She's Here...3 Weeks Early!

Can't believe our little girl made it here 3 weeks early! I had a feeling she would come early but it all started to get real at my 35 week appointment on May 6th. What I thought was going to be just a quick check for the strep B test, turned into surprise news that I was already starting to dilate and efface. With the other 3 kids I wasn't dilated to a 1cm until I was closer to 38 weeks, so hearing this, Nate and I were both shocked. Two weeks later, May 20th, was my 37 week appointment and I was definitely starting to feel miserable. Just a few days before this appointment I told Nate I didn't know how much longer I could last being pregnant. Being the rock for me through this all, Nate just kept trying to help me remember I still had 3 weeks to go and I needed to be strong. So I tried to tell myself that I needed to prepare for a long 3 weeks but deep down I knew she was coming. After my 37 week appointment and hearing that I was dilated to a 3cm and 60% effaced I knew it wouldn't be long, especially when Dr. England said my "membrane was bulging". I came home that day and washed baby clothes and started packing our bag. I spent that whole day with major back pain and achy all over not thinking I was that close to going into labor because I wasn't having any contractions to go with the pain. I figured I would need to tough it out another week or so, but that next morning at 3:20am I woke up to a real hard contraction and I instantly knew it was time. I laid in bed timing the next 4 contractions and they all were 4 minutes apart. It was then that I texted our moms giving them the update and then I hopped in the shower to start getting ready to head over to the hospital. We left to the hospital at 5:30am while Alison stayed at our house with the other kids until Nana could make it over and relieve her. When we got to the hospital the nurses checked me I had already changed to a 5cm and 90% effaced. That was more than plenty of change from my last appointment just the day before so I was quickly admitted into labor and delivery. The nurse snagged my epidural as well since it was a busy morning already around the hospital. By 7:00am I was officially checked in, my epidural was pumping and had the best on call nurse (Kristy Allen's mom). With my mom making the drive from Colorado and still a few hours out we were anxious for updates on my progression so at 8:00am the nurse checked me again. That time I was at a 6 1/2cm. At 9:00am Dr England came in to let me know I needed to hold off for a couple hours if I wanted him to delivery our little girl. He was about to go into a hysterectomy in the next 30 minutes and that surgery would take about a hour to an hour and half. So with that news we weren't anxious for progression anymore, because now we were waiting for the Dr. and Grandma. The nurses then checked me at 10:00am and I had moved to a 7 1/2cm. That same time Nana and the kids made it over to visit us at the hospital. It was lots of fun to have the kids apart of all the excitement even though they got bored waiting. Maelyn wasn't sure what to think of seeing me in the hospital bed, but had no problem sharing ice chips and cuddling with me. At 11:35am Dr. England came rushing back up to my room making sure I wasn't delivering without him while his partner took over the surgery he was working on. While he was in my room he checked me again and I was still a 7 1/2cm, so he broke my water to get things moving now that he was almost finished with his surgery. Within the next hour I was fully dilated and effaced and ready to go! My body was beyond cooperative because Grandma Kay and Dr. England made it in plenty of time for delivery.

Delivery is always my favorite part and makes the 9 months of pregnancy totally worth it. Just before Dr. England came in to deliver her, I told my nurse my epidural wasn't working very well. I could still feel every contraction and was slightly uncomfortable. She asked if I wanted an extra dose of something in my epidural to help with delivery since I  knew it was almost time. Well I got the extra dose just in case, but right after the anesthesiologist put the medicine in, Dr. England came walking in and started gloving up so I didn't get the 15 minutes for it to kick in. I remember feeling a really strong contraction and told Dr. England it felt like a good one, so he asked me if I wanted to push. To me, I just do the what the Dr says, so I asked him if he wanted me to push. Sure enough he was having me push on the hard contraction before he was even fully gloved up. 2 pushes later on that same contraction she was here at 12:45pm!! Luckily I was numb just enough that I didn't feel much, but I got to feel the whole thing of what a natural birth would be like without the pain. I was surprised I didn't feel much with her head coming out, but what was the coolest part was her arms and legs. There aren't even words to describe that feeling other than a baby on a water slide. Right after that she was placed on my tummy and after a long 37 weeks I  finally got to meet all 7lbs 14oz of our little girl. She was covered in tons of that baby fat all over her. I don't think any of the other kids had that much covering them, but she definitely had it everywhere!

As soon as I was covered up and decent, the kids, Grandma Kay and Nana came back in from the hallway and got to meet our little girl as well. Andersen by far was the most interested. He was right by her side the whole time! Jackson being the gentle giant he is, had a hard time hearing her crying so he sat on the bench plugging his ears so he didn't have to worry about if she was ok or not. Nate made sure to let Maelyn see, but I am not sure she understood what was really happening other than being really curious of what the excitement was all about.

We spent the next hour holding our new little girl! Everyone got a few minutes to hold her. Nate was really cute to help each one of the kids meet their sister by getting some individual time with her. 

We all couldn't get enough of her! She went from arm to arm as we all soaked in her freshness. Definitely a sweet moment our family got to have as we moved from a family of 5 to a family of 6!

The next two days were spent relaxing and visiting at the hospital. We loved our visits from all our family and friends. Nothing better than a couple days to do nothing but love on our new baby. Those are my favorite days! Love watching the first bath, the first outfit, the little yawns and noises and all the cuddles without too many distractions.

Friday, May 23rd, it was time to checkout of the hospital and finally decide on a name. This is always our hardest part about adding a new one to our family but I refused to leave this time until we had a name. I had a list of names that I had liked throughout the pregnancy which were Mara, Macie, Sicily or Eden. Nate didn't have any suggestions to add to that, but he definitely didn't like Eden. Mara and Macie became our two we were deciding from that morning. As we discussed back and forth through those two names we both agreed on Mara but then it came down to figuring out a middle name. I wasn't set on anything but I feel like a middle name needs some sort of meaning so that was where we got stumped. We went through all sorts of options and Nate suggested Jo. At first I quickly refused on that one because it sounded so masculine to me, and the last thing I wanted was my girls not to have a feminine name. I could tell Nate was getting frustrated with me because he started packing up the room and took a load down to the car. While he was gone to the car I looked up the meaning of Jo. The first meaning that popped up in my search was "beloved one; darling; sweetheart". Once I read that I was sold. Shortly after Nate came back in, I told him I liked Jo and it was a done deal. This picture below was right after we officially named her Mara Jo Rothe. Less than 10 minutes later she was all buckled in and we were checked out of the hospital and on our way home.

Mara was welcomed home by many arms ready to hold her and lots of love to go around. Lots of kisses and snuggles! Those first few days home Mara got to meet Grandpa Dave, spend time soaking up some Vitamin D for some mild jaundice and even an antibiotic for her eyes to clear out a yucky bug. I loved spending time just looking at her little features and trying to comprehend such a miracle. It impossible to understand how something so small can be created into something so perfect and sweet! She has the longest fingers and toes and the best head of hair. Exactly a week after Mara was born, all visitors were gone and Nate was back to work and I was on my own as a mother of 4! Definitely overwhelming when you are going on no sleep and trying to heal from delivery, but I feel so lucky to have such amazing friends as my neighbors that are always willing to lend a helping hand. Its only been a few days with her a part of our family, but its already hard to remember life without her. We are beyond grateful for her safe arrival to our home! We love you already so much sweet little Mara!

4th of July with the Sampsons

The Sampson's are always known for a fun party over the 4th of July so we finally planned a trip to visit them! The last time we had been to Minnesota I was pregnant with Andersen so we were definitely overdue on a visit. I was a little anxious traveling with Maelyn being so small but besides the typical behavior from kids, we had successful flights as a family of 5 and luckily sat next to a really nice couple that enjoyed babies, so Maelyn wasn't a bother to them at all!

Besides spending our days just enjoying one another's company and letting the kids play together, we made a quick trip across the street to see the traveling circus that happened to be in town at the same time. Definitely no circus that we are used to watching, but it was fun to see this small town circus come into town, set up for a couple days and then disappear. We let the kids play on all the bouncing toys and Andersen insisted on riding an elephant!! What a cool experience. The show was very entertaining and would have been even better if the tent had some circulation. We all left the show drenched in sweat.

The 4th of July party consisted lots of food, and even more fireworks than food! Mike LOVES his fireworks and plans all year for this day. The kids spent the day in their swim suits playing in the pool and hose. Later we did a BBQ with their neighbors. We even got to see some old friends from Utah that Nate works with and got transferred to Minnesota. We had a such a fun week with the Sampsons and its always nice to get away and relax with family. If only the mosquitoes stayed away a few more days the trip would have been perfect! Hopefully its not another 4 years until we get back to visit! 

Pool Time!

These kiddos LOVE the pool or anything to do with water for that matter, so Alison, her sister Wendy and I took a trip to the Riverton pool one afternoon to soak up some vitamin D. It's amazing how fast 3 hours can go just playing in water. This visit to the pool the boys were brave enough to go off the diving board. Andersen only made it to the smaller board but Landon and Jackson jumped off the high dive like pros. Maelyn even enjoyed splashing and playing in the shallow end with Mom. Definitely will have to be doing more of this next summer!

BeYOUtiful! Girls Camp

Where do I even start with what a fun girls camp this was? Lucky for us we were able to reserve Heber Valley Girls Camp again just as our ward. Of course we all met bright and early to get our camp on. This year was hard because Hollie had just been released as our counselor and YW just isn't the same without her, but she was nice enough to make sure I got a little birthday surprise before we left for camp that morning. It wouldn't be a year of girls camp or youth conference without celebrating my birthday with my young women girls. Our camp theme this year was "Be Your Own Kind of Beautiful". Teaching these girls beauty is more than just your appearance. We taught them about physical beauty, but also about spiritual beauty and emotional beauty

One of the days at camp was our service project. This camp ground is beyond beautiful and its because of all the many hands that put in their time daily to help keep it clean and nice. Our service project was chopping wood (or more like sliding wood on to a powered axe!) and then piling it in each campsite so everyone had plenty of wood for fires.  The girls were so helpfully and an hour or so later we had chopped and stocked many pounds of wood! The girls favorite was this HUGE log that took so many hands and different chops to finally break it down.

Some of the other things we did besides all spiritual learning was have FUN! One of my favorite highlights was beating Lauryn at ladder toss. We created a tournament with all the girls interested competing round after round. The luck landed on me and I ended up kicking all the girls butts! So much for being the nice leader, right? Other things we did was go canoeing on the little lake. We had a mystery dinner that Pam, our camp cook put on. She gave all the girls random utensils and cups to use and then served them up dinner to eat with what they had. They girls were so confused at first but quickly caught on and dug into their food with no problem. We also took a small hike/walk around the lake and then a lot of hang out time goofing around at our campsite.

Our last night at camp is always the most anticipated night of camp because the Bishopric and wives join us for dinner and testimony meeting. Its always filled with tons of laughter and good tears. For our program before testimony meeting I asked a couple speakers to join us that I thought represented each "beauty" topic we had already talked about throughout the week. What a good job Janelle, Jessica and Stephanie did! Overall, this was my favorite girls camp as their YW President. All the girls got along and actually let down some tough barriers that have been up for years. We also had great leaders and priesthood leaders joining us all week, with delicious food and very 5 star camping facilities. The whole time at camp I speculated and had a feeling it would be my last camp in this calling so I tried to soak it all in as much as possible. Little did I know that felt release would come a week later! Totally bittersweet, but two weeks after that I was called to Stake YW's and the first thing I thought was..."I get to go to camp!!" Nothing better than a few days in nature with some great women.

Back to School... Our 1st Grader!

6 weeks later this little Kindergartner became a big 1st grader! Our summer went so fast it seemed like but Jacks was super excited to be going back and meeting a whole new class of friends and a new teacher. The boys HAD to ride their bikes to school, but of course I followed for some first day pictures. It's always a little chaotic on the first day of school but Jacks managed to handle it fine and get themselves all lined up. Love the Landon and Jackson stick together because its comforting to know someone is always looking out for him. Hope Jacks has another fun and positive year at school and that his desire to learn continues to stay strong!

Kindergarten...CHECK!

I can't believe this guy is finishing up Kindergarten! I feels just like yesterday I was enrolling him into school and going through Kindergarten orientation with his first teacher. I was an emotional mess sending him off to school for the first time but as I started watching him grow and mature and have so much fun, it got easier with every day. He had such a fun teacher this year. Miss Calhoon made sure he always felt special and was doing what he was supposed to. It also helped that he had his best friend Landon in the same class. I am sure they gave her a run for her money but they continued to build such a great friendship over the year together. He also got to meet a bunch of fun boys because this class had only 6 girls total! On the last day of Kindergarten the boys insisted on riding their bikes in the morning because they were just starting to become pros at going by themselves. It was only appropriate to let them do the same on the last day, but I insisted that I got to pick him up so I could take one last picture of him as a big Kindergartner. On to 1st grade boys!

COLORADO {Memorial Day Weekend}

Every year we try to make it out to Colorado to see my parents at least once. This year we spent Memorial Day with them. 6 hours with kids in the car makes for a long drive but it always is worth it when we get to spend the next few days just relaxing and playing. It wouldn't be a trip to Grandma and Grandpa Colorado's house without grandpa pulling out his guns for some target practice. This is something Jackson LOVES and I think Andersen started a small love for it too this year. Grandpa set up two targets this time and of course it became a competition to see who could hit the best. By the picture I am sure you can tell Nate won best shot out of our family!

The rest of the weekend, if we weren't eating and relaxing, we went to the bowling lanes, rode around on Grandpa's machines and even helped Grandma with her chores of mowing the pastures around their house. I always feel like we pack up our entire house to spend just a few nights but it is always worth the visit. I hope the kids always cherish thess visits as it is such a nice break from the busy city life we live, plus some quality time at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  

Probably Last Season of Soccer

Sports are always fun to have the boys involved in and gives us something to do as a family as we go support one another, but this season of soccer we realized soccer may not be in the family cards. Andersen loved the idea of being on the team with his buddies, but when it came to playing the actual game he didn't care to play at all. He danced and rolled around the field and at one point told his coach to let him out of the game because another player had just got to the game and he needed time to play. Bless his heart for trying and always making everyone else feel included, but I would say the highlight of this season for Andersen was his turn to pass out treats to his team! I guess we will stick with Baseball and Basketball next year.

Yankees- Spring Ball

This was probably our favorite season of Baseball yet. Jackson had a great coach, a great group of friends he got to play with and a great season!! This year Jackson was asked to play with some of his basketball friends with McKay's dad Scott being our coach. He had so much fun playing with all his friends, plus it didn't hurt that they ended up 3rd overall. We started early in the season playing on the grass fields and then towards the end of the season they got to play on the bigger fields and feel like real ball players. Some of the games were even under the lights which Jackson loved! I don't think the boys realized how good they were doing until it came down to the second to last game they played in the tournament. They won that game by only 1 run!! The boys made it to the semi-finals where Jacks played his best game EVER! He had some of his best hits of the season that night. Although they didn't win the tournament we still took Jacks out to Leatherby's to celebrate what a awesome night and season he had overall. So proud of this little guy. He became such a good hitter this season and I loved watching him be with such a good group of boys. Way to go Yankees!

A Sad Goodbye

I am skipping ahead of many posts I am behind on, but I don't want any more time to pass before I write some of my thoughts I have had these past two weeks. 

Little did I know this would be the last picture I'd take with all my girls (still missing a few though). We asked the girls to wear their camp necklaces two Sundays ago so I could send a picture to my friend that made them all for us. Just a few hours after this picture was taken, the bishopric scheduled a visit with Nate to come stop by where the release was given. Although there were days when things were really hard and I secretly begged to be released, more times than not I dreaded this day. Four years of this just doesn't end with a few words telling me I was released. I've spent many hours praying, teaching, serving and loving these girls! It became such a normalcy in my life so to have it taken away rocked my world. I felt the release coming a few months before but it could have never prepared me for what I'd really feel like with it being a reality. I had a week to digest the news and pass on as much as I could to the new president before it was made official in last week's sacrament meeting. It was an emotional week for sure and I still get choked up sometimes when I think of saying goodbye to these girls. I still had my last lesson to teach that same Sunday so rather than teaching our monthly topic I decided it would be best to combine and let the girls have an hour to digest the change themselves. We spent the time testifying to the girls that this change is meant to be and it's ok to to open their hearts to new leaders, but that it is also ok to be sad for a time as well. I knew I would be beyond emotional, and when I get to that point I can't communicate what I need to so I spent the week writing this poem to tell the girls exactly what was in my heart...

I felt it coming so long ago.

Tears of doubts ran high, overwhelmingly so.

Feeling a child myself and wanting someone to follow,

I accepted the call knowing my testimony you girls would borrow.

There have been hard times and drama, I cannot lie.

But we’ve created friendships and memories money couldn't buy.

My life is changed, my testimony grown.

The Title “daughter of God” even more known!

This service of God brought blessings untold.

No doubt I'll miss it, but the next step will soon unfold.

Same mantle, same calling, just changing the leader.

All you have to do is accept and believe her. 

Although Uchtdorf and Hilary and skunks may be,

what years down the road you only remember of me.

Please continue with faith and endure to the end,

Remember your true beauty and your virtue defend.

Your laughs and silly inside jokes will be missed so much.

We had some good times thanks to you crazy bunch!

Whatever chapter you choose to remember of the PJR story, (this was my nickname they gave me)

Seeing you girls enter the temple will be my true glory.

Just like it came, I felt it slipping away.

More tears than the first, just a different reason today.

Many prayers of gratitude I've been sending above,

For giving me 4 years with you girls that I love.

Over the years I have loved serving these girls. This calling was one of my greatest blessings I've ever received through my willingness to serve. I feel like I received more from this calling than these girls ever got from me. Now that two weeks has passed by, every day gets easier, but I still find myself thinking about these girls and their lives...how their day was at school, did they make any new friends, are they hanging out with good friends, are they making good choices and bettering themselves in the things they listen to and read, and how their relationships are with their families. I also find myself reflecting on memories as little things within my day remind me of each one of them and their different personalities, interests and inside jokes. I'm sure the rest of my life will be a sporadic reflection of the many different memories we share, but I'm so excited to see what the future holds for each one of them. I just pray that I have in some way or another fulfilled my calling and touched their testimony somehow so they are better by my service and love given in their behalf. 

Another hard part to say goodbye to this calling is the Ward Council and the amazing leaders I got to serve with. My testimony and faith has been strengthened as I have served along side these men and women. Some of my dearest friends were created through these four years of service and I am grateful everyday that I was blessed to know them and call them friends. I know there is a new chapter ahead and these friendships I have made will continue on but it doesn't make it any easier saying goodbye to the immediate and planned interactions that came from this calling. Man I am going to miss it like crazy and its the hardest goodbye I have ever been through, but its comforting to know they are in good hands and they are loved just as much by new leaders.

Thanks for all the fun years filled with many laughs, tears and jokes... they will never be forgotten!

Love you girls more than you will ever know. Thanks for loving me back as your spiritual leader. You have changed my life for the better. 

SWIM.BIKE.RUN THIRD EDITION

This year I got talked into doing another triathlon! Ever year I tell myself it was fun, but I am ok not to do it again... that obviously didn't last long. This was the third time doing the Woman of Steel TRI, second triathlon with Nikki and my first with Tina and Jill. I knew what to expect for the race so I didn't spend much (or any!) time really training. I had good intentions in the beginning and Nikki and I ran a couple times around the neighborhood and spent a couple trips to the rec center to swim laps but I felt like I was going out on this cold for sure. I knew I could get through it so I wasn't worried, I was just along for the ride and to have fun with the girls. It was totally different this year for me and I actually enjoyed it more. I didn't have the anxiety and nervous stomach the night and morning before like normal and my body didn't hurt like it normally does either. The only thing I can contribute that to is my lack of training! I wasn't feeling pressured to beat scores, I didn't push my body in training to be tired, so over all I felt more accomplished getting through it all. 

Seems like this race always bring some sort of uncomfortable weather. This year it was the wind and rain!! Swimming is my favorite part of the whole thing so I was just grateful there was no lightning to force them to cancel that part and add more running (like they did the first year!). Once I was finished with my swim and done with my first lap on the bike the wind and rain picked up and my face and hands were freezing as we were riding head on. Because of how they alphabetize the transition area Tina and I were right next to each other.  As I was finishing with my bike and coming back into the transition area, Tina was finishing her swim. It was fun to see her and cheer her on as she was starting her bike and I was starting the run. But what makes it more fun is to see my cute little family fighting the cold just to give me the few seconds of cheers as I lap by them throughout the bike and run. This year we even had our good friend Rachel cheering us all on which added to the support. What a good friend she is! Through serving in young womens Nikki, Rachel and I have become really close friends so sharing little memories like this together just makes things that much sweeter. Friends like them don't come around very often! I remember my second year doing this TRI, but my first year with Nikki, I was having a hard time with the run at the end. She was just shortly behind me as I was finishing my last mile. She was able to catch up to me and we ran the whole way in together. What a sweet moment we shared as we crossed the finish line together. So this year, we were hoping for the same thing. I looked back so many times hoping I would see her close, only to keep plugging away on my run alone. As I got closer I gave up on the idea of finishing together and just ran it in.... only to have Nikki just seconds behind me. I was so bummed! Luckily I was still right by the finish line to giver her a big sweaty hug!

Now that its over again, I am glad its over and it was lots of fun, but again, I am ok not to do it again.... we'll see how long that lasts though. Good job girlies... Thanks for encouraging my lazy butt to do this again!

Once the times were listed I quickly made a graph of my scores throughout the years. The first year times are off because the canceled the swim, so rather than swim, they added a mile run and then finished the race like normal with bike and run. Considering my overall times are only minutes apart I came to the conclusion that training for me isn't worth it! I will definitely take the 3 minutes slower.

Silverlodge Hotel

Nate had a work training all week in Park City at the Silverlodge hotel a few months ago, so rather than spending another night alone without him home, we took a quick drive to visit him. We enjoyed some Cafe Rio on his balcony from his room and then later played in the pool. It was FREEZING outside still but they had the water heated pretty good, so it made for some nice swimming water. Maelyn even enjoyed herself, even though she only had a diaper that weighed more than her by the time we were done. They boys were having so much fun that the begged to sleepover with Daddy. They didn't want to leave him and they cried, especially Jackson, when it was time to leave. Good thing a 711 was right around the corner to cheer them up! Thanks for letting us crash your evening of meetings Incontact!

Neighborhood bike gang

With the weather finally starting to warm up the boys started asking to ride their bikes to and from school. Its hard to let these little kindergartners ride alone, so many mornings I'd pack up the kids in our bike trailer and follow them over with the other moms. Unfortunately one morning didn't go so well as I about crashed us all with my bike pedal falling off. Good thing I had already made it up the hill so going home I was just able to coast all the way in. I love this picture of most of Jacks neighborhood buddies all on bikes. We are so lucky to have so many kids around us for Jackson to play and go to school with. Another reason I love these pictures is because I see such a great quality Jackson has... he is one clean boy!! The first thing he did when he got home from school was wash his bike. He said he had gotten it dirty, so he grabbed the hose, sprayed it down and later came inside to grab a towel to dry it off. We are loving that we live so close to the school, because they spent the rest of the school riding to and from school which saved us mom's from doing carpool. Eventually we started letting the boys ride by themselves to school as long as the promised to stay together. I quizzed Jackson so many times on his phone number and what to do if he gets hurt or there was a stranger talking to him. So hard letting go, but he loves being treated like he is so grown up, so this was one of those things that gave him a little freedom to feel big!