Harley's Blessing

On Sunday September 27, 2009 we blessed our little Harley. The church was filled to capacity. Harley was one of four blessings. I have never seen so many people in a church. There were people sitting up and down the halls. Even though it was a big crowd, Jeff didn't let it bother him. He did an amazing job. Harley should be very proud to have such a wonderful father.
Harley was absolutely beautiful. We had to dress her at the church because her dress was too big for her car seat.
Here is Harley after the blessing with her Grandpa Red. He has a knack of putting little babies to sleep.
Jeff and Houston at the open house.
Jeff and Harley
Our beautiful little girl!
Harley and Kayla
Witney and Hayden at our open house.
Grandma Debbie and baby Hayden. Grandpa Keith and baby Harley.
Jeff and Harley
Me and my Little Miss.

I just wanted to thank everyone who came and supported us. Also thanks for all those who brought food, and made this such a huge success!

At the open house, I served a wonderful recipe for Creme Brulee French Toast, that my Aunt Ann gave me. (Thanks Ann!) Many people asked for the recipe, so here it is:

Creme Brulee French Toast

1 stick butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp. corn syrup
Approximately 1 1/2 loaves of French bread baguettes
5 large eggs
1 1/2 cup half-and-half
2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt

In a small, heavy saucepan, melt butter with brown sugar and corn syrup over moderate heat, stirring until smooth. Pour into 9x13 inch baking dish. Cut bread into 1 inch thick slices from center portion of bread. (Don't use the ends). Arrange bread slices in one layer in baking dish on top of butter/brown sugar mixture, squeezing them in to fit tightly.

In a bowl, whisk together eggs, half-and-half, vanilla, and salt until combined well. Pour evenly over bread. Cover and chill for at least 8 hours and up to one day.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and bring bread mixture to room temperature. Bake uncovered until puffed and edges are golden. 35-40 minutes. Serve immediately with warm syrup.

Picnic at the Canyon

On my birthday we decided to have a small family picnic. We went up Bridal Veil Falls and had a great time! We got some KFC, and enjoyed being outside.
The boys just love to go play in the falls! All three of them just love throwing rocks into the water.
Harley is just happy to be in her stroller.

Fun School Days

This week has been Green Ribbon week at Hunter's school. They have had fun things to do all week long. One day was mis-matched shoes and socks day. Hunter wore some of my Halloween toe socks.
They also had a crazy hair day. Hunter ended up with three mo hawks. We thought Hunter's hair was pretty original, but when he got to school, his best friend had the same style.

Two Months Old

Our little Harley is now two months old! She is growing so much! Here is a picture of her next to a basketball. (Thanks for the idea Kayla!)
While Harley is still just a petite girl, she is growing fast. She is also starting to smile at people, and she loves to talk. Harley is such a good baby. I can now get six to seven hours of sleep a night. (That's sleeping through the night for me) She is probably my most mellow baby. She hardly ever cries, and she is just content most of the day.

I love her little smile! We feel so lucky to have our little Lolli in our lives. She was the best surprise that we ever had!

First Pictures

I just took Harley to get her first pictures taken. She was a doll the entire time!
Harley and her blessing dress!
This is my favorite one.
Harley and I

She is a natural
Harley and her Big Brothers
My beautiful children!

Friel Family Pictures

When my mom told me that we were going to do family pictures, I wasn't thrilled with the idea. I really don't mind having my picture taken, or getting the kids ready for it. The reason I wasn't happy with it, is that I just had a baby ten days before the pictures were taken. Unfortunately we had to do them. Jill was bringing the girls, and we wanted to get a family picture while we had the chance. To my mom's credit, the pictures turned out great!Jeff and Houston, my two blond boys!
All the grand kids.
Boston, Halle, Mash, Brighton, Hunter, Harley, LC, Lilly, and Houston
Top: Bekah, Boston, Jordan, Tasmin, Kayla, Mash, Kevin, Clint, Lilly, Jeff, Houston, Jenna, and Harley.
Bottom: Brighton, Halle, Danae, Hunter, Little Colista, and Jill
Harley and I
My three beautiful childreen
Our growing family
Big brother Hunter, and baby Harley

Finally an End in Sight

After a year in the making, an ending is in sight. As many of you know, Jeff and I have had quite the surprising year. It all started out last December, where I had a feeling that my IUD was not in the right place. So just to make sure I muscled my way in to the doctors office to get in checked. (They wanted to make me wait until the middle of January)
They did the usual ultrasound to look for the IUD, and instead found a baby. That was our first surprise. The second was that the IUD was nowhere to be found.
My doctor told me that either I had lost the IUD and didn't notice, (how would you not notice??) or that it perforated my uterus. The odds were very slim that it perforated, and that I had just probably lost it. Unfortunately they couldn't be sure, until after I had the baby. (They couldn't do an x-ray while I was pregnant)
After a really tumultuous pregnancy I finally delivered my baby girl. While I was still recovering in the hospital, they took me downstairs and gave me an x-ray. Low and behold there was the missing IUD. It had gone high and to the left. The doctor told me that they had to wait at least six weeks postpartum, for it to be safe to remove.
Well this Tuesday is the day. I will finally get my IUD out. I won't even have that many new scars. They are going to try to use the same incisions that they used for my appendectomy. I just feel so lucky that things have gone as well as they have. My beautiful baby girl was healthy as can be, and so far I have had no other complications from the IUD perforation.
I am looking forward to being back to my normal self. It will be nice for this roller coaster ride to finally have an ending!

Croup

We have had sick kids in our house recently. With Hunter it was just a sore throat, and little bit of coughing. Nothing that concerned me too much. Then Houston started getting sick. He started sounding like a little frog. I wasn't worried because Hunter had just gone through this, and he was fine.
Yesterday he started sounding a little worse. I started thinking that if it didn't get better I would take him to the doctor.
Well, Debbie was going to watch the boys for me while I went to the doctor

Harley ~ Hayden ~ Boston

Harley is very lucky to have two cousins the same age as her. This is baby Boston. He is Bekah and Jordan's new son. He was born two weeks before Harley. This is the two of them, right after Boston was blessed.

Harley's other cousin is baby Hayden. He is Jonas and Brooke's baby. He was born about three weeks after Harley. This is the two of them at Grandma's house after dinner.