BABY BRIELLE HAS ARRIVED!!!

We are so excited and happy to announce the birth of

Brielle Rose Brandvold
7lbs 14 oz
Born October 15th at 12:27pm

And here is her story...
We got the call from Labor and Delivery at the Utah Valley Regional Medical Center at 6 am. They told us they had a free room and a nurse so we rushed to the hospital to have our baby. We didn't expect the induction to happen that way so it made it a bit more exciting. By 7:30, I was getting my I.V. and getting ready to be in labour. The doctor arrived shortly thereafter and broke my water. I was suprised by what little pain I was in and I was holding off on getting the epidural (just to maintain mobility). However, the nurses kept getting upset with me because when I moved, their monitors weren't giving accurate readings so eventually I gave in and just got the epidural. By the time the anesthesiologist got there I was indeed having pain so it was good timing. Getting the epidural was the worst part of my labor (so I can't hardly complain). The anesthesiologist treated me more like a farm animal than a person. He was pulling me here and pushing me there and I always just feel nervous about the whole procedure. Once that was over, Kevin and I enjoyed a couple of episodes of Full House and Family Matters (daytime tv is really lacking these days) while waiting for me to dilate. I started to feel weird pressure around 11:30ish and the next time a nurse wandered in I asked her to check me and sure enough I was completely dilated. She went to find our nurse and call the doctor. When our nurse arrived around 12:15, she said the doctor was on his way. We were chatting when I told her I was feeling even more pressure, she took one look and actually said "oh my gosh" ran to the door and yelled out- "the baby is coming" (Apparently her head was already half way out). I was actually laughing at her at that point. It was pretty obvious this was a new experience for this young nurse who had told us just moments before that she had never had the experience of a doctor not making it in time. Some other doctor then came in and starting getting his "stuff" on and just then my Doctor arrived and told the nurses not to move my legs or the baby would come out. So the nurses put his stuff on and he told me to give a gentle push and out she came.
It was wonderful. Here are the pictures:

Our Annual Pumpkin Patch Adventure

Of all the pumpkin patches we have visited in our family life- this year we found the best of all. Last night for FHE, we went to Hee Haws in Pleasant Grove and it was so much fun. It was a nice warm night and we didn't get at all lost getting there so considering that alone, it beats last year. Here are some of the highlights.This was a mini maze for the kids- they loved it.

And here are the pigs- kind of, sort of, cute in a weird sort of way. There were pigs and goats and bunnies and cows. It was at this point where I pulled out the hand sanitizer and squirted myself and children about every two minutes (I'm not really much of a farm girl).

Unfortunately my camera batteries died when the great pig chase happened. They put the kids in a big pen with the pigs and had a contest to see which kid could grab hold of one of the pigs first. It was hilarious! Makenna was too scared to try but Brayden got right in there and ran after those pigs. However, when he came to the pig he couldn't quite bring himself to actually grab onto it. He gets an A for effort though- I don't think I could've grabbed a pig either. This pig was quite a sight- 1300lbs!!! I don't know if I should say Wow or Gross.

Makenna LOVED her pony ride and doesn't she just look like a pro?

This picture is like "Wheres Waldo?" only its "Where's Kenna?" It was like a sand box but it was dried corn, hence the "Corn Box"
And here we see the real reason we do fun "kid activities"- obviously more for Dad than the kids but he lets them come along too :) Yes, the picture below does show Kevin riding on the kids tractor pull. What a good dad!

Here is a picture of Brayden on the "Trick or Treat Hayride." It was a definite highlight. We all loaded up and rode through the pumpkin patch on a big trailer filled with had and at various intervals we were met by an array of costumed characters who pelted candy at us as we rode by. I guess it was fun...and a little dangerous. At one point the tractor pulling us ran out of gas so that made things even more exciting. It was definitely the stuff memories are made of!
And finally, we did make it out to the pumpkin patch to pick some very prized pumpkins. So now we are ready for Halloween- we just of course need to add one more member to our family to claim that very littlest pumpkin. Just 6 more days!!!

The First Signs of Fall

I havent noticed the leaves changing (thats not to say that they aren't) but I did notice the caramels out at Walmart, so I figured it must be fall-- time for Caramel apples. We made them for Family Home Evening and they were delicious. Of course what else would we decorate with, other than some sort of Reese's product- Reece's pieces - which turns out to be a very fall appropriate candy with their orange, yellow, and brown colors. Aren't they cute (I meant the apples but the kids are cute too).


Interestingly enough, it was after eating these chewy treasures that we discovered Brayden's first loose tooth- I know it seems a bit early for that so I think it may have had something to do with the sticky chewy crunchy apple combination. Oh well- you got to lose those baby teeth sometime!