Ty and Amber Dennis

Family trip to San Fran

2010-04-11T14:17:00.000-07:00

During spring break we took a little trip to San Francisco to go to the Children's Discovery Museum. The kids absolutely loved it there!! Here are just a few - or MORE pictures of our trip. It may be hard to imagine, but the pictures posted are just a small sample of those that I took that day.

This is just a building that we saw while waiting for Ty get his India (for a summer trip) Visa.
Pretty cool and very San Francisco'ish.

This was a fun little boat - it is set up on some type of massive air tube that gives it a very a real life sway, as if you were on the water. The kids (particularly Moroni) loved playing on it.

Here Ty had crawled through an "underground" tunnel to go inside the "water" that was under the boat. He played a little game of "peek-a-boo" with Teancum; or at least he tried, Teancum was too interested in the fish to even notice his daddy there. Moroni LOVED these trains; it was hard to get him to even look at anything else. He could have stayed at this table all day.

The ocean / wave room was Ty's favorite. Go figure :)

This was the same room - just the other side of the room from the wave where Ty was playing.

They had a bunch of costumes that the kids could put on and see themselves on TV screens pretending to be different kinds of fish - here Moroni was a seahorse.

This was so much fun - Moroni was making the birds fly with his little wheel and Ty was moving the ocean and sailboat.

This was another area of the museum; here the kids could learn about "animal secrets. Below both boys were dressed up as little squirrels and had climbed into a tree with their dad.

Teancum loved being an eagle or at least he loved the eagles nest. I don't think he cared very much for the little boy stealing the eagles away though :)

This is Moroni and daddy taking a tree apart to see what lives inside it and then they put the puzzle back together.

This is Moroni playing outside as a construction worker.

I think that this was my favorite area. The kids were given paint, squirt bottles and brushes and they were let loose on huge windows.

As you can see the windows were large enough to entertain children of all sizes. On the other side of this "artsy" area they had all kinds of materials and supplies to do arts and crafts. I got so busy working on my craft project and entertaining Teancum that I didn't really get pictures in there.

Ty and Moroni crawling through a cave in the "tot spot" section of the museum.

Here Moroni is trying to fit shapes into the appropriate holes.

Moroni had a blast jumping on through these lily ponds; Teancum is so wobbly still he doesn't really need lily ponds for excitement.

In-between two lily ponds there was a tunnel going through a waterfall that the kids could climb through. I got some cute pictures of Moroni and daddy in the tunnel together.

This is an underwater area where the kids could "walk" on water, similar to the lily ponds, but they were completely surrounded by water. I tried to get a good picture of Teancum looking at the fish swimming above his head, but this is the best I got.

Teancum just being cute while he was exploring the "tot spot". The coolest thing about his area is it is made for babies. Children above 42" isn't even allowed inside.
This was the outside area of the "tot spot". Teancum LOVED this area; I think he could have stayed all day here. The water was really cold, but he didn't care. He really loves playing in water. Isn't he sooo cute!

They sure had fun jamm'n together.

This is a picture from the parking lot - Teancum loved feeding the birds and chasing them all over the parking lot.

This was just the drive over there - a fun little shot of the golden gate.

Daddy and happy little boy.

2010-02-21T13:27:00.000-08:00

This was the first time Teancum ran to the door to greet his daddy. He now does it everytime daddy comes home!

Aren't they precious!!

Little Bonfire with friends.

2010-02-21T12:58:00.000-08:00

We love fires! And we miss doing this with friends in Hawaii, but it is fun to be able to share the experience with our kids now. We had our bonfire in Santa Cruz with another couple from our ward. I wish I could take credit for the pictures, but Tina took most of them and did an incredible job!!

This is my favorite picture!!

Dennis hiking trip

2010-02-21T08:53:00.000-08:00

This is from a little hike we took together as a family. We had a great time! It sure was nice to play with daddy for a day.

This was after Moroni stepped on a "soft rock". He was covered in manure. Needless to say he did not get back in the back pack and had to hike the rest the way to the car.
This is Ty kicking my butt!! Yah, he can hike circles around me.

There were cows all over the mountain; they kind of freaked me out - they are scary up close.

This is me and my little buddy. He sure makes it harder to hike, but he also makes it more fun.

This is Moroni showing us how good he is at hiking. He is such a BOY!

Moroni wants to be sick "all day long".

2010-01-21T22:25:00.000-08:00

Moroni asked me for marshmellows today. I told him he would have to wait until after his lunch. So of course he wanted marshmellows for lunch. I gave him his real options and he opted for a sandwich; after he was finished he asked for his marshmellows again. I gave him some and he ate them promptly and asked for more. I told him he couldn't because he would get sick if he had too many. He then yelled at the top of his lungs, "I want to be sick! I wanna throw up my peanut butter sandwich!!! I WANNA BE SICK ALL DAY LONG!!!!!!!"
Is it bad to laugh at your son when he's throwing a fit?

A couple of family videos.

2010-01-12T11:26:00.000-08:00

I have been so bad at updating this blog - the following three posts are kind of a quick overview at some of the happenings throughout the year.

This is some fun we had on a little family hike.

Moroni got a "thing" from grandparents for Christmas and everyone has had fun on it. Including the missionaries :) Here is Moroni taking a spin on his new toy.

Recent family videos (the last 2-3 months in a nutshell)

2010-01-12T06:34:00.000-08:00

Man this little guy can make me smile!!!

This is a little Moroni interrogation. He is so cute!

Teancum dancing! He is constantly dancing- everytime he hears music he busts some moves. I think it is so cute how innocent and uninhibited he is.

Moroni is playing with TT; trying to keep him laughing.

Teancum learning to walk.

2009 - Favorite pictures - mainly for the grandmas

2010-01-10T16:25:00.000-08:00

Try as I might I cannot get these pictures to all fit close together and I would rather just get them posted than waste time playing with it. Sorry it looks so crappy, but it will at least give you an idea of what we have been up to.
This was from a day at the park. We had so much fun playing with daddy for a little while.

Thanksgiving weekend Teancum cut his eye open in the bathtub at the hotel. Gross - I know. I felt sooo bad for him. And now he has a gnarly scare on his eyelid, but I have one just above my eyelid from when I was a little baby; so we look that much more alike :)

Ty catching some air!! On Thanksgiving weekend we went hiking with everyone (except the great-grandma). We had soo much dang fun - and what a great idea; I am sure I burnt off a good 1/8 of the calories I consumed on T-day.

Just a picture of the beautiful baby himself. I love this kid to death! He lights up my life and makes me smile every time I look at him.

Both these picture were taken at a park next to Ty's uncles house. My whole world revolved around these boys! And it is a wonderful world!

I thought this picture was fun - I think he looks a bit like a flying squirrel.

Ty has been reading this book (Daddy's Lullaby) to Moroni since he was a tiny baby. And it has always been Moroni's favorite book. Aren't these two sweet!

I have no pictures of me and the kids so this was an attempt at getting one. We went on a stroller hike and stopped at a playground half way through the hike. I tried using playground equipment to take the picture. It cut us a little tight, but at least we are all in there.

Sweet little guy! I love this picture. He actually caught his balance before he fell off the log. Good thing too because mom was taking pictures instead of helping him :)

Daddy is just making sure to "program" his kids at an early age. This is too precious! Moroni and TT love it when Ty plays the Uke.

This is a picture of Ty surfing at Steamers. I don't have many pictures of Ty surfing because it is usually too hard to get the pics. I have a hard time keeping track of him and catching him on the wave.

This was Ty getting into the water that day. The waves were huge! The picture just doesn't do it justice. I have to admit I was a little scared for his life.

Moroni loves bubbles! The trouble with the lawnmower is going fast enough that the bubbles come out, but still being able to see them.

I love this picture. It was the first time this little family has had the opportunity to participate in a father and son campout. Moroni had sooo much fun!

Just a cute picture of a precious little guy; I wish he was still this little!

He is even smaller here. As you can tell the pictures are going back in time. Teancum was just a newborn in this picture. He was 1 month old.

And younger still. This would have been in the first couple weeks of life. I would open the window and put him on the bed in the sunlight in an attempt to reset his clock so he would be awake more during the day and sleep at night. He loved sitting in the sun, but he would fall asleep as soon as the warm sun hit him. So much for that idea!

I love this picture! The week TT was born we went to the beach so Ty could surf. Moroni LOVES going to the beach and playing in the sand. Grandma got him these little sand toys and he was having a blast with them.

Well that is a quick look at my favorite pictures from 2009. Thanks for looking and letting me share these two cuties with you.

Happy New Year!!!!

2010-01-10T14:25:00.000-08:00

2009 was a crazy year! I am grateful for the things I learned and experienced. I learned how important friends are. I learned how much I really do love and care for my friends and how much they affect my life. Good friends have let me cry on their shoulders, vent out my frustrations, pointed out things I could improve in my life, laughed with me, cried with me and have left me with wonderful memories. I am grateful for the patience and thoughtfulness that those that are close to me have had with me. Everywhere I have lived there has been particular friends that have had the most affect on me.

My mom has always been a friend. She would wake up in the middle of the night when I would get home from a date and listen patiently as I rambled on and on about silly things; I can't imagine how many hours of sleep I have cost her to lose throughout my life.

As a teenager Danielle helped me through family frustrations, boy frustrations and was a tremendous source of happiness. I loved staying at her house (practically moved in :) and appreciate that I was practically adopted into her family.

In college there was no denying that Marianne and I were inseperable. I loved secretly passing notes back and forth with her during class. She was so much fun to be around and so easy to talk to.

When I moved to Texas I met my absolute best friend ever. And I married him; I have to admit I was not at all sure about marrying this "dude", but it has been one of the best decisions I could have made. He has made me soooo happy. I love sharing a Home with him. I am grateful that he has taken my goals on as his own and worked so hard to make things that seemed "impossible" really happen. If he loved to cook and do dishes he would be perfect. Maybe when we get to heaven :)

While in Texas Ty and I met and became friends with another couple. I can remember the first time I saw Ferrell. While in Relief Society she got up and made a comment about her husband (I still remember the comment too) and there was something about her; I guess you could call it "chemistry". Then I saw her with her husband (long haired rebellious look'n guy; deep down I really like that look) outside the bishops office and I told Ty I wanted to be friends with them. When we talked to them for the first time we found out they liked to camp and immediately set up plans to go camping together. From then on as hard as they tried they couldn't get rid of us - EVER :) I sure enjoyed having Phil and Ferrell as part of our family.

We did the same thing to the Gunters in Hawaii. I am not sure if we dragged them or if we followed them everywhere. When we first met them I was pregnant with Moroni and Amanda had tried to invite me (a couple of times) to go with her to watch a surf comp. I stood her up everytime. I still feel bad about that, but she was patient and eventually we hooked up and then she spent the rest of the time we lived there stuck with me. Our families went island hopping (camping on 3 different islands) together, we spent most of our holidays together, they helped me through the first 1/2 of my labor with Moroni, Amanda and I served in the primary presidency together and Levin ALWAYS could make me laugh - always. I am telling you when Armegeddon hits he will be the one telling a joke. He will have people laughing while they are going up in flames.

Here in California we have been blessed with some great friends. Although we have been busier now than we have ever been in our lives we have had the opportunity to spend time with good friends like the Spauldings and the Turners and the Uylemans.

I am not sure why I wrote such a long post about the people in my life. I guess it is just the spirit of the New Year. I have been touched by so many people in my life. There are so many people that have taught and showed me how to be a better person and I am blessed to have had them in my life.

Cute video of daddy and baby!

2009-12-15T18:46:00.000-08:00

I can totally relate to this poor guy! I loved the video!
http://video.yahoo.com/watch/6496678/16845836

Grandma put us all to shame!!

2009-11-30T10:58:00.000-08:00

Moroni is sooo in love with his grandma. He has been so excited to see her again and this may be just one of the reasons...

The most shameful part is if you look in the background of the video grandpa is asleep and totally missed the show. Good thing I caught it on tape!! She has done this for us several times - the first of which was at Walmart; I wish I had that one on tape!

Thanksgiving!!!!

2009-11-30T10:41:00.000-08:00

We sure had a lot of fun this year!! Since Ty and I have been married Thanksgiving has become one of my favorite holidays. We have always had great experiences together for Thanksgiving, but I think this year was about as much fun as we have ever had!!

We drove down to San Luis Obispo to visity Ty's aunt and uncle as well as grandma Baumgarten and his mom and step-dad. We all (at least I think all) had a blast! Moroni got sick on the way which was kind of a bummer. We drove down the coast which was a little too windy and curvy for his stomach. The drive wasn't all horrible though - he got into the beach toys and found enough sand to have a small sand box in the back seat of the car - YEA!!!

"Thankfully" we got to San Luis in time to give the kids a bath before Thanksgiving dinner!

Fun stuff - Gilbert in two magazines in one month

2009-10-03T22:33:00.001-07:00

Gilbert Tuhabonye is one incredible man. So incredible in fact that we named Teancum after him. Anyway, he was in two magazine articles this month.

One was Runners World...

http://www.spd.org/2009/09/runners-world-1.php

The other was Austin Fit Magazine.

19: GILBERT'S GAZELLESGilbert Tuhabonye (gilbertsgazelles.com)Sixteen years ago, Gilbert Tuhabonye could probably never imagine what was about to happen to him would later give others motivation to push forward and reach their own goals. It was late October 1993 when the war between his native Tutsi tribe and the Hutu tribe horrifically erupted at his school in Burundi. More than 100 Tutsi children and teachers were beaten and burned to death after the Hutu rampage, yet amazingly, Tuhabonye survived only after being buried by the corpses of his classmates. He ran away from the massacre on charred feet into a new life. After this traumatizing experience, Tuhabonye never really thought of himself as a pillar of inspiration, let alone a running coach. But after he won the 2002 Capital of Texas 10K, three women — Maeve Magner, Leslie Asaka and Anjeline Gonzales — approached him to help in improve their race times. As time passed, Tuhabonye’s rapidly expanding running group was appropriately dubbed Gilbert’s Gazelles by Paul Carrozza of RunTex. In the last seven years, Gilbert has exploded into a local celebrity of sorts, instantly recognized by almost anyone in the running community. Yet he’s managed to keep an even keel on his business, bringing in only two other coaches since that time. He ensures they care for his runners just as much as he does. Like a family. As Tuhabonye puts it, “You become part of the family, once you join the Gazelles.”

Levin Gunter

2009-09-25T10:04:00.000-07:00

So I just remembered what I came on here to post. I wanted to write a post about Levin and found myself rambling about other stuff.

I love Levin. I have loved the time I have had to spend with him. As with most people that knew him the first thing that comes to my mind is his sense of humor. I remember being very depressed toward the end of my pregnancy with Moroni. My mom came to visit to be there for the birth of her grandson and we went about the island doing things together that would be "fun", but I never felt upbeat or in a good mood. Ty couldn't seem to lift my spirits or my miserable attitude. I remember one night going over to the Gunters for dinner and just meeting Levin on the stairs he had me genuinely laughing before we even got to his apartment. I spent the rest of the night in the good company of my mom, my husband and the Gunters. The whole time laughing at Levin and his silly jokes. For the first time in a while feeling upbeat and light hearted. Just a couple days later we were at their apartment again so they could keep us company while I was in the early stages of labor. Amanda (obviously taking after her mom a little) by nursing me and making me comfortable while Levin (like usual) made me laugh through the contractions.

I love them and have appreciated all they have done for us. Levin has been such a light in our lives and I have been grateful for the laughs and memories supplied to us in a way that only Levin can do. I pray every day that the Lord might offer him the comfort that he has offered to so many in the past. Levin has had a week that will probably go down in history as the toughest he has ever had. After losing his beautiful and talented wife in a tragic car accident he is left to recover from some extremely painful injuries. He is suffering from a fractured skull, rib and clavicle. After being in ICU for a couple of days it was looking like he may be released from the hospital but right before leaving he was having difficulty breathing. It is an incredible blessing that he didn't get out of the hospital because he was suffering from a blood clot in his lung. To put this in perspetive blood clots (Pulmonary embolisms) are the third most common cause of death in hospitalized patients; about 30% of patients suffering from this will die. However, most will do so within the first few hours so hopefully he will recover and be able to lead a farely normal life. He will most likely have side effects for the rest of his life, but it shouldn't effect his ability to tell a good joke. Lucky for us!

We will continue to pray for a quick recovery!!

Learning so much

2009-09-25T09:02:00.001-07:00

So it occured to me this week that Amanda is the closest person that I have ever lost. I have been around for the death of a couple of great grandparents, but I was so young it didn't effect me that much. This has been an educational experience for me. After having had a couple of psychology classes I have found myself analyzing the different stages of grief. So far I have not had the acceptance stage yet - someday I will get there.

I am soo grateful for the positive aspects of this whole experience. I have learned how important friends are to me. I have been so grateful to those that have been there for me recently. I am particularly grateful to Allyson for notifying me; it is nice just to know what is going on. I am grateful to Levin's mom, Thelma, who has been so willing to talk and to keep us up to date and involved with Levin's recovery. I have learned how much it helps when people offer condolensces and make themselves available to talk. It is such a blessing to be able to "mourn with those that mourn". I now have a better idea of how to help people in the future when they may have lost a loved one.

I have learned a lot about prayer. This may sound horrible, but I never understood the idea of praying for others. It always seemed to me that the Lord would comfort someone in need wether one person prayed for them or 500 people prayed for them. And the Lords will, will be done regardless of what we prayed for so I have always been focused on praying for the willingness to accept the Lords will. Now that we are praying for Levin everyday I am learning that the prayers for him comfort me. Of course the Holy Spirit would be the best comfort for him right now, but maybe my prayers are a way of sending my love and comfort to him as well. Perhaps us praying for him isn't just that the Lord will send His comfort, but more a way for the Lord to offer our Love and comfort to those that we pray for.

What do you think?

Amanda - we love you and miss you.

2009-09-20T15:36:00.000-07:00

I have been hoping Ty would do this because he is such an eloquent writer and I don't feel that I can write about something so precious. I will do my best to put emotions into words.

Yesterday I received news that a dear friend, Amanda Gunter had passed away. We were close friends from BYU Hawaii. We had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with Gunters while we were living there. We went to the Big Island and Kauai together. We enjoyed playing games and having beach bon fires with them regularly. And of course we enjoyed Amanda's good cooking on a regular basis - because the Gunters were always THE entertainers for all of TVA (temple view apartments). Everyone knew them and loved them. Amanda was beautiful, friendly, creative, crafty, social, a talented artist, handy with hair and scissors and very loving. She had a knack for taking care of everything and everybody.

After Levin graduated from BYU they moved to S Carolina to be with family. Last Thursday they were driving back from visiting Levin's parents in North Carolina. Just before midnight their car swerved off the road. From my understanding in an effort to regain control of the car the car flipped upside down and then they were T-boned by an oncoming van. Amanda had been in the back seat setting Ansley (there 1 year old girl) up with a movie and had returned to the front seat, but had not buckled back up when the collision happened and was thrown from the car. She was taken to the hospital where she died later that morning. Levin is in critical condition and is in and out of consciousness. During one of his conscious moments he was wheeled into Amanda and had the opportunity to see her one last time before she passed on. He understands what has happened and has said that he doesn't feel he can love anyone ever again as much as he loved her.

She was an amazing woman. It was always awe inspiring how much she could get done in a day. No one, save Christ, is perfect, but she has to be about as close as anyone could be. Levin too is amazing and I know that he will be an incredible father and will be able to recover from all of this. Speaking of Ansley she is fine and in the care of her grandparents.

I am so grateful to have the knowledge of the blessings of the temple and to know that this is just a time apart and that we will be able to see her again. I just wish we could have had more time, but I guess the question of how much time remains. I don't think 5 more years would have been enough, nor ten, nor fifty. I guess I will have to work on being grateful for the time I was able to know her.

Say What?

2009-09-13T21:30:00.000-07:00

Ty came home the other day and was in the kitchen doing something and Moroni pipes up and says "Daddy you make me sick!" So Ty assumed that Moroni is learning this from me and I must be saying this kind of stuff while he is at school. We laughed about it for a little bit and then went on with our lives...

until...

Later that night as things are winding down and it is just about bed time Moroni gets me in trouble again by saying "Daddy your impossible!" I am pretty sure I have never told Ty he was "impossible" before so I am not sure where he gets this stuff from.

It makes one wonder.

Potty Success!

2009-09-13T20:13:00.000-07:00

So it has been a long time since I have done any blogging and since the last post Moroni has been (for the most part) successfully potty trained. We had tried potty training a couple of times before, but one day it just magically happened. Yeah!! We still have occasional accidents, but he is doing great with it.

One funny/annoying aspect of the whole experience was his refusal to have a BM in his potty. He said that the "poo poo was too dirty". So it took us a little longer to get him taking care of that aspect of the whole process, but we finally got it taken care of and I am grateful for it.

Summer Road Tripp'n

2009-07-06T21:44:00.001-07:00

I have to admit that although it is very difficult to travel with the young'ns we had a lot of fun. It was a blast to see family and friends and we sure packed in a lot of fun into a short trip. This is a general idea of where we went.

The main purpose to the trip was to see our brother get married to his beautiful wife. Although somewhat eventful it was a beautiful wedding!

We blessed Teancum and were blessed by the presence of most of our family. It was wonderful to have so many loved ones present (interesting word - hmmm) for the event.

The next day we played with my mom and Kirk and Tara's (my brother and wife) kids.

Then we stayed at Jedidiah and Amy's (Ty's brother and wife); we enjoyed their company so much we kept them up all night talking.

We went on to Fairview to do some swimming and camping with Ty's "other brother" Brandon. When we first got to the swimming pool Moroni wouldn't even go in the kiddie pool, but after some help from Brandon, Ty eventually had him jumping off the diving board.

Then it was on to Ephraim to Grandma and Grandpa Widmer's. We went to the Manti pageant with them - well until we were rained out. It was worth it though we came away with some great memories of eating dinner with them on the lawn of the temple; it's not to often you get to do that :)

The next night we went to Panquitch to see Grandpa Dennis. They had quite the treat for us - this is what we saw out their front door. Apparently every year they have a hot air balloon event that takes place just across the street. I had never seen a hot air balloon in real life so this was a new experience for me.

After Panguitch we stayed a night in Evanston and then on to Boise. It was great getting to know Ty's brother Stanton and his wife better. Moroni had a blast playing with their kids; we all really enjoyed being with them. Ty's teeth in particular enjoyed this part of the trip because he finally had a tooth fixed (Stanton is an endodontist).

Well after Boise we wanted to go visit more family, but we were exhausted so we decided to call it quits and go home. We made good time on the way home and ever since I have been trying to catch up with the cleaning and laundrey. Perhaps I will catch up before the next vacation :)

California Academy of Science

2009-06-14T09:37:00.000-07:00

Every third wendesday the CA Academy of Science has a free day that I have wanted to go to for a few months. We finally made it and Ty even took the day off school to go with us; which I am grateful for because it was way too hectic and busy for me to safely do it on my own with the kids.

We had a blast; they have all kinds of animals. This was Teancum's reaction to the Albino Alligator.

Here is Moroni talking to a snapping turtle...

Their aquariums are HUGE!! I think the aquariums were my favorite part!

I will try to post video of the adventure soon.

2009-05-31T23:20:00.001-07:00

2009-05-31T16:34:00.001-07:00

Oh No!! What is in your hair??!

2009-05-31T09:59:00.000-07:00

I thought it was difficult finding a moment to take a shower when Moroni was a baby, but now that Moroni is a toddler it is practically impossible. The week before Easter I put Moroni in front of the TV (our frequent babysitter) and thought that Sesame Street could hold him down for 15 minutes while I took a shower. I jumped in and out of the shower as fast as I could and rushed out to check on him before doing my hair. I soon found out that I would not be doing my hair but his...he was covered in Vaseline. Head to toe was a greasy nasty mess.

For a fraction of a second I contemplated just changing his clothes and rushing out the door so we wouldn't be late for playgroup, but of course I had to give him a bath first. I washed his hair and then washed it again and again and again...learning very quickly that Vaseline does NOT come out of hair no matter what you do and no matter what kind of soap or cleaner you try. So, I combed out the larger chunks and got him ready to go.

When we got back I gave in and just cut all his hair off...afterall he looks better without Vaseline.

Moroni is 2!!!

2009-03-22T22:11:00.000-07:00

While Moroni was sick we didn't want to have a party with kids because we didn't want to risk spreading croup around so we invited Jeff and Becky over and just an intimate little party. It was Moroni's first experience with cake and ice cream and he loved it!! He certainly enjoyed the trucks that were on the top of the cake!

What a crazy month!!! 1 newborn,2 sick kids and 2 sick and exhausted parents

2009-03-22T21:38:00.001-07:00

We have had quite the month. Grandma Widmer (Ty's mom) was here helping with the kids and just shortly after she left we thought it would be safe to take Teancum to church. It was our first time going out (other than Dr's visits) and I would give anything to take it back.

We must have caught a bug because that Wednesday Moroni was as sick as can be. Of course the rest of us got sick and it took about 4 weeks to get us functioning again. As soon as we were getting better I woke up in the middle of the night to a horrible cough coming from Moroni. When Ty and I went in to check on him he had a white knuckle grip on his bed post with violent coughs and difficulty breathing. It freaked me out to see him so scared. After several minutes he got control of his breathing, but would not let go of us. On went the longest and scariest night I have had in a really long time. Come to find out it was croup and was going to last a couple more days. All I can say is thank goodness it is only a couple of days. It has been a little over a week and although he still has some coughs he is pretty much as good as new.

Labor and Delivery

2009-03-01T09:35:00.000-08:00

This labor and delivery was completely different than with Moroni. Starting around the middle of the second trimester I was having a lot of braxton hicks contractions. They continued to grow stronger and stronger and by the time I was in the last trimester they were as strong as early labor with Moroni. I figured it was a good thing - maybe I would progress more during these pre-labor contractions and the actual labor would be shorter than the 36 hours that I had with Moroni.

The last month of the pregnancy it was like I was in constant labor. I could lessen the contractions if I laid down, but they seemed nonstop. Some contractions would last several minutes with only short breaks in between. My uterus and I were exhausted; the uterus would cramp up with every contraction which only increased the discomfort. I went into the midwife and complained about the discomfort and lack of sleep. She stripped my membranes and and I used a labor tincture and by that night - or early morning we were on our way to the hospital. However, with all the extra pain from the cramping and strong contractions I didn't make it through the natural labor that I wanted. Instead of natural I took the epidural as soon as they would give it to me :) After that it was smooth sailing. The baby was posterior when I could feel the labor, but go figure he turned after the epidural - at least he was able to come out easier that way.

At around 6 in the morning we were ready to push. When the midwife got there it was just a few pushes and out he came. The best part is Ty delivered the baby. That was so cool!! I really loved the midwife and enjoyed the laid back intimate environment that the midwife brought to the whole experience. If we are still here for the next baby I am definitely going with the same midwife. Hopefully I can do it without the irritable uterus and posterior baby!

Announcing...

2009-02-11T15:09:00.000-08:00

Teancum Dennis is finally here.
Born January 30 at 7:10 am.
9 lbs. 2 oz.

As you can imagine things are busy with this new little guy in our lives. We have had the help of Ty's mom for the last couple weeks and will soon be left to find our new groove with this little addition. I am very excited to have Teancum in our family and looking forward to the challenge of keeping him alive with an energetic Moroni running around.

I will probably post an entry soon with a recap of the labor and delivery; right now I am trying to get Moroni to stay in his bed for a much needed nap:)

2009-01-25T21:17:00.000-08:00

I am horrible at keeping up with posts - sorry! Here is a little recap on the family.

We had a wonderful Christmas. We are so broke that we stayed in CA and had a little celebration with just the 3 1/2 of us. Moroni loves Christmas and although he is not to sure about the Santa guy in person he sure wants him to come back to our house again :)

We had a really fun evening decorating gingerbread houses with friends!! Jeff and Becky made a bunch of houses and invited a ton of people over to decorate them. I was amazed at how coordinated Moroni was - I didn't realize that kids so young could have such fine motor skill. Dad had to help him with the icing, but he did great with the candy. These little guys just keep amazing me!

Baby is coming - or is he???

2009-01-15T09:02:00.000-08:00

I went into the midwife today and she checked my cervix to see if all the contractions were doing anything. The good news is the contractions are "kind of" doing their job; I am dilating, but the contractions have not been able to change the position of my cervix. My cervix is facing towards my back so the baby's head is not able to put pressure on the opening to help me progress.

Apparently this little issue is caused by the baby facing the wrong way and they want me to go see a chiropractor to receive an adjustment that changes the direction the baby is facing. If we can get the baby to change directions it is suppose to help the cervix fall and I will experience less back labor.

Moroni was facing the same way when I was pregnant with him - which explains all the back pain I experienced with his labor. Hopefully Ty can figure out what I kind of adjustment I am suppose to have - it would be great to have a smoother labor and delivery this time!!

How much weight did you gain during pregnancy?

2009-01-08T14:17:00.000-08:00

So I am now full term and AGAIN went over the 20-30 lbs that I was suppose to gain. However, I think it is interesting that I have pretty much gained exactly the same amount I did with my first pregnancy even though I have a completely different lifestyle now.

Anyway - I am curious how many women actually gain the appropriate amount of weight during their pregnancies? Please take our poll so we can see what the numbers come out as.

Reasons why I can't take my husband to Walmart

2008-12-22T15:52:00.000-08:00

1. June 15: Took 24 boxes of condoms and randomly put them in people's carts when they weren't looking.

2 . July 2: Set all the alarm clocks in Housewares to go off at 5-minute intervals.

3. July 7: Made a trail of tomato juice on the floor leading to the women's restroom.

4. July 19: Walked up to an employee and told her in an official voice, "Code 3 in Housewares. Get on it right away."

5. August 4: Went to the Service Desk and tried to put a bag of M&M's on layaway.

6. September 14: Moved a "CAUTION - WET FLOOR" sign to a carpeted area.

7. September 15: Set up a tent in the camping department and told other shoppers he´d invite them in if they would bring pillows and blankets from the bedding department.

8. September 23: When a clerk asked if they could help him he began crying and screamed, "Why can't you people just leave me alone?"

9. October 4: Looked right into the security camera and used it as a mirror while he picked his nose.

10. November 5: While handling guns in the hunting department, he asked the clerk where the antidepressants were.

11. December 3: Darted around the store suspiciously while loudly humming the "Mission Impossible" theme. It wasn't to bad until his friend Jeff joined in - ugghhh.

12. December 6: In the auto department, he practiced his "Madonna look" by using different sizes of funnels.

13. December 18: Hid in a clothing rack and when people browsed through, yelled "PICK ME! PICK ME!"

14. December 21: When an announce ment came over the loud speaker, he assumed a fetal position and screamed, "OH NO! IT´S THOSE VOICES AGAIN!" And last, but not least

15. December 23: Went into a fitting room, shut the door, waited awhile, then yelled very loudly, "Hey! There's no toilet paper in here!" To make it worse it was the ladies fitting rooms and there was a huge line waiting to get in.

Does anybody have any ideas how to handle this?

Pregnancy Update

2008-12-19T13:41:00.000-08:00

It has been soooo incredible to have Ty home this week. He has been able to go surfing a lot (which puts him in a good mood) and he was able to go with me to have another ultrasound done. The last ultrasound showed some abnormalities with the kidneys so it was just to double check and see if he looked ok. He looks great; he has a good strong heart, good lungs, and two good kidneys! He is measuring about 5lbs so by the time he come out he will be a pretty big baby. We are guessing around 9-10 lbs, but that is just a guess; I can always hope for smaller :) Although I think Ty secretly likes having the big boys - he is so proud of his genes.

Since the last posting about the pregnancy a lot has changed. My doctor left for her maternity leave a little early so when the office called to cancel my appt I used that as an opportunity look elsewhere for another doctor (actually a midwife). It was perfect timing too; if I hadn't had that appt cancelled then I would have been stuck in the same medical group for another month because of insurance. So it worked out great!! I LOVE the new medical group I am in. I LOVE the doctor that the midwifes work with and I absolutely have loved all the midwifes there. Moroni actually really likes going there because they are more social and attentive to him than his own doctor is. It is such a change from previous experiences - I have left their office literally excited as can be to have had the opportunity to get to know them. I only wish I had made the change sooner; I am due in just over a month and I know already I am going to miss them. I am curious to see how the labor and delivery turns out. I have to admit I am a little more anxious and nervous then I was with Moroni; I just hope things turn out better this time. I went into that labor with so much confidence and seriously underestimated the amount of pain involved with labor and particularly with pitocin contractions. I am going to try to go natural, but we will see what happens.?.

Dennis Family pictures

2008-11-11T13:34:00.001-08:00

Moroni

2008-11-11T13:23:00.001-08:00

Moroni's first pumpkin

2008-10-31T15:20:00.000-07:00

Moroni has developed an obsession with pumpkins this year. Every time he sees pumpkins he gets all excited and has to go look at them.

We went to the store last week and he ran up to the pumpkins and picked one up that was almost as big as him and attempted to carry it over to the cart. His determination was so cute that I bought the pumpkin for him. Ever since he has carried and pushed it all around the apartment. Last night we decided we should carve it so it would be done for Halloween. Ty cut the top off the pumpkin and Moroni absolutely lost it because the pumpkin was "broken".

We have posted the video so you can see his reaction. I will try to get a picture of him in his costume tonight so you can see how cute he is.

Moroni and teeth; bad combo.

2008-10-19T18:59:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I had a dream that the nursery had a wall of recognitions. In the "naughty" spot was Moroni's picture. Ok, so maybe it wasn't a dream more like a nightmare.

Today as soon as Relief Society was over I rushed in to get him (I just missed him so much). As soon as I entered the room both nursery teachers immediately noticed me. One of the nursery teachers put the child she was carrying down and started heading in my direction. "Oh, No", I thought "this is it, he made the "naughty wall". I immediately felt horrible for whatever he had done, relieved only that the windows weren't broken and there were no reports of ambulances during class.

Ok - so I may have gotten carried away. It turns out he was bit by one of the other kids and had a good mark left on his hand. I smiled and I think I even laughed a little bit in relief. I simply said, "Great, I would rather have him bitten than doing the biting." One of the other mothers laughed at my relief of having my child abbused during nursery. I said something to the extent that it can be expected with kids this age and brushed it off. Funny how if someone elses child does something it was no big deal, but I am horrified at the idea of my kid doing it.

Ultrasound this week

2008-09-12T21:32:00.000-07:00

We went in for our ultrasound today. I have to admit I was a little disappointed. I guess I was really spoiled when I was pregnant with Moroni. This time Ty didn't get to come back for the "examination" so I was there alone in a dark room staring at the ceiling. The tech and I didn't really talk to each other so I have no idea if the baby is measuring OK and developing properly.

Different experience this time that is for sure. With our last pregnancy Ty and I got to be together and watch from our own screen the whole process. Our tech talked with us through the entire procedure and carefully checked off each organ and possible birth defect to make sure that the baby was growing properly. He also checked the measurements and adjusted our due date slightly. I didn't realize how good I had it in Hawaii; I really find myself missing the health care providers that we had there.

In any case we got to find out the gender. It is going to be another boy!!! I am so excited to have another little tiny member added to this family. We didn't get very good pix this time, but we do have one that shows both feet! Oh - it will be sooo fun to kiss those toes when they come out!

Pregnancy

2008-09-07T15:24:00.000-07:00

I am now approximately 20 weeks along; we should have that confirmed this coming Friday when we have an ultrasound done. This pregnancy has been easier in just about every conceivable way (no pun intended). I have not been as sick and I have not had as much pain as I had with Moroni. I do have a rather difficult time getting around at times, but that is usually due to walking for the proposition 8 campaign (another discussion entirely).

All in all this pregnancy has gone pretty smooth. Of course keeping up with Moroni becomes less smooth as time goes on and I get bigger and bigger. I don't think I am very big, but Ty told me last night that he thinks I might be having twins so I guess "big" is in the eye of the beholder. At least we both agree that in general I haven't gained as much body weight this time as I did with Moroni. We will see if that is really the case; after all I am only half way.

I will check back in at the end of the week with an update (after the ultrasound) and maybe by then have a picture. We are not very good at taking pictures along the way; otherwise we might have a better idea of how I am doing in size compared to last time.

Say what?

2008-09-04T22:55:00.000-07:00

Yesterday for dinner I was preparing shepherds pie; and of course Moroni wanted to be right there "assisting". When we were sitting down to eat he kept asking for an apple, but wouldn't eat the one I gave him. Finally I went to the kitchen and held up a potato and asked him if he wanted that. He excitedly pointed to it and said "apple". I corrected him and explained that it was a potato, at which point he sighed and said "I wan po-ato apple".

How can you argue with that?

Bean Month

2008-09-03T17:00:00.001-07:00

Ty and I want to have a month of eating beans everyday for dinner. So - I am looking any and all recipes involving beans. If anybody knows any good recipes please let me know.

Moroni started nursery

2008-09-02T09:26:00.000-07:00

Moroni had his first nursery experience last Sunday. He loved it!!! So did mom and dad :) I think everybody else in our ward appreciated it as well. The week before last he threw his sippy cup, filled with milk, at the wall in the middle of Sunday school; it exploded everywhere and distracted the whole class. Uggh. So needless to say I'm sure everybody appreciates the peace.

It didn't take but 3 seconds for Moroni to adjust. I couldn't even get him to kiss me goodbye. He was only interested in playing with all the toys and kids. The nursery teachers said he was good at sharing his toys and communicating with the other kids. He never got anxious about mom and dad leaving him so we figure he should be ready to move out pretty soon :)

Moroni

2008-08-29T10:52:00.000-07:00

Moroni is almost 18 months, but is often mistaken for a three year old. He has a huge vocabulary for his age. He is a pretty big boy but has recently returned to the "charts". He has been such a big baby that he has spent more of his life off the chart than on it.

He is trimming down quite a bit and looking more like a little boy than a baby. We can already tell he is going to have big broad shoulders just like his daddy; in fact he is just a little tiny version of Ty. He "tells it like it is", which makes us laugh right now, but I am sure will be difficult at times in the future. He is easily frustrated and is usually upset because he is trying to carry something or do something that he just isn't ready for yet (ie. lifting weights or trying to fit something where it doesn't belong; I will post a video on youtube that is a perfect example of this).

He is showing signs of being the "class clown". He definitely has a talent for lifting the mood wherever he is and brightening our lives. He is definitely the light of our lives. It will be interesting to see how things work out when he has a little brother or sister. Right now he seems to be excited about that baby. Of course he doesn't know or understand how much attention this baby is going to take away from him, but at least for now he is excited. He is so sweet; often coming up and patting my tummy and saying "hi baby" and then trying to explain to me that there is a "baby iside belllly".