CONGRATS RUSS!!

Graduation was something we thought would NEVER come! CONGRATULATIONS again to you Russ! HOURS and HOURS of studying, literally HUNDREDS of tests, LONG nights, and lots HARD WORK. It all finally PAID OFF!! It was such a FUN day.

My mom, dad, and sister Lindsey flew in from Utah, and Russ's brother Brian and two boys drove up, and of course Jon and Lisa and boys came to CELEBRATE with us! Thanks to everyone for making the trip--it made for such a great day. We're so PROUD of you Russ! :)

So Hard To Say Goodbye!

It's so hard to say goodbye..to yesterday....NAME THAT TUNE. :) I was going to put this post to music..but lets be honest--only time for the basics when you're so far behind! :)



We celebrated PIONEER DAY by packing up and trekking about 3 hours south. YEP--we've moved. I was a little SAD and sentimental about this move. I usually LOVE moving, but this one kind of tugged on my strings a little. We have ABSOLUTELY LOVED the past 3 years, even though it had its HARD times--especially for Russ being in school and all--but I feel that we've GROWN a lot over the past few years and we've had a lot of FUN, and made some really GREAT FRIENDS. Its been so AMAZING living so close (literally, next door for 2 years) to my brother Jon and his wife Lisa and their little boys. They are such GOOD EXAMPLES and friends to us. AND its been such a DELIGHT to watch the little cousins grow up together and be such good friends as well. We will definitely look back on this phase of our lives with SWEET MEMORIES. We are, however, really EXCITED for this next chapter in our lives.

Jon and Lisa were so nice to throw a little farewell party for us at their pool. It was fun to see some friends one last time. And lucky for us--its only a 3 hour drive to go visit every now and again. :)

Kenz with her friends--Preston, Asher, Madi, and Riley
Just can't hold back the tears. :) (I'm sure in reality she is crying about something else-but its appropriate for this "goodbye picture".

Brinley's Blessing Day

Brinley was blessed on JULY 5, 2009. It was the sunday after we got back from our big Utah trek. It was such a SWEET day, and I think little Brinley looked like an ANGEL. We love this little girl SO MUCH! Russ did a BEAUTIFUL job and I think its a day we'll both REMEMBER FOREVER. It was nice to have my brother Jon and Russ's brother Jared stand in the circle. We LOVE having FAMILY close by!






I'm so bummed we didn't get a picture with Jon too. I had to teach primary right after and wasn't around to round up the troops. And you can see Brinley was a little put out to be waiting. :)

The Fourth of July!!

YEA for July 4th!! We were able to make it back to Texas just in time to celebrate Independence Day. We got to do ALL the traditional things--went to a little parade, went swimming and had a bbq, and then watched fireworks! It was FABULOUS! Sure do love this time of year!


Mckenzie with her 2 cousins, Jacob and Caleb, waiting with anticipation for the parade to start.

At the Parade. I admit to being one of the few left that LOVE a good parade! Last year I dragged my family 45 minutes away to a parade that titled itself "The best in North Texas". ANd I will agree it was probably the longest--but not necessarily the best. So this year we decided to stick with the local small town parade and was GREAT.


Had to post one more of these 3! They have SO much fun together! There is always so much excitement when they see each other...And YES it can get a little CRAZY when they're together but its SO WORTH IT to see these smiles that are AS BIG AS LIFE!


These 2 had a great time jumping off the wall at a nearby swimming pool on the 4th.

Nothing better than eating popsicles and watching fireworks! Really, life can't get much better can it?! It was such a FUN day!

A Trip to Utah

I'm so far behind in the blogging world, its getting a little ridiculous. BUT I refuse to give up trying. :) Last month we were able to go to Utah for a couple weeks and spend time with some family and old friends. We always really LOVE Utah in the summer. My brother Steve and his little family were there from California at the same time which made it EVEN BETTER. Beware....there are lots of pictures...but its really the best way to recap the trip.

We were able to go boating out on the beautiful Utah Lake with my sister Lindsey and our friends Eric and Amber and their family. It was TONS of fun! I gave it my best shot at my first time wake boarding and I'll admit I was pretty bad at it. But it was fun nonetheless. Even Mckenzie had a good time and jumped in the water as often as we would let her...which was great because then she was all tuckered out for the last half of the day.



We really did see TONS of old friends, and some family and cousins we don't get to see nearly enough. However I regret to say, I was a horrible picture taker on this trip and only got a few pics..but here they are.

Our friends Dallas and Abi and their BRAND NEW baby Miley. Doesn't Abi look AMAZING for having that baby just 5 days earlier?!


Kenz with her cousin Jesse. Two CUTE kids!

Grandma and Grandpa Schaack and Mckenzie

The 3 grand-daughters. There was lots of backyard fun at Grandma and Grandpa Schaacks! AND its always a treat to have Grandma Cook around!


More water fun! Kenzie LOVED this slide at the pool! She really probably went on it a good 50 times in a row! We couldn't pull her away.



We made the trip down to Bridal Veil Falls which was fun! Sad to say, but I don't I had ever actually been there. I have driven by countless time, but never as a destination. The only downer was I came totally unprepared without water shoes for Kenz. It was a little frustrating but as you can see...it didn't stop her from getting her feet wet. Thanks to her Aunt Alli, Lindsey, and grandma!

And Mckenz got her first ride on a 4 wheeler just before the long drive back to Texas.. Thanks to Braxton and Kambree for sharing! I am SO BUMMED we didn't get pictures with these friends. Thanks again Sara and Tara for putting us up....it was SOO fun to see and catch up with both of you and your cute families again!

PICTURES!

My Friend Whitni took these pics of the girls a little while back and I am just getting around to posting them but they turned out SOO cute-I love them! Thought I would share them! Thanks Whitni !

She's Here!

Hooray! She's finally here!! Brinley Marie Jepson was born on Thursday, May 14 at 1:29 pm. She weighed in at 7 lbs 11 oz and 21 inches long. She was a LONG 3 days late, and we were starting to get nervous because Russ had National Boards on Friday and Saturday this last weekend, but she came Thursday just in time--so we didn't have to worry! And when she finally did decide to come she came quick and made for a good story. :) (told in detail below)

THE STORY
Quick Hollywood version-- Crazy couple almost has baby in car--they run into the hospital, wife in wheelchair, yelling "The baby's coming!" I was the "crazy lady in the next room" creating all sorts of commotion and drama--and gave birth to a baby girl 5 minutes later. (for those of you who don't want details--which I am sure is many.)

Long Detailed version--(caution--may be a bit TMI for some--but for those who want it--here it is!)
I woke up at around 8 Thursday morning with mild contractions spacing any where between 5 and 10 minutes apart. This was not unusual at all; I had had these several mornings throughout the week and they usually stopped by the time I ate breakfast... and so I just got up and started to go about the day. Russ was planning on studying at the school that morning with a friend and I told him to go--no big deal.
My mom was coming in around noon that day, and I knew I needed to get organized and clean my house a bit. My mom called at 9 and said she was boarding the plane, and I told her I was having some contractions--about every 5 minutes- but they still weren't that strong. I stayed busy cleaning my house, and by about 10:30 I got in the shower---thinking surely they would stop by the time I got out. They however got a little stronger by the time I got out , but I still wasn't convinced I was in "labor". So I got ready, and by the time I was done drying my hair, I was starting to get a little uncomfortable. ( I was turning off the hair dryer during contractions and pacing a little) So at that point.. it was about 11:40am I decided that maybe i shouldn't be the one to pick my mom up from the airport in 20 minutes. I was okay if I was walking around but wasn't sure I should drive. So I called Lisa(my sis-in-law) and kind of told her what was going on and asked if she would pick up my mom; she said she would and came and got Kenz as well. Right after my mom called and said that she had landed early---I told her I had decided to send Lisa, but I would see her soon. The contractions were still making me uncomfortable enough that I started timing them again, and they were still about 5 minutes apart--with an occasional one that would come at a 3 minute interval instead--but I thought they were still spaced pretty well. But at that point I decided to call Russ and told him I was still contracting and to maybe head home sometime soon. He got home 15 minutes later and by that point --the contractions were taking a lot of my concentration. I told him that we needed to head to the hospital, which was 15 minutes away. We were gathering some things, and my mom and Lisa got to our house, and we told them we were going and we left.
THE GOOD PART---
The ride to the hospital became quite interesting. I had another strong contraction and started feeling some pressure. About 5 minutes into the drive I told Russ I felt like I needed to poop. He blurted "NO POOPING!" We kept driving--hitting every red light possible; I was having contractions ever 3 minutes at this point and about 5 minutes away, I started panicking and told Russ the baby was coming soon! Russ started to speed up and become a bit more aggressive in his driving. We got to the hospital within a few minutes, we parked and Russ asked if I wanted a wheelchair. I started to say No-I could walk---but I got another really hard contraction and instead yelled the baby is coming!! Russ took off running to get a wheelchair and got back in record time--I got in and he quickly wheeled me up to Labor and delivery. He calmly told the nurses at the desk that his wife was having a baby. They looked at us like--no big deal--everyone is having a baby here--but I could feel the next contraction coming and I blurted "No---really the baby's coming now!" They all jumped up at that and showed a room across the hall to wheel into. My water broke as we got through the doorway, and they told me to get on the bed and they would check and see where I was at. I said, "Its coming, its coming!" And the nurse patiently replied,"Let me just check and see whats going on." She quickly checked me and said, "Yep, you're fully dilated and the baby's head is right there. " In my head I said "Told you so". Then I started another contraction and the nurses were trying to get the monitors and computer working in the room(which was hopeless), get a dr. in there, and one was wanting to put an IV in my arm which she quickly decided was worthless because another nurse called out that the head was crowning, which was SO INTENSE. They kept telling me to lay down and push, and I told them I couldn't lay down-- I had to sit. A doctor came in just as the head was coming out and he caught the baby. Within 5 minutes of getting to the hospital, we had our sweet Brinley!! It was CRAZY!!! Talk about an adrenaline rush. :)
Anyway...that's the story. It all happened SO FAST!! Brinley is so sweet, and we love her so much! We feel so blessed and lucky to have her with us now!! We are healthy and recovering from the ordeal, Russ got his Boards all done with. We really do feel so blessed and are so happy to have this all over with!

Kenz loves her so much and has asked a time or two if we would like "to pet her". :)

Russ getting in precious "study time" Friday night.