and pull to the shoulder.

It seemed like it was taking the officer forever to come up to the car, so I opened my window and was calling back: "Excuse me, my wife's in 2nd stage labor and we've got to get to the hospital quickly--please hurry!" I don't know if he heard, or maybe he didn't fully hear and just thought I was drunk or something. Because it was maybe another whole minute of an arduous 60 seconds or more before he finally came and shined the light in on Malauna's side. So I was fumbling to try to roll down that window too, when Malauna got it, which instantly annoyed me because it was cold. I started right in to explaining to him as coherently as possible. I handed him my license which I already had out before he asked; yet he also wanted the registration and insurance (I was hoping he'd forgo those). I fished that out, and Malauna was heading back into an even stronger contraction, so she started a crescendo of moaning. This added a lot of credibility to the story that I was blurting to him about not noticing that I was going that fast because she was really needing to get to the hospital. I think he didn't want to have to try to help with the delivery, because at that point he let us go right away. But there was no escort--although a lot of people thought that's what should have happened. Maybe that's really just in the movies? Anyway, at the time I didn't think of it. I didn't even take the time to put away my license--just dropped them and safely merged back onto the freeway.

Once we finally got there, it was a very large challenge getting her into the hospital all of the same--getting out of the car took another 2 contractions, and then there was a 30 yard walk (at a snails pace), owing to construction and relocation of the entrance to the labor and delivery center. This required many more progress-freezing contractions. And even then it was still a race against time for the nurses to get her situated. Malauna was fully dilated, as we could have guessed had we tried. The nurses seemed like they didn't want it to happen yet, but they also seemed competent and strangely reassuring--they didn't give me additional reasons to worry. And then her water broke and the whole miracle began in earnest--15 minutes before the mid-wife even arrived.

Once the adrenaline had ended and our beautiful boy was safe in our arms and screaming heartily, Malauna signed the Hospital admission forms and they put their tags on us. I found my drivers license underneath my seat the next day.

Family Home Evening

Conducting: Mom
Welcome to Family Home Evening!: Roderic
Opening Song: "Follow the Prophet" lead by Dad
Prayer: Roderic (said the the quietest whisper)
Talent: Sabrina (played "Musette" by J.S. Bach on the violin with awesome dynamics)
Lesson: Hyrum with Dad's help (October First Presidency Message by President Monson about examples: John the Baptist (humility), Noah (obedience), Abraham (faith), Nephi (obedience and determination), Joseph Smith (courage), President Hinckley (optimism), and Jesus Christ (the Exemplar).)
Activity: Take a walk to Grand Forest Dr. and have pictures taken in the leaves as a family. (The trees and leaves were awesome color, but unfortunately, the clouds were blocking the setting sun so we don't have the golden light to go with.)



Treat: Roderic (ice cream sandwich made with graham crackers)

Science in the Kitchen

Sabrina came home with a science project on 10/8, due on 10/15. She needed to come up with an experiment that she could do following the scientific process. The question she came up with was, "Why do we need yeast in bread?" So, Sabrina mixed up 2 batches of bread dough - one with no yeast and one with yeast (originally we were thinking of doing another batch with double the yeast, but we ran out of time).

More Amazing Music

My mom sings with Mountain Jubilee Chorus, a Sweet Adelines Chorus from Salt Lake City. This week, they are performing in an international competition in Calgary. You can see the competition on a webcam here.

I really enjoy barbershop music. Watching this competition has made me want to sing in a barbershop chorus here. (I'm a member of KMMS, a quartet with my sisters, but we don't perform much anymore.) Unfortunately, the chorus in Boise, Treasure Valley Showtime Chorus, only practices on Monday nights and that is when we have Family Home Evening.

Amazing Music

Did you watch the General Relief Society Meeting Broadcast on Saturday night? If not, you're in luck because the audio is now available online at www.lds.org on the broadcast page.

I don't usually rave about women's choruses, however this chorus of Relief Society sisters from South Jordan, Utah had some amazing arrangements. They sang a most uplifting arrangement of "Hark, All Ye Nations" that gave me goose bumps. Click on the link above, select the English 16k audio stream and then fast forward to minute mark 24:58 to listen to that song. I enjoyed it so much. Then, when you're done with that song, fast forward to 1:13:48 and listen to a wonderful arrangement of "The Lord is my Light." Enjoy!