Thanks Little Debbie

We purchased a box of these little treats. They are creamy, rolled in chocolate, and somewhat delightful. Homebaking is much better but in a pinch.....

Anyway, Landry LOVED them

After each bite she squeeled, and said, "ummmm, ummmm, ummmm." quote.

Oh joyful goodies

giggle, giggle, ummmmmm, ummmmm.

She LOVED them,

Got VERY messy

and wouldn't share ANY with me......

Well, maybe a little. We had a fun, scrumptious afternoon.

What I Did and Didn't Know

I knew that we were going on a romantic Valentines weekend trip to....

Russ told me Tuesday evening that on Thursday we were heading to the big city. Russell had the plane tickets booked, the hotel room reservered, a babysitter arranged (Thanks to my Mom, she drove the boys to and fro and they loved it) and my resposibilities covered.

Sweet, so sweet.

but.......

what Ididn't know!!!!!

Cameron was planning the same thing for Jodie.

They met us there!!!!!

Yay a weekend with my best friend

I didn't know the flowers would be so beautiful.

I didn't know the Granville market was so neat.

So many good things to see.

And eat.

I didn't know Landry was going to be so good. She was a perfect tag along.

And I didn't know the view from our hotel suite would be so fantastic.

I do know that I love Russell. He is so good to me and I Love him immensely. He is

teaching our boys so many good lessons. Somewhere there are four little girls who are going to be very lucky someday to marry a Russell replica.

I don't know who you are, but I do know you are going to be very blessed little ladies.

Happy Valentines Day to my favorite person in the world.

I Love you Russell.

Updated Pictures

I am so far behind in updates that I figured I better post some of Landry just for Aunts, Cousins and Grandmas who haven't seen her for a while.

Snoozing

A surprise awakening

So Happy!

We love this Girl

New Design by Me!!

I really needed a spot to file bookeeping items and magazines etc... but got tired of the old filing cabinets that I had moved from house to house. This house I figured needed updated filing furniture. So I got an idea. About 3:00 am ,I am guessing, I dreamed this up. I love it, it turned out better than I thought and it's very handy.

The Finished Furniture

You will need two of these. A very willing husband, did I mention how much I love him? and a trusty side kick who I also love.

They made me a new base that would raise the old file cabinets off the ground a bit. Looks a little more like a piece of furniture.

I primed and painted old file drawers.

And added a cool, fun color found also in the rooms rug.

Peacock Blue, (thanks Karli)

Before:
Old, unmatching drawers, handy but not too pretty.

Landry's Blessing

Landry was blessed on October 10th, 2010. 10-10-10, we thought that was cool and 10 has always been my favorite number, and so it remains. Grandma and Grandpa Jensen visited for the blessing which was also Landry's big brother Caleb's deacon ordination and Landry's Dad was set apart as a member of the Stake High Council, a big day in our home.

Dad and boys all wore matching pink ties for the special occasion

Bridger's tie may have been a little long

The dress that Landry was blessed in has a unique story. For 15 years I have been anticipating the blessing of a little girl. I carefully set aside the dress I was blessed in. A little ivory dress made from acetate ( the poor man's silk ). The little ivory dress was made by my Great Grandma for my Grandmothers doll. My Grandma Kennington presented it to my Mom the night before I was blessed because a dolly dress was better than the little sleeper my Mom had to bless me in. I wore the little dress, it was so charming. Years passed with Russell refusing to bless one of the boys in the dress, thank heavens. Then one evening my dear sister Karli helped me prepare the little antique for a Y.W. lesson and accidentally burned a small hole in it. Note to self and others, poor man's silk burns easily with a hot iron. No worries it only adds to the history of the dress. Finally when we didn't think the dress would ever be used again, Landry blessed us with her coming. So I went to pull out the little ivory frock. Where is it? I can't find it! I searched and searched. Went to my Mom's house and searched, back to my house and searched, made the boys and Russ search, then back to my Mom's. I cleaned and wiped out every closet in my house, dug through every bin and did a very thorough search. Even the night before Landry's blessing I was sure I would find it. I prayed and prayed and by the morning of the blessing the little dress still hadn't presented itself so.....

To my dismay I decided I had better find something else to put on our baby girl. My Mom had given me a dress for Landry's blessing but it needed some altering so on the morning of her blessing I sat at my sewing machine with scissors in hand. I cut off about 2 feet of fabric, moved lace about, trimmed the slip, added some detail here and took off detail there and dressed our baby in a newly altered little cotton dress and a little pearl bracelet. She looked beautiful and what really mattered was the that her Dad gave her a wonderful blessing and she is ours.

Landry Reed Arrives

Landry joined our family at about 8:30 am on September 21st, 2010. I had c-section with an epidural planned but apparently the "numbing juice" doesn't work on me so instead of feeling the whole thing I chose to be put under entirely. By the time I awoke 7 lb 1 oz Landry had already met her Daddy, 4 brothers, Grandma Gulbranson and Auntie Karli.

Even before I woke up I remember the nurses telling Russ that she was healthy and weighed only 7lbs, 1 oz, a whole pound less that our next smallest boy. I smiled to myself in my sleep.

We are so excited to have her here safe and we all love her to bits. Everyone says she looks like Coleson, Bridger and her Dad. It looks like she might have a dimple, blue eyes and fuzzy pink hair.

Caleb has been the most excited through this whole journey, he was the first to hold little Sister

Mckay will be a loving brother, and even though he was kicked out of his own room by a little sister, you can tell he still loves her.

I don't know, does it look like Dad loves her already?
Lots of pink hair.

Bridger is no longer the baby

Coleson is pleased.

Daddy visited us everyday over the 4 day hospital stay. He spent lots of time kissing Landry.

A Little Girl Room

A quick glance at Landry's room.

I repainted (for the 4th time) the red shelves from another room, added some inexpensive pots and flowers and anything else that matched the color scheme.

I have to admit, I was rather excited about decorating a little girl's room. Mckay on the other hand was a little bummed because we had allocated the room to him and had come up with some really neat "teenager" things to do for him. He was so good about giving the room up for baby.

We started by doing a very simple wainscotting and changing the boy color for several coats of primer and later a very feminine color chosen by Dad.

Dad also designed and built her a closet which is even larger than mine.

We found some things from around the house to accent the room. An old mirror with a little red paint, an accent table used in another room became a change table and a little tricycle, which you can barely see, is tucked in the corner.

Finally, I painted a crib a fun color and Dad insisted on installing a chandelier (Do we see a Daddy theme here? I think he already likes the girl). The hutch is from my mother with quilts I have been collecting for years sitting on top.

Window dressings are coming and I have a pretty quilt I am putting together, All reds and pinks, so fun.

A Pink Shower

I loved the pretty light fixture, thanks Sarah

Pink cupcakes were so delicious and all the wrappers were handmade.

Before the arrival of Landry, a.k.a Pudge, some of my dearest friends threw her and I a wonderful shower. Thank you Allreds for the pink party and to all the attendees. My best friend came all the way from Ft. McMurray, My sister came from Utah and all my other dear friends and family brought wonderful gifts and lots of kind words. Thank you so much for being such big supporters in the years past when things didn't always turn out as planned and for being good friends who are happy for me when great things come. I love you all !!! Now, just wait for baby to put all these cute clothes and toys to good use.

Saturday Excursion

Friday night we planned a Saturday complete with lanscaping, lawn mowing, and lawn tidying but what to do when you wake up and the forescast is rain? Well, we packed a lunch of hotdogs, chips and watermelon and headed for a trip north of Fort St. James. Russ will be working in the north all summer and we plan to camp a lot with him. We decided to go hunt for a good camping and fishing spot where the boys can ride bikes and play.

After 2hrs of driving we pulled over to change a flat tire caused by a sharp rock in the trail, it was then we realized that in our haste to get on the road we had forgotten mosquito dope, never a good thing in Canada in June. Back on the road for 1/2 hr we arrived at our first camping option, Kloch Lake Forestry Campground. We built a fire in the rain, the boys have talent, and quickly rigged fishing poles. As the boys headed to the lake I pulled out our lunch and fashioned us some roasting sticks.

We enjoyed lunch, a little soggy but fun. The boys headed back to the lake for a few more casts and low and behold Mckay caught a 4 lb. 24 inch lake trout. If we had our doubts whether to stay at Kloch lake for the summer or not, I think they were resolved with a few extra casts.

Then we packed up and headed to the block that Russell and his crew will be logging. The boys and I sat in the truck with a dead fish, mosquitos and that nice musty smell you get after your clothes are wet and redried by a smoky fire, while Russ walked a kilometer or two to check the area. Still no mosquito dope.

All in all it was a fun day and I was grateful when I climbed in bed about 10:00 that night for rainy days, stinky boys and wet fish. What a good life we have been blessed with.

La Petite Fleur

This weekend I did a cake for a young couple in our ward. The pictures should have been better but I forgot my camera at home and as you can see the R.S. kitchen had to serve as my backdrop. Nontheless, it's a charming little cake and was lots of fun to do.

Garyn, feel free to correct my French.