Random Poond Pictures--Labor Day Weekend

Random pictures from down by Grandma and Grandpa's ponds. I have lots more, but didn't want to overload the system. Enjoy! I don't know how to put more pictures next to each other. Sorry!

Grandma fishing!

Sleeping baby!

3 troublemakers--just kidding, actually I'm not!

Fisherman Andrew!

Kevin, the professional fisherman!

Carol helping Payton!

Parker and Aaron!

Luke and Aubrey's fish with Tamra holding it for them!

Jacob and his friend Wormy!

Aaron is a cute fisherman!

Aaron ready to go fishing!

Kevin with another fish!

Grandma Buck and Brigham!

Shane and Tyson!

Kevin and Tyson showing off another fish!

Benjamin wandering around the ponds!

Andrew's 10th birthday and his monkey bar injury under his lip, actually it went through his lip.

Pictures from Elijah's Blessing Day

Our sweet baby Elijah!
Such a cutie!

Funny little laugh that we actually caught on camera!

Mom and her precious little boy!

Father and son!

The Whole Family--some happy, some not!

So, I have been meaning to post these pictures of Elijah's blessing ever since I took them, but I am way too slow. Well, better late, than never. I wanted to make sure Jason and Kelly got to see some pictures since they were unable to attend. These are all from September 6, 2009. They are only pictures of my kids and us. Oh wait, I do have some from when we went down to the ponds on September 5th and 7th, so if I can find them too, I will put them on here. These are not "official" beautiful family pictures, just a quick let's get a picture that actually contains all of our children and us. Benjamin is always grumpy in pictures--love 3 year old stubbornness and independence. Jacob is always trying to pose or act silly. I will add the pond pictures in another post.

The 6 Edington Boys!! ( mini-Kevin's)

I decided to resend this picture of all 6 of the boys because when I looked at the blog, Elijah was covered by the sidebar. So, these are all 6 of them together, and it is pretty much impossible to get them all smiling at the same time. Benjamin was angry here because he was playing with cars at the time, and he did not want to stop and take the picture. Three year olds are pretty stubborn--at least ours is lately. We, at least, have them all facing the same direction. We were having a little pajama party on this night. It was stormy outside so we all needed cozy pajamas! Well, there you have it, here are the 6 Edington boys--future priesthood holders, missionaries, husbands, and fathers. Watch out world, here they come! We need all the help and support we can get raising these boys so please, feel free to help out at anytime!!

Introducing. . . . . .Elijah Collin Edington

So, sorry everyone that it has taken me one whole week to add some pictures of our new baby. This post is also heavy on the pictures so sorry about that. I am not good at how to add them in a better fashion. I'll work on it. As you can imagine, we have been very busy taking care of children. So. . .this is Elijah Collin Edington. He was born on Saturday, July 11, 2009 in Tucson, AZ at University Medical Center. He weighed 7 pounds 11 ounces at birth, and was 21 inches long. The pediatrician at UMC determined that Elijah was probably about 40 and possibly 41 weeks gestationally. I was supposedly 39 weeks when I was induced, but that was just an estimate since I got pregnant while I was nursing Aaron. Anyhow, we are both extremely healthy and incredibly happy! (However, today Andrew and Matthew have been sick. They both have been vomitting today--no fun! So sad!) We decided on the name Elijah because at this point we have been blessed beyond measure with little boys and we are so grateful for the prophet Elijah restoring the sealing keys to the prophet Joseph Smith so that we can be united as a family eternally. The kids call him Baby Elijah or Baby Eli. The middle name Collin is after his wonderful great grandmother, Colleen Edington. If we had a girl, we were always going to name her after Grandma. We don't make girls, so we went with the male form of Colleen which is Collin. If Grandma can't get into heaven, they aren't taking anyone! Grandma is a saint, in our humble opinion.
I went to UMC to be induced on Saturday, July 11. They started me on the Pitocin at 9 a.m. I didn't really make much progress until 2 p.m. I went into the hospital dilated to a 2 and completely effaced. At 2 p.m., I was the same. Kevin happened to say something to the effect of, "Man, we are going to be here all night." I was just about in tears, but still trying to hold it together. I felt bad for not going fast enough, and then my husband felt bad and realized how sensitive I was so it might be a good idea not to say much. The longest I have ever been in the hospital in labor was 7 hours with Jacob. Andrew was 6 1/2 hours, Matthew less than an hour, Benjamin 5 hours, and Aaron 6 hours. Well, at 2:15 p.m., the doctor broke my water and that pretty much took care of everything. I went from a 2 to practically everything. Elijah was born 1 hour and about 45 minutes after my water broke, and I only had to push for 5 minutes. So, it worked out well once my water broke. Don't think Kevin wasn't supportive, he was extremely supportive and I am thankful that he was there to help me out, entertain me, and make me laugh through it all. However, I was a little sensitive at the time--Pitocin contractions are a killer! Frankly, we live in a house of boys so emotions don't run very high in our house, but he is reminded to be sensitive and thoughtful by his wife, whose emotions due run high sometimes. I am so grateful for such a wonderful husband that has helped me bring 6 little boys into this world, and I hope they become just like him!
Elijah is a really good baby--he nurses well now (he had some latch on issues the first two days which are now resolved). He has been sleeping well the last three nights, which helps mom and dad a lot--he has been falling asleep for the night at about 11 p.m. and then waking at 3 a.m. and then waking again around 6;30 a.m. Here are some pictures of the boys with Elijah.

So, the boys love Elijah!! The newest fight in our home is who's turn it is to hold the baby. Aaron pretty much tries to either kiss or headbutt the baby. His eyes actually have not been poked out too many times. the pictures of the baby really don't do him justice. He is beautiful, but I am biased. But, ask Grandma and Grandpa, oh wait, they are probably biased too! Who does the baby look like you ask? Well, everyone of our boys--we make the same model, however, he is the spitting image of Andrew as a baby. It is almost freaky how much he reminds us of Andrew. It's like they are twins 9 1/2 years apart. Elijah currently weighs 6 pounds 11 ounces. He lost a full pound within two days of leaving the hospital, due to his latch on issues. He is now gaining weight, and before long he will be chunky, I am sure. We feel we are pretty much done having children at this point. We feel complete and at peace with our family size. We had to buy a new vehicle to fit all of us in the car at the same time. Any more children and we will have to add jump seats in the suburban and the bedrooms will start to feel crowded. Yes, we have a car full of children--it is wonderful! So, Jason and Kelly we are turning our "blessings of fertility and fruitfulness" (for lack of a better term) over to you and hope you will be as blessed as we have been. If God needs to close one womb in order to open up another, I am all for Him closing mine and opening Kelly's. If it works this way, that would work great! So, please accept this "gift" that we are passing on to you. It can't hurt. I have been praying to Heavenly Father and I think this is a good idea. I just hope He feels the same way and that is what would be best for you! I know I have crazy ideas, but wouldn't that still be wonderful!! The only issue with our blessing of having children is that we make the same model. So, if you want all boys, there you go. The world needs more Edingtons! We have been so blessed by our Heavenly Father, and it is nice to see how His plan for us having children has worked out. We see now that everything happened the best way possible for us! We love all of you and hope you enjoy all the pictures!

Aubrey's dance

Here is Aubrey's dance she did on the last day for the parents. She had a great time at dance camp!!!!

Mom and I are having a great time in Alpine. Believe it or not we are getting a lot of work done for school next year. Having the internet has been a great help.

We took Grandma Barney out last night and got some great pictures. Hope you enjoy.

Thank you!!!

Just wanted to say HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY and HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!! Thank you all for sharing it with us and Thank you Luke and Tamra for a wonderful meal. It was a great Mother's day!!!!

Alpine's Great

Mom and I spent some time at Alpine this week. Everything looked great. We are looking forward to seeing you for the family reunion.

Love Grandma and Grandpa

Pictures of the zoo trip

We had a blast at the zoo with everyone. We really missed Jason and Kelly and wished that they were there. It was kind of a spare of the moment thing that we all ended up going. ENjoy!!!

Sharing is Caring...

I have debated sharing this. Mostly because I don't want to be a crying wack-a-doo for the rest of my life, but life is about sharing the journey right? We aren't supposed to go it alone, we need each other. That is what life is all about. I have been listening to a few talks by Elder Holland over and over and over and they have really helped me during the last few months and especially last week. He says that God wants us to be strong as well as good. We can't control everything and those moments are for our growth. I know God wants me to be strong.

Last Monday night I found out I was pregnant. Tuesday morning it was confirmed again. I got my doctors appointment set for Friday after work and I had lost the baby by Thursday. Luckily my mom came up Thursday night. Jason had gone hunting Thursday morning. The doctor sent me to the hospital to get blood work done and to make sure it wasn't ectopic. I ended up getting sonograms and poked and prodded only to be told what I already knew. I had lost the baby very early on. As heart breaking and horrible this has been I am very lucky. I am very blessed that I lost it so early. I can't imagine loosing a baby further along. I don't know how I would handle that. I am also blessed because now it appears that there is a possibility of me actually getting pregnant, and as much as I had hoped it would stick I do know the Lord is looking out for me and eventually I am going to be blessed. Jason came home from his hunt early, Friday night late, I am very blessed to have such a loving and supportive husband.

Jason gave me a blessing last night. I was told I would have a family soon, that the Lord wants me to be strong and that I need to focus on my blessings. I had already restarted a gratitude journal, I was already on the right track. The key is going to be staying positive and hopeful while I wait. I am not sure how my family is coming but I am glad they are.

Rather than retreat and try to pretend this painful event didn't happen I come to you asking for your help. Please remember us in your prayers. We appreciate them and feel them help us. Also, my family is going to have a special fast for us on Sunday, if you would like to join us I would be very grateful. I am sorry I haven't been answering my phone much lately, I am getting better. It's just been hard to talk to people. I hope you will forgive me. :)

Thank you all for your love and support it means so very much. I love you all!

"Hope is critical to both faith and charity. When disobedience, disappointment, and procrastination erode faith, hope is there to uphold our faith. When frustration and impatience challenge charity, hope braces our resolve and urges us to care for our fellowmen even without expectation of reward. The brighter our hope, the greater our faith. The stronger our hope, the purer our charity."
--Dieter F. Uchtdorf, "The Infinite Power of Hope", Ensign, Nov 2008, 21–24

THE EVANS SNOW DAY!!!

We woke up too Snow!!!!Aubrey was so excited she wanted to build a snowman. Here it is shw named it Sally the Snowman. It was lots of fun, COLD but fun!!!

It's all about the good times!!!

Having fun with puppet shows!!! Aubrey loves the FHE Box and can't wait to choose something to talk about on Monday nights. I think it is now her favorite day of the week
She had a blast coloring!!!
Emily getting into the action she is all over the place now!!!
She crawls about 2 steps then gives up and will army crawl. She is so funny and guess what still no teeth good for me!!! Not so good for her. She has eating with her gums down pretty good though.