Home from the hospital

We came home from the hospital yesterday. Like always, I was nervous to come home and be in the real world. I don't like leaving the safety of the hospital bed and having the nurses there to take care of me. Dale does a wonderful job of taking care of me and my mother-in-law is staying with us so I really don't have anything to be nervous about. I just don't like not being able to do all the things I usually do. We took this picture at the hospital before we left. I can't believe how big our family is. I love it! Katie didn't have a very good night. She was awake most of the night. She really only slept from 4:00-8:00 a.m. I slept on the couch and thankfully Dale stayed out there with me. It was so nice to have him there with me. I'm sure she'll get this sleeping thing down within a few nights but until then I am going to have to get used to taking naps. Luckily I was able to take a nap with her while the family was at church. Even though we had a rough first night home, I am loving having a baby around again. Heavenly Father sure knew what he was doing when he created babies!

So much to be thankful for!

As I am sitting in the hospital on this Thanksgiving Day, I am thinking about the many many things that I have to be thankful for. First, our sweet little Katie Emma. She is beautiful! I am thankful that she is finally here and that she is healthy. As I watch her sleeping in her little bed, I can't believe how perfect she is. Everyone in the family is in love with her. It's amazing to me how all the kids have an instant love for her. I am thankful to my doctor and all the wonderful nurses at the hospital. It is nice to have someone there to take care of us. I am also thankful for our family members that are very willing to do whatever we need them to do with our kids while I am in the hospital. I am thankful for the 6 kids that I have. I love them so much! Finally, I am incredibly thankful for my wonderful husband. He is so thoughtful and does such a wonderful job of taking care of our family. He knows me and the little things that will make me happy. He does such a good job of making my hospital room the way I want it. When he comes, he cleans everything up for me because he knows I can't stand the clutter. He brought me a DVD player, my computer and his IPOD that he set up with speakers so I could listen to music. He is being very patient with the kids. I love how much he loves Katie and how much he misses her when he has to leave. I feel blessed at this time in my life and am happy to have everything that has been given to me!

My last pregnant day

I can't believe that the time to have our baby is finally here. We will be going to the hospital at 6:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. This is how I spent my last pregnant day.

• Sent the kids off to school
• cleaned the house until 11:00
• went to Laura's to get my hair done. She gave me a gift certificate at my baby shower for a hair makeover. It was wonderful!

went to the school to do the last of the 5 Jr. Achievment lessons in Jaxon's class

• Came home with the kids and made a chocolate cake (Dale's been wanting one lately so I thought I would leave that for him and the kids).

Took Jadon to his violin lesson

• Went to the hospital to have the blood work done for tomorrow

Went to Burger King with my family for dinner

• Took Jadon, Kierra and Jaxon to my Mom and Dad's to sleep over.
• Took Jake and Kyson to Kris's house to sleep over
• Went home and made sure all camera batteries were charged and that the hospital bag was ready to go.
• Watched "Get Smart"
• Went to bed at 11:30 in hopes of getting at least 4 hours of sleep.

We will have a post of the baby as soon as possible!

What a wonderful suprise!!!

Tonight was a very special night for me. I thought that I was going out to dinner with Dale and his family because his mom was in town. I wasn't excited about where we were going to dinner but I was excited to get out. We were going to ride with Doyle and Kris to dinner, so we went to their house. When we got to there, I noticed that there were a lot of cars parked in front of their house and in the driveway. I remembered that Kris said something about her neighbor having a surprise party for her husband but I thought it was strange that they were parking in Kris's driveway. When we got inside her house, tonz of people yelled "Surprise!" I thought that they thought we were someone else and they yelled "surprise" too soon. Then I looked around and saw my family and friends and couldn't believe that they were actually there for me! My mother-in-law was standing right by me and I hugged her and cried. Now I know how she felt when we surprised her this summer. What a wonderful feeling it was. To know that so many people cared. My sister-in-law, Kris, and my sister, Lisa, were the ones that organized the surprise baby shower. It was so fun to hear the stories, later on in the evening, of the planning of the party and all the things they did. They even registered me at Target. I got so many nice things for our new baby girl! This is the best party I have ever had! I could not believe how many people were there. I am so thankful to have such wonderful friends and family! Thanks Kris and Lisa for being so thoughtful and thanks to everyone who came! I love you all!

Another fun harmony performance!

Tonight we went to the kid's Harmony performance. They sang some fun Disney songs. Jadon and Jaxon both had speaking parts and did a great job with them. Kierra was a dancer this time and did a great job as well. It's fun to have 3 of my kids in Harmony. It was also fun to see 5 Byers names on the program. Kamry and Kayla are also in Harmony. Dale had the oppurtunity to praticipate in the program this year. He ran the spotlight. I think he enjoyed being part of something the kids are involved in. I am so thankful to all the people who make it possible to have the Harmony program at our school!

What an awesome day!

Today was such a great day! When I was laying in bed this morning, I was trying to decide what to do with the day. I decided I wanted to clean my house and I wanted the family to help me. So I layed there and decided what jobs each person would get. When I told them their assigned jobs, I was actually surprised at how willing they were to help. They complained a little but still did them. I should have taken a picture of all the kids working together. After the kids finished their jobs, they did a great job of keeping themselves entertained and not messing up the house. Dale and I continued to work on deep cleaning. It is so much easier to clean when everyone is helping out. I love those kind of Saturdays! After everything was done, we went out to dinner at Golden Corral. Normally, I don't really like going to places like that but the kids had coupons from school for free meals so I thought it would be good. It was awesome!!! The 3 older kids all can take care of getting their own food and think it is so cool. They were great with helping Kyson and Jake to get what they wanted as well. The food wasn't bad either. Everyone was happy and left very full! The best thing is...we got to come home to a clean house! Now if we could just have the baby tonight, the day would be the best ever! Not much chance of that happening since I have to teach a R.S. lesson tomorrow.

HSM3

I've been meaning to take Kierra to see High School Musical 3 since it came out 2 weeks ago. We had a lot going on with Jaxon's B-day and baptism and haven't been able to do it until today. We went to a matinee and it was us and a grandpa with his granddaughter in the theatre. We had a good time and I really liked the movie, but I'm a sucker for a good romance with a good ending. Kierra loved the music and was singing along through the whole movie. After it was over she said "I wish that highschool was really like that!" I'm glad that she realizes real life isn't like the movies but it sure is fun to sit in a theatre for two hours and pretend that it is.

A tribute to Jaxon

Today was a great day! Jaxon got baptized. It's hard to believe that I have 3 kids who are now baptized. I've had the opportunity to spend some much needed one on one time with Jaxon this last week. These are some of my favorite things about Jaxon:

• He will always be the first one to give me or his dad a hug when he sees us
• Although he likes to tease Jake and Kyson, he also likes to take care of them. I will never forget Jake's 1st day of school. When they were walking home, Jaxon had his arm around Jake's shoulder the whole way. He wanted to make sure he was OK.
• His sense of humor
• How he idolizes Jadon. He will do anything for Jadon and would love to be his best friend
• His ability to make friends
• His relationship with his cousin Kayla
• His ability as an athlete
• How well he is doing in school
• Although he doesn't want us to think so, his desire to choose the right
• His laugh
• His smile
• How much he likes babies

Jaxon has a very strong presence in our family. He tries my patience all the time. He is very stubborn and I hope that it will make him a leader who is determined to get what he wants when he is older. As I made the slide show that is posted below, I loved looking at his smile and the excitement that he has for life. I love my little Jaxon and am happy that he is in our family!

Make a Smilebox photobook