IT'S A GIRL!!!

My 12 minute baby: Gray was born on Tuesday, November 10th.  (A day before Maddie's 5th birthday).  She weighed 8 lbs 5 oz and was 19.5 inches long.  I started having contractions at 1:30 Tuesday morning and woke Brady up at 3:30 am to go to the hospital.  We threw the kids and our bags in the car, called my parents and dropped the kids off in the middle of the road off of the freeway.  Madeline was so excited and poor Diesel looked sad and confused.  We got to the hospital at 4:50am (thanks to Brady's wicked driving skills and going 110 mph!!!).  She was born 12 minutes later at 5:02.  I still can't believe I was only in labor for 3 1/2 hours.  

Oh the Gluttony!!

Oh how we love Halloween!! We had a great day. The kids LOVED trick-or-treating, of course! I told them a story about the polite pumpkin that would go around and take little kids candy if they didn't say "thank-you, Happy Halloween!" so they were very grateful all night! I think Diesel got the biggest kick out of going from house to house and receiving candy at each one-what a concept!! Here is Maddie in costume #1-Glenda the Good Witch and Diesel is obviously Thomas the Train. They got to gorge themselves with as much candy as their rotten little teeth desired-when else can we do this?? I definitely consumed my weight in sugar that night.
At Grandma's work party with a cake they helped to decorate-we actually won $25 in a contest! Of course, there were only 3 cakes entered.

Maddie in costume #2-Snow White.

With grandma at the party. They got to decorate pumpkins and eat tons of goodies!
Halloween spooky story-time at the library. Maddie in costume #3-Dorothy. It is good to see that they actually do love each other!
Maddie in costume#4-Snow Princess Cinderella-signature pose! This is what she wore to her pre-school Halloween party. (I did not buy her any of these costumes-my mom had made most of them and she's received them as gifts over time. We went real cheap this year!)Big D finding his pumpkin at the pumpkin patch-he wanted a little one.Maddie was looking for the perfect pumpkin to carve.I totally love fall and would love it even more if I would have this baby!! Here I am with about 3 days until my due date and I'm ready to get on with the show. Any tips on inducing labor at home let me know!

An Affair To Dismember......

So I hosted this year's Harris Family Murder Mystery Party. It was so fun-isn't Halloween the greatest?? Everyone did really good getting into character and it was a blast!

Here's the gang-Bryant, Kamille, Austin, Patrick, Brady, Dena, Robin, Cathy-very spooky!!

Cathy (scary dentist), Kamille (glamorous witch), Dena (some Euro chick??)

Maddie and I. (She wanted to dress up as a witch even though she wasn't technically invited!)

Maddie and Grandma:)

On another note, here are the kids at an elephant parade to celebrate the circus in town.

And at The Museum of Natural History-really fun frog exhibit! The kids like this museum, but Diesel always gets a little freaked out by the dinosaur that talks with a mechanical voice when you feed it money!!

WHY DO I DO WHAT I DO?

So for the past couple of weeks, my daughter Madeline (4 1/2 years old) has really been pulling all kinds of attitude. Almost every time I ask her to do something, I get ignored. I hear "no" all the time and I am frankly tired of disciplining her for negative behavior. (When are they going to invent a child collar that can shock my child when I don't like what comes out of their mouth?) And this morning, I went to check on her in her room and she just looked at me and glared!! I assure you that she doesn't get away with this stuff, but it is a constant battle. Now that I am pregnant with my 3rd baby, I am wondering why we go through all the pregnancy woes, the gaining weight and getting stretched out. The heartburn, nausea, and all kinds of other physical ailments to end up in excrutiating pain delivering the baby, which they are very sweet and cute, but then they grow up to act so rudely to the one who has to bear all the burdens?? Why did I sign up for this? Now, don't leave comments such as, "it's all worth it," or "you will be blessed," because I am just venting my frustrations. More importantly, I am giving a shout out to all you mothers, particularly my own, who has to and had to put up with such grumpiness despite your best efforts!

"REUNITED AND IT FEELS SO GOOD!"

That was the song I was singing all weekend long when we went to pick Brady up from his basic training graduation at Ft. Leonard Wood. Maddie and I flew into St. Louis the night before and stayed on base with two of his brothers. The next morning, during an exciting graduation ceremony, we saw Brady for the first time in over 10 weeks. After the reception in a different location, we were finally able to hug and kiss him. It was one of the most anticipated and happiest days of my life!

Maddie kept her head buried in Brady's shoulder for a long time-it was so sweet.

Sgt. Patrick Harris, PFC Brady Harris, SSG Kurt Harris with their military faces on!

Brady in his Class A's and I-don't let it fool you though, he is totally ripped underneath there!

Brady with Drill Sgt. Davis. Brady mentioned how weird it was to be friendly and shake hands with one of his drill sergeants after being smoked so many times by him.

Taking pictures around base. It was different than I anticipated. Ft. Leonard Wood was really pretty and a very big base.

At a park on base. We had the day with Brady and went to lunch and hung out and had to have him back to his barrocks by 9pm. He wasn't released until the next day.

Maddie was exhausted by the end of the day and was carried by a very handsome gentleman!

After Brady was released, we drove to Nauvoo where Maddie dressed up like a pioneer-she really loved that.


Later that night, we went to a carnival taking place before we saw the Nauvoo Pageant. Here she is playing a pioneer game-she loved it and it is so much cheaper than some of the stuff I buy!

After Nauvoo, we drove to Carthage-this was seriously one of the coolest places that I have ever been (and I have traveled to over 11 countires)!

Here we are in front of Carthage Jail. Can you guess the photographer? Yep, our own little Madeline!

Next stop was downtown St. Louis. Here we are in the middle of Forest Park. This park is bigger than Central Park in NYC and has tons of free museums, zoo's and lots of water and sites. It was beautiful.

This one is in front of the St. Louis Art Museum.

Just us at the airport coming home. This was when I experienced my first military treatment. In SLC, the flight attendants asked all the passangers to stay seated so we could deplane first. Everyone was clapping as my belly hit them in their heads! Just kidding, I felt sort of silly but it was very sweet.

When we got home, my sister had brought D-train to the airport to see his dad. When he saw him, he ran up to him yelling "daddy!" It brought tears to my eyes.

I think Brady and I both learned a ton while we were apart for 10 weeks, but our time together for this weekend was so precious and full of experiences that I will never forget.

OVER HALFWAY THERE!!

So two exciting milestones have been reached. Brady (who has been gone to basic training in Missouri since May 18th) is more than halfway done. He will be done with his 10-week course on July 30th-hooray!! Madeline and I will be flying there with some of his family to attend his graduation and then make a trip to Nauvoo and St. Louis. The second milestone, I am 21 weeks through my pregnancy! Baby #3 is due the first part of November. I have not yet found out what it is though- we are waiting for when Brady gets home.

So after much discussion, contemplation and prayer, we decided it would be a wise career move for Brady to join the Military. He quit his job of 7 1/2 years at EMG and is now a full-time student at the University of Utah. He is getting his Russian degree with a minor in Middle-Eastern studies. He wants to apply with the CIA when he is finished with school. Here he is being sworn in by his father (retired Army) into the National Guard.

Bryant (brother-in-law), Katherine (sister) and Rob (father-in-law) here to support and witness.

Brother Kurt (Marine) and Patrick (Army)

Brady with his mom and dad

Here is D-man at our new house, just out of the tub.

Just a little family picture in front of our new house.

We are still getting used to living in Utah and missing our friends and life in Seattle. It is great to be around family especially with Brady joining the Guard. He is the fifth boy out of six to join the military-guess it is in their blood. Brady will be leaving for a 9-week basic training in May. Life will definitely be different then! CRAZY!!

Hello All

We have moved into our house now!! We moved in the week after Christmas and we are loving it so far. We still have no blinds so a huge Dora tent welcomes everyone to the front of our casa. Can anyone say W.T.?? Anyway, I will post some pictures when I get more on the ball.