The McInnes Clan

Re-do!

2011-11-03T06:55:00.000-07:00

So you've probably noticed this blog hasn't been update for a long, long time. Yeah, me too. So just so everyone out there stalking knows, everything is the same with the addition of one cute, cuddly nine month old named Carter. The boys are just wrapping up football, Lexi's in dance classes, Cam started Pre-school, and Makayla and Carter keep Mom entertained and frustrated all at the same time.

Heather's a busy girl and that makes blogging hard but if we have time to Facebook, we ought to just write those thoughts here and try to make a memory instead of type some random stuff there and forget what you wrote when others are done agreeing or disagreeing with what you posted. I should probably help do this since I'm not really good at anything else that could help out around here.

We hope all of you are doing well too! Your blogs look fun and exciting. Ours might return to form soon enough but I don't know how to add pictures or anything so be patient with me!!

Until the next time. Toodles and rainbows!

Here it is! The Posse!

2010-03-21T06:40:00.000-07:00

Heather asked me to link you up to the video I posted on Youtube of the boys and their friends dancing at the Primary's talent show yesterday. After much work and tribulation, I present The Posse! <-----CLICK HERE!

The boys did a great job only having learned the dance the night before. It was a lot of fun to teach them and watch them get it together! Way to go Posse!

For The Sake of Something Different

2010-03-13T06:45:00.001-08:00

I, Paul, am hijacking this blog for today. I am not updating life or schedules or activities. I am only putting something new on the blog so we can move up on your lists of blogs followed. I have a family that is way too busy to blog for themselves. We, the McInnes Family, are doing well. We have had a few birthdays and Valentine's parties. We planted a garden, we have bickering kids at times. This is all. Consider this something different to look at. End transmission..............

Makayla's First Photo Shoot

2010-02-01T16:08:00.000-08:00

Yeah I know it's been FOREVER since I did a post. I just wanted to do a real quick one and put up some pictures of Makayla that our friend Ryanne Day did for us. They are so stinkin' cute and I just had to put them on our blog! Enjoy!

This is Makayla in her blessing dress that my mom made and the sweater and booties were made by Pauls mom. I just loved it!

This one is for you Trini!

I just love the look on her face!

Cam giving Makayla a very softy kiss.

Had to get a pic of all of her hair!

She loved to play with this tulle. It was pretty cute!

I know the flower is huge, but it was pretty cute!

I even got to be in the photo shoot!

Thanks again Ryanne. You did an awesome job! It was a lot of fun!

Makayla's Birth Day

2009-12-09T21:22:00.000-08:00

WARNING!

This is very long but I didn't want to miss anything!

Well now it's my turn to post about Makayla's day of birth. It was an amazing day. I was so nervous to go to the hospital. I don't know if I have ever been as nervous with any of the other kids. I'm sure I was mostly nervous because she was breech and I didn't know what the day would bring. We got to the hospital around 7:30 a.m. and Dr. Barton and Dr. Lunt were there ready for us. Dr. Lunt explained everything about the "version" and how it would work. It's a pretty amazing process. I was given some medicine to relax my uterus and then they just pushed down on my stomach and did some fancy manuvers and she plopped down where she needed to be. It didn't hurt. It wasn't comfortable, but not unbearable. It was actually quite amazing! So with her being in the proper position I went from a 1 and thick to a 3 and 50%. So the Docs discussed it and they suggested that we stay and induce labor, but it was our choice. I really didn't want to be done being pregnant. I was so tempted to say "Lets go home!" One look at Paul's face and I knew he would not be the one to take me home! He was done and just wanted a baby to hold. So start the pitocin! One thing I really don't like is being induced, but there we were being bored and anxious. Dr. Barton came in around 2 p.m. and broke my water. I thought for sure I would start to progress quickly and we would have a baby within 2 hours or so. I was SO wrong! I was progressing, but not as fast as I wanted to. My sister-in-law Trini was able to sneek in and be in there with us. She works in Labor and Delivery as a CNA and I wanted so badly for her to be there. I was just hoping it would happen on a day she was working so that she wouldn't have to be sneeky. So as I have mentioned before I love love love nubain! I don't get epidurals. It all started with me not wanting to pay for it with our first child. Plus it's kind of empowering to be able to do it feeling the pain. Nubain is a pain reliever. It takes the edge off of the contractions and it just relaxes me so very good and it just love it. It's the reason I have had so many children! So when the nurse asked if I wanted an epidural I said "No, just give me Nubain!" She then wrote it on our white board so that all could see how I wanted this to happen. I even joked with Dr. Barton and our nurse about how it is a good thing that I don't work at the hospital because they might find me behind closed doors shooting up! So anyways I thought our nurse had a pretty clear picture of all of this. I eventually dialated to a 5 plus and I wasn't really feeling to uncomfortable. Trini told me that I should probably ask for the Nubain because if I get to close my nurse may not give it to me. So Trini went and asked her to give it to me. My nurse then came back in and said, "You are beyond Nubain." I cannot tell you how mad I was. Not only mad, but frustrated and scared. I was scared because I had never done this before without my beloved Nubain and I just didn't know that I could do it. I was mostly upset because at no point did my nurse tell me that I was getting close to the point when she wouldn't give it to me. Not once all day long did she even ask me if I needed any pain medication yet. It still really upsets me that she treated me like that. Seriously I really felt abandoned by her. When a friend of ours found out that I wasn't going to be able to get my drug, she said she wanted to cry for me. Well I did shed a trear or two! Mostly out of frustration! So after this happened I just layed down closed my eyes and started to get focused. Paul and my mom could tell how upset I was just because of the way my mood changed. When I get mad I don't usually rant and rave I just go quiet and deal with it internally. I am SO glad Trini was there. She gave me more attention than my nurse did all day long. Trini pushed on my back and on my knees and tried her best to make me comfortable. It was just awesome how she went into nurse mode and really took care of me! She even taught Paul and my mom what to do. Well I was still laboring when the shift change happened. This is the one good thing about me not getting Nubain. I think my body relaxes faster and moves my labor along better when I am on a high, but since I didn't have it my labor was slower. Thus I got a new nurse! Her name was Nicole and our CNA was our good friend Emily. Between those two and Trini I had the best birthing team ever! When Nicole first came in I asked her if she says no to Nubain also and she said it was just too close and risky for the baby. Nicole has had her children natural, so she knew exactly what I needed! She stayed with me and the three of them took turns pushing on my knees during contractions and rubbing my legs and feet. So we finally got ready to have a baby and they called Dr. Barton. He said he would be there in 7 minutes. Well 7 minutes can feel like an eternity when a baby is right there and ready to come! That's when the pain was incredibly intense! I will not say it didn't hurt because it was unbelievable! The Nubain doesn't take that particular pain away or deaden it in anyway, so it was a familiar pain. I told myself,"You have done this before you can do it again!" Trini had to keep telling my to pant because you can't pant and push at the same time! I've never had to do that before so that was a little wierd. Plus I was wearing this stupid oxygen mask that I have never had to have before, so that was just annoying! Finally Dr. Barton got there! My mom watched the clock and it took exactly 7 minutes. I guess he's done this a time or two! I cannot tell you how happy I was to see him! So at 7:19 our little baby girl entered the world! Remember we didn't know if we were having a boy or girl. We were planning on a boy, but hoping for a girl. Well our dreams came true! The excitement in the room was just awesome and we were SO happy! Paul called Lexi as soon as he could and told her that she had a baby sister. She was so happy she just cried and cried! Paul put it on speaker phone and so then my mom was crying, I was crying, Paul was crying and even Trini was crying! There was alot of pressure on this baby girl! I am so glad that we were able to pull through for Lexi and bring her little sister. Everytime I would go out to Cora's grave and Lexi woud be with me she would ask me, "When is Cora going to come back so that I can have a sister to play with?" Everytime she would say that it just destroyed me. I know how important sisters are because my sisters are just awesome, and I am so blessed to have them in my life. I didn't want Lexi to miss out on that and the odds were that she was going to. So I think at least for me I was just glad that she had a sister and not necessarily that we had another daughter. Lexi was at our friends the Stafford's when she found out she had a sister. Jen told me that when Jen got home from somewhere Lexi ran up the stairs and said, "My sisters a girl!" Then Lexi proceeded to cry. She was SO excited and Jen was so excited to hear it! So anyways Makayla Jo McInnes weighed 7 lbs and 3 oz and 20 inches long. For our family that is SO tiny! Our previous babies had weighted 9-4, 8-12, 8-8, & 9-13. We still can't believe how tiny she is!

The night before Makayla was born. I was so sad that I wouldn't be pregnant anymore. This really was a very easy pregnancy and most likely our last so I was just sad to see it go! I kind of felt a little cheated because we had to make a decision so fast and I just didn't feel ready. Oh well it all worked out!

Just waiting and waiting for the action to start!

I have never had to do this before. That mask was SO annoying, but it was for the good of Makayla so it was all good.

This obviously was taken after I found out I couldn't have the Nubain. Oh I was SO bitter! Paul did really good to calm me down and tell me everything was going to be okay. He could tell I was struggling and needed a little bit of comfort. He's an awesome companion and I am so blessed to have him by my side!

I know this isn't the prettiest picture of me, but there is alot being said in this picture. First of all that is relief not pain on my face! All the worry, pressure and wonder was gone. We had a healthy baby girl and I couldn't be happier! Paul is there telling me we did it and everything is okay. Paul actually watched the birth and cut the cord willingly. I was so proud of him! He doesn't do well with blood at all!

Yay Paul! You did a good job!

That's my mom. I'm so glad she could be there also. She has been in the room with all of our childrens births. I am so glad that shes been able to be there over the years. It's a good thing the hospital allowed two designated visitors or she would have gone crazy! She's a pretty proud Grandma! We sure do love her!

Dr. Barton checking out our baby girl. We are so blessed to have such an awesome doctor in our lives. He really does care about us! He's been our family doctor for 6 years now and we absolutely love him! He's very thorough, knowledgable and concerned about our well being! Thank you Dr. Barton for taking such good care of us!

Me and my baby girl on the next day. I just love to hold her. It's one of my most favorite places to be! I take full advantage of it when I can! That is one thing I don't ever regret doing is just sitting and holding my newborns as long as I can.

Since the hospital has their policy of only two designated visitors and no children under 15 right now our children couldn't really visit Makayla. They were able to come to the nursery window though and take a look see. Tiffany Reynolds brought them up to the hospital so that they could see her. I love this picture of Cam. He looks so intrigued and I know he just wanted to hold her.

Connor was there too. He didn't say much to us about Makayla being born, but I know he was so excited! I could tell by his smile that he was so glad to have a baby sister.

We decided to come home the day after Makayla was born. I usually stay my 2 whole days at the hospital, but I hardly got any sleep the first night because of nurses coming in so much to check on us. Plus I really missed the kids and I wanted them to be able to spend time with Makayla. When we got home all Cam wanted to do was hold Makayla. He absolutely loves her. He just wants to hold her all day long. He isn't mean to her at all. He did drop her once when he got her out of her swing, but not on purpose. I really have to watch him close because he will get her out of her swing when he wants to hold her and just go sit on the recliner. It really is so cute to watch him with her. He just adores her! He's a good big brother!

We owe a huge thank you to Tiffany and Brett for watching our kids while we were at the hospital. They were able to sleep over at their house and I knew they were in good hands. They really went above and beyond their role as friends! We also need to thank Jen and Trav Stafford for watching Cam and Lexi most of the first day. It can be a challenge to take care of two 2 year olds and still be sane! Jen was also my babysitter when I would go to doctors appointments. So thank you Jen and Trav. Another person that helped us out was Hope Clyde and it really messed up her day to watch our kids. She ended up having to rush her daughter to the doctors and had to call upon another friend Ana Carter and her sister Blanche to take over the babysitting so that she could attend to her daughters needs. So thank you to all involved in that craziness!

Tiffany and Hope even decorated our house! I remember back when I was young and people were having babies you would see this all the time. It doesn't happen very often anymore. It was fun to come home to. Thanks guys your awesome!

While we were in the hospital waiting for our baby to be born, we came up with a lot of fun "signs" that meant this baby was a girl. Remember we didn't know what we were having, and we have never know on any of them. So here they are:
There was a picture of 2 girls in our room
4 out of 5 breech babies are girls
Only our girl pregnancies have given us problems. Cora obviously was an issue. Lexi gave me Toxemia and this one was breech among other things.
Lexi was born on a cousins birthday(Austin) with an Aunts birthday(Toni) the next day. This one would be born on a cousins birthday (Ryan) with an Aunts birthday (Trini) the next day.
We couldn't decided on a middle name for a boy. We had the first name Luke picked but we couldn't settle on the middle name. We knew what the name would be if it was a girl. With Lexi we couldn't figure out a middle boy name, but we had a girl name ready to go. When all of our boys have been born we have know exactly what their names would be.
So those were the signs. It was kind of fun to come up with them. Our predictions were right!

Problems this pregnancy gave us that have never been an issue with any other pregnancies:
I spotted a lot more.
Partial placenta previa
Group B Strep
Breech which resulted in a version (the turning process)
Wearing the oxygen mask. I really didn't like that. So glad that I only had to do it with this one!
No Nubain! Did I mention that already. If not I will again. I didn't get my Nubain! DANG!!
This baby was by far our smallest. Excluding Cora of course.

So all in all it was a great day and very exciting! We are incredibly blessed. I am so grateful to Heavenly Father for sending Makayla to us. Even though she has been with us for just a short little while, she has already been such a blessing. The whole family just absolutely loves her. The first question I get asked when they get home from school is "Can I hold Makayla?".
I am so grateful for Paul. He did so good after we came home from the hospital. His job allowed him almost 2 weeks off and I am so grateful for that. He kept the house in order and did homework with the kids. He said all he really did was do laundry and clean the house. Most moms of newborns can tell you that, that is what they need help with the most! I was able to relax and heal and leave it all in his hands. I am a very lucky girl to have him as my partner in crime! We are incredibly blessed that I am able to be home with our 5 children and not have to work. He works SO hard for us and I know I don't tell him that enough. Thank you Paul for all that you do for our family!

Thanks again Trini for being there with us. I don't know if you will ever know how much we appreciated it! You are awesome and we are so lucky to have you in our family! Thank you also for taking pictures! You did a good job. She even got a picture of the placenta! That's a nurse for ya! I personally thought it was pretty cool!
Thanks again to Emily Mathews for being there with us also! Thanks for wanting to be there too! I am so glad that Makayla took her sweet time coming so that you could be there! You really did bring a sense of calmness and fun to the room! I know some people might think its weird to have your friends and family see "all" of you in your most undesired moments, but I really did appreciate all the support given to us. I really wish I would have gotten a picture of Makayla with Emily. I clearly wasn't thinking properly!

It was a great day! Thank you for all of the congratulations from people sent in many forms, texts, facebook, calls and visits. We are very blessed to be surrounded by such awesome family and friends!

IT'S A GIRL!!!

2009-11-18T10:14:00.000-08:00

I know Heather is the blogger in our family but right now, she's not here and I am. I am so happy to announce the arrival of our newest addition, Makayla Jo McInnes. She was born on November 17, 2009 at 7:19 p.m. Both Heather and Makayla are doing so well. Makayla slept ok last night. She was woken up by the nurses around two and couldn't fall to sleep so she cuddled with me until we both dozed back off.

Makayla has a beautiful head full of black hair. She is very inquisitive and looks around a lot. I didn't bring the camera home with me only cell phone pictures but here they are.

Thanks to all for the calls and text messages! Thank you to Aunt Trini who was such a big help in the delivery room. Thanks for risking it to be there! We love you! Thank you also goes to Dr. Scott Barton for being so good to us and all of our children. You are an amazing man and someone we love to be associated with!

The love I have for my sweet Heather is overflowing right now. I am so well pleased with all the choices we have made to be together. I am so grateful to you, Heather, for bringing our children to this world. You are my best friend and the greatest support of my life and always have been. Thank you so much for bringing our sweet little Makayla Jo safely. I love you with all of my heart! Words and actions cannot express my gratitude today.

Here we go!

2009-11-16T20:33:00.000-08:00

So never mind the baby ticker on the side. We only have less than 24 hours left until we have this baby! I am being induced tomorrow! I really can't believe this is happening. Dr. Barton called around 4:00 and told me that Dr. Lunt said he would help us out and try to get this baby turned. So the plan is to turn the baby, break my water and let things happen. Talk about stress! I so didn't plan on having this baby that fast! So I have been frantically been trying to get the house in order, get as much homework done as possible and get stuff ready for the baby. It's been a little crazy. I can't believe tonight is the last night that I will be pregnant. I'm kind of sad about that. I really don't have a problem being pregnant, but this is how it needs to be so I just need to go with the flow! The kids are very very excited. They have been very gitty! So we will keep you posted and let everyone know what happens!

What the breech!

2009-11-16T13:07:00.000-08:00

So yeah got some not so welcome news today! I went for my 38 week doctor appointment today and things didn't go as I expected! I was expecting Dr. Barton to tell me to plan on an induction on Monday since he will be leaving town for Thanksgiving. Instead he did a quick ultrasound and found that this little baby has an issue. It's head is not where it needs to be. The head is on my right side and its bum is down on my lower left side. Somehow it didn't get the memo that you don't come out of the side of moms stomach! So needless to say I am frustrated and a little discouraged! I've been pregnant like a thousand times (ok not that much but if feels like it) and never had problems like this. I also tested positive for Group B Strep, which I have never done before! My blood pressure and swelling are doing good though! Dr. Barton is suppose to let us know by tomorrow what our plan of attack is as far as turning this little one. So if anyone has ideas of how I can get this baby to turn on my own PLEASE let me know! I really don't want to have a C-Section. They just don't seem to be as exciting as a normal birth. Plus I won't get my nubain! Even though I am frustrated I need to be grateful that we know the baby is doing okay otherwise. I am also grateful that if it is needed a C-section is available. I will just hold out hope that the baby WILL turn and all will be good!

I'm a Halloween Humbug!

2009-10-29T23:01:00.001-07:00

I just want to put this out there- I HATE HALLOWEEN!!!! I think it's a waste of time, energy and most of all money! It is an unnecessary frustration that I think just needs to be eliminated! Anyways, just had to vent for a minute!

Russ and Nicole's blessed day!

2009-10-29T12:40:00.000-07:00

So October 16, 2009 was an absolutely amazing day! I don't think I will ever forget it! By the way I talk you would think that I was the bride! On this day our family gained a very cool sister! We are all very excited that Nicole is officially part of our family. She has been around for quite awhile and we are so glad that it is finally done! Welcome Nicole to our big loud family! We are going to have a lot of good times!

First I need to talk about when our family went down to the Vegas Temple for Nicole to receive her endowments. It was the second time that all of us have been together in the Temple, but the first time Russ had a partner. We were able to take pictures in our whites and it was very cool!

Here we all are! I really don't know what Paul is doing and I really don't think I want to know!

All of our eternal companions! Not a bad looking group!

My 5 eternal sisters and my mom.

So the big day finally came! The sealing was absolutely amazing. I don't think there is anything cooler than being in sealing room with all of your siblings to witness the last sibling wedding. It was pretty cool to look down the row and see all of us there for Russ and Nicole. I have never seen Russ so happy and so peaceful. You could just see in his eyes that he is truly happy. I know Nicole had a lot to do with Russ' happiness, so thank you Nicole for sticking by him through the good and hard times. My parents have been great examples to us and I know that they were so relieved that this day had finally come! They had met their goal of getting us all through the Temple and being married in the Temple. Thank you Dad and Mom for never giving up on us! Just a side note. Russ and I were sealed to our spouses in the same sealing room. So my parents first and last sealings took place in the same room. Cool huh!
My Aunt Nancy was kind enough to hang out with all of the Grandkids at the Temple so that they could be there when Russ and Nicole came out. This is my cute little Grandma. I am so glad she could come. My Grandpa wasn't feeling very well so he stayed home. We missed him!

I love this picture of Cam and Paul. Cam had a rough night the night before so he was so tired. He needed some lovin's from his daddy.

Paul and I taking a rest. I look much better sitting down!

The original 6.

Us 4 girls with our 2 pretty cool sister- in-laws! Since Joanna and I are with child we had to wear our sashes up very high.

Wow we have really grown over the years! We have a really cool family and we are very blessed to all be here in St. George, well at least we all were until the WHOLE family decided to move to the Fields and leave us here. Rude! Anyways I love my family.

The reception was a lot of fun. I hope it was all decorated how Nicole wanted it. It was very informal and we just wandered around the whole night. We had some very yummy Hawaiian food catered by one of the coolest families I know. Thanks Basso family!
Russ and Nicole with all of their nieces and nephews. I just love this picture. They all look so cute! It was so funny at the Temple Alan and Porter were talking to each other and saying how glad they were that Russ and Nicole were finally married because they could now go dirt bike riding with Russ again. Russ got a new dirt bike and they couldn't ride it becauae they wanted to use it in some wedding pictures and didn't want it to get ruined before that. Boys will be boys and dirt bike riding is just incredibly important in their lives right now!

Nicole with all of her sisters.

Russ with all of his brothers.

Paul and Timmy playing some entertaining music.

Just before this picture was taken Russ sang part of a song to Nicole and then grab Nicole for their first dance. The "band" Paul, Timmy Trav and Levi continued playing the same song. It was very cool and very sweet of Russ to do for Nicole!

So Russ has a John Deere tractor that he is so proud of and absolutely loves. We thought it would be pretty cool if that could be their "car" to leave the reception in. It turned out really cool. We got a banner that said "My wife thinks my tractor is sexy!" Then we decorated it with balloons and streamers. They put their hats on and off they went into the night! They drove down Main Street onto the Boulevard and to the Green Gate Village where our family had gotten them a room for the night. They said people were honking and cheering for them on the whole way down there. It's probably one of the coolest get-aways that I have seen! They both looked SO happy!

So it was all over and when we came back in this is what we found. This is a pretty cute band. They sang a song for us and sounded pretty good!

I forgot to take a picture when we were all dolled up. Connor is missing his bow tie and has a huge chocolate stain on his shirt and Lexi is missing her sash. I always forget about pics until it's too late. Looks like Paul lost his tie too! Oh well we looked decent at one point I'm sure.

Bud and I wasting time and dreading clean up time!

So it was a great day! The next exciting event in this old family is a baby! We are only 4 1/2 weeks away and I can't believe it is that close! Things are going good. My blood pressure is behaving. Not so sure about the weight gain. I honestly don't know how much I have gained and I really don't want to know! I just know that I have a lot of hard work ahead of me! Good times, good times!

Hello Baby!

2009-09-30T19:30:00.000-07:00

We had another ultrasound yesterday and we got to say hi to our little one! We had to have another one because when we had our first ultrasound at 20 weeks my placenta was a little bit to low. Doctor Barton wanted us to have another one just to make sure it has moved up. He was pretty confident that it would and he was right. I am SO relieved. I really don't want to go out on a C-section! Plus if I have to do that I can't get my drugs! Oh how I love nubain! After all that is why I have children! Just kidding (kind of)! For those of you that have had this most wonderful drug know what I am talking about. If anyone knows how I can possibly get nubain and the hospitals yummy turkey sandwich without actually having to go to the hospital for a legit reason would you let me know please! Hey Trini, can you help me out with that ;)! We are only 2 months away from our due date and I am getting pretty excited. I am just now starting to "feel" pregnant. I don't get sick, just hungry, but that's normal and doesn't necessarily have anything to do with pregnancy! Just in the last couple of weeks I feel like the baby has grown a ton. I feel like my belly exploded over night. My belly is getting in the way. I hit the doors with it and other people when I am walking by. It's pretty awkward! Before this growth I would always forget that I am pregnant. We still don't know what we are having. I guess we will know soon enough! The kids are getting very exctited too. Lexi asks every time I go to the doctor if the baby gets to come out at the appointment. She just can't wait! This baby is going to rock Cam's world. It will be interesting. I am a bit nervous about that. When Connor was born Alan must have felt a little left out and lonely because he all of a sudden had and imaginary friend and eventually had 5 of them. Oops on our part. We will need to do better this time!

CALIFORNIA!

2009-08-30T19:59:00.000-07:00

Our family loves California! When we go there we usually will hit up Sea World, but this time we went to L.A. My cousin Philip and his cute bride Julie were getting married in the L.A Temple so my parents asked us if we wanted to make the quick trip with them. We decided to spend Thursday night at my parents house so we could get up extremely early and make the trek.

My parents dog Daisy had pups a few weeks ago and Cam LOVES them! He held this little girl all night and he was so mad when it was bed time!

Lexi love them too! They really are so cute! I wish our dog wasn't so retarded and she could figure out how to reproduce more than once!

So the next morning we got up at 5 a.m. and left by 6. It really was a quick drive. After 7 hours and one annihialated stroller that Paul couldn't help but run over we had made
it to our destination.
We stayed at the Temple apartments that are on the L.A. Temple grounds. They were so small, but they were cheap and it was a place to lay our heads so we were grateful for them. After we got all situated there we headed to the BEACH! I love the beach and I could spend all day there. It's just so calming and peaceful. A little nerve racking when you have little ones to watch after, but none the less and a nice place to relax.
Grandma and Cam. Cam absolutely hates water! All he wanted to do was play in the sand and chase the birdies! We followed a ton of them and walked a lot. He had a good time.
Lexi loved it! She kept running back and forth and I was surprised by how much time she did spend in the water.
Lexi and Connor hung out together a lot. Notice Lexi's purple lips. It was very cold, but that didn't stop them from having a good time!
Alan taking a break for a minute.

The next day was the wedding. My parents were also married in the L.A. Temple 32 years ago, so they told us lots of stories from the good ole days. It was nice to see the Field family again (the groom's family). Growing up our families did a lot together despite us living at opposite ends of the state. They are a family of 12 and we are a family of 8 so there are a lot of common ages in our families.
This is my cousin Annie Fannie (I'm the only one she lets call her that) and her daughter Kellie. I was so glad that Annie and I could reconnect a little bit. We haven't seen each other for a very long time. Long ago we were roommates at LDS Business College and that really was a very fun part of my life. I think about those days a lot and realize how "simple" those days were! I wish Annie lived closer and we could see each other more often. She lives in Texas with her cute little family and seems very happy there. Love ya Annie and I hope we can see each other soon!
Grandpa and Cam taking twirl on the dance floor. Cam LOVES his Grandpa! Ever since this trip he always asks where Grandpa is and asks when we are going to his house.
Paul even danced with me! Ah, how sweet!

Paul wanted to dance with his little girl, but he got shot down hard core!
My parents even danced.

Philip and Julie Field. We wish the both of you the best future!
On the way home from the reception these munchkins were so so tired! I love how they huddle together. Sometimes they will sleep together in the same bed and they always end up huddling. They get pretty embarrassed by it, but I think it is cute! Lexi just looks so uncomfortable. Poor girl! Get her home and into bed!

We found out this weekend that we will be having another wedding in our family. My little brother Russ and his girlfriend Nicole are engaged and will be getting married in October. We are so excited and have waited a very long time for Russ to get married! After all he is 30 and according to Brigham Young once your are that old and not married you are just a menace to society! Just kidding Russ! We are excited for Nicole to be an "official" part of our family. We've know her for quite awhile and she is perfect for Russ and they are going to have an awesome future together! Congratulations you guys!

This is where Russ proposed to Nicole. On the beach in the Bahamas! They were there with my sister Bonnie and her husband Aaron on business. Sounds like fun!

Thanks Dad and Mom for the fun trip to Cali! Paul and I would love to go there more often. Even more cool would be to have a beach house there and live there! We can dream anyways!

The "Posse" goes to Pine Valley

2009-08-18T13:10:00.001-07:00

Cam, Kyler Neely, Bryson Reynolds, Caysen Moss,
Alan McInnes, Gavin Sutton, Henry Stafford, Connor McInnes

Alan and Connor have a group of friends that are in our neighborhood. We refer to them as the "Posse". They ride their bikes, play at each others houses, go to the park and catch tadpoles and just do boy things. They all come from really good families and we don't have to worry about them getting into trouble. Well for Alan's birthday in July we decided that it would be fun to take the group of boys up to the cabin in Pine Valley. Lexi was able to stay with the Reynold's so that she wouldn't bug her brothers. I knew she would because that is what little sisters do! So we went up on Friday after school. Once we got there and got unpacked the boys decided they wanted to go on a tour of Pine Valley. Paul, me and Cam stayed at the cabin and just let them roam. They decided they wanted to go on a tour of the Pine Valley church, odd, but whatever! They had a good time and didn't get in trouble at all. Good boys!

They boys coming back from their church tour. Cam was so excited to see them. I guess Paul and I aren't very much fun!
The boys were very nice to give Alan presents. He got some really fun stuff and money!

FOOTBALL! These boys love playing football! Paul was the designated quarterback and they had a really good time. I can't wait for flag football to start. They are just a lot of fun to watch!
Cam played his own little game of football. He would say "ready, set, hike" and then throw the ball. He cracks me up.

Cam was so so thirsty after his solo game!

After we had dinner Paul taught the boys how to play "MP". They had so much fun and played for a very long time. The funniest thing about the game was Alan kept tripping and falling flat on his face! Oh, I kept laughing SO hard. I don't know why but it just makes me laugh So hard when I see people fall. I know it's not nice, but I just cannot control it! One time in particular was exceptionally hilarious. Alan was walking in the weeds and I hear him say "Oh, crap here comes Bryson". Out of the corner of my eye I saw him trip and disappear behing a low lying bush and heard a very loud thud! Oh, I laughed so hard for so long! I am still laughing about it! Don't worry he was ok. He laughs about it too! Another time Connor was chasing Bryson and he tripped and landed smack on his face, no arms involved, and then his big head tripped Bryson. So Funny! They were all good sports and just let me laugh at them. Thanks boys!

It was cake and Happy Birthday time. Boys will be boys and so they of course had to go shirtless! We then watched a movie and then sent the boys to bed. I knew it would be awhile until they settled down. The funniest part about the whole trip was what happened around 12 a.m. Gavin started telling scary stories about deer and reindeer killing people by going into their houses. So they were all pretty scared and then all of a sudden they heard a deer outside the window. A deer had wandered onto the property and made a grunting noise! We heard them scream and yell and before Paul could get up and into the front room they were already down the stairs putting chairs under the knobs of the doors and I think Kyler had a pillow to protect them. It was just so funny that they had freaked themselves out so bad! It took awhile for them to settle down after that. They probably didn't go to sleep until around 1. Then they had to be up by 7:15 so that we could get back home to got to a Primary activity that they were in charge of. We had a really good time and I wouldn't mind doing it again! They are good boys and I'm so glad we got to hang out with them! Thanks boys!

Lexi had a problem... so she solved it

2009-08-15T12:19:00.000-07:00

The other day this little girl made me laugh with her solution to a problem that she had. The problem was that her brothers got to eat some candy bars that had melted and were not good enough to put in the vending machine. She missed out on this treat and was pretty upset about it. She brought me a Snickers bar and asked if she could have it. I told her that she couldn't because it wasn't melted and was still good enough for the machine. She proceeded to ask and I told her that the only reason the boys got one was because they were melted. Her answer was "Well then I need to melt this then." So she walked outside, stood in the sun and squished the candy bar until it was as flat as possible. She brought it to me and said, "See now it's melted. Can I have it?" I just laughed and opened it up for her. I am amazed at how little ones minds work. They have such simple solutions for their BIG problems!

The First Day of School

2009-08-15T10:59:00.000-07:00

Wow! I cannot believe the summer is over already! It is time for school to start though because the kids are starting to fight! It is just too dang hot outside for them to be out there all day. Therefore, they get bored and get themselves in trouble for picking on each other. Alan is now in 5th grade, Connor in 2nd and Lexi in Kindergarten. I can't believe that I have 3 children going to Arrowhead Elementary! Last year Lexi did go to preschool for 3 days a week so I am used to having her gone for a little bit in the morning and it just being me and Cam. So it won't be too much of an adjustment. Alan has Mrs. Sparks and we are very excited. We had a rough year last year and are hoping to get a fresh start and accomplish a few things. We already had our back to school night and I am SO scared for 5th grade! Can we go back to Kindergarten? Alan has to start doing book reports and doing homework for 50 minutes each day! That's a lot of work! I'm pretty nervous! Lexi doesn't have her official first day until Monday, and she just cannot wait! We went on Thursday and had her Treasure Hunt and met her teacher Mrs. Fonnesbeck and she is so excited. Connor is just Connor and will do what is asked of him and will do just fine. He has a lot of motivation and wants to do his very best and not disappoint anyone. He's one of those kids that just knows what he needs to do and you only have to tell him once and he will get it done. Alan's a different story! They both have different talents and very different personalities and we are doing our best to understand them both!

Alan is already working hard. Let's hope it continues!

Connor's class in out in the portables with Mrs. Marchant. He says she is a pretty cool teacher and is excited about this year.

Paul and Cam were there too!

So we are hoping for a very fun and uneventful year. We hope that all of our teeth stay intact (except those that are suppose to fall out) and that we all come out of this year better than when we started!

July 14, 2009

2009-07-28T10:38:00.001-07:00

This was a good day for our family! First of all it was Alan's 10th birthday. I can't believe he is already that old! He has really grown up a lot lately and we really depend on him for a lot of help around the house. He has such a fun personality. He is a lot like his dad in that way. He always wants to make people laugh. He has always been like that. I remember when he was younger like 4 years old he had a friend, Bryson Reynolds that would laugh at everything Alan did. This was a huge problem in his primary class and they had to end up putting them in separate classes because it was so bad! He loves to be the class clown and it has definitely gotten him in some trouble in his short life! Alan loves life and really tries to have fun in everything he does. Which really is not a problem if he could only remember priorities! He is also such a social butterfly. He also gets this from his father! It's a good trait I suppose.
Paul was able to take his birthday off. Actually he was home with an injury from playing volleyball on our family vacation! So we mostly just hung out and opened presents, had navajo tacos and jello cake.

Alan got stuff for scouts since he is a Webelos now, a new basketball, a basketball hoop that hooks onto a door and a light saber from Connor. I think he really enjoyed his presents. From my parents he got a picture of The First Presidency. He told my mom while we were on vacation that he wanted one. From my siblings he got a $50 savings bond. Although the kids don't get too excited about getting bonds for a present, I think it is a really good idea that we should have done a long time ago. My grandparents did it for us and it helped me pay for college, buy Paul an electric guitar and helped us get into our first house. So we will see how handy they come into play for the kids in the future.

Alan let Cam help him blow out his candles. That's a good big brother!

Also on this day we had our ultrasound of the baby. This is a picture of our little persons foot. It's a cute foot! Saying Paul and I were nervous is an understatement! Once you have had one bad ultrasound it ruins the excitement of all future ones. We were more nervous than excited. We really just wanted to get it out the way and hopefully find that everything was okay. We explained to the technician that did our ultrasound our history and she was so good to tell us that the baby looked good and all the measurements were good. Since Cora had anencephaly( her brain didn't develop) we were very nervous about having another child with the same birth defect. We were told by our doctor that the chances of having an anencephalic baby is 1 in 1000 and once you have had one with that condition your odds raise to 1 in 100. This is why these things are so nerve racking to us! Needless to say we had nothing to worry about. Actually, the first image of the ultra sound was the baby's head and it is all there! We didn't find out if it's a boy or a girl. We want to be surprised. It just makes the whole experience more exciting for us! We really would like a girl, but I'm trying to convince myself that it will be a boy so that I am not to disappointed! Whether it's a boy or a girl we just really want a healthy baby to love and to raise. We are very excited and so are the kids. Lexi seems to be the most excited and of course she really wants a baby sister! She always says that she has too many brothers. And the poor thing is stuck in the middle of them!
I did have a doctors appointment today, and he said that the ultrasound showed that the placenta was a little lower than it should be. He isn't that concerned about it. He said that 9 1/2 times out of 10 it will move up as we get further along. He is going to have us get another ultrasound at 33 weeks just to make sure everything looks okay. I'm not really that worried about it because the doctor doesn't seem to worried. I really trust our doctor and I think he is one of the best out there! Yeah Doctor Barton!
So anyways that was our exciting day! Couldn't have turned out any better that it did! We are very blessed to have a family and to be able to celebrate milestones! Happy Birthday Alan! We love you very much!

My cute little nephew Brenden

2009-07-22T18:13:00.000-07:00

This is one of the cutest pictures I have ever seen! This chunk of a fella is my sister Christie's little boy. They call him The Bud. I stole this picture from her blog because I just can't stop laughing about it! By the way he's skinny dippin' in his little baby pool! Anyways, just thought I would share it with everyone! I hope you got as good of a laugh out of it as I did!

2009-07-15T13:33:00.001-07:00

Oh, where to start! I haven't blogged for a very long time and we have done a lot lately. I think I will start with Cam's birthday. On June 25th he turned 2. We can't believe he is already that old. He is a really funny boy and makes us laugh everyday. For his birthday we just hung out all day and he had a couple of friends come over for a little while.

This is Elia, Ashlin, Cam and George

For Cam's birthday dinner we took him to McDonald's. We never go there because honestly after my dad stopped being the supervisor of the stores we have had to pay full price for their food. That's a lot of money and I am very cheap. Therefore, we only eat there like twice a year. Lexi was sooo excited to go McD's. She loves that place!.

Lexi, Connor, Alan & Cam enjoying their yummy happy meals.

I'm not so sure about this face. He looks like he's go an evil plan!

Pretty sure Connor was done dealing with Lexi and was having an angry moment.
I have those moments sometimes!

Moment passed. All better!

Cam blowing out his candle. I made a Wiggle cake again. He had the same theme last year. He absolutely loves the Wiggles! It was so cute when he blew out the candle. He just spit on it over and over until it blew out.

Cam is so mad because I interrupted his bike playing so that he could eat some cake. We got him dirt bike, a truck that has a trailer with 2 bikes on it and the Reynold's family got him a motorcycle. He calls it his "Tippy bike" He calls Tiffany Tippy. He is so into bikes right now and it is so cute! We love him so much and we are so glad he is part of our family! Happy Birthday Cam Man!

Since we have 3 birthdays in June in our extended family we decided to just have one big birthday party to celebrate all 3. The birthdays were Moss (Christie's hubby) my dad and Cam.

We all got together over at Bonnie's and had dinner, played whiffle ball and had a water fight. Our family is getting so big that the kids got kicked out to the backyard. It's probably safer out there anyways so that they don't make a mess of Bonnie's house.

Some of the kids chasing Uncle Russ with water balloons. They eventually got him a couple of times. Russ and Timmy were the main ones that the kids went after. They are good sports to play with the kids all of the time.

Grandma and Cam staying dry.

A rousing game of whiffle ball.

Notice the two bobsy twins in the background. They are so in baseball mode.

After all of our activities it was cake time. Moss had a cherry pie, Cam had a motorcycle bike cake that I made and my dad had a pineapple upside down cake.

Cam "spitting" out his candle!We had a good party. Happy Birthday boys!
Thanks Bonnie and Aaron for letting us crash your house!

I found this picture on the camera and it's just hilarious it me. Lex decided to wear this outfit for her pajamas one night. I think the shirt is one that Alan wore when he was like 2. I don't think any part of this outfit belongs together!

Connor just chillin' in the pool. He looks so funny!

For our vacation this year we just went up north and hung out. We kept it really cheap, but it was a lot of fun. We went on vacation with my parents and all of my siblings. My parent's left on the 4th with Alan, Connor and Lexi. We went up the next day and stayed at my Grandma and Grandpa Nielsen's house. We don't make it up there as much as we should. While the kids were there my Grandpa taught Alan how to do Indexing. He has been doing it a lot since we got home. He really enjoys it.

On Monday morning we went to the Oquirrah Mountain Temple open house. It was really cool to take the kids there and be able to experience that with them. When Trimmy and Trini got married Connor was so mad that he couldn't go inside the St. George Temple, but this time he was able to go in and he was very excited to be there. I forgot to take my camera with me to the Temple so Timmy took a couple picture of us there but I haven't gotten them from him yet.

After the temple on Monday we went up to Liberty. Its is on the other side of Ogden. Aaron's family lives there. My parents and our little family stayed at a Trendwest condo and the rest of the family stayed at Aaron's families place. His family was out of town and they were kind enough to let us use their house.

On Tuesday we went to Pine View Resevoir. Russ and Aaron brought there boat and we had a good time. I really don't like going to the lake. They make me so nervous. I always hear of people drowning and all sorts of other things happening. We were safe though and all is good.

Here is Paul, Alan & Connor going for a tube ride. Connor was so nervous at first, but he liked it after awhile. It was really fun to watch them. They had a good time.

This is Nicole, Lexi & Bonnie enjoying their ride. Lexi had so much fun! She really liked to go fast and over the wake.

Uncle Russ trying to take his nieces and nephews on a boat ride. It didn't work very well until Timmy helped Russ get it started. Russ took the kids over to a tree that had a rope on it and the boys took turns jumping off of it. Alan talks about it all the time.

Cam was able to go on a boat ride with Paul and he had a lot of fun. He absolutely hates water, but he really liked the boat ride. After the ride he kept saying "Boat make a mess of the water". I think it's because the boat would disturb the calm water and so the water wouldn't look as calm anymore. He still says it all the time. He didn't know what a boat was before this trip. Now he spots them everywhere and just yells out "Mom boats"! He's so funny!

On Wednesday we went down to Salt Lake and did a few things. My parents and our little family went to Welfare Square. It was really cool to see all of the things that they do there. I have never doubted that the church put our fast offerings to good use, but it was neat to see exactly what good use they go to. The Elder that took us on our tour said that he wishes more people would come and see exactly what goes on there. He says fast offerings would go up immensely if people were more aware of the need and the good that the welfare system of the church does. What was amazing to me was to see the organization and how percise the church is. This is defintely a church of order and you can see that in everything that the chuch does. There was such a spirit of giving there and a realy concern for the people of our faith and even the people that aren't of our faith. Our church really does a lot for humanitarian needs that are here in the U.S and other countries. It was really cool for Alan and Connor to see why we fast and where our money goes to . I think it will help Alan for the times that he does fast when he really doesn't want to. He has now seen why we do it and who it is helping. I think it is so important for us to get out of our little bubble and have our eyes opended to what is going on in the world. There are so many people suffering right now and it feels so good to know that we are helping relieve other people sufferings. This is only one simple way to do that and I think it's important for our children to see that it is our responsibitly to help take care of our brothers and sister whether or not they are LDS. I encourage anyone to go to Welfare Square and feel the spirit there. It is an absolutely amazing place. It's is sure to affect you in one way or another.

So after Welfare Square we hooked up with other parts of the family and went to Temple Square. Again, I forgot my camera. I took picture on my dads and Timmy took some of our family. We had a good time there and it's a good place to take the kids. As they get older they understand alot more and start to ask questions. I love it when they do and I hope in some way they are starting to grasp the mission of the church and are gaining testimonies at the same time.

On Thursday we all went down to Hill Airforce Base. They boys of course loved it and Lexi and Madison wandered around finding stuff that was girly. They are so cute together. Neither one of them has a sister to play with so when they are together they are pretty much inseperable. I am glad that they have each other.

That's a pretty big wheel!

This is my nephew Brenden. He is so chunky! He is so cute though and really is a good boy! Good job Christie and Moss!

While we were outside looking around at all the planes there were fighter jets flying above and they were so LOUD! Lexi really didn't like them!

Christie was so excited to be here! She is a good poser!

The girls found the girlie stuff. They are so funny. They kept posing by things and having me take pictures. They thought it was pretty cool that women were able to fly some of the planes during the war.
This was one of their favorite planes.

On Tuesday and Thursday night we played volleyball. We really had a lot of fun. Even those that had never played an organized game of v-ball learned the gist of it and caught on quickly. I hadn't played v-ball since high school. I found myself doing things that I had been taught while playing on the high school team and it was fun. I did a couple of dives but no worries I didn't land on my stomach at all. Paul however, landed on his shoulder trying to do a pancake and messed up his peck muscle and has still not gone back to work. We are hoping tomorrow he will be able to go back! I was just worried about him hurting his ankle, but instead he went and jacke up his shoulder. When does the competiveness end?

Brayden and Cam wanted to go on a motorcycle ride. Cam wore that helmet upside down almost all night. I could not stop laughing at him!

On Friday we all headed home. My parents and our little family still had things to see so we eventually made our way home. First we went to This is the Place Heritage park. It ended up being a free day for everyone so that that was really cool. It saved us $30. there were so many people there though and it was pretty hot, but we still had fun.

Cam found a little lamb.

Connor and Lexi watching the blacksmith.

Our family in front of the Brigham Young Forrest home.

Deciding what to do next.

We found East High School (where High School Musical was filmed). Lexi was so so excited! She really wanted to go insde. Maybe someday.

Well this day was actually our wedding anniversary. Paul and I have been married for 11 years. I really can't believe it has been that long. We have had some good and some rough years, but it has all been worth it. I can honestly say that I have a deeper and fuller love for Paul than on the day that I married him. He is my best friend and he still makes me laugh everyday. Even if he is a dork sometimes! Well I really do have some great parents! They took all four of our kids with them to my Grandparents house in Payson and Paul and I were able to stay in Salt Lake on Friday. We thought back and the last time that we had time away from all of the kids was 3 years ago when we were able to go to Sea World by ourselves. My parents take the 3 older ones here and there but we always still had Cam because he is still to young. So it was so cool to just have a night to ourselves. It helps you focus back on your relationship and recharge some batteries. We were able to get a hotel by Temple Square that was in our budget. For dinner we went to The Garden. It's on top of the Joseph Smith Memorial building. It was a very nice dinner and quite inexpensive. I would reccomend it to anyone. After that we stood in front of the temple and took a gomer picture of ourselves. We aren't very good at self portraits!

Told ya!

After our dinner we walked down to the Gateway and wandered around for a bit. We decided to see Transformers 2. It began at 9:40 and didn't get over until 12:15 a.m. We had to walk about 3 blocks to our hotel. We were a little bit nervous, but we made it.
Thanks again to Mom and Dad for taking the kids and letting us have some alone time. We so needed it! I am sure it will be a long time until we get to do it again.

On Saturday morning we headed down to Payson to meet with my parents. On they way down we found out that my Grandma was in the hospital. We stopped by and visited with her for about an hour. I really don't like to think about when either of them won't be with us anymore. I wish we could spend more time with them and that they lived closer. She is out of the hospital now and doing better.
After we picked up the kids and got the house cleaned up we went to the Scottish Festival. Paul being 100% Scottish was pretty excited to go to it. The kids were excited too. They are pretty proud of their heritage.
The first thing we saw and could hear were the drum and pipe bands. They sound so cool. I would have just loved to sit and watch them all day!
We even found some sausage rolls. They are so so yummy! If you have never tried one you really need to! Pauls mom makes them and they are so good. We don't get them enough though!

The kids had some chicken and fries. They wouldn't touch the fish n' chips so us and my parents took care of it.

We even found the cutest little puppies there. My mom wanted to buy one so bad, but she didn't. Cam loved this little fella!

So we finally headed home. We had a good time, but it is always good to get home!

Holy Cow I think that is the longest post ever! I really hope I never have to do that again! I need to stay up on this blogging better!

Happy Father's Day

2009-06-24T12:36:00.000-07:00

Yeah I know it was a couple of days ago, but I am a little slow! Well I think we had a good day. I hope Paul enjoyed it. He really doesn't like the attention, so I have to be careful not to make a big deal out of it. For Father's Day we got him a tackle box with some fishing supplies, a HUGE ole' pancake spatula that he found at Lin's and a new bladder for his camelback (water holder thing that he takes to work). I just want to take a minute to tell Paul how grateful I am for him. He works so hard for us. I know some days it is sooo hot and he has to be out there in it, while I am in my nice air conditioned house. More importantly though I really appreciate how serious he takes his church callings and the privelage of holding the priesthood. His such a good example to our boys and our little girl. I hope that they really understand how much their dad loves the church and its many responsibilities. Paul loves being a dad and he never tries to pass his responsibilites off onto someone else. He knows his role and he lives it. Thank you Paul for being who you are and taking care of our physical and spritual needs. We love you!

Now to my dad. He's an interesting fella! No one else just like him! He has always been there for us. I remember him being to almost all of my activites growing up. He had to work so hard for our family. He was always available to help us with homework (even if he did make us cry when doing math)! He also made sure we had fun and did things as a family. He loved to make us have forced family fun! Even when we give him a hard time because he can be such a gomer, he forgives us. Like the trip I took to Australia with my parents, Timmy and Christie. He really should have left Christie and I in Australia because we just were not very nice to him. We got bored a lot and he was our entertainment. (Sam? Whose Sam?) Anyways, dad I love you and I am so glad that you are such a huge part of my life and my childrens lives. We seriously couldn't ask for a better Grandpa!

Also, thank you to all of the men out there that are apart of our lives and our children's. You have been awesome examples for them and we are so grateful for that!

Here comes another McInnes!

2009-06-16T20:36:00.001-07:00

I guess it's about time that we announce that we are going to be adding one to our family. This little one should appear around the end of November. Which by the way is very bad timing due to it being "peak" at UPS. It's going to be a very long December! We are very excited about having another baby. The kids just can't wait! They are really hoping for a baby girl. We won't find out though until it is born. Yes, we are some of those not so normal people that don't find out what they are having. We like to keep it exciting. We are extremely anxious to get the ultrasound to make sure all is well. That will probably take place around the middle of July. At this point I am 16 weeks and I am doing pretty good. Since I changed my prenatal pill schedule I am feeling really good. I just have to eat all the time. Which can be very annoying! So we shall keep you posted on anything exciting that should happen.

Fun at the water park

2009-05-18T17:25:00.000-07:00

While Paul was on vacation this last week we did a couple of things. We went to the water park one night and just enjoyed the cool weather.It's starting to get to hot to enjoy. This Cam just wandering around. He is at one of my favorite ages. He will be 2 next month. I can hardly believe he is that old. He reminds me a lot of Alan, but in Connor's body! He does the same kind of things that Alan used to do. He has this gomer smile that Alan had. It really makes me laugh!

These guys were there too! They really had a good time. Cam could not keep up with them. His legs just aren't long enough yet.

Cam really does not like water and so Paul took him around to touch the water. After awhile he started to like it and would touch it with it with his feet. The funniest thing happened. So randomly this water feature will turn off for a few minutes and you can walk around in it and not get wet. Well Paul decided to walk to the middle. All of a sudden the water turned on and he got soaked. I so wish I could have gotten a picture of it. It made me laugh so hard! Well we had a lot of fun there. I'm glad Paul was able to go with us. I kind of like him! He's fun to have around!

Cora's birthday

2009-05-13T12:16:00.000-07:00

Cora's birthday was a very good day for our family. For those of you that don't know our Cora, she was born on May 11, 2000 with a fatal birth defect. We knew before she was born that should would not survive. She lived for about an hour and a half. It was an amazing day that Paul & I will never forget. A lot of emotions went into that day. For her birthday Paul and I try to go to the temple. We usually do an endowment session, but Paul wanted to do sealings instead. I am so glad that he did because it was an amazing experience. We ended up sealing daughters to parents. We didn't plan it that way it's just what needed to be done. As a parent many of you would probably agree that you worry about your children no matter where they are. If they aren't with you, you just have a worry in the back of your mind that makes you want to know that they are ok. Even if they are with someone you trust with your whole heart. My prayers were answered that day in the temple and I am so grateful for a Heavenly Father that loves his children enough to give them undeniable answers to righteous requests. We had an unforgettable event happen and for that I am extremely grateful to my Heavenly Father and for his love.

That night for dinner we went and picked up some Subway and Jimmy Johns (for me) and went out to Cora's grave at Tonaquint Cemetery. We have made it a tradition to go out there with the whole family and just sit and talk about her and what she would be doing at this age. We got her some white roses and a Happy Birthday balloon. When we found out about Cora's birth defect we had the unfortunate task of picking a burial plot. With Tonaquint being completley empty because it was so new we pretty much were able to choose any plot that we wanted. We chose one that is located near a Fruitless Mulberry tree. At the house that I grew up in we had a huge one in our front yard. I climbed that tree all the time. It just seemed right to bury her by the same kind of tree. I think it was a comfort thing for us. Every year we have the kids climb the tree. Cam was able to get up there this year

We had a really good time with the kids at the cemetery. I believe with all my heart that you can feel her spirit out there and I know the kids can feel it. It's the one place that all of us can go to remember her and get to feel of her love. We miss her immensely, but we know that through the Plan of Salvation that our Heavenly Father and Christ prepared for us we will be with her again. It is our responsibility to now live as righteous as possible so that we can be with her again! Thank you to all of you that showed your love and support to our family on this day. Whether it was by posts on Facebook, babysitting so that we could go to the temple, by leaving a plant at her grave or just by thinking of us and remembering Cora. We have wonderful friends and family that are truly amazing. We are a very blessed family!

Happy Birthday Cora!

2009-05-11T20:11:00.000-07:00

Today was our daughter Cora's birthday. We had a very spiritual and fun day. We miss her very much and eagerly await our reunion. Thanks to all of you who show our family support and love. Once I get pictures loaded up I will post about our day.

Happy Birthday MOM!

2009-05-04T17:00:00.000-07:00

(L to R) Russ, Jason, Joanna, Paul, Heather, Trini, Timmy, Dad, Mom, Christie, Moss, Bonnie, Aaron

We had the coolest experience on Saturday! Paul asked my mom what she wanted for her birthday. Her response was "I just want to go to the temple with my family". Well we decided to make it happen. With some rearranging of some schedules we were able to pull it off. We wanted to surprise her with it too. I called and invited her and my dad to go to the temple with Paul and I. She said that it sounded fun and that she really wanted to go with the whole family, but she knew Russ and Bonnie were going to be out of town. I was so glad to hear her say that because I knew she wouldn't be expecting us all to be there. So Paul and I met my parents outside the temple. This is the cool part. We had it all arranged to have everyone(that would be my 3 sisters with 3 brother-in-laws and my 2 brothers and 1 sister-in-law, my dad and of course Paul) but me be in the chapel all dressed in white. I didn't see the expression on her face, but I could tell by her loud gasp and her body language that she was so surprised and extremely grateful at what she saw. I think at first she saw everyone but Russell. Then she saw him and she completely lost it. You have to understand this is the first time all of us have been to the temple together. There were no empty seats! My mom has prayed and waited for this day for a very long time and it finally happened. It was a testimony builder to me about being faithful and patient. It was an absolutely amazing experience! I am so grateful that we were all able to be there. All I could think about the whole time was back to when we were all growing up and what a pain it was to be the oldest of 6 kids. But now I really wouldn't want it to be any other way. I have a great love for my family. I am so grateful that we all live here and are involved in each others lives and have a hand in helping raise each others families. We are extremely blessed. I really think this is one birthday that she will remember for a very long time! I know I will never forget it!

After the Temple we went to Pizza Factory for lunch. Russ' friend Nicole joined us. We were so glad that she could be there too! Trini had to go to work and we really missed her. So my mom turned 52 and that would explain the pizza.

My brother-in-law Jason shares the same birthday with my mom. He turned 27. Funny thing about Jason is that he is a triplet, so he doesn't even get to have his very own special day in our family! I hope he had a good one anyways!

Paul and I are pretty much gomers! We had a good time with my family. I really hope we can have more days like this! Thank you everyone for making yourselves available so that my mom could have a great birthday! I really do have a cool family!

We Had a Crazy Saturday!!

2009-04-27T11:21:00.000-07:00

This had to be one of the busiest Saturdays we have had in a very long time! Everything that could have been scheduled, was scheduled!
We started the day of with the Relay for Life. We have never done it before and it was pretty fun. UPS had a group so Paul signed us up. On Friday night we went to Hansen Stadium and partook of some food that Ben Terry( Ben's dad Joe, was a UPS driver and died a few years ago of cancer) and UPS provided for us. Ben bbq'd some hamburgers and hot dogs for us. It was fun to just hang out with some of the UPS guys and their families. Our turn to walk was Saturday morning at 7:30. We had to get the kids up by 6:40 so we could be there on time. They were good sports and didn't give us any problems. Except for Alan, he is the slowest cereal eater! So anyways, we walked our 2 1/2 miles and then ate some breakfast that the Mayor cooked for us. I really enjoyed walking around the track with the family. They all did really good! They had to take a few breaks here and there for the potty and to rest, but they did good to do it on their own so Paul and I could keep walking. We might do it next year, but I told Paul to sign us up on Friday night. I think it would just be a lot easier that way!

I think Alan is laughing because I had to run to get ahead of them. He always laughs at me when I run and says WHOA, WHOA! That's not very nice of him!

We saw these two kids on lap 8 or so and thought they were pretty cute so we decided to take them home with us! I think they will make a good addition to our family!

On the way out the boys wanted to take our picture by this mustang. They love mustangs! Lexi is quite fond of them too! They are quick to let us know when they have spotted one on the road.

Oh Hi Paul. Glad you could join us in our picture!

Our next stop was the Scout Expo. Alan needed to be there to check in his Pinewood Derby car for the "Best of Show" category and to help with our wards booth. He was pretty excited to be there and Tiffany Reynolds and all of the scouts had a pretty fun booth.
After taking Alan there we quickly got Connor and Lexi to a primary activity. They did some Humanitarian Aide kits.
After dropping them off Paul and I came home and got some "workin' in the yard" tools and took off the the Stake cleanup in our neighborhood. We didn't find very many people so some of us just made up some projects. We pulled some weeds at a park and an abandoned trailer. After we picked up the kids from the primary activity we went looking for more projects. Unfortunately since we got there so late a lot of the projects had already been completed. We felt bad that there wasn't more for us to do, but we did what we could. So we came home and did a little bit here and there in our yard. We had done all of this by 11:30 a.m. We were pretty worn out! We ate lunch and got cleaned up. I went and got Alan from the Scout Expo around 2:00. When I found him he looked sooo tired! His eyes were drooping and he was so exhausted! I thought he would fall asleep on the way home! I was able to take a nap when I got home thanks to Paul. Then at 5:30 we took the kids over to our good friends Brett and Tiff so that we could go to Ward Temple Night. We trade off babysitting every month with them so that we can go as couples to the temple and not have to pay for a babysitter. It shouldn't cost you money to be able to go to the Temple! We had a good turn out from our ward especially after everyone had so much to do that day! Paul and I really enjoyed the Temple and I am so glad I was able to go with him. Neither one of us fell asleep and I was quite proud of that! It was a very busy day, but it felt good at the end of the day to know that we had done some good! It's definitley better than feeling like you accomplished absolutely nothing at the end of the day!

2009-04-22T14:56:00.000-07:00

My drug high at work!

My name is Heather McInnes and I am a coupon junkie! So I have been "couponing" since October and it's beyond awesome! Since we haven't had a blog until now I of course haven't blogged about the awesome deals I have found. So I went shopping this morning at Albertsons and did the coupon thing and this is what I walked away with (I say walked away with because some of it was absolutely free)-

5 bags of vegetable steamers
7 boxes of Fiber One bars
6 boxes of cereal
2 cartons of Egg Beaters
2 pudding snack 4 packs
4 boxes of Bagelfuls
13 Healthy Choice meals
2 Suddenly Salads
6 frostings
2 Salad dressings
3 boxes of muffin mix
6 boxes of popcorn
10 yogurts
8 boxes of potatoes
6 Warm Delight minis (2 in each package)
8 cans of Sloppy Joe sauce
2 Grands biscuits
2 gallons of milk
plus $10 to spend on my next shopping trip
plus I earned .25 off per gallon of gas

All of this was only $60.74! I saved $204!

I tell you there is nothing like getting stuff for free, or pretty close to free!
I will confess I am not the coupon queen! There is still a lot that I don't know. My good friend Jen Stafford is the "Queen" as far as I am concerned! She is my coupon mentor! Thanks for all of your help Jen! She has been doing this stuff forever, before there was even a website that told you how to do it. She has been trying to get me to do the coupon thing for a very long time, but I wouldn't listen to her. If only I had I could have saved a ton of money long ago!
Albertsons is awesome! I am so glad they have these sales that help all of us crazy coupon people save money! I usually go to the Albertson's on Sunset and I would just like to give a shout out to Josh, Kristen, Michelle, Jamie, Mary & Toni for helping us save money! You guys are life savers!

If there are any of you that don't know how "coupon" let me know and I can help you. I love to teach people about it. I figure if you are going to shop anyways you might as well do the best you can at it. The best part about it is I hardly ever have to go to Wal*Mart! I really hate going there! I absolutely dread it! I know that sounds wierd, but this way is sooo much cheaper than Wal*Mart will ever be! I don't think Wal*Mart was giving away free salad dressing today! Or Egg Beater for .20. Albertson's sure was! Anyways happy shopping!

2009-04-19T20:56:00.000-07:00

OUR GARDEN!
After 10 years of being a family we finally decided to grow a garden. It has been so exciting! We actually had to plant it twice. The first time we planted the seeds to deep. After we figured out how to do it things started popping up. We are growing radishes, lettuce, onion, peas, tomatoes, peppers, strawberries, brussel sprouts and artichokes. So far so good. This is Paul picking our first product. It is a radish.

So Paul has never eaten a radish whole. I told him they are yummy and that he should. Most of you know that he doesn't enjoy veggies. If it's not meat and potatoes, why should you eat it? Anyways he was a good sport and this is what he thinks of radishes....

He is not a fan! He was a good sport though!

2009-04-19T19:48:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter!

I love Easter! It is my most favorite Holiday. I love the colors, the flowers and the reverence that comes with it. Unfortunately, I think a lot of the true meaning of Easter is lost and is way over commercialized. But what can you do, but try and control that the best that you can in your own home. We usually try and go on a picnic the day before Easter with just our little family, but that day was full of different activities so we were not able to do that. We were able to color eggs and get ready for the Easter bunny. He did come and we all enjoyed the church books and the candy that he left us. Here are a couple of pictures of our festivities!

Lexi, Connor and Alan decorating our eggs (Cam was sleepin').

Lexi is sooo excited to look for eggs!

There's Cam! At first he was really confused about how to play this game! It didn't take long for him to figure it out. Unfortunately, once he figured it out his brothers and sister had already gathered most of the eggs. They left a couple for him to find and he really had fun.
Cam did find his basket though! He was so excited and he knew exactly what to do next...

That's a good breakfast!

Connor found his and broke it at the same time! Don't worry no candies were harmed due to the malfunction!
After all the festivities we got dressed in our Easter outfits and went to Stake Conference. We hope all of you had a good Easter!

Choir Concert at Tuacahn

2009-04-07T20:45:00.000-07:00

Here is Alan with Arrowhead's choir at Tuacahn. This year was SOOO much better than last year! They decided to only do a certain number of schools on this night and the remaining tomorrow night. So this year it only took 1 hour instead of the 50 last year! Alan and his friends really enjoy being in choir and I am glad he enjoys music. Hopefully he will continue to enjoy it because I think his dad would be pretty sad if he didn't.
I took this picture for those of us who remember Mr. Payne from Sunset Elem. He is still doing the music there after all of these years. He seems to really enjoy it. Do you like his Twinkie shirt? He's a funny fella!

MARCH MADNESS!

2009-04-07T20:21:00.000-07:00

So we have this tradition that our good friends the Reynold's started. At the start of "March Madness" (college basketball tourney) we all choose our brackets and who we think will win the championship. After many LONG hours of MANY basketball games, it was finally the last game! Us and the Reynold's (the Moss' and the Randall's couldn't make it) got together, had dinner and watched the game. Paul and Tiffany were tied at the end of the game. I don't know how or why ( I think it had something to do with the most stinky gas) but Paul ended up as the winner. Brett made this one of a kind trophy last year. Bryson won the tournament last year and this is a picture of him handing it off to Paul. We all had a lot of fun this last month. There was a lot of teasing between the families as to who was going to win this deal. I think it's a great tradition and I hope we get to do it for a long time. If anyone wants to join us, let us know next March and bring it on! Paul is very proud that the trophy gets to be at our house for at least the next year. (AND BEYOND!!! Paul was here)

2009-04-06T11:52:00.001-07:00

We have decided to join the blogging world! Paul did start one awhile back but I was not interested, nor had the time. My sisters have been after me to do this for a very long time, so here we go. I hope I can keep up with it and try to find things to write about. I am going to have to get the camera out more often so I can capture some of our fun times. So here goes!

2009-04-06T11:38:00.000-07:00

This is Lexi at Christmas time. It's the most decent, recent picture of her that I could find on the computer. She is a sweet, fisty, loving 5 year old. She has a lot of Scottish stubborness in her. Some days are definitely better than others when it comes to her! She is the only girl surrounded by a bunch of boys and you can tell she gets very frustrated by it! She does love to play with them though. Shes a Tomboy for sure. She loves to play trucks with them and I think she has even adopted a couple of the boys' trucks so she has her own. Alan is a good sport though and will play Barbie's with her when she wants too. She will start Kindergarten in August. She is SO excited to go to school with her brothers! I think I am ready to let her go too! We do butt heads a lot, but we do have a lot of fun together too. She loves to shop for clothes and is constantly wanting to buy new shoes. Maybe she belongs in Bonnie's family! We all know she did not get that desire from me!

2009-04-06T11:33:00.000-07:00

We babysat Hailee (Jo's daughter) a couple of weeks ago and Cam just had to hold her. He loves beebe's as he calls them. He held her almost the whole time and just would not let her go! Hailee looks a little concerned, but it was all good! I think he was pretty angry when she had to go home. We just need to babysit more I guess!

2009-04-06T11:29:00.000-07:00

This is Connor and Cam hanging out. I had moved the barstools into the family room while I mopped the floor. Connor layed down to watch t.v and Cam decided to jump up there too. He's a silly fella! These two love to hang out together. If Connor is laying on the floor, Cam will jump on top of him and just lay all over him. They crack me up!

The First Post

2009-04-05T19:12:00.000-07:00

The Posse! This is Alan and the boys at Arrowhead Elementary School's field day last week. I am trying to figure out how to add pictures and things so this is my first one. (L-R Gavin Sutton, Bryson Reynolds, Caysen Moss, Kyler Neely, Alan McInnes)
Alan ran the 100 meter and got second in his heat. He then ran in the final and I think he got 7th. No matter what place he got, he did an awesome job and I could tell how hard he ran and how much he worked for it. He's a good kid and he has great friends that come from great families. Connor usually hangs out with these guys too when they roam the neighborhood on their bikes. Alan is very good to let Connor tag along. They are great friends to each other. We just hope that it continues and they will look out for each other always.