We are pleased to announce the arrival of Beth Jana Chase. She was born on October 12, 2009 at 4:38 p.m. Beth weighed 7 lbs and was 20 1/4 inches long. Delivery went great.

I was scheduled to be induced on Tuesday the 13th, but when I saw my doctor on Monday I was dilated 5 cm. He didn't think I would make it to the next morning so he told me to meet him at the hospital at 1p.m. My mom and dad made it into town about 45 min. before I was supposed to go to the hospital. Phew!

I think this was my fastest delivery. It took them until 3:30 to get all the paperwork, I.V., and epidural taken care of. At 3:30 I was dilated 6 cm. and they started my pitocin. Just 1 hour and 8 minutes later Beth was here. She is perfect (of course) and the kids are very excited to have her here also. There has been a little fighting over who holds her next, but they are doing a pretty good job sharing.

So far she is a content baby. She has her nights and days mixed up. That is why I am updating my blog in the middle of the night. Hopefully she will figure it out soon. I am recovering well. I have had lots of great help. Jeff has been here all week, as well as my mom and dad. Jeff''s mom and dad will be here tonight. I am so blessed to have a great support system. Jeff and I are so blessed to have 5 beautiful children entrusted to us.

Thanks to everyone for all their love and support.

Children's Village

I am a little behind on getting the blog updated. We took the kids to the Children's Village here in Cheyenne on September 25th. It was the grand re-opening so they had a balloon artist and a magician there along with all of the other fun activities for the kids. It is basically a botanical garden for the kids. There are fountains, ponds, sand, flowers and activities all centered around kids. They were able to pump water from the pond and water the flowers, plant seeds and put them in the green house, visit the secret garden, play in the fountains, hop on stones across parts of the ponds, play in the sand and water, visit tee-pees and play Native American drums. The kids absolutely loved it. We were there for a couple of hours and they could have stayed longer. We were able to go when the weather was beautiful (before it dumped a foot of snow on us). We enjoyed spending the day with the kids.

FHE

A couple of Mondays ago we had family home evening with a family in our ward. Dinner consisted of spaghetti, salad, and bread. The fun part was that we were lacking important "tools" in eating it (no plates or utensils). As you can see the kids had a blast. They were breaking all the rules. Our fhe lesson focused on the "tools" we have within the gospel of Jesus Christ that help us stay on the path that leads to eternal life.

Medicine Bow

Yesterday we took the kids to Medicine Bow National Forest (it is also called Vedauwoo). Vedauwoo is located just outside of Laramie (about 40 minutes from Cheyenne). We have seen it as we have traveled this summer and Maeli has been begging to go climb on the rocks. She is our little monkey. The rock formations are absolutely amazing. I have never seen so many cool rocks. There are hundreds of acres of incredible rocks.

We went with a family from our ward. I think the kids had more fun being there with other kids. They climbed and climbed, then we had a picnic and they climbed some more. Of course they didn't want to leave even though we were all exhausted and it was beginning to storm. We saw some close lightning and the thunder sounded like fireworks. Mikey kept saying SCARY, SCARY. He is so funny when he says it because he acts like he is shaking in his shoes. The elevation at the top of the largest rock is around 8500 ft, so the elevation is pretty high .

We saw lots of little chipmunks that the kids loved to feed and watch. We didn't see any rattlesnakes, but Ellie was convinced that every rustling or noise was a rattler. The kids were all concerned that a rattler was going hunt them down and bite them. It took some convincing to make them believe that we probably wouldn't see any rattlesnakes and even if we did that they wouldn't search them out and attack them.

We all had so much fun that we are looking forward to going back and maybe camping next time. Jeff and I enjoyed seeing the kids having so much fun exploring and enjoying the outdoors.

First Day of School

Wednesday August 26th was Ellie and Maeli's first day of school here in Cheyenne. They are going to Davis Elementary. I have heard great things about the school and the teachers. Ellie's 4th grade teacher is Mrs. Wilkinson and Maeli's 2nd grade teacher is Mrs. Telander ( a recent teacher of the year). So far the girls are loving school. Ellie is very excited because all of the fourth graders are going to learn how to play the violin this year. I am excited about this too. Maeli's teacher seems to be a lot of fun, hopefully Maeli will find learning fun this year. So far she tells me recess is her favorite part of each day. We are a disappointed that there is not a bus for the girls to ride, but since I have to take them to school and pick them up each day Maren and Michael have enjoyed playing at the school playground. Each trip to the school we have been spending an extra 30 minutes or so swinging, climbing and sliding. I am very much enjoying spending time with Maren and Michael. They are so fun and they play so cute together. Maren is learning to count and recognize her numbers. Mikey thinks he is pretty big when he can count also. They are all growing up so fast I can hardly believe it.

We are enjoying our ward and getting to know people. Jeff has been working on his tennis skills with any one in the ward he can get to play with him. He is getting better and better. I am now 33 weeks. Only 7 more weeks until my due date. Not that I am counting or anything. Everything is great here in Cheyenne. It is starting to cool off pretty fast. The locals say that once school starts the temperatures start dropping. I think we have some new weather experiences ahead of us. We are hearing lots of crazy stories about the snow, wind, and fog that comes with winter. Not to mention being trapped in Cheyenne due to the interstate being closed in all directions. This is all just another adventure and we are ready to make the BEST of it.

Denver

Last friday we took a little trip to Denver with the kids. We were able to stay at a condo rented by our brother-in-law Kimball's company. It was great to take the kids and get to spend some time as a family. We all went night swimming at the pool when we got there friday evening. Saturday morning Jeff and I went to the temple. It was awesome to get to go to the temple again. It has been a long time for me. I have been missing it a ton. I had never been to the Denver temple so it is always fun to get to go to a new temple. Ellie babysat for us while we went to the temple. She did a fantastic job. She is getting to be so grown up and responsible. We are so proud of her. Maeli was also a great help to Ellie while we were gone to the temple. After the temple we took the kids to P.F. Changs ( my new favorite restaurant). Ellie and Maeli loved it too. The kids had fun trying to use chopsticks. Then we were off to the Denver Aquarium. The aquarium was amazing. We all loved it. Mikey was fascinated by all the fish but the Sharks were his favorites. When a shark would swim by him he would yell "SHARK, SHARK" and jump up and down. He also loved the tigers. One tiger came right up and licked the glass where Mikey's face was pressed against the glass. It was pretty exciting.

Cheyenne

We are finally getting settled here in Cheyenne. It has been a long summer with lots of road trips. I have finished working in Sun Valley and am happy to begin making Cheyenne our new home. School starts next week. I am a little sad. The summer has flown by and I feel as if I missed it. The kids are excited for school. Another new school doesn't intimidate them. They are so strong and resilient.

Jeff's new job is going well. He is working hard and doing a great job. It is so great to be together again as a family. I am so grateful for my family and the opportunity to live with them forever. I love them so much and cannot imagine life without them. We are so incredibly blessed