I won the Lottery!

For July book club, we read "Lottery." I thought it was a really good book. Kind of Forest Gump-ish about a "slow" guy who wins the lottery.

The hostess thought it would be fun to buy lottery tickets for everyone to scratch after our discussion. Being a good little mormon girl, I have never played the lottery. I picked a ticket out of the pile of tickets, read carefully, asked the lady next to me for clarification, then scratched away. The instructions said "match 3 like amounts and win that amount." Imagine my surprise when I my scratched ticket looked like this!

I was hesitant and showed the lady next to me again and asked if I did it right. Did I really just win $10,000?! Nope, it was a fake! Of all the people there, I was the perfect one to get the fake. It really had me going for a second!

Riverfront Park

While Kenzie was here, we got to be tourists in our own city. We took her downtown to Riverfront park and had a lovely time.

We went for a run with the Bloomsday runners,

Fed the ducks,

and rode the Looff Carrousel. We also tried to play on the big Red Wagon but the slide was WAY too hot so we went over to the fountain to get a little wet.
We sure miss our McKenzie!!

36 hours of Seattle

While McKenzie was here, we wanted to show her as much as we could of Washington. At my two week post-op appointment, I got the "go ahead" to do some walking, so we took off for a couple of days to Seattle. We were on a real time crunch though because we had to be back for Jordan's wedding open house at my mom's. We took off really early Friday morning and headed straight for the Seattle center. It was an unusually beautiful day in Seattle that day. We saw the Space needle then went on to the Pacific Science Center.

We all loved the butterfly room. They had some of the most beautiful butterflies. They flew all around you and occasionally landed on you!

Next we headed down to Pike Place Market where we got some amazing Rainier cherries, Snowqualmie falls honey, fresh squeezed lemonade and a souvenir shirt. We sat by the water and watched the boats come in for a while until we got too hot and decided to cool down with some indoor shopping. The kids were troopers while we went to the Mariner's store, Nike town, etc.

Sydney and Garth posed for a picture while they waited for Kenzie and I to finish shopping at H&M. I love that store!

We went to dinner at Todai, an all-you-can-eat Japanese Seafood buffet. Carter is a huge sea food fan and loves him some shrimp. He ate so much shrimp, I lost count. I also think they lost money on Garth. He said it was the best sushi he has ever eaten! As you can see, Sydney was a big fan of the dessert bar and loved the chocolate fountain.

Saturday morning we went to the Woodland Park Zoo. Kenzie had never been to a zoo before so I think she really enjoyed herself.

Carter was anxious to see the flamingos but didn't want to hang around long after we found them. They are especially stinky animals.

Garth and I love the monkeys they are so entertaining and never disappoint.

McKenzie lives on a dairy farm in southern Utah. Her dad owns 700 or so head of cattle. So you can imagine her surprise when we got to this part of the zoo that had cows and goats. She said it smelled like home and we made her pose with this fake cow to send to her dad!

Heaven Sent

Of course this girl is. . .

But also this girl.
My 16 year old cousin McKenzie came to stay with me and help me with the kids after I had Olivia. She was such an angel. She drove me around post-surgery, picked up Derek for the 2 weeks I wasn't allowed, and played CONSTANTLY with my older kids while I nursed and slept or whatever. I was so lucky to have her and I am going through some serious withdrawal now that she has left.

She's Here!

Olivia Sharon Hamilton
Born June 25th 2009
7 pounds 8 ounces
20 inches


At this moment, I was totally crying. I felt this enormous relief that everything was okay and I also felt this pang of sadness that I will never experience this again (the holding a new baby part, not the being cut open part).

Derek was very interested in what I was holding. He was surprisingly gentle and shy. Unfortunately, her body temp was a little low so all the early visitors didn't get to hold her because she had to be skin-to-skin with me.

They even ended up putting her under the lights to try to warm her up. Carter and Sydney were happy to finally get a good look at her.

All pretty in pink for her car ride home. I was feeling good and getting around okay so they let me go home on Saturday. My kids were in the Tri-Cities with my mom at Jordan's wedding so I had an empty, quiet house for a day. It was quite a treat to get to nap when Olivia did and not have anyone checking my vitals constantly.

They adore each other already!

Olivia with her namesake, my Grandma Sharon Hawks.

Baby and mom are doing great! We feel so blessed.

The Big Day

After 39 weeks of anticipation, tomorrow is the big day!
I feel. . .
Nervous about going in for surgery
Confident in my doctor's ability to perform the surgery
Comforted that my husband has the priesthood and can give me a blessing so I can feel calm tomorrow
Blessed that I have amazing family here that will take care of my other kids
Excited to meet the newest member of our family
Overwhelmed at the responsibility of being a mother of four
Scared about what's coming (sleepless nights, jealous siblings, weight loss)
Thrilled about the joy and happiness this baby will bring into all of our lives now and in the future

What is in a name?

Each time we have a child, it gets harder to name them. We only have 11 days until baby girl Hamilton is born and she has no name. Here is part of our problem. . .

Garth's Criteria

No seasons (Spring, Summer)

No months (May, June)

No jewels or stones (Pearl, Opal)

No Christian values (Hope, Charity, Chastity)

No bad associations with kids from school.

My Criteria

Not a fan of unisex names.

No creative spellings (like Jennifer spelled Genyphur)

Must go with the family middle name I have chosen.

No bad associations with kids I've coached/taught

We have narrowed it down to a few but we are having a hard time agreeing on one.
Our top choices are. . .

Layla Sharon

Claire Sharon

Cherise Lynn

Olivia Sharon

Last time, Derek made the list the week before surgery so it is possible that it could be something totally different. Who knows?