Catching Up!

This blogging thing is really stressful! Especially when there has been so much going on and you get behind. When I started this blog I thought I would never have anything to write about but the last 2 - 3 weeks has been so incredibly busy with life altering events, that now I feel stressed out because I have not had the time to blog about them. I will try to catch up with everything in one post.

To start out with on Tuesday August 5th our son Matthew returned home from his mission in Tijuana Mexico. It was so fun to greet him at the airport to welcome him home. Everybody was there. I could not have been more proud of him as he came walking out of the terminal. His worked really hard and his testimony is strong.

His best friend Ryon Stewart he has known since the 5th grade, flew home from Houston Texas to greet Matthew as well. Ryon stayed with us a few days afterwards and it was just like old times having these silly boys around the house. Over the past couple of weeks we have had the opportunity to hear Matthew report on his mission several times. The Sunday after his return he reported to the Puyallup Stake High Council in the morning and he then spoke in our ward (Bonney Lake Ward) that afternoon. Last Sunday he also had the opportunity to speak in the Silver Lake Ward in Federal Way. That is the ward we lived in when he left on his mission and it is also the ward that many of his friends and youth leaders still attend. It is fun to hear about all of his adventures and I now am sure I know why the church only allows missionaries to call home on Mother's Day and Christmas. If LDS mom's knew all the scary adventures their son's and daughter's were experiencing, there would be many more calls to the mission home making sure they were safe. Anyway, we are so glad to have him home and as I have said on more than one occasion, we are so proud of him! Matthew is still trying to figure out what to do with the rest of his life but for now I will be bringing him back to school in at BYU Provo next week and which time his future will officially begin. We will miss him!

Jamie and Landi also came home for Matthew's homecoming. It was really nice and fun to see them again. They are a super fun couple and I really enjoy spending time with them. They are both big Grey's Anatomy fans and one of the things they wanted to do most while they were home was to ride the ferry. Landi had never been on a ferry before and as he was really looking forward to it. We drove to Bremerton and looked around a bit. We had lunch at Anthony's which had a beautiful view of the water and then just waited around for the ferry to leave. They loved the ride. When we got to Seattle we met up with Ryon and then took a look around the Pike Place Market. The market is one of Landi's favorite places in Seattle. He especially enjoys the Turkish food shop where he always orders a Doner Kabob and some special fruit candies called "turkish delight" that remind him of home in Albania. We did lots of other fun things while they were here but most of all just enjoyed each others company and spending time together. They left early on Sunday morning back to Rexburg where they both are finishing up their final year of school. They are very excited to be done and start a normal life.

The other big life altering event that took place for us was the birth of our first grandchild Logan Dean Sirrine. He was welcomed into the world with big cheers and sighs of relief at 11:44 pm on August 13th. Poor Cat was such a trooper. She had a really tough time with labor. Even though it was still the early stages, she was hurting and the doctor could not do anything for her until she dilated a little bit more. With each contraction Logan's heart rate would drop and so they were very cautious about pumping up the drugs to put her into hard labor until they were sure of what was happening with the baby. Finally around 3 or 4 in the afternoon they were able to break her water and give her the epidural. She was singing the praises of the anesthesiologist and was finally able to smile through each contraction. Her mom was there cheering her along the way which I am sure gave her great comfort. Finally around 11:00 pm or so, the doctor came in and said that they were just going to go ahead and do a c-section. Logan was not tolerating the contractions well, Cat was tired and she just was not going anywhere. We were all relieved most especially Cat and Chris who had had a rough 24 hours. Logan was born at 11:44 pm and he was absolutely perfect! Dr. Blakeney said that he was really wrapped up in his cord and had it around his neck twice and under his arm once. Pressure on the cord with each contraction is what was causing his heart rate to drop during labor and the doctor said it was a good thing they did the c-section. Here are some cute pictures of Logan. He is really tiny and fragile which of course make me very nervous. Cat and Chris are great parents though and taking very good care of him. When he left the hospital he was on 5 lbs. 8 ozs but over the past week has put on 4 ozs so he is almost back to his birth rate. He is a real sweety and we can hardly wait until he is a little bit bigger and not so fragile so we can give him a big hug!!