birthday date

Clayton took me out tonight for my birthday. I mean, the Pinewood Derby the other night was nice and all, but...

I'd been wanting to go back to the Carl Bloch exhibit at BYU. I went there with my friend Emily in January, but I had all 5 kids with me, so we just kind of blew through it. Tonight we rented the iPad tour and spent some time enjoying all the uplifting and beautiful art of Carl Bloch. If you haven't had a chance to go, you need to go! It runs through May 7th. These paintings are from different churches all over Sweden and Denmark, and this is the first time they've been seen outside of their homes, and all together in one place. It is well worth going. Make your free online reservations before you go.

I had heard this place was really good, so that's where we had dinner. I love trying new places. Clayton, not so much, but he was a good sport since it was my birthday we were celebrating! The atmosphere was casual and fun, but after we were seated and started looking at the menu, we were like, "Hmm, I feel like an idiot...I don't know what half of this stuff is...should we sneak out the door and go somewhere else?" But then our waiter arrived, and we all smiled at each other like we were so excited. I guess we're staying...

You could tell this guy gets a lot of gourmet-challenged customers. He was a pro as he educated us and dumbed down the menu. We had some awesome gnocchi for an appetizer, and then some crazy salad with grapefruit, avocados, and roasted beets that Clayton passed on {fine, more for me!}. The pizza was fired in a big brick oven and was amazing. We both loved it. Our waiter brought a tiny plate with little dried sprigs of oregano and red chiles for crushing onto our pizza. I thought it was fun to go somewhere other than a huge chain restaurant {even though I like those too}. It was kind of an adventure.

The thing about eating out that gets me {no matter how inexpensive or good it is} is when they bring the bill and I feel so ripped off. I think, "Do you know how many groceries I could have bought with that?" Then I get a pit in my stomach. So dumb, I know.

In the end, my favorite part of dinner was the entertainment:

hospital pics

I hate needles! Aren't you proud of me?

Holding Will for the first time.

I always cry the first time I hear the baby cry, it is so amazing.

Ben is so happy to have a brother...

the look on his face when he came into the delivery room was priceless.

One day old.

Poor little baby! He had a fever and then dropped to 96.5,

so the pediatrician had him on antibiotics through an IV in his tiny hand. So sad!

Cutest dad ever.

Ben was first in line to hold him when they came to visit the next day.

Hannah was so sweet, just kept standing by my bed,

all quiet {totally unlike her}, and smiling at me.

One happy big sister, and officially our middle child.

Olivia wasn't sure how to react...she'd be laughing and wildly happy one second,

and then pitching a fit the next, completely bipolar! She's doing a lot better now though.

I've been wanting to write all week, but you know...I just had a baby! Up at 1 am, 4 am, then Nina comes in at 6 am {"I'm scared!"}, baby up at 7 am again, then I'm up at 7:30 to get the kids out the door for school. My bedroom is strewn with burp cloths, the bed unmade, tiny diapers spilling out of the garbage can. I love it though. He won't be a newborn for very long, and despite all the chaos, I'm enjoying it more than ever.

The delivery went great, just took awhile longer than I thought it would since my doctor had to go do an emergency c-section at another hospital. So the nurse slowed down my Pitocin and I had to wait my turn. Then the baby was slower to make his appearance than all my girls...the girls all came in about an hour and a half, and this little guy took about 3 1/2 hours. Can't complain though! It was still pretty fast.

After he was born, Clayton was ready to take him out into the hallway for my family to see him {Clay's family were all down at Lake Powell}. "What should I tell them his name is?" Hmmm...yeah, we still hadn't come to an agreement on that.

"I still like the name James," I said.

"I still like the name Will," he said. "James reminds me of an old man. And I don't want people calling him Jimmy."

{Yeah, yeah. We've had this conversation how many times now?}

"Should we flip a coin?" Clayton asked. Nice! We almost did.

But then after I thought about it for a minute or two, I said, "Okay, well, I did name all the girls and you were always great with what I picked, so....okay, you just go ahead and name him." After all, "Will" was on my list of boy names too. Just not my top pick.

"Okay, are you sure? You can't go back on it, you know?" he said.

"It'll grow on me," I said.

Clayton was very happy about that. And that's the story of how William got his name.

{I picked the middle name of Clayton though.}

Since he was born I've found out that I have several ancestors from England and Ireland named William, one of which shook hands with the Prophet Joseph Smith. So now I like the name even more.

Can I tell you how much I hate being in the hospital? I know some people love it, but I feel like I'm in prison. And the food...ugh! I wanted to check out of there the day after he was born, especially since we have no insurance and we are paying for it. But since he and I had both had fevers for a short time the doctors wouldn't sign the discharge papers. My doctor had left on vacation that day so I couldn't even talk to him, just the on call doctor that I don't even know. Long story, but we ended up staying another night even though we were both fine that entire 24 hours. Cha-ching! There went another $1000. Do you know that we could stay somewhere pretty darn nice for $1000 a night? That actually would have decent beds and yummy food? I felt so trapped, and Clay had to stay home with the kids that night, so I was all alone. I felt like I would go crazy! So I decided to walk the halls for a bit.

As I was walking the halls, pushing baby Will in his little bassinet, a big old mean nurse pointed down toward the end of the hallway where I was headed. "Don't go through those double doors down there or your baby's ankle tag will set off the alarm." I saw the doors she was pointing to, way down the hall. They were closed.

"Okay, I wasn't planning on going through the doors, I'm just walking to them and back." I said.

She put her hands on her hips and glared at me as I walked away from her. Suddenly, "WOO-WOO-WOO!" Horns and whistles shooting off, nurses scurrying around, and mostly glaring at me. I had set off the child abduction alarm by going through the OTHER double doors that were OPEN about 10 feet in front of the nurse's desk. Thanks a lot, lady! Why didn't you specify that is was THESE doors, and not THOSE doors down at the end?

Meanwhile, Clayton and the kids were downstairs, coming to see the baby. Apparently, the elevators and all the hospital doors shut down thanks to me. And I just wanted to go for a little walk. So that just added to my frustration that day. It's pretty funny now, though, isn't it?

There was one nice nurse who passed by me and said, "Don't worry, that happens ALL THE TIME."

So after Clay and the kids came to see the baby and had left, I decided to get the heck out of there for a while, and went by myself to walk outside and see the sunset. It was beautiful and warm outside. I didn't want to go back into the hospital with all those rude nurses! I can't even tell you how happy I was to finally come home with my new little baby Will on Wednesday!

the bump at 36 weeks

Ben and Hannah weren't interested in coming along, and Olivia was super cranky. I'm glad I have these photos with Nina, she was so excited to be in them hugging my belly!

This is all his doing!

Classic Clayton! A little boy in a man's body.

A couple months ago our best friend Chris Jones said, "You should do some maternity photos!" So then I asked if he would take them for us, because he is an amazing photographer...and he was so kind to do them. I'm so happy with how they turned out! He did such an amazing job, and Clayton was such a good sport {he hates getting pictures taken}.

I just wanted to document this time in my life because it will probably be my last time doing this whole pregnancy thing. Which makes me sad if I think about it too much.

{But it also sounds kind of nice, given how uncomfortable I am right now, and how naughty my kids were at church today!}

anniversary #13

Eating at Ruth's Diner. Clayton can even make himself laugh!

Yay! No kids! At least for a couple nights.

One of my favorites of Clayton from our "photo date."

34 weeks and counting down!

Funny things in this hardware shop.

I want these lights!

My view of my feet these days.

Clayton buying my new doorbell at this quirky little shop, Silver Star Hardware.

"Wouldn't this be so cool?" Checking out Cactus & Tropicals.

Wishing I had a money tree while shopping Anthropologie.

Love the packaging on these.

My cute new doorbell, aka, "a little piece of our anniversary on our house," Clayton said.

13 years of marriage and we still love each other!

What a fun weekend we just had...lots of eating out, uninterrupted conversations, and sleeping in. LOVED it.

Eating at Ruth's Diner up Emigration Canyon was perfect, such a cozy atmosphere out on the patio with live music, white lights strung through the big trees, and clean mountain air. Shopping at the Gateway {namely, Anthropologie, my FAVE, where I got this yummy lotion I'm obsessing over} and getting waffle cones was followed by a late night swim at the downtown hotel. It was a good laugh trying to squeeze my 34 week pregnant body into a swim suit! Not a pretty sight.

Breakfast at noon at Millcreek Cafe and Eggworks couldn't have been better...we definitely want to go there again. Then off for shopping at little random shops where we bought a cute doorbell! I know, I did say random, didn't I? We went to Robin Hood at the dollar theater, and had fun people watching there {let's just say that Sugarhouse has some interesting people at the movies}. We managed to do a little "photo date" as our friend Chris calls it, and snapped some pics of each other, just for the record. Stopped by Cactus and Tropicals just to get ideas for the yard, drove past the little house where we lived in the basement when Ben was born, and Trolley Square to check out new glasses for Clayton. Didn't buy any, but had fun trying them on. Meanwhile, my sister Hailey called and said, "I hate to bother you, but Olivia just threw up all over the front of me." Crap. "Just go to Mom's, she'll help you!" I said. Isn't that terrible?

Park City Outlets=New Shoes That I Desperately Needed For Church.

Then we followed the advice of the guy at the hotel desk there in Park City and took the bus up to Main Street. Italian sodas {also my fave}, iceberg wedge salads and pizza at Cisero's...I couldn't eat it all, my stomach is so squished these days, but oh my gosh, it was good stuff. Then we couldn't find the bus stop back down until it went flying by us with the lights flashing on the front "LAST BUS." So we had to pay a dang stupid taxi instead. Lame!

Had a good laugh watching a Saturday Night Live rerun...we don't have DishNetwork, so it was new to us. "The Mellow Show with Jack Johnson," hahaha!

Saturday morning we were talking about how it was nice to not wake up to fighting in the hallway. See, usually the kids are up before us and being really loud in the hallway outside our bedroom. So it was nice to have some peace and quiet for once.

But we spoke too soon, because Sunday morning, there was a fight in the hallway. Of the hotel. A woman screaming and raging and throwing things against the walls. It woke us up. NICE.

So much for that idea!

We headed up Park City Main Street again and grabbed a quick breakfast at a little cafe {fresh orange juice, crepes, and pastries}, where we spotted these awesomely packaged chocolate bars.

Thanks Hailey, Mom, and Erika for taking care of the kids!