Disneyland.....or Bust?

So I decided (very spontaneously) that we should take a trip to Disneyland. The kids had a couple days off from school and my sister, Koriann was taking her family, so we decided to join them, last minute. Little did any of us know what adventures lay ahead: First stop: St. George. We stayed at Mom and Papa's house on the way down and Joel and Kally's house on the way back. My parents have a golf course in their back yard and my dad always takes the grandkids out to go look for stray golfballs. Here is a picture of Maddie and Amber on some cool looking bridge by the golf course.

My sweet Mom holding my sweet baby!


We had some good guitar hero goin' on....

My sister Val on vocals.
My brother, Joel on guitar.

My sister Koriann on drums and Kody helping out!


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Our hotel was right across the street from Disneyland and was within walking distance. We really loved how conveniently located it was, which ended up being a really good thing because of the need to run back to the hotel periodically and change clothes. Of all the days at Disney, what you see in this picture was as good as it got when it came to the rain. Every hour and day after this, got wetter and soggier!

Here are the kids in front of the big 'Mickey Mouse' made of flowers just as you walk into the park.  Little did we know that of all our vacation days, this day was the mildest!

Jaden was in heaven just outside the Star Wars ride...


The lines were so great! Because of all the rain, we didn't have to wait longer than just a few minutes for each ride. That was a total plus!

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My baby all safe from the rain!

Me and Maddie playing in makeup at the Sephora store in Downtown Disney.


Jaden and his cousin, Bridger flirting with the ladies!

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Brikenna, Brooklyn and Maddie hanging out in Downtown Disney.


If you look closely, you can see Amber but because of the SUNSHINE that decided to peek through (hooray!) she is a shadow! She is in front of California Screamin' rollercoaster. She was so terrified of going on this but she did it! Again and again....!

Look at my sweet baby! His first time meeting Mickey Mouse!

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And then the rains came down. We tried waiting out the rainstorm but there was no waiting about it. It was relentless and before long, it was coming down in torrents!





So we headed back to the hotel to paint our fingernails....

...and to dry off....


The trip had many good points and many bad. Colton and Matt both got sick and threw up. Amber lost all her spending money in Disneyland, they closed down both parks EARLY each day because of the rain so we missed out on parades and fireworks, Universal Studios was cancelled altogether and I received a speeding ticket! Whoopsie!
But because of the rain, Anaheim and Las Angeles had nothing but flood warnings, mudslide warnings, tornadoes touching down, evacuations, and theme parks closing so we found some indoor fun to end our trip! We played arcades, lasertag and bowling! Looking back on these pictures, all you can do is laugh! It ended up being a crazy trip, but still worth going.

Rendon's Baby Blessing

Here you are, our sweet little Miracle baby on your blessing day. You are wearing the same tuxedo your big brother, Jaden did!

This blessing blanket was sent to you by your Grandma and Grandpa Brown who are serving a mission currently in Argentina. This will always be a very special blanket. In fact Rendon, you are so happy about your Argentinian blanket, you are shouting a really loud, "Thank you Grandma and Grandpa!"...I wonder if they can hear you all the way in Argentina?!

Here you are with your tux and tails. The blessing shoes we had for you were way too big so we didn't have you wear any.

Our friends, the Searles. Jocelyn (who's holding you), Brandon, Sara, Sheri and Jimmy.

Dan and Heather Doney and their two girls, Brooklyn and Lindsey.

....and the Doney boys, Zane and Gavin. Look how handsome!

Here's your sister holding you and chatting with aunt Trisha and your cousins: Hannah, Kim, Lindsey and Lisa.

We had yummy food and were surrounded by great friends and family! Notice Uncle Mike (Tiff's husband) in the background checking out the construction. This is not the only picture I have of him looking at the construction. Funny!

Enjoying their food and being gracious because our new home addition is obviously not complete! Aunt Tracy, Seth, Nate, Braiden and Uncle Mike.

Your cousins Kenna and Allie.


Aunt Trisha and Mom.

Aunt Tracy loves you!


Our good friends, Trent, Robyn and Tanner Tuckett.


Mom's friends, Heather and Robyn.

Mommy, Aunt Tracy, Uncle Ben, Aunt Tiffy and Aunt Guppy. Today was a very special day, Rendon! You are very much loved by all those that came to support you, and all the others that couldn't be here physically, but were here in spirit.

New Years Party!

We had Tracy and Guppy's family over for a New Years Eve party....here's the whole gang.

Before midnight here's a bunch of us playing heck! Too bad mindy was manning the camera, she was the one winning everybody!

Maddie and Lindsey hanging out...waiting to blow their horns at midnight.

Jaden and Seth being goofy as always! Whenever the camera is around, there is no normal posing for these guys....

John, Andrew, Tracy, Nate, Jaden and Seth. Andy, I think your dad is trying to tell you that you are getting pretty hefty!

Brielle, Maddie, Kenna, Allie and Mindy. I had to retake these pics a zillion times- they all wanted the perfect angle taken!

Tracy, Guppy and Me. Is this night over yet?

And finally, after we blew our horns and screamed and hugged and kissed and then sang karaoke for the next hour...we called it a night. Here is Jaden konked out right where he was.

Kenna, Lindsey and Maddie fell asleep quickly as well. Whew! What a night. Happy 2010!

Christmas Eve Party

Rendon's first time meeting Santa Clause! He fell right asleep to prove to Santa what a good kid he is!


Jaden telling Santa he would like a Wii.

Maddie telling Santa she would like an ipod.

Jaden entertaining Aiden with the train around the tree.


All the girlies hanging out. Jordan, Lindsey, Maddie, Lisa Kim, Amber and Megan.

Time to eat!


The ladies. Shereen, Debbie, Trisha.


Auntie Shereen holding Rendon.

And here's Maddie, Jaden and Rendon with their Christmas Eve Jammies. Time to go to bed! Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Winter Dance Recital

Maddie had her last dance recital of the year last week. As always, she did a fantastic job up on stage!

Aunt Pam was in town for a few days and was able to make the recital with us.
In fact, she was the one who did Maddie's hair and makeup for the night...hence the reason Maddie "sparkles"!

Here is Maddie with her cousin, Allie who is also on her dance team.

And here's the whole Brown/North gang out to dinner one night.
Left to right:
Amber, Colton, Aiden, Maddie, Grandma North, Aunt Pam, Debbie, Matt, and Jaden in front.

Our new baby is here!

This is how the story goes......
Wednesday night I had a bunch of family members coming into town for Thanksgiving the following day. That evening, I felt a tiny bit of pressure, but decided to just go to bed and sleep it off. On the morning of Thanksgiving, I felt just fine and went about my morning as usual. However, there was this tiny, nagging thought in the back of my head that I kept shoving aside. I wasn't due until December 27th after all... Anyway, I decided to call up to the hospital in Tooele to see if I could possibly just get checked out really fast and give myself some peace of mind, and then I could enjoy the rest of my Holiday with the family.

So I went up and they checked me out quickly enough. But I wasn't expecting the answer I got! The doctor on call there told me I was 90% effaced and dilated to a 4 and that I was going to have a baby soon!  What?! I started crying because I was in denial about it. I just kept thinking to myself, "I have to get home and start the mashed potatoes!" Until it finally hit me that I was probably going to miss Thanksgiving Dinner!

Given my previous history and how fast Jaden came...without pain - they didn't want to take a chance on me delivering in Tooele, then taking the baby into Salt Lake for pre-mature care. (Tooele is not equipped to take care of preemie babies).

So after a shot of terbutaline in my arm to stop the labor, I headed off on the University of Utah's Life Flight helicopter! I seriously was still in shock and denial... and off I go on life flight?!?! But what about those mashed potatoes! Oh dear.

Anyway, that shot of terbutaline stopped my contractions for the rest of the blasted day! I was surviving on ice chips while the rest of the family was dining on hot, fresh turkey, pumpkin pie, corn, stuffing, and of course the mashed potatoes that someone made in my place. :)

Well Thanksgiving day came and went and so we are now on to Black Friday. I could be shopping! But I began having some closer contractions that morning instead. Still no pain and still the denial that I was in labor. However, 3pm came and I was dialted to an 8 and ready to go. By now I'm starting to feel some of the contractions. Then the doctor came in and broke my water. That's when I REALLY STARTED TO FEEL IT! What the crap?! I felt nothing with Jaden and so here I am trying to go natural and it's about to kill me. In fact, I probably died somewhere in there because of the intensity of the pain!

At one point the anesthesiologist came in and I was BEGGING her to give me an epidural. They sat me up and as she was prepping, I was in more pain than ever. AND the contractions wouldn't stop long enough for her to get that needle in my back! I lied and told her as I was coming out of a hard contraction, that it was in between contractions and to just shove the blasted needle in my spine already! Well, I felt something, not sure what, but I was wracked with another deathly moment of horrific contraction pain. -And then I only wanted to push!

So I told her to forget it because I was pushing! They laid me down and I pushed twice and out popped Rendon! Wait a minute, that sounded kind of easy. I only pushed twice because the pain was so excruciating, I knew I didn't want to spend the rest of the hour pushing. It was killer! I knew the harder I pushed him out, the sooner it would be over!

And after I delivered my precious baby boy naturally, my foot got a tingle in it. And hence, the teensy bit of epidural she tried putting in, started to work. Yes, AFTERWARDS!!!!! 

Well, the worst of it was over and I was the happiest person in the world. My sweet baby boy was born.  Rendon came during his 35th week, just like Jaden. He weighed in at 5lb. 7oz and 20 inches long. Yes, very long indeed!

But I was so happy that he got to stay in our room with us, and not be whisked away to the NICU. He did remarkably well for being such a little guy. He only was jaundice for a little bit and that was it. They released him on Monday, November 30th.

One of the worst parts of being in the hospital since Thursday, was that Maddie and Jaden were stuck at home. They weren't allowed into the hospital at all because of swine flu precautions. Luckily, it being a holiday weekend, I had a bunch of family in town to take care of them. Then from Saturday to Sunday, they went to Grandma Norths. How grateful I am for such wonderful, helpful family! Thanks so much for taking care of Maddie and Jaden! They were so concerned for me and their baby brother.

This first picture is of me enjoying my Thanksgiving Feast of ice chips. Notice the forced smile.


Our new baby! Rendon Miller Brown came at 3:48pm on 11/27/09


Little Rendon under the billyruben lights to get rid of his Jaundice.


A cute picture I took of his feet! Notice the poor little knickmarks from the I.V.s and things they had to do to him!


And finally, one of the greatest moments a mother can have. I was so emotional when I got to finally see my kids after such a long weekend. They had no idea I was coming home on Monday. So I hid in the front room with the video camera and got them as they walked in the house. They rounded the corner to the front room and were SO HAPPY to see the sweet baby waiting for them!

Happy Haunting...

Here is my cute little family all dressed up for Halloween...
Aiden and Jaden


Maddie the hippie chick.


Jaden the Zombie


Me and Matt seeing who has the bigger belly!